Old Grandfather revisited

Back in 2007 I illustrated a Tolstoy short story for a school textbook project. It was just one painting but I always felt I could have done a better job. My original sketch that I liked ended up being changed pretty heavily due to feedback from my client. So recently I repainted it the way I wanted to. Here it is...

My own Mount Rushmore is now complete!

In honor of President's Day I recently completed my painting of Mount Rushmore. Late last year I posted a blog entry about its inspiration, a sketch and color study. If you have the day off today enjoy!

Copies are in of Clara Morgan and the Oregon Trail Journey!

I recently get a stack of copies of my new book Clara Morgan and the Oregon Trail Journey written by Marty Rhodes Figley, our 4th book together. I am really pleased with how they art was reproduced in this book! If anyone is interested I can send out a signed copy including shipping for $20. Just send me an email to craig@craigorback.com.

It is a wonderful story of compassion and generosity set on the Oregon trail in 1864. Here is a description and thanks for your interest:

Eleven-year-old Clara Morgan traveled the Oregon Trail with her family. While her mother cared for the baby, Clara struggled with the cooking. Finally, she made her first batch of perfect biscuits. But she gave them up to a hungry American Indian who stopped by. Little did she know they would meet again. Would her family’s act of kindness help them farther down the trail? In the back of this book, you’ll find a script and instructions for putting on a reader’s theater performance of this adventure.

My first graphic novel book

In the last week I finished all of the art for my first graphic novel. It is a 24 page book with 45 individual paintings. To say it was a lot of work was an understatement! I'm not one to shy away from a challenge though and this was a fun creative one. With picture book projects I am used to editing double page spreads of story and text into large full size paintings capturing the essence of whats being said. With a graphic novel though you get to break down the action into little scenes and play more with composition, perspective and viewpoint. It feels a little bit like I would imagine a film director would feel when it comes to depicting action and playing with camera angles.

The art will later have bubbles and banners with dialogue and story added by the designer. I look forward to seeing it come together. Unfortunately for now I can't post the art here. I worked smaller than my usual oil paintings in gouache paint to save time and for easy detail work. Recently I bought a large format scanner so I was able to scan the final art myself and download it as digital files to their FTP site. Very convenient as the art never add to leave my studio. Clients are preferring that more and more these days so it feels good to change with the times. I hope you enjoy the art!

Some nice 2010 accolades

As creators of children's book know the end of each year and the beginning of the next is award season time. In the last month two of my books from last year have won some acclaim.

The Can Man was included on Smithsonian magazine's list of Notable Books for Children in 2010. Also Hot Pursuit: Murder in Mississippi was named a 2011 Sydney Taylor Notable Book for Older Readers.

Fingers crossed I will have some more good news to share in the near future. Either way this was a great way to begin 2011!

A featured story in my hometown newspaper

Yesterday was an exciting day for me as my local hometown newspaper, The Tribune in San Luis Obispo, California featured a story and interview about my illustration work. It was timed with the opening of a show at The Morro Bay Art Association (in California) that features a few of my children's book illustrations. This organization helped launch my career in art when I won several scholarships while in high school and college in California.

Here is a link to the article in the Tribune newspaper

A photo of the paper is below. This is the first real article about my work and a thrill!

Carving Mount Rushmore

During our month long road trip/honeymoon across the country this past summer we stopped at many iconic places, none more so than Mount Rushmore. It's one of those places if you haven't seen it in person you might think it's a bit cheesy or what's the big deal? I also had mixed feelings about the idea of taking a beautiful and natural rock formation and land that is sacred to Native Americans and destroying it with cultural symbols of their oppressors, but I digress. Once we arrived though it was impossible not to be awed by what was accomplished on such a grand scale during the hard years of the Great Depression, a subject and era that already pulls at my imagination. It didn't hurt that we had the quintessential park ranger with white beard and brimmed hat sharing captivating stories about the presidents on display and background on it's creation. He also happened to be from our old stomping grounds in West Seattle.

With this in mind I decided to create my own interpretation of it's creation based on some old photos of the workers I came across, including the sculptor Gutzon Borglum. Below you can see my final line drawing, value study and color study (done in Photoshop). All that's left is to paint this thing, in oil. I just hope it also doesn't take me 14 years.