Just This Once, A Post About Cats

Here's a colored version of a digital coloring book page I created for IKeepSafe.org's Faux Paw series. If you've got little ones who surf the web, or if you'd like to know how to be safer online, this organization has some amazing and helpful resources you may want to check out.

I had a lot of fun with this little job, particularly as it was a chance to draw more cats. I love doing character design, and I've been fortunate to do a lot of it for the Faux Paw series. I designed Bella (far left), who is based on my own real-life cat, and Simon (far right), who is based on my parents-in-law's cat.

Thanks for allowing me to "show and tell" a bit, and thanks to everyone who has been following my blog lately! You guys are the greatest!

Remember Me?

So... It's been a while. Between three very involved projects, the holidays, and my incessant need to get at least four hours of sleep a day, I'm afraid I've neglected my poor little blog. I'm hoping to start posting tons of new stuff starting next week. (Yeah, we'll see, Ropp. You've done this before, you flake!)

In the meantime, I do have a couple of exciting announcements. The fourth Faux Paw the TechnoCat book and film are completed and currently being duplicated/printed for February. Here's a few images from the book. Layouts, pencils, and color by me. Backgrounds by the irreplacable Bryan Beach and inks by the indomitable Ken Chandler.

I have more news, but I'll wait until tomorrow to post it so there'll be two posts in one month!!!

I Told You I've Been Busy! Part One

At long last, the t's have been crossed and the i's have been dotted, and this project has been finished. I have eluded to the fact that I have been busy lately, and here's why... (Well, there are other things still pending, but this is ONE reason. I still have another MAJOR project that will be done this month that I'm excited to share with you.)

Anyway, this project is called "Faux Paw Goes to the Games", and it's a book and DVD that are now being sold by iKeepSafe.org, a great organization whose mission is to teach kids and their parents and teachers about being safe on the Internet. This is the third book, and it takes place in Beijing, China during the "Great Animal Games". I think it turned out just great, and I'm proud to share it here. Make sure to check out the iKeepSafe website when you're done here so you can see what they're all about!

The real reason to show you these images isn't to highlight my work, but rather to showcase the talents of two wonderful friends that are the real art superstars on the book. Ken Chandler patiently cleaned up and inked my chicken scratch character art, and Bryan Beach added amazing depth and value with his unbelievable background work. My hat goes off to them for their skillful work. Thanks, guys! I couldn't have done it without you!

Additional thanks needs to go out to Sally Linford for writing such a fun story, to Chad Erekson and Kelly Loosli for developing the original Faux Paw short film, and Shane Lewis for the artistic influence he may not even realize he had on this project.

Black and White

Here's a panda I designed for a freelance job that recently wrapped. All in all, I'm fairly happy with how he turned out, and it's always fun to work on something different. I'll post more from this project when I get the all-clear.

Sigh.. It's great to be blogging again.

I'm Back?

Well, I've been out of commission and out of the country for about a month now. Thank you to all of you who continued to read my blog anyway. :)

I still don't have something new to post here, so I, with great hesitancy, will post this instead. It's some character art I did earlier this year for a book called "Faux Paw Meets the First Lady". Faux Paw is the darker orange cat, and her cousin, Ernie, is the lighter one. I designed Ernie.

Hope everyone is doing well, and I promise I'll start posting less irregularly now that my jet lag has ebbed. To all those who wondered where I've been, I say "Thank You , Seth."