Ruby Winkle, Psi

Ruby Winkle, Psi. The adventures of a supernatural sleuth. Armed with her sixth sense, a beatnik bat and velocipede named Watson, Ruby Winkle investigates monsters, religious idols in toast, charlatans, aquatic werebats and everything else under the moon. The first book is coming soon!

Bearing it All: Skelanimals Interview

Skelanimals turns cute inside out with its skeleton crew of characters. The Skelanimals have gone from bone bearing graphics and plush dolls to a full blown fashion and accessory line. Stripped of skin but full of heart, each animal is characterized by its doe-eyed skull and black and white skeleton suit. Skelanimals is licensed by Art Impressions, Inc. based in Calabasas, Caifornia. Art Impressions, Inc. is also the mastermind behind the space-age, girl-power troupe, “Milk Way and the Galaxy Girls” and the kawaii brigade, “Wittle Bittle“. Cindy Bailey, CEO of Art Impressions, Inc. reveals the spirit behind the Skelanimals and explains why we can’t stop being haunted by them.

1) What inspired the idea for Skelanimals?
Skelanimals first came to life as the subject of a self-published children’s book by Mitchell Bernal, an accomplished animation artist.  To help his young son cope with the death of a family pet, Mitchell came up with the novel idea of portraying the afterlife in a humorous way, creating a collection of animals who met odd and untimely ends as a result of their own silly behavior.  The book’s humorous poems about each animal really brought the characters to life and formed the starting point for our development of Skelanimals as a broader lifestyle brand.

2) Where and how did you first promote Skelanimals?
We launched Skelanimals plush, keychains and magnets at leading U.S. trend retailer Hot Topic in 2006. It was so popular that in 2007, Hot Topic featured full boutiques showcasing junior and young men’s apparel, loungewear, stuffed animals and plush backpacks, purses, totes, wallets, ID cases, keychains, bag charms, shoes, socks, hair accessories, fragrance and cosmetics, tinned candies, pins and patches, posters, throws, magnets and stickers.

3) What do you think makes Skelanimals so popular?
One of the keys to Skelanimals’ popularity is its unique mixture of cuteness and edge.  Skelanimals are light-hearted, cute and cuddly, never ghoulish or horrifying; irreverent but not offensive.  As a result, the brand has been embraced by people of all ages, nationalities, and personalities…it hits that magical middle point between cute and cuddly and dark and edgy!

4) What is one of your favorite Skelanimals accessories?
The crystal studded panda necklace from PINKO in Italy!

5) Can you give advice to someone trying to get their intellectual property licensed?
The most important thing is to have a comprehensive collection of art including main characters, patterns, boarders, and main images.  It helps to have a back story about the brand and/or its characters (personalities or stories about each character).  You must also have a marketing plan outlining the demographic, target market and support that will generate consumer awareness for the brand such as (depending on the demographic) plans for animation, an interactive website, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter as well as promotional & advertising  plans to support your retailers.

Scribble Dribble

Scribble Dribble puts a different spin on the hero’s journey. Author Tasneem Montgomery follows a cheerful CD named Scribble who is rolling down the path towards happiness until happenstance steps in and blocks his way. Scribble’s self-journey is rendered in primary colored wonder by illustrator Daniel DaLoia.  Montgomery’s personal background in psychology and meditation illuminates Scribble’s travails and hits a high note with his final triumph.

Don Quijote: Tower of Evil Cute

There are no imaginary enemies here-only sickeningly cute adversaries dressed in animal skins of every combination smiling behind neon, plastic boxes. Don Quijote (spelled phonetically-its praise is sung throughout in a synthesized kid, choir chant-”la-la-lah-la-la-lah-Don-Key-Ho-tee”!) is a discount chain store in Japan that offers everything from racks of eyelashes to questionable junk food. Sadly, Don Quijote is more yellow, shoebox grade of architecture than the literary, looming windmill (although, I wouldn’t put it pass the Japanese to create a windmill structure adorned with a deranged mascot promoting buying bliss).  It does, however, contain an epileptic arcade of flashing video games and fantastic vending machines of toys and plushies.

The vending machines house an array of creatures wearing pelt jumpsuits-rabbits are dressed in bear skins, bears are dressed in cat suits, etc. (the bi-curious species are both intriguiging and baffling). Everything within the arcade is dosed in cute. Stitched up dolls and bloody, clawed teddy bears are tempered by their adorable grins and cotton-colors. The arcade is manically brilliant and leaves one feeling a bit hopped up on Clockwork Orange stimulus overload.  ”La-la-lah, la-la-lah….”

Thanks to Optivion for the photos (and for being the prince of prizes who won a solar-operated Maneki Neko waving statue).

Time Out for Ruby Winkle

Here is a peek at my review for “Here Comes the Garbage Barge” which is being featured in the February issue of Time Out New York Kids.  Thanks, Carolyn!

Whittled World

There have been many campaigns to save extinct animals but none of them have been as effectively cute as the craftsmanship of Josh Finkle. Josh carves wide-eyed creatures on the brink of extinction out of another life form at the dangerous risk of disappearing-trees. The threat for each of the wooden species is outlined in a how-to diagram of icons and arrows depicting both their origins and their demise.

Paper Cuts: The Art of Emma van Leest

Chores by their very definition defy fun but as a kid, surrounded by miniature eye candy, it was eye-level adventure. Growing up, I was assigned the duty of dusting which gave me the chance to stare abymssmally into my Mom’s collection of Asian artifacts-tiny cabinets full of cork-art scenes of musing fisherman and ornate, crooked trees.   Artist Emma van Leest creates the same tiny worlds of incredible intricacy with her paper sculptures.

Submersible of Sugary Cuteness: The Octonauts

If Jacque Cousteau saw the world through blinking pupils of adorable optimism and tottered around in a rolly-polly plush toy scuba suit, he might be a possible recruit for the Octonauts. The Octonauts are an underwater team of animal explorers (crew members include Captain Barnacles and Professor Inkling) created by the dollhouse architects of delight, Meomi. From their octopod, the Octonauts encounter a lonely monster, a shadow stealer, a frown fish and in their most recent adventure, a ghost reef.  The aquatic adventures continue in CG splendor as a recently announced TV animated series.

The Octonauts and the Great Ghost Reef
$15.95 US, Hardcover
11 X 8 inches, 36 Pages

Robot Dreams and Machines: The Art of Mark Rogalski

Robox is more than meets the eye; a cardboard box contortionist that transforms into a four-limbed automaton with a window view of his bottomless tummy (which doubles as a convenient book package display). Robox emerges as the gastro-con solution to Renny’s slew of problems; a stalking feline, lugheaded bullies, tentacle veggies and of course, the perpetual plague of homework. Robox gobbles up all of Renny’s troubles in one metallic chomp until his hunger starts to consume the good along with the bad. Author and artist, Mark Rogalski, details Renny’s odyssey and Robox’s dietary oddities in fantastic 3-D detail inviting “I-spy” study of each graphic page. Multimedia touches such as vintage baseball cards, hand-drawn sketches and charts contribute to the hyperrealism of Renny’s world and this tale of “action, adventure and appetite”.

By far, Robox, is one of the most inventive and innovative children’s books that makes reading fun and functional. I immediately made my free-standing Robox which now stands on my shelf, displaying his impish Short Circuit cyborg cuteness. I’m convinced that when he isn’t digesting the worries of the universe, he is dreaming of Martian landscapes and rocketing across blue skies (photo: Optivion; Design: Corvus Blue Studio).

Rogalski’s custom signature of lush landscapes and interactive imagination also unfolds in Dream Machines; a World’s Fair wonder of fantastic vehicles from the Bubble Sub to the Steam Train Aeroplane. True to his packaging prowess, Rogalski also includes a dust jacket cover that doubles as a fold-out board game. Singsong clues ring throughout the book (“the star you seek is in the sky, get back on track and roll the die”) that advance both the dazzling story and spellbound player across a boardgame of contraptions and creatures.

Robox and Dream Machines are both published by Running Press.

Chicken Dance by Tammi Sauer, Illustrated by Dan Santat

There’s a whole lot of hoopla when hens Marge and Lola find a poster announcing The Final Doodle Doo and its grand prize to see none other than the cuck-a-doodle dooing crooner, Elvis Poultry, in Chicken Dance. Eager to win, the ladies search for a sure-fire talent that they can perform in spite of the boastful crowing from their barnyard rivals, the ducks. Marge and Lola finally take to the stage and strut their stuff striking iconic dance moves; winged interpretations of Madonna’s “Vogue”, “Walk Like an Egyptian” and “Staying Alive” stun the crowd but ultimately catch the King of “Bawk and Roll’s” coveted attention. Author Tammi Sauer humorously captures the fierce competition with fowl-humored jabs (“Get some floaties, chickens”) and throw back references to the DooWop pop phenomenon that ruffled the feathers of the ’60′s. Dan Santat adds to the retro romp with mixed media illustrations framed in nostalgic browns and oranges complete with a star-studded cover that pays homage to the King. Chicken Dance even includes chicken-scratch dance step variations on the inside cover for the footloose and fearless. Forget the embarrassing elbow flap stomp that strikes wedding receptions worldwide-Chicken Dance takes this classic shimmy out of the stuffy dance hall and puts it into the barnyard for an original and inspirationally funny read.
Reading level: Ages 4-8
Hardcover: 36 pages
Publisher: Sterling
ISBN-10: 1402753667