This week continues the special series of Brand New I-P columns featuring several creators that advertised in my book, Wannabez, and deserve the press anyway. So without further ado, let's get to this week's indie creator...
Ringtail Cafe
Ringtail Cafe is a group of creators whom anyone following CR has probably heard of and knows well. They are also good friends of mine, and they are very involved with the site. The studio consists of Darren Mueller, Krista Mueller and Jackie Hernandez, and they have been working together for years now. There are a select few others that have worked with Ringtail on various projects as well, like Alecia Weber and myself, somewhat honorary members of the Cafe. So it's not really hard for me to talk about these guys.
I met Darren, Krista and Jackie in early 2009 when Scott and I went to do a podcast interview at Comics 2 Games, which I have chronicled in my other column, so I won't repeat that here. But it was clear to me then that these were cool people and passionate about what they were doing. And yes, the first time I met Jackie she was drawing, and I've never once been with her when she wasn't at some point. Nor have I been with Darren and Krista once when they weren't excitedly talking about various projects or ideas they had in the works or in the planning. They are all very driven to produce and have immense fun doing so.
It's that kind of passion that inspires you to create when you're around it, and that's the feeling I get everytime I part ways with the Ringtail crew.
If you're not familiar with Ringtail Cafe, here's a blurb all about them from their website:
Ringtail Cafe Productions is a small but growing publication company, based out of Kentucky. Begun a few years ago, by a pair of friends who were interested in telling stories, the company has expanded since then to include a variety of projects and members.
Starting out with just one title, and no previous experience in the world of creating comics, the group quickly grew in ambition, and scope. Expanding to several more series, and into new areas of work, the company continued to grow.
Since it's inception, the company has helped develop some of the largest comic book related websites (Comic Related, Comic Jobz (coming soon)) as well as new products used by artists around the world.
The most prominent of their art related creations, has been the Blue Line Kids series of art products. Premade booklets, that you draw your own comics in, with easy to follow instructions and preform guides for drawing characters. From there, the line grew into a series of tutorials and eventually a book. Ringtail Cafe Productions is currently in the process of working with schools, to create a number of new cirriculums and programs for using comic books and graphic novels as teaching tools. A new series of classes is actually being created based around the lesson plans being developed by Ringtail Cafe Productions.
Ringtail Cafe continues to look towards the future, seeking new ways to expand the enjoyment of comic books, magazines, books and graphic novels for the world. What started small has grown large in a short time, and the future just keeps looking brighter.
Their two most notable projects to date are the Ringtail Cafe book, which is up to five issues so far with the sixth being worked on, and The Confectionaries, a new title that debuted not too long ago with a #0 primer for an upcoming graphic novel.
Ringtail Cafe is a "book about secret organizations, questionable allegiances and coffee." It's based around a secret organization that makes their homebase in the bowels of a coffee shop that provides a cover for the operation that sets out to protect the world from the League of Villainous Evil (L.o.V.E. - gotta love the irony there). It's an anthropomorphic book with plenty of action and humor, and some language and innuendo, so it's for mature audiences.
The Confectionaries is an all ages title, again anthropomorphic, about a group of creatures that were created by a baker and his wife because they couldn't have a family of their own. With the baker and his wife passed on, the book follows the lives and adventures of these creatures that are made out of various candy. Such as Scotch, a griffen like character made out of butterscotch, and the villain Neo, a neopolitan melty character that lurks in the bowels of the castle. And there's even a character yours truly created named Pistachio that may appear from time to time.
Currently the crew is doing little fun strips in their newsletter called Bite Sizes featuring The Confectionaries.
Those aren't the only projects coming out of Ringtail Cafe though. They also started a webcomic right here on CR called Dead Last that will return at some point, and they are the artistic force behind the It's All Related webcomic, which will also return soon. Not to mention they just did a comic for a band and are working on many other projects as well. Ever hear of Zombie: The Musical? You will.
And comics aren't the only thing they're into either. They also produce products for Blue Line Pro, like the Blue Line Kids offerings as mentioned above. And Jackie teaches art lessons at Comics 2 Games as well.
If you'd like to learn more about Ringtail Cafe you can check them out at www.ringtailcafe.com. Be sure to sign up for the newsletter as well. They've got a lot of cool things going on and coming up, so you'll definitely want to check them out.
Brant W. Fowler / Writer, Letter, Creator, Reviewer, Columnist and Comic Related PR Coordinator
Brant W. Fowler has been a professional comic book letterer and logo designer for three years, and has been a freelance editor for the past five years. He has also worked with graphic design, writing and many other area of skills for several years honing his talents. You can learn all about what he's up to by visiting Gonzogoose Design. Brant is also a member of the core operations team at Comic Related.
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