Our brilliant and intrepid illustrator, Marty Whitmore, has done it again.

Many moons ago, we held a small contest to help us choose one lucky rising star from our masses of talented friends to be our illustrator for the book. We asked the entrants to illustrate the concept of the usual error, since that is the title of the book and of the project.

Marty’s entry won first place, and here’s his original picture.

We thought it couldn’t get any better than that, but that was a long time ago – back when we barely knew the awesomeness of Marty, when we only knew the tip of the Marty iceberg.

When he told us, a few weeks ago, that he was going to redo the illustration of the usual error and make it even better, we scoffed at him. We said, “No way can it get better!” We said, “We love it as is, but if you want to make a new one, be our guest.”

Par for the course, Marty blew us out of the water. Here’s the new one:

He did exactly as promised: he made it even better. It’s spectacular, perfect, and totally awesome – and it’s not even in color yet!

While Marty finishes up the illustrations, Megan is hard at work on the layout of the book. Then the text and the illustrations will come together like a solar eclipse, so bright that it blinds everyone who looks at it directly. Only far less dangerous.

We can’t wait to release the book and share all of the goodness with you. Not much longer, now!