More Fangbone! TV design sketches

The Fangbone! pilot is flying along.  Early in the summer the all of the voices were recorded, the storyboards are done, designs have been finalized, and right now I am patiently waiting for the first rough edit.

I still can’t show any of he work produced by the great folks at Mercury Filmworks, but I can post sketches that I have done.

While the designers use some of my sketches almost verbatim, others are used as jumping off points.  People have asked me if I have liked working with other artists, and how it feels to have my worked changed.  Personally, I think it’s great.  The people I am working with are insanely talented, and they really understand Fangbone!

In fact, the best part of this project has been the day I spent up at Mercury doodling and laughing with the lead designer.  It made me feel like I was drawing in my parent’s basement with my friends when I was a kid. It reminded me of why I got into drawing and telling stories for a living.

The actual animation is scheduled to start in September.

This is a detailed drawing of Fangbone's cave.

Some ideas for the tents that the barbarian clans would use.

A throne for Drool.  Known as the "Bone Throne."

This is a communication portal that Fangbone uses to talk to the wizard in Skullbania.  I can't show you him, but he's awesome.

This is how Drool watches Fangbone and Bill.  I can't show you what's it's filled with.

Some character work, and a prop.

More drawings with Urban Sketchers NYC

Early in July I spent two Saturdays with the New York City Urban Sketchers group.  As mentioned in an earlier post, they are a group of artists who meet in different areas of NYC to do on location drawings.

The first weekend I went to Central Park, down by the boat pond.

The second trip met by the Staten Island Ferry, and we then wandered through the Wall Street area.

I really enjoy doing this, but they mostly meet on Saturdays, and mine are usually booked up with kids and family obligations.  Hopefully I can get out a few times in August, before school and fall sports start.

If you'd like to know more about the group, check out them out right here Urban Sketchers NYC

Drawing on location

Over the last few months I have tried to get out and draw in different places.  My schedule doesn't always allow it.  In May, I went to the New Jersey Aviation Hall of Fame over at Teterboro Airport.  They've got a bunch of old airplanes, helicopters and trucks on display.  It's a great place to draw if you like heavy machinery.  This drawing was done in pencil, with digital color added at home.

More digital work

On Saturday, I spent a few hours with some people from NYC Urban Sketch.  This is a group that meets each week in a different spot in NYC.  Their goal is to draw and document the urban landscape.  I will write more about this at a later date.  While at Central Park, which, as we all know is a very beautiful place, I drew a pile of junky boxes.

First up is the color piece.  The color was added at home in photoshop.  There's a lot of layers in there, including cut papers, and enlarged watercolor smears.

I've also added a scan of the original drawing from my notebook.  You'll see that I did clean up a few lines, mainly around the bottom of the ladder.  But you can also see that there are no pencil guidelines.  I just jumped in with the pen.

Wasteland stuff...

Two sketches I did in the last few days.  These were drawn with a Pilot pen bought at the local CVS, and colored with watercolors.  The Moleskine sketchbook that I used didn't hold up very well to the water, and you can see some wrinkling at the top of the cowboy image.  I could have photoshopped it out, but I didn't want these looking too processed.

Both were drawn at the local swim club while the boys swam.  It's nice to have some time just to mess around with some new ideas.  Today the boys start their summer day camp program, so I am back to working 9-5.  Or so.

My First "Icky Ricky" Fan

I received this letter from a very happy mother a few days after a recent school visit.  "Icky Ricky" was designed with new readers in mind.  Many of the chapters are stand alone stories, and there is art on every page.  I'm kind of amazed that a five year old is reading it, but more power to him!

'THANK YOU!  I think it was just last week you spoke at SJA and made an AMAZING impression on my kindergartner!  My son has strong reading skills but I have been want to find a chapter book to capture his attention.  But, after seeing you speak, he DEMANDED I take him to the public library where he immediately found "Toilet Paper Mummy". 

Initially overwhelmed by the 120 pages, I encouraged him to take it one page at a time.  And his teacher let him read the book to the class.  Two days and 91 pages later, he is almost done! So if you ever wondered the impact you had on children when you present, I can tell you that you certainly reached my five year old."

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.

Monster House

Here's another new illustration from a few months ago.  I really like the one.  The color was all digital, with textured paper scans, and enlarged watercolor smears.  This summer, I am going to be very busy doing finals for the next Icky Ricky book, but I hope in the fall that I have time to explore these techniques a bit more.

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.

Icky Ricky Sketches

When I initially drew the dummy for Icky Ricky I used a very different design for him.  My editor loved the dummy, and most of the character designs, but felt that Ricky wasn't unique enough.  So I sat down and tried to come up with something that would stand out on every page.  Here are 6 pages of Ricky sketches that eventually lead to the final design.

There's some stuff in there that doesn't work at all, but you have to get the crummy ideas out of the way so that the good ones can show up.

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.

Icky Ricky!

"Icky Ricky" is set for release on May 14.  It was supposed to be out in June, but got moved up at the last minute because Barnes & Noble is including it in their summer reading promotions.  The official website, with a killer trailer, will go live soon.