Amazing indeed

"You see the depths of my heart 
and You love me the same.
You are amazing, God"

Chris Tomlin

Greatest Day in History

The greatest day in history,
Death is beaten, You have rescued me
Sing it out, Jesus is alive
The empty cross, the empty grave
Life eternal, You have won the day
Shout it out, Jesus is alive
He's alive!

Oh happy day, happy day
You washed my sin away
Oh happy day, happy day
I'll never be the same
Forever I am changed

Tim Hughes

It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.’ When he had said this, he breathed his last.

Luke 23v44-46

Stranger than fiction

Definition of insanity

Often attributed to Einstein (but not really by him)

By this definition, I am quite clearly insane...

Accurate licensing

Accurate licensing is mutually beneficial for the client and the illustrator as it defines a fee for actual usage rather than possible usage.

From the Association of Illustrators newsletter.

Of course, what the client often wants is to pay a small fee and have unlimited usage... :-)

Research for illustrations

Daniel Lieske: I'm really astonished how much stuff hides in your head that just comes out when you give it a canvas to break into....

Jake Parker: ...I think the key to that there is the first part of your answer when you said you enjoy geography & botany and those types of things. You have to fill your head with that stuff.

You have to make deposits in order to make withdrawals, right? 

I get students talking to me and they're like, "How do you know how to draw machines so well? I don't know how to do machines." 

And I'm like, "I've looked at a ton of machines. I have a huge machine folder on my harddrive, right, and it's become second nature to me, now, because all that's in my head. 

And the other thing too is, I grew up with a subscription to National Geographic, right. And that is probably one of the best magazines an artist could get. 

In this podcast

Obviously you research the things that interest you - which is why it's not machines with me :-). But I could illustrate a fairly accurate fashion show of ancient Middle Eastern / Egyptian outfits from about 2000BC to 100AD (with some annoying gaps, unfortunately).