Magazine Artwork - Emerald Hills

Here's an illustrated version of Emerald Hills in Louisville, Kentucky where our headquarters are located for Team Expansion.  I made this using CorelDraw X5 for possible use in our organization's magazing coming out this autumn called, Tell.

Piggyback Curriculum - Exodus Kid's Series - Egyptian Dog

Here is another design from our Exodus Kid's series that we're working on.  I had fun with this one! I had the reference photo in one of my books on the Egyptian life called, The Hidden Life Of Ancient Egypt.

Magazine Artwork - Revolution

Here's some initial graphics for an article in the magazine for Team Expansion that I mentioned in my previous post.  This article is about needing a revolution in worldwide missions by the church.  Not sure what the final product will look like, but these are my initial attempts.

Magazine Artwork - Expulsion

I have been working on a few possible magazine article illustrations for one Team Expansion publications.  It's called the TELL and will be out before the National Missionary Convention.  Here's a couple versions of the first article I worked on, with a larger version of the more final look.  The article will go on two pages and the text will be in the black space.  The title will go in the arm/hand silhouette.

The article is of somber content.  It is about the reality of missionaries when "kicked out" or expelled from a country.  What is the church's responsibility when they return to the states?  How do we care for them?  How do we minister to them?

I actually used inspiration from an unlikely source.  During  WWII, the major cartoon studios in America made their own propaganda films.  This included Disney in a short called, "Education for Death - The Making of the Nazi".  I had seen them before and remembered the use of the silhouette and thought it fitting.  Above you can see a snapshot from the aforementioned short.  You can find it on Youtube, if you really want to see it.

Rainy, Warm and Drowsy

This is a illustration I did as a result of a challenge from a friend.  His challenge was "rainy, warm and drowsy" in reference to today's weather in Tulsa.  The rain is obviously from the cloud, yet implicitly coming from the cloud's tears.  The warm comes from the music that is playing which is prompting the tears.  The drowsy is the sleepy melody that is playing as the rain drip drops on the ground. 


Art notes: made in CorelDraw X5.  I designed the cloud from scratch and used a reference photo to create the violin.  The background is a photo I took of a cloudy day in Ancona, Italy from our old balcony.

Student Ministry Logo

Here's a new logo I made in my free time for a friend who is a Student Minister.  I took the word Reinvent (which he came up with) and used two different fonts for.  The front four letters are one font, and the back four letters are another.  That makes the word itself show the idea of reinventing or transforming.

Piggyback Curriculum - Exodus Kid's Series - Egyptian Woman

Here is another pic in the initial creative process of creating the new Exodus curriculum.  This is a try at a generic egyptian woman.  I didn't want the egyptian princess that we might first think of (ie Cleopatra, etc...), but went for a more normal average egyptian in her surroundings.  To do this, I have to do much study, biblical and historical.  Questions, I have to ask include: What kind of dress did they wear? What color fabrics did they have? Was there a rich, poor and middle class or just rich and poor? How did having the Jews as slaves impact the economic stature of the egyptians? What materials did they make their pots out of? Lamps out of oil, candles or what exactly?

Some might think that I just throw a drawing together, but I put much more into it than that.  What do you think of this and the other concept art?

Piggyback Curriculum - Exodus Kid's Series - Egyptian Man

Here's another image from the new Exodus Curriculum series that I am working on.  I was very happy with how this egyptian man turned out.  I will be working on several "characters" that will be throughout the Exodus series, such as Moses (baby to old man), Aaron (young to old), Pharaoh, generic Israetite man and woman, as well as generic Egyptian man and woman.

Piggyback Curriculum - Exodus Kid's Series

So, I just posted a picture of a camel that I made for the latest kids' curriculum that I am working on, Exodus.  It is going to be the first curriculum under the umbrella of Piggyback Curriculum.  I chose the name Piggyback Curriculum for several reasons.  First, we want this curriculum to "piggyback" onto whatever Team Expansion missionaries, churches and parents are already doing in teaching their kids.  Second, the idea of giving someone a piggyback ride, would be us giving a lift or boost to those same people and groups.  It's the idea of helping each other, help each other.  Does that make sense?  Well, here is a potential cover for the Exodus Curriculum pack which will include, weekly lessons (that will be made available to translate into any language that our missionaries are using), worksheets, color sheets, activities and some videos. 

Camel Work for Exodus Curriculum

Here's my first camel for the new curriculum series I'm working on.

Here's the reference photo that I used in making the camel.

Working on a new curriculum package for Team Expansion missionaries to use.  This will be a study of the book of Exodus.  Here is the first images from the new study.  As usual, I used CorelDraw, now on version 15. Not sure how many weeks the study will include.  That is one of the details that I have to hammer out.  As a general rule, I do at least one per chapter, and then add in additional weeks when a chapter is packed.  Probably for instance, each of the plagues will get their own study, even if there are multiple in a chapter.  Our church has been studying Exodus and it has given me many ideas to think about that could be used in a kids' curriculum.