Numbers

A guy says, "You should illustrate my children's poem about numbers!"
I say, "Yay! :D"
A couple of concept sketches later, he's regretting it already!

Kiwis and milestones

Pomegranates come into the supermarket around Thanks-Giving, Navel oranges come in right around Christmas. End of January, apparently, is kiwi-time. Yesterday, while doing our regular weekly pick-up at the local store, Elrin and I ran into a stack of clear containers from California, each filled with 8 or so kiwi-fruit. Kiwis from the US? How unlikely! Preposterous, even!
And so, defying Elrin's common (?) sense, I got a box, instead of Italian-bred pile of loose fruit. The latter were definitely softer and, El thought, sweeter.

So, what's the word on the Cali-Kiwi's?

They are actually quite good; firm, but very sweet.



"Silence of the Lambs" is up in the book list, from the stack originally gotten from the folks' farm. Am about a third of the way through, and am very surprised that a character as cliche as an FBI trainee can hold ones' attention so well.

On the art end, I've finished off the black and white images for "Two Little Birds". It's a short story-book intended for the kiddies 2 to 3 years of age, with very little text, but a lot of pictures for the parent to talk their children through. Presently, I'm in mortal terror of actually coloring it in.

Chickies

Occasionally (about once every year), I get filled with enthusiasm and try to write/publish a book. Actually, writing is the easy part. It's the publishing bit that I haven't gotten around to mastering.

The most recent creative effort along these lines involves a children's book about a pair of flightless birds that discover some berries and build a ladder to get to them. The birds are of a "chickie" breed, or a breed invented to amuse my baby sister. They are blob-like, short-limbed, and utterly silly.

This is the inking of the first page. The added text is: "There lived in the forest two flightless birds..."
Currently am on page 10 out of 14 with it.

Completing ToD

Some 5 months after beginning, Tale of Daon, part 1 (~100k words), is finished. A couple of people are proofing it, and after that, an unhealthy number of copies shall be sent to publishers.

Onward with ToD #2~!