Kids Stuff - Part 3

Here are some scans of the original art I created for Gallery Ghost (see previous post). I did small portraits of twenty-four artists whose work is in The National Gallery. I have sketches of a few others I did (like Albrecht Durer) who didn't make the final cut for one reason or another. As I mentioned in the previous post, I enjoyed drawing these portraits -- I hadn't really done anything like that before. I always tell clients I don't "do" likenesses -- I mean, I've done them, but it's just not my forte. "A man has to know his limitations" and all that. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed trying to capture the artists in a way that might appeal to kids (i.e. as friendly-looking & cheerful rather than as tormented, desperate or unhinged -- although I may have enjoyed drawing them that way even more!).

Kids Stuff - Part 2

I mentioned this project I illustrated - Gallery Ghost - in a previous post. It was a 9" x 12" hardcover book, but also a clever game, designed to get kids interested in looking at art. It was done in conjunction with the National Gallery and was sold there, I believe, as well as in other museum bookstores around the country. As I say, it was an illustration job and I pretty much just followed the instructions of the designer and publisher. I did enjoy drawing all the portraits of the artists, though. Here is a look at some of the interior pages.

Gallery Ghost

A couple of years ago I got an assignment to do the cover ( as well as dozens of interior drawings) for an oversize hardcover book for kids called "Gallery Ghost". The story (actually a clever game) involves the ghosts of artists whose work is in the National Gallery (where the story takes place) coming out at night and adding little details to each other's work. An art student who works the night shift cleaning up the gallery discovers these paranormal hi-jinks and the ghosts allow her to participate in the fun. Anyway -- after the usual round of thumbnails, a cover idea was chosen and a full-size sketch was made.

At the same time I had also done a sketch for a border that was going to go on the title page.

A suggestion was made that perhaps the border could be used on the cover instead, so I did a mock-up to see how that would look.

Luckily everyone agreed it was way too busy. (The border didn't even end up in the final version of the book.) So we went back to the more simple cover illustration. I did the final and the designer added type, as well as the images of actual paintings.