This one is a commission for Cody’s Creations, a line of very fun dog accessories. The idea was to do Cody in the style that I did the Anime dog in, way back in January 2008. I think I’ve improved radically.

Here’s one of my occasional post-project dogs. It’s one of those Ikea bare-wood mirrors painted in acrylics, so Mr. Digital Artist got his fingers dirty (and green and blue and yellow). When I was asked to do one of these for a silent auction to support the illustrator fund of the Austin Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, it seemed like a good time to dust off the dog-drawing skills.

I’m really happy with how it turned out, and I’m playing with some other painted wood techniques to see what I come up with. Maybe I’ll start selling things like this.

Storm had a dental cleaning and had to have an extraction. She’s home, but not herself yet. Our hearts are breaking as she makes small whining noises. She’s never been a dog to complain, so she’s probably feeling rather bad. She’ll be better after a good night’s sleep, I’m sure. But I couldn’t resist doing that old-fashioned strip of cloth people used to wrap around their heads for toothache.

I did this quick sketch while demonstrating to the kids in my late summer class at the Austin Museum. The dog started out a bit sweeter but a few behavioral things had me altering the dog. Of course, the kids found this quite funny.

A while back, there was a Web meme for drawing Batgirl (meme as in “lots of people decided to do it”). And I meant to and never did. So here’s my take on Batgirl, who is not much like the existing Batgirl. She’s more of a street kid. And I figure she needed a sidekick, but as a street kid, she needed a street dog.

When Illustration Friday announced the word as Hierarchy this week, I rolled my eyes. Not one that inspires any immediate ideas. But in the Dog a Day spirit, I let my mind drift and came up with the idea of nesting dolls. There’s certainly a hierarchy, quite clear, of smallest to largest working together to form a whole. Technically, a compositional hierarchy.

For the first time, I have created an Illustration Friday piece on the day the word is posted. This week’s word is impossible. And when you live with our dog, you realize that something like this would actually be a supernatural event. I imagined this piece as a page out of an ancient book of the weird and unexplained.

I can’t really explain the cherry on the dog food. It just wanted to be there.

Illustration Friday’s word this week was fleeting, and this image came to mind. Dogs are such fleeting creatures, here for a while and then they vanish from our lives like smoke.

I’m going to go hug Storm now, I made myself sad.

We’ve just returned from Mexico, where we spent our time lazing on the beach. Well, I did draw a lot, and decided that I should do at least one dog. Even though the project is officially ended, I do want to update, and more regularly than I currently do. Perhaps once I get well ahead on Hex Libris. 

Anyway, we didn’t actually see any crabs, though I did have a scorpion run down the inside of my shirt (I still have the willies). But I drew and inked this guy while sitting on the beach with a moderate breeze ruffling my papers, the waves crashing in the background, and a German tourist looking over my shoulder.

Oh, and exciting news: You can now order the Dog a Day Project: Artist’s Choice Edition through Createspace or Amazon. How cool is it to have a book on Amazon?

Written by Maggie Gallant, co-directed by Erik and Maggie, art and editing by Erik. We had fun making this thing, and now I hope Maggie will work with me on an animation project we’ve been talking about for a while.

We did it in honor of the book launch. Yep, there is a book of the best of Dog a Day, 120 pages of full color images hand-picked by Erik and organized by month. It’s a beautiful book, if I don’t say myself. It will soon be available through CreateSpace and Amazon, and I’ll post details when it is. If you’re interested in a book, they’re $20 plus $3 shipping and handling. I’ll even personalize it and draw a simple little sketch in it. I’ll be selling them through this site, as well, but  if you’re interested just contact me and we’ll work it out.