I took great joy in writing Cuddly Dog in The Christmas Storm . The only thing I enjoyed more...was doing the illustrations and coloring them in.
Now if we have any aspiring young artists out there, I just want you to know that I never went to Art School, or took any formal training. I had Art class in elementary school like everyone else, and doodled spaceships and aliens on all my notebooks during class. As for the colors...I only use Crayola Colored Pencils to color in my characters.
In the past, I've tried other things like crayons, or markers, or even other colored pencils, but nothing gets the colors or effects that I can achieve when using Crayola Colored pencils. With just the right amount of pressure, and a reliable texture, they just can't be beat.
Now, since this is a Christmas story, I did my best to make it the best I could. That is why I went with the traditional big Hardcover book. I remembered that some of the best holiday books I had, were the ones that were huge and colorful, and I wanted to give that experience to young children everywhere.
Unfortunately, the massive size of the book made it very expensive, and even with me marking it down as low as I dared, it still had a big price tag. So, the only thing I could really do, is make it available to also be viewed on a computer screen, or on an eBook reader for $3.99.
That is a relative steal!
Why be so generous? It's the holidays! What good is it to have a great Christmas story if no one can afford to read it? None. I just wanted to be able to offer a new storybook at a greatly reduced price so that anyone with a computer could afford it...and watch it instantly. And,...if you so wish, later on you can order the actual book, and have it to pass down to your children, or give as a gift.
Anyways, I also would like to give my acknowledgement to Kelly M. Gastiger.
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| Kelly M. Gastiger and the Geico gecko at Andrews AFB air show |
As stated before, and in many articles, she is an integral part of the creation of Cuddly Dog and his friends. Without her feedback, and ideas, a lot of what makes our characters come alive would be missing. So once again, Thanks Kelly!
Oh,...if you don't know what the Christmas story is about, its like this...Cuddly Dog and his friends are asked to help create an amazing Christmas time for the children in their neighborhood. Of course, they all agree and help set up an amazing surprise...but just before they can reveal their surprise, a giant storm hits their town, and its up to the courage of Cuddly Dog and Froggy Froggur to save the day.
It is a great feel good story about friendship, and the things you can accomplish if you just believe you can make a difference.
So, good bye for now, and be good to your family and friends.
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