Little Jimmy
cartooning | Character Design | Illustration

Jim Karn had a lifelong desire to write a children’s book and for years he had put down into words a number of stories from his own childhood. Growing up on a farm in Iowa proved to deliver many life lessons that are worth sharing with today’s generation. Little Jimmy’s Life on the Farm Stories, the first installment of Karn’s published books, was an anthology of three short stories. I believe in the message and moral teachings of each tale, so it was harder to turn this project down. I based the character of Little Jimmy on the author at a younger age and his grandson at the same age. The stories provided several details, so for each of the eighteen illustrations, I produced a series of rough and refined drawings to be approved by the author. For the final images, I utilized traditional analog graphite on paper and then digitized each illustration to add color via Photoshop. I took advantage of some specialized brushes to replicate more traditional illustration mediums.