well, its OFFICIAL. my illustration has been featured in the Sept-Oct 2008/ Interactive Annual 14 issue of CA. never thought it would happen but something i have always aspired to. dont know what else to say…
the writer Matthew Porter was a delight to have around for couple days, i am not much of a people person but he knows how to get you talking and knows how to make me seem like maybe, just maybe i know what i am doing…
thanks CA and thanks Mr. Porter.

and thanks to my representative Magnet Reps for their continual support and belief in my work (even when few others did) They truly help me continue to do what i love.

for those who would like to see the animations featured in the articles in their entirety, you can link to them here:
The Red Thread Project

Innards

due to the overwhelming interest from the BoingBoing faithful i thought it would be appropriate to take this opportunity to plug The Look Book

The Look Book is a charming peek into the lives of Ann and Ian, two siblings who leave the house one afternoon and see the world in unusual ways. The book combines stunning photographs of miniature scenes with dark wit and clever turns of phrase to create a delightful package.

copies can be purchased at your local quality bookstore, numerous places on line, and at the F&W site.

we had a nice little show back where i grew up in Randolph County, IN. the Art Association of Randolph County has a great facility thats a refurbished train depot.

some work from the past couple years and a few pieces from the look book were on display. and there was a book signing. the lady in red sweater (Mrs. Waltz) was my art teacher from 1st to 6th grade!!

there will be a little audio interview on the local NPR station WFYI 90.1fm here in Indianapolis.
the program is called The Art of the Matter. Hosts Sharon Gamble, Matt Socey and Travis DiNicola, joined by an array of fascinating guests, examine the cultural community from the perspective of who, what, when and where, while exploring the broader effects the arts have on our lives.

we talk about the See-Saw installation and a bit about The Look Book.
time and date:
the program will air and stream on Saturday Dec 8th at 4pm EST

After seeing a presentation by pixar at ICON 4 (the illustration conference in 2005) that was on the visual development for Cars, I was inspired by the color strips they make for the films as a guide for how the color flows through the film from scene to scene. A year after I saw that presentation, I sat down and sketched out thumbnails of the whole book and put some of my favorite movies in for about a day and locked the studio door, and just started taking watercolors to the sheet and tried to get the colors to go from morning to night through the book so the viewers could experience the day that the kids were traveling through.

i was approached by Arts Council Indianapolis this summer to submit concepts and sketches for a 26×9 foot outdoor lightbox as part of the Public Art Indianapolis project. The piece they chose is titled See Saw.

In this scenario Ian sees what Ann saw, hence the title See Saw. You, the viewer, cant exactly see what they see, but my intention is that you will be encouraged to take the time to look at things differently and also enjoy the varying viewpoints of others.

the piece was installed on October 2nd and will be up for 12 months.the crew from Sign Craft were nice guys that i enjoyed hanging out and working with on a beautiful day.

i wanted to have a piece that incorporated the large open hoosier sky above the location.

Located at the entrance of the Mass Ave Cultural district of Indianapolis, Ian and Ann welcome visitors to the area from three intersecting streets.

i’ll try to get a nice nighttime shot of the light box posted on hear soon.
cheers

here are two sketches that were in the first group of roughs that started it all taken from a sketch book while flying out to NY to meet with a publisher. the idea got some laughs but nothing serious came from it. the sketches got filed away back in the studio and from time to time i would sit down and make myself laugh coming up with sketches and word pairs. several months later i get a call from Megan Patrick an editor with HOW books that asked about any ideas i might have for ‘fun’ books. after a phone conversation where i run through several ideas and getting not much of a response, the one idea about a twin sister and brother that see the same thing in their own way written with homonyms, was the one that she liked and asked that i work on some more. after going through hundreds of homonyms we weeded it down to a resonable list that i started doing sketches from. out of those about 10% made the cut and that was how the book started.

I am pleased to announce the release of my first book that is titled ‘The Look Book’ published by F&W Publications.

As siblings Ian and Ann try to keep themselves entertained during a long and boring summer day, they learn that the world around them is more exciting than it first appears. After they leave the house on a quest for amusement, they come across an unusual array of characters and scenarios that make them see the world in surprising new ways. From exercising priest to priests exorcising, and kitchen sinks to sinking kitchens, everything depends on how you look at it. Creative word plays grace every spread and teach the duo that there’s plenty to see if you open your eyes to the world around you.

$17.99 (Can $21.99)
ISBN 978-1-58180-940-4

the book is available at:

http://www.fwbookstore.com/product/1552/0#

It is a solid 8″x8″ book packed with with 64 color illustrations. The cover is die-cut so you can see through the spectacle ‘lenses’ to Ian and Ann on the inside.

below are two spreads from the interior, click on them to enlarge:

It was reviewed on Pop Candy, USA Today’s blog that ‘unwraps pop culture’s hip and hidden treasures’ on 09/07/2007 in The Week in Pop: My Favorite Things. They had this to say about it.

A gorgeous book just came out called The Look Book by Chris Sickels (How Books, $17.99). It’s somewhere between a children’s book and an art book — he does this amazing 3-D illustrations that remind me of Tim Burton movies and the Neighborhood of Make-Believe.

http://blogs.usatoday.com/popcandy/2007/09/index.html