Children's Books
Children's Books
Embedded Files
Welcome to my collection of completed children's book illustrations (with one in-progress book). I'm passionate about art, especially art that strives to elevate the imaginations of the world's most important asset, our children.
I focus primarily on hand-drawn, highly detailed pen and ink illustrations with vibrant color applied digitally.
Fred and Ethan's
Spectacular Discovery
Fred and Ethan's
Spectacular Discovery
A story about a boy, his dog, his imagination, and the discovery of a weird bottle.
15 illustrations originally in pen and ink, digitally enhanced and colored.
Seeking a publisher and/or representation.
After a storm, a boy and his dog discover a very odd bottle.
His imagination runs wild as he thinks about what it could be.
Is it from long-lost pirate treasure?
Is there a Genie that would grant him and his friends a castle?
Is it from an alien spaceship that had to make repairs during the storm?
Maybe it has a potion that would turn him into a monster if he smells it.
When he finally is able to remove the cork, he's disappointed.
For Ethan, disappointment turns into a lasting stimulus for his imagination and love of drawing.
Fred and Ethan's
Troll's Bridges And Nasty Ogres
Fred and Ethan's
Troll's Bridges And Nasty Ogres
A story about a boy, his dog, his imagination, and his secret mission to save the Troll Princess.
16 illustrations originally in pen and ink, currently being digitally enhanced and colored.
Seeking a publisher and/or representation.
Our hero from the Amazing Bottle story imagines a new adventure.
He learns that the magic of Trolls is what keeps bridges from falling down.
He accepts a mission to save the source of Troll magic from the Ogres.
2-page spread illustration as our hero, and his dog, enter a magic land.
Fred and Ethan's
Misadventures With A Magic Wand
Fred and Ethan's
Misadventures With A Magic Wand
Ethan has a big birthday party and discovers that the bizarre magician left his magic wand behind. What follows is a hilarious series of accidents, as the wand has a mind of its own, turning everything it touches into more and more fantastic things. Was it real or Ethan's wonderful imagination? In the end, his big sister discovers something that causes a lot of confusion.
Work in progress, third title in the Fred and Ethan series. Preliminary sketches below.
A very unique magician shows up at Ethan's birthday party.
Ethan finds that the magician forgot his magic want. It makes Fred's ears way too long.
Ethan places the wand on his bed to get a closer look at Fred, and his bed turns to stone!
He picks the wand up and accidentally touches his wall, turning his bedroom into a barn.
Being chased by a goat, the wand touches the hallway and turns it into a spinning funhouse tube.
They manage to get out of the spinning tube, only to turn the stairs into a big slide. They tumble down the slide, turning the living room into a jungle.
Grimm's Fairytales, Steampunked
Grimm's Fairytales, Steampunked
I'm starting a side project to push myself to develop a 100% digital workflow for certain assignments. This side project may become a book, but for now, it''s a learning process: illustrating characters from Grimm's Fairytales using a steampunk aesthetic.
"King Thrushbeard"
Digital Watercolor
Milton Muldoon And The Ogre That Smiled
Milton Muldoon And The Ogre That Smiled
A story about accepting friendship, even when you're not looking for it on your first day of day care, and paying it forward.
25 illustrations in colored pencil.
Now available on Amazon, Kindle/Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DZD5YKWN
Watch the book trailer.
Milton is not looking forward to his first day of day care.
He's not interested in the funny story that the teacher is reading.
In the end, he has three new friends, one of them is the first Ogre who ever smiled.
The Magic Gateway
The Magic Gateway
A story to inspire imagination and the love of art. 12 illustrations in colored pencil.
Now available on Amazon, Kindle/Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DZ3ZQRH9
Watch the book trailer.
A curious man is splashing paint with a magic paint brush.
It becomes clear that his magic paint brush has created a gateway.
Our unseen narrator accepts the magic paint brush.
Working With Me
Working With Me
Custom pen and ink portrait, "Oatis," 2024
My Unique Experience
My Unique Experience
When I started aspiring to be a children's book author and illustrator, I did something few do, went straight to the market. Before concocting my first story or illustration, I spent nearly a hundred hours as a volunteer story-time reader at schools and pre-schools. I gained invaluable experience in understanding what children love and the type of inspirational stories teachers would like to have.
While being a volunteer reader, I consumed a ton of children's books with my kids. After all that, I found my artistic inspiration for children's book art in Maurice Sendak and Chris Van Allsburg.
Then, as it happens, life threw me a fortuitous curve, a lucrative career in marketing and advertising. For more than thirty years I enjoyed a fulfilling, albeit demanding, career as a creative leader working with many of the companies and brands you know. I became intimately familiar with creative briefs, hard deadlines, creative consistency, branding, design, and a host of other professional and leadership skills.
Today, I've come full circle back to being a full-time artist, and my first love of children's book artwork that inspires young minds. When you work with me to bring your story to life, you get the combination of my passion and professionalism. Your story has earned it, but more importantly, the children deserve it.
Send me an email at wmpirvine@gmail.com, and let us discuss your project.
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