Judges – lesson series (1-3)

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This illustration immediately follows picture 1-2, the scene where the angel appeared to the people warning them of their disobedience for going back to worshiping false gods.

Accompanying text:
Sometimes people cry not because they are sad that they have disobeyed God but because they got caught.  The Israelites had chosen to be close friends with those who didn't believe in God.  They were warned – they even promised they wouldn't do it – but they chose to do it anyway.
Is it possible that God truly had first place in their hearts and souls and minds?  They said He did but they did not speak the truth.

The central teaching of lesson one is Be loyal to God, giving Him first place in your life.

Illustrations are for a six part Bible lesson series on the book of Judges – Disobedience and Deliverance.  There are 36 total images with accompanying lesson text.  Print size is 24x34cm.  Illustrations were drawn using Adobe Photoshop and digitally painted in Corel Painter 12.  Preliminary sketches were done using ArtRage app for the iPad.

Copyright ©2012, CEF Europe. Do not use pictures without permission.  Thank you.

Judges – lesson series (1-4, 1-5, 1-6)

The images below are the first three pictures I've completed for a new Bible lesson series on the book of Judges.  Actually, it's for an existing series that's being brought back into print with new images.  There are 36 total illustrations – six lessons with six images each.

Lesson one, "Israel's Broken Promise", begins with Joshua before his death, challenging the people.  The main teaching of lesson one is Be loyal to God, giving Him first place in your life.

Picture 1-4 lesson text explains how the people offered animal sacrifices to cover their sins.

Picture 1-5 lesson text continues by making the link to how these repeated sacrifices were a reminder that God would one day send a Saviour.

The people of Israel promised to obey God but it wasn't long before they disobeyed God and returned to the worship of false gods (Picture 1-6).

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Do You Wonder Why? (redesign)

Do You Wonder Why? – Answers to Tough Questions.

This 16-page evangelistic booklet has been around for over a decade with millions distributed around the world immediately after a natural disaster or tragic event (mostly North America and Europe) .  Up until now, I’ve been asked to adapt the cover or the occasional image inside for use around Europe.  This caused some illustration styles not to blend well while other images did not suit certain cultures.  The page format was not an International standard and changing the language was difficult or did not allow sufficient room.  Besides the extra time needed to fix and adapt the booklet for each printing, it did not allow for printing copies in advance before a disaster or tragic event happened.

The all new artwork and redesign are now completed.  Just a few minor tweaks to the text are needed but the project is moving forward with taking orders for the first round of printing.

Besides adapting the illustrations for use in various world cultures, the new page layout and additional room for text makes translations easier to insert.  A lot of changes were made “under the hood” using features in Adobe InDesign to streamline the translation process.  Countries are being encouraged to translate and print large quantities of the booklet before a major tragedy occurs because 1-2 days delay in distribution can make a big difference.  The new illustrations also make the booklet more suitable to share with any child facing difficulties in their life.

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Wonder Why? redesign project – drawing stages

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We're in the final stages of redesigning the evangelistic booklet, Do You Wonder Why – Answers to Tough Questions.  This 16-page booklet is distributed immediately following a natural disaster or tragic event.  With the booklet now being used globally, the illustrations and design will need revised to suit a wider range of cultures and regions of the world.  The dimensions will need adjusted for printing outside the US and the graphics need to allow room for translations that require more lines than English.

Pray that we can create a layout and visuals that will reflect what the children are going through, illustrated in a way that addresses wide cultural differences and can be applied to any tragedy.  Millions of copies have already been distributed over the past 10 years and we hope with the redesign more countries can make use of this evangelistic tool, printing them in advance, ready to distribute before a tragedy or natural disaster strikes.  We have partnered with a Christian printing ministry in Europe willing to print large quantities for free.

The inset *animation shows some of the steps I go through for an illustration.
*If the photo at left is not changing, click on image to start the animation.