Michael Dashow
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mdashow.bsky.social
Michael Dashow
@mdashow.bsky.social
3.7K followers 1.1K following 1.8K posts
Illustrator, character designer, kidLit artist & gameDev art director.
Rep'd by @vickyweberbooks.bsky.social‬ @ CMA
Tetris-level ability to pack refrigerator & expert recollection of 80's new-wave song lyrics.
He/him.

https://linktr.ee/mdashow
Posts Replies Media Videos
mdashow.bsky.social
If you see this, post your bird art 🐦

#bird #ostrich
A cartoony ostrich, dressed up in clothing to make her look like a mystical magic-user. She's got a coat with moons and stars, etcetera, on it, lots of rings and necklaces, and a turban with an ostrich feather on it. She's holding a magic wand.
November 10, 2025 at 6:36 PM
mdashow.bsky.social
Here's the illustration that I shared last week for #kidLitArtPostcard day, only here mocked up as a full book cover. 🐺🤫

#kidLit #kidLitArt #MG #werewolf #spooky #spookyMG #bookCover
In a dark nighttime hallway with huge arched windows, a girl and a werewolf (also a girl) are sneaking around. Both are wearing school uniforms, although the werewolf's has ripped a bit from her transformation. She has just knocked over a small table and broken a vase and the girl is shushing her. Through one of the large windows, we see more school buildings and a full moon. The book cover title is "Boarding School Werewolf" by Jo Barnett. At the top of the cover, it says "School can be a transformative experience."
November 10, 2025 at 5:33 PM
mdashow.bsky.social
Hi #KidLitArtPostcard day, I’m Mike and I love creating fun, character-driven work, spooky or no.
I'm repped by @vickyweberbooks.bsky.social and I'm especially looking for middle grade cover work.

See more work at mdashow-kidlitart.carrd.co

#kidLitArt #spooky #werewolf #spookyMG #kidLit #MG
In a dark nighttime hallway with huge arched windows, a girl and a werewolf (also a girl) are sneaking around. Both are wearing school uniforms, although the werewolf's has ripped a bit from her transformation. She has just knocked over a small table and broken a vase and the girl is shushing her. Through one of the large windows, we see more school buildings and a full moon. The text on the bottom reds "Michael Dashow, mdashow-kidlitart.carrd.co, repped by Vicky Weber @ CMA."
November 6, 2025 at 6:08 AM
mdashow.bsky.social
While I'm not really into horror, I really enjoy drawing spooky (and maybe just a little funny?) MG covers. Here's one of my faves so far. Despite its looks, it's not a real book, just a portfolio piece.

more of my work at mdashow-kidlitart.carrd.co

#kidLitArt
Two kids explore a hallway in a dark mansion. They look worried, and the boy holds a flashlight. The hallway is lined with paintings in ornate frames, all of the eyes of the paintings watching the kids. We can see the shadow of some sort of horned monster coming up the stairs. The title reads "The Mystery of Mystic Manor" by Jo Barnett.
October 31, 2025 at 1:56 AM
mdashow.bsky.social
Artists! Quote with your night art 🌙

#kidLitArt #illustration #spooky #MG #MGcover
In a spooky night-time scene, a girl - approximately 14 with shoulder-length brown hair and wearing jeans and a denim jacket - crouches on a dirt driveway and looks behind her in consternation. Behind her is a large dark house with peaked gables and spiky points sticking out of the roof and a tall tower. The top floor of the tower is lit - the only illumination in the house - and a figure is silhouetted in the window. Behind the house are fir trees and a huge full moon. the entire scene is in spooky greens and blues.
October 27, 2025 at 8:36 PM
mdashow.bsky.social
Hi #PortfolioDay , I’m Mike and I love drawing fun, colorful characters, animals, and situations.
I'm repped by @vickyweberbooks.bsky.social
and I'm especially looking for middle grade cover work.

See more of my work at mdashow-kidlitart.carrd.co or linktr.ee/mdashow

#kidLitArt #illustration
In a spooky night-time scene, a girl - approximately 14 with shoulder-length brown hair and wearing jeans and a denim jacket - crouches on a dirt driveway and looks behind her in consternation. Behind her is a large dark house with peaked gables and spiky points sticking out of the roof and a tall tower. The top floor of the tower is lit - the only illumination in the house - and a figure is silhouetted in the window. Behind the house are fir trees and a huge full moon. the entire scene is in spooky greens and blues. An illustration of a hippopotamus ice skating in the Olympics. She's got a lovely lavender dress on with lots of sparkly sequins on it. She looks very graceful and happy. A panicked apprentice witch (she's human, with pink hair, glasses, and light academia clothing) makes a mess of her cauldron while being calmy advised by an older, wiser witch (who is a bear.) Aside from the exploding cauldron, the browns of the scene make it warm and cozy.
October 14, 2025 at 4:21 PM
mdashow.bsky.social
Like the thing says, "everything is criticized."
A meme format with the top panel showing hangs holding a jar of pills marked "hard pills to swallow." The second panel shows hands holding pills and above this lightly-colored illustration is bold black text that reads "Dark text reads better on light backgrounds. Light text reads better on dark backgrounds. Don't rely on a thin outline to make your text legible."
October 10, 2025 at 4:08 PM
mdashow.bsky.social
Post a mage! 🧙‍♂️
A stylized illustration of Gandalf the Grey from 'Lord of the Rings' holding a staff and a glowing sword. The background is mostly black.
October 10, 2025 at 5:38 AM
mdashow.bsky.social
Hi #KidLitArtPostcard day!
I’m Mike and drawing fun, colorful characters is my cup of tea!
I'm repped by @vickyweberbooks.bsky.social & I'm especially looking for middle grade cover work.

See more of my work at mdashow-kidlitart.carrd.co

#kidLitArt #childrensIllustration #witch #middleGrade #MG
A girl witch and a boy sitting down for tea in a pretty garden next to a cottage. There are a handful of frogs around, including on the table. The girl in her purple witches robes is talking animatedly about something while the boy is smiling nervously as he eyes the green steam from his tea and the frog on the table. The image header reads "Michael Dashow, illustrator, https://mdashow-kidlitart.carrd.co, repped by Vicky Weber @ CMA"
October 2, 2025 at 5:32 AM
mdashow.bsky.social
Another approach might be to try something less literal. Instead of imagining what the real-life wall behind him would look like (and TBH, a grey wall is rather blah & unexciting), you could perhaps try for just a nice color back there that helps the foreground elements and logo pop.
Paint-over of the Head Chef capsule image with the logo in the upper left, the chef on the right, a table full of food-prep on the bottom, but in this case the far background is all maroon and featureless.
September 28, 2025 at 9:27 PM
mdashow.bsky.social
Artists! Quote with your night art! 🌜

#kidlitart #kidlit
In a spooky night-time scene, a girl - approximately 14 with shoulder-length brown hair and wearing jeans and a denim jacket - crouches on a dirt driveway and looks behind her in consternation. Behind her is a large dark house with peaked gables and spiky points sticking out of the roof and a tall tower. The top floor of the tower is lit - the only illumination in the house - and a figure is silhouetted in the window. Behind the house are fir trees and a huge full moon. the entire scene is in spooky greens and blues.
September 19, 2025 at 4:14 PM
mdashow.bsky.social
HUMAN artists, use only one #art piece to convince people to follow you!
Sherrif Saguaro, an old-timey western sheriff who also happens to be a walking cactus. He's wearing a dusty leather coat and boots with spurs and a red bandana, and while he wears no hat, his cactus head is the shape of a 10-gallon hat. He's dashing through a dusty old western frontier town about to throw a lasso. In the background is his trusty horse, who also happens to be a cactus.
September 9, 2025 at 6:11 PM
mdashow.bsky.social
It's Star Trek day so I'll join everyone else in posting fan art. 🖖

#starTrek #starTrekDay #lowerDecks
Fan Art of Beckett Marinier from Star Trek: Lower Decks. She's on an alien world, holding a phaser in one hand and a bottle of Saurian brandy in the other. She's looking kinda badass.
September 8, 2025 at 6:48 PM
mdashow.bsky.social
Hi #KidLitArtPostcard day, I'm Mike! I usually post cheerful scenes but this month I'm showing some range with a new spooky MG cover illustration instead.

I'm also excited to share that I'm now repped by @vickyweberbooks.bsky.social at CMA! 🎉

mdashow-kidlitart.carrd.co

#spooky #kidLit #kidLitArt
In a spooky night-time scene, a girl - approximately 14 with shoulder-length brown hair and wearing jeans and a denim jacket - crouches on a dirt driveway and looks behind her in consternation. Behind her is a large dark house with peaked gables and spiky points sticking out of the roof and a tall tower. The top floor of the tower is lit - the only illumination in the house - and a figure is silhouetted in the window. Behind the house are fir trees and a huge full moon. the entire scene is in spooky greens and blues. The text at the bottom reads "Michael Dashow, mdashow-kidlitart.carrd.co, repped by Vicky Weber at CMA"
September 4, 2025 at 5:12 AM
mdashow.bsky.social
If you see this, quote post your cat art 😺🖌️
An illustration from Tether Studios' Party Blast, a match-3 mobile game. Shown are Lindsey and Jess, two anthropomorphized cats dressed up for a night of clubbing. They've got nice dresses on and are holding flutes of champagne, and are standing in a club with people on the dance floor. Streamers, and confetti and disco lights fill the air.
August 25, 2025 at 4:41 PM
mdashow.bsky.social
Post a witch if you wish 🧙‍♀️
A witch sitting on a broom wearing vintage style clothing: Her dress and witch's hat are turquoise, accented with a short red button-up sweater and red polka-dot cloth. She's wearing red heels and black stockings. Her short messy bob is light strawberry blonde.
August 16, 2025 at 11:47 PM
mdashow.bsky.social
Quote with a fantasy creature that's not a werewolf or a vampire.

This is a Japanese yokai known as a Kasha, a type of bake-neko, or “monster cat.” The Kasha were known for invading funerals, leaping down from the rooftops to steal corpses, which they would eat!
A Kasha, a type of Japanese bake-neko, or "monster cat." The Kasha were known to invade funerals, leaping down from the rooftops to steal corpses which they would eat. The Kasha here is a three-eyed giant cat wearing ornate Japanese robes and carrying the corpse of a Japanese woman. He's got an enormously toothy smile.
August 8, 2025 at 4:45 AM
mdashow.bsky.social
Hi once again, #KidLitArtPostcard day! I'm Mike. I love drawing kids, dogs, and especially middle grade covers, if you know anyone who happens to need one. 😁

You can see more of my work at mdashow-kidlitart.carrd.co

#kidLitArt #childrensIllustration #illustration #middleGrade #dog
A neighborhood park surrounded by trees, with a jungle gym, sand pit, and benches. A border collie looks up at girl happily. The girl - scriffy short red hair and in jeans, teeshirt, plaid overshirt - is standing next to a sign indicating "No Dogs Allowed" and is shrugging at the dog apologetically. The text on the picture reads "Michael Dashow, illustrator" and lists my web site - mdashow-kidlitart.carrd.co - and email address.
August 7, 2025 at 4:56 AM
mdashow.bsky.social
Post a redhead 💕
A stylized illustration of a woman with unkempt red hair, glasses and a grey sweatshirt that reads "Totally okay 2020." She's cheerful and giving a big thumbs-up. A happy cat is also photobombing the picture.
August 6, 2025 at 8:55 PM
mdashow.bsky.social
And if you think that's the only Thing I have to share on the topic, you've got another Thing coming!
Ben Grimm, aka the ever-lovin' blue-eyed Thing, a big strong bulky guy covered in orange rocks. He's looking happy as he raises his fist. He's wearing royal blue cargo shorts, held up with a belt whose buckle has the number 4 on it, indicative of his affiliation with The Fantastic Four.
July 26, 2025 at 5:30 PM
mdashow.bsky.social
And just to see what the difference might look like in a small size in Steam, there's the two of them much smaller (Although it's possible to get even smaller in Steam.)
A mock-up of a screen in Steam showing the before and after of the Folk Emerging capsule images at a small size.
July 26, 2025 at 12:33 AM
mdashow.bsky.social
It's looking solid: Sells the genre & reads well. There are a few things possible to make it read a bit better, like a darker sky so the logo pops more, fading the waterfall so the mastodon reads more clearly, adding more orange to the far distance to help the cliff read as more foreground, etc.
A paint-over of the original Folk Emerging capsule with the sky a but darker and the far back land and the waterfall blended into the background a bit more.
July 26, 2025 at 12:26 AM
mdashow.bsky.social
No cheating, post the last pic of your pet.

Here’s Jasper looking incredibly disappointed in me.
A tabby cat sits on a multi-colored blanket, looking unamused and unimpressed.
July 20, 2025 at 4:50 PM
mdashow.bsky.social
If you see this, QP a vampire! 🧛
A cartoony Dracula, holding up a wine flute with some unidentified red liquid in it. He's looking quite dapper and is grinning, his large teeth and fangs showing. It's not really a comforting smile. This piece of art is from the Jellybean Games tabletop game 'Dracula's Feast: New Blood,' designed by Peter C. Hayward and all art by me.
July 16, 2025 at 6:42 PM
mdashow.bsky.social
I'm still sketching dog-witches. I still think I'd like to make a narrative game about all these characters at some point after we finish our current game.

#characterDesign #witch #witches #witchArt
A blue pencils sketch of some anthropomorphized dogs as witches, including a big burly Caucasian Shepherd in an apron, a German Short-haired Pointer summoning a flame, and a cheery looking Finnish Lapphund, all in witch's hats. A blue pencils sketch of some anthropomorphized dogs as witches, including a friendly Lapphund with cats-eye glasses, a concerned looking Berger Picard, and a very tall Collie holding a teacup and also looking concerned. All of them are in witch's hats and dresses. A blue pencils sketch of some anthropomorphized dogs as witches, including a friendly Kovasz with stats on the brim of her hat and an Akita in a pretty, frilly dress. Both of them are also wearing witch's hats. A blue pencils sketch of some anthropomorphized dogs as witches, including an excited Pug and a stern looking Borzoi. Both are in witch's hats and dresses.
July 12, 2025 at 7:23 PM