The First Copies of Captain Cheeseball Sold!

The first copy of The Saga of Captain Cheeseball: Book I sold through Amazon.com on April 16th!  The first copies of Volume I sold through CreateSpace.com today, April 19th (four copies)!  Special thanks to Jeff for that first purchase!  If and when 'Captain Cheeseball, The Movie' comes out, I'll give you a special shout out!

Breaking news!  You saw it here first on... my blog!...  I'm aiming to have Volume II available before June 1st!  

Sample from Book III: Help Me Wise Old Wizard

Wanted to post some sample artwork from The Saga of Captain Cheeseball.  This page is towards the end of book three where Captain Cheeseball regains control of his ship after the wise old wizard gives him a little helping hand.  He arrives at a ship graveyard and starts to navigate his way through it.  (click here to purchase book)

Had a LOT of fun putting this volume together.  Just finished roughing out the artwork for book four.  It will probably take me about a month and a half to get the next volume complete and finished.  The other challenge is that I am also working on an animated film concurrently.  Also working on illustrations for another book with a friend of mine, so need to budget my time wisely over the next couple months.  Time is probably going to tip towards the animatic for my animated film for a while.  Need to make some progress on that and put the books on the back burner for a while (not stop with them completely, but not the priority right now).  

This book has been great for getting my energy up.  Quick and fast and loose.  Really ready to dive back into my animatic! 

The Saga of Captain Cheeseball Volume I is Available!

The Saga of Captain Cheeseball Volume I is officially available!!!

There will be a total of six books in this series for kids which will chronicle the adventures of Captain Cheeseball.  He is hand picked by the king of Flinginghamdunbergville to find a treasure for the good of his homeland; however, things may not be as they seem.   There are details throughout the stories that kids can add and draw directly into the book. The illustrations throughout the books can also be colored (my daughter Lauren colored the cover). I hope to have the next volume completed and available within the next month or two.

The story is based on a character my kids made up. I love telling them silly little stories at bedtime, and I decided recently to go ahead and actually make this story into a book series. I had a lot of fun putting it together and, if you pick up a copy, I hope you and your kids enjoy the stories as much as I enjoyed telling them and creating the books!

It will be available on Amazon.com in the next week or so. I will post a note when that happens. 

To purchase the book, follow the link below.  Thanks!!! 

https://www.createspace.com/3844362

Progressive Animated Piece

Click on the image above to view an animation that I helped out with.  Animated about four scenes in this piece: the fishing scene (at :23 seconds),the sliding on clouds scene (:52), the calendar scene (:58) and the screaming eagle scene (2:32).  Andy Friz was the animation director on this, and we used cut-out characters rigs that he created in Harmony.  Was created REALLY quickly (in a matter of 5-6 weeks I believe, which is FAST for a three minuted animated film).  Enjoy!  Had fun working on it!

http://www.progressive.com/insurance/flosbestday/index.html

The Saga of Captain Cheeseball

Everyone is doing it, so here goes.  Getting set to start a Kickstarter project.  I've been telling my kids silly bedtime stories for a while and thought, 'I should write one of these down'.  So, I am writing one down and doing the illustrations as well.  Its The Saga of Captain Cheeseball!  Having fun with it and moving FAST through it.  Keeping the illustrations line work so that kids can color their books.  I have a separate blog that I will be maintaining documenting the progress of the production.  I will also announce once my Kickstarter project goes live.  Excited to try it!!!

Messin' Around

Watched a couple Clint Eastwood films the other day while I was drawing a new kids book I am self publishing.  LOVE the old Clint films.  Fist Full of Dollars and Good, Bad, Ugly great!

Looking forward to spring break next week.  Planning on locking myself in a classroom at school and boarding Monday and Wednesday.  Will fill up the walls with blank paper and board all day both days.  Should have a good start after that for my next pass on my film.  REALLY enjoyed it the other day and got through a decent amount in an hour.  So, two days should be GREAT!

Storyoarding Time Lapse Movie

This was a time lapse of me working on the revised board for my animated film project in one of the classrooms at CCAD.  I had been working digitally on this new board and realized that I needed to go back to paper for the initial pass.  So, planning on spending spring break working through a series of passes on my board in this fashion.  Really enjoyed it and looking forward to it!