Wow, what a challenging and fun illustration to do for High Five magazine’s March ‘21 issue! A “That’s Silly!” that’s featured in a hardware store made for some really fun—and silly!—things to show. I am including the sketch here, as some things changed a little for the final (The baking bear replaced the grandmother). Other things adjusted along as I got to the final art, too, as it usually does. Anyway, I hope the kids enjoyed the scene and had a good laugh here and there! Thanks, Five High /Highlights, for this fun project!
Something New! High Five Magazine Spread: "Art With Friends"
I’m a little behind with keeping up with the blog and posting new, printed work, but hey! This two-page spread hidden picture illustration was created for the December 2020 issue of High Five magazine. I enjoyed working out the bedroom this little boy was making art in! And how cute, that his “friends” are stuffed animals! They seem making some nice art there—all of them! I hope the kids enjoy the illustration, as well as finding the hidden items in the spread. Thanks, High Five!
Something New! Highlights Hidden Picture Cover & Puzzle!
I love all the projects I do for Highlights for Children, and this time, I had the opportunity to do a little something different—a reverse hidden picture, which would also be used for the cover! This is a Christmas holiday themed book so Santa in his sleigh being pulled by reindeer was the theme! It was a bit novel to do this in reverse, but I think it turned out well. There are many other illustrators who contributed their talents to the book as well! This is an item any child would enjoy, I am sure! Maybe even adults! Thanks again, Highlights!
Something New! High Five Magazine Spread: "School Supplies"!
It’’s always special to do anything for Highlights For Children, and when the art director asked me to create an illustration spread for the September 2020 issue of High Five magazine, I of course said yes! This is for their “That’s Silly!” segment in each magazine, where kids find as many “silly” items in the scene as they can. It is a good educational tool which is fun and humorous as well! Below are samples of the spread as well as closeups. I hope the kids had a few laughs as they looked over this scene! I know it was pretty fun to create!
Something New! Grassi Lakes Hiking Trails Illustration Spread
This illustration for the summer 2020 issue of Chirp magazine took a lot of turns due to the Covid-19 pandemic, changing subject matter twice before it became what you see here. My poor clients! We all survived and in the end, it was decided the Grassi Lakes Hiking Trails in Alberta, Canada would be showcased! It was a fun challenge to look at the map and work out a stylized illustration of place geographically. I have the view looking north to south. Anyway, what a great place to visit and hike, see the falls, and rock climb among many other activities. Here’s the official link to the provincial park. I hope to discover and enjoy it myself some day! Oh, and due to pandemic, I haven’t been able to get a hard copy of the magazine, so these digital files will have to do for now. You can see the AD’s notes in the layout!
(c) OwlKids
Something New! Magzine Spot Illustrations/Cartoons -- The Great Bear Rainforest!
It’s always a pleasure to work with Owlkids Publishing and Owl magazine on their many educational projects. This time, I did a spot illustration/cartoon & map for an article about The Great Bear Rainforest, located in British Columbia, Canada. It looks like a wonderful place to check out and perhaps hike and enjoy other activities. Someday I will go! In the meantime, I hope the kids enjoy learning about this place, and that the bear cartoon and map add to their fun of learning! Samples are below. The second bear was one of the sketches I sent to see what would be best to put in that spot. The bear sitting up was chosen, but the other is just too cute to not include! And please check out Owlkids and all the books and magazines they have to offer! Your kids will be glad you did!
Something New! Magazine Puzzle Spread: "Drive-And-Go-Seek" ("I Spy")
Here’s a VERY busy 3-page illustration spread I did for a magazine, in which kids are to identify numbers of cars & trucks from the poem (by Stacy Lane) and find them in the picture. I hope they enjoy doing that as much as I enjoyed creating the puzzle! Sample photos are below.
(c) Click Magazine/Paula J. Becker 2020
Something New! "Wacky Wetland Tours" Puzzle Maze
It was really fun to work on this Maze/Puzzle spread for the spring 2020 issue of Chickadee magazine! Samples are below. Check out Owlkids other magazines and books! Your kids will learn a lot and have fun at the same time!
(c) Owlkids/Chickadee Magazine/Paula J. Becker 2020
Something New! Owl Magazine Spots for "Incredible! Style Stories"
I love illustrating spots like these! And I learn so much each time! (Samples, below) Check out Owlkids and their magazines and books for your kids. They’ll learn so much and have a fun at the same time!
Something New! "Critter Clinic" Puzzle Spread
Here’s a really fun puzzle spread I did for Bayard/Owlkids and one of their magazines. This spread was for Chirp’s Jan/Feb 2020 issue. It was such a fun illustration to work on! Below are some samples and closeups. Thanks for stopping by!
Something New! Chirp Puzzle: "Fall Fun"
Here’s something for the fall issue of Chirp magazine—an illustration puzzle, with the scene at a pumpkin patch, complete with a maze and other fun things to do! Kids will have a good time with this, I am sure, finding pumpkins, black cats and spiders! Such a fun project to work on and pull together. Thank you, Owl!
Something New! High Five Halloween Spread!
I was so excited when I finally saw how this illustration spread I did for High Five magazine turned out in print! It’s a “That’s Silly!” for the October 2019 issue. I had a blast working with the art director with the layout and coming up with all the “sillies”. I did a mix of some line and a more painterly style, as well as textures. A bit different than my line work. I hope the kids enjoy finding all the silly things as much as I did drawing them! Thanks, Highlights/High Five!
I love how these were isolated!
Something New! Valentine's Spread Illustration
This was an illustration created for a kids’ magazine this last year. It just recently got my complimentary copy so posting a bit late, as you can see! But what a fun piece to work on! This was memorable to me because I worked on the colorizing while watching game 3 of the 2018 World Series. That game was 7 1/2 hours long, and I got a lot of work done! The Dodgers eventually eked out a win against the RedSox (3-2), but went on the lose the series to them. Second year to lose in a row. Poor Dodgers. But what fun to work on this piece while watching!
Something New! Highlights Puzzle--Check-Double-Check
It’s always a treat and privilege to do some work for the amazing Highlights magazine! I was given the task of doing a puzzle depicting a bicycle race across the African Savanna—with animals bicycling, of course! I had such a fun time illustrating these cute characters! Then I made subtle changes to the same illustration, which is the fun part—to find the differences! See if you can, too, if you will!
Something New! How-to-Play Soccer Illustration Spread and Spots!
It was so fun (and educational to boot!) to work on this spread for Ask Magazine! I am not a soccer player nor fan, so I learned something myself doing this! I hope others learn, too!
4th of July '19 -- A Marching Band!
Sometimes it’s fun to play with old images. I experimented with a washy, watercolor style a number of years ago. I still like many of the pieces I did. This one seemed fitting for an Independence Day illustration, so I made it into a pattern. Happy 4th of July, everybody!
Canada Day 2019
A little spot illustration for Canada Day…
Something New! Dragon Boat Race Illustration
I created this illustration for “A Boat Race” for Chirp magazine June ‘19 issue. This fun magazine spread is both informative AND fun! There are several puzzles and games to play as you learn (Kids as well as adults!) I went with line art for this, since I had to get 20 people in each boat—plus the people on the side watching and waving for their favorite dragon boat! See if you can solve the puzzles!
Something New! Magazine Spread: Kids' Orchestra
Something new for Click magazine’s March 2019 “Music” issue—A full-blown kids orchestra. I played the trombone myself so it was fun to revisit drawing trombones, as well as other instruments. I hope the kids learn a lot from this article, and find they want to learn to play an instrument themselves! Images from the spread are below.
Magazine Spots: "Smart Like a Pig!"
I had a fun time drawing pigs doing fun stuff to enhance this article on…well—Pigs, of course! Very informative and a fun read for kids to learn about them. So below is a spread with the spots, and then the spots isolated.
