FANGBONE! is Here!

Finally!  Fangbone! premiered today on Disney XD across the US.  It will be on every day at 12:30 and 4:30 for the next few weeks.  Please take some time and check it out.  I'm very proud of it, and I'm thrilled to be able to share it with everyone.

Fangbone! Making of Video #1

Animation concept...

Sometime over the next few months I'm going to pitch an original idea for an animated TV show.  I have many ideas about what the show will be about, but over the next few posts I want to nail down how it could look.  Yes, it takes place on a another planet.

Fangbone! VR Goggles

In one of the forthcoming episodes of the Fangbone TV show, Fangbone and Bill use these odd Skullbanian Virtual Reality goggles.  This is one of the first things that I drew using the Wacom Cintiq.  At the moment it looks like the show will be hitting Canada in March, and on Disney XD in the US sometime in the fall.

Fangbone! wins!

I'm very happy to announce that the Fangbone! pilot won the 2015 Kidscreen award for Best One-Off, Special or TV Movie.  We're off and running!

Icky Ricky 3, and more...

Wow.  Did more than a month pass already?  I’ve been working on a few different things.  Icky Ricky #5 has been written, and I just completed the sketches.  Book #6 has been outlined.  I’m beginning to write that one now, and in a week or so I will begin on the book #5 final drawings.  It sounds a bit complicated, but it all makes sense in the end.

Icky Rick #3: The Dead Disco Raccoon was published in May.  I think it is, by far, the funniest of the bunch.  As always, there are a few different stories in the book.  In book #3 Ricky buys an ice cream cake on the hottest day of the summer, tells the story of how he met Gus, cleans a kitchen with a leaf-blower, buys a taxidermied raccoon, and gets attacked by a demon toilet!  All for $4.99!

The Fangbone TV project is still chugging forward, and this time I think we see the station ahead.  We had a meeting with Disney XD Canada, the folks who ordered the pilot, and they are very happy with our work.  We are hoping that a final decision, good or bad, will happen in the next few weeks.

Happy New Year!

I had an entire other New Year's post ready to go, and then as I pulled up this piece of art, it occurred to me that I didn't actually draw it.  This is a promo piece for the Fangbone! pilot which will be done soon.  This year is a huge roll of the dice and I must admit that I am very nervous.  The show could get picked up which would be amazing and a life-long dream to be working in TV/Film.  (Before I took my illustration career seriously I studied Film at SVA.)

Or, knock on wood, the show doesn't get picked up, then...well, then I have to make peace with that somehow.

But here's the thing...I'm proud of the work I've done on the show.  I'm thrilled that the producers have treated me with such respect and have kept my so involved. I'm over-the-moon happy with the work that the writers and animators have put into it.  It's really, really good and I can't wait for it to be seen.  It's taken years to learn this, but at the end of the day, I must be content with knowing that I did my best.  Whether people like my books, or my art, or the show, well, I can't control that.

Here's to 2014 and doing my best!

Fangbone! TV Pilot Art

Wow!  I have a great big pile of Fangbone! TV pilot art to share with you today.  I've been sitting on this all summer, but was recently given the go-ahead to post it.  All of the below work was drawn by the wonderful people at Mercury Filmworks.  None of it is mine.

This is what Fangbone's cave looks like now.

The kitchen in Bill's house.

 This is a battle dummy that Fangbone uses to develop his barbarian skills.

 Here are the two other Skullbania warriors that will be regulars on the show.

You can nevr have enough trolls.

 Here's a sketch of Drool's throne room.  This was used to determine scale.  That little red guy is Drool.

Action pose of Fangbone.  This was one of the first pieces that was produced to get a sense of what the who would look like.

Fangbone! Voice Casting

Over the last two weeks I’ve been listening to voice auditions for Fangbone! 

When writing the books, I always had a clear impression of what Bill would sound like, mainly because I spend a lot of time with kids.  But I never got a grip on Fangbone.  I knew what he would say in any given situation, but I could never zero in on exactly how he sounds.

I’ve heard many different interpretations of Bill and of Fangbone himself.  We’ve also been hearing readings for Drool, Bill’s Mom, Principal Bruce and the teacher Ms. Gillian. It’s very hard to put a voice to an image, much harder than I thought.

Some are too cartoony, and some are too straight.  Some try to make every word funny, and some are a bit to restrained.  The truth is, we haven’t heard anyone who is “bad,” just not “right.”  The talent is there; it’s just a matter of finding the right voice, and the right personality to carry the character.  At this point we have some strong contenders, and I am getting to hear some longer audition recordings.

While we did listen to a few children, we’ve decided to go with adults, mainly because of the comedy in the show.  We are also hoping to use a bit of improv, especially for the person who will eventually be doing Bill.

Drool's Castle

While drawing the Fangbone! books, I never really got to explore the character of Venomous Drool.  Yes, it is his Big Toe of Evil that drives the narrative, but we never get to spend much time with him in the stories.

For the Fangbone! pilot, Drool has become a much more important character.  Right now, he's undergoing a very cool re-design.  In the show, we will also be seeing his castle in Skullbania.

While I am sure the show designers will come up with something great for the castle, I also did a few pieces just to get some concepts laid out.

Here are my two "sketch" ideas for the castle. Enjoy.

Fangbone! Pilot! Booyah!

It is with great excitement that I can finally announce that Disney XD Canada has ordered a full, 22-minute pilot for Fangbone!

My amazing producers, Michelle Melanson Cuperus and John Leitch have been working all winter to make this happen. Their company, Radical Sheep Productions recently won a Canadian Screen Award for Best Preschool Series for their outstanding show, Stella and Sam. The Canadian Screen Awards are the equivalent of an Oscar/Emmy for Canadian produced films and TV.  Since having great success in the preschool market John and Michelle are planning to jump into the boys 8-12 market with Fangbone.

Stella and Sam is also based on a series of children’s books, so they are well versed in the difficulties, and opportunities, that arise when translating books to an ongoing series.  Michelle also produced William Joyce’s George Shrinks.

Mercury Filmworks, located in Ottawa, will be doing the animation for the pilot.  They’re a wonderful studio that has made Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Fish Hooks, Toot and Puddle, Curious George: The Movie, Kick Buttowski, and the above mentioned Stella and Sam.   I’ve seen some character studies already, and they have stayed very true to my art, while making it slightly bolder and simpler for animation purposes.

Simon Racioppa and Richard Elliot are currently writing the script, which we have been discussing for a while and contains a good amount of my input.  They’ve been writing for animation since 1997, and have done many types of shows from Franklin to Teen Titans. The treatment they wrote shows that they really understand Fangbone and Bill’s relationship, which, along with all the goofy monsters and fights, is the focus of the show.

My role is Executive Producer.  I get to review, comment, and sign-off on everything.  So far, my comments and suggestions have all been well received. It is possible, when a book is optioned, that the party producing the work might not really understand the book, or not intend to keep the creator involved, but I have run into none of that.  It’s been nothing but a joy so far.  This really all has been happening very quickly, as the contracts for the option were only signed in October.  I couldn’t be more thrilled to have such a great group of talented, fun and positive people working on this.  

UPDATE

The above art was drawn by me, and is not by Mercury Filmworks.  The art was created for this event.