From: Frank and His Friend - Special Collector's Edition Vol.1 - 023

 Cesare Asaro (under pseudonym of Clarence 'Otis' Dooley)

From: Frank and His Friend - Special Collector's Edition Vol.1 - 022

 Cesare Asaro (under pseudonym of Clarence 'Otis' Dooley)

From: Frank and His Friend - Special Collector's Edition Vol.1 - 021

 Cesare Asaro (under pseudonym of Clarence 'Otis' Dooley)

From: Frank and His Friend - Special Collector's Edition Vol.1 - 020

 Cesare Asaro (under pseudonym of Clarence 'Otis' Dooley)

From: Frank and His Friend - Special Collector's Edition Vol.1 - 019

Cesare Asaro (under pseudonym of Clarence 'Otis' Dooley)

From: Frank and His Friend - Special Collector's Edition Vol.1 - 018

 Cesare Asaro (under pseudonym of Clarence 'Otis' Dooley)

Curio & Co. Meets Godzilla Meets The Average Nobodies

Curio & Co. gets mentioned on Godzilla review video by The Average Nobodies.

From: Frank and His Friend - Special Collector's Edition Vol.1 - 017

Cesare Asaro (under pseudonym of Clarence 'Otis' Dooley)

From: Frank and His Friend - Special Collector's Edition Vol.1 - 016

 Cesare Asaro (under pseudonym of Clarence 'Otis' Dooley)

From: Frank and His Friend - Special Collector's Edition Vol.1 - 015

 Cesare Asaro (under pseudonym of Clarence 'Otis' Dooley)

Robots of the Spaceman Jax Universe

Here are a couple of robots from the Spaceman Jax universe.  These two guys play a small role in the Spaceman Jax - Trough the Mantagon Minefield comic book, they help explaining some of Jax and Dekkin back story on page 7.

Some times designing on the fly produces good designs…

From: Frank and His Friend - Special Collector's Edition Vol.1 - 014

Cesare Asaro (under pseudonym of Clarence 'Otis' Dooley)

From: Frank and His Friend - Special Collector's Edition Vol.1 - 013

 Cesare Asaro (under pseudonym of Clarence 'Otis' Dooley)

From: Frank and His Friend - Special Collector's Edition Vol.1 - 012

 Cesare Asaro (under pseudonym of Clarence 'Otis' Dooley)

Spaceman Jax - In Details

These illustrations will be on page 1 of the comic the Spaceman Jax - Through the Mantagon Minefield and will print at 1/2 inch height, smaller then a stamp.  I'm doing my best trying to capture the spirit of the silver age comics, and I've learned that details are the things which give the flare to things.

More to come… 

Hope to see you at San Diego Comic-Con 2014, Curio & Co. will be at booth# 2102.

From: Frank and His Friend - Special Collector's Edition Vol.1 - 011

Cesare Asaro (under pseudonym of Clarence 'Otis' Dooley)

From: Frank and His Friend - Special Collector's Edition Vol.1 - 010

Cesare Asaro (under pseudonym of Clarence 'Otis' Dooley)

Spaceman Jax - Work in Progress

This is how the end of a review session looks like at Curio & Co. (one of the many).

An the pics below are of production drawings for the Spaceman Jax - Throughout the Mantagon Minefield comic book.  Concept design and development really is the most fun for me.  Investigating possibilities and doing research is so exciting, there's so much potential in so many directions, but it's up to you to choose the suitable one for the project.  I dig my job!

From: Frank and His Friend - Special Collector's Edition Vol.1 - 009

Cesare Asaro (under pseudonym of Clarence 'Otis' Dooley)

Curio & Co's - Spaceman Jax Comic - Story Changes

I tend to work by passed on a long project. This allows me to keep things constant with the designs and, I can make changes and try things out on multiple pages or scenes.  Something I learned when I made my first book, and it later was reinforced when I got into animation.  Changes will always be coming in, and more often then none toward the end of the production, it's always good to stay flexible.

We are now on the 3rd pass of the comic book, and surprise surprise, some story changes… had to be implemented.  Hey, not a bad thing! I get to draw and the book will be even better.  A win win situation.

Spaceman Jax - Through the Mantagon Minefield premiering at the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con this July 24-27.

Curio & Co. (booth# 2102)

Stop by our booth and say hello!

From: Frank and His Friend - Special Collector's Edition Vol.1 - 008

 Cesare Asaro (under pseudonym of Clarence 'Otis' Dooley)

From: Frank and His Friend - Special Collector's Edition Vol.1 - 007

Cesare Asaro (under pseudonym of Clarence 'Otis' Dooley)

Spaceman Jax: "The Mantagons vs. Modern Society"

Here's a quick illustration I made on Monday for the Curio & Co. blog entry "The Mantagons vs. Modern Society"  that my partner Kirstie Shepherd manages.  

As we are getting ready to launch our new Spaceman Jax comic it's only fitting that we talk about some of the nemesis of our hero Jax. The Mantagons.  Jax, his niece Dekkin, and their trusted and sometime rusting (he's a robot) friend Artie are thrown in some crazy screwball adventures that fortunately for Jax, always seem to pan out well.  Let's hope that his luck holds up on future adventures… well, at least we know for sure that both Artie and Dekkin are there to remedy the situation.

Since the back story of Spaceman Jax, in the Curioverese, is that it was a TV show, from the 1960's (produced by Pud Film), I've been making images that would suit that feeling.  I.e. snap shots of animation cells or the animated show and of course creating the logos that would would fit the time period and its production company Pud.

Her's a couple of Curio & Co. back story links on Spaceman Jax:

Spaceman Jax - TV show back backstory

Brought to You by Sunnington Morn - Sunnington Morn the TV show sponsor

Ringer Comics - The comic book publisher

The Rocks in Bloom - The  fauna on the TV show

Fan Club Fanatic - The fan club

Spaceman Jax: Born Hero

The Spaceman Jax Family

In Praise of the Bad Guys - some more info about the Manatagons

Other related:

Brigadeer Bafalo - Pud film other show

What Do Mickey Mouse, Spaceman Jax and “Carrie Ann” By the Hollies Have In Common? 

We also tend to put more back story info in the products descriptions as well, in the case of Spaceman Jax the animation animation production drawings descriptions have some little easter eggs hidden in there

And a couple of images to go along with the spirit of this post.

From: Frank and His Friend - Special Collector's Edition Vol.1 - 006

Cesare Asaro (under pseudonym of Clarence 'Otis' Dooley)

From: Frank and His Friend - Special Collector's Edition Vol.1 - 005

Cesare Asaro (under pseudonym of Clarence 'Otis' Dooley)

Curio & Co Story Workshop at Talentakademie OÖ - December 2014

Here's a bit of news:

Curio & Co. has been teaching workshops at the Talentakademie OÖ for the past 2 years now, and we just scheduled an other one for this December bring us in the 3rd year of collaboration.  The past two workshops were on developing products from scratch and rebooting an existing brand; things that we do at Curio & Co. on a regular basis.  These workshops are usually 5 days long and hands on for the students.  We've been really happy teaching at the Talentakademie OÖ both Jörg Kurzwernhart, who heads the program, and Heidi Petermichl who's our liaison have been great to work with.  The students are from a small talent student pool, and the group is idea at 12 students.  I have to say that we go full force, through at them college level material, all in english, and they eat it up! which makes it really exiting for us.  It helps us and the students that the workshop is limited to a small number of participants; both the students and us have been really happy with the outcome and we even had students return for the following workshop.  Because of the positive feedback, even before the last workshop was over, we were already talking about what we were going to teach in 2014.

Well, this December we'll be teaching an other 4 day workshop in Gmunden, more specifically at Traunsee castle, in Altmünster. That's the usual location, and yes it looks like Hogsworth, (the location is also a boarding school).  It's definitely exciting teaching at such a majestic place with a wonderful view of the lake.  I'm digressing though; the focus this upcoming workshop will be on storytelling and creating a pitch for the entertainment industry.  Kirstie Shepherd and I will do a series of lectures and the students will break-up in 3-4 groups of 3 and will develop a story, an elevator pitch, and a working pitch package.  It's definitely a challenge but, I tell you, it's impressive what these kids can do!

See you at Hogsworth in December!

From: Frank and His Friend - Special Collector's Edition Vol.1 - 004

Cesare Asaro (under pseudonym of Clarence 'Otis' Dooley)

Curio & Co. Prints Are in the House! (of Chet Phillips)

It's always good seeing your work in a good home.

Here are some of our Curio & Co. prints in the house of our friend Chet Philips.  He's a real modest guy, and he won't say… but if you ask him, he'll confirm it… What you ask? He did the model package (art work) for a little movie called Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and he's got the faxes to prove it!  So next time you see him at a conference or at the upcoming San Diego Comic-Con, stop by his booth (O-1) in the Small Press section, say hello and take a look at some of his beautiful illustration work and books he has made with the help of his wife Julie. If you get the chance to get your hands on one of the Land of Kaiju books, get one! They are a rarity and a wonderful piece of art all hand bound by Julie (like most of their books).

I'm looking forward to see them again in a couple of months and I'm really happy to see that our work found a good home.

From: Frank and His Friend - Special Collector's Edition Vol.1 - 003

Cesare Asaro (under pseudonym of Clarence 'Otis' Dooley)

From: Frank and His Friend - Special Collector's Edition Vol.1 - 002

Cesare Asaro (under pseudonym of Clarence 'Otis' Dooley)