The first Tank and Fizz book has hit the shelves! Its available online and your local book store.
In honor of St. Patrick’s day the folks at Orca Books Publishers made their own slime. Check out this link to see photos of slime taking over the lunchroom! Want to make your own? Here’s the recipe!
Check out some of the Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews – December 15, 2014
“O’Donnell rolls out a slick subterranean caper flavored with a diverse nonhuman cast, topped off with a suspenseful scramble. It’s all served up with a quivering dollop of complications related to the uneasy local détente between monsters, who are more comfortable with machines, and the dark mages of Slick City’s mysterious Shadow Tower. Deas’ frequent cartoon illustrations add zesty incidents and punch lines to the plot. Young readers will slurp up the gumshoes’ gooey first exploit with relish. And perhaps a few choco-slug cookies.”
School Library Journal – January 1, 2015
“Something slimy is running amuck in Rockfall Mountains and it isn’t the cleaning slimes. This chapter book brims with reader appeal. Fizz’s snappy personality and loyal nature make him a fun protagonist…[Tank’s] love of mechanics and engineering make her a unique and refreshing addition and her excitement jumps off the pages, helped by Deas’s artwork. The world of Rockfall Mountains and its characters (gremlins, goblins, slimes, and monsters) is reminiscent of Pixar’s famous ‘Monsters Inc.’ film series and may hold appeal for children who have grown up with those characters…Plenty of action, adventure and imagination to make it a strong addition to library collections.”
Resource Links – December 1, 2014
“The humorous plot is also full of purple magic dust, slimes, and strange creatures. Readers will be amazed to discover a principal with hundreds of baby spider spies, a dragon selling off his treasures, and a school for wizards. Liam O’Donnell’s action-packed text is complemented by the illustrations created by Mike Deas..This graphic novel is a seamless melding of text and visuals in an entertaining ghoulish storyline populated by trolls, goblins, gremlins, ogres, dragons, kobolds, mages and other fantastic creatures. Readers who like slimy humour and lots of amusing and improbable action will definitely enjoy this book.”
CM Magazine – February 13, 2015
“A magical and suspenseful page turner that young readers will be sure to enjoy…Tank and Fizz is an entertaining mystery narrative full of monsters, detectives, and magic. The story notably includes many incredible comic vignettes illustrated by Mike Deas to provide readers with a visual accompaniment to the events taking place in the text. The comics are woven into the narrative and function as an aesthetic bridge with the written text of the story… An enjoyable read!”
Quill & Quire – March 1, 2015
“O’Donnell…knows how to weave together elements of detective stories, such as multiple plot lines, red herrings, and the usual suspects. With the addition of graphics by illustrator Mike Deas…[the book] is elevated from a simple middle-grade mystery or graphic novel to a clever amalgam. The graphics…complement the uproarious text…[and] the well-crafted story will leave readers anxious to solve the mystery…A monstrously imaginative and funny read, and a great introduction to a new series.”
More info on the book here!
Merry Christmas and a Happy 2015!
Some more cocnept art for Tiny Mob‘s up coming title Tiny Realms, which has now been submitted to been submitted to the App Store Canada!
Tiny Realms gives you the ability to play the game as three balanced, but different factions: Humans, Dwarves and Tegu. The concepts here are all of the Tegu, a Reptilian faction. I have added the faction discription at the bottom of the post.
The top left had character, the Tegu Siegebeast, is an illustration based on Paul Dowd’s original design. Super talented Derek Stenning, has been creating some amazing work for Tiny Realms which you can check some of it out on his blog: http://borninconcrete.blogspot.ca/. It has been a great opportunity working on the same project as him and to study his rendering and drawing styles… which I have definitely used in this image.
The other images are all early concepts. The bottom row of black and white sketches are versions characters that didn’t end up making it though to the game.
Faction: Tegu
Kingdom: Kul’Tar
Backstory: The Tegu are a reptilian faction who live in the swamplands of Mura’Gar, fortified in their Kingdom of Kul’Tar. Fearsome in appearance, but peaceful in nature, the Tegu are lethal hunters and powerful Shaman who wield Fire Magic. Most Tegu desire to be left alone, but when provoked in battle, they exhibit cold-blooded ferocity.
Battle: Tegu have incredible range and speed. They heal quickly but lack conventional armor apart from their scaly hide and bony protrusions.
Realm Building: The Tegu are extremely quick at gathering resources and building their settlements.
Below is some of the rough concept art that I did for the Orcs that appear in Tiny Mob‘s up coming title Tiny Realms.
I have been having some fun creating some art for a local Victoria games developer, Tiny Mob Games for their title Tiny Realms. Tiny Realms is a mobile strategy game set in a fantasy world. The game will be released later in the spring where it will be available on the App Store on iPhone and iPad.
I have mostly worked on concept art but also created some in-game assets. I will be posting some of the work I have created for the game over the next few weeks, starting with the map of the Realm of Light, where the game takes place. Click on the images for a larger view.
Thanks to the Art Director Paul Dowd, the Game Director Jamie Toghill and the rest of the gang at Tiny Mob who have made this such a fun project to work on.
I have the fantastic opportunity of teaming up with Liam O’Donnell again on an exciting new series he’s writing. The great folks at Orca Book Publishers will be publishing the books. A quick description of the series Liam’s words: “Tank and Fizz Mysteries is a monster and magic-filled dieselpunk-fantasy-noir mystery series for young readers gaining confidence with chapter books.” Below is an initial pass of the characters:
Stay tuned and check back here as I plan to keep updates coming of the creation posses as we go!
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