posted: August 20, 2010

Last week, Orlando, Florida hosted a 4 day Star Wars Convention which was the fifth of its kind in the USA. I had never attended one and couldn't resist with it taking place practically in my backyard. As anyone who has visited my studio which sports a decent collection of SW figures, or seen some of my previous blog posts, its no secret I'm a huge Star Wars geek!
So I thought I'd share some of my latest Star Wars artwork that has been done for myself and as gifts for friends and family. My son, Nate is following in my footsteps and has developed an enjoyment of these films as well. I am showing him the original movies in the order that I saw them and recently, he saw Empire Strikes Back for the first time. Afterwards I gave him a newly released AT-AT toy which totally engrossed his imagination for the rest of the day.
It's so cool to see things come full circle as father and son spent a day at the show taking photos with all the great costumes, vehicles, and props from such an incredible saga.
It's been an awesome summer and I still have so much to post with such little time, but I'm still alive down here, still drawing, and still loving the hell out of being an illustrator!
May the force be with you all!
-Christian Slade
P.S. Want to know just how much of a SW dork I am?...The last photo is us posing with Wioslea, (one of my favorite aliens) who was the creature Luke sold his Landspeeder to in A New Hope. See? Told ya!

posted: March 5, 2010

Once in awhile, a project comes in that is so freaking awesome you can barely stop smiling while you're working on it. This was one of those.
 
Even though I've been drawing since the womb like many artists on this site, I still feel like I am just barely getting started with what I want to do with my artwork and what I want to say with it in my short time here on this planet. I have projects in which I am the creator and have pretty much full control, but I also love working on other projects in which I am simply the illustrator. Many times I enjoy the excitment of the unknown of what comes next. I know illustrators who dislike doing educational illustrations, and I can certainly understand the economical and restricted aspects of it, however sometimes they are gifts. This was one such project.

Last year, I got the call to do a series of illustrations that would allow me to tap into my 3rd grade sense of humor (not too difficult) and do a series of pictures about the disgusting human body. There were five books in total. The titles were "Twitches and Sneezes", "Puke and Poo", "Mites and Bites", "Ooze and Goo", and "Itches and Scratches". Originally published in the UK, these books are now available here in the US by the folks at Raintree. The AD and editor were two of the best people I have ever worked with and they basically gave me free reign on these. In fact after the first round of roughs, I was told to amp up the grossness a bit! How often do you get a note like that? I was happy to oblige. Needless to say, it was one of my favorite projects from last year and it was a blast to have a case of these hardcovers show up on my doorstep this week!

As with many of my illustration projects, it flew by quickly but it gave me many chances to crack a smile and get that warm and fuzzy feeling that only creating pictures can give you.... or maybe that was from the nachos I had for lunch. Now where did I put that Pepto Bismol?

posted: February 10, 2010

Here are some illustrations over the last few months from the "Ricky and Pals" story in the monthly magazine "Your Big Backyard" published by the great folks over at NWF. As I've mentioned before in earlier posts, I am lucky to be able to illustrate these very whimsical stories featuring a younger version of Ranger Rick and his woodland friends.
I also have toddler twins who are almost 3 years old. As a little tribute to them I include a pair of twins in each month's story in at least one of the illustrations. The top two pictures in this post feature this. Usually its something like two birds or a pair of toadstolls. It's an ongoing story within a story and a little easter egg for the readers every month! Enjoy!!

posted: January 25, 2010

I'm thinking of starting a clown talent agency. Anyone want to book any of these talents for their next event, let me know ;)

Recent Articles

Topics

Archive

Characters (4)

Illustration (7)

Sketchbook (8)

Plein Air (4)