The woods were totally dark except for the dim glow of the crackling campfire. The only sound for miles were the crickets and the occasional lonely howl of a distant coyote. The boys had jumped the first time they heard the howling but had managed to convince each other they were totally safe as long as nobody wandered off. Just as they were beginning to calm their unsteady nerves Missy clicked on the little light light illuminating a ghastly haunted version her former self.

Donut Boy smiled and looked up at the bright blue summer sky. The world was filled with possibility. Neither spoke for fear of breaking the magical spell, they simply took in the moment as the ancient city transport shuttle lurched and sputtered its way up the steep gravel road. The young driver searched in vain for a gear that would ease the strain but the hissing rattling engine refused to yield. The transmission complained loudly as the shuttle belched thick black diesel e

I was flipping through my Instagram feed the other day and was just blown away by some of the amazing artwork in there. Then I got that feeling. You know the one. You see a piece of art, and you can’t believe how good it is. You stare at it for a while, then a little voice in the back of your head says, “You’ll never be that good.”… You move on to the next piece, and it’s more of the same. There are two ways to handle that little voice. First, you can listen to it, pack up y

I posted a link to this on Facebook last week, but for those of you who don't follow me there or might have missed it here, it is again. You can now pick up the Procreate Artist's Handbook on iBooks for free. I downloaded my copy last night and have not officially cracked the spine on it yet, but you can be sure I'll be going through it as soon as I have some time. If you're an iPad user and you haven't tried the Procreate app yet, I highly recommend you give it a try. It's o

Hey Kids, I wanted to share some really cool news with you! Remember that post I wrote a while back about trying to find a new digital watercolor style using Photoshop? You don’t? Well basically I was looking for a way to replicate the look and feel of a watercolor illustration done using a combination of just my iPad Pro and my iMac… 100% digital, no paper, no paint. The New Books are in! Since the time I wrote that post I’ve completed two new books using that very same digi

I’ve been in business a long time. For every project I create there are at least  three or more sketches that are rejected along the way.  It goes without saying that in that vast pile there are a few I feel shouldn’t be in there. I mean, I get it, it’s all part of the process but that doesn’t mean I have to like it . The Bob Folder for Misfit Sketches That’s where the  Bob Folder for Misfit Sketches comes in. Not every rejected sketch makes it to the Bob Folder for Misfit Sk

Back in the day I drew in a paper sketchbook but now I do all my sketching on the iPad. It is better in almost every way. I’m sure there are some artists out there who might argue with me but honestly I’d have a hard time agreeing with them. I won’t bore you with all the details but for those of you who are interested this piece was done using the Procreate app. So far this has been my favorite iPad drawing app although last week Clip Studio for iPad was just released so we’l

Wow, Superhero Week has come and gone in a flash. Thanks to everyone who followed along with me and thanks to those of you who came and found me on Instagram. You guys are total rocks stars. Today I wanted to take a look at what the process looks like when developing characters for an actual client. Sure it’s fun to draw whatever comes to mind but what happens when you’re doing it for a real live client? Let's take a look at the process. Step one - Concept sketches. Step one

What’s Procreate? I’ll bet you were thinking you were going to see something different in this post. Sorry nature lovers this one is for all my artist friends out there using the iPad. This penguin art was created using the Procreate app for iPad. If you own an iPad and haven’t worked with Procreate yet, what are you waiting for? Procreate is an excellent drawing app available to iPad users especially those who are using Apple’s pencil. I’ve really been enjoying this one. It’

This is just a little test to see how easy it is to upload a movie from the iPad. If you’re curious this art was produced on the iPad Pro using the Procreate app. So far I’ve found it to be an excellent program and I highly recommend it for sketching. In this video you’ll see it’s not to bad for color either. I have yet to try it for a professional job with anything other than sketching but this should give you a little look at what it’s like to work with the program for both

It's Summer Vacation! I hope everyone is having a great summer! Last week I headed down to the beach here in North Carolina for a short little summer vacation. Unfortunately, it rained harder than I’ve ever seen it rain. It was one of those rains where you think it can’t possibly rain any harder but then it does….all day. Just as we checked into the hotel it started to let up. The sun popped out for about an hour and half so the kids and I grabbed our boogie boards and headed

Character Design From the Blue Sky Folder – Wonder Woman in Adobe Illustrator CC 2014 by Bob Ostrom Studio #illustrator #art #superhero #Illustration #adobe #artist #BobOstrom #childrensbookillustration #cartooning #Cartoon

Illustration Work in Progress Every once and a while it’s fun to post a little illustration work in progress. Here’s quick sneak peak at my latest: #illustrator #art #Illustration #artist #BobOstrom #childrensbookillustration #cartooning #Cartoon

I’ve been looking for old Photoshop and Illustrator files all morning and I can’t seem to find anything. I remember the images but when I search for them by name nothing comes up. The reason nothing comes up is because the files aren’t really lost. I just happen to be using the wrong names when I search. My clients tend to name files very differently then I do and therefore, when I search using a logical title, nothing comes up. If only I’d known about tagging my images with