Paper Toy

With inspiration from the extraordinary Matt Hawkins over at Custom Paper Toys, I've tried my hand at a home made paper toy of Moose. Check out Matt's stuff and try your hand at some of his free downloads like "Build Obama". Really great stuff.

The Cods Cover

Here's an image of what the next book cover will look like. Only thing that might change is the title treatment, but that's up to the book designer.

Here come the Cods!

Something fishy.

Now that "The Cods of Cape Cod" is wrapping up (just finishing up the cover now) I thought I'd post some old doodles and color tests I found in the dusty corners of ye olde PCe. Yea, aging computers get the old-timey "e" as they slow down. It's just part of growing up and getting olde.

Anyway, here's a shark that actually doesn't appear in the book at all, and a fish that I think I drew so that I could try my hand at sand.

"Boston Balloonies arrived in Holland"

When we met Greet and Ineke from Amsterdam during our Blackstone's visit in Boston, they promised to write us and send along a photo. Wel, they did! The Balloonies have found a happy home in Holland as a memory of their trip to America. Happy to be part of that, Greet and Ineke.

Below is the message we recieved:

"Dear David and Ed,

The Boston Balloonies did arrive in Holland safely! We enjoyed reading it and it will be a nice rememberance to a wonderful visit. We had a great time. Not only in Boston but also in the whole of New England. We made this tour heading north to Portland, west to Lincoln and Stowe and south to Springfield and Cape Cod. How lovely this area is, we wish we could have stayed longer.

We hope the book signing worked out well. We wish you all the success of the world.

Kind regards,

Greet and Ineke
Amsterdam, Holland

Boston wrap-up!

With a successful and extremely enjoyable Boston Balloony book-tour weekend behind us, I'm sending thanks to our amazing new friends at Blackstone's on Beacon Hill, The Old North Church Gift Shop, and the Bostonian Society for being such great hosts to Ed and I.

At Blackstone's, a portion of the proceeds went to the Max Warburg Courage Curriculum. (Click here to donate) Representatives from the Max Warburg Courage Curriculum were on hand to answer questions and supply us with cookies.

Perfect fall weather, hot coffee, welcoming hosts and an invigorating buzz around the success of Balloonies ... a solid trip!

In a store window near you

The marketing goes on ...

And if you're in Montclair on October 18th ...

Come on out to one of this area's greatest book stores, Watchung Booksellers, and join Ed and I for a read and a friendly sign'n.

If you're in Boston on October 4th ...

... stop by Blackstone's at Beacon Hill! Ed and I will be there reading and signing "Balloonies." We may or may not also teach you how to fly. Fingers crossed for good weather!

The Lost Balloony?

This image was apparently taken outside of Boston's well-known giftshop "Blackstone's" on Beacon Hill. Balloonies have been seen around the area quite a bit lately. The question is ... why? hmmmm ...

Doodles From the Dark Times 4

Hear that Bowser? Those little jerks aren't going to take it anymore.

Doodles From the Dark Times 3

"Excuse me ... my uh ... my chain is uhm ... ah never mind."

Doodles From the Dark Times 2

Tiny hat.

Doodles From the Dark Times

Balloony Sighting

If you are a reader who has befriended the Balloonies on Myspace, you've probably seen this image, but for everyone else, check it out! A Boston resident sent this image taken on what he decribes as a Balloony-sighting-photo-safari.

"We figured we'd go out to Boston Common to see if we could see any Balloonies live and in action, and to our surprise we did! But they were so fast and bouncy, this was the only picture we could snap."

Good luck folks ... those guys are HARD to photograph, trust me.

Local article

I woke up yesterday to a swell article on Baristanet.com, a local website serving Montclair, Bloomfield, Glenridge and Verona. They give our books a great review.

http://www.baristanet.com/2008/07/youll_want_to_meet_this_moose.php

Moose Sighting

The Boston Balloonies on Myspace

The Boston Balloonies can now be found on Myspace.
Don't look at me. They did it.

Be floating, flying friends with the buoyant Balloonies at http://www.myspace.com/bostonballoonies

Update: Looks like everybody is getting in on it.

Befriend a Moose on Myspace today.

http://www.myspace.com/imetamooseinmaineoneday

THANK YOU!

We sign things. Books, too.



More signing ...



REAL moose cake. Many thanks to Stacy Duffy of South Portland for creating this wonderful little piece of awesomeness.

Is that not the coolest thing you've ever seen?

Toby Lightman sings about us.

(disclaimer: Toby Lightman did not really sing about us)


A big BIG thanks to everyone who came out to Freeport's L.L.Bean today to visit Ed and I for our launch of "Moose!" The day was a HUGE success, and we have no one to thank but you!

Also, we'll be starting up Ed's author blog this week, so stop by again to get the link.

Thanks again, Freeport. It's been an amazing experience!

Chocolate Moose Cake

Mmmm ...

It's a good day in bookville.

They're here! Two big boxes arrived today. What does that mean for you? If you ordered from Commonwealtheditions.com, you will get them very soon! If you ordered from Amazon.com, no worries, you should start seeing them in your homes by the first week of July!

L.L. Cool Beans!

Here's the ad for the big launch weekend.
Click to biggify.

Remember your childhood sticker books?

I wish I still had mine. I'm sure there were pages dedicated strictly to He-Man, and pages set aside for the rare "scratch and sniff" leaving your book smelling like some bizarre mix of fruit, glue and Smurfs (Smurfs, I'm guessing, smell like candy and shitaki mushrooms.) I'm positive that back then my favorites were on the pages overrun with Thundercats, Super Mario and those fat bubbly stickers that made your book thrice the thickness. Today, however, I think my favorites would be these little babies created by the events team over at L.L. Bean. Rumor has it they will be part of a goody bag for the kids who attend the "I Met a Moose in Maine One Day" book signing on July 5th in Freeport. If they were scratch and sniff, they would smell like fun I bet.

Big 'ol Book Cover Friday

The cover to our second book, "I Met a Moose in Maine One Day" has appeared online for the first time on the publisher's website. While the place holder exists on Amazon and a hand full of other online retailers, this image should soon post there as well.

One fish, two fish, cool fish, bioluminescent Fish

The third book I'm working on keeps me in the "life aquatic" so I thought I'd share some of the background characters.

"Draw Yourself as a Teen"

"Drawn" posted a challenge today hosted by someone on LiveJournal, so I thought I'd join in. The task was to "draw your teenage self."

Pretty scary stuff. The Warner Brothers Studio Store pretty made bank on my coin alone. As the illustration shows, I didn't date much. Anyway, here's what I added.

"Hey Chief. I'm being printed."

As exclaimed by a moose on a napkin.

Come meet the "Moose" in Maine one day!

Here's some downright nifty news on the book front:
L.L. Bean has expressed interest in promoting our next book: "I Met a Moose in Maine One Day" and is incorporating us into their annual Fourth of July weekend extravaganza at their flagship store in Freeport, Maine. Ed and I will be there to promote the book in what looks to be a big event, complete with fireworks, Maine-ish stuff to do, and free nightly concerts. So hey, come on up and join me. We'll eat lobster.

UPDATE: We'll be in the book department of the flagship store for the sale and signing from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on July 5th. We'll read, sign, chat, sing, dance and model camping gear. Maybe. No promises. Also, that night, Daryl Hall will play live in the park.

It's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses.

"Hit it." I found this sketch while going through some stuff the other day. Think I'll clean it up and color it soon.

Why is this Balloony so happy?

... because "The Boston Balloonies" is still up on the Amazon.com Hot New Releases in Books list, and it's thanks to you. The viewer.

Snow Day Polar Bear

What better way to enjoy a rare, work-less snow day, right? I liked the sketchy quality of the first image, but decided to clean him up a bit.

Silly Samurai. You can't fly.

But he sure is trying. You have to respect that. Here's the other character I sketched up for John and his team, as well as his 3-d self.

Ninja wants a hug.

psst ... don't give him one. They tend to have various sharp items stowed away in dark places.

Here's a character design I did for my buddy John Vielee, an animation student at NYU. My sketches are currently being modeled into the 3-d characters by his peer, Koichi Nakai, and John will ultimately animate them. Check out John's blog documenting his thesis.

Balloony Web Invasion

They're popping up all over the place.

Book 2 moving along ...

To my surprise, our second book will be released much earlier than anticipated. When, you say? What's the title, you ask? Where can I see it, you beg, wiping tears of joy from your eyes? All will be revealed.

...

That was needlessly dramatic.

"Stay tuned."

That's better.

Another day, another bear in a tiny hat

For the flickr group ...

Sketchcast Doodle Friday

Maybe it'll be a regular thing. Stay tuned.

Flickr submission: Bear in ill-fitting hat

Here's my contribution to the "future of ursine headcoverings."
Ben Dale, if you're reading ... you know what to do.

Mmmm ...

Here's some character art from a packaging job a did a few months ago for Agripet. What is it? Why, it's Nutrition in every nibble. Turns out pets love plants. Give them what they crave – sweet, nutritious oat grass. Or in the case of the random pairing of images I've assembled above, give your iguana some catnip. (Don't really give your iguana some catnip.)

Anyway, finally saw the packaging pop up in a local food market so it's fresh on my brain.

Like a freshly mowed lawn. That we can ... eat.

What?

The Boston Balloonies - Coming Soon

Ed Shankman, a long-time friend and colleague, has penned a small masterpiece in The Boston Balloonies, a story I'm proud to call my first illustrative venture into the world of children's books. Published by the fine folks over at Commonwealth Editions, Balloonies should be hitting stands in March and April.

Keep coming back here to check out all the places, both internet-ish and real world-y, that these crazy little guys pop up.

Welcome!

Hi and welcome to my blog. Excited? You should be. Why? Well now, the posts to come will determine that, won't they?

Won't they.

Wink.