This self publishing thing is pretty cool!

 

My name is Tom Richner.   I currently teach animation at The Columbus College of Art and Design.  After studying animation at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, I spent a few years working as an artist on The Simpsons.  On top of making my own animated films, I recently started working on my own book series.  I've REALLY enjoyed this as the turnaround is MUCH faster than it is on an animated film (and requires a HECK of a lot less drawing too, which is nice). 

 

This series is based on a character my kids made up.  I've been telling them silly made up stories for as long as they've been alive, and I thought it was about time to write some of them down and make them into a book.  This particular story revolves around an ordinary man named Tim E. Cheeseball who gets hand picked by the king of Flinginghamdunbergville to go on a quest to find a treasure.  The king provides him with a map (which he loses immediately after he sets sail) and a shoddy old ship and sends him on his way.  Throughout his journey, Captain Cheeseball befriends some interesting companions, is subjected to a number of challenges and eventually returns home to find that he has learned a little something about the world (and, that things may not be as they originally seemed).  The story structure follows the basic steps outlined by  Joseph Campbell's monomyth (or 'The Hero's Journey'), a story structure that we are all familiar with if we've been to the movies sometime in the past forty years. (Campbell studied mythologies and stories throughout the centuries and found similar patterns and structure across different times and cultures.  His research is something that filmmakers, including George Lucas, have employed in their storytelling for a while now.)

 

I am planning on creating six volumes in this series, each containing three stories.  The process has been very loose and spontaneous, the same way I make up stories for my kids.  I have REALLY enjoyed this activity, and I can't wait to have all six books available for my kids to read.  At the same time, I thought it would be a lot of fun to make them available to the public as well.  

 

I hope you enjoy the books as much as I have enjoyed the process!

 

TOM RICHNER