Happiness Happens Day

With coloring sheets and t-shirts in tow, I headed out to Happiness Happens Celebration Day in Bossier City this past Saturday. The event was put on by Holiday Lanes (in cahoots with the Secret Society of Happy People) and it was a really fun time – bowling, bands, bubbles, hula-hooping, activites, plus TOOMASOOBA coloring pages and free stickers for all.

 My table was outdoors and, no lie, the crayons began to melt after several hours. Holy cow! August in Louisiana ain’t no joke, friends. Below are several photos of happy people being all happy and such – take a look!

Robin put on the event...and chose some great colors for Eureka, too.

A couple of little dudes putting their own spin on RoBoy.

More TOOMASOOBA coloring!

I did not envy the folks rocking out these mascot suits, let me tell ya.

TOOMATUNES Vol. 1

When the time came to find music for our TOOMASOOBA mini-doc, I knew just where to turn — my long-time friend and talented musician, David Brooks. I've known Dave since 8th grade and we've always had a great creative partnership...and before I knew it he had written an AMAZING original soundtrack for the film.

It was so amazing, in fact, that we thought to offer it as a FREE download on Bandcamp! Listen below (and put "0" in the price field) to grab the ready-for-iTunes collection. It not only features the four songs from the doc, but a handful of demos and experiments that led us to the final recordings. Oh, and as an added bonus — 3-year-old Jack Bailey kicks off the collection with a TOOMASOOBA battlecry. I think you'll like it. Download, listen, enjoy, and share!

AHA Moment!

Back in May, I was invited to participate in the Mutual of Omaha 2013 AHA Moment Tour when they rolled through town — and of course I accepted! I shared my passion for art in an Airstream trailer decked out like a mobile studio. It was pretty rad.

Will my TOOMASOOBA ramblings end up on TV? Probably not, but the video is up at their website nonetheless! Check it out below.

Color Schemers

Believe you me, judging the TOOMASOOBA coloring contest was a tough task — but myself, Hector, and Tinker sat down and picked out some favorites! Below you'll find the winners — thanks to everyone who came out to the premiere and a special thanks to those who sat down to put their own spin on TOOMASOOBA characters.

Want to download and color some pages yourself? Well then, click here — Share your work and maybe it'll end up on the website or blog!

Evie's "Blue Fire" Claymore.

Alan's Eureka got big points for adding the spaceship!

Billy's Hector reminds me of David Bowie for some reason.

Hayden's RoBoy brought in a lot of cool patchwork color!

Launch Party Success!

Whew! Between the Shreveport Farmers Market and last week's mini-doc launch party, June has been packed — but I wouldn't have it any other way.

When I decided to create a video for TOOMASOOBA at the beginning of this year, I'd planned to post it on Facebook and that would be it. My girlfriend, however, suggested having a viewing party — and it was a great idea. What I'd initially envisioned as a gathering in my living room for 10 people ballooned into a crazy-awesome time in an amazing venue with well over 100 in attendance.

We had a packed house!

I was even able to raise awareness in town about my work and make an impression that wasn't possible before — I appeared on a local morning news show and was featured in a couple of newspapers as well.

I won't bore you with the details, but a lot of hustle went into the evening and I couldn't have done it without the help of my friends. Many thanks to Chris Lyon for producing the mini-doc, David Brooks for creating the original music, Krystle Beauchamp and LaToya Hemphill for making the event (and food) happen, Neil Johnson for the awesome space, Nathan Pizar for being an audio-visual beast, James "Rex" Gilcrease and Mark Flentge for running my merch table, Renzi Center for spreading their mission at the show, and Brandon Oldenburg for sharing kind words while introducing me before the premiere.

My friend (and creative dynamo) Brandon hangin' with Kid Cupcake.

Can't forget my super-cool sponsors, either: Fairfield Studios, Middlebrook Bakery, and Aw, Snap Photography. I was over the moon with the way things went and I truly, truly appreciate the support — now to keep the momentum going!

Below are more photos (you can view a full gallery on Facebook). Did you miss the premiere? No worries, you can watch TOOMASOOBA: The Birth of a Brand right here on YouTube!

When Seth draws TOOMASOOBA, it's always awesome.

A handful of coloring sheets from the evening...contest winners will be announced soon!

Not sure what's going on here with Dylan and April, but I like it.

Hangin' with Ty — he's a good artist and a cool dude.

The McDades represent TOOMASOOBA!

The Mini-Doc is Here

After months of prep with Perennial Media and a hugely successful launch party last Thursday (more on that later this week), I'm finally able to share the mini-doc online! Check out TOOMASOOBA: The Birth of a Brand below, and spread the word to your friends, enemies, lovers, fighters, second cousins, and favorite pets. I'm very pleased with the way it turned out...I hope y'all enjoy.

Farmers Market 2013

I’m back at the Shreveport Farmers’ Market for the first time since 2011, and it’s been great so far! Really hot, but great. The first day’s attendance was at an all-time high of over 12,000 folks (not all of ‘em made it by the TOOMASOOBA table, though). It’s fantastic to see the Market flourishing in our community — I’m glad I can be a small part of it.

Two weeks down, two weeks to go for me — you still have a chance to come by on the 15th and 29th of June if you’re in the area from 7 am to noon. It’s the prime location for all your produce (and TOOMASOOBA) needs. Photos below!

The talented Mollie Corbett stopped by to take this rad photo.

James "Rex" Gilcrease helped out behind the booth this past week, just like old times.

Close-up Claymore.

Also...this is happening soon near the Farmers' Market. Yessss.