Peter and the Wolf | Story Synopsis and Mad Libs Printable

Mad Libs are always so fun, so I decided to create a few for my elementary music education site, MakingMusicFun.net. I call them FunLibs so I wouldn't have any fussing from the Mad Libs folks.

I've been really pushing myself to create strong illustrations for the resources that I put on the site these days. These are the ones I created for my Peter and the Wolf FunLib | Story Synopsis and worksheet.

Get Peter and the Wolf FunLib | Story Synopsis and Worksheet

Here are the final illustrations followed by the original pencil sketches.

Illustrated Music Dictionary

I added an Illustrated Music Dictionary to my elementary music education site,
MakingMusicFun.net. Here are a few of the illustrations I created for the dictionary.

Trumpet

Opera

Tempo

Dragon's Lair | Watercolor

I visited the Don Bluth Theater to see Annie Get Your Gun recently. I went thinking, I wondering if it's that Don Bluth - An American Tail, The Land Before Time, and Anastasia. Yep, it was. He was even there that night. He started the theater in his home, and had recently moved it to a mall space.

I decided to doodle one of his characters from his game, Dragon's Lair, and then throw in a little watercolor.

Meet Beethoven | iPad App for Kids

I recently designed and submitted my second app to the Apple App store. My first app was a piano primer - MMF! Piano Primer Book - for students just starting to learn to play the piano. Meet Beethoven is a music appreciation app, that lets kids experience Beethoven in an interactive, hands-on way.

 Here's a little info about it, with a few screenshots of my designs below.

"Meet Beethoven" from MakingMusicFun.net, is an elementary music education resource designed to send your child's excitement about music and learning into overdrive! Right from the beginning, "MB" draws kids in with vibrant images and content that they'll be excited to share with family and friends. Then, "MB" turns your kids into active learners, starting with an interactive game that drills the keywords they read in the introductory materials. At the core of the app, "MB" provides for a hand-on music making experience, by providing sheet music with interactive music learning tools for a variety of music instruments. In classic MakingMusicFun.net style, "MB" wraps things up with a wacky quiz called, "Pizza for Beethoven". Answer enough questions correctly, and Beethoven gets a pizza for dinner. Miss too many questions, and Beethoven goes to bed hungry.

FEATURES
Biography
Photo Gallery
Timeline
Double Puzzle Word Scramble
Pizza for Beethoven Quiz

SHEET MUSIC
Ode to Joy (Piano, Recorder, Band and Orchestra Instruments)
Beethoven's Fifth (Piano)
Fur Elise (Piano)

Get Meet Beethoven iPad App | Apple App Store

Elsa and Anna (Frozen) Watercolor | Disney Fine Art

I'm a big fan of Disney artist Steve Thompson. Actually, I find myself drooling over most of his drawings. This is my second effort to paint one of his pencil sketches -  a sweet illustration of Elsa and Anna from Disney's Frozen.

Congratulations Anita O. from California! You won the drawing for this artwork.

Winnie the Pooh with Toy Honey Pot | Disney Fine Art

Here's a sweet little watercolor of Winnie the Pooh with a spring loaded bumblebee in a toy honey pot. I hope you enjoy it!

Winnie the Pooh | Disney Fine Art Watercolor

A Disney character with a happy grin is always so nice to paint, and watercolor paints helped to give this character a light and carefree free. So fun! I hope you enjoy it.

Pixals.com can make iPhone and Galaxy phone cases of this watercolor. How fun! Just click on the image if you'd like to put Winnie the Pooh on your phone... or get a print.

Minnie Mouse | Watercolor Print

Minnie Mouse was a fun quick pencil sketch on watercolor paper, followed by a bit of color. It was another piece that I painted on our Cruise. This one was for our dining room waitress, who's favorite character in Minnie. It's available as a print on FineArtAmerica.com if you're interested.

"Let's You and Me Bounce" Tigger (Disney) | Oil on Canvas and Pencil Sketch

I've tried oil painting on one other occasion, and thought I might give it a go again. Here's my version of Tigger bouncing in the meadow. It's available as a print on FineArtAmerica.com if you're interested.

Here's the value sketch. I taped a few pieces of paper together to make my illustration the size of the canvas. Now I wish I'd spent a few dollars on some nice Stonehenge paper. The sketch would have certainly brought a happy face to the kitchen when I wander in each morning. :0)

Donald Duck in Florence, Italy | Watercolor

Here's another one of the character's I painted on the Disney Cruise I mentioned in an earlier post. I've made this one available on FineArtAmerica.com, if you're interested in a print.

Donald Duck in Florence, Italy (Watercolor Framed)

Pinocchio Watercolor | Poster Art

Here's one of the character's I painted on the Disney Cruise I mentioned in an earlier post. I've made this one available on FineArtAmerica.com, if you're interested in a print.

Pinocchio (Watercolor Framed)

 

Pixals.com has prints and iPhone/Galaxy Cases if you're interested. 

Lucy Locket | Nursery Rhyme Coloring Page

I added a cute nursery rhyme coloring page to my elementary art resource website - MakingArtFun.com. Fun stuff for them to color, and a great opportunity for you to get them interested in great literature. I've included the rhyme below if you're interested.

Download Lucy Locket | Free Nursery Rhyme Coloring Page

Rhyme
Lucy Locket lost her pocket,
Kitty Fisher found it;
Not a penny was there in it,
Only ribbon round it.

Jazz Cat | Free Coloring Page

In an earlier post I mentioned that I'd created more than 20 cats for Vacation Bible School at my Church (Calvary Community Church). The stories about Joseph were the focus of the lessons, and the artwork that decorated the walls of the children's building was meant to tell his story and have a Bible times Egyptian feel. "Jazz Cat" is one that I did just for fun.

Here's the sketch...

Disney Character Watercolors | Painting While Cruising

I recently returned from a Disney cruise in the Mediterranean, visiting Spain, France and Italy. Woo Hoo! While we cruised I painted a few of the characters we saw around the ship.

Pinocchio in Florence, Italy (Watercolor)

Tigger (Watercolor)

Vacation Bible School Illustrations

My church (Calvary Community Church in Phoenix, AZ) likes to go big when planning for their week long vacation Bible school. I've helped for two years now, creating signs and illustrations for the walls of the children's building. Below are a few of my contributions.

I created a time machine to transport the kids back 4000 years to the time of Joseph. 

 

I created several large illustrations of Joseph in different situations. This illustration of Joseph at Potiphar's House is about 5ft tall, and was created with a chisel point black marker and Prismacolor Art Stix.

Cat, cats, cats. Cats were everywhere. I got a little obsessed, and created more than twenty cats to dress up our "trip" to Bible times Egypt.

 Joseph, unfortunately, spent some time locked in the palace prison. We decided it would be fun to include the Pirates of the Caribbean dog holding the keys to his prison cell.

MMF! Piano Primer Book | iPad App

I've been working to design and launch my first iPad app recently. It was a pretty big project, as I was the writer, illustrator and marketing team for the whole project.

Here's a link if you want to find out a little more about it on the Apple App Store:
MMF! Piano Primer Book | iPad App

Here are a few of the illustrations from the app. I sketched them in pencil first, and then turned them into digital images in Adobe Illustrator.

Smile Monster | Paper Bag Puppet with Free Template

I've been designing paper bag puppets for my elementary art site, MakingArtFun.com. I love designing  fun and wacky projects.

If you're up for a little wacky fun for you and your kids, you can get the free template and instructions at the link below:

Smile Monster | Paper Bag Puppet

Here's the original sketch...

Dog Paper Bag Puppet | Craft Project for Kids

I put together this dog paper bag puppet for my art site, MakingArtFun.com today. It was a fun drawing/design project, and I enjoyed the opportunity to do some paper art.

If you want to try making the puppet with your kids, here's the link to the free template.

Dog Paper Bag Puppet | Template

Flash Frog | Free Music Flash Cards

I put together a new set of flashcards for my music site, MakingMusicFun.net this week. It was fun to jump in, and really see how far I could push myself to create a set of flashcards with some strong graphic appeal.

Below is the pencil sketch I started with for the frog, and a couple of the images from the flashcard set. If you are interested in printing a set for your kids, here's the link:

Get Flash Frog | Free Music Flash Cards