"Tales From the Tacklebox: The Hydrilla Clump and the Bigmouth Popper" Now Available

 

Hi Everyone. I'm here to announce that my latest illustration project, "The Hydrilla Clump and the Bigmouth Popper" is now complete and available for purchase. This is the second installment in the "Tales From the Tackbox" series by author Jason Whiteley. You can see my post on the first book here: http://sleepingtroll.blogspot.com/2012/04/escape-from-crooked-tree.html

Please check out the books Facebook page for more about the author, book and series: 

https://www.facebook.com/tackleboxtales

The book is available here online: 

www.amazon.com 

www.barnesandnoble.com

As always, Enjoy and Thanks for Looking!

The Adventures of the Last Jelly Bean Dragon

"The Adventures of the Last Jelly Bean Dragon", is an interactive iBook project I've been collaborating on, written for the iPad. The story itself will be fully interactive with many additional games & activities. It's a fun story with really great characters. Here is an official description:

THE ADVENTURES OF THE LAST JELLYBEAN DRAGON IS MORE THAN A SIMPLE iBOOK... It's a hybrid.  An interactive, illustrated chapter book with multiple game components that take readers on (educational & developmental) adventures, in and out, of the main story... High quality interactive art that's entertaining & educational !!

We are mounting a KICKSTARTER campaign to help fund the project, to cover the considerable added expense involved in an interactive iBook verses a traditional children's book. Here is a link to our Kickstarter page (going live September 1, 2012):

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2059302411/1946378799?token=57152e14

The Kickstarter campaign is going live September 1st. Please also check these other important "Jelly Bean Dragon" links, including our website, detailed press release, and Facebook pages to see more of my artwork, video samples of the interactivity, info about the talent, detailed information about the book and the story, etc.

http://www.jbdragon.com
https://www.facebook.com/JellybeanDragon
https://www.facebook.com/events/248654251904126
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/7/prweb9719727.htm

"Like" us on Facebook if you get a chance. Thanks always for reading!

"Escape From the Crooked Tree" Available Now!

"Tales From  the Tacklebox: Escape From the Crooked Tree", is my recently completed children's book project and is now available in hard and soft cover: http://www.amazon.com/Tales-Tacklebox-Escape-Crooked-Tree/dp/1457511525/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1337869329&sr=1-1

Again, the book is written by author Jason Whiteley and illustrated by myself. Here is a link to Jason's and the book's official websites, where aside from learning more about Jason, You can buy the book as well as some fun merch:

http://www.tackleboxtales.com
http://www.jasonwhiteley.com

You can also read more about Jason and the story and see more of my illustrations in my previous blog entry: http://sleepingtroll.blogspot.com/2012/04/escape-from-crooked-tree.html

The next installment of "Tales From the Tacklebox", The Hydrilla Clump and the Bigmouth Popper is already in the works. We are always looking for new and interesting ways to market the book, so if anyone has an idea, let us know. As always, Thanks for reading -Michael Koch

Escape From the Crooked Tree!

I'm here to announce that my latest book project, "Tales From the Tacklebox: Escape From the Crooked Tree", will be available very soon on iTunes and Amazon as an audiobook, with a hard and soft cover book to follow. It is fully illustrated by myself and written by author Jason Whiteley. The book is about 7 fishing lures and their adventures on a fishing trip, and is first in a planned series. Here is the official description:

Deep in the murky water near the crooked tree, MT is hooked on an underwater log next to a giant catfish. If he ever wants to make it back to the boat, MT will need help from his friends from the tacklebox. Will they pull together a plan in time to save him? Or will MT be stuck under the crooked tree forever?

Jason has had great success with his non-fiction book, "Father of Money: Buying Peace in Baghdad", entailing his experiences as a captain in the Iraq war.Working with Jason was great and we plan to continue collaborating on future installments.

Right now the book is available for pre-order at  the following:
http://www.jasonwhiteley.com/Tacklebox_Store.html
 I will provide more details about the eBook and where to buy, links, etc. as they become available.

As always, thanks for reading. Here are some more illustrations from the book. Enjoy!

The Grinch

I just had to pay homage to what I consider to be the best Christmas cartoon of all time, and definitely one of the greatest works of animation ever, period--You guessed it, "The Grinch That Stole Christmas", directed by Chuck Jones and based of course on the book by Dr. Suess. I also have to list some of the other important players, because without their contributions, the masterpiece would just not be complete:

Phil Roman - Lead animator
Philip DeGuard - Lead background artist
Maurice Noble - Production Design
Albert Hague - Music
Boris Karloff - Narrator/Grinch
Thurl Ravenscroft (best name ever) - Vocalist

 I can't think of two people that have inspired my art more than Chuck Jones and Dr. Suess. Every year I watch and dissect The Grinch, trying to glean whatever techniques and ideas I can, trying to determine what exactly about it makes it so magical. The answer is--EVERYTHING. I've included some sketch/storyboard/ watercolor art from around the web-amazing stuff. Enjoy!

Willie Wigglesby

Here are a cover and 2 interior illustrations for "Willie Wigglesby" a book I recently completed work on. The story was written many years ago by Paul J. Gustat, a man in  his 90s, who recently decided to have it illustrated and produced.

Mistress Sea

Here's something different. This is a comp I submitted to accompany a book of poetry, a project that is currently on hold. I really like the image though, and the opportunity to work on something not necessarily children's oriented, not literal, and maybe a little bit out of my comfort zone.