J. Bell Studio

The Little Bully

2012-02-15T07:03:00.000-08:00

The Little Bully by Beth Bracken is another book I illustrated with Capstone Press. Available here!

It's part of the same "Little Boost" series as the Too Shy for Show-and-Tell book I illustrated. There are so many great titles in this series! If you have a moment, you should swing by the Capstone website and check them all out.

Here's a quick peek...

Valentine's Day Cards

2012-02-01T05:42:00.000-08:00

Printable Valentine's Day cards at my group site! We Love to Illustrate

Download mine here.

Far Flutterby

2012-01-23T08:51:00.000-08:00

The very first book I illustrated is finally available!

With caterpillars, butterflies, and birds, this was a really fun book commission to get right out of the gate. It's written by Karen Kingsbury who, with over 20 million books in print, is a bit of a powerhouse in the Christian book industry. Read more about Karen at her website. See more about the book at Zondervan.

Here's a little peek....

This is a terrible photo but I love how glitzy they made the cover!

Stella Batts Sneak Peek

2012-01-17T11:40:00.000-08:00

Stella Batts: Needs a New Name is coming soon! Written by Courtney Sheinmel, this is the first book in a series that I've been illustrating. Look for it at your local bookstore in early February 2012 and in the meantime, visit Stella's newly launched website to read more about it.

This book is packed full of illustrations, almost 70!

Here are some of my favorites.

More soon!

Pop-up card

2011-12-18T17:54:00.000-08:00

I saw one of the Christmas cards I illustrated for American Greetings at Target the other day. It's a pop-up AND it has lights and music. This card means business!

Christmas Freebies

2011-12-01T05:45:00.000-08:00

This month we created downloadable Christmas freebies at We Love to Illustrate. We were challenged by Scraptus to come up with scrapbook elements and I think these could make fun stickers and gift labels too. Download mine here. Visit We Love to Illustrate for more.

Too Shy For Show-and-Tell!

2011-11-28T17:54:00.001-08:00

This past month has brought so many exciting things to my mailbox.

"Too Shy For Show-and-Tell" is a book I illustrated for the wonderful people at Capstone Press. Available here. Its a sweet little story packed with all kinds of fun animal characters.

Here's a peek....

I also received my copy of "They Draw and They Cook". There are so many illustrated recipes in this book I feel like I find something new every time I open it.

Available here. The Draw and Cook website.

This is the yummy vegetarian meatball recipe I have in the book. More here!

Pillow Covers

2011-10-31T09:34:00.001-07:00

Our November post is up at We Love to Illustrate! We decided it would be fun to try our hands at some pillow designs at Envelop this month. Above is the front and back of one of the pillows I uploaded. Available here.

Halloween!

2011-10-02T09:31:00.000-07:00

We created lots of fun printable cupcake toppers over at

We Love to Illustrate this month.

Download mine here

Sweet and Salty

2011-08-31T19:30:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd share another recipe I drew for They Draw and Cook. They're having a fun Cooking for Kids contest right now sponsored by allrecipes.com (ends sept 12). This isn't the most complicated recipe but it's quick and easy if you're craving something sweet and salty.

Back to School stickers!

2011-08-28T09:00:00.001-07:00

Yay, back to school! My son is not too pleased but I'm thrilled to have my quiet working hours back. I created these hairy monsters last year for my group site but I thought I'd repost them just in case anyone wanted to use them.

Download the full sheet here...visit We Love to Illustrate to see more.

Angel Mouse

2011-08-22T10:12:00.000-07:00

Here's an angel mouse I drew for Guideposts Magazine.

Happy Coloring!

2011-08-01T07:47:00.000-07:00

Happy August! We have free birthday coloring sheets

to download over at We love to Illustrate.

more sketches

2011-07-20T13:24:00.000-07:00

These little ladies are for another project I'm working on. Stylistically, these girls had to change quite a bit (they needed to grow up a few years), but I still think these are rather cute.

bully mice

2011-07-17T15:20:00.000-07:00

Here are some initial sketches I did for a project I'm now wrapping up with Stone Arch Books. I just saw that they posted these over at their blog a couple of weeks ago so I thought I'd share them too.

July!

2011-07-03T08:30:00.000-07:00

Happy July! I'm a little late on this one but our new monthly post is up at

We Love to Illustrate.

June

2011-06-01T13:31:00.000-07:00

We're celebrating our one year anniversary at We Love to Illustrate with some free desktop downloads. See them all here.

Birthday

2011-05-01T09:09:00.000-07:00

Our May post is up at We love to Illustrate!

I've been so busy with projects the past couple of months (hopefully I can share something soon!) that I had to contribute something from my archives. This birthday sea monster was created for American Greetings.

Free Easter Download

2011-03-31T16:46:00.000-07:00

Welcome April! These paper Easter egg bands are my contribution to this months

post over at We Love to Illustrate. All the girls came up with some very fun

Easter themed activities and downloads. See them all here.

Download mine here.

stir

2011-03-17T09:13:00.001-07:00

Stirring up some mud pies.

Just a quick one for Illustration Friday.

Hello springtime

2011-02-28T16:22:00.000-08:00

Our March post is up at We Love to Illustrate!

We're having a print giveaway this month with all of our
spring baby themed illustrations. Visit here for all the details.

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-13T19:26:00.001-08:00

Here's another illustration I did for the good people over at American Greetings.

XOXO

2011-02-01T05:32:00.000-08:00

Here is my Valentine's Day contribution to We Love to Illustrate.

Welcome 2011!

2011-01-01T09:15:00.001-08:00

These little mice are my January contribution to We Love to Illustrate.

We decided to welcome the new year by creating a desktop calendar. Check out all the fun designs to download here.

Merry and Bright

2010-12-14T11:37:00.000-08:00

These are some of the Christmas cards I created recently for American Greetings.

I hope everyone has a fantastic holiday!

Printable Gift Tags!

2010-11-30T19:40:00.000-08:00

Here is my December contribution to We Love to Illustrate. We thought we'd celebrate the upcoming holidays with free printable gift tags...our gift to you!

Click here to download mine and make sure you visit We Love to Illustrate to see all the gift tag cuteness to download.

Welcome Fall

2010-10-31T20:25:00.001-07:00

These little bugs are my November contribution to We Love to Illustrate.

trick or treat

2010-10-19T14:25:00.000-07:00

Here's a spooky little friend I created for American Greetings.

Free printable Halloween Treat Box!

2010-10-01T05:43:00.000-07:00

Here is my October contribution to We Love to Illustrate! (download it here).

We decided to kick off the month with some free printable Halloween treat box designs. Check out all the creepy cuteness to download here.

Acrobats

2010-09-22T09:36:00.001-07:00

A couple quick drawings for Illustration Friday.

Free Back to School stickers!

2010-08-26T12:39:00.000-07:00

Pencils, books, and a hairy school bus? Yep, it's back to school time over at we love to illustrate and we thought we'd celebrate this month by offering free sticker/label downloads.

Check out all the fun printables to download here.

Dog Days

2010-08-02T12:28:00.000-07:00

This little dog is my August contribution to We Love To Illustrate!
Visit here and play along too.

Breakfast

2010-07-22T09:33:00.001-07:00

Here is a quick one for Illustration Friday.

kitty

2010-07-13T20:00:00.000-07:00

These are some sketches of my new roommate Fid. He's wild-eyed and crazy but awfully cute to look at.

Tea in the garden

2010-07-01T08:01:00.000-07:00

Our July post is up at We Love to Illustrate.

We had a picnic theme this month and everyone came up with some fantastic designs. Visit We Love to Illustrate and see how you can play along too.

I was having so much with this tea party I decided to also turn it into a recipe illustration for They Draw and Cook. If you haven't seen this website yet you should definitely visit.
Here's a close up of some of the characters on the 2nd page
We Love to Illustrate, They Draw and Cook

Ripples...

2010-06-15T14:03:00.000-07:00

New group site!

2010-06-12T10:14:00.000-07:00

I've recently teamed up with some very talented ladies to start a new group site! www.welovetoillustrate.com

As it says in our intro...
"We'll be meeting here once a month to share illustrations, coloring pages, and other fun activities, geared towards children and the children's publishing market."

I'm so excited to be a part of this group! Learn more about us here.

bicycle built for two

2010-06-07T12:41:00.000-07:00

....a scene from the trails

early morning

2010-05-26T11:24:00.001-07:00

rainy day rabbit

2010-05-10T09:56:00.001-07:00

Even in bad weather she was fearless with her fashion choices.

For Illustration Friday.

Birthday Wishes!

2010-05-07T06:59:00.001-07:00

Flowers from my sketchbook

2010-04-30T09:09:00.000-07:00

Flowers from my sketchbook, digitally colored.

more springtime

2010-04-17T17:51:00.000-07:00

It finally feels like spring!

2010-04-08T06:41:00.001-07:00

Their first spring time dip in a puddle.
For illustration friday

Easter greetings

2010-04-04T14:38:00.001-07:00

Topiary

2010-03-24T19:35:00.000-07:00

Just something I've been working on in between other projects.

subterranean

2010-03-17T20:58:00.000-07:00

For Illustration Friday.

Winter Rabbit

2010-03-04T10:53:00.001-08:00

One last winter image for the season.
I think from now on I'm just going to pretend it's spring.

Quick drawings

2010-02-25T06:09:00.000-08:00

Some quick evening drawings. I'm trying to break my habit of rendering away for hours and hours. It's relaxing but not very productive.
And because I can't leave my drawings alone, with color?

Recipe project

2010-02-24T17:26:00.001-08:00

Vegetarian meatball recipe from here.

I created this illustration for a recipe book project which has now morphed into a fun little website called They Draw and Cook (created by Salli Swindell and Nate Padavick of Studio SSS) There are some beautiful images over there and it's open to submissions if you want to participate.

black and white

2010-02-15T19:58:00.001-08:00

Adrift. For Illustration Friday.

Valentine's Day!

2010-02-14T17:12:00.001-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day!
This is a card I designed for Great Arrow Graphics. more here.

House Warming

2010-02-12T07:14:00.001-08:00

It's been a hectic week for me but I'm finally settled into a new apartment. I have a cup of coffee and a bright new drawing corner. It feels good to settle in.

more plaid pants

2010-02-04T12:31:00.000-08:00

Getting focused for the perfect shot...just a quick one for Illustration Friday.

plaid britches

2010-01-22T09:05:00.000-08:00

Drawings from my weekend.

Black and White

2010-01-15T14:06:00.000-08:00

You never know who's going to peeking over your shoulder.

I keep trying to add color to this image but I think it just works better in black and white.

Quick drawings from the weekend

2010-01-04T07:02:00.000-08:00

A cute fancy owl...

and a slightly dopey (but cute?) turtle...

A Bear and her Fabulous Hat

2009-12-28T14:11:00.000-08:00

She's a true pioneer of wilderness fashion.

Just for fun. With the holidays behind me I thought it would be nice to take a break from wintery color palettes.

Let it snow

2009-12-26T20:06:00.000-08:00

After our snowman got covered in 4" of Christmas snow I thought I'd try to give him a 2cd life (digitally, that is). I'm pretty sure this is about what he looked like anyway.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-22T11:26:00.000-08:00

Created for Tubman Family Alliance, a local woman's shelter in Minneapolis.
Created for Great Arrow Graphics see more here.

I'm a little embarrassed that as a seasonal giftware designer and greeting card illustrator I didn't even think about sending cards out this year. I hope everyone has a nice holiday!

Sketch

2009-12-17T08:04:00.000-08:00

A quick sketch from an old photo.

crunchy snow tracks

2009-12-08T20:36:00.000-08:00

Just a little personal project for Illustration Friday.

It's getting frosty

2009-11-25T19:48:00.000-08:00

I made this illustration awhile ago for a dinner party that still hasn't happened. I guess I'd rather be drawing than cooking.

Tea time

2009-11-20T16:28:00.000-08:00

Weekend sketches

2009-11-16T20:18:00.000-08:00

from old photos

Cruisers

2009-11-13T10:55:00.000-08:00

I've been working on these little guys in between projects. I think these two are my favorites......

paper plane

2009-11-06T09:19:00.001-08:00

quick weekend sketches

2009-11-02T05:42:00.001-08:00

Just for fun. Based off a collection of old polaroids I own.

Halloween!

2009-10-28T21:31:00.000-07:00

Inspired by this flickr set of vintage Halloween illustrations.

critters

2009-10-23T13:04:00.000-07:00

new season, new work

2009-10-22T22:05:00.001-07:00