and then there's this.

A couple times a week.

Look!! 2 books this year!!
"OH, NUTS!"
written by Tammi Sauer
illustrated by Me
Available September 2012!

One of the sad things about illustrating children's books is when one of them gets held back a year as was the case with "Skeleton Cat" last year. It was supposed to come out for Halloween in 2011 but they had too many Halloween books that year so it got put on 2012's list. It takes soooo unbelievably, hard to describidly long to do a book, then once you turn it in with all the revisions, title pages, spine art etc. etc. it takes 2 or 3 more eternities for it to actually be printed, shipped halfway across the world, put in bookstores across the country and eventually be released into the wild so it seems like you're working working working your life away and nothing ever comes out, it's really very sad. BUT, the upside of that equation is that it does eventually come out and the upside to one be being held back a year is that you can have 2 come out in one year which for me is what 2012 is all about. So now, listed on Amazon's website and with an official ISBN# which as far as i'm concerned is proof that it will eventually be in the world is... "OH, NUTS!"
More to come closer to the release date on what it's all about and why you must have it and how it will change your life, but for now just know that it is alive and start saving up your $16.99
Thanks!!

I just started another audiobook that I'm already enjoying a lot right off the bat. It's called "The Witch's Boy" written by Michael Gruber and in the first 2:00 minutes of it a witch who lives in the woods stumbles on the world's ugliest baby in a basket left for her with a note saying "The devil's child for the devil's wife".

"Well well..." she said to herself. "Let us see what some rude person has left." She opened the basket and looked in "Gasp... Oh My!" she said aloud as she beheld the ugliest baby boy that she and perhaps anybody had ever seen. He had a piggish snout (i love those) and close set eyes of a peculiar yellowish color, his mouth wide and floppy was already full of square little grinders. He was covered in coarse dark hair resembling the bristles of a hog and his ears were huge and pointed like a bats. His body was also oddly shaped, like a sack of stones and his feet were far too large. Of all his features his hands alone might be called 'good' their long delicate fingers flexing as the stubby arms waved."

I really enjoy books that give good physical descriptions of the characters, so much fun to draw.

Here's the link to the "Yirdswine" piece up for auction through Drawing Dreams, the charity that provides art supplies for hospitalized children. give til it hurts!

Drawing Dreams.org

Grocery Store #2 of 5,000. gender confusion.

Going to the grocery store with Mia #1 of 5,000.

Frankenstein is my very favorite story and I just started listening to it once again on audiobook and all i can say is... it's still my very favorite story. Nice work 18 year old Mary Shelley.


It's one of those books where you're so familiar with the story from all of the movie versions that you think you know inside and out what it's all about, then you read it and see it couldn't be more completely different. For anyone who hasn't read it yet I won't ruin it by telling you what it's really like, but i will say he doesn't walk around slowly, grunting like a zombie.

Here's a shot from the very beginning where Dr. Frankenstein is pursuing his demon creation literally to the ends of the earth, up on the North Pole, where he is on death's door and happens upon a ship very coincidentally exploring the north pole. He's down to his last sled dog and almost frozen to death and the ship's captain asks him if he wants a ride but instead of saying "sure that would be great, i'm almost dead" he says "mmm, i dunno. it depends which way you're going. 'cause i made this demon creation and i'm really into catching and destroying him" but he says it in that old-timey eloquent way people used to talk back then that's super cool.

and that's just the beginning. I love this book.