I spent two years working on the idea for this book. It had a great concept, but not an easy one to execute. The story was suppose to be humorous, heartfelt and concise, but the first forty drafts contained none of those things. However, I was resolved and didn't give up, I turned to my SCBWI training and used those tools until a breakthrough came. Then, there it was. A clever and mildly unusual path to the final page turn. It beckoned my characters to navigate it with their personalities and determination. So they did.

Its has been almost three years since the release of my first book, but I hope this book is worth the wait. I took my time and did not write until I felt I was ready. I was committed to finding a deeper potential as both an author and illustrator.

Step 1: I always begin with a sketch. I create about half of my sketches with pencils then scan the drawing into the computer. If I'm more comfortable with the content, I will sketch it digitally as I did here.

Step 2: I create my digital art in three rounds of work. In the first round, I block in color. I try not to think too much about details in this phase, but I have a tendency to overwork areas if I don't keep myself moving. My goal is to establish the color, shape and value of the painting.

I will also make any necessary adjustments on composition. The critical part of this piece was getting the perspective of the lane lines correct.

Step 3: In the second stage, I begin developing details. Here it was adding clouds, making the water more believable and trimming Chopper's head. I also added reflections in his goggles and completed some missing details in the background.

Step 4: In the final step, I like to amp up texture and fine tune areas that need attention. I thought splashing water across his snout would add more drama and realism to the work. I spent about 13 hours on this illustration.

I chose swimming because I grew up in a family of competitive swimmers. I swam in high school and college and the Olympics is like the Super Bowl for swimming. Breast stroke was my specialty, so I chose it for this illustration. His arms cutting through the water gives the piece nice action with the right amount of believability.

Chopper wishes our Olympic athletes all the best at the Summer Games.

After that, my strategy was to design cards with my info on one side and a piece of art on the other. I wanted to give the customer something they would not easily discard. It seems to be working as many returning customers tell me they still have one of my cards from years ago. Let me know which one your favorite might be.