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).