My dear blog. I have missed you these last few months. But as much as I miss you there have been good reasons for my absence, reasons that are justified and exciting, but also that I cannot dive into at the moment. And so I cannot stay long, just long enough to add a quick IF sketch for the subject "Pretend".

Enjoy.



I will return "shortly"...

-Mike

What can I say, summer's been busy. So hello again to those two of you who still check my blog once in a while. I've been working on a few different things that have left me not drawing as much as I would like. I have also just finished a project for a cool museum out of Philadelphia, and I hope to have permission to post it here some day. It was the largest project I have ever worked and I really mean that. Two illustrations each over 18 feet tall and quite wide too! Needless to say my computer was really strained and put to the test, and once again I am happy to say I love my Mac.

So anyways, back to business. I figured what better way to spend the afternoon getting back into the swing of things (especially on a Friday) than to participate in the new Illustration Friday topic. Routine is the word. I think for most people, work is a routine. Many people do the same thing every day, 9-5 (or longer). Taxi drivers came to mind for me (well the seven dwarfs did first but I didn't like how it was going). Driving all day must start to become pretty routine for these guys, but at the same time, every client must bring a slightly different experience or at least a different destination. So I've said enough. Been so long since I blogged I am now just babbling.



Have a great weekend everyone!
Take care,

-Mike

Happy May to you all. Well, I've been fairly busy so I just have time to do a quick update and post. Firstly, I know I talked about posting my pop-up book working footage on here, but it's going through a major revision currently. Rather than posting it as is, I would rather post the real one. I've also been hashing out several other children's book stories and have even had thoughts of Chuck Chance again. I've been learning the importance of having the story in a fairly solid MS draft (needing only minor tweeks) before taking any steps illustrating. It has been stressed to me a few times lately and I am finally starting to understand why (ie. drawing pages and spending time on art for a story that changes so much the art becomes useless...).

I've also done a few more illustrations for my good friends over at BoxClever . These guys do some of the coolest sites around and have a sweet studio. They've just finished doing the Elk Island Public School District's website and all the schools that belong there too! They did such an amazing job their work has been featured on Design Shack and CCS Vault. You may have to scroll on the Design Shack site to find it. When I posted this it was on page 5. I did a couple illos for templates for them. One I posted a while ago (can be seen below) and two others (one yet to be revealed for a school from Spruce Grove). Some sort of cool news with that too was one of the illustrations I did was featured in an article for cool web characters. You can see it here (about half way down-Colchester School) and the main page here which also happens to the school I went to in elementary.

So that's all for now. I hope to have more up soon again.

Take care,

-Mike

So it's mid April here in Edmonton. Spring was in the air, until this weekend. Wow! Looks like Christmas again outside. We've been having snow fall since last friday night and it's pretty bad. At least it's not 30˚below out there.

This week's Illustration Friday topic was Primitive. As soon as I read it I couldn't think of anything else but a caveman. I tried to think of something else over the weekend, but in the end I gave in and this is the fellow who's been haunting my imagination when ever I read that word.




In other news, I have tried and tested my pop-up templates and dummies about as much as they can stand it... and they're still working. This project is almost ready now to send "out there" again, so I will be revealing it very shortly. I also hope to upload a video of them in action.

Take care,
-Mike Boldt

Welcome to March! I decided that it was high time I was involved with Illustration Friday again, and so I spent a few hours this morning working on an illo for it. Then painter crashed on me. I am a crash-a-phob and so normally save every 15-20 minutes. Normally. In the last year I have been blessed with a machine that has never fully crashed and only had a few programs crash less times than the number of fingers I have. I love my Mac. So, I tried to look at the positive in this situation, being thankful that it didn't crash on a contract job. Then I decided (after opening an earlier saved version of it) that it basically sucked anyway. So I started over and did this this afternoon.



Take care,

-Mike

I have a blog? I post here...for real? Well, it doesn't seem like it does it. Where have I been the last THREE MONTHS?!!!

Well, in a word. Busy. In more words, I've been working on a new project that actually has me not drawing until just recently, as well as dipping my hands into a few other things. Christmas and the holidays as well as my son (Eli's) first birthday I also have to throw in there. Life can almost get away on you if you're not careful. Well, I'm taking it back by the tail. We'll just have to see how strong the grip I have is heh.

So without further ado here are a few of those things that I can show you:

This is a pic I did for my nephew for Christmas. I could have posted it earlier, but I didn't want to give it away for my Brother and his wife. I hope they like it. The characters are from an upcoming story for another kids book I am working on.


These next three are a series that I did for my son's room for his birthday. My (very very patient) wife had actually "ordered" these before he was born. I promised I would do them before he turned 1. The week before, she asked me how they were coming....heh. Almost huge oops. But I finished so here they are.


I don't even know what this is. Some lame attempt at some sort of wanna be concept art. Was fun anyways, I was trying something new in PS and mostly going for the form and pose. I hope the caliber of the art can increase as I try this more. Took around 15 minutes and that's probably years for this quality of work in this field.


This was for a friend turned client. He and his brother own a company doing websites and designs, really fantastic stuff. They host my main site for me too! Anyways, this was for a template that schools can choose when they make their website. Steve Mebs, is also my brother's best friend and he is amazing with media. He won an award from quicktime for the best musical short video one year! You must check out his company Box Clever here.


Here is a snippet from the project I am currently working on. I hope to finish off the initial work and get it sent down to my agent in the next week or two. I will fill you in with some more details as I get them closer to being finished. For now, the first hint I have for you is this guy is a crazy old peddler, who appears to hoodwink our poor poor main character. I've probably given the whole thing away already with that...ahh, but this is not going to be your normal style of kids book either. Those hints are coming next.


Well that's all I have for now. I know it's not a lot for the amount of time I have been "busy", but it's all I have for you. Feels good to blog again!

Take care,

-Mike


ps. I almost forgot. My awesome brother recently got his website going and even got a feature showing in a local gallery! He's sold a number of paintings from it already too! Way to go Bro!
Please check out his art on his site here at darrylboldt.com. The info for his showing is there too.

pps. It's absolutely freezing in Edmonton this week. It's averaged around - 40˚C (that's also -40˚F for you imperials)!!! with the windchill! That's cold! I have no idea why we live in this climate.