Sketch of Siham, a young woman I met while visiting a Muslim community center in Dearborn, Mi.. Pencil, 1995.

Final art for pg.s 18&19 for "You're On Your Way, Teddy Roosevelt", written by Judith St. George, illus.d by me & publ.d by Phylomel. This image is set in the early 1870's down by Manhattan's east side docks. Teddy and family are about to embark on a world tour. I included as many my family's names in the signage as space would allow. Water color, gouache, 2004. 

Sketch for a "Muscle and Fitness" magazine article on the benefits of choosing fish over red meat as your protein choice. Don't know where the final art is for this article but I like the sketch. Pen&Ink, 2012.

Page 8 & 9 for a book I illust.d called "Bedtime Prayers", publ.d by Hallmark. The kids look pretty involved in their prayers. I think the puppy is just waiting for them to stop worshipping the extra large cheese burger on the bed so he can get busy on it. Not sure why I made that throw pillow look like a fast food item. Does look like a sesame seed bun though, don't it? ;) Water color, gouache, 2007.

Sketch I did last night whilst listening to the wonderful sounds of my bonus child's band concert. I like to listen to music and draw. Pencil, 2012.

Say hello to Sarah Hale- American Super Hero. Sarah Hale was born in 1788. A widower who raised 5 children on her own in spite of the pressures of society at that time which preferred that young wives, upon the death of their husbands, give

 their children away to "established" family members (read- "homes with husbands") or put them up for adoption. She was an author, wrote the song "Mary Had A Little Lamb" and as publisher of America's first magazine for women she introduced the work of Edgar Allan Poe and more to the world. She petitioned for abolishing slavery. She worked to establish a system of equal education for girls and boys. She worked to end corporal punishment for children. And... she saved Thanksgiving for us all! This is a character sketch for "Thank You Sarah, The Woman Who Saved Thanksgiving" by Laurie Halse Anderson and illustrated by me, publ.d by Simon&Schuster. Pencil, October, 2001.

Page 7 for a book I illust.d called "Bedtime Prayers", publ.d by Hallmark.  The stuffed animals are lookng a little worried. But the baby and her sister sure look happy. Water color, gouache, 2007.

Title page spread for "Trick or Treat On Monster Street", by Danny Schnitzlein and illus.d by me, publ.d by Peachtree.  I really had fun painting this book. Jack-o-lanterns can be a tricky item to render. You've got to show the candle light emanating from within but also light sufficiently from without.  Water color, gouache, 2008.

Fletcher Leadbelly; a character in the sequel to "The Amazing Voyage of Jackie Grace", my first author/illustrated picture book publ.d by Scholastic in 1985. Yes, he is a cross-dressing substitute teacher/pirate. Pencil, 2008. 

Looking forward to 11/7/12. Pen&Ink, 1992 with some photoshop text & color, 2012.

Portrait of elder Frederick Douglass. Pen&Ink 2007.

This page shows a bust up between Jo (the leader of the gang of interned Japanese American young men) and Tosh, (a fellow gang member and weisenheimer who like to challenge Jo). Water color and pencil, 2012. Line work post coming up.

Close up of Jo thumping on Tosh. Water color and pencil, 2012. Line work post coming up.

Ain't nobody gonna put the Goddess in a binder. A Nikki Giovanni jewel in honor of my sisters. 

Ego Tripping (there may be a reason why)
by Nikki Giovanni
I was born in the congo
I walked to the fertile crescent and built the sphinx

I designed a pyramid so tough that a star that only glows every one hundred years falls into the center giving divine perfect light
I am bad
I sat on the throne drinking nectar with allah
I got hot and sent an ice age to europe to cool my thirst
My oldest daughter is Nefertiti the tears from my birth pains created the nile
I am a beautiful woman
I gazed on the forest and burned out the sahara desert with a packet of goat's meat and a change of clothes
I crossed it in two hours
I am a gazelle so swift so swift you can't catch me
For a birthday present when he was three I gave my son Hannibal an elephant
He gave me rome for mother's day
My strength flows ever on
My son Noah built new/ark and
I stood proudly at the helm as we sailed on a soft summer day
I turned myself into myself and was
Jesus
men intone my loving name
All praises All praises
I am the one who would save
I sowed diamonds in my back yard
My bowels deliver uranium the filings from my fingernails are semi-precious jewels
On a trip north
I caught a cold and blew My nose giving oil to the arab world
I am so hip even my errors are correct
I sailed west to reach east and had to round off the earth as I went The hair from my head thinned and gold was laid
across three continents
I am so perfect so divine so ethereal so surreal
I cannot be comprehended except by my permission
I mean...I...can fly
like a bird in the sky...

In honor of Spirit Day 2012: 
In 2007, my son Gabriel Faulkner and I had the privilege to visit this gentleman's village while traveling with our friend Malidoma Some to Burkina Faso, West Africa. Before arriving, Malidoma explained to us that this gentleman and his partner are what the Dagara (the tribe dominant in that area) people call "Gatekeepers". A Gatekeeper is a very important part of the

 community. Gatekeepers, by their biological/spiritual makeup are natural guides/interpreters of all things spiritual. They sit, both metaphorically and physically at the threshold between the material world and the spiritual realms. Malidoma also shared with us that Gatekeepers are gay. He told us that there is no same gender couple fears in Dagara culture. Malidoma paraphrased- "Why would anyone fear or threaten the existence of a person or couple when they bring so much good to the community. It's not even an issue that is considered here. Furthermore, the Dagara find western phobias on this issue to be the expression of a community that has a lot of growing up to do." Charcoal, 2007.

Sketches and final art for a Dungeon and Dragons "Hidden Realms" Monster Catalogue. Editorial comments on prelim sketch #1 asked me to darken and add more armor. The editor loved the character's face. I did too. I was happy to redraw the body because I wasn't satisfied with the proportions or pose. I created a new body in sketch #2 and plopped down the head from sketch #1 to create sketch #3. I'm fairly happy with the final art but there are some nice qualities in sketch #3 that I don't think made it all the way through to the final. Pencil, water color, gouache, 2002.

A sketch for a Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual.  A "Taer" is a gorilla/humanoid warrior dude. Pencil, 2002.

Coloring book art I created for Drawing Dreams. Drawing Dreams is a nonprofit organization that provides art supplies and Pop Cap interactive video games to hospitalized children through children's hospitals' Child Life and Artist-in-Residence programs.  Drawing Dreams has partnered with Maine-based eco-kids to produce a coloring book for children.  Picture book and graphic novel illustrators have been asked to submit two drawings for the book. The coloring book will be donated and distributed to hospitalized children and sold online and at selective retail venues.  Proceeds from online and retail sales will help fund printing costs and distribution to children’s hospitals. Pen&Ink, 2012.

Sketch of Angel Gabriel for Tarot deck of cards. Pen&Ink, 2004.

Overheard while waiting in line for a movie last night:

Teen #1:

 I can't go back to my church's youth group.

Teen #2: 

How come?

Teen #1: 

I argued with the grown-ups at the church because they said that the Holy Spirit won't enter into a Gay because their not pure and that means they can't go to heaven.

Teen #2: 

What!? That's so wrong!

Teen #1: 

I know. I told them God loves everybody and it doesn't matter who they love. I was really angry. They just told the kids in the youth group to talk with me. It was terrible. So I don't go to the youth group anymore. I wish I could find a church that believes in love.

Wow, just saw the date on this. I've been sitting on this story for almost twenty years. Somebody give this little story a home! Title page sketch for a book which I wrote called "Quin's Bridge".  The story tells of young Quin and the rather restless night he experiences when his dreams 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 wake. Pen&Ink, 1993.

Sketch for illustration in either Cricket or Spider magazine, can't recall. Grandpa decides to act like a kid again for a day and has way too much fun. Very upsetting for the grandkids. They were so busy with their electronic virtual fun that they'd forgotten how cool it was to goof around outside... until Grandpa started doing righteous kickflips off the ramp out back. Pencil, 2001.

A wizened old face seen at a coffee shop. Pencil, 1997.

Character sketch for the hero of a book which I wrote called "Quin's Bridge". Say "Hello." to Quinlan Quirke. The story tells of young Quin and the rather restless night he experiences when his dreams get caught on this side of reality and require him to help them build a bridge (made from most 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 wake. Pen&Ink, 2007.

Intermediate sketch for a full illustration in kid's magazine "Cricket". The model for the cat was "Tiki", my nut-job siamese from childhood. Tiki used to open the refrig at night and toss food out to the dog. Pencil, 1999.

Thumbnails for an illustration on a non-decision handed down by the Supreme Court concerning patent rights. The Court decided to talk around the issue and not truly deal with it... leaving the tricky legal situation unresolved. Hence the visual metaphors of a Justice punting the issue down field on the left and the whole group of Justices passing the buck on the right. Was a fun job. Going to see if I still have the final and post that later. I think this is the last illustration I created for Lawyer's Weekly magazine before the paper-based version of the publication folded and they went completely digital and non-illustration. Pencil, 2010.

End paper double-page spread for "Trick or Treat On Monster Street" by Danny Schnitzlein and illus.d by me, publ.d by Peachtree. Embarrassing to note that this double-page illustration is for a vertical format book and that I did the original sketches for an horizontal format book. When I turned in the final art, the art director graciously converted the horizontal type layout to the surprising new vertical one I'd just delivered. Never heard a word about it from her until coincidentally I presented some of the material from this book to an SCBWI conference at which she too was presenting a few years back. She sat in on my talk and smiled as I acknowledged that I'd made a classic newbie mistake on my 34th book project. Very classy. Gave her some big applause. Water color, gouache, 2008.

Intermediate sketch for a Wall Street Journal illustration. The article talked about a troublesome moment in the McDonalds conglomerate's expansion. Burger King had tried and failed at introducing products that emphasized vegetables. This confused marketers because studies proved loud and clear that healthy eating was very much on the mind of the public. McDonalds was starting to feel the pressure to add similar products but was holding back on investing in the trend. From hind sight we can see they're still holding back. Pencil, 1999.

Intermediate character sketch of Capt. Quirke of the good ship "Frowsty Dophin". This and not the earlier thumbnail post is the quality of sketch I like to show the client. I've worked out the underlying shape and how that expresses the character's personality, I get how the character moves, I've added some light sources, leaving very little for the client to find ambiguous. I have no problems if they  want to make changes, what I don't like is when I've not presented a product that is mostly realized from my perspective. Pencil, 2009.

Character study for Capt. Quirke of the good ship "Frowsty Dolphin". This is primarily a thumbnail page in which I work out the underlying shapes that make up the overall form of the character. From here I'd choose the shape that best expresses the character's personality. In this case I dug the sketch in the upper middle and started to render him here rather than moving on to an intermediate sketch page. I did that later, however, and will post that one too. Pencil, 2008.

Happy Birthday to Mohandas K. Gandhi! He turned 143 years young yesterday. Long live Gandhi-ji and his message of love! Oil on panel, 4.5' x 2', 2010.

Final art for "Stand Tall Abe Lincoln" written by Judith St. George, illus.d by me and publ.d by Phylomel/Penguin&Putnam. That's Abe and his sister Sarah right down front and next to the teacher. I had fun designing and painting the various kid's faces, specially the weisenheimers. Water color, gouache, 2004.

Guess I was in a D and D/bathroom cleaning kind of mood when I did this. 

I'm thinking that I did this to show my son Gabriel Faulkner (he was 12 at the time) how I really felt about toilet maintenance. Drawing can be such fun! Pencil, 2004.

F and G sheet (folded and gathered) for the book "Because I Could Not Stop My Bike" by Karen Jo Shapiro and illus.d by me, publ.d by Charlesbridge. This was a fun book to work on- classic poems re-tooled by Karen to make them a little more accessible to kids. Gouache, water color, 2003.