Katie McDee

Puffy sticker book!

2019-07-09T00:53:00.001-07:00

It’s finally here!! Last year @highlightsforchildren asked me to create 9 new ‘That’s Silly’ scenes and stickers for this book. It also includes all of the 15 scenes I did from the last 8 years and it hit shelves in March. Tho it was a mad rush to create so much art in 2 months, it was super fun to draw lots of animals doing silly things (all my previous Sillies were humans). And I have to admit that seeing ‘Illustrated by Katie McDee’ never gets old 😊

Love me some Chic-Fil-A

2019-07-09T00:46:00.002-07:00

What?! Chic-Fil-A had @highlightsforchildren books in their kid meals a couple months ago and my art was on the cover??!

"Hey, don't I know you?"

2017-05-27T22:14:00.000-07:00

You know when you recognize someone at the store and it's been a long time since you've talked to them, or let alone even thought of them and you've totally forgotten their name and you feel awkward and want to avoid any and all contact or conversation? And it's not even that you don't like the person or anything, you're just embarrassed!

Yeeeeaaaaah, I'm feeling a little bit like that right now. Have I really not posted on this blog since 2014?? yeeesh. I guess I got lost in the world of Instagram and Facebook. But I'm here today, talking to you face to face (ok, keyboard to screen), in the cereal isle. "Hi, how are you?!"

It's been an eventful few years. I had another baby. Here's a recent photo of me and my kids:

And I'm still illustrating. Here's some of the projects I got to work on...

Thanks for stopping by even tho this blog has been so neglected. I doubt I'll be posting again soon, (unless I can find an easy app to help me do it on my phone), but I'll try!

Samurai Jack lunch bags for all!

2014-07-23T02:50:00.000-07:00

some Samurai Jack lunch bag art for your viewing pleasure… Made these for my teacher husband and our kiddos.

April Highlights

2014-04-23T03:37:00.000-07:00

What an exciting month this is! My art is on the cover of this month's Highlights High Five Magazine and a "Highlights Best 'That's Silly' Illustration of the Year" Pewter Plate award showed up in the mail! I have three now! All that paired with a new baby girl and this is the best month ever! More exclamation points!!!

(Actually, Penny was born 8 weeks ago, but she's sill new to me (^◡^ )

more board game fun

2013-11-04T12:46:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple game boards I designed for Lakeshore Learning Materials last year. The centers were left blank for a plastic dice popper thingy to be added during production. I think that dragon is my favorite.

Flameo Hotman

2013-10-07T08:09:00.000-07:00

I'm working on a couple of fun projects right now, but I can't show them until next year. mew. But that's OK, cuz I have plenty of lunch bags to post! Here's some Avatar: The Last Airbender fun.

Rainy day in the city

2013-08-29T09:26:00.004-07:00

Published in Highlights High Five Magazine - March 2013.

* For anyone who's asked or wondered... I sketch by hand on paper/tracing paper (normally at a smaller size than the final will be printed). I scan the finished sketch into Photoshop and clean it up a bit (if it needs it). Once the sketch is approved I then place it into Adobe illustrator, block in all my color (changing colors and object placements is so much easier in Ai), then export the file as a PSD with layers. In Photoshop I add textures and shading/highlights to give it that final pizzazz I like so much.

Having fun sketchin

2013-08-08T11:03:00.000-07:00

Couple concept character sketches from a recent project.

(I hate watermarks but, you know...)

Evelyn's Temple Testimony

2013-08-05T16:47:00.002-07:00

I painted these with watercolor for the January 2013 issues of The Friend and Liahona magazines. The last 'Find It' image was colored in Adobe Illustrator. Here are the sketches and story layout:

Friend Magazine Cover - February 2013

2013-07-11T16:03:00.000-07:00

Illustrating the cover of The Friend was SO GREAT!

Animaaaaaaal!

2013-05-11T10:57:00.000-07:00

I'm not a morning person. Never have been. But I married a teacher (almost a whole year ago!) and now I wake up at 6:30am.

ANTE MERIDIEM PEOPLE!

I mean, I used to stay UP until about that time. Ok, not really, but 4am was most commonly my bedtime.

Anyways, I get up to make him a lunch every morning and send him off with a kiss and a "Have a good day at schoooool!" Most days I pack his lunch in a little cooler, but about once a week I make a special brown bag. This one was inspired by his marching band (He teaches high school band and choir)

A good ol' birthday party

2013-04-26T12:17:00.002-07:00

Published in Highlights High Five's September 2012 issue.

Snakes and Ladders

2012-12-14T09:54:00.003-08:00

Came across this little board game I created for Oxford University Press in the Fall of 2010. I'm assuming it's been published and I can blog about it by now. I hope so anyway!

Dig it?

2012-11-05T07:31:00.001-08:00

Here's another game board for Lakeshore Learning Materials I designed last year. I loved figuring out this layout.

ch-ch-ch-Changes

2012-10-16T07:58:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time, Blog. We've got a lot of catching up to do... No there is too much. Let me sum up.

I met a wonderful man. He asked me to marry him. We bought a house. Went to Hawaii for 3 weeks on our honeymoon and I am now a step mom to 2 awesome kids. My life has changed dramatically (in great ways) and I am only now, 4 months later, feeling somewhat adjusted. Things are so good.

Enough of that personal life stuff. Let's talk art! I'll be posting every week various projects that I've worked on over the last 8 months. I'd like to post more often, but let's be realistic.

So, let's start with this... Highlights High Five's March 2012 issue. This was my second 'That's Silly!' spread for the magazine. I have done 4 in total so far since last year. They are so fun.

I tried a different approach to this one by cleaning up my final sketch and taking it straight into Photoshop to color over. I usually block everything in Illustrator first and then finish up in PS.

Have a great week everybody. There will be more to come soon... promise :-)

Mashing Things Up

2012-02-15T16:23:00.000-08:00

I love Dr. Who and I love Star Trek.

One day I got to thinking... What IF the Daleks and Borg encountered each other in space? How would that galactic battle go down? Who would win? I'm thinking the Daleks would but I can't know for sure until the episode is written. Steven Moffat, won't you please find the time to write it? Pretty please?

Anyways, based off a little sketch I did a while back, I made this design and screen printed a few shirts last week. I think I might make more of them but maybe in a 1 or 2-color design instead of this 4-color one. Hmm, we shall see. Allons-y!

City Zoo Quest

2012-02-01T11:59:00.000-08:00

I had the great pleasure to design and illustrate some game boards for Lakeshore Learning Materials last year and now that they're available I can start sharing them with you!

This City Zoo Quest game is targeted for grades 1-2 and you can see from the sketch that there were quite a few changes along the way to get to the final product. I've also included an in-progress snapshot of the style I started this board in. I really liked how it was coming out, but realized the rendering was too young and in order to be consistent in style with the older game boards I knew I'd be creating, (I'll post those soon) I changed course and chose a coloring style that would work across the board.

Happy New Year

2012-01-09T11:56:00.000-08:00

First post of 2012! I have a lot of new year's resolutions and goals but I fear if I share them with you I won't actually accomplish them...

Oh well!

Ok, so this year there's the inevitable go to the gym and eat right. I haven't once been to the gym due to a lingering cold and I may or may not've eaten a lb. of chocolate last night. So far so good :)

Then there's the time management goal. Making sure I stick to a schedule. 9 days and I'm doing ok with that one. I've just made sure that my to-do list each day has plenty of 'procrastinate' and 'get distracted' time factored in.

A few more from my long list are: • draw more • sit up straighter • promote more • get a rep? • read more and watch tv less • be fearless • cook more • stick to a budget

What about you? What are your 2012 goals and/or resolutions?

PS: These illos were done for the Jan issue of Friend Magazine. I'm also adding the sketches. I'd like to try to blog more this year and also attach sketches along with final art because that's always a little more interesting, don't you think?

2011-12-20T12:19:00.000-08:00

Wishing you all a happy holiday season and a wonderful new year!

Now go wreak some havoc and may your dreams come true!

"Alas, ear wax!"

2011-12-13T14:39:00.000-08:00

A while back I posted this piece in progress (inked). So I thought I'd show the final product. I've been having a blast painting fan-based art lately.

R2 meets DD2

2011-11-21T02:44:00.001-08:00

A little birthday painting for my friend Karen :)

Introducing Robo Math!

2011-11-15T22:55:00.001-08:00

Having trouble remembering your 7 times tables? Can't seem to divide 84 by 4? Or maybe, just maybe, you've got a child who needs a fun and simple way to practice their math facts so they can ace those pesky pop quizes.

If any of these fit your situation, have no fear! Robo Math is here!

Helo Games invited me to created the art for this awesome App and it's been on the 'What's Hot' top 20 page in Educational Apps on the iTunes store for weeks. Pretty mathtastic, huh?!

click here to visit the Robo Math iTunes App page

Pockets Mag - Just Like Me

2011-11-01T11:13:00.000-07:00

Do you ever find yourself craving the food your drawing? Maybe it's just me, but it happens all the time. Last month's Pockets Magazine's illos had me drinking juice boxes and munching on crackers.

You can only imagine how bad it was when I was designing these toy food labels last year... "Must have peanut butter." [15 minutes later] "Must have apple sauce."

Gimmee a High Five!

2011-09-26T16:42:00.000-07:00

Here's the "That's Silly!" spread illustration I created for the October issue of Highlights High Five magazine. So much fun. How many silly things can you find?

And if anyone would be interested... I'm thinking I could put together a step-by-step for this illo.