As I’ve surely mentioned elsewhere, one of the joys of blogging is the opportunity to discover the work of other bloggers.  There are a lot of blogs out there, and in the few years I’ve been writing daily, I’ve been fortunate to stumble upon some real gems.

One particularly adorable gem is children’s book illustrator and writer Andrea Benko‘s blog, Andrea, Children’s Book Illustrator.  She very smartly obtained the URL “edoodless.wordpress.com” (yes, there is a second “S” in the URL; some scoundrel took “edoodles.wordpress.com” and is doing nothing with it), and that’s what she does:  doodles.

I love doodles (and for $5 a month, you can see my doodling every Sunday), but Andrea is an actual artist, and offers her services to children’s books authors (this one looks hilarious).  She’s even written two books of her own (here and here).  Her illustrations are digital, and have a very cute cartoon style with them, with thick lines that clearly define her characters.

I can’t say I know Andrea very well, so perhaps calling her a “friend” is a bit of a stretch, but she did me a real solid:

Last weekend she posted an adorable picture of Vulpix, the cute little fox Pokémon.  I commented on the post that if she “ever do[es] an Oddish, I’d love to see it.”

Oddish is my favorite Pokémon, and has been since Christmas 1998, when I wore down the batteries on my Gameboy Color playing Pokémon Red.  Oddish became a key part of my team, and while he evolved to his higher forms, I always loved the little guy.  He’s basically a little eggplant or bulb with a happy grin, some leaves, and a couple of little dumplings for feet—the definition of cute.

Well, Andrea wasted no time, and drew a beautiful Oddish for me.  She also very generously linked to the blog!

So, one good turn deserves another.  If you’re looking for a children’s book illustrator for your project, you can contact her through her blog or via e-mail.  Maybe I’ll enlist her services if I write the children’s book version of Inspector Gerard.  Hmm… The Toddler Adventures of Baby Gerard has a nice ring to it.

Happy Doodling!

—TPP