Deadlines and being overwhelmed!

Dear TCDS folks,

The support for TCDS has been greater than I could have ever dreamed of and the last few months have been amazing. From the Baltimore Comicon last year, then the Cartooning Festival at Ohio State U last fall, to the recent NCS awards in Boston(Congrats again, Richard), then Heroescon this month... I am so lucky to have met many of the artists who have contributed. Thank you all so very much.

The deadline for contributions is this weekend and feel free to mail the art ASAP. Contact Caty Neis or me if you are working on art and haven't mailed it yet. If we don't answer ASAP, it's because we are so lucky enough to have so much to do! I know Caty is still sorting packages and she is still being trapped by checking out all of the great art.

We are planning to have the art auction in the fourth quarter this year and the book will launch May/June next year.

I am working on having a big launch party at Heroescon 2012, June 22-24.

If I haven't posted your art yet, don't worry, I will post a few more, but remember I need to leave some shockers for the book!

I have asked Richard Thompson to create our cover. I cannot wait to see what he does for us!

Rick Detorie is always there.

Rick has been such a supporter of ours from the start. This art shows you just how amazing an artist he is and what a wonderful man. Rick thank you so much for your support to TCDS and the friendship to Richard and myself. Rick ad a few words about Richard:

Richard Thompson draws funny.

By that I mean his drawings, with their loopy lines, scritchy scratchings, and omnifarious orbs, coalesce to form characters whose faces seem to have been channeled from ancient Inuit totems (or the lavatory wall of the Kerrville, Texas, Dairy Queen). They’re stand alone funny. You don’t even have to absorb the gag to be tickled silly.

But when you take these quirky characters, who are as familiar to us as members of our own family, (Come now, who doesn’t know a diffident Peter or an audacious Alice? Can someone hand me a mirror, please?), and place them in a whimsical world that’s really quite mundane, until soggy clumps of it are probed with precision by a masterful cartoonist who transforms them into tiny cluster bombs of insightful hilarity, then you get the magic that is “Cul de Sac.”

And it’s just so damn wonderful.

Rick Detorie is the cartoonist responsible for the comic strip “One Big Happy.” He is also author of the YA novel “The Accidental Genius of Weasel High.”

Hilary Price joins TCDS!

I met Hilary last year at OSU and I think she is so talented . Her strip always makes me laugh and makes me wish I had a tenth of her wit. Rhymes with Orange is it!

Thank you so much Hilary!

Mark Tatulli LIO Teaser!

I met Mark a few weeks ago in Boston and I think he is such an entertaining and smart and and and . It was such a treat to hang out with him. Mark thank you for being such a supporter of TCDS and for now this is a tease of the upcoming Sunday strip of LIO!

Carolyn Belefski says the Otterloops needs a date night!

Ok, I think she is right! Maybe a date month? Is a night really long enough? Here is a little about Carolyn Belefsk, My date hero! Please follow more TCDS news on her blog!

WHY

For my Team Cul de Sac art, I wanted to create a story involving Richard's characters and my Curls character. I felt like the Otterloop parents needed to go on a date because they hardly have any time to themselves, so I wanted them to get-away and introduce Curls to look after Alice and Petey. Richard Thompson is a brilliant cartoonist. I admire his skills very much and I wish Team Cul de Sac the best of luck to raise money for Parkinson's Research.

BIO

Carolyn Belefski was nominated for Friends of Lulu's 2010 Kim Yale Award for Most Talented Newcomer. She displays a new Curls webcomic every Monday and Thursday at www.curls-studio.com/curls and collaborates with writer Joe Carabeo on the comic books Kid Roxy, Black Magic Tales and The Legettes. Carolyn’s illustrations have been published in USA WEEKEND Magazine, The Commonwealth Times, Magic Bullet, The Pulse on Comicon.com and more.

Big Nate + Cul de Sac= Love

Big Nate is one of the biggest names in cartooning right now, thanks to best-selling books and an uncanny ability to delve deep into the psyche of an eleven-year-old. We thank him immensely for his contribution to the Team, and hope this piece goes to a loving home.

Dave McDonald's TCDS contribution

Dave McDonald shared space with us at Heroes Con as a South Carolina member of the National Cartoonist Society chapter, and we twisted his arm into doing a piece for us.  I'll leave his contact information here in case anyone wants to see more of his Hamster Sam.
--

Cartoonist & Teaching Artist
www.davemcdonald.com

Bill Mitchell's contribution

Richard Thompson says "this is from my old friend Bill Mitchell, former DC resident and one of the first online editorial cartoonists. It's cool!"

From: Bill Mitchell

I've attached some snap shots of my contribution to the Team Cul De Sac auction. On Friday I received a very nice note from Caty Neis informing me that she'd gotten my package and that I would be published in your book! I'm very pleased to know I'll be included. I had thought that I might not make the cut - mainly because the thing is a paper sculpture and not as easily scanned (photographed) and a flat illustration.

Mike here - I think this is very cool too, and I'll be bidding on it (which shouldn't dissuade anyone because I have honestly liked EVERYTHING sent in so far, and can't afford it all).

B.C. art for Team Cul De Sac

by Mason Mastroianni, B.C. head-writer and cartoonist.

 

Bio :

 

Mason Mastroianni has always been passionate about art. Born with one of those rare artistic gifts, Mason was seldom seen without pen and paper as a child. Growing up, Mason worked to hone and test his talent by entering and winning many local and state art competitions.

 

Mason attended illustration courses at the Rhode Island School of Design and then enrolled in The DAVE School (Digital Animation and Visual Effects) in Orlando. Upon graduation, he took a position as a CG animator in Minneapolis. Mason's work at Wet Cement Productions earned the company an Emmy award for computer graphic animation.

 

Mason's combination of raw talent and early exposure to the cartooning world through his grandfather, Johnny Hart, made him by far the best candidate to carry on the comic strip, B.C.

Jamie King's Alice and her awesomeness

Jamie is one of the most amazing artist/designers I have met. She is also one of the best business partners and friends I could ever ask for. This was a nice surprise for me. She has been wonderful during all of the TCDS madness. Thank you Jamie for always being there for me and all of the madness.

Jamie was thrilled to meet Richard a couple of weeks ago and was very inspired by him. In her words:

"I went through a lot of ideas, but finally settled on oil pastel. They tend to take on a childish quality which I thought could be appropriate. I chose to depict alice, because I like her attitude she gets sometimes. And I put crayons on the table to suggest my own artistic frustration.:-)"