Sunday Sermon Series

Hello folks. Here is a sketch I made in church yesterday. Our guest preacher mentioned the shootings in South Carolina, which was already on everyone's mind I would guess. He also spoke about how we need to do the right things. To have integrity, to say no clearly, concisely, and with compassion when we need to. Even though God is walking with Karl through the midst of several storms at once, that man has more energy, emotion, and is better at speaking truth than I. I will never be as eloquent a speaker as Karl Johnson, but he said a lot of things that need saying, and that we need to do, not just say.

I really believe that if we don't stop hating people who believe or look differently than we do we will not survive as a nation. I don't know how to fix everything. I know that my God tells me to love you whether you agree with me or not. I do know that if each one of us doesn't try harder to show the people around us respect, and kindness this world will only get worse.

I hope that the people who read this will reach out to someone you meet and be kind, be respectful. I know sometimes it's hard, not everyone is going to react the way you want, but we have to do this. Before it's too late.

As always, thank you for stopping by here. God bless you, and I hope you will have a terrific day. -- Ry

Chip On A Bus

Today I'm sharing with you a sketch of Chip riding a bus. I'm working on a new story. Unlike the previous two picture books starring Chip this one is a middle grade book with illustrations. Probably a lot of illustrations, since I'm an illustrator/writer.

I have a lot of experience with buses. I used to ride an express to and from work in Portland each day for several years. I did a lot of sketching on those 40 minute rides.

Here we see Chip, and to a lesser extent his pal Fred who is sitting next to him. I have been drawing Chip for about 11 years now. One of the many things I like about writing a different kind of book like this (middle grade as opposed to picture book) is that I can be much more subtle. In a picture book you can't get away with the main character facing away from "the camera", in a big crowd. In a picture book your hero should be easy for the little kids to spot.

The guy coming up the stairs is a minor character, whose only job was to start the story off. But then I changed the whole beginning of the story, and this scene doesn't exist anymore. I won't tell you his name, because it was so good I'm recycling it and using it as the name of the antagonist in the new version of the story. Ha! Cliff hanger there.

As usual this drawing was done in a sketchbook, with pencil. No color on this because I don't have time to colorize a drawing I'm not going to use these days.

I hope you all are having a terrific day, take care, and God bless. --Ry