Relaxing A Bit

I took a day to just doodle around with characters, just doing fun stuff.  It's soooo good for the soul.

Printer Resources For Independent Art Publishers

At the bottom of this post you'll find, what I would call, a golden link, if you are looking for an art printer.  Finding a good printer is HELL! finding an Art Printer that understands what the heck you are trying to achieve, well… that will drive you to HELL permanently.  OK, ok, I exaggerated, but at list for a long time, and you'll still have to digest the nightmare that you endure.  I'm still getting rid of the bitter taste dealing with incompetent people during the production of the Gadabout.


The list at the link claims to be a "Printer Resources For Independent Art Publishers", now, to me it looks well managed and there are printers in the list that I know have a high reputation. I wish I had know about this list long time ago when I first started in this business. It would've made my research and production much easier.  It's even subdivided in printers that specialize in smaller quantity runs down to 1 unit up to 3000 and more, or in letterpress, or in large formats, and more.


If you are in the art printing business it just may be worth your time taking a look, this list of printers is international so, you just may find what you are looking for next door.

http://print-resources.tumblr.com

Comic-Con Panel - "The Myth of Nostalgia"... enhanced!

Curio & Co. is proud to be at Comic-Con at P5 (just like last year), but wait, there's more.  This year we've also put together a little something else.

The panel we did back in March at Wonder-Con was well received, so with the help of Peter Maresca of Sunday Press we've augmented our panel and we'll be expanding on the subject of nostalgia with two more panelist: Grant Geissman, whom we met right after the panel in March.  Not only is he an author and avid collector, but he is first and formost an excellent musician.  Check out his material, really groovy.  Also I can happily say that we'll have a comic book legend on the panel: R.C. Harvey, creator of Terry and the Pirates and Steve Canyon, will be joining us on the stage.  He's also an author, and critic - let's just say that he knows his medium.  If you like comics and but don't know his work, you should! And, we are lucky to have Bob Foster, the Animation Guild Presiden, with 40+ years of experience in comics publishing, writing, and animation.  We have a heck of a line-up!

Stop by and see us at the Comic-Con in the San Diego Convention Center

Thursday July 12

7:00-8:00 PM. 

Room: 32AB 

The Myth of Nostalgia: Collecting and Memory.

Cesare Asaro (Creator, Finding Frank and His Friend), Bob Foster (Animation Guild President), Grant Geissman (Author, Foul Play! The Art and Artists of the Notorious 1950s E.C. Comics!), R.C. Harvey (Cartoonist, Critic and Comic Historian, Meanwhile... A Biography of Milton Caniff, Creator of Terry and the Pirates and Steve Canyon ), Peter Maresca (Editor, Sunday Press Books), and Kirstie Shepherd (Author, Gadabout Time Machine User’s Manual) have been collecting, creating and selling nostalgia for over forty years.  Join us for a panel discussion on how collecting allows us to revisit memories from the past – even a past that we might have been too young to have seen or may never have existed at all.  We’ll explore how nostalgia can be invented, whether it goes in and out of fashion, and what happens when the collector becomes the creator.

Spaceman Jax Model Sheets - Mantagons - Giclée Prints

We got ourself a profesional printer for Giclèe prints and we are in the process of printing the new Spaceman Jax model sheets for the Mantagons; the ones I did about a month ago. That really feels like ions ago, considering all the Roger believe covers I did.  Bottom line they are coming out really really cool, ok I had a glass of wine.  But, the hours work really paid off.  The pleasure in seeing one's work coming out the way it was intended... Ahhh it's a pleasure.  And worth all the hassels with icc profiles, media types, printers, types of papers (archival quality or not), inks (dyes vs pigments), ....  Total = we are printing on archival quality with pigment and they are coming out looking SWEET.  I'm simply happy! and best of all we'll be able to offer the giclèe prints for a more affordable price since we don't have to involve a third party with the printing process!

I'm going to seep like a baby tonight.

Curio & Co. - Plasticash Credit Card - Where Credit Is Due

In the Curio World things are sometime just a bit different and in some case the same, gravity still works.

We've been working hard to introduce more and more brands in our Curio World, brands that we are weaving together to create this fictional alternative universe full of crazy pop culture and make believe.  Ringer was the fake publishing house for Time for Frank and His Friend, Bunchy is the soft drink, and Oberpfaffendorfer makes frozen foods; they all help tell our story and let us have fun with the ads.  Now we are also adding on Plasticash for credi cards.

So starting our next show we'll also accept this Curio World credi card, if you can get your hands on it...

The above mentioned ads will be added to the shop by July, but we'll have prints with us at the shows.

Gadabout TM1050 Shakedown Diagnosis Stamp for 2012

Back in February in my post Sign Off On Your Gadabout TM1050 I mentioned that we were going do something special for it starting this time of the year.  Well, here it is.

We sell collectable at Curio & Co. that is no news now.  The Gadabout, if you bought if from us, should have received a dealer's inspection stamp, and now if you bring your manual with you next time you see us we'll be happy to stamp and date  the Shakedown Diagnosis at page 86 of your manual.  We'll start doing that as of Monday June 11, 2012.  So, if you are planing to come at one of the shows where we are exhibiting, don't forget to bring your manual.  This is an opportunity to make your manual even more unique.

Why are we doing it?  We wanted to celebrate the one year of the Gadabout, and give something back to those that have supported us from the early times.  And, yes, we are planing to have an other stamp for the following year.  Each manual will only receive one stamp and signature per year, so... no full set of stamps, unless you have a time machine, do you?

See you soon at one of the shows.

June 12-14, 2012

Licensing Expo

Mandalay Bay Convention Center

Las Vegas

Booth 4710

June 21-26, 2012

American Library Association 2012 Anual Conference

Anaheim Convention Center

Anaheim, CA

Booth 784

July 12-15, 2012

San Diego Comic-Con 2012

San Diego Convention Center

San Diego, CA

Small Press - P5

Stephen Burt Reviews The Gadabout TM 1050 in The Believer Magazine

The June 2012 issue of The Believer is out, and along with it the review by Stephen Burt of Curio & Co.'s Gadabout TM 1050 Time Machine User's Manual.  We were only able to get a glimpse of the review as our copy of the magazine if on it's way, but what we read sounds SWEET!  

If a literary critic, poet and Harvard University professor like Stephen Burt thinks we deserve a review in The Believer, we must be doing something right.

The review teaser that is available on the website is enough to ensure me a happy weekend.

Pick up your copy at newsstands today!

Curio & Co. - Bunchy - The Soft Drink

In the Curio & Co. universe, Bunchy is the soft drink of choice.

I'm presently working on an ad for this soft drink, as soon as it's done... I'll post it.  For the time being here is the logo I made for it.

Happy weekend.

Curio & Co. - Roger Believe - The Black Diamond (Il Diamate Nero)

Back story on this piece would be: occasionally in Italy comic books/periodicals come with a little extra to bring in more customers.  So I figured that Roger Believe would've done the same thing, in this particular case one of the issues would've come with an additional poster, and what you see here would've been the art work for the poster. Well the art work as it stands today after it had been scanned.

Il Diamante Nero (The Black Diamond) - Would have been a special issue of the Roger Believe comic book series.

It took quite a bit of trying, but I finally did it,  this is the first pice in which I was able to get a convincible watercolor feel.  As always the work is digital.

Curio & Co. - Roger Believe - Planed Voyage (Viaggio Organizato)

Forgot to post this one yesterday...

Like all investigators that deal with normal and paranormal he has to deal with UFO's at one point or an other.  Viaggio Organizzato (Planed Voyage) is one of the Roger Believe adventures that takes him out of this world.

Curio & Co. - Roger Believe - Secret Passage (Passaggio Segreto)

Number 5 illustration for the week.  Roger Believe's Secret Passage cover (Passaggio Segreto).  Where and who did he meet through this passage?

Curio & Co. - Roger Believe - Passed Love (Amore Passato)

Today's Roger Believe Cover - Passed Love (Amore Passato)

Curio & Co. - Roger Believe - Passed Message (Messaggio Passato)

Today's cover of Roger Believe - Messaggio Passato (Passed Message) see our hero dealing with a peculiar message, that just may give a bit more insight on how he got were he is...

Curio & Co. - Roger Believe - First Flight (Primo Volo)

Here's to day's cover of Roger Believe - Frist Flight (Primo Volo).  I keep on chucking and illustrating, and there'll be more to come.

Curio & Co. - Roger Believe - L'invito Di Subconscio (Subconscious' Invitation)

Just off the Cintiq!  I can still smells the fresh pixels, here's Roger Believe - L'Invito Di Subconscio (Subcoscious' Invititation).

Roger Believe meets him self face to face; will he ever survive?  Tam Tam Tam.

Curio & Co. - Roger Believe - Restauro Notturno (Restauration By Night)

I keep on chipping away at the amount of work I got to do, chip chip chip.  This Roger Believe cover Restauro Notturno (Restauration by Night) is just off the 'presses', well I should say it still smells of digital paint.  For those of you that don't know... I usually do my sketching on paper, getting the idea out of my head then I'll do the tightening up of the composition, inking, color, and aging digitally.

Curio & Co. - Roger Believe - Viaggio Inaspettato (Unexpected Voyage)

The new cover for the day for Roger Believe.  More to come...

Been looking at Howard Chaykin's work for visual solutions, darn that man is good!

Curio & Co. - Roger Believe - Serate di Nozze (Wedding Nights)

New cover, for the day, for Roger Believe - Serate di Nozze (Wedding Nights).

This past Saturday I did a series of sketches for the covers, the ideas just keep on coming.  Nothing wrong with that! So, untill they keep on coming I'll keep on drawing.

Gadabout Reviewed in McSweeney's - The Believer

Curio & Co. just received some really exiting news.

When we presented the Gadabout TM 1050 at the Comic-Con last year, we kept hearing about the Time Travel Mart and how we should get in contact with them since the book would be a great fit for their shop.  So, we did, and it was. The book was picked up and we had the opportunity to visit the shop and we laughed our pants off when we were in the store.  They have some really fun stuff.  If you haven't been it's worth a trip.

As we did some research we found out that the Time Travel Mart is the shop for 826 LA (a non profit writing and tutoring center) which is connected to the McSweeney's.  Needless to say it was a great pat on the back.

A couple of weeks back we were contacted by The Believer magazine. They said "Congratulations on the incredibly well-deserved positive buzz surrounding the Gadabout TM 1050 User's Manual!" and wanted to know more about the project as they were hoping to write a review on it.

Yesterday we heard back from him and… the June issue of  McSweeney's Believer Magazine will have a review of the Gadabout.

We are really, really exited and honored to have the chance to be reviewed by a magazine whose readers' interests are so closely related to ours.

Can't wait to have the issue in my hands.

Curio & Co. Roger Believe - Festa in Costume (Costume Party)

Just finished, and off the Cintiq, the new cover for Roger Believe - Festa In Costume (Costume Party), as always I've signed it as Scafagna '86, the artist that would've been in charge of doing the covers. '86, as I've mentioned in previous posts the whole idea of this project is to give the idea that this was an 80's comic book from italy.

Once again the cover, just like the all of the new material I'm generating will join the Curio & Co. family in June.

Curio & Co. - Roger Believe - Benessere (Well Being)

Here is an other of the covers for Curio & Co.'s Roger Believe this one titled Benessere (Well Being), just out pured out of me in 5 hrs worth of work.  It helps having an idea that has been cooking in your head for a while.

Curio & Co. - Roger Believe - Memoria Ingrata (Ungrateful Memory)

I just finished an other Cover for Roger Believe; I'll most likely do some touch ups before it goes on the Curio & Co. site but for the most part it's done.

Memoria Ingrata - Ungrateful Memory

Neptune Nibbles by Oberpfaffendorfer, to be a new old at Curio & Co.

I'm happy to announce that Curio & Co. is introducing a new brand in its family; Oberpfaffendorfer.  It's logos was finalized last week, along with the Roger Believe and an other one that I will soon preview.  If Oberpfaffendorfer, would've really existed this would be they would've used in 1912 to sell their Neptune Nibbles fishsticks.

As I'm working on these posters I'll keep on posting them, but they'll roll in the Curio & Co. site by June.

Curio & Co. Spaceman Jax - Mantagons Privates - Model Sheet

Here's an other of the Spaceman Jax Mantagons Model sheets - The Privates.  I'm working on others… so more to come.

At the moment I'm posting these models here as a preview, by June they'll roll into the Curio & Co. product line.

Curo & Co. - Spaceman Jax and the Galactic Adventures - The Mantagons

Here is one of the other side projects that I've been talking about.  In the studio (Curio & Co,), I've got a sizable archive of material on Spaceman Jax, material that has been sitting there and growing since when we first introduced the PUD Film animated TV show back in early 2011.  I figured it's about time to start pumping out some more of this material.

Notes:

1- S.J. & G.A. - Spaceman Jax and the Galactic Adventures

2- Luca Fattore and I did the character deigns the pencil milage in this specific drawing is his. Compositing, layout and aging mine.

First Look at Curio & Co.'s Next Project - Roger Believe

I've been telling everyone that I've been working on something that is in the style of an italian comic book (Bonelli Editore); well, this is a test that I did for a sample cover.  I've had to rework the logo, it just wasn't right for the character, the storie, and theme, so the last couple of days produced this verision. I also wanted to see if I could age the image the right amount to make it look to fit the time period (1980's).

As always with every thing that we do at Curio & Co. It's all make believe (no pun intended). So, to give it an extra touch of authenticity I dedicated this issue.

Roger Believe is the next big project that we're working on, in between there are other smaller projects.  Maybe l put a little bit too much on my plate but I can't say say no to fun projects.

Curio & Co. In Development Mode

Logo Concept Sketches for Roger Believe

There are a couple of new logos that Curio & Co. will need for the month of June, yesterday I opened the files on which I started work, some time back, did some rework, and now some new work. The name of the game is Develop Develop Develop, or as I know it: FUN, FUN, FUN.

Time for Frank and His Friend Book Launch Success

Me Signing our latest book Time for Frank and His Friend as 'Otis'
photo by Lilo Krebernik

The Book Launch party for Time for Frank and his Friend was a success.  We had an incredible space, the show looked professional, all of our guests were impressed, and to top it off I was signing books till 11:00 pm.  It was great.

Now it's back to production for the next projects in the Curio & Co. pipeline, we''l be debuting new illustrations and product line in two months.  We'll be quite busy in June and July as we'll be attending the Licensing International Expo in Las Vegas June 12-14 (Booth 4710), the American Library Association Conference in June 22-25 (Booth 784), and then the San Diego Comic Con in July 11-15 (Small Press - P5).  

After that it will be needing a good solid weekend.

Girls Girls Girls

A couple more girls from the weekend.

Saturday Morning - Girls On My Mind

I always keep my animation disk next to the bed so that I can do some sketches before going to sleep or when I first wake-up (usually only on the weekend) my head is racing will all of the to-do for Curio & Co. I had a week full of paper work, and it's great having the chance to start the weekend with some drawing, in the comfort of the bed. Plus I get to test myself on what I learned last weekend!

Now breakfast, brunch really.

Time for Frank and His Friend - Certified Cool

We just got the news from our book distributor Diamond Comics that the April issue of Previews (page 272) features our book Time for Frank and His Friend, and we've been certified, "Certified Cool". How cool is that?!? I had to share the news. We are pretty happy about the good news here in the office, every type of recognition big or small helps us know that we are doing something right.

Thanks for the support Diamond!

Drawing on the Weekend

Over the weekend I did some drawing, I took out Famous Artist Course, How to Draw the Marvel Way, and Chris Sanders Sketchbook #2 and went for it. When I work I usually use a variety of books for inspiration, and reference, as you can see, I'm working on drawing appealing girls.

Schultz Says Hello

This morning while having breakfast my eye fell on little Schultz here. You have to know that I'm a big lego fan, maybe it's the child in me or the industrial designer in me, they are well-designed and appealing. I felt the urge to go pick him up as if he wanted to say hello, play with me even if for 1 min. The funny thing is that Schultz is from the Toy Story Lego series. Weird isn't it? The toys really do call you, just like in the films. And, Schultz is the name I've given him, he's been with us for 2 years now, and I still like him just as much as the first day I saw him. Just don't tell the other lego characters that I have laying around my desk, they may get jealous.

Wil Wheaton left us (Curio & Co.) a note!

Back

Front

We met Wil Wheaton briefly back in 2010 when he was roaming the exhibit floor of the San Diego Comic-Con; he had just finished moderating the Big Bang Theory panel. Needless to say my first reaction when I saw him was to scream his name in a Scheldon Cooper manner. The security guard that was with him was not too happy about that! It was an instinct, I couldn't resist. At that time it was the beginning of the company and we only had Finding Frank and His Friend book, and a couple of prints, and explaining what we were doing with just one product was just a bit to far-fetched to be believed. So it was a short encounter.

Needless to say we are BIG fans of The Big Bang Theory, my partner is a Trekkie, and I'm a tech geek, so sending Wil Wheaton a copy of the Gadabout was a no brainer. Kirstie exchanged a couple of emails with him, and, once he got it we (Kirstie) received a nice email from him with a nice thanks saying how he liked it!

Every trade show has different highlights some big some small in some cases it varies on the size of the show and who attends.

So, we knew that Wil our "close, personal friend" (see Big Bang Theory Ep15 S5 The Friendship Contraction ) would be at WonderCon, and we thought we'd send him an email to let him know that we would be too and see if we could have a chance to talk to him in person, properly this time. We went along our business doing the con thing, then on saturday about 20 minutes before our panel we packed up the booth and made our way to the room where we were scheduled to talk. After the panel Kirstie made her way back to the table as I lagged behind talking to people, and she found something special left for us. I returned to the table to find a small group crowded at the table, so she didn't have a chance to tell me. Then all of a sudden a hand reached over to hand me the piece of paper that you see above. A personal note from our "close, personal friend" Wil Wheaton. I shouted again! (in excitement).

Wil, thanks for the note and we hope we'll have the chance to meet at the upcoming San Diego Comic-Con 2012 (we'll be at SP5).

Sean Kleefeld Review on Time for Frank and His Friend

We've been quite busy before, during and now after the WonderCon. So much so that we just found out about this wonderful review that Sean Kleefeld of Kleefeld on Comics did on our new book Time for Frank and His Friend on March 19, 2012.

The best thing about going to trade shows, besides interacting with the public and getting out of the studio, is seeing people's reactions to our products with our own eyes. We spend so much time making these products that once they are out there in the world by their lonesome selves it's important that they can live the lives they are intended to. I know we produce quirky products, and they are not for every one. But the people that get what we are doing they get it in a split second and as their eyes start glowing you hear a giggle. Well that is a wonderful payoff.

Sean Kleefeld gets it! We never met Sean but he was one of the first to order our first book Finding Frank and His Friend after we presented it at the San Diego Comic-Con back in 2010, when we also introduced Curio & Co., and was also one of the first to order our latest book. In both cases we got a wonderful review (Finding Frank and His Friend review). And it gives such a sense of fulfillment reading the reviews, specifically because he unveils details of the product. Details that took extra time in the production did not go unnoticed. And the best part, we did not have to explain the premise of Curio & Co. It's the pat on the back that lets me know that we are doing something right and that products can find good homes with people that love them.

Sean thanks for the review!

Secretariat Costumes on Disney Lot

We got a heck of a boost when we stopped by the Disney Lot last week.

After we met up with some friends for lunch, we made our way to the Frank G Wells building for a cup of joe. In the main lobby they usually have different things on exhibition, during our visit of last week it just happened to be costumes for some of the features that the Disney Studio has been involved with, along with some really cool models (I'll post those soon). Well we had to do a double take when we noticed that they had costumes from Secretariat, produced by Mayhem Pictures, the studio with which we signed to turn the Gadabout into a live action feature. Kirstie and I looked at each other with big smiles on our faces. It was no surprise that Disney was involved with the production of the film, we knew that, but it was great to see that they chose those costumes for that exhibit when we were in town. They must have wanted to impress us or something, hee hee. Needless to say. The smiles are sill on our faces.

Gadabout TM 1050 to be turned into Feature film? Curio & Co. - Mayhem Pictures collaboration

We made a pretty exiting announcement at the show. Some of our close friends have already heard that back in July when we presented the Gadabout at San Diego Comic-Con, we were approached by a production company that has a first look deal with Disney, and they said they were interested in turning the book into a feature film.

Well it all sounded good, but having had some experience in Hollywood, I took the interest with a grain of salt- simply someone saying "hey this looks interesting" and that was it. Well since July we've been talking to Mayhem Pictures, the producers of the Tooth Fairy (a Disney Film with the Rock) and Secretariat (a beautiful film with Diane Lane and John Malkovich), as they showed continued interest in our Gadabout TM1050 user's manual.

Now, I proudly say that on March 16th, 2012 the day we started the WonderCon show the contract was signed. We are officially starting development with Mayhem Pictures to turn our second book into a feature film.

We'll have to control all this excitement, and focus all this energy on collaborating with Mayhem on story, and of course move forward will all of our other projects that we have cooking.

(Speaking of looking forward, on June 21-26, we'll be back at the Anaheim Convention Center for the American Library Association 2012 Annual Conference.)