Monday, January 23, 2006

Andi's J. Development



This is some older stuff, but not seen very much. Above is the character lineup of some of the characters from our "Andi's Journal" girls chapter book series that is being published by Tommy Nelson. This lineup and the model sheet of Andi that is with it were designs I produced during my time at Big Idea productions in Chicago. I had developed this after hours (actually it was pretty different back then, it was called "Queen Andi" and had a different story) as a new girls property for Big Idea to consider. They liked it and it went into "development", which at the time meant that I was going to "work on it when I had free time". You know how that goes, so there it sat. A couple months later I (along with many other folks) got layed off. I was upset and surprised that day, but had the wits to ask that "Andi" (and another property I had pitched) go with me. Big Idea was in financial straights and knew they weren't going to do anything with it at the time, so they let me have it. I have no idea how I even thought of it since I was so upset and worried about moving, etc. I move back to Florida to work at Disney again. I leave after Bro. Bear and start what is now Funnypages Prodcutions. A year or so goes by and Rob, my wife, and I have developed "Andi" into what it is now and we pitch it to Tommy Nelson as a DVD series. They skip it for animation but like it enough to recommend it to their publishing department. Publishing is looking for a girls property and this fits what they are looking for. Good timing? Nope, God was there the whole time we just didn't see Him at work.

Andi book one and book two, written by my wife Jen and illustrated by Rob and me have been out for about 4 or 5 months. They seem to be doing well, but it's hard to tell when you don't have the stats. We are waiting for the word from TN to see if we will do two more and go from there. Check Amazon.com if you want to see them.

9 comments:

  1. Hey Tom! I just read the description on the nelsonministry website. Sounds like a interesting story! Nice designs on the characters too. I hope to see more Andi in the future!

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  2. Keep 'em comin'! My daughter loves 'em!

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  3. very nice stuff. the shapes you picked are great.

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  4. Neat story, isn't it funny how things work out sometimes? By the way, these are terrific character designs! I love the variety and simplicity.

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  5. Great stuff Tom! I hope my model sheets look as good as this some day. I'm definitely going to pick these up for my kids. Keep that great work comin'!

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  6. very coool character designs!! THese are soo much fun!! Love them all!! Sound like a great project!

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  7. hey tom-
    good to 'speak' to you-
    i had a pumba model sheet pinned above my desk for a few months when we were animating on the imax 'lion king' film for the epcot centre-back in "95
    when i was at uli's studio
    it had your name on it!-
    great blog-looks like you're busy!

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  8. These look great! I had no idea that these were out. I'll have to order both books.

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