My Books - New Page!

Using Blogger's new tools, I created a page for some of my books listed.  It shows where you can buy them and "like" them on Facebook!  On the blog, you can click the link at the top that says "Books" or follow this link - http://mattsketchpad.blogspot.com/p/books.html.

Jack the Pumpkin Head, Tulsa bookstore locations

As of October 2nd, there are two bookstores in Tulsa where you can purchase one of my latest books, Jack the Pumpkin Head. So if you are in the Tulsa area and you want one of my books, go support the two stores locally where you can find it.

They are:
Steve's Sundry, Books & Magazines
http://www.stevessundrybooksmags.com/

And also at Top Hat Magic & Costumes
http://www.tophatmagic.com/

New Stuff Coming Soon

So, in my spare time, I am working on several different projects. Much of which I will share on this blog. Here are a few details. I am working on a black and white comic book that will contain various stories using animals as the main characters in a anthropomorphic way. This is done in the style of Disney comics, Usagi Yojimbo, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and my favorite comic book of the eighties, Critters. Critters actually contained stories from different artists/authors. While that could be possible at some point down the road, at first it will mainly contain stories drawn and written by me. My creative partner, Milton, and I have also talked about him writing for future issues, so hopefully that will come to pass too. It's something I have wanted to do since the mid-eighties and now with lulu.com it is actually possible.

Some of the projects are several children's books that are in various stages of development. Not sure which will be next though. I did order several copies of Jack the Pumpkin Head, one of my latest, for me to take to some area bookstores for Halloween and also to put in my father-in-law's store, Top Hat Magic and Costumes.

I love the Fall season, including the weather, holidays, football, fairs, etc.... So for the month of October, I will be doing a personal project. I will be uploading a new monster drawing every day in the month of October. Most, if not all, will be cartoony, but some may be grotesque and other's cute. I have actually already started on these, so that I am a little ahead during the month, if something comes up. Look forward to those.

New Book - The Weed

About two weeks ago, I came up with another idea for a book. This one seemed to fly out. It was short and in black & white. It's called, The Weed. It is up and ready to buy at Lulu. You can check it out at the following links below.

Paperback - http://www.lulu.com/content/4073311

Hardback - http://www.lulu.com/content/4087029

Of course, Jack the Pumpkin Head is also available for purchase and it can be found here:

Paperback - http://www.lulu.com/content/3990650

Both books are available as digital downloads if you want them now and in digital format.

And now, back to the drawing board.

Halloween Children's Book - Update Finished and Published

Whew! I just finished uploading the final files for my latest children's book, entitled "Jack the Pumpkin Head". It is available for purchase at the following address - http://www.lulu.com/content/3990650. If you have problems or questions about ordering, please feel free to email me at mcrosser@teamexpansion.org. I have had a great time working on this book and feel very satisfied that it is finished. There are some cool background notes. Throughout the book I put some "Easter Eggs". For those who don't know "Easter Eggs" are hidden things in a book, dvd, game, etc... On one page I put the street address of our first home, where I came up with the original idea for Jack the Pumpkin Head. Another street corner represents the home address that I grew up at. On a fence post there is a hidden dedication to Angie. Also, the character Andy has a couple of interesting notes. First of all he is wearing a ghost costume. It is similar but chosen because of my love for Charlie Brown's Peanuts comic strip. One of the best holiday videos in my opinion is "It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown". The second thing about Andy is that while you never see him in the book (due to the ghostly sheet) it isn't the last you'll see of him. He is actually the main character in another story I have been working on since 2002. That story takes place at Christmastime. I have had quite a creative burst of ideas lately, so more things are in the pipeline, but with Jack done, I'll take a little break. Not long, just a bit in order to relish in the completed project. This is a book I started in the Fall 1997, that's eleven years. It's nice to have it done.

Early Fat Baby Sketches

Here are some of the first attempts at finding Fat Baby's drawing style.

Fat Baby Pencil Sketches

Here are a few pencil sketches from my new children's book, Fat Baby. After I sketched the artwork, I inked it. Then I scanned them all into the computer, where I colored the images, assembled scenes (where necessary), then exported the images for the final product. I will post inked versions of these pencil sketches later.

Fat Baby Preliminary Artwork

Soon, I will be posting some preliminary artwork for my children's book Fat Baby.

Fat Baby is Published!

So after three years of work, the children's book Fat Baby is done and available on lulu.com. You can purchase it for for download or buy a copy that is shipped directly to you. If you do purchase one, I would love to hear your feedback. Post here or at lulu.com on Fat Baby's page.
This book was a collaboration between myself and friend, Milton Hendricks.

Fat Baby: Coming Soon

I just finished and uploaded my second book to www.lulu.com. It is called "Fat Baby" and it is a collaborative work with Milton Hendricks. Milton is a friend of mine, who also serves as half of our Forwarding Agent staff for our mission to Italy. His wife, Elizabeth, is the other half. It is a book that we have been working on for three years. So it is nice to have it finished and published. It should be available for print or download within the next week or so, I will post when it happens. Soon I will be posting some of the production work in pencils, ink, etc... for the book as I went along.