Putting the Star on Top

I am easily rankled by seeing Christmas items/images prior to Thanksgiving, but alas I am now a purveyor of such. This is an image I just finished this morning for a Holiday Show in December.

possible book project...

A few rough sketches I did for a potential upcoming book about an overly hyper Dalmatian named Lincoln.

movie sketches

Here's a couple caricatures from some recent viewings of Monster Squad and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Sludgeco!

Here are some rough designs for two new characters in the next Buzz Beaker graphic novel (#5!) I am doing called 'Gone with the Windmill'

Fall 07 Promo

This is my promotional mailer for this fall... I like it but think it may have deviated a bit too much from where I am TRYING to go with my style.

sample spread from Theo dummy

here's some random before/after samples from the dummy I am working on for my picture book, 'Theo's Tremendous-Stupendous Thumb'. I am almost ready to start pitching it. The manuscript is revised again and the dummy is complete but I just want to do a couple finished illustrations to go along with it. I'll post those when I am done.

FANG FAIRY released today!

The first book I have written has been published and is available now (I also illustrated it)! It is my fourth book in total. It's part of a four book 'Jeremy Kreep' series. The first title is called FANG FAIRY!

Check it out on Amazon and ask your local libraries and schools to order it!
http://www.amazon.com/Fang-Fairy-Andy-J-Smith/dp/1598898914/ref=sr_1_1/105-5357576-1608413?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1184885124&sr=1-1

new promo mailer

As soon as i finished this, i went to upload it to the USPS mailer site... and found that it was down. WHAT??? anyway, I am happy with how this turned out. I wanted to make a promo that was not a pre-existing image from a job. Didn't have much time but I managed to pick away at it here and there during the week. I have to do one more for games/greeting card companies.

BNL mojizu illustration

whipped this up VERY QUICKLY - gave myself a 2 hr deadline and did this just for fun for the Mojizu Bare Naked Ladies cel phone contest. It's probably not going to read too well, though as a tiny cel phone image. At least it wouldn't on my Flintstones cel phone!

Can a children's book character be two different colors?

I have always loved the cartoon, 'Gerald McBoing Boing' (if you haven't seen it, do so at... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNsyQDmEopw ). In the cartoon, the colors of the scene AND THE CHARACTERS are dictated more by mood than by realism. An element of clothing, hair, or accessory stays consistent in color scheme throughout to provide some continuity and familiarity. I have always loved this look.

As an experiment for a children's book dummy I am writing/illustrating, I wanted to see if this color approach would work in illustration. WOULD KIDS UNDERSTAND THAT IT IS NOT A NEW CHARACTER? WOULD PUBLISHERS BE SHY ABOUT THIS BOOK SELLING FOR THAT REASON (even if kids didn't have a problem with it)?

YOU DECIDE!







Here are three examples. Two are interior scenes, both in the kitchen. The other is in the backyard. (Don't try to follow along with the storyline too much - these illustrations jump around - basically it's about a 5 year-old boy who is reluctant to stop sucking his thumb).

OLD caricatures...

I'd love to do more caricature work. I haven't done any in quite some time. Here are some oldies from various projects. I think the likenesses are all pretty good but I'd like to push the envelope with exaggeration and some more subtle features as well. More to come hopefully!


These are more in the vein of what I want to do with caricature work. I think these are a little bit more fun (unfortunately you have no idea who these people are). They're some of my classmates at RIT where I got my Master's a few years back. I think I nailed the likenesses and personalities even if they border a bit on offensive (I hope they don't TOO much).

Stink Bug Saves the Day - odds and ends

Just finished 'Stink Bug Saves the Day' and am actually fairly happy with the outcome!


Above is an unusued character (hotel manager). It would have seemed a little forced to include him.



Here is the cover (rough and final image without type)

Ozzie Otter for Leap Frog... process

Was asked by the publisher to take down the images... until 2009 - check back then! HA!

Sketchbook compilation now available!

been meaning to put this together for toooo long. Had some free time and finally made it happen. A lot of fun stuff in here rnaging from personal doodles to rough drawings from various animation studios and illustration projects! Rated G to PG. I was too scared to include any of the racier stuff...
order it here:
http://www.cafepress.com/SmittyCartoons

Night of the Fang Monster - COLOR pages!

Just finished Night of the Fang Monster, thanks to some helps from some pals of mine! Here are two beauty-ful spreads colored by pal 'o mine, Scott Cohn (make sure to check his amazing work at www.ScottCohn.com)

Peanut Butter and Jelly Saurus

This is a promotional piece that will eventually be part of the dummy for a children's book I just wrote called (tentatively) Peanut Butter and Jelly Saurus.

Global Frying

Environmental Issues have always been pretty big to me so when gotRainForest.com asked if I would do a charity piece, I was more than happy to oblige.

greeting cards

I've started doing greeting cards and hopefully this becomes a steady side gig for me... here's a few halloween cards and a birthday card (Old Dog)...

sneak peak -- Jeremy Kreep

Here's the unfinished cover and a sample spread (minus text) from the first Jeremy Kreep book, Night of the Fang Monster. The borders in the final interior will be black or dark grey, not this cracked paint look.