Friday, January 02, 2009

Christnas Gift

Our family teamed up for a sort of unique idea for Christmas presents this year: custom puzzles based on our kid's favorite books. My two older boys (ages 6 and 3) drew everything: characters, trees, rocks, mountains, grass. It's unfortunate that I didn't have more time to spend on the painting---a few spare hours spread over a couple weeks wasn't enough to make this picture what it could have been. That being said, I'm still proud of it because it makes a pretty good puzzle. The differences in texture and color are just enough to keep the puzzle challenging but not too frustrating.
In case you're curious, the books referenced here are Horton Hatches an Egg, A Woggle of Witches, The Funny Thing, The Monster and the Tailor, The Runaway Bunny, Gregory the Terrible Eater, Pearl and the Amazing Bone, The Gunnywolf, and What's in Fox's Sack?

46 comments:

Dillon Thompson said...

You sure know how to set the stage. This is amazing again Sam.

Jed Henry said...

Sam, this is one of the most incredible things i've ever seen. So rad! Your kids are cool!

Brian Churilla said...

What a great idea. One of my favorite things about this blog is seeing you interpret your kid's drawings. Awesome.

Melissa said...

What a fabulous idea. I'm sure this puzzle is a big hit with those outstanding boys of yours.

Beth said...

Good choice of books. A Woggle of Witches is one of my favorite books of all time.
I LOVE THE PUZZLE! Where can I buy one for my family?

Adam Ford said...

This is incredible Sam!

Mark Behm said...

Pure awesome.

Tom Scholes said...

Yeah dude, that's awesome. Maybe even double awesome.

sunshinek said...

It's so beautiful...

The Rabidmilkman said...

This is awesome! Lucky kids...

EraserFoot said...

This is the coolest blog post I've seen in a long time.

Adam Ford said...

I kinda wish jeff would let our current project take more of this turn.

SHOo said...

Such a FANTASTIC one! I adore your collaborations with your boys! Hope to see even more of these, and Happy new Year to all of you!

Lash LeRoux said...

Very cool, Sam! I'd love to see your kids' original drawings on this one.

El Fro said...

A+ amigo!

Sam Nielson said...

I'm glad that nobody noticed I titled the post "Christnas Gift," because I'm not sure how I'd explain what that means.

pablo pablo said...

Very good characters, colors, stetic... all!
Happy new year!

Heather Dixon said...

Wow, that is awesome. Your kids are talented!

juliabax said...

Beautiful work man. Love the lights.

Jason Seiler said...

I can't find my jaw . . . I know it's here somewhere? Unreal . . . this is really sweet Sam! Wow!

Mark Montague said...

Great piece. You should continue with this style, it is very unique.

Gavin Ball said...

This is really great!

Very impressive.

Marta Chaves said...

Your idea it´s amazing and very nice. You get a surprising work. I think the shapes are very good!

Ryan Wood said...

Simply amazing, Sam! Great idea & execution. Now start sellin' some puzzles!

Brian Kohrman said...

Hooray! This came out hilarious! I especially love the fox.

Ben Reynolds said...

your painting skills are mental man. Awesome stuff. Love that merman down below a ways.

C.B. Canga said...

cool style. really nice job

Ty Carter said...

WOW, THIS IS AWESOME SAM! THIS DESERVES AN ALL CAPS COMMENT! I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT! BEAUTIFUL!

Enosh Bar-Tur said...

Wow, 28 comments. :)
Beautiful and even genius illustration.
I love the characters' design - especially the monster behind the trees and the dragon.
Can I use this picture as my desktop wallpaper?

Sting said...

Really really nice! I love the way you draw and put beautiful colors!

Mamma mia!

Marco Bucci said...

yeah, this is amazing. I love the attention put into each little area. I'd love to sit down and do this puzzle.

Scott said...

It's great that you not only help develop your kids understanding of art, but, you also develop their art to help our understanding.

Guillermo P. Mogorrón said...

Quoting dr. Jones:
"That belongs in a museum".
That is how good is this painting.

Underhill said...

impressive work!!!

Nathan Lindsay said...

WOW. Totally cool Sam.

Noor Mohammed said...

It was good that you didn't get much time for this work. Otherwise the characters would come out of the frame in to the real world. I can't narrate how I felt while watching your work. It is simply AMAZING!!

Marcelo Vignali said...

Whoa, must-have. How can I get a puzzle? How about I send you a hand-drawn postcard, and you send me this puzzle?

Drop me your address if you're interested.

Howard Shum said...

Good work!

Jeff Harter said...

I absolutely love this. Beautiful colors. Is this traditional or digital?

Jeff Harter said...

... guessing you are using Painter 10 (I read more of your blog.) Great blog btw!

Craig Mackay said...

So awesome! Let's see a book of these or a series of puzzles! Great idea!

Artur Gorczynski said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Artur Gorczynski said...

This is madness man! fabulous work :P

Kriture said...

I usually dont leave comments especially when I know that the owner of the work is way too good for me to even say if its good or not, but i had to leave one on this one. This is amazing ok?! You pull yourself down too much!

Desiree Joy said...

It is so amazing that your kids lined all this. Makes me wanna find some toddlers to do my lineart ;) Wonderful work, as always, and I have no idea how you could improve it. Wow.

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