I designed the boys dance costumes for their Hakuna Matata end of year revue at Celestial Stars Arts Academy. I had never used fabric paint before this experience, so that was pretty interesting. I used other costume designs as inspiration, and got to sewing and painting.
Lion Costume.
Meerkat Costume
Warthog Costume.
The Bankrupt Circus and Other Misadventures by J. Bradley Minnick has been published by Silent Clamor Press! You can buy a copy through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Bookshop.org.
The book is a compilation of short stories “Together, the stories form a portrait of America at its edges-where working-class rituals, childhood games, and neighborhood legends are transformed into metaphors for endurance.”
I worked on five of the story cover illustrations including “Notes from Tennis Camp,” “Fly Stand, Inquire Herein,” “Innocently to Amuse the Imagination in this Dream of Life is Wisdom,” “The Twisted S,” “The Last Telegraph,” and the dedication.
I was working on story illustrations for J. Bradley Minnick prior to this project. His publisher suggested we collaborate on more, and that I be added to the book. I worked on these for about two months to meet the publication deadline. It was a very exciting time.
I worked in the studio – drawing, painting, scanning, and putting it all together. I use staedtler 2B pencils on either 400 series Strathmore Bristol or 1264 Fabriano Mix Media Multi-Technique. For color, I use inktense pencils, Faber Castell watercolor pencils, and winsor and Newton Designers Gouache and paint with a series of Princeton Lauren brushes. I scan the paintings using an HP OfficeJet Pro 7740 and use the Adobe Creative Suite Photoshop program on an iMac for final composition. Here are a few studio pictures of the project!
“Notes from Tennis Camp” was a really fun illustration because it was interactive. We purchased a tennis racket and tennis balls to get a feel for the story. The kids got to play tennis and we ended up with a really nice image on that one because of it.
“Fly Stand, Inquire Herein” was the grossest illustration to work on because of the pictures of flies and rats. I was trying to look without looking while I was painting.
“Innocently to Amuse the Imagination in this Dream of Life is Wisdom” was a bit of a puzzle for me because I wanted it to look very classic. There are a lot of writers referenced in this story, and at first I was thinking of making their portraits, but landed on their head busts instead to further accentuate the old wisdom in literature. I also had to ask my mom to send me the title in her fancy cursive. I think she liked helping on this one.
“The Twisted S” was a seemingly simple illustration, but all of the components had to fit together just right for this one to work well. I got E.K. to model this one for me because she was the most flexible of the kids.
“The Last Telegraph” illustration was very much finished in my imagination after reading the story, so it was only a matter of painting all of the pieces. This small sketch is what I sent J. Bradley Minnick, so you can see that he’s very trusting of my imagination!
The Dedication illustration was inspired from my own family portraits wall.
I’m so thankful I got to work on this great project.
Micah got a text from a friend asking us to make a fake EP for a fake record label. No expectations and no pressure. How nice! We wrote five songs and spent the next two weekends recording.
As we worked, the kids began to watch and sing along. Along with the songs, L.K. put together fun album art. A childhood picture of L.K. on a bicycle reappears on the front, and the back features our first daughter E.K. skipping at a lake. The word “hey” appears in every song. So that happened. We put it on our bandcamp. We hope you take a listen.
“The Damsels in Distress: Book of Songs” is a Paper Opera project to include all of The Damsels in Distress songs. Each page will include song lyrics and an accompanying illustrated image of each song.
Album: Spinning Plates
My name is Carla. This is my shop.
Part my heart and most my time.
My name is Carla.
My name is Todd. I am around.
Maybe you’ve seen me walk downtown.
My name is Todd.
With Pastiche design your home.
With fun new toys for boys and girls.
A stylish world. Affordable.
Plates and cups and Freitag bags.
And fun bright colored tags.
That move and swing.
This is real art. Pastiche.
“The Damsels in Distress: Book of Songs” is a Paper Opera project to include all of The Damsels in Distress songs. Each page will include song lyrics and an accompanying illustrated image of each song.
Album: Spinning Plates
I like you. You are mine.
All the time. All the time.
There are things I need to do.
And though alone, I still need you.
And sometimes I need to draw.
I need to paint. I need my space.
And I know you need the same.
And then we meet and dance and change.
Paper Opera 