"What Did The Halloween Kid Wrangle?" Drawin' Contest!

Click on entry form image to enlarge, then print, and draw!

Howdy Pardners!

Announcin' the official "What Did The Halloween Kid Wrangle?" Drawin' Contest! Sharpen them pencils & crayons because we are about to have a drawin' jamboree! For those of you who have picked up THE HALLOWEEN KID book, you know that The Halloween Kid loves him some Halloween and he wrangles anybody who stops others from lovin' it. All you have to do is print out this here drawing entry form and draw yer face off!

All ages welcome! Anybody can participate, please spread the word! Entries can be black-and-white or in color, but bein' creative is what counts here! RULES: All entries must be received by September 30th at high noon. Please scan (kids, you might need and adult to give you a helpin' hand with this part) all entries at 100dpi (to keep the files small) and email to rhode (at) pablosinferno (dot) com. (please write like a regular email address using @ and a . ) Please label your drawing- "Halloween Kid Entry" before attaching to email. By entering you are giving permission to show your drawings online. Only one entry per person. Winners will be announced in early October (please visit the site for more updates) Here are the prizes (for now, there may be some additions in the upcoming weeks):

Ages 1-12:

1st Place:
-An official original one-of-a-kind drawn Halloween Kid Mask.

-An original Halloween Kid inked drawing by me (coming soon)
-A Halloween Kid book signed by me

Runner Up:
-A signed and sketched Halloween Kid book
-A signed and sketched Halloween Kid Poster

Ages 13-18

1st place:
-The original drawing used for this contest along with my drawing of what the Halloween Kid captured (This will be revealed when the contest is over)

-A Halloween Kid book signed and sketched by me

Runner Up:
-A signed and sketched Halloween Kid book
-A signed and sketched Halloween Kid poster

Ages 19+

1st place:
An original one-of-a-kind two color Halloween Kid Trick-Or-Treat (8 x 10 inches) bag drawn by me (8x10 inches) Suitable for hangin' or for trick-or-treatin'!

-A Halloween Kid book signed and sketched by me

Runner Up:
-A signed and sketched Halloween Kid book
-A signed and sketched Halloween Kid poster

That's it for now folks. Remember to check back here for the actual date that winners will be announced and everybody's entries will go up. Also, keep checking for possible additional prizes. And don't forget: Have fun!
~Rhode

The Halloween Kid Has Landed!

Shown: a free card available at rhodemontijo.com 

8/31/10 SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT:  Coming real soon in September- an all ages HALLOWEEN KID drawing contest with prizes galore! Also, a HALLOWEEN KID costume contest for the youngsters in October! Get ready!

Howdy folks,

It has been a bit busy lately, but I have lots of news to share. First, THE HALLOWEEN KID is officially out! I continue getting reports from those who pre-ordered the books and their arrival to homes. Books should be in stores, hopefully in the Halloween section or available online at places like at AMAZON .

THE SAN DIEGO COMIC CON has come and gone and aside from me getting sick, Jamie Baker and I had one of our better shows! Thanks to all who came to the booth and took a chance with picking up some of our items, while there was plenty to choose from on the epic convention space. I nearly sold out of all the advanced copies of THE HALLOWEEN KID, coming home with only a handful of books. I did not anticipate that kind of response. Thanks so much to everyone who picked up a book!

I have a few HALLOWEEN KID posters left over from the convention and I am making them available here, while supplies last. I will sign each poster and dedicate them (optional) if you fill in the space provided below. Poster measures 16x20 inches and is on glossy UV coated stock paper. $5.00 + $4.95 priority mail shipping. (Available in the U.S. only- sorry!) Note: If you can't see the Paypal button right below to purchase, please click here .

Signed to: (Optional)

There are also still a few SKELETOWN signed and numbered limited prints available, as well. Only 100 made. $20 + $4.90 priority mail shipping. The print is a two color screenprint on quality paper and printed by Bloom Press. (U.S. only) Note: If you can't see the Paypal button right below to purchase, please click here .


*Shipping Note: If for some reason you place an order for more than one print and/or poster and get charged twice for shipping, I will refund the shipping overcharge before completing the Paypal transaction.

More HALLOWEEN KID news: I've updated my site rhodemontijo.com with lots and lots of FREE HALLOWEEN KID goodies like this HALLOWEEN KID IRON-ON and OFFICIAL MASK. You'll find coloring pages, mazes, secret messages, pumpkin carving stencils and more- all free! Click image below to take you straight to all the goodies!

Shown: Halloween Kid Iron On #5 available at rhodemontijo.com 

Shown: Print your own Official Halloween Kid Mask! rhodemontijo.com 

Here are some recent reviews of the book:

The first one that came in was a really sweet write up from THE SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL Spoiler Warning: This gives away how the book ends. Skip this one if you'd rather be surprised:

“YEE-HA-LLOWEEN!” is the battle cry of the Halloween Kid, who rides his stick horse into suburban anytown USA and rids the place of all manner of Halloween-hatin’ varmints. Text written in cowboy lingo enhances the rootin’ tootin’ fun as the Halloween Kid lassos toilet-paper mummies, leaf-pile ghosts, and the Giant Miami Werewolf. When the Kid meets his match in the greedy Goodie Goblins, the local children rescue him for a change, bringing the tale to a sweet and satisfying conclusion. This rollicking story projects a delightfully retro style and sensibility, aided by black, white, and orange brush-and-ink illustrations reminiscent of cartoons from the Eisenhower era. A treat for storytime as well as for independent reading and a must for Halloween picture-book collections.–Amy Rowland, Shelter Rock Elementary School, Manhasset, NY

Next up was KIRKUS REVIEWS:

When pumpkin-suckin' vampires and other Halloween hoodlums threaten holiday fun, the Halloween Kid, who "loved him some Halloween," keeps the peace. He's so successful, they stay away for years--until the Goodie Goblins show up, and it looks like his skills are so rusty he won't be able to stop them! Who can save the Halloween Kid? While Montijo's plot may be a bit shopworn, his storytelling and stylish graphics more than make up for this. His old-time Western dialect drops gs with abandon and introduces to a new generation such fabulous vocabulary as "varmints" and "[o]oh-wee" as it drawls along. The brush-and-ink illustrations are digitally colored in oranges and yellows and manipulated to present a worn finish, and the 1950s cartoon aesthetic is completed with the Halloween Kid's Lone Ranger mask. "Yee-haw"--er, "Yee-HA-lloween!”


KIRKUS REVIEWS are tough sometimes. They blasted my first book, so I have to take this one as 'not-so-bad'

The latest comes from PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY review:

When Halloween tricks get out of hand, it's time to call the Halloween Kid, a cowboy bandit with a black mask and flying hobbyhorse. Every year, he fearlessly wrangles "pumpkin-suckin' vampires" and tickles "leaf-pile ghosts," but when goblins run amok, he may have met his match. Grainy vintage-style illustrations in mustard and orange evoke autumnal nostalgia, with a nod to old westerns: " `Y'all keep trick-or-treatin' now, ya hear?' and with a wink, he rode into the moonlit sky." Ages 3-6. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Also, I recently updated Skeletown with a few new drawings. I try to keep Skeletown growing by adding a few new images every so often, so please visit
skeletown.com to check out the latest.

I recently found these rocks that looked bone white, so I had an idea...

Last, but not least, check out the latest GIANT ROBOT MAGAZINE #66 that has an article about the free crayon portraits and short stories that Jason Jaworski  and I occasionally do out on the street.

Photo by Mark Mulhern

Thanks so much for reading. More to come real soon!
~Rhode

The Halloween Kid Reprinted!

I went to my previous apartment today and my old roommate told me that a package had arrived for me. I had no idea what it was, but it was from my publisher and it was slightly heavy. I opened up the package and there were two of my HALLOWEEN KID books inside. This confused me. They had already sent me a few advanced copies and here they were sending me two more. I then opened one of the books and there was this little green index card-sized note inside.


I could not believe my eyes! THE HALLOWEEN KID, a month away from even coming out, was getting a second print run! What great surprising news! I couldn't believe it. This has never happened to me before! My first kids book, CLOUD BOY did get a second printing, but it was months and months after it had come out, but here with THE HALLOWEEN KID getting reprinted before it even comes out, was the craziest news! My heart was racing when I read that little note, it's the smallest note, but I read it over a few times to make sure I wasn't reading it wrong and constructing things in my head. All I can say is THANK YOU SO MUCH, if you pre-ordered the book, YOU DID WONDERS! Thank you friends, librarians, book sellers, parents and children, for taking a chance with the book! I enjoyed the heck out of writing and drawing the story. It wasn't 'till later that I worried about how the book might do. It was a seasonal book after all and would only have a small window of a few months to sell from August to October, but I guess I got lucky. If you are a book dork like me and look for a first printing of a book, there is almost always a small printing history number line on the inside copyright page of a book. It's usually a row of numbers like 1 2 3 4 5 6... or 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2, so if its a first printing, it will have the number '1' in the number line and in later reprints the lowest number is removed. So these same numbers, say in a third print run, will look like this: 3 4 5 6... or 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4. Too much information??? Anyway, back to it- thanks again for everyone who picked up a book!



Now, onto some San Diego Comic Con news! Its just a few days away. My buddy Jamie Baker and I are at the same booth we have been for that last few years- we love that spot! Please visit booth #1329, if you attend the show, it would be great to see everyone. Again, the dates ar July 22-25. Jamie Baker will have his first full color book: Sephilina and here's a peek at some of the new things I'll have at the booth this year. I printed up a new SKELETOWN print, once again with the mighty Bloom Press in Oakland, California, by the powerful Nat. Nat is a perfectionist and it shows in all of his work. If you ever need something printed, this is the guy for the job! This is a very limited screen print run of only 100 made. Each print is two colors and printed on a 16X20 heavy stock paper. It depicts little Skully reading a book and his imagination running wild. Here's a peek at the image (not actual print):



I was also able to print a small run of THE HALLOWEEN KID posters! Full color offset print run of 500 made on glossy stock paper. Measures 12 X 18. Here's a peek:





Finally, I printed a small set of postcards. Each set comes with 5 individual spooky images(+1 free) and are mail-ready. Here's a peek:



We'll have more things at the show! I hope to see you there and if it's your first time going to the show, take it steady and slow and enjoy the ride!

~Rhode

The Halloween Kid Is Coming!

I'm so happy to announce my upcoming children's book, THE HALLOWEEN KID! This will be my second children's book that will be published and it's a big dream come true! THE HALLOWEEN KID is about a mysterious masked boy who wrangles Halloween hoodlums to keep the night safe for trick-or-treaters. All is well for years, that is, until a band of greedy goodie goblins gallop onto the scene - then even the Halloween Kid can use a helpin' hand. This book is 32 pages and will be published this Fall (August 10th) through Simon & Schuster. I'm hoping, however, to have some super advanced copies to sell for the San Diego Comic Con on July 22-25 (will confirm soon!)

For a peek at the book, here's a small book movie trailer: (click image to play or click here)



You can also flip and read through the first five pages here:

Simon & Schuster Browse Inside

Growing up and to present day, I love me some Halloween. I LOVE everything about it!



With children's books, I love going to the Halloween section every year and seeing what's new and I'm happy THE HALLOWEEN KID will be a part of that batch this year.

The book itself was inspired by newspaper articles from my hometown where I read that some kids were no longer allowed to dress up in schools on Halloween and were getting discouraged from trick-or-treating because of fear. I really felt Halloween was in danger, more so than being dangerous. The inspiration for the look of the book came from vintage Halloween decorations that I love and which tend to have limited colors. Most times, the colors off-registered a bit, and some of the vintage decorations are worn and distressed, so I tried to emulate that here. It was also fun writing the whole book in a Western drawl, dropping g's and even using a double negative in a sentence, something that normally publishers will try and correct, but my publisher embraced. I hope it makes for a fun read-aloud book. I really owe the printing of the book to my editor, Kevin Lewis. I feel lucky to have illustrated a few books, but since day one, he believed in my writing and it's because of him that CLOUD BOY and THE HALLOWEEN KID came to life. Thank you Kevin. Now, here's a peek at some of the book's process:

This was the cover to the book mock-up (the whole book quickly sketched in it's entirety with pencilled in story) that I used to shop around the idea to publishers. ( you'll see later that the final cover was pretty close to this):


Here's an interior page sketch:



Here's the same page finalized and in color:



Another interior illustration:



This is a peek at the cover process. Initially I just had the Halloween Kid on the cover, but the publisher felt it should reflect the trick-or-treating part of Halloween as well, which I didn't mind at all. The first cover sketch revision showed a trick-or-treating scenario, with houses and all, but it just felt too busy. We knew we wanted to use black as the cover, but the silhouetted houses were getting lost against that.



In the end we just simplified, dropped the homes, and lined the trick-or-treaters at the bottom with no perspective.



Here is the final cover with THE HALLOWEEN KID logo designed by Laurent Linn, who outdid himself with the design of this book!



Here's a group shot of characters in the book that I just did for fun. This image is not in the book, but maybe I'll make a print or a poster in the future.



For More Rootin Tootin' HALLOWEEN KID fun and information please visit:

rhodemontijo.com

I will be posting new information, activities and images, as they become available, on that site. There will be free goodies like this HALLOWEEN KID coloring page and maze! (click on the images to enlarge and just hit 'print' on your printer!)





Thanks for reading. More news as the publishing date nears. If you are interested in this book and want to pre-order THE HALLOWEEN KID, you can do so by clicking the link below (if you complete the process through here or at rhodemontijo.com,it would be greatly appreciated!) or look out for the book when it hits bookshelves on August 10th.
Pre-Order here:


More HALLOWEEN KID goodies are coming. Please visit again soon!



Thank you kindly, pardners!
~Rhode

Melvin Beederman: The End?

Yesterday marked the end of a series of books that I had the great pleasure of working on, with Melvin Beederman Superhero #8 hitting the book shelves. A book written by first time author, Greg Trine, about a struggling kid super hero who couldn't leap a building in a single bound, but took him more like six or seven tries. What was supposed to be one book, initially, it was pulled from the infamous "slush pile" (that dark room at all publishing houses with piles of book manuscripts that are stacked high to the ceiling) and was granted an eight book series! That alone should give any aspiring writer hope. I remember getting the call from my editor, she was so excited about the book and was giggling as she explained the rough story line to me. I was immediately drawn to the main character and all of his struggles and soon became a fan devouring each new manuscript like a fan first and then as my illustrating job later. I loved working on this book so much. On top of that, Melvin Beederman took me to cities I'd never seen, when Greg Trine and I went on a book tour arranged by the publisher, and met many new friends because of the book, and for that I am thankful. It had at one time even been optioned to be animated, but never quite made it.

 Melvin Beederman had a good run of eight books, although part of me secretly wished to see what Greg Trine would have written had he known it would be the last, there was/is so much potential in the series, that's for sure! I'm in a bit of a denial about the whole thing, I feel that it may live on in the future, but it's not up to me and for now, it's a bittersweet good bye. If you ever had thought about maybe picking up the book before and maybe passed, now would be the time to give it a chance. It's a treat! A bit biased of a recommendation, but a sincere one. Here's a peek at one of book #8's final scenes of an epic battle inside of a space mall (click image to enlarge):

Melvin Beederman was a blast to work on. Thank you Greg Trine for writing the book with such fun characters with heart. Thank you Reka Simonsen for pairing me up with Greg and for believing in me for the series. Thanks to the designers that worked on the book. Thank you librarians and readers old and young, for giving the book a chance. Thank you Henry Holt & Co. for publishing eight books about a struggling little hero that leaped from the "slush pile" and into homes and schools everywhere!

~Rhode

p.s. for all readers old and new, one last surprise: I had a fun time of hiding a panicking chicken in all eight of the Melvin Beederman books, so if you have the books already, go back and look for the chicken! Some are easier to find than others, but there's one in each book. If you are asking why a chicken, I will quote a wise one that once said "because chickens are funny."

Exhibit A: Panicking chicken

In The Works...

I'm a day or so from completing the paintings for a book that I'm illustrating. It feels pretty good... I've learned that sometimes the books sometimes take two years for them to be published, so I thought I'd share two of the interior pages here. So here's a super advanced sneak peek for you! More details later on the book later!

Thank you for visiting. More news real soon!~Rhode

A New Beginning...

Hello everyone!

After losing some files at rhodemontijo.com/blog, I'm slowly moving everything to this new blog: rhodemontijo.blogspot.com, so please bookmark it. There is lots of exciting news for 2010, so stay tuned. The latest news, images and updates are coming soon!

Thanks for visiting!

~Rhode

New Melviny Stuff!

Hi Everyone,
It’s been too long, yet again, but I’ve been working hard on the latest Melvin Beederman. Here’s a sneak peek at Melvin Beederman #7: Brotherhood of the Traveling Pants. This is the cover and some interior sketches!
~Rhode

Another Sneak Peek

Here are sketches from another story that I am working on. Again, I rarely do this, but since I haven’t posted anything in a while, I thought I’d share.
-Rhode

I rarely do this, but because of lack of posts lately, I thought I’d share a sketch from one of my stories that I’m working on at the moment.

In other news, I just found out that Cloud Boy will be translated into Chinese! I never thought that would happen EVER, so it was nice learning about the nice news 

from my publisher. 

-Rhode

Hello Everyone, It's Been Awhile...

 I’ve been busy with some freelance projects, but keep going with the kids books. I’m about to jump back onboard with the latest Melvin adventure (Book #7) which should be fun as always. There’s some good illustrating challenges in this next one.
Here’s Joe the Bad Guy which I colored up for the Melvin Beederman Official Website . There are a few new characters on there and more coming! More exciting news with Melvin and Cloud Boy on the way, that I hope I can announce soon..
Thanks for visiting!

~Rhode
Update: Here’s one more of Superhero Carl.

Melvin Beederman Book Tour

Hello everyone,
On May 8th-17th, Henry Holt and Company, publishers of the Melvin Beederman Superhero books, are sending author Greg Trine and myself for a two week book tour! I’m really excited as I have not ever been to most of these places. It all ends off with the IRA convention in Toronto Canada. Here’s where we will be visiting:
May 9th (9:30-2:00):
Skoki Public Library
5215 Oakton St.
Skokie, IL 60077

May 11th (12:30-2:30):
Woodview Elementary
600 5th Avenue
Grafton, WI 53024

May 12th (2:00-3:00)
Hudson Library with Learned Owl Bookstore
96 Library St.
Hudson, Ohio 44236

May 14th (9:00-11:00)
Shuler Books
(1:00-2:30)
The Reading Tree
5150 Northland Drive
Grand Rapids, MI 49525

May 15th-17th
IRA
Metro Toronto Convention Centre
South Building
222 Bremmer Blvd.
Toronto, Ontario CANADA M5V 2W6
Henry Holt Booth #2005
Simon and Schuster Booth #1723

~Rhode