Foldigo Issue 3 Is In The Can!

... in the film making sense... nothing to do with the bathroom... although that is where I get some of my best creative ideas.

Here's a sneak peek at issue 3... my favorite most exciting foldigo cover art yet.  There's a real trick to making cover art, I'm finding.  If you can believe it after all these years of making comics I've rarely designed a cover.  I'm always drawing interior story art or making coverless short stories.  Anyway, I'm starting to get the hang of it, I think.  Keep it simple, make it pop, don't clutter up the top quarter where the titles need to go, use imagery that grabs people's attention.  Now I want to go back and redesign the cover for issue #1 with these principles in mind.  Hmmm...

Doesn't this make you want to click over to www.foldigo.com and buy a subscription to Livingston and Friends?  Only $11.95 and you get short comics and a bunch of paper crafts to go with the story.  But wait!  There's more! :-P  There's also a bunch of free downloadable paper crafts too. Cool, right? :-)  Check it out.

Foldigo Comics and Toys, First Issue Launched!

I'm part of a really cool startup called Foldigo. We create foldable toys and stories delivered to you by good ol' fashioned snail mail.  The kids at the test session had a great time folding up their foldable characters, and now the comic is complete. The first issue of our first available subscription is now available!  We have a facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/Foldigo) with updates and photos of the toys and if you Like the page you'll be kept in the loop of how things are developing.

I had a lot of fun creating the story, with a fun cast of characters and a positive message... I even snuck in a little math lesson into one of the gags... I'm tricky that way :-).  Here's what the comic cover looks like:

Trains

A new subject matter for me... Trains.  Another fun project for UpHere Business Magazine.

Frozen Globes

This got me one of my favorite client responses ever.  Says editor, Guy Quenneville upon receiving final art, "WOW - HOLY CRAP. That's stunning."  Have I mentioned I love working with these guys?  This was art directed by Mike Ericsson, who also art directed the Supergiants illustration (scroll down to June 2011 here in the blog to see it).

UpHere Business Magazine is starting an annual awards ceremony to recognize successful businesses and entrepreneurs in Northern Canada.  The awards are called the Frozen Globes.  They asked me to design an illustration to promote this.  I figured it should look like something that could be turned into an actual award trophy so, to give them the option, the glacial lettering is designed to be isolatable as a pedestal to hold the icy globe above.  I imagine the whole thing made out of coloured glass, maybe with a little LED light inside, and a Star Wars style hologram making the Northern lights shimmer above it.

UpHere Business Magazine Gig

Got another fun job with UpHere Business last month (http://www.uphere.ca/).  For an article about Nasa's recent discovery of a planet 5 times the mass of Earth and 1/3 composed of diamonds.  In a comic book universe this would pose a serious threat to the diamond industry in the Northwest Territories.  Premier of NWT Bob McLeod depicted as a superhero come to save the industry.  Special thanks to Guy Quenneville and the other editors at UpHere for choosing me for the gig and being such great collaborators.

There is a Dog

@ronmarz has a picture of his dog as his twitter icon.  His dog looks nothing like this and it's head is actually turned in profile to the right, but at the small avatar size, this is the dog my brain sees... even though I know better having already seen at a slightly larger size it's clearly a completely different image. I'm always fascinated by the flexibility of perception. It constantly reminds me that reality is open to interpretation, subject to the resolution and expectations of my own imperfect perception. This is a good thing to know so that I can correct myself when a new more appropriate idea or model of perception comes along without being too overly attached to my old ideas and paradigms.

There is something there, but it's not what I think it is, and that's ok.  In fact, it's good because it generates creativity.  I can create something original and useful out of my flawed perceptions. This drawing looks a lot like my own dog, so you can see I've projected my own experience into a vague image.  My brain has reconstructed the image with detail and meaning that it expects to see which isn't actually there.

How is this misperception useful? In this case I've created a character portrait that I might be able to use in a story, or a cute image I could put on a greeting card, or a toy design, or use it as a story starter, or create fresh interesting content for my blog. ;-)  It's the same process of improvisation people use to compose art, invent technology, innovate business processes, invent scientific hypotheses, find new ways to communicate and relate to one another, and philosophize about almost anything.  Imagination creates new solutions and modifies things in ways that suit new purposes.

Cartoon Christmas Wrapping

I'm really looking forward to seeing my two little nephews this Christmas. I think I had as much fun making their gift wrapping as they will have with the gifts! The improvised cartoons were meant to be some randomly fun pictures to decorate their plain brown wrappers, but they sort of turned into a little story... a tableau of things two young siblings might like to do together in the winter.

Threadless Reject

This is my first design submission to Threadless (a crowd sourced T-shirt design and retail company).  I worked hard on the design and I figured it was a good one.  Even so it did not get voted/rated enough to be printed.  I'm not sure if it's because the design isn't good enough or because I don't have a big enough following that will go on there and vote for it, or maybe I didn't do a good job of communicating to my following in an inspiring way.

I'm interested in your feedback.  Got any ideas of how I could improve this design or my campaign for votes?  Email (scott@moon-man.com) or tweet me (@scott_mooney).

Cheers!
Scott

War of 1812 TV and Comics Illustrations

This summer I got to work on a historical TV program and related comics about the War of 1812 (in which America attempted to invade Canada). My client for this is Zeros2Heroes, a comics and entertainment company out of Vancouver. There were 6 episodes in total (of which I illustrated 3) and each episode was also turned into a 22 page comic book (of which I illustrated 2).  I was hired on as a penciller, so the inks and colours and lettering were designed by other artists.  These are some samples of those pencils.

These TV bits are from the episodes about Sir Isaac Brock and Laura Secord.

These comics pages are from the story of Enos Collins, the privateer that helped win the war, got rich in the process and founded a bank now known as the CIBC, which is one of the biggest banks in the world right now.

Mighty Bubble Issue 3

My latest Mighty Bubble minicomic.  I went for a retro 3 colour treatment on the cover because it looks cool and sophisticated, and to save time… it’s actually a really efficient way to colour something.  Lazy or efficient?  You be the judge.

Mighty Bubble is a character I created (in collaboration with the communications team at AECOM) for Hudbay Inc. as a part of their corporate citizenship with Flinflon Manitoba/Saskatchewan (the town straddles the border).  Mighty Bubble is part of an ongoing campaign to get kids excited about hand washing. Fun things I’ve created for the campaign include Mighty Bubble himself and his accompanying characters, stickers, puzzles, activity sheets, temporary tattoos, and of course the comics, written and drawn by yours truly.  It’s a really fun and creative program to be a part of.  I really want the program to grow from Flinflon to the rest of the world.  It's a great public message with huge potential to improve public health, and the kids are loving it.

Canadian History Doodle

Here's a little character study for a period piece I'm working on for an entertainment company.  And that may be about all I'm legally allowed to say right now.  But I thought it was a nice image and this will likely be the only place anyone will ever see it.  It's a doodle I made in the margin of the script to help me get a sense of the character.  The final product ended up being something quite different than this.  

She Hulk and Hellboy Get It On Again

Scroll back a couple of years or so in this blog and you'll see that this is a sequel to an older bit of fan art.  I love seeing Hellboy and Shulkie together.  I think they make a good pair.  Could be a great crossover comic.  Differing in personality, similar in temper and braun.  Lots of super powered chemistry and conflict potential.

Parting Ways Meets Done to Death

Here's my little tribute to Andrew Foley, writer of Parting Ways (which I illustrated with Nick Craine) and Done to Death (illustrated by Fiona Staples).  Find these comics at your local comics shop!  Also, Parting Ways is available as a digital comic at www.graphic.ly.

Young Ellen

I drew this one tonight... falling in love with Sketchbook Pro.  Great little drawing program!

Concept Art Fantasy

Every now and then I mess around with some bit of software to see if I can use it practically for illustration.  I love concept art and character design, but most of my professional work revolves around technical, medical and otherwise instructional art so I don't get paid to do a lot of this looser more imaginative kind of work... yet.  I guess you gotta get it out there if you want people to hire you for it, so here's a selection of concept drawings and character designs from the ol' digital doodle folder.  

Manga Studio

Smith Micro had their Manga Studio comics creation software on sale recently.  Something I've wanted to try for a long time.  Turns out it's a really nice drawing tool.  It's exactly the thing to have if you like drawing comics.  Here's one of my doodles from that tool...  The inking tool creates just the kind of line work I love.

Dog Heart 2

This is the second time Dogs in Canada Magazine asked me to make a picture of a dog's heart.  Several years ago I did one as a cutaway to show how the blood flows through.  This time I wanted to make it squeaky clean with a purely vector constructed image... which I've been doing a lot of lately.  I really love how clean these come out.  It makes all the tedious construction time worth the effort. 

Drink an' Draw Doodles

I don't make it out to every Drink an' Draw event but this summer I made it twice so far and here are a few doodles I made.  Last time I brought my Modbook, determined to make a digital painting on it.  That's what Bought the machine for after all, but usually I just use it the same old way I used my ordinary desktop.

1972 Man, directly in brush and ink.

Hellboy done in Artrage on my Modbook

Ratchet and Clank Doodle

Mighty Bubble!

This work is part of a major hand washing awareness program designed to get kids feeling great about washing their hands.  Soap is your super power against germs!  The campaign includes stickers, temporary tattoos, activity sheets with games and colouring and drawing, a costumed mascot that visits schools and events, and a series of comics.  The tag line "Soap is your superpower!" and the comics were my idea as a way to get a story to live in the minds of the kids, so that they can imagine themselves vanquishing the germ bad guys by washing their hands just like Mighty Bubble does.

This project is a community service initiative by AECOM on behalf of HudBay Minerals.
All images are copyrighted by HudBay Minerals.

Check it out at www.mightybubble.com.

SuperGiants

Here's a special one I haven't shown before.  This was published this year in UpHere Business Magazine, based in Yellowknife NWT.  It's for an article about some previously inaccessible super giant mineral deposits that are soon to be accessible.  The client started me off with an idea sort of like the Superfriends TV show, with three caped superheroes charging towards the "camera".  But as I started drawing that it occurred to me to do something more elemental, so I sketched it out and pitched the idea of humongous giants towering over the Northern Landscape.  They loved the idea so we went with it.  From front to back we have giants representing rare earth minerals, iron ore, and a mysterious deposit that is yet to be determined what it is.

Logo Evolution, Trina Koster Photography

The Trina Koster Photography logo has been updated a few times. I've always loved the dynamic moody, imaginative art of comics, fantasy art, and concept art and I'm committed to bringing that dynamic aesthetic into everything I possibly can.  So here's the latest version:

Below was my first proposal for the 2011 version, but Trina thought it was way to... uh... buxom for her comfort level, and she wanted the sort of symbolic faces to be more specifically similar to her own face.  I didn't mean for the figures to literally be Trina, but more a comic-booky symbol of dynamic girl power in action.

It evolved from this one, which at the time I made it I thought it was pretty cool, back in 2006 or so.  But now it looks like the figures are slouchy and... uh... boring compared to the one above. Also, I needed to update the cameras... When's the last time you saw a big medium format film camera at a wedding?

The one immediately above evolved from the one below, which I created circa 2000... pretty clunky looking, right?  Well, we all gotta start somewhere.  :-)