OG’s BLOG

Part robot, part muppet, part character from some incredible animated film that hasn’t been done yet, Brian Marshall’s found object robots are just fantastic!

I am very excited to inform you that ex-Disney animator Eddie Pittman is joining our little team over at WishTales! Eddie’s graphic novel Red’s Planet, full of gorgeous art, fantastic storytelling and a color sense that just won’t quit, is the perfect addition to our stable of books. More info at WishTales.

There’s a couple of really great hi-res QT panoramas over at Boing Boing. One of them reminds me very much of the sorts of control rooms that were in Myst. (Don’t forget to go into full screen mode, and you will be pleasantly surprised at the amazing resolution…)

Thanks to Brit Steiner for the link!

There’s nothing like getting back to basics. I’m sure, if someone really, really wanted to, they could do something charming like this in 3D. But for some reason, they don’t.

It’s worth studying: it’s so simple. Everything happens in one shot. British director Simon Tofield is not cutting in and out for reaction shots and action shots. He’s not zooming the camera around the set. He even decided to do it in simple black and white, and so what? It just works.

Animators take note. Settle down and focus on storytelling, and if you don’t watch out, you just might create something nice.

That Simon’s Cat site is brilliant. Lots of stuff to dig through, and it’s a great example of how to generate a ton of charming, engaging material from a very simple idea. Keep It Simple, Simon.

Link sent to me by UK author Jack Eason. Thanks, Jack!

All right. Moon Town book #1 is off to the printer. In a few days, they’ll be sending me some proofs, and if everything looks good, they’ll print ‘em up and send ‘em to me, where I can begin selling them to you. If all goes well, delivery is scheduled for FEB 25.

UPDATE: 2/5/10 – Got the proofs back. Unfortunately they were way too dark. I’m lightening them up, will resubmit, and let’s try this again. Stay tuned.

The Winter Olympics are here once again and STUDIO AKA have produced a stylized Titles Sequence for the event being held in Vancouver February 12-28. This open is called Inuit.

Brock Heasley has done up this really groovy promo teaser for his upcoming season of SuperFogeys. Click the image for a bigger version, and of course check out SuperFogeys.com for the latest and also greatest SuperFogeys information.

Justin Leach and his talented team of cohorts – Andrew Kilian on pencils and inks and Omi Remalante Jr. on colors – have released the first issue of Majestic XII. This tale chronicles the adventures of 12 superheroes whose origin echoes back in time to a specific, mysterious event we all know very well. (Aw, come on. I’m not telling you which one! You gotta read the thing for that…) The comic does a great job of interweaving the characters’ past alongside their future, reminding us of their deep histories. Putting it mildly, this superhero team has issues. But if an ensemble cast is a family (as it should be played) then a dysfunctional family is practically the law.

X-Men and Watchmen fans will find familiar territory here.

Leach’s team is young and without a tremendous amount of experience so far, and there is some evidence of that in this book as the guys warm to their Art. There is an Art to exaggerating anatomy while still maintaining believability. There is an art to allowing the color to accent the overall mood of a piece. And there is an art to juggling so many character plotlines – not to mention a detail-rich, sweeping mythology – without allowing the reader to be overwhelmed by it all.

Leach’s team has its hands full, no doubt. But they also demonstrate two things I value: potential and a do-it-yourself spirit. I applaud Leach’s gumption to get this book done and get it out there. It is much easier to sit on the sidelines than to get in the game, and he certainly gets points for jumping into the fray. And the book is ambitious. Drawing 12 superheroes would drive most artists nuts – I certainly wouldn’t want to do it – but these guys just got on with it. Well done.

I’ll be watching this team’s progress.

Majestic XII is available at IndyPlanet.

I know. You want your Moon Town. Thankfully you’re a patient bunch. But I wanted you to get a tiny glimpse into what is going on outside of Moon Town, so you’ll understand when I say it will be just a little bit longer.

As you know, I just finished up Payload. And you probably know we just launched our new publishing venture WishTales. You didn’t know that I have a little advertainment work to do, as well as a really nice set of animations to do for a piece of computer based training (see above). Right, two jobs in the same month after months of nothing. It never rains, but it pours.

OK, I agree with you. I have way too much going on right now. Way too much. But, come on – a robot cat, playing with an orange like a ball of yarn in the open cargo bay of a spaceship orbiting Mars… how do you say no to that? You don’t. You put your big boy pants on, you say “sleep ain’t the boss of me” and you go animate til yer eyes bleed.

And so I have, and so I shall continue til it’s done.

I can’t name these projects or show you any more about them than this, though I promise to share them with you when I’m allowed. But consider this: the one with the cat consists of 28 animations ranging from 15-60 seconds long. Yes, it keeps me from my precious Moon Town, but let’s just say it keeps me off the streets at night.

OK. Back to it.

After much secrecy and sneaking around, I’m excited today to announce Wishtales Publishing Studio! What is Wishtales you ask? This pretty well sums it up:

Once upon a time, the path for an aspiring artist/creator was clear: Get an agent. Get a publisher. Get that comic of yours syndicated. Go for the Big Time.

We are all awakening to a publishing reality that looks very different. That path may be changing. It may have completely gone away.

Agents are swamped with wannabes. Big publishers are too large and too conservative to take chances on anything. And syndicates make an increasingly small living by keeping the newspaper comics section exactly as it is today. Basically, the publishing structure exists to say “NO”.” NO” to new ideas. “NO” to new creatives. “NO” to anything that looks like a chance, anything that hasn’t been tried before, anything that isn’t a sequel or a sequel to a sequel to a spinoff.

In short, we didn’t want to start a publishing company; They made us do it. We’re putting our money where out mouths are. If no one wanted to take a chance on us, OK. We’ll do it. If no one wanted to let us choose non-standard formats for our books, OK. We’ll do it. We’re taking a chance on us, and if it works out, who knows? Maybe one day we’ll take a chance on you. Somebody has to do it.

- Tom Dell’Aringa and Steve Ogden

Yes, this is a joint venture between me and my good buddy Tom Dell’Aringa. We’re tired of trying to play corporate games and trying to fit into a mold that is constricting and limiting. We’re going to forge our own path. The first step along that path is Tom’s Marooned book, Out of Orbit, which will be a Wishtales imprint. We’re just getting started, but there’s some interested posts over there already. We’re looking forward to publishing a Moon Town book as well, and we’ve got lots more ideas cooking in the pot. So head over to Wishtales and take a look, and let us know what you think!