Happy Halloween from the Candy Witch!

You may have met the Candy Witch before. She’s one of Daryl’s creations, and she pops up in stores across the country, thanks to our licensee Raz Imports. Raz fell in love with Daryl’s Halloween characters back in 2012 when we showed at the National Stationary Show in New York. Their Candy Witch Collection comes with two funky figures to grace your front porch or for retail display. We are proud to say that they continue to sell each year having become staples in some stores. 

Greetings from the Candy Witches on our front porch

We generally put a big bowl of candy in our Candy Witch’s lap so that kids can pick their favorite when they visit our house. Daryl and our dog, Sheba, dress in costume for the occasion to welcome families into our neighborhood. And this year, our three year old grandson Leo will trick or treat with us as a fireman! 

As you may have guessed, Halloween is Daryl’s favorite holiday!

For more of Daryl's imaginative Halloween characters like Franken-Ape, Trick ‘r Tree, and Dracula, go to:

http://www.tailsofwhimsy.com/illustration/painted

Summer in the Studio with Daryl Slaton

Licensing is a long, slow process, but when it gains speed, it’s like a tornado. Or, in the case of The Wundernauts, Daryl’s new graphic novel begun in July, it has meant a whirlwind summer full of work in his studio. 

Daryl at work in his studio, creating The Wundernauts

From research to concept development to creating characters and story, building a property of this kind in a few short months requires an intense creative focus. The Wundernauts, a new intellectual property for kids aged 4-8, will be submitted to publishers, studios, and retailers before Halloween. You should see graphic novels, plush, and T-shirts in the marketplace in 2016.

Here’s a good example of where Daryl’s ideas come from:

Over a breakfast in Vegas with our agent Leo Valencia of Quantarra and Radio-Days, Leo expressed interest in creating a new project for broad distribution that would combine futuristic elements with some down-home goodness. Now, Leo is kind of a Renaissance man, and besides being a brilliant licensee of well-known images, he is an artist, accomplished musician, and proud Dad to Savion. We met Savion at Licensing Expo, too, and he’s quite a charmer. He also shows signs of being a great character artist. Why not, thought Daryl, create a clever mash-up of classic and contemporary story elements with some of Savion’s monsters in the mix.

Scooter tells Savion a big secret at Licensing Expo 2015.

Check out this sneak peek at The Wundernauts! Savion's monster is on the sign.

Now, meet one of the Wundernauts: P.U.P, a strong and loyal Pumped Up Powerhouse! P.U.P. is one of a large cast of characters that you will meet when The Wundernauts show up in stores and on digital devices.

Meet P.U.P., one of the Wundernauts!

So here’s your very first look at P.U.P. and some of the many Wundernauts. Stay tuned for more! Books, T-shirts and plush are due in stores soon.

Meet Writer and Artist Meagan Meehan

Writer, artist and friend Meagan Meehan

We make a lot of friends at trade shows, but rarely do we meet anyone as creative, professional, and intuitive as writer Meagan Meehan.  Arriving at our booth at Book Expo America 2015, she absorbed all she saw in Daryl’s illustrations and quickly determined that our shared interests would make us “fur-ever” friends. 

As you might guess, Meagan’s love of animals rates high among her vocations and avocations. Meagan also loves stories, humor, pop culture, and art and combines then seamlessly into her writing and other varied pursuits. She contacted us for an interview shortly after our return to Asheville. 

Here’s what Meagan had to say about Daryl: 

“Daryl Slaton is rare in the media world since he can work in the styles of both illustration and cartoon. Additionally, as author and illustrator, he creates all the characters and stories that appear in the properties. His rare versatility and creative flexibility make his work attractive to publishers, studios, manufacturers, retailers and agents.”

Check out Meagan’s feature article about Daryl and Tails of Whimsy on The Examiner!

Meagan Meehan is a published author of poems, short stories, novels, and articles in numerous publications. She is also a cartoonist and an award-winning abstract artist. We love her passion for children’s stories, art and education. She’s a tour de force with consummate passion, commitment and creative talents.  Watch for her award-winning features at examiner.com. Explore Meagan’s colorful art on the RAWArtists site.

Licensing Expo 2015: Follow-up

Daryl’s work really stood out at Licensing Expo 2015. We re-acquainted with contacts from previous shows and made lots of new friends, too. Though the summer is generally slow with the prerequisite recovery time from the trade shows, Tails of Whimsy is already getting calls about potential licensing deals. This was our third year showing in Las Vegas and here is what we have learned:

Mackie McKeens appeared to be the top favorite
at Licensing Expo 2015

• If you want to make your intellectual property a commercial success, you have to learn the licensing trade (and lingo) inside and out and talk to lots of industry professionals.
• Go to Licensing Expo in Vegas or KidScreen in Miami.
• Industry trade shows are where you make contacts.
• Exhibit more than one property or character. Build them each into a story.
• Keep at it and learn that “no” now might really mean “maybe yes” at a later date! Be patient. Slow and steady wins the race.

This year, The Mighty Machines of Mackie McKeens (or M4) received the most interest. And lots of folks loved Daryl's new characters in The Book Mytes. This came from publishers and marketing agents looking for stories with edutainment value. These books and characters are age-appropriate for learning.

Mackie and his sister Mika create astonishing machines of a Seuss-ian nature that help cities solve problems. Educators call this STEM: a concentration on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. M4 does it all but in a throughly fun and whimsical way. Think Richard Scarry with robots!

Two page spread from
The Mighty Machines of Mackie McKeens

The Book Mytes are a magical troupe of six characters in animal "jammies". The story unfolds in a bookstore at night where any story can be mixed up and made up with a few choice selections of words. These new words come from familiar books we all know and love, thus adding to the thrill of discovery. The power of words is the message in this book, and licensees took notice.

Meet some of the Book Mytes looking for words 

Stay tuned as our progress unfolds. Now, for some much needed vacation time!

Book Expo America 2015: Follow-up

Book Expo America gave Daryl plenty to think about
as Tails of Whimsy considers publishing options

Getting a book published is not for the faint of heart. Daryl has authored and illustrated three children’s storybook properties to date: “Scooter and Boots to the Rescue,” “The Mighty Machines of Mackie McKeens,” and “Book Mytes,” which is about 90% complete. Even with our wonderful agent Jeanette Smith of All Art Licensing, response from major publishers is excruciatingly slow on Scooter and Boots as are our pitches for the others. With additional publishing options now available, digital and print on demand, Daryl and I set out to find out if newer (and faster) opportunities exist to get our books to their target audience.

Therefore, this year, we put our characters and stories on display at Book Expo America, perhaps the largest of all publishing shows. Louise worked with our children’s book editor Joe Rhatigan to get lots of appointments with publishers and editors. And Joe, with his valuable industry experience, accompanied us to NYC to meet with publishing company contacts. We are grateful to him for serving as tour guide so that we can better understand how independent and digital publishing is impacting traditional print. Also, we gained insight into how Tails of Whimsy might restructure to include independent publishing onto our business mix.

Joe Rhatigan helped us meet, greet and pitch

at Book Expo in New York

We introduced ourselves as a full-service studio, so you may hear more about Tails of Whimsy Storybook Studio. With Joe on our team, we are also available to help other writers develop their content and graphics as well as edit and package their books for print and distribution.

And, we introduced attendees to our new plush dolls of Scooter and Boots. They were shipped to us from our factory in Hong Kong, arriving at our hotel in NYC just as we did.

If you wonder what “independent” publishing means, it now extends to being a self-publisher, author-publisher, do-it-yourself publisher, or “traditional” publisher. Needless to say, Tails of Whimsy has lots to think about as we look to the future.

Scooter and Boots kept their eyes out for visitors
to the Tails of Whimsy booth.

Tails of Whimsy Attends Licensing Expo 2015

The Tails of Whimsy Storybook Studio is excited to be attending Licensing Expo '15! We're here to connect with people, publishers, and licensing agencies about three of our great properties:

Book Mytes

The Mighty Machines of Mackie McKeens

and 

Scooter & Boots 

If you're here at Licensing Expo 15, we'd love to meet you. Come visit us at our Art and Design Booth G21 and shake Scooter's paw--he's been practicing his tricks.

Here's a bit more about the Tails of Whimsy Storybook Studio properties:

Book Mytes

Imagine whimsical, cuddly critters that roam bookstores come twilight. They feast on good stories and play havoc with words through the magical world of artist/illustrator Daryl Slaton at Tails of Whimsy Storybook Studio.

Using delightful illustrations and playful fonts, seven adorable costumed characters jump off bookshelves and into books, as they gather words and pictures throughout the store to create their own stories. Though words are few, readers see how one well-chosen word can make a world of difference, and how one sentence can change the adventuresome world of the Book Mytes!

The Mighty Machines of Mackie McKeens

Mackie Mckeens is a cuddly, industrious bear in green overalls. In his massive high-tech workshop he builds remarkable “mighty” machines for any use. Appealing to inquisitive children with imagination and whimsy, Mackie gets kids thinking early with his high-tech machines that solve problems with such efficiency that your immediate response is, “Why didn’t I think of that?” Helping him construct machines for land, sea and sky is his daredevil pilot Mika (his sister) and a crew of zany mini-robots.

Scooter & Boots 

Scooter the dog and Boots the cat are dedicated to helping homeless pets find forever homes. The Scooter and Boots brand was born in the licensing arena, and the engaging characters have already been warmly received by production studios as pilots for TV. Check out the Scooter News Network (SNN) for news segments on cooking, reading, animal rescue, crafts, and more!
And join Scooter and Boots on Facebook, where they shine a light on pet rescue, reading, and the awesome community of pet-lovers worldwide.

Make Handmade DIY Heart Stamps with Scooter!

Have you ever used celery (yep, celery!) to make handmade heart stamps? It's as easy as it sounds, and handmade stamps are an easy way to make all kinds of paper products fun. Join Scooter in his newest Scooter News Network video as he stamps paper plates and napkins for a party he's throwing for his friend Boots.