Road Trip Rita...

This is Road Trip Rita. While Rita isn't on of the Bikers are Animals crew, she is their very good friend from the North. Road Trip Rita is the mascot of Belt Drive Betty of the Busted Knuckle Chronicles. Right now Betty and Rita are on the "Belt Drive Betty 2013 Conga" which started June 18th and will end Sept. 16th.

Betty and Rita's trek across Canada will cover 10 provinces, 2 territories, 83 communities and on they'll be on the road for 26,000+ kilometres (16,000+ miles.) for a total of 91 days. Check out Rita and Betty's progress at http://www.beltdrivebetty.com/track-my-conga. Let's show them some support from their neighbor in the south.

Back in 1991...

Back in 1991 I did a drawing on what I thought a future Indian would look like.

The new Indian Chief from Polaris Industries will be revealed at the 73rd annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in Sturgis, South Dakota, which runs August 3-11, 2013. I'm wondering how close to my idea it will be. One thing for certain is it'll be a belt drive. Mine has a drive shaft setup.

East Coast Biker Magazine Biker Kid Photo Contest...

Norm Keller, publisher of East Coast Biker, came up with the idea to have a little contest in his magazine and Bikers are Animals 4 will be apart of it. Readers can submit a picture of their Biker Kid and those submissions will be posted in the magazine. 

A vote from readers on the Biker Kid submissions will take place in October issue after the release of Bikers are Animals 4. The Biker Kid with the most votes will get an autographed copy of Bikers are Animals 4 and poster of the book cover. All entrants will get a BAA 4 postcard addressed to their little entrant with a personal thanks from me for entering the East Coast Biker Magazine Biker Kid Photo contest.

To check out the first 2 submissions, click here to go to the July 1st issue to see the first entrant and click here to go the July 15th issue to see the second entrant.

Now that the book is finished a little something different...

After 8 months with the young BAA critters, their adults and bikes, it's time for a little something different. I did a couple of these calendars for Linda last year and will be doing them again for her.

After years of shooting chrome, paint and steel, it's a nice change to shoot things a lot softer and organic. It's a whole different ballgame for me with photography and it's super relaxing. It won't be long before we kick up marketing on the book so this is a nice little break in the action.

Big Thanks to...

Big thanks to Norm Keller of East Coast Biker magazine for letting his readers know about the Bikers are Animals 4 - Working and Riding October debut.

Norm's East Coast Biker is a popular web-based motorcycle magazine with contributors providing stories from states all over the east coast. Check it out at  www.eastcoastbiker.net

 

To Press...

The finished book went out Fed Ex to the publisher late Friday. Now it's wait for proofs and if all goes well Bikers are Animals 4 - Working and Riding will be in our hands by October.

It was really strange waking up over the weekend and not have to draw the critters, Feel like they've gone for a ride and left me behind. So I'll be catching them on the flip side in October...Can't wait!

It's done!...

After 8 months and almost 1,000 hours, BAA 4 is completed. Here's the back cover...

This has been one long ride for me and I'm glad to get that last line in. The next step is off to the printer (this week)...and then it's marketing time. The book should be in our hands by October (fingers crossed.)

P.S. There is a Safety page and a Thanks page from all the young critters as the last two pages. Lin put the Thanks page together which helped us big time meet our end-of-June deadline. She did a great job on it too!

The final...

 Maggie©

Here she is, the final young critter for the Bikers are Animals 4 - Working and Riding. Her name is Maggie and her dad is Slick the dresser riding elephant from Book one.

The cover...

Here it is folks...the cover of Bikers are Animals 4 - Working and Riding. Sketch has called it a day at his shop, he's hung the "gone riding" sign and he and Max are headed out for an all day ride. The weather is perfect so it's time to twist the throttle and leave the work world behind!

I said 3 but...

Max©

I said 3 more characters after Cole but it's actually two. This is Max who is one of those two to go. Which means I've got one more character to do and it means we've created 16 new characters that will be in BAA 4...whew...glad it's coming down to the wire.

As to Max, he's the son of Sketch. He really thinks the world of his dad and when it's time to ride he's raring to go. Max and his dad are also on the cover of BAA4 which you'll see in next post.

Three more characters...

Cole©

Three more characters after this young critter. Meet Cole...His dad is Talon the eagle (Cover of Book 1). Cole is proud of what his dad does and loves riding rain or shine but mostly shine!

Our latest addition to...

 Zack© 

Our latest addition to the little critter crew is Zack. His uncles are Zig and Zag, the twin riding gorillas who were introduced in the first Bikers are Animals. This young one loves his uncles and is crazy about their Banana Yellow bikes.

You've heard me mention the BAA Team...

You've heard me mention the BAA Team, so who exactly are they and what do they do?

First up is yours truly...

I'm the author and illustrator...sound important? Not really. Yeah, I draw the pictures but there's no way I can do it myself so here's who keeps me on the straight and narrow...

This is my much better half Linda...

Lin is both creative and art director plus the editor. She wears all three hats extremely well and if it wasn't for her input and help, instead of having 5 books out in front of the world, I'd have zero books.

Meet my good friend Bill Thomas...

Bill is the BAA Technical Adviser. This guy knows his motorcycles and keeps me honest and... makes me redraw things if they're not right...LOL!. He's also an idea guy who adds big time to the books. FTR, Bill's an artist in his own right. You can see his work at Rosebud Tattoo in Sanford, ME.

This is Nicole Burns...

Nicole has been in my life from her day one. She brings her sense of humor and her knowledge of what kids like to the BAA Team table. Nicole was sitting on my bike tank playing with the horn and light buttons at 2 years old. We started her young and her love of motorcycles is still with her today.

I don't have a pic of our last team member Nancy Fawcett. I worked with her everyday for a whole lotta years, She bring ideas, humor and big-time support to the our table.

So that's it folks, the Bikers are Animals team. The ones that make it all happen!


And then there's Maggie...

 
She's not a team member but she sure is a supporter and a serious riding critter. Meet Bill's pup Maggie. Like the characters from the books, Maggie loves her face in the wind and has more mileage under her collar than a lot of bikers out there.

Okay, here's a crumb...

This is part of the bike that'll be on the cover. You'll have to go to BAA 2 to see who's bike it is.

The cover...

I've been asked about the cover of BAA 4 but wasn't sure what I was going to do. I usually do the cover first. Anyway, I finished it today and it's looking pretty cool. Here's a rough of it (extreme rough).

That'll be it for now until book is complete and ready to go to press. Hoping for mid-July...with fingers crossed.

This is...

  Treena© 

This is Treena...She's the daughter of Howlena and just as independent as her mom. The only thing she likes better than riding is...riding!

The logo for BAA 4...

Finally decided on the logo for BAA 4. Think it will work nicely.

Maya riding with her dad...

A pic of Maya on the back of her dad Spike's bike.

Meet Maya...

 Maya ©

Meet our latest young critter for Biker are Animals 4 - Working and Riding. Little Maya is a biker through and through and rides with her dad Spike the bear every chance she gets.

You'll have to wait...another teaser...

Jake and his dad GT Charlie go for a ride and end up at this really cool place. Unfortunately, you're going to have to wait until the book comes out to see where they stopped.