Skip to main content

Cat Comics

By

Selected pages from two cat-themed comics, written and illustrated by Stephanie Smith.

Ink drawing with digital color, 2001-2002

Ox and Pig Together

By

Private commissions – the animals represent a husband and wife’s signs on the Chinese Zodiac.

Original watercolors are 20×30 inches

 

Insect Guardians: Braconid Wasp

By

Braconid Wasps, or Parasitic Wasps, are tiny insects that don’t harm humans, but assist gardeners by destroying crop-damaging hornworm caterpillars. They lay their eggs on the back of the caterpillar, and when their babies hatch they eat the caterpillar from the inside out. Gross!

Part of the “Insect Guardians,” a set of paintings depicting beneficial insects.

Artwork: The Firehouse Brawl

“Plug Ugly Ball” Book Illustrations

By

Interior illustrations for the book Plug Ugly Ball: A Mobtown Tale of Bullies and Baseball, a tale of historical fiction set in Baltimore in the late 1800s. This artwork was used on section title pages and needed to depict specific scenes from the plot in a style reminiscent of period engravings. The original ink drawings were based on extensive historic research for accurate depictions of real locations and people who appear in the story.

Client: John Thomas Everett
Publisher: Baltimore Bookworks

Plug Ugly Ball Cover Design

“Plug Ugly Ball” Book Cover Design

By

Book cover design and illustration for the John Everett’s book of historical fiction, Plug Ugly Ball: A Mobtown Tale of Bullies & Baseball.

Mr. Everett wanted his cover to evoke the late 19th century time period it was set in, but we also needed to make sure it didn’t look like it belonged in the non-fiction section. Custom illustration integrating key themes of the story were combined with period engravings of the Baltimore setting to give it a historic feel with a modern sensibility. Gentle textures in the imagery and a soft matte finish on the slipcover completed the look.

Design work included all aspects of the slipcover, including the cover flaps and spine, per the printers specifications.

This project  also included custom interior illustrations that evoke period engravings.

Publisher: Baltimore Bookworks

Cat Portraits

By

My own cats, Tinkerbell the tiny tabby and Simon the tuxedo tomcat, are frequent models. These selected ink drawings from my sketchbook are from 2016-2018.