Toilet Paper Book Cover

I'm doing a series of Facebook Live drawing classes for the JCC of Greater Boston (Tuesdays at 9:30am ET), where I help kids learn to create characters using describing words.

In preparation for one of the classes (and in consideration of the Covid-19 pandemic currently in progress) I drew a TP Man who I liked enough that I wanted to finish the drawing. Well, once I got started I decided to turn the illustration into a book cover.

I hand lettered the title, and then like a high school student pulling a prank, I TPed the word "The".

Update: I turned this into an origin story! You can read the entire origin on my comics website: edfrednedcomics.com

Groundhog Day 2019!

It's Groundhog Day 2019, and for this installment, I decided to create a comic. Why- because I'm working on a graphic novel, and I wanted to keep the momentum going!

This one's for all the optimists as well as the pessimists. There's something for everyone!

Thanks for looking and sharing- I appreciate it!

There are MANY more Groundhog Day illustrations on this blog.

I have a collection of my favorite Groundhog Day illustrations on Behance.

Scarves- Book Cover Illustration

Middle grade chapter book cover illustration

Work in progress:

Monochromatic Boy Waving

Detail:

Bad Puppy!

Middle grade book illustration

As with all dogs and many children, this pup has NO idea he did anything wrong.

I kept things simple with this illustration- stingy with colors except for a few accents, and a simple composition.

Sometimes it's fun to hold back a little...

Groundhog Day 2018!

Happy Groundhog Day!

What's Worse Than 6 More Weeks of Winter?

This is a little departure from my usual Kidlit and Kid's education work. Normally I don't go political with my yearly Groundhog Day illustration, but this time around it couldn't be helped.

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And here's an alternate version:

Thanks for looking and sharing- I appreciate it!

There are MANY more Groundhog Day illustrations on this blog.

I have a collection of my favorite Groundhog Day illustrations on Behance.

Coming Soon: Groundhog Day

Anybody who knows me is well aware of my interest (Or obsession, really) in Groundhog Day. 

In the very early days of my career as an illustrator, I wanted to celebrate a lesser-appreciated holiday to promote my business, so every year, I drew a groundhog illustration, and sent it out into the world. 

In the early days, I simply printed the illustration or cartoon on a postcard and snail-mailed it. These days it gets posted on every social media platform known to man.

Every now and then I find a little extra time to do some one-off sketches leading up to the holiday, and below you'll find one of them. 

For this year's illustration- keep an eye out on February 2!

Thanks for reading and looking! If you want to see my Groundhog Day illustrations from years gone by, click HERE.

Challenges of a Student with Poor Time Management Skills

The first student I illustrated for Engaging Minds is physically and mentally disorganized.

The second student is stressed out and has trouble concentrating. 

The third student (below) has poor planning and time management skills. He has trouble following directions.

Attributes of student 3 include:

• Poor planning and time management skills
• Doesn’t use a planner (s/he says she can just remember things in her head or just find it online)
• S/he doesn’t even really know how to use a planner to begin with so s/he jettisons it
• Doesn’t know how to prioritize
• Doesn’t know how to make lists
• Doesn’t know how to break down tasks into manageable pieces
• Never learned how to effectively plan out long-term assignments
• Doesn’t know how to create an agenda and estimate time on task
• Poor self-monitoring
• Doesn’t read directions
• Doesn’t follow the rubric
• Doesn’t use an assignment book effectively
• Doesn’t follow through on goals and plans

Engaging Minds is a learning and tutoring center in Massachusetts that helps students to enhance their academic engagement, and strengthen executive function and learning skills.

Challenges of a Stressed Out Kid

The first student I illustrated for Engaging Minds is physically and mentally disorganized.

The second student (below) is stressed out and has trouble concentrating. 

The third student has poor planning and time management skills.

The top image was a lot of fun to put together. How often does one get to include a 'poop' emoji in one's art?

Attributes of student 2 include: 

• Stressed out!
• Procrastinates and struggles with task initiation
• Always leaves things for the last minute
• Constantly thinks s/he has more time
• Easily overwhelmed
• Doesn’t know where to begin
• Doesn’t know how to break assignments down into manageable pieces
• Doesn’t have a homework routine
• Can’t focus
• Has a really hard time sitting and doing work for more than 20 minutes at a time
• Constantly daydreaming while reading
• Easily distracted – even by the squirrel out in the front yard
• Inflexible
• Unwilling to try new approaches; stuck in a rut and can’t see another way out
• Has a hard time shifting from one activity to the next
• Doesn’t do well when things don’t go as planned

Trouble focusing:

Procrastinates and struggles with task initiation:

 Inflexible:

Engaging Minds is a learning and tutoring center in Massachusetts that helps students to enhance their academic engagement, and strengthen executive function and learning skills.

Challenges of a Disorganized Student

Engaging Minds is a learning and tutoring center in Massachusetts that helps students to enhance their academic engagement, and strengthen executive function and learning skills.

Dan Levine, President and Founder, was in need of visuals to help convey certain types of students and their challenges in his presentation to parents, and he called on me to create them.

The first student (below) is physically and mentally disorganized.

The second student is stressed out and has trouble concentrating.

The third student has poor planning and time management skills.

Attributes of student 1 include:

• Disorganized
• Physical disorganization
• Messy backpack, messy binders, messy locker, messy bedroom 
• Consequently, s/he can’t find their homework, the book they’re reading for class, or their assignment book. 
• Mental disorganization
• Can’t get ideas out of their head and onto paper, doesn’t know how to take notes, doesn’t effectively prepare for exams, can’t follow multi-step directions.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I'll post the other 2 kids another time.

Cool Shark

Even sharks can have a soft spot.

Spring Animals

It's finally feeling a bit more like Spring!

This is a version of an illustration I created for my long-time client, Groovy Baby Music, a school of music for kids, to advertise their Spring semester.

Spring is all about COLOR! FUN! And finding animals in your backyard playing musical instruments!

And this is what Groovy Baby Music's version looked like:

A Boy and His (Skeptical) Cat

Groundhog Day 2017

Happy Groundhog Day!
Welcome to another installment of the groundhog's quest to see/not see his shadow!

This year, the illustration is connected to a chapter book I've begun writing. 

In this story, the groundhog has banded together with other buck-toothed creatures of the forest to travel to the Shadowlands and get back his shadow.

I currently have a 200-page manuscript for a middle grade book getting shopped around with my literary agent, Rick Richter of Aevitas Creative Management and I'm excited to see which publishing house picks it up!

There are MANY more Groundhog Day illustrations on this blog.

I have a collection of my favorite Groundhog Day illustrations on Behance.

New Illustrated Books for Sports Illustrated Kids

I illustrated a couple of Starting Line Readers for Capstone Publishing and Sports Illustrated Kids and they're out now! 

Plus we got a new puppy- her name is Rogue.

Below are some sample illustrations from both books.

If you're interested in purchasing these books, please consider supporting your local bookstore.

Baseball Buzz

Gymnastics Jump

Flashlight Flynn- Chapter Book Illustration

Chapter book illustration:

The lights go out in the museum as the famous diamond is stolen, and it's up to Flynn and his (super) classmates to find the thief.

What My Kid is Reading-The Terrible Two

The Terrible Two
Written by Jory John and Mac Barnett
Illustrated by Kevin Cornell
Age range: 8-12
Released: January, 2013

What's this book about?
Miles is a kid who moves to a new town and meets a boy named Niles. But they don't know that the two of them are pranksters- when they realize this, they build the ultimate prank for April Fool's Day for their school.

Is the prank really great?
Yes! By the power of the cow, they manage to pull off the perfect April Fool's prank.

Um, the power of the cow...?
Miles' principal gave him a book called 1,346 Things You May Or May Not Know About Cows and you need to read the book to figure out why cows are so important.

This sounds like a fun book. Is it really funny?
Yeah, it was full of jokes and pranks you'll never forget.

Is the book illustrated?
There were a couple of illustrations on every few pages and they really helped the story and also made me laugh.

How did they help the story?
They helped the story by showing me what the story means and by giving me more details. It also made the story more fun because the drawings were so playful.

Why did we buy this book?
Because my dad (that's me!) loved the cover of the book (and the inside art!). And the title.

Who would you recommend this book to?
Anyone who wants inspiration for April Fool's Day pranking. Or for anyone who wants the power of the cow (just kidding).

Are you interested in reading book #2?
I already did and I thought it was even better than book #1.

Wow! We'll have to review it sometime!
Sure, why not!

How would you rate this book?
4.7 stars (out of 5)

Thanks Leo!

Buy The Terrible Two from Amazon
More book reviews from Leo

Girls in the Grass

Picture book illustration

A Girl and Her Horse

I never get to draw horses so for this illustration I put in three. Yay!

This is an interior black and white illustration for a chapter book.

This was loads of fun- I hope you enjoy it as well.

Kidlit Group Gallery Show

Update: Here's an article from Artscope Magazine about our show with a few quotes from me. 

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I'm currently in a group gallery show with 3 other talented children's book illustrators at the Hess Gallery in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.

I have 9 book illustrations in the show. In the bottom photo you can see my son reading below my illustration with a quote by Neil Gaiman: "A book is a dream that you hold in your hands."

On March 9, we gathered for a conversation with students from Pine Manor College to discuss how we create our work and how we get work in the crowded field of illustration. It's always interesting to compare notes with fellow illustrators!

Each of us does very different work:

Priscilla Alpaugh Cotter works in watercolor and colored pencil

Wayne Geehan works in acrylics and oils

Toby Williams works with cut paper

The show is up until August 1, 2016. If you have a chance to check it out, let me know what you think!