WHERE IT ALL BEGINS...A glimpse into the mind (!?) of the artist.

My sketchbook is where I scribble all my Bright Ideas, where I get the first glimpse of what they look like. Hardly any of these ideas are as bright on paper, and some of them should never have seen the light of day. The trouble is, I don't know that until it's too late...until I see it in my sketchbook. That's why I'm not all that anxious to have my sketchbook browsed; however, for the sake of completeness, I've put a couple of my Not-So-Bright Ideas in the "Ideas That Should Have Stayed Put" Department, where I lay to rest the notion that there is no such thing as a bad idea.

I thought it might be interesting if I showed how a few of the letters got their start. Sometimes an idea is fully realized right from the start, while others are completely changed by the time it's all over. There are even designs that begin as a different letter altogether. You can find a few of my first thoughts at Early Versions.

Take a look at some (mostly) finished sketches in Coming Attractions. The next step for these guys (if there is a next step) is to be painted as final art. I have captions in mind for them all, but I always enjoy hearing what others think. After viewing the sketches, if you have another idea, email me. (There's more about this at Coming Attractions.)

I'm also considering adding a page devoted to your drawings of illustrated letters. People have shown me letters that they've created, and I really like that (I've seen some great ideas and all kinds of themes). I think it would be fun to see a collection of them on one page. So, if you send your illustrated letter to me, I'll create a page and share it with everyone on this website. I'll also put your name and home town (or whatever info you want me to use) by your idea, so you'll get full credit ...no other compensation, but hey, it is full credit. Please note: When you send me your illustrations by email, please (so my mailbox doesn't choke) keep your file size down (compress it if you want), make sure it's in the form of a .bmp, .gif or .jpg and that you put it in an attachment, not in the actual body of the email. Thanks.