DVD Set

This is the front and back of The Mug Club Season One DVD boxset. I'm going to be printing a mock-up for the senior show.

Interestingly, the characters on the front that I want to talk about are also the ones based on real people, so here are some detail shots.

This is Benny MahGarretty. He's really angry all the time about everything.


This is Cook. She dates first State and then Toby.

This is Audrey, a socially awkward and friendless girl who is more enthusiastic about the Mug Club than even Toby. She's really the reason the Mug Club exists, but neither Toby or State can stand her. It raises the question of how to be friends with someone you don't care for, and Audrey becomes the first real test of Toby's way of thinking about The Mug Club.

DVD Cover first pass

I'm still trying to figure out the typography on this one. Thoughts?

Maybe We Are

Here are the series regulars sitting out on the dock. This turned out much more painterly than I thought it would have.

So Toby is being lit by his memento, a bright yellow, and State is being lit by the moon. Toby's symbol being an everlasting, dependable source of light, and State's being an erratic source of light that only appears in darkness is just another example of their dichotomy. There's something really interesting to me about two best friends who are polar opposites.

I haven't written it yet, but this image will have text at some point and read something like "Every time we did something big, something daring, we were asked 'Do you think you're invincible?'

Maybe we are. Maybe we always were."

Since Toby's memento does make him invincible, this is litterally true, but it also hints at the theme of the first season of The Mug Club. When we're kids, it really does feel like we're invincible, and with all the safety nets we have have set up, it's kind of true. The first part of our lives are spent being protected from the bad things in the world, from anything that could potentially be harmful.

I think we start growing up when we realize how restricting that is. But before we can do that, we have to realize those shackles exist, and have all along. This entire time, our whole lives, we've been living an innocent, sheltered, and unadventerous life. And that's a pretty scary thing.

Claire Ormsbee

This is Claire's illustration. Claire is acutely aware of her circumstances at every moment, and really, society as a whole. Hence her peering over a city. She takes everything in stride, however, so I decided to keep her pose playful, and to hint at Claire's ironic nature, I have her smirking at the entire city.

The Sky's the Limit. For REAL.

This is the real image from the "Sky's the Limit" episode of The Mug Club. Joel challenges Toby to a SPACE RACE, and he of course brings State and Claire along. While Joel's gotten a hold of a hot air balloon, Toby uses a rocket propelled hang glider. Neither are space worthy, really.

The Memento Series

These five images are the people throughout history who have held onto the memento. They are...

Theodore Roosevelt

Grigori Rasputin

Poon Lim

Cale Yarborough

and Toby Mears.

Theodore Roosevelt

This is Theodore Roosevelt. He has the memento around his neck. Have I mentioned the memento yet? It makes you invincible.

So, Theodore Roosevelt was giving a speech in Milwaukee Wisconsin on October 14, 1912. And then some saloonkeeper decides to shoot him point blank in the chest. And what does Roosevelt do? He says "Bump that, I've got a speech to give." And he gives it. And it's ninety minutes long. And when he goes to the hospital, he tells them to just leave the bullet in there. 

So there's no way Theodore Roosevelt was not secretly invincible, at least for a time in October 1912.