Sketch and final illustration for an article in "Lawyers Weekly" magazine. The article covered a bill in congress in which artists rights were being challenged. I originally made the PK and EFF character a robber baron type character but the editor asked me to soften his demeanor. I don't recall who PK and EFF. Happy New Year! Pencil, water color, gouache, 2007.

This is a color sketch for a manuscript called "6 Billion and You", written by Tom Bodett (of Hotel 6 radio fame), illus.d by me and not yet publ.d. It's a fun concept- introducing a 6 year old to the concept of a big blue planet with lots of potential friends on board. If your an editor and you're interested in the story, contact me! Water color, gouache, 2004.

Final art for pages 44/45 of "Stand Tall, Abe Lincoln" by Judith St. George, illus.d by me and publ.d by Phylomel/Penguin&Putman. The sky grows dark over the woods into which young Abe is walking as he waves goodby to his step-mom Sarah. By coloring the sky this way I was trying to intimate the difficult future which the senior Abe would face. Water color, gouache, 2006.

The Revolution 

by Kabir

There is nothing but water in the holy pools,

I know, I have been swimming in them.

All the gods sculpted of wood and ivory can't say a word.

I know, I have been crying out to them.

The Sacred Books of the East and West are nothing but words.

How do I know? I looked through their covers one day- sideways.

What Kabir talks about

is only what he has lived through.

If you have not lived through something, it is not true.

Final art for "The Moon Clock", a graphic novel I wrote and illus.d, publ.d by Scholastic. At the time I submitted this manuscript to Scholastic (1989) graphic novels (or comic books, as they were referred to then) were very much frowned upon by the publishing industry. I've got to hand it to senior editor Jean Feiwel for stepping up and supporting this endeavor. Thank you Jean, it was a risky thing to do. As soon as I put my current graphic novel to bed (the end of January 2013) I'm going to self publish "The Moon Clock" in a digital format. Pen&Ink, 1990.

Thumbnail sketch and final art illustration for "Because I Could Not Stop My Bike" by Karen Jo Shapiro, illus.d by me & publ.d by Charlesbridge. My son Gabriel Faulkner was about 11 years old when I illustrated this book. He had a beloved shirt that seemed super-glued to his body. Woe be to the dad who tried to get it off of him on wash day. Hence- I didn't have to use much imagination to picture this particular scene. Water color, gouache, 2003.

Spot illustration from "Because I Could Not Stop My Bike", a poetry anthology by Karen Jo Shapiro, illus.d by me and publ.d by Charlesbridge. My son was 12 at the time that I made this. He did not appreciate the techniques I used to wake him up for school. Singing the Barney song often worked quite well.  Water color, gouache, 2003.

Sketches for an article in the children's magazine SPIDER entitled "Pounce's Christmas Surprise". Pencil, 2002.

Thumbnail sketches for an article in the children's magazine SPIDER entitled "Pounce's Christmas Surprise". Pounce the kitten is a new addition to a home where an older somewhat curmudgeony cat and his human now reside. Pounce's behavior is both annoying and endearing to the two oldsters, in particular his desire to climb the christmas tree. I had two cats at the time, Leo- big old chubby guy and Rosie- young weisenheimer female feline. Rosie kept Leo on his toes. I used them as models for the story. Happy Holidays! Pencil, 2002.

Dear Friends,
I'm a picture book author and illustrator and as such I've spent a good share of my professional life hanging out with first graders and I've got to admit- they fascinate me. I see them behaving beatifically sometimes, their faces calm in sleep or their eyes alight with joy, and I wonder, "Are these Angels?". However, when they laugh at one of my silly jokes or play a trick on me, I know that I'm in the company of Rascals. Other times, the haiku-like wisdom that comes tumbling from theirs mouths will floor me, and I'll think "I'm in the presence of an Elder- so wise, so ancient. What happened to the 6 year old I was talking to?". And then, when I am sad and I feel the unfettered understanding in their embrace, its then that I'm quite sure that I am in the care of a Saint.

28 of my tribe were gunned down last week- 20 of them first graders. I include in the number of those counted dead the sick young man who did the shooting, because he, and all our troubled children, are in my tribe too. As painful as it is, I can not push him out. I will not. He and his family, along with all the slain and their loved ones, are in my prayers.
I very much wish to honor their passing in some way that attempts to match the loss of these innocents, an unfathomable loss for their families and for our country. I know that an effort to change things in the future- fix our mental health care system, better regulate access to these horrific weapons- is planned and I support that. Those efforts may help and that will be good. But right now, deep down, I just want to turn off the nation. I want us all to shut it down for a week in honor of the passing of these sweet children.
I regret if this post has brought you down. If you delete this from your feed, don't worry, I won't blame you. I wish I didn't feel this way. But if you bump into me on the street and I don't quickly reply with a smile to your holiday greeting, please know that I very much appreciate your friendship, but right now, the passing of these Angel/Rascal/Elder/Saint children is on my mind.

Sincerely,

Matt Faulkner

Pencil sketch for the back and front cover of Cricket magazine. This sort of assignment is so much fun to me. They call me, give me some idea of what they'd like to have included in the illustration and then let me get busy creating something. In this case, Cricket called and said- "We've got and issue that will contain Dizzy Gillespie, space travel, Albert Einstein's violin and Mozart's cat. We think your work is wild enough to encompass all these- can you do it?" I said yes, of course and got busy making this. I'll post the final art tomorrow. Peace out, Matt. Pencil, 2001.

This is a sketchbook page I started when my son Gabriel Faulkner was in little league. During one game I was sitting in the dug out and looking at my son and his team mates and thought- I should do a drawing of each one of them and, I don't know, maybe make a t-shirt for the kids or something. I asked all the kids to stand still for a few minutes and let me draft the basic lines of their faces. They and their parents were a little apprehensive by my drawing them but also very appreciative when they saw the result. Well, as you can see, I never finished the sketches. I don't know why I left it this way. Maybe I just got busy. Or maybe I got tired of running after each boy and getting him to stand still so I could draw him. Or maybe I just didn't like the way the drawings were turning out. It's a fact that hyper self criticism has forced me to flatten so many fun projects. Yuck, I don't like the internal critic! Any way, as always with any creative effort that had merit but was never completed I regret that this was left unfinished. However, in and of itself, just the way it is- I really enjoyed finding this drawing and seeing the sunny smiles of my son and his team mates. Pencil, 2002.

Single page illustration for "The Moonclock", written and illust.d by me, published by Scholastic Inc.. The book was printed in full color but the art was created in two pieces- water color and a separate pen and ink. Something that may be of interest- Early on in the making of this art I received a call from my editor regarding the sketches of the two nordic sphinxes. The originals were inspired by two tremendous bronze sculptures I'd seen in Vienna at the Belvedere Palace- a gorgeous site open to the public. Except for the winged helmets I put on the statues, I was very faithful to the design of the original sculptures, including leaving them bare breasted. It seems the marketing folk had noticed their bronze bare breasts and alerted my editor that covering their chests was essential. I argued that I'd taken reference photos of kids playing all over these statues and not a single parent was in the least concerned about the nipples. Ah well, you can see from the drawing above that the marketing folk won out. Maybe they were right... after all this is the United States, not Vienna. We do things differently here. Such as immerse our kids in ultra-violent first-person-shooter video games from toddlerhood onward. But, dear God, flash a nipple and get ready for the moral outrage. I was a tad angry about this then. I'm better now. Can you tell? Pen&Ink, 1991.

"Calling All Wisemen". Done for pleasure. What would the Wisemen look like today? Who are these men? Well on the left you have a Catholic Priest. Next is a Shinto Priest followed by a Dagara Shaman. Next is a Hasidic Rabbi. To his left is a Navajo Shaman and lastly we see a Sufi Mystic. My thought behind this was to show, in a simple way, a need for all those who can look beyond our religious/political/tribal beliefs and reach collectively for a way to collectively nurture all our children. One world. One family. One love. Pretty simple. Water color, gouache, 1997.

Illustration for a middle school text book. The story tells of the travails of the young lady in the center of the piece who has a profound case of the "awkwards". Was a fun story to illustrate because of all the physical humor. Water color, gouache, 2008.

He was standing right next to me and I didn't even see him. Then we met again in a dream. Had a nice talk, too. Do you ever see faces or figures in trees?

Pen&Ink, 2012.

"Mantra- Mind Taken Beyond", color sketch for a tarot deck. This card encouraged the recipient to have faith in forward momentum. Thinking can be over-rated. Instinct, will and focus, plus a little faith can take you so much further. Yet to be published. Water color, gouache, 2003.

"Another Holy Family"- color sketch for a tarot deck. This card asked the recipient to consider "acceptance and celebration". Is it possible for everything to be sacred or is there only one holy family? The deck is sitting on the back burner but could find its way to the front soon. Water color, gouache, 2003.

Thumbnail layout sketch for "Black Belt" written and illus.d by me, edited by Andrea Cascardi, publ.d by Knopf.. It was very interesting to me to do research for the project in that Okinawa, the country in which the book is set, had and has cultural influences from both China and Japan. The fun part came in combining these two cultures in designing the book as there isn't a lot of photo references of clothing and environment in Okinawa during the 18th century. Pencil, 1999.

Double page spread illustration for "The Giving Season",  written and illus.d by me, distributed by Somerset Collection.  Back in the mid-1990's I was hired by a very large mall in Michigan to create a book for their holiday presentation. The story told of an usual friendship made between Princess Sophia, who'd been locked in a tower by her royal parents primarily because she happened to be the last kid in the realm and the King and Queen and all the grown-ups were completely fed up with kids, and the King's jester, Phelonious Quirke, a completely selfish little character. The mall printed a standard run of 10,000 hard cover books and used the characters and setting I created for the book to design monstrous puppets (20 ft long) and a 4 story castle for Santa. Learned a bunch from working on this project, in particular establishing ownership of intellectual property (the book) and how to defend them. Water color, gouache, 1996.

Character sketches for the Dragon and the Big Yellow Bear for a book that I wrote called "Quin's Bridge". The story tells of young Quin and the rather restless night he experiences when his dreams (aka-the Dragon and the Bear and Friends) get caught on this side of reality and require him to help them build a bridge (made from some of his parent's most cherished and expensive stuff in the house) back to The Other Side before the sun comes up and his parents awake. Based upon a true story. Pen&Ink, 1993

Cover sketch for "Independent Dames-The Women and Girls of the American Revolution", written by Laurie Halse Anderson, illus.d by me, edited by Kevin Lewis and publ.d by Simon&Schuster. The soldier playing the flute was supposed to be a woman who has disguised herself as a man in order to fight. But she just looked to much like a man here so, among other edits, we decided to put her in a skirt. It worked better that way and made it to the cover. Pen&ink, 2007.

The sketch and final art for a quarter page illustration for "Lawyer's Weekly" magazine. The article covered the difficulty financial markets were having in moving the Euro out of the "cyro-freeze" mode it had found itself in. Was fun trying to figure out how to render an image of the earth as it is lit by minimal light and fractalized by the frozen water around it. Water color, gouache, 2008.

Cover illustration for "Because I Could Not Stop My Bike", written by Karen Jo Shapiro and illustrated by me, published by Charlesbridge. Water color, gouache, 2002.

Say hello to Polly. She's a little girl who gets a new scarf for Christmas in an article I illus.d for Highlights Magazine. Pen&Ink, 2007.

Quarter page art for a book I illustrated called "Because I Couldn't Stop My Bike", written by Karen Jo Shapiro & publ.d by Charlesbridge. Water color, gouache, 2004.

Character sketch page for Adeline, the mom-hero of the graphic novel I'm working on "Gaijin-American Prisoner of War", written & illus.d by me and publ.d by Disney, April, 2014. The story follows Irish American Adeline and her Japanese/Irish American son Koji as they navigate the bigotry and hate that led to the illegal imprisonment of all Japanese Americans on the U.S. west coast (excluding Japanese Americans on Hawaii. The "powers-that-be" deemed them too many and too valua

ble to the economy to imprison enmass). The story is based upon the real-life story of my great aunt Adeline Conlan Asai and her daughter Mary, both illegally interned at the Manzanar Concentration Camp in California. Mary was the mother at the time of three very young children who were also imprisoned. Big hugs and thanks to my lovely wife Kris for modeling as Adeline. I think she had fun, though, and she sure looks very fine in her 'forties 'do. Pencil, 2012.

Double page final art illustration for "Monster Who Ate My Peas", written by Danny Schnitzlein, illus.d by me and publ.d by Peachtree. What I wanted to achieve in this one is the experience most kid's have had where their parents, or any grown-up for that matter, simply can't see what is so very obvious to a child. Whether it's something very serious like abuse or something very surreal like a pea-eating monster in the living room. What we can see here is that the grown-ups are busy eating and the only person not oblivious to the drooling mountainous behemoth, (besides Ralph the dog who's just turned his back on the ridiculousness of the whole thing), is the hero's sister. She's too busy offering her veggies to the beastie to care much about how nasty he looks. Most kids will tell you that the coolest stuff always happens out of the corner of your eye.  They also know that the world is just a far more complex and weird place than most grown-ups can acknowledge. We're just too busy focusing on the "important" stuff, such as having careers, paying bills or watching "Dancing With the Stars" to notice what's really going on. That's why we spend so much time on Facebook. Give's us a nice, false sense of boundaries and proportion. Silly us! Water color, gouache, 2000. 

This is a preliminary double-page sketch for "Gaijin-American Prisoner of War", a graphic novel written and illus.d by me, to be publ.d by Disney/Hyperion- April, 2014. The book covers the story of Japanese/Irish American Koji and his Irish American mother, Adeline, as they are sent to a prison camp outside of San Francisco during World War 2. This art was part of the package put together back in 2008 and 2009 to sell the idea to a publisher. At that time I was shooting for a 92 page book and sketched about 40 pages of the book.  I went through three different re-draws of this same level prior to Disney winning the bidding war on the project. Woot Disney! Since signing the contract for the book in 2009 I've re-written/re-drawn the book in varying levels of detail 3 more times. In the process, "Gaijin" has become a 148 page book. I am now working toward finishing the final art for a January 2013 deadline. Wish me luck! Pencil, 2009.

A sketch of Granuaile O'Malley, Irish Cheiftainess, and Elizabeth the 1st, Queen of Britain, for "The Pirate Meets the Queen", written and illus.d by me, publ.d by Phylomel/Penguin&Putnam. I did these sketches on two separate sheets of a small sketch book while sitting in on a lecture for instructors at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit. Being of Irish descent and having inherited a fond

ness for the heroic struggle of the "under dog" from my Dad, I tend to favor Granuaile's part in the story of the struggle between their cultures and the meeting of these two great women. Even so, I fully recognize and honor the tremendous energy and genius of both figures. I envisioned Granuaile dressing in a sailor's (or pirate's as the British preferred to call her) garb. She was the daughter of a chieftain, Dubh Dair (Gaelic for Black Oak). In her early teens she took up the family's trades- fishing, shipping and raiding British merchant ships, which they called "maintenance by sea". This all to her mother's disgrace. When her father died and the British over ran the O'Malley coastal holdings, Granuaile took her people to island havens, one in particular called Clare Island and from there continued her efforts to take back what was hers. Eventually, upon the arrest of her son and the need to find protection from other Anglo/Irish sea lords, Granuaile sailed all the way to London to ask the favor of Elizabeth. What a fantastic moment that must've been- the meeting of these two great women. Upon acquiescing to the Crown and making a promise to refrain from further attacks on British shipping (a promise she didn't keep) Granuaile was granted a British title and her son set free. Some take this action by Granuaile grounds to label her a traitor to the cause of Irish nationalism. Perhaps so. But, being an ocean away and hundreds of years apart, I just find her to be one of the most extraordinary historical figures I've ever encountered. Pencil, 1999.

Sketch and final art for the cover of "The Monster Who Ate My Peas", written by Danny Schnitzlein, illus.d by me & publ.d by Peachtree. I recall sketching a less scary monster but the publisher wanted this guy. I followed their direction and kids still dig the big, green, tentacled behemoth. The proof's in the pudding because the book is still on the shelves after 11 years and has won multiple awards including the children's choice picture book award from the kid's of both Indiana and Virginia. Pencil, water color, gouache, 2000.

Did anyone have peas for Thanksgiving meal? Final illustration for page 8 of "The Monster Who Ate My Peas", written by Danny Schnitzlein, illus.d by me, publ.d by Peachtree Publ.. This is the story's hero contemplating various magical incantations for making peas go away- hence the arrival of the veggie eating monster. Water color, gouache, 2000.

Sarah Hale, Super Hero. Title page illustration for "Thank You Sarah, The Woman Who Saved Thanksgiving" by Laurie Halse Anderson illustrated by me, publ.d by Simon&Schuster, 2003. Sarah Hale, born 1788, a widower who raised 5 children, a published author and publisher of America's first magazine for women- petitioned for abolishing slavery, equal education for girls and boys, ending corporal punishment for children and saved Thanksgiving for us all! Water color, pen&ink, 2001.

This was an advertising piece created for one of the big banks. I think Citibank. The idea wasn't all that complex- simply show a visual that gets across the concept that the bank is capable of guarding your money and helping it to grow regardless if times are bullish or bearish.  What I really liked about this image was that it showed my take on things clearly and with humor. This was one of the first big jobs in which I felt I'd achieved the development of my own style. And got paid pretty well, which is always nice. 

Pen&ink, 1987.

Illustration for "Thank You Sarah, The Woman Who Saved Thanksgiving" by Laurie Halse Anderson illustrated by me, publ.d by Simon&Schuster, 2003. Sarah Hale, born 1788, a widower who raised 5 children, a published author and publisher of America's first magazine for women- petitioned for abolishing slavery, equal education for girls and boys, ending corporal punishment for children and saved Thanksgiving for us all! Funny story on this one. The art on the back cover showed the same balloon dinosaur from the Macy's parade on the left with it's little parade handlers. Because the art director, in placing the art, trimmed the little handlers off the bottom, all you can see is the dinosaur. To this day I get emails from kids and grown-ups asking me what a green dinosaur has to do with Thanksgiving. Watercolor, pen&ink, 2002.

Final illustration for page 7 of "The Monster Who Ate My Peas", written by Danny Schnitzlein, illus.d by me, publ.d by Peachtree Publ.. That's Ralph the dog being harassed by the pea-eating monster. Water color, gouache, 2000.

Final double page spread illustration for pages 28/29 of "Thank You Sarah-The Woman Woman Who Saved Thanksgiving", written by Laurie Halse Anderson and illus.d by me, publ.d by Simon&Schuster. Funny story: I remember visiting Simon&Schuster in NYC in the spring of 2002. The art had been delivered and I'd come to the city to have lunch with Kevin Lewis, my editor and Alyssa Eisner Henkin, then his assistant editor now a great literary agent. I remember standing next to Kevin as we reviewed the work. He was saying some nice things about the illustrations and his eye fell upon this piece. He was very much impressed with the design and the fact that I'd placed the soldiers from the north standing upon the word "United" and the soldiers from the south upon the word "States". He went on to talk about my wit and keen eye for symbolism and visual metaphor in the illustration, noting that the north fought originally for union and the south fought for states rights. When he was finished he looked at me with, I guessed, some hope of affirmation from me that this had been my plan. I think I replied "Yup." and smiled, knowing that I'd just put the blue guys on the left and the grey guys on the right cause I thought it looked cool. So much for the genius of me! ;) We had a nice lunch too. Watercolor, pen&ink, 2001.

For about 6 or 7 years I did a weekly editorial cartoon for "ComputerWorld" magazine. They'd send me an article which, quite often, contained issues which I wasn't all that versed in or products about which they seemed very excited but left me somewhat dazed. I'd receive the article in the morning on Tuesday and was asked to send a finished piece back by Wednesday in the a.m.. As often as not I'd spend Tuesday morning trying to figure out some sort of correlation between the 

content of the article and a visual metaphor that would express the content in a clever fashion, then I'd render the piece that afternoon and into the evening. I had fun and it was a nice gig. Unfortunately the publication went entirely digital back in 2010 and they've decided to not continue to publish editorial illustrations in this format. Pen&Ink, watercolor, 2007.

Spread illustration for "Stand Tall, Abe Lincoln" by Judith St. George, illus.d by me, publ.d by Phylomel/Penguin&Putnam. It is said that one experience in his childhood, illustrated above, influenced President Lincoln as his attitudes toward the abolishment of slavery evolved. Abe was playing at the crossroads with his older sister Sarah when a large group of children, women and men, chained at the waist, were driven past by men on horses brandishing whips. This was our America. Watercolor, gouache, 2004.

"No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end fastened about his own neck."

Frederick Douglass 

Oil, graphite on panel, 2012.

Thumbnail layout and color sketch for two different versions of the manuscript for "Mad Bunnies On Parade". Written and illus.d by me, yet to be published. Pencil, gouache, 2009. 

Color sketch for the title page of "Gaijin-American Prisoner of War", written and Illus.d by me, to be publ.d by Disney/Hyperion 2014. The story follows the imprisonment in an American concentration camp of a Japanese/Irish American young man named Koji and his Irish American mother Adeline during World War II. The government deemed Koji a threat to national security and ordered him and 120,000 other Japanese Americans (3/4s US citizens) to prison. His mother, being white, did not receive the same treatment. She fought bravely to keep Koji free but to no avail. In the end she chose to accompany her son to the prison camp in the American desert. Gouache, 2009.

Thumbnail for editorial illustration for ComputerWorld magazine. I think the article covered efforts to create legislation allowing for more intrusive investigation of business practices online. Business attempted to halt the effort with exclamations that their own IT departments could self-govern in a trustworthy manner. Or something like that. Pen&Ink, 2004.

A pencil sketch for "The Return of Fletcher Leadbelly", a sequel to a book I wrote and Illus.d called "The Amazing Voyage of Jackie Grace" (publ.d by Scholastic, 1985). I scanned the pencil sketch and then simply used the Hue/Saturation in the program to colorize the grey tones through waaaay too many layers. Was tedious but I liked the result. Luckily I also like the result of applying water color to paper. And my fingers don't ache as much when I'm using a brush instead of 

typing. Oh, and, "The Return of Fletcher Leadbelly" is a manuscript that has yet to find a home. So, if you're a publisher who needs a wild, funny, quirky graphic for 10 year olds- this one's for you! Otherwise, "Leadbelly" is going to be digitally self published and distributed through Amazon (scary, I know) as soon as I finish my graphic novel in January. Oh, and 

in these panels, Leadbelly has changed out of his substitute teacher disguise and taken control, with the help of Mrs. Duffy's 4th grade class, (to whom he'd made lot's of promises which he didn't mean to keep) of Parmenter Elementary school. Leadbelly and the kids have rigged the school as a schooner and are now sailing it down Main st. toward the harbor and freedom. Jackie Grace and Principal Dorfmann, having attempted to stop the madness, are now tied to the mast/flag pole on the roof with an orange extension cord. Things aren't looking very hopeful for the good guys. If only Mrs. Duffy were here. She'd know how to handle that dastardly pirate/substitute teacher. Pencil, photoshop, 2004.

 Abraham Lincoln sketch. Pen&Ink, 2009.

What would Abe do? Water color, 2012.

Thumbnail sketch for a series of sofa ads for Angotti, Thomas and Hedge, an ad agency in New York, NY. A,T&H are no longer in business but I worked with them doing lots of sketching (lucrative but draining) from the mid 80's through about 2006. Funny, all the time I was doing all that advertising work I couldn't wait to get free. And now, I kinda miss those guys. Understandable, I guess. I miss the people... not the work so much. Oh, and I got the sticker today, 11/6/12, from the nice lady at the polling station. Pencil, 1998.

Illustration for "Thank You Sarah, The Woman Who Saved Thanksgiving" by Laurie Halse Anderson and illustrated by me, publ.d by Simon&Schuster, 2003. Sarah Hale, born 1788, a widower who raised 5 children, a published author and publisher of America's first magazine for women- petitioned for abolishing slavery, equal education for girls and boys, ending corporal punishment for children and saved Thanksgiving for us all! Watercolor, pen&ink, 2002.

Color sketch which was used to sell my graphic novel manuscript "Gaijin-American Prisoner of War" to Disney Hyperion to be publ.d 4/14. Watercolor, gouache, 2009.

The sketch and final art for pg.s 20/21 of "Thank You Sarah, The Woman Who Saved Thankgiving!", written by Laurie Halse Anderson, illus.d by me and publ.d by Simon&Schuster. Working with Laurie's text was so much fun. The voice she created for the narration is smart and sassy- perfect for your third or forth grader. And I had the best time working with the editor, Kevin Lewis, on this project. He allowed me lots of flexibility and space to play, as per my inclusion of "It's Thanksgiving! Do you know where your turkey is?". There was a t.v. ad being shown at the time that said- "It's 10 o'clock- do you know where your kid is?" It was funny to me to use that popular line- slightly altered- in the illustration. Not every editor would've gone along with that because historical fiction tends to need illustration that stays very close to it's historic source. Kevin thought is was funny too. Since the book is still in print, I'm guessing some other folks enjoyed it as well! Pencil, pen&ink, water color, 2001.

Doctor's office doodle. I think I was channelling some Stratego characters from my youth. Pen&Ink, 2009.