Dan Santat's Blog, page 119

Despite my crazy schedule I’m forcing myself to make time...

Despite my crazy schedule I’m forcing myself to make time to complete my next graphic novel.

The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend

The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend:

A lovely detailed review of my new picture book from the blog Design of the Picture Book 

May 3rd. Buy Independent! #bookstoreday

May 3rd. Buy Independent! #bookstoreday

For the #BEA Art Auction #Beekle

For the #BEA Art Auction #Beekle

Ricky Ricotta’s Mighty Robot with all new full color...

Ricky Ricotta’s Mighty Robot with all new full color comics in stores TODAY. Here’s one sample spread:

Are you a Doctor Who fan?

I’m glad you asked this question and I know why you’re asking. I’ve tried watching Dr. Who on Netflix but I couldn’t get past the eighth episode of the first season. I liked some of the episodes such as the one of the last human in existence but I realize that it’s a show that I have to be in the mood for. There have been recent posts about the main character in my new book, Beekle, resembling that of an Adipose from the show. They are fat cell creatures of some sort (I haven’t revisited the series in a while) and, yes, I clearly see the obvious resemblance, but no, it was not my intention to lift these characters from a well known popular show and put them into my book. All the imaginary friends in my book are supposed to serve a function. The boy who flies a kite has a cloud that blows the wind. The girl who likes to swim has a Koi fish. The boy who likes to play guitar has a drummer monster.

I took a lot of time to think about these characters and how they would address certain interests of the children they served as friends. I didn’t want my book to be filled with hairy monsters with horns because I felt that would have been an easy solution. The real message of the story is finding your other half. In my book, the girl that Beekle meets tells the story of how they met. She is an artist so a piece of paper was the most obvious choice for me to reflect his interests. Beekle was originally supposed to be a white blank piece of paper to symbolize the idea of the possibilities of imagination, creativity, and storytelling, however, I felt a piece of paper was too obvious and would give away his purpose to the reader before they reached the end of the story. Beekle also originally had only one eye, but from a functional point of view, having one eye served absolutely no purpose to his function.

The original concept of the story was that Beekle couldn’t be imagined because he was unique, and because of that he tried to be something he was not, which evolved into a metaphor about making a book.

Beekle was the storyteller, the girl was the artist, and they meet under a tree which represents paper (life) etc. As my editor and I reworked the story it slowly evolved into a story about making your first friend, which was inspired by the birth of my first son, which is why Beekle wears a yellow paper crown.

Conclusively, the design of my character evolved into something more amorphous so as to not look like he had any purpose, or more importantly, to not give away his ending. In the end, however, it appears he looks like a living mass of fat cells from a popular science fiction show, which I find hysterical. I did put quite a bit of thought into his design, but it just turned out that Dr. Who came up with it first without my knowledge, but it was in no way my intention to copy. 

This is probably a longer answer than you were expecting to hear, but it’s a question that has been often asked at book signings and so I thought it would be good to elaborate on the characters design and posted online for all to share.

Thanks for your question 

#RickyRicotta for the BEA Art Auction

#RickyRicotta for the BEA Art Auction

Check it out! Full color comics! #RickyRicotta

Check it out! Full color comics! #RickyRicotta

Surprise package. #RickyRicotta

Surprise package. #RickyRicotta

If you laugh at these you’re going to Hell…....

If you laugh at these you’re going to Hell…. I’ll see you there: 19 GIFs of Animals Knocking Out Kids