Saturday, November 10, 2007

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.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

possible book project...

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

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

movie sketches

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



Tuesday, October 16, 2007

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.

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

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.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

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

Friday, May 11, 2007

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.

Friday, May 04, 2007

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!

Friday, April 20, 2007

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).

Sunday, April 15, 2007

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).

Sunday, April 08, 2007

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)

Thursday, March 01, 2007

Ozzie Otter for Leap Frog... process

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

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

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

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

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)



Wednesday, February 07, 2007

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.

Sunday, January 28, 2007

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.

Saturday, January 27, 2007

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.