New Year! New Work! New Website!

New website design is up with new work!

monstersquid.com

The Tall Tale of Paul Bunyan Graphic Novel!

Ol' Bunyan is so big I could barely fit him on the cover!

T-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-MBER!

The Tall Tale of Paul Bunyan, a new graphic novel I've illustrated has lumbered to the shelves! It's a classic American Tall Tale hilariously retold by Martin Powell.

In this story we discover the Paul and his blue ox, Babe are the cause of the Grand Canyon, Lake Superior, the Smokey Mountains and many more American landmarks. The giant twosome also have epic battle royales with Bee-skeeters, Giant Saber-Toothed Beavers and Old Man Winter himself!


This is the third graphic novel I've done in the Graphic Spin series for Stone Arch Books. First two were the The Three Little Pigs and The Ugly Duckling. But this story was especially close to me because I grew up in Paul Bunyan country and have heard his legend told around campfires and have spied him looming over diners and rest stops throughout the highways of Wisconsin.

Paul Bunyan was designed by the super talented Bob Lentz- an art director at Stone Arch. Here's the Olde Timey Northwoods Shoppe (and character page) in the front of the book...


The climatic ending with Ol' Man Winter...


Other "Big Men" Johnny Appleseed, Pecos Bill and John Henry round out the Graphic Spin Tall Tale series. Have a look at John Henry- beautifully illustrated by Nelson Evergreen.

You can buy Paul Bunyan at Amazon US, Amazon UK or a buncha other places!

Three Little Pigs Graphic Novel- Best Illustrated of 2009

Original Sketch of The Big Bad Wolf

Ashbooks, a book review and community website has named The Three Little Pigs Graphic Novel one of the fifteen best illustrated children's books of 2009. Wow!

Read more HERE.

Digital Arts Showcase

I'm one of the spotlight artists in the December issue of Digital Arts magazine. See my page below or I recommend buying one for tons of helpful tutorials and inspiring artwork.

Featured on Drawn!

My animation work on Kurfood and Leadwire has been featured on the awesome illustration and cartoon art blog, Drawn!

Check it out HERE!

Thanks Leif!

Interview with Ape on the Moon!

I was just interviewed by the contemporary illustration news site, Ape on the Moon, about my recent graphic novels, work process, and inspirations.

Read it here!


Thanks Alex!

The Ugly Duckling Graphic Novel

The Ugly Duckling Graphic Novel

QWACK!

The new graphic novel I've illustrated is flying off the shelves now! It's the tale of the Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Anderson. After briefly living in (and loving) Copenhagen, I was honored to illustrate one of Denmark's favorite son's creations. It was loads of fun to create some bizarre characters but have the story revolve around much a sweet, misunderstood creature. The book was designed and published by the talented peeps at Stone Arch Books.

It's part of their Graphic Spin series where different artists and authors retell fairy and folk tales, give them a modern, creepy twist and jam it all into an epic graphic novel format!

You can buy it at Amazon US- HERE

Or Amazon UK- HERE

Let me know what you think of it!

The Ugly Duckling Runs into some Unfriendly Fatness

My third book from series 3 will be out next year!

Blah Blah Blah

If you would like to read my interview with HAI; where I yammer on about
casseroles, robots and burritos... please click HERE!

Thank you.

Illustrator Spotlight

I've just been chosen for an Artist Spotlight on the awesome illustration site, IllustrationMundo! You can critique my art, gawk at my ugly mug and read what I ate for breakfast when I was a kid. Very flattering that Nate and IM gang dig my monstrous creations. Check it out here-

Aaron Blecha Illustrator Spotlight

Besides my link, check out the rest of the site for a wealth of illustration diversity and talent.

Become a Fan!

I've just started a Fan page for my Illustration work on Facebook. If you are on the internets and also a member of the Facebooks, why not join us? It's a very happy place.

See the page and become a Fan by clicking HERE!

Website Redesign!

I've spent the last week or so updating my dusty, crusty, moldy, out-of-date website. I've given it a complete redesign and added a lot of new work. Sadly ol' MonsterSquid has been buried for now, but he may crawl his way out of his shallow grave in the distant future.

Check it out HERE!

Any feedback is greatly appreciated!

Vile & Vicious Varmits

Here's a sneak peek for our next book, Vile & Vicious Varmits of the Northwoods. It's sort of a sequel to our last book- A Field Guide to Midwest Monsters. It's been over two years since the last one but we are hoping to get this one out for summer of 2008. It's been difficult collaborating with my good friend and immensely talented monster-maker, Jason Felix, over many time zones and the Atlantic Ocean. But it's the time of year for monsters and a good time to get the furry ball rolling once again.

I'll keep you up to date with any new Varmit news! This one will be bigger and better (in color!) than the last.

Here's a sample spread-

Monstersquid Reel

Click the image below to view my
Animation & Design Reel-Animation & Design by Aaron Blecha
Music by Gnarls Barkley

All characters are copyrighted. Reel for demo purposes only.

Back in the Day Video is Out There!

We've completed the music video for Danish indie band, Figurines and it's worldwide! Friend Brad Mossman created and directed this fine piece of sad weirdness and I just moved things around a little. It was a great experience putting it together (in under three weeks) at the Animation Workshop in Viborg, DK. It aired on Danish national TV last night and will hopefully get into some festivals. I'll keep you posted on further developments. Until then, please enjoy it on a bevy of these fine online establishments-

Metacafe
YouTube
MySpace

UPDATE-
Back in the Day is featured on DRAWN!

Further info-
Back in the Day Production Blog

Back in the Day

Alien Armpit Sniffers at Work

Hey everyone!

Sorry for the blog suckage and delay in posting anything brand spankin' new for awhile. I've just returned from two and a half weeks in Denmark working on a fun project. I was animating a music video for the Danish band called Figurines.

Brad Mossman, the video's director, is an old friend from San Francisco who now lives in northern Denmark. He is a wacked musician that does frantic theme songs for cartoons on Nickelodeon, Disney and Cartoon Network. All of the jingles for the cartoons and video games I helped create a few years back were also brain-stormed by him.

Brad drew the cover character for the Figurine's album, Skeleton. So everyone thought it was a good idea to have these his characters come to life for the video of "Back in the Day."

The video is partially funded by the Animation Workshop, in Viborg, Denmark. You can check out our progress, see where we were working, and laugh at our pale, sunlight deprived faces at the official Back in the Day Blog put together by Brad.

After a chill weekend in Copenhagen (visiting more old friends), I'm back in London. Although I'm working without Brad's tasty veggie cooking, I hope to have the remaining 10% percent of the animation done by Christmas. I'll let you all know when it's available for your viewing pleasure.

When Belly Button Lint goes Unchecked

Con Men

Myself and Jason Felix pose with topless female fan.

A whole month without an update! What a shite blog this is.

I've just returned to London after an extremely fun yet exhausting trip through the good ol' US of A. I spent two weeks in my motherland of cheese and bratwurst, Wisconsin. It was relaxing to catch up with family In Green Bay and ol' buds in Madison. From there the Blecha clan invaded NYC for my brother's wedding. It was a gorgeous reception on the "shore" of Brooklyn overlooking the Manhattan skyline. I was bestest man and I was very palm-sweatingly, pooping-my-pants nervous for my speech. I think it went OK- at least there's nothing online to say otherwise.

After a hellish night spent in JFK airport and a 3 hour bus ride from LA, I arrived at San Diego for Comic Con 2006. It was another stellar year there. Never before has so much inspiring work, stimulating artists, sensory overloading booths and slathering nerdgeeks been concentrated at one place and one time.

My good friend and collaborator, Jason Felix and I shared a booth in Artist Alley. We were selling our book, A Field Guide to Midwest Monsters to the swollen masses. We had a great time chatting with people and selling out of the batch that we brought down there. There is some possibly some big news for us up ahead but I'll wait to share when things are finalized a little more.

Thanks to all the people that picked up our book and to all the artists I that inspired me in turn.

You can see my small collection of Comic Con (and the following week in SF) photos HERE.