Missile Mouse: Facebook

I set up a Facebook page for Missile Mouse. Eventually, I'll set up a fancy MM website with lots of artwork and information, but this will have to do for now. Check it out when you get a minute, and if you feel so inclined, become a fan. Cool!

Missile Mouse Postcards

Wow what a warm response for the Bear and Rabbit image in the last post! Thanks for all the feedback. I'm really digging these two guys so expect to see some ore of them soon.

This is the back cover art I created for The Star Crusher. When Comic-con Came around Scholastic used the image to make some postcards for me to take with me. I made Missile Mouse, the transport ship, the planet and the space BG all on separate levels so we could adjust the composition as needed with the copy that they're throwing on there. You can see MM's ear covers a little more of the spaceship in the bottom one.

Sploosh!

Missile Mouse is caught off guard by a deadly basgus. Though space mice are not a part of the usual diet for a hungry basgus Missile Mouse will do just fine to ease the hunger pains. It's shell is said to be one of the strongest materials in the galaxy. And as such, segments of it's exoskeleton go for the highest dollar on the black market. Consequently, the basgus superior design has caused it be one of the most adaptive species in the galaxy, easily evolving to survive in different extreme environments and climates. There's even word of giant basgus who live in the lava flows of distant planets.



This is a recent commission I did for someone. Since finishing the book it had been a few months since I've drawn MM and I admit I got a little rusty. Below is a video of me drawing this commission. You'll notice I had to erase parts of Missile Mouse a few times before getting it right. If you want one of these original Missile Mouse drawings you can order one here.



Drawing a Missile Mouse Commission from jakeparker on Vimeo.

Star Crusher Cover

Now that Missile Mouse: The Star Crusher is listed on Amazon I thought I'd share the cover process. I had a lot of fun with this cover. Despite the old maxim to never judge a book by it's cover the public at large sets this tidbit of wisdom aside and will usually only pick up what looks cool. With that in mind a lot of folks at my publisher have to approve this cover and make sure it's going to enhance sales instead of hinder them. Despite that there was very little back and forth between us making designing this cover a breeze.

I began with sending them some sketches of possible cover ideas. These were pulled from various scenes in the book.



Scholastic liked the one with the alien bursting through the ground and asked me to develop that further. I drew up three more designs and sent them over.

After seeing those they decided to just stick with the original idea and I went ahead and inked it. I inked the background separate from Missile Mouse so my art director Phil Falco would have more freedom in designing and placing the title.

With inks finished and approved I colored it. Below is the color I sent to them. They liked it but felt it was a little too dark for a kids book. A couple color adjustments were made and if you want to see the final for print click over to the link on amazon here.

RIP Fighter

The Rogue Imperium of Planets (RIP) in partnership with Cephalodian Defense Systems (CDS) developed this space fighter for escort missions. It's light and agile with a respectable armament of two 50mm blaster canons. In the Star Crusher, Missile Mouse faces off against two of these with nothing but a grappling hook, some rope, an interplanetary ballistic missile, and his wits.



Because of the complex shape and my looming deadline I got a friend of mine from Blue Sky to model this craft for me based on my sketch and ortho drawings. He then positioned the model according to my roughs and gave me screen grabs which I in turn drew over. Thanks again for your help Dave!

And here it is in action!

Dagger Bike

One of Missile Mouse's simple pleasures is the Kraxzon DB2. Now considered a classic speeder, it can still stand it's ground against it's modern equivalent: the DB7. This is in part due to MM's obsessive drive to keep in top condition. He's also upgraded a few components to increase performance giving it a top airspeed of 600mph. Which makes it the obvious ride choice when you've overslept your alarm and are late to your mission briefing.



Artist's note: I had an extra long skinny piece of bristol, so I wanted to design something to fit the paper. Fun experiment. Try it some time. Get a odd shaped clipping and design an object that fits that space.

Ideology of Madness Interview

I was recently contacted by Paul from Ideology of Madness, a fine blog about all things cool. Paul had the mad, mad I tell you, idea of "Mice With Weapons Week" and asked if I wouldn't mind doing a little Missile Mouse interview for it. You can read the interview here: Mice With Weapons Week AFTERMATH: Interview with Missle Mouse Creator Jake Parker. Go check it out, and along with the interview is a little sneaky peak of some of the pages from the book.