Pineapple Press Updates!

Friends, Fans and Family,

As you may know by now, earlier this year Pineapple Press picked up the publishing rights to my first graphic novel (and personal passion project) Flagler's Few and the Reaper of St. George Street. This will be Pineapple's first graphic novel published under their name.

After months of discussions, edits and revisions, Pineapple Press will be debuting my graphic novel, now retitled simply: The Reaper of St. George Street, in March 2011. It will be available through Barnes and Noble, Books-a-Million, Amazon and a number of Florida retailers including museums and gift shops. You can also find it at pineapplepress.com.

Even more exciting news, is that I am currently in discussions with Pineapple about producing the sequel/spin-off graphic novel, Destination: Unknown (tentaviely titled). If everything goes according to plan, it should also be due out later in 2012.

Stay tuned!

ARFstudios introduces "Son of a Gator"

As The Independent Florida Alligator's latest comic contributor, I'd like to introduce "Son of a Gator", a series I've developed exclusively for the local newspaper.

The story revolves around Allie, the son of the famed U.F. Mascot, Albert the Alligator. Allie is trying to enroll at U.F., but due to late admission, he has to seek out another way to get himself some edu-macation! Along with his trusted best friend, Heronson the Heron, antics ensue that take Allie on a crazy coed campus adventure!

I've been very proud of the work I've been doing on this strip. At first it was something I didn't think I had in me, but in the past two months I've received a lot of positive feedback from a variety of readers and I'm looking forward to continuing the series into the next semester and hopefully for a few years to come.

You can check out "Son of a Gator" in print or online through The Independent Florida Alligator, but be sure to "like" it on Facebook at "Son of a Gator".

CRYPTO CREATURES!

So I'm taking a Book Design course at UF's Fine Art College. Our latest project is called an "Exquisite Corpse" which is in essence, a mix-n-match flip book where you can swap faces with different characters.

With my love of the paranormal, I did one which focused on Cryptozoology (study of paranormal and supernatural creatures). Below are the images I used. You'll see six crypto creatures in total: The Krakin, Bigfoot, Loch Ness, The Jersey Devil, Chupacabra and the Mothman.

Enjoy!

Updates!

Just finished work on my latest children's book, Mudge and Bear do Harrod's by Robyn Karp. This was a fun project and I enjoyed working on it a lot! Robyn was a fantastic client, and I hope this wonderfully whimsical story is as fun to look at as it is to read!

Above is the cover illustration. Not sure what Robyn has planned for this book yet, but I'm sure it's big!

Next up, I will be dabbling into the fascinating world of Taekwondo in the upcoming book Foot Fist Chronicles, which is about a group of kids learning teamwork and perseverance and a little martial arts to boot....err...foot?

Talk soon!

The Rail Pub

My tribute poster to the Rail Pub in Savannah, Georgia. This is a depiction of the good times I had during karaoke night. Everyone shown in the illustration (minus Brian, Roger and Spiderman) is someone I've hung out with at one time or another in the 5 years I lived in Savannah.

If you ever get a chance to visit Savannah, stop by this great hole in the wall bar. Everyone might not know your name, but I'm sure they'll be glad you came!

Cheers!

Latest News!

Hey everyone! Back from Florida Supercon in Miami. Awesome trip and made some great friends while I was there. However, it's back to the drawing board and unfinished projects getting finished. First up, the latest from Robyn Karp's upcoming children's book Mudge and Bear Do Harrod's. Can't tell you much yet, but it's an exciting little story of a girl and her best friend getting into mischief in London.

Next up, is the latest from Wild Onion Press. I just finished work on the next installment of 101 Dogstreet, Tessee Teaches Gravity. Again, I can't say much, but I can say that Shelley Mickles and her team at Wild Onion have some super secret promotional stuff in the works!

As always! More to come!

Character Designs

It's a bit early to be planning this out, but I was bored yesterday and decided to do some character designs for Flagler's Few and the Pirate's Skull of Fury (coming 2012 after the release of Destination Unknown later this year). This is just some initial concept work, the character may change in design...but I'm pretty happy with it so far.

Big things coming!

101 Dogstreet: Tessee Teaches Gravity!

A sneak peak at one of the spot illustrations for Wild Onion Press's upcoming book, 101 Dogstreet: Tessee Teaches Gravity. Tessee is a studious little girl who despite being wheel chair bound manages to get herself into quite a few adventures with her new friend Fred and her dog Amos. Should be coming out soon, I'll keep you informed!

Winni Children's Museum

Here are the three conceptual illustrations I did for Winni Children's Museum, up in Laconia, New Hampshire.

Promo Poster Design

Check out the finished promo poster for the upcoming graphic novel, Destination Unknown, set in 1930's Savannah, Georgia. It's a spin-off of my previous two novels in the Flagler's Few series. Written and illustrated by myself, and inks by Ryan English.

I think it turned out well, and I hope you'll all stick around to see what it looks like after I'm done digitally adding color into it. The book is at 30% completion, and we're still aiming for a winter release.

Mudge & Bear

Character designs for Robyn Karp's Mudge and Bear series. All rights reserved to Robyn Karp.

The Lonely Shell

I'm pleased to announce the publication of "The Lonely Shell", a children's book by Malia Domingo and illustrated by myself. You can purchase it off Lulu.com, and hopefully with success, it will be available nationwide!

Check it out, it's a beautifully written book, and the illustrations ain't bad either. ;-)

Poster Ad Design and Wedding Invite

This is a poster I did for Greg Proffit's Creepy Crawl Pub Tours in Savannah, Georgia. It's a great ghost tour and I'm happy to be a part of it. If you're ever in Savannah (at least for the next four months) call this number and ask for me. I'll be sure to scare you and get you buzzed all at once.

The second illustration is a wedding invite for my sister's wedding. I haven't heard her thoughts on it yet...so this might not be the final artwork.

"Flagler's Few" wrap cover designs

These are wrap cover illustrations for my second-run print of Flagler's Few and the Reaper of Saint George Street Volume 1 and Volume 2. Originally designed as two separate books, I reworked the first cover and combined the two books together as a compendium. However, I've met with some unhappy feedback of the book being combined by my sellers in St. Augustine who prefer to sell the books separate.

If I can't find a traditional publisher (and I'm really hoping I do find one!) I may have to resort to selling the books as two instead of one. It's more cost effective and it seems to keep the sellers and buyers happy too! :-P

Welcome to the NEW ARFstudios website!

Hello friends, fans and visitors! Welcome to the re-designed ARFstudios web-blog. From now on, the site formerly dedicated to all things Flagler's Few, will now incorporate all of my projects including book illustrations, graphic designs, ad designs, upcoming graphic novels and other side projects.

I will also be using the website as a sort of online portfolio for prospective clients, interested in hiring me as an illustrator. Below are some samples from the first few children book projects I was so fortunate to be a part of. (Authors of the books hold all rights to the illustrations, ARFstudios reserves the rights to use them in a portfolio setting).

Enjoy!

Yours Truly,
Andre



Jesse Breslerman's PJ's First Day.




Jennifer Salberg's Jambo's Journey.




Brad Blumenthal's Harley goes to Hollywood.

Artist Ryan English in talks to ink "Destination: Unknown"

So today was an interesting day. I met with fellow Gainesville native, and former SCADSequential Art alum, Ryan English. We had a friend in common who put us in touch with each other. We decided to get together for a chat about comics and upcoming projects.

Well, I ran an idea by Ryan on our first meeting, which might have been a bit premature having just met him and all, but I asked if he'd be up for working with me as an inker for Destination: Unknown, the Victor Origin project. He sounded interested and actually a little excited about the collaboration.

My hopes, that by partnering up for this book, I can get the finished product out sooner. Not only that, but Ryan is a talented artist in his own right, and I think his inking will make my pencils 10x cooler!

Here's to collaboration!!!

New News!

New news everyone! Flagler's Few and the Reaper of Saint George Street is now collected into a 333 page compendium. This new book combines the stories from the original two digest size editions of the series and will now act as the first volume of the series. It will be available for purchase in mid-February. The two digest editions will be discontinued and considered "collector's items".

Also in today's news, I just finished the script for Destination: Unknown, the spin-off novel featuring a certain ghost from the Flagler's Few series. It will be set in Savannah, Georgia in the 1930's and will involve the Freemasons, Root Doctors, local legends, and murderous monsters! As well as a few ghost duels. I'm really excited to start working on the book and hope to have it finished by October 2011! I've planned a trip to Sapelo Island, a historic Georgia location which will be featured in the book.

I'm also in talks to work on Red Stylo Media's next book, a Edgar Alan Poe/Steam punk story. I'll be penciling the 24 page comic and it's expected release date is also in October 2011. Look here for more details in the future! I'm planning a trip to Baltimore to do some research and reference photography.