Curio & Co.'s Spaceman Jax Character Designs - The Mantagon General

I've been working on the entire set of character model sheets for the Curio & Co.'s Spaceman Jax animate show; 95% of the designs are done and now it's just the issue doing the leg work.

1. Finish all of the poses for all of the characters.
2. Complete the model sheets.
3. Finish pitch package for the agent.
4. Polish model sheet designs for the upcoming trade show release (set of prints).
…

During this week I took pencil to the paper to do some pose designs for the characters as well as ironing out one last character that keeps on stepping on my toes.  But it's just a matter of time… I'm almost there to have that final design…  I really enjoy having paper and pencil to work with, it so much more rewording to see a pile a drawing rather than a hard-drive.  But, I can't imagine doing what I do without a computer and a Cintiq.

Here a just some of the pose sketches for the Mantagon General.

Curio & Co. Let's Play - Art Show at Atelier Olschinsky Art Store

The Curio & Co. – Let's Play art show is shaping up really well!

By the way the opening is this coming Tuesday, if you are in the neighborhood stop by for a drink, and a peak.

Sep 15 at 7:00pm
Atelier Olschinsky Art Store
Esterhazygasse 11, 1060 Vienna, Austria 

The show is divided in two rooms: one will feature a small retrospective of our work that we've developed since 2010 with our debut of our Eisner Nominated Finding Frank and His Friend, and the second showcasing the our latest Tarot of Musterberg deck.

Both Kirstie and I are really happy to see how the Tarot of Musterberg cards look at 1 meter in size. Yup! That big and let me tell you I was surprised how well they look that size.  If you are a designer you know how important it is designing for the appropriate size and given that I designed the cards for an 11cm x 6cm size… it was a true relief to see that the designs hold up so well at ten times the size. 

 Oh yes, yesterday we stopped by the gallery to sign and stamp all of the prints.

And, by the way some of the prints featured in the show are design pieces that were never part of our retail able products (on our www.curioandco.com site) but only used for a world building, i.e. one of the Cudworth-Hooper interoffice memos for the manufacturing of the Gadabout time machine will be on display…

See you all there!

RT Robot Model Sheet for Curio & Co.'s Spaceman Jax

I've been working on the poses that will be part of the final model sheets for the Spaceman Jax Character Design set.  All of the Characters for the Spaceman Jax animated TV show are fully designed, and we are well on the way to have almost of the characters model.

Curio & Co. is scheduled to have the model sheets available as prints for our next trade show.

Developing Curio & Co.'s Roger Believe

Curio & Co.'s next story project is going to be a comic book - Roger Believe is scheduled to have a sneak peak to the world at the San Diego Comic Con 2016.

I remember when we first came-up with the idea of the project - December 2011 on the way to a friend's wadding, on the train platform of Wien Meidling while waiting for the the train to arrive. It was cold gloomy and we properly bundle-up with a coffee and a croissant in hand.  We've been wanting to take on this project since then, but the time wasn't right – until now.

Here's a little sketch of the character as a small teaser just to wet your appetite, stay tuned for more news and updates… after all Comic Con is around the corner (at least it fills like it to us!).

More of Farlo Cocept Sketches for Curio & Co.'s Spaceman Jax

And here are some more… rough sketches of Farlo for Curio & Co.'s Spaceman Jax animation project.

This character is definitely not to be trusted…

Red Cocept Sketches for Curio & Co.'s Spaceman Jax

For our Curio & Co.'s Spaceman Jax animation project – A version of Red that didn't cut the mustard. The design just didn't match the character attitude. But! I think there's an other character here that may join the Spaceman Jax universe.

Star Cowboy Model Sheet from Curio & Co.'s Spaceman Jax

Work in progress… Start Cowboy from the Spaceman Jax animation project for Curio & Co.

One of the changes… the 'S' on the belt will be a star.

Rusty Model Sheet from Curio & Co.'s Spaceman Jax

Continuing the work on the character designs for all of the other cast members of Spacamen Jax and the Galactic Adventures.  the Curioverses keeps expanding…

Mantagons Concept Sketches for Curio & Co's - Spaceman Jax

I was looking for some Spaceman Jax designs for Red and… I bumped into these concept sketches for the Mantagons I did in 2010.  At the time we brought on Luca Fattore to work on the development of some of the characters and help to set the style of the project.  It really was a great experience working collaboratively. Luca and I were on design and the Kirstie from the content side.  I had previously done some initial work on the characters: Jax, Dekkin, and the Mantagons, which we passed on to Luca and within a couple of month of back and forth of design revisions we had Jax and the Mantagons locked in.

Since then we developed more characters and other products of the Curio & Co. universe, and also published a total of 5 books one of which features Jax as a main character: Spaceman Jax - Through the Mantagon Minefield. It's been quite a ride so far…

Time flies!

So many projects to realize such little time.

Back to work…

Continuing design on Curio & Co.'s Spaceman Jax

Working on more Curio & Co.'s Spaceman Jax characters. Here are some roughs drawings for Farlo.

Rusty - Continuing to Design the Spaceman Jax Animated Show

Continuing to expand the Curio & Co. universe, by designing Rusty the old time mechanic friend of Spaceman Jax.

Curio & Co. Tarot of Musterberg - The Deck at a Glance

It took a lot of time to finish this new Curio & Co product, but the entire deck it is done and it was unveiled at Comic-Con this summer.  Now we are getting things ready for the official release on September 15 which will coincide with the inauguration of the Curio & Co. - Let's Play art show at the Olschinsky Art Store. We are prepping the images for the large prints…

If you are curious to see what four months of work at a glance look like… all of the 79 tarot cards are here…

and here you can preorder the deck.

Curio & Co. Art show at Olschinsky Art Store

No Posting for a while on this blog?

I know, I know, I'm not Superman and I don't pretend to be.  I just can't keep up with all of the social media channels.  But believe me I've been busy since the last post, and I'll try to catch up with the news of the past couple of months the best I can in the next weeks or so.

For now though here's a bit of news


The Curio & Co. – Let's Play – Art show

Location:
Atelier Olschinsky Art Store
Esterhazygasse 11
1060 Vienna, Austria

Date:
September 15 - October 17, 2015

Opening:
Tuesday, September 15, 2015 at 7:00pm

We've been telling people about this upcoming show that Curio & Co. will be having for a while without an official announcement.  The priority had to be finishing our Tarot of Musterberg deck first, since the show was originally intending to only feature the card but, it got BIGGER ;) A part of the show will deal with a small retrospective of what Curio & Co. has been creating for the past 6 year, and how we play with pop culture.

Curio & Co. - Let's Play
A fictional universe: From comic books to vintage advertisements, Curio & Co. creates memories from an alternate history to play with the power of nostalgia. While bringing a sense of whimsy to every project, Curio & Co. grounds each artifact with details from reality to bring their make-believe world to life. This intricate game of “What if?” continues with their latest project, the Tarot of Musterberg, as they deal up fun and fantasy and suggest: Let’s play!

We spend so much time cooped up in the studio working on so many different projects that we are really looking forward to the chance of seeing our fans in person.

I should add add – a ward of thanks to ​Verena Weiss and Peter Olschinsky​ for giving us the opportunity to exhibit at their gallery.

Curio & Co. Musterberg Tarot - Production Update

Let me catch you up with some of the production updates…  The clock is counting down to SDCC and the things are moving along… It's definitely been a busy week!!!

Here are some quick excerpt from my social media activity in the past days

The package will come with a seal here we have the prototype of how it will look - Details make a difference – Seal it up!

 The cards actually went to press two days ago and the first plate to run was of The Fool…

And here we have the tarot cards before they get their corners rounded. 

We are almost done with the production…

A little aside – two days ago I met up with the largest Austrian card manufacturer - Piatnik –and got a full tour of their facility.  I love that stuff!!!

x

SDCC Unofficial Blog Promotes Curio & Co. Musterberg Tarot Deck

I love it when people share what we do ; ) It inspires me to do more ; )

A Thanks to SDCC Blog!!! 

I just found out about these today:

http://sdccblog.com/2015/06/under-the-tents-idw-luke-chueh-aspen-comics-toddland-thrillbent-mad-max-hyperactive-monkey/

http://sdccblog.com/2015/05/under-the-tents-red-giant-entertainment-aisha-tyler-comicave-studios-californiabrowncoats-marvel-viz-alina-chau/

Curio & Co. Tarot of Musterberg - Bonus in the Package

The file for the cards is at the printer!

So…  Now that the Curio & Co. Musterberg tarot are at the printer we are finishing off the Cartomancy Guide and the Game Play Rules for the set. The instructions will also include how to best read the bonus card of the Siren and how to use it in the card game.

The booklet will be bundled with the cards in the package and will be 64 pages of fun. Yup! the text will have a Humorous slant to it.

The picture is of the package prototype in black and white. The final package will be in full color.

No. 22 of the Major Arcana  - The 79th card of the deck.  We always do things just a bit different and this is us adding a little twist to the tarot deck, giving an extra splash to cartomancy as well as the tarot card game. Yup! there's a game you can play with tarot.

And here are a couple more cards from the Major Arcana, cards that are usually part of every tarot deck.

Musterberg Tarot Deck by Curio & Co.

I'm in the process of designing the decorative elements and laying out the package for our Curio & Co. Tarot deck – below is a rough layout for the front of the package.

Why Musterberg? Well they have to come from some where, and in our Curio Verse many things come from Musterberg ;P

FYI Musterberg in german is the John Doe of cities.

And here's an other one of the card that will be in the box…

Curio & Co. Tarot Deck - see it first at SDCC

About the back of the cards of the Curio & Co. tarot deck. In the spirit of reproducing a fictional 1700's tarot card deck, each card will show independent ware of its back. Each card will be unique in front as well as back.

Because they are intended to be collectable the cards will also be printed on acid free paper and will be produced in a small quantity, we are deciding on the quantity right now but we know for sure that it will be below 500 sets.

A couple of days back we got the proofs for the cards… and we picked the set-up and color of the back of the card.

Here are a couple more cards that got colored since the last post… Some of the cards underwent some design changes during the coloring process ie the The Tower and The Stars.  If you compare the images to the ones of the prior posts you can see the difference.

This card of The Creature is the equivalent of The Devil, it's the same number in the deck