Sarah Prescott is a professional painter who specializes in watercolor — and these days, in original pet portraits. “The daughter of renowned artist Larry Gluck, Sarah’s love for painting developed as a child growing up around the smell of turpentine and oil paint in her family’s living room, which doubled as her father’s art studio. In 1975 Sarah’s parents founded Mission: Renaissance Fine Art Classes and, after graduating from Hoover High School and attending Cal State Northridge, Sarah formally trained in her father’s method of art instruction and opened her own Mission: Renaissance studio in La Canada in 1992. It was through teaching children that she discovered her passion for watercolor. ‘The kids I taught were so full of life, it inspired me to paint children and watercolor was the perfect medium.’ She went on to paint commissioned works for her many clients and also vignettes and landscapes. The Prescott family’s 3 dogs inspired her ongoing series of animal portraits and the formation of her company: Unfurgettables.” Her web site shows many of her works, available not only as originals but on bookmarks, note-cards, and other such items.
Furry Art
The Sunny State Gets Schooled
You’d be hard-pressed to think of more famous “ancient world” anthropomorphic stories than the fables of Aesop. Needless to say, they’ve had numerous illustrated presentations over the centuries! Well here’s a very recent take with a particular spin to it: Doug Hansen is a California native and an art instructor at California State University at Fresno. In his spare time he created a new hardcover illustrated book called Aesop in California. “Guess who just arrived in California? Aesop! Here among the plants, animals, and places of the Golden State, his timeless fables from ancient Greece take on a new vitality and immediacy. From blackberry-munching grizzlies to Hollywood house mice, this is a book to delight the eye, stimulate the imagination, and teach us some very important lessons.” Find out more about the book and the artist at the publisher’s web site. (Hot tip: He also created a book called Mother Goose in California!)
Worlds of Watercolor
Kendra Minadeo is a freelance illustrator based out of Southern California, and a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. As one can see on her web site, her specialty is watercolor paintings — with more than a splash of cuteness thrown in. Her Etsy store features many of her paintings in print form and on buttons. What’s more, she’s even been working on a series of art how-to videos for YouTube.
Neener? Neener Neener!
From the web page of The Neenerbot Shop: “Jeannine Schafer is an SF-area based illustrator. As a child she was torn between being a zookeeper and an artist, but for reasons she can’t quite recall she eventually abandoned her dreams of opening the world’s first underwater zoo to pursue art. She continued to study and draw the animals she loved and discovered her focus as an artist in this passion. Today she strives to create stylish and fun illustrations that will also help raise awareness and interest in the animals she loves.” To that end Ms. Schafer creates and sells numerous “funny animal” prints, and some of her works are also available on T-shirts and even pillows.
Art Is A Gateway
Found these folks at WonderCon too: The Brothers Uber describe themselves as “… an independent, creative publishing company specializing in children’s books. Focusing on art as a gateway to another realm, we pride ourselves on finding the best illustrators and working with them to bring the best books to life.” To that end they have already published several books which you can find at their web site. Of immediate note to furry fans are two: The Dragon and the Princess (written by Erik Peterson and illustrated by Mina Sanwald) is a counting book that also tells the story of a magical friendship between, yes, a dragon and a princess. Then there’s Critters Fantastique, a coloring book by Dusty Catlett featuring a variety of legendary creatures and monsters.
Let’s See Those Teeth!
Cody Vrosh is a self-taught fantasy illustrator with at least two particular obsessions: Coffee… and teeth. Animals and fantasy creatures who grin. Wide. A lot. Hmm, with all that coffee, how do they manage to keep those teeth so white? Who knows! “His depictions of dark and whimsical companionships attempt to express the aspects of one’s personality that we typically hide from the world. With an emphasis on experimentation, his fine lines and chaotic ink patterns have graced such diverse surfaces as hand-cut burned wood and coffee-stained paper.” Cody’s web site has many examples of his watercolor works, both humanoid and anthropomorphic, as well as his various book titles.
Oh, Isn’t That Kieud?
After years of studying fashion design, the artist Kieu Le currently works in the licensing department for Blizzard Entertainment (home of World of Warcraft and so much more). In her copious (?) spare time she also has a thriving business on her own designing cartoonish 2D art prints as well as cartoonish 3D plush animal toys. All of which can be found on her personal web site, which besides examples of her work also includes links to various on-line stores where you can buy it all.
Animals Real, Fantastic, and Odd
Devin Elle Kurtz is a professional illustrator and visual development artist. Her full-color paintings specialize in animals real and un-real with more than a splash of personality. She also brings the same touch of whimsy (and yes, at times weirdness) to her line of pet portrait commissions. She has released some of her work as prints, available at her web site, and we hope she brings out more soon.
Magical Creatures: Collect Them All!
“I’m Lorelei Lee, the owner and proprietor of this odd little shop. I live here with my two daughters and together we care for all the lost faerie creatures that come our way. You see, the Menagerie appears to have been built upon a rather large tear in the ether that separates our universe from that of the Faerie Realm. We tend to get a lot of unusual visitors here.” That’s the story behind Lee’s Menagerie, created by Stefani Lee Scoggan. It takes several forms, including an on-line comic (illustrated by Jacob Saucedo and Erik Scoggan), an upcoming series of fantasy novels for young readers (coming later this year), and even a line of original 3-D sculptures of various fantastic creatures — crafted by Stefani herself. Find all this and more at the Lee’s Menagerie web site.