Red Moon

     Hey everyone, Steve here with some announcements concerning the release of Red Moon. If you absolutely want to get the book the first day it’s available, you’re gonna have to head on over to Heroescon in Charlotte, NC June 4-6 because that’s where we’ll be debuting the book! Online sales of Red Moon will start after the convention on June 9th.

     Can’t make it out to Charlotte? Not to worry, we’ll be on the road this year hitting 5 conventions. Here’s our 2010 tour schedule. We hope to see some of you at the shows!

     And if we’re not coming to a city near you this year, keep your eye out for our 2011 tour. We’ll be hitting many more conventions that year.

     And as a final bonus, here’s the back of our newest flyer. There’s a couple of new pics from the book as well as some new quotes.

Steve

     Can you feel it? Dave here and it’s getting crazy close to the release of Red Moon so today I’m going to tell you a bit about the development of the cover design.

     Now, it goes without saying that the story, page design and art is all very important to any graphic novel but the story won’t be read and those pages won’t be seen at all if the cover doesn’t catch the eye and make the potential customer want to read it. So it could be argued that the cover is almost more important than the book itself.

     Throughout the development of Red Moon I would sketch cover ideas whenever I thought of them so some of these that I’ll be showing you are years old.

     One of the earlier designs I sketched specifically for the cover was this one:

     It’s majestic and I would’ve made the moon in full but I ultimately didn’t like that Daeden was covered up so much.

     Another sketch I did but much later in the process was this one:

     I thought maybe an action shot and massive herd of animals behind them, but I didn’t like that you couldn’t see Mox or Daeden’s bodies.

     Those were two of the earlier ones that I never finalized. And many of the following were actually sketched long before the pages were finished but I had a little bit of time before Red Moon was actually printed so I used it to finalize some of the better ideas so Steve and I could make a better decision on which one was best.

     My thoughts for the cover was “less is more”, meaning a simpler image is often more powerful. I thought the cover was going to be the easy part.

     Here’s the first stab at the cover:

     Nice, simple silhouette’s with a big red moon. Or how about:

     Wow. Even simpler. This is easy. What about some color?

     Not bad. But Steve says “People were interested in the prequel because they loved the detail of the cover.”

     Ooh. There goes my “less is more” theory. But ultimately he’s right. “Less is more” really only applies if the artist, title or, to a lesser extent, the writer, is well known. If you’re unknown you better impress the hell out people with the art.

     Steve suggested a few ideas:

     This is really based on a movie poster idea that I had for Red Moon before I made it a graphic novel and I was going to animate it as a feature length film. I like it but it doesn’t grab you.

     This was a cool idea Steve had since I did a couple variations of it in several panels in the book. Pretty cool but I didn’t really think the title name and characters should be so distorted on the cover.

     Steve had a pretty specific idea for this one and it did come out pretty cool but I think it’s just too red and full color would lessen the effect.

     So finally what ended up happening, as it so often does, is that we went back to the beginning.

     The final cover design is literally one of, if not THE first sketch I did for the cover. I drew it at the same time I drew the first sketch at the top of the blog. It was actually used as the first flyer we put out, although I redrew it and changed it ever so slightly.

     Here’s the final cover of RED MOON. Hope you dig it.

     Red Moon will be out soon and will be available at redmoongraphicnovel.com

Dave

     Hi everyone. Steve here with our Long Beach Comic-Con Report!

     Last weekend Dave and I attended the first ever Long Beach Comic Con! It was a really great show. Check out the convention floor…

And here’s our set up at the show!

Plenty of interesting characters stopped by our table. Like this guy…

And these two guys…

     We also met Nathan who was attending his first ever comic convention. The Red Moon Prequel Comic was his first ever comic convenion purchase! Thanks Nathan! Hope you enjoyed the show!

     We sold tons of prequel books at the convention. Dave also did plenty of commission pieces as well. Here’s some of them. Dave has started doing white on black pieces at the show now and they’re turning out really great.

     Thanks again to the Long Beach Comic-Con and to everyone who stopped by our table. We will be back next year!

     And don’t forget…if you want to pick up a copy of our Prequel Comic, you can do so at our Online store on Etsy

Steve

Hello. Dave here. I recieved some fan art at the conventions I went to this Summer and wanted to share them with everyone.

Thank you very much to Jackie and Grace for making these! They’re great!

From Jackie:

From Grace:

Dave

     Dave here with a final human character blog. Although it’s short, this one should open up the story even wider.

 It’s the General.

     Yes, the military is involved at some point in the story of Red Moon! But don’t worry, they arent the bad guys like in so many animal related stories. They might be a little slow and a bit rough around the edges, but their hearts are in the right place.

     The General is in charge of the military operation that intercepts Mox’s Mission and is the keystone in the relationship between the animals and the humans.

     The General is pretty typical military fare: tough and no nonsense, almost to the point of stubborn, but he’s got a level head that isn’t easily clouded by his emotions, be it anger or joy. He’s quick on his toes, physically and mentally. His judgement is, more often than not, the right thing or, at the least, the best thing to be done.

     And given the judgements he must make in Red Moon, that’s good for all of Mankind.

Dave

     Dave here with another character blog. The last one introduced Mox’s family, the Taylors. Well I’m continuing the human character blogs (since that’s really almost all that’s left with any major parts), but these humans are a bit different.

They’re SCIENTISTS!

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL SIZE VERSION

     Hopefully this will begin to show you the scope of the story I’m trying to tell. Unfortunately I can’t tell you a whole lot more except that they make a major discovery for the humans in the story.

     The main character for the scientists is Bailey Parrell. She makes the initial discovery that leads to interraction with Mox and his visions. She is quiet for the most part but knows when to speak her mind. Being a scientist she’s naturally inquisitive and subsequently very deep emotionally.

     Her co-worker and co-discoverer is Addisen Gregg. He has worked closely with Bailey for the previous 6 months before the discovery and has gotten a good feel for when Bailey is serious and when she’s not. Although intensely smart and serious about his work, Addisen is BIG nerd. He spent most of his high school and college weekends playing D&D with his other nerd friends.

     Bailey and Addisen are workers in the system. Gordon Peterson heads the facility they work in and it’s him they ultimately turn to with their discovery. Gordon is the fatherly figure at work, stern but fun to be around, with a good sense of humor. Until it gets serious and then it’s nose to the grindstone.

     The scientist don’t hold a huge chunk as far as number of pages in the book but what’s held within those pages is pretty devastating.

For Mox and the rest of the world.

Dave

     Steve here again. Welcome back to PART 2 of our HeroesCon 09 Report. This blog is going to feature some of the awesome people who stopped by our table over the weekend. Make sure you read all the way to the end. There’s a contest where we’re giving away free artwork!

     Thanks again to EVERYONE who came by! We had people stopping at the table that said things like “I picked up your flyer at Mid-Ohio-Con back in October” or “A friend gave me your flyer in Tampa”. WOW! And we had all new fans who had never heard of us before stop by as well. Plus, we got to meet people we’ve only talked to online. Sam has been following us pretty much since we launched all the websites. She always has positive comments to post on our blogs too. She rules! This was her first ever comic book convention. We hope she had a good time and thank her for swinging by our table! Here’s Sam holding our prequel comic…

     Then there was our first convention sale…ever. When the doors opened to the convention on the first day (Friday). It took all of about 2 minutes before Jackie came up to the table saying she saw our banner from across the room and had to come over. For being our first convention sale, Jackie recieved one of our Red Moon sodas! Only 12 in existence! btw-First sale at Comic-Con in San Diego gets a soda too. Here’s Jackie with the bottle…

     And it just so happens that Jackie was a part of a comic book website called Comic Related. Jackie hooked us up with an interview! You can listen to the Comic Related podcast interview with Dave HERE.

     To get more people to stop by the table, we had to get creative. So we made up a dog collar and tag that said “SCRUFFY…IF FOUND…RETURN TO RED MOON.

     And throughout the weekend we set it out on the convention floor. Sometimes we hid it next to a garbage can, other times we set it out in the isle. But everytime, we set it far away on the other side of the convention.

     We didn’t know if people would figure it out or if we’d even get the dog collar back. But it worked! Whenever someone brought back the collar to our table, we thanked them for helping us find Scruffy and hooked em’ up with a free signed prequel comic! Thanks to Bon, Gracie and Aisling for helping us out!

     We also blanketed the outside area with our “lost dog” posters. People came up to the table saying they saw the poster and recognized Scruffy. If you haven’t seen the website the poster sends you to, check out ScruffyIsLost.com.

     In PART 1 we showed you some of Dave’s Red Moon related commissions. But there were people that stopped by that asked Dave for drawings that weren’t Red Moon themed…which was great! Thanks to Brad and Anthony for letting us share their commissions with everyone. First up is a character Brad created. Dave did his version of that character…

     And next up is a Cat-Woman piece that Dave did for Anthony. SAUCY!

     In the down time when Dave wasn’t doing a commission, he doodled, did drawings for fun, and sketched to pass the time. And we’re going to give one of those drawings away for free! Would you lke to have this Star Wars themed Red Moon sketch Dave did at the show? It’s a fairly big piece too (8.5 x 11)

     All you have to do is send us an email saying you want the Star Wars piece and…that’s it! You can message us on our myspace, send us a message on our twitter account, comment on our official site or email us at redmoon.novel@yahoo.com. Contact us SOMEHOW and you’re in the running!

     Thanks again to everyone who stopped by our table. It was great to meet everyone! We will be back in Charlotte next year for HeroesCon 2010!

steve

     Hello everyone! Steve here with PART 1 of our Heroescon 09 report.

     We had an AMAZING time at Heroescon! First off, thank you to everyone who stopped by our table! In PART 2 tomorrow, we’re going to post a bunch of pics of the people who visited.

     Here’s the layout of most of the convention floor…

     And here’s us! (Steve on left, Dave on right)

     Dave and I didn’t know what to expect since this WAS our first show. But things seemed to go really, really well. Our basic plan was I was going to be the pitchman (trying to sell the prequel comic) and the money handler.

     And Dave was the talent, signing books and doing commissions.

     We had a “goal” of how many prequel books we wanted to sell and we made that goal! Plus Dave sold plenty of commissions too. Here’s just a taste of some of them…

     Whenever Dave signed a book, he also drew a little pic in there as well. Like this…

     Dave also created a piece for the art auction. Congratulations to Heather for having the winning bid at the show! Here’s the piece. Look for Mox at the bottom!

     If you visited our table at the show, make sure to check out our blog tomorrow in our Heroescon 09 report, PART 2. We might post a pic of you!

steve

     Hello again everyone. Steve here this time with some BIG news and our next contest details as well. Let’s get right to the announcemnet…

     Red Moon will be on tour this Summer! To get people interested in Red Moon (and to reach a wider audience) artist/author of Red Moon, David McAdoo, and myself will be going to 2 comic book conventions this Summer. We’ll have a table at the shows where you’ll be able to purchase something (more on that in a second). You’ll also be able to see David working on actual pages from the graphic novel right at the table! So if you’re going to one of the shows, please stop by and say hello. We’d love to meet all the great people that we’ve gotten to know online this past year.

So, what shows will we be at?

     First up, we’ll be at HeroesCon in Charlotte, NC on June, 19-22. Click the link to learn all about the show. They have an AMAZING guest list.

And next up…

     We’ll be at Comic Con in San Diego, CA! The biggest comic convention…anywhere! The show runs July 22nd-26th. We’ll be there everyday with a table in the Small Press area.

     And don’t worry, we’ll remind everyone again as to where EXACTLY our table will be located for each show when the dates near.

     The full blown, 200 page graphic novel won’t be ready for the shows, so what are we selling?

     Red Moon: The Rising is a collection of the three stories that lead up the the begining of the graphic novel, Red Moon. Each story focuses on one of the main characters of the graphic novel and the part they play in the bigger picture. Some of you may have read the first 2 prequel stories online. This 28 page comic completes the entire prequel. We’ll be selling the comic EXCLUSIVELY at the 2 shows first but don’t worry, if you can’t make it out to one of the shows, we’ll be making the comic available for purchase online right after Comic Con.

     But you know what? We’re giving away the very first copy for free! Dave will sign and draw on it. You’ll get the VERY FIRST prequel comic that Dave will sign. Here’s how you can win…

     First of all, check out the trailer for the prequel, Red Moon: The Rising.

     All you have to do is tell people about the trailer by linking to it somehow. Bulletin about it. Post the trailer in a blog. Post a link to it on twitter. Get creative! Just let us know that you got the message out on the prequel comic and that’s it! You’re in the running for the first signed copy! You can email us at redmoon.novel@yahoo.com to let us know where your link is or if you’re a friend of ours on twitter.com/redmoongn we’ll see the tweet.

You can find the trailer on Animoto HERE

And you can find the trailer on Youtube HERE

Good luck!

steve

Dave here with another character blog and it’s another human.

     At one point in their journey to find answers to Mox’s visions, Mox, Daeden and Kitch must stow away on a fishing boat. Well that fishing boat is captained by a lovable old seagoat by the name of Captain Sammy!

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL SIZE VERSION

     Captain Sammy charters a boat for landlubbers wanting to taste the thrill of night fishing. Sometimes the best catches can only be caught at night.

     Captain Sammy has been on the sea for 40 some odd years and can’t see doing anything else. His only wish is for his “bones to be found at the wheel of his ship a thousand leagues down!”

     He’s worn and weathered, his skin like a well oiled boot. His fingers are gnarled and knotted and his teeth are mostly gone, but he’s got a bounce in his step and not an ugly word one for the worst of folk.

     He started with his uncle when he was 19, working a tuna boat in the North Atlantic. Twelve boats and 20 years later he found himself penniless at the bottom of a bottle of Black Bottle. He slept on docks, fought with anyone and everyone and nearly ended it all before a chance encounter with an old matey gave him a second chance. He picked himself up, threw his whiskey bottle into the ocean along with his ornery attitude and never looked back.

     Captain Sammy’s owned his own vessel for nearly 13 years now and loves her dearly. He knows every nook and cranny of the woman of the sea he lovingly calls… “Blue Moon”.

Dave