Sketchbook and updates...

Again, I can't believe how much time has passed since my last update.  I finished the last Icky Ricky book (#6), and went right into drawing a new picture book.  Animation has started on the Fangbone! TV show, we've got a large chunk of the 50, 11-minute scripts written, and episodes are in all different stages of production.  It's a lot to keep up with.  I've also completed my school visits for the year.

I'm going to post a few sketchbook pieces just to keep up with this, but I am planning a few specific updates soon.

With no particular logic here are some kids, an old car, and some raggedy aliens...

Awards...and not winning...

Congrats to the mighty Dan Santat on his Caldecott Medal for "Beekle."

Days like today are hard for most writers and illustrators.  We are happy to see our friends win, but I'm sure that the thought of "Why didn't I win?" goes through everyone's mind.  For me, I know it's no longer a jealous, or angry thought, but more of a clinical, academic thought.

What does the winner do better than me?

What skills does he posses that I don't?

Is it the technique being rewarded, or the content of the image?

Are people impressed with the technical accomplishment of the drawings, or the emotional weight that an image can carry?

Why do some books affect readers more than others?

Is there a style that is currently popular?

Hopefully, one can learn from theses questions, as tough as some of the answers might be.  The other thing that has always made me feel less grumpy on a day like today is numbers.  Thousands of picture books were published this year.  Only a few will win awards.

The truth is, I haven't even released a picture book since 2010's "Furious George Goes Bananas." I wasn't even in the running. I have been working on a few ideas, but haven't been able to find the time to really flesh them out.  Between the Icky Ricky books, and the Fangbone! tv work,  and school visits, I'm plenty busy.

This is a cover sketch/idea for one of my new stories.  Excuse me while I go think...

2015 News...

Happy New Year!  I feel that I can still say that since it's only January 31. I haven't posted since October, which I think is one of the longest lulls I've ever had.  The truth is, I have been crazy busy, and things are amazing right now.  In a few weeks I'll have a ton of news about Fangbone!  I'm also working on the art for Icky Ricky 6, and the picture book I wrote about in the previous post.

I was going through my phone and deleting pictures that I no longer need, and I came across these 3 shots from a school visit.  I had eaten lunch with some kids, and then we drew on the table cloth.  Truthfully, I can't remember what school it was, but I had a lot of fun, and this kids seem to enjoy it as well.

I'll be posting often in the next few weeks.  Enjoy.

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.

The eyes have it...

One thing I've been meaning to do lately is to take some time to learn to animate a GIF.  It actually was quite easy and I'm bummed I didn't do it earlier.

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!

I need a volunteer...

One of the things I do during my school visits is have a child from the audience pose for me. I ask the student to act as if he or she is fighting a battle, and then I give them props and costume.  This is probably the most fun part of my visit.  I then use the child as a model while the audience watches me draw.  When doing this, I stress the idea of looking at something while drawing it, and that even a professional such as myself might make a mistake.

Also during my visit I talk about the writing process, and how I don’t just write my stories once, but I write them “again, and again, and again…” to make sure that they are as good as they can be.  And when I’m done with all of that writing, I feel like the guy on the screen in the last photo.

Thanks to Arielle Goldstein for the great photos.  You can read Arielle's blog here TechnicallyLibrarian

Fangbone! Pumpkin

I just got this excellent shot of a Fangbone! pumpkin from Tom Angleberger.  Yes, the same Tom Angleberger that is responsible for the very funny and hugely popular "Origami Yoda" series of books.  It seems that he's a pretty big fan of Fangbone!  Check out how the horns are made of pumpkin as well.  Look closely, and you can see there's a little carved skull on the top.

I've never net Tom, but we have chatted through e-mail a handful of times.  One of these days I hope to run into him in person. Thanks for taking the time to make this, Tom, and for sending along the picture.

Reeling in a big one!

I don’t believe that ideas just drop from the sky into your lap.  You have to work for them.  You have to keep moving the pen around on the paper, and you have to keep banging away on the keyboard.

I’ve been chasing a new graphic novel idea for a while.  I knew how I wanted it to feel, and I had a real sense of what the project would be like, but I was missing a few tiny details, such as a story and a character. 

The other night, while my son was doing his homework, I was, as usual, doodling.  I sit next to him to keep him focused, but he really doesn’t need help with his work.  Something showed up the doodles that I hadn’t planned on.  It was a character for this hazy notion that I had.  The floodgates opened.  Within minutes I knew who my character was, how he would act, and what his arc would be.  He fit perfectly into the setting that I had thought so long about, and he makes sense in the stories I want to tell.

Some might argue that the idea did simply show up in my drawings, and it had been in my subconscious all along.  I will agree with that part, but if I had been doing anything else but drawing that evening, I wouldn’t have been there to channel it into something concrete.  One never knows when the best ideas will show up, so we must always be working towards them. 

You might be thinking that I am being terribly vague here about the idea itself, but I don’t really want to explain the whole concept yet.  It’s kinda hidden there in the artwork.