My daughter Mio and I, circa 2013. I believe the object behind my head is a miniature soccer ball, which I turned into a makeshift pillow 😂

Monty Python fan art I did when I was in high school. Apologies to Terry Gilliam, I evidently forgot about him! 😅

A drawing I made of my son Matthew when he was a little boy.

Nine different chibi emotions. In number 6, the Japanese phrase "おねが~い" (onegai) means "Please!" Or, more accurately, "Pleeease!" 😁

My daughter with her grandmother in Japan, 2013. I believe she was eating some sort of popsicle, and we brought a glass bowl out to reduce the mess as it started melting. 😅

Still kind of amazed that there was a scene in the movie "18x2 Beyond Youthful Days" ("青春18×2 通往有你的旅程") that looked this much like an illustration from my graphic novel, "Lost in Taiwan." Just a coincidence, I'm sure, but I mean, come on! What are the odds?

Here's another photo from when my parents came to visit me in Japan, 1992. On the right is a student of mine, named Tomomi, and on the left is her uncle, who I knew as Mr. Bando.

Check out this terrific drawing done years ago by the immensely talented ColorCarley (instagram.com/colorcarley), who based it on one of my illustrations in MASTERING MANGA. Here's an example of the phenomenal art Carley's creating now, painted directly onto the surface of a pair of shoes!

A photo from when my mother and father came to visit me in Japan, 1992. The older child was one of my students; her name was Kaori. It was a wonderful time, and I was so grateful that they made the effort to get to me in Morioka-- an extremely long journey by air and by rail.

Every month I give away a piece of original art to one of my top supporters on Patreon. Here's the piece I'll be giving away later this month. It's not too late for it to belong to you! patreon.com/MarkCrilley

Just wanted to wish a speedy recovery to Kara Baldus's adorable dog, Bradford, who had to undergo surgery recently. As a dog owner, I know there are few things harder than seeing your pup suffer, so I sincerely hope Bradford will be fully recovered and trotting around happily very soon indeed!

In my book THE TWO PENCIL METHOD, I showed how to get from the first picture to the second, step by step. The image is of a hillside pathway in Bergen, Norway. This neighborhood, filled with historic houses and lovely paths, is truly one of my favorite places on earth. www.amazon.com/Two-Pencil-M...

Miki and I at her parents' home in Japan, 2015. I'm holding a plate of gyoza that we had made together. 🥟

One page from a feature I did in my AKIKO comic book series, showing different ways of drawing Poog. There were either 24 altogether, or 36 altogether. Anyway, there were a bunch! 😅

Artwork from THE REALISM CHALLENGE, my book providing step-by-step lessons on creating photorealistic art using watercolor, colored pencil, and white gouache. Did I deliberately break a plate in order to create this lesson? I might have, my friends. I might have. 😅 www.amazon.com/Realism-Chal...

My wife and I in Japan, 2013. We had the good fortune of many family trips to Japan when the kids were young; I look back upon those days with great fondness.

Art from my "frustrated chibi artist" paper craft video. I always had fun doing projects like this, in which a 2-D character appears to interact with three dimensional objects in the real world. You can view the video here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4Yp...

patreon.com/MarkCrilley A few months back I created an exclusive ebook for my top Patreon supporters that showed how I used photo reference in the creation of my graphic novel, LOST IN TAIWAN. Here's the cat photo I used to make sure I got a natural pose in my illustration. patreon.com/MarkCrilley

My wife and my daughter in Japan, 2013. Thanks to my father-in-law, we had the chance to stay in this lovely hotel in Shikoku with a truly spectacular view.

Every couple months I create an exclusive digital book for my top supporters on Patreon. Today it was a sampler of my sketches back in college, including this one: a study of a painting (inset) by Andrew Wyeth. It's interesting to see what changed as I translated it from full color to pen and ink.

"The Castle of Alia Rellapor." A double-page illustration from my AKIKO comic book series. For many years this was the most detailed illustration I'd ever done, but I believe there's one in BRODY'S GHOST that goes even farther. 😅

This was by far the most popular of my online comics. It was shared a great many times, and viewed by hundreds of thousands of people, maybe more. It clearly struck a nerve with people! 😅

Miki and I as young parents, with her father, and with our son Matthew, who was around 6 months old at the time. This was during a visit to Japan, when we all stayed together at lovely old traditional ryokan hotel.

Every month I give away a signed piece of original art to one of my top supporters on Patreon. This month I'm giving away this page from THE COMIC BOOK LESSON: the moment when Trudy agrees to teach Emily something about how to make comics. patreon.com/MarkCrilley

Look at this gorgeous Totoro pin, gifted to me by the incomparably kind Kim-Hoa Ung (@autumnleaflet.bsky.social). Go check out her BlueSky feed and give her a follow; her amigurumi creations are so adorable! Thanks so much, Kim-Hoa, what a wonderful friend you are!! 😊🙏😊🙏

Wishing you all the very best! I'm so grateful to all of you who have supported my work this past year, or have simply interacted with me here on BlueSky. It means an awful lot to me. 😊🙏

Happy memories of reading Raymond Briggs' delightful picture book "Father Christmas" to my kids this time of year. Among my favorite children's books of all. time. I did this drawing as a YouTube tribute to the book and to Briggs back in 2015.

One of my favorite photos of me and my wife, back in 1997-- the year that we first met. Just over 5 months after this photo was taken, we got married.

www.markcrilleycourses.com/free-class I'm doing another free drawing webinar this coming Tuesday, Dec 23, at 1pm Eastern. Hope to see some of you there! Sign up here: www.markcrilleycourses.com/free-class

One of my personal favorites among the online cartoons I created a couple years back: a decidedly "meta" joke that calls attention to the nuts and bolts of gag cartoons. I had fun trying to emulate the style of something that might conceivably be seen in the pages of The New Yorker.

Cover art from MIKI FALLS: WINTER. The little creature at Miki's feet is Anra, a "hold spirit," capable of transferring human love from one couple to another.

Had a great time presenting this morning at Parker Middle School in Howell, Michigan, for the fourth consecutive year. Here's the illustration that I completed on stage in front of the students and gifted to to the school at the end of the event.

etsy.com/shop/MarkCrilley Here's another of the new pieces I've listed for sale at my Etsy shop, along with 22 other originals available. etsy.com/shop/MarkCrilley

etsy.com/shop/MarkCrilley I added six new pieces of original art to my Etsy shop this morning, and-- thanks to steadfast collectors Lauren and Vance-- three of them have already sold. The one you see here remains available for now, along with 22 other pieces.

A page from an AKIKO mini-comic I created for Random House Children's Books. I'm planning to make this original available for sale, along with five other pieces, at my Etsy shop tomorrow. www.etsy.com/shop/markcrilley

Had a lot of fun at my live drawing webinar yesterday afternoon. Starting with a simple contour line of a pear, I showed how to add shading all in real time over the course of the webinar. If you missed it, never fear: I'll be doing more such webinars in the future!

My wife and I back when she was pregnant with our first child, Matthew: June 21st, 1999 (as evidenced by the time stamp). Matthew was born just a little over three months later. Not sure if I should be embarrassed about this, but I've still got that shirt hanging in my closet! 😅

www.markcrilleycourses.com/free-class Excited to do another free drawing webinar this coming Tuesday afternoon, Dec. 9th at 1pm. Hope to see some of you there-- click the link to sign up!

The giant Buddha scene in LOST IN TAIWAN was inspired by this real location in Changhua, Taiwan, where I taught English back in the early 90s.

www.amazon.com/Realism-Chal... Artwork from THE REALISM CHALLENGE. All the illustrations in the book were created using watercolor, colored pencils, and white gouache. When this book got published in Japanese, that was definitely one of the high points of my career.

Artwork from my video showing how to apply gray scale screen tones the "old school" way, i.e. by applying them as transparent adhesive sheets, and cutting away the excess material with a hobby knife. If that sounds time-consuming, well, it definitely was!

Here's an old photo of my son Matthew with his grandmother during his first trip to Japan. He was almost exactly 6 months old.

Today I delivered one of my exclusive "collaborative illustrations" to my top Patreon supporters. I asked them to tell me which 45rpm singles Talia should be listening to in this picture. Are you familiar with all of these songs/bands? www.patreon.com/markcrilley

Another of my cartoons, this time focusing on my inability to remember numbers, while anything related to music becomes a lifelong memory. I just looked up the release date and it says Mambo No.5 didn't come out in America until August 17, 1999, so I'm afraid this cartoon contains a false claim!😅

Illustration from my book MANGA ART. I wanted to apply manga style to an image that conjured up America in the 1950s. As I recall, I looked at photos of Grace Kelly as inspiration for the hairstyle.

Another of my online comics. For me it now reads as a cautionary tale about writing jokes, since three years later the word "retweet" seems already a thing of the past 😅

Artwork from my graphic novel, MY LAST SUMMER WITH CASS. I wanted this image to have a soft, misty look to it, so I reduced the darkness of the line art, and in some areas used no lines at all.

Every month I give away a piece of original art to one of my top supporters on Patreon, personalized and signed, of course. Here is the picture I'm giving away this month. www.patreon.com/markcrilley

Panels from a feature in my AKIKO comic book series, in which I challenged myself to imitate different classic cartoons.

Artwork from my "How to Draw a Yorkie" video, which I'm pleased to find was purchased today from my Etsy shop. It's high time I restocked, really, so I should be back soon with an announcement of newly available pieces. etsy.com/shop/markcrilley