Troy Little (born 7 March 1973
) is a Canadian
cartoonist
A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary an ...
working in
comic book
A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. ...
s and animation. He is known for ''
Chiaroscuro
Chiaroscuro ( , ; ), in art, is the use of strong contrast (vision), contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts ...
'', a
graphic novel
A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...
whose first volume (out of three) was developed between 2000 and 2005 under his Meanwhile, Studios imprint. After winning two grants (
Xeric
Deserts and xeric shrublands are a biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Deserts and xeric (ancient Greek xērós, “dry") shrublands form the largest terrestrial biome, covering 19% of Earth's land surface area. Ecoregions in this h ...
and
P.E.I.
Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has several nicknames: "Garden of the Gulf", ...
Council of the Arts
) and being praised by
Dave Sim
Dave Sim (born 17 May 1956) is a Canadian cartoonist and publisher, best known for his comic book '' Cerebus'', his artistic experimentation, his advocacy of self-publishing and creators' rights, and his controversial political and philosophica ...
,
''Chiaroscuro'' vol. 1 was released in 2007 by
IDW Publishing
IDW Publishing is an American publisher of comic books, graphic novels, art books, and comic strip collections. It was founded in 1999 as the publishing division of Idea and Design Works, LLC (IDW), itself formed in 1999, and is regularly re ...
.
Biography
Troy Little was born on 7 March 1973 in
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has several nicknames: "Garden of the Gulf", ...
, Canada.
[See Troy Little, "About".] In 1994, he graduated from the Interpretive Illustration program of
Sheridan College
Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning (formerly Sheridan College of Applied Arts and Technology) is a public polytechnic institute of technology located in the west- Greater Toronto Area in Ontario, Canada.
Founded in ...
, and has since worked as an animator. After living eight years in Ottawa, he moved back to
Kensington, Prince Edward Island,
[See Journal Pioneer (2007-11-06).][See CBC News (2007-09-07).] Canada. He is the father of Nathan and twins Alex and Hayden.
In parallel to his daytime job in animation,
he writes and draws his own
graphic novel
A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...
s.
In September 2000, he started work on his self-published black & white comic series ''
Chiaroscuro
Chiaroscuro ( , ; ), in art, is the use of strong contrast (vision), contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts ...
'' with which he was awarded in 2001 a
Xeric Grant.
[See Xeric Foundation (September 2001).] The comic was published bi-monthly and ran for seven issues ending prematurely in 2003 (both Little and his then wife having lost their jobs and having twins to raise
). Little eventually continued to draw the missing issues #8-10 to conclude the first volume. In 2005, he was awarded a
P.E.I.
Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has several nicknames: "Garden of the Gulf", ...
Council of the Arts Grants to enable him to continue work on the series.
In late 2005, he had completed his first storyline as the graphic novel ''Chiaroscuro: Patchwork Book 1'' (collecting issues #1-10), and started sending out a 100-copy
POD
Pod or POD may refer to:
Biology
* Pod (fruit), a type of fruit of a flowering plant
* Husk or pod of a legume
* Pod of whales or other marine mammals
* "-pod", a suffix meaning "foot" used in taxonomy
Electronics and computing
* Proper ort ...
run
to publishers.
In 2007, this first volume of ''Chiaroscuro'' received an excellent review by independent comics legend
Dave Sim
Dave Sim (born 17 May 1956) is a Canadian cartoonist and publisher, best known for his comic book '' Cerebus'', his artistic experimentation, his advocacy of self-publishing and creators' rights, and his controversial political and philosophica ...
(creator of
Cerebus) written on his Blog & Mail.
[See Dave Sim (2007-01-17).] This review brought the book to the attention of Ted Adams, President of
IDW Publishing
IDW Publishing is an American publisher of comic books, graphic novels, art books, and comic strip collections. It was founded in 1999 as the publishing division of Idea and Design Works, LLC (IDW), itself formed in 1999, and is regularly re ...
in
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...
.
IDW published a hardcover edition of the graphic novel in October 2007, and its trade paperback edition in October 2008.
In January 2009, Troy Little released ''Angora Napkin'', a standalone graphic novel from IDW Publishing which was nominated for an
Eisner Award
The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books, sometimes referred to as the comics industry's equivalent of the Academy Awards. They are named in ...
. ''Angora Napkin'' was developed into an animated pilot for
Teletoon
Teletoon (stylized as TELETOON) is a Canadian English-language specialty channel owned by Teletoon Canada, Inc., a subsidiary of Corus Entertainment. Its name is a portmanteau of "television" and " cartoon". The channel primarily broadcasts ...
's late night program "
Teletoon at Night
Teletoon at Night (stylized as TELEToON AT NiGHT and formerly known as Teletoon's Adult Block, The Detour On Teletoon and Teletoon Detour) was a Canadian English language late night programming block that aired on Teletoon, which is owned by Tel ...
" for a series which was broadcast on Halloween night, 2010. But the pilot was never picked up. He later created a second Angora Napkin graphic novel, ''Harvest of Revenge'', which was again nominated for an Eisner. He ventured into webcomics with the online serial ''Angora Napkin: The Golden McGuffin'' that ran sporadically from 2011-2019.
From 2013-2014 he wrote and drew the comic book series ''
The Powerpuff Girls
''The Powerpuff Girls'' is an American superhero animated television series created by animator Craig McCracken and produced by Hanna-Barbera (later Cartoon Network Studios) for Cartoon Network and distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic T ...
'', published by IDW and based on the
Cartoon Network animated series.
2015 brought the news that Little had created the authorized graphic novel adaptation of
Hunter S. Thompson's book ''
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
''Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream'' is a 1971 novel in the gonzo journalism style by Hunter S. Thompson. The book is a '' roman à clef'', rooted in autobiographical incidents. The story foll ...
'', published in late October / early November by
Top Shelf Productions
Top Shelf Productions is an American publishing company founded in 1997, originally owned and operated by Chris Staros and Brett Warnock and a small staff. Now an imprint of IDW Publishing, Top Shelf is based in Marietta, Georgia.
Top Shelf pu ...
.
During the ''
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
''Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream'' is a 1971 novel in the gonzo journalism style by Hunter S. Thompson. The book is a '' roman à clef'', rooted in autobiographical incidents. The story foll ...
'' book tour Little met
Kevin Eastman
Kevin Brooks Eastman (born May 30, 1962) is an American comic book artist and writer best known for co-creating the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with Peter Laird. Eastman was also formerly the editor and publisher of the magazine '' Heavy Metal ...
, co-creator of the
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' is an American media franchise created by the comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It follows Leonardo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Leonardo, Michelangelo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Miche ...
. In 2017 Eastman tapped Little to help develop his Drawing Blood / Radically Rearranged Ronin Ragdolls series which was successfully Kickstarted in published in 2018. This was followed by a second volume of Ragdolls that he illustrated and co-wrote with Drawing Blood writer David Avallone.
In 2018, Little teamed up with writers
Jim Zub and
Patrick Rothfuss for the
limited series Limited series may refer to:
*Limited series, individual storylines within an anthology series
*Limited series, a particular run of collectables, usually individually numbered
* Limited series (comics), a comics series with a predetermined number ...
''
Rick and Morty vs. Dungeons & Dragons'' #1-4, published by IDW. This book was followed up in 2020 (without Rothfuss) with Volume 2: ''
Painscape'', published by
Oni Press
Oni Press is an American independent comic book and graphic novel publisher based in Portland, Oregon. In 2019, it became an imprint label following the company's merger with Lion Forge Comics. The merged company, Oni–Lion Forge Publishing Gr ...
.
The ''Rick and Morty vs Dungeons and Dragons Deluxe Edition'', by Rothfuss, Zub, and Little, was nominated for the 2022 "Best Graphic Album—Reprint"
Eisner Award
The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books, sometimes referred to as the comics industry's equivalent of the Academy Awards. They are named in ...
.
Also in 2019, Troy and his wife Brenda Hickey ("
My Little Pony
''My Little Pony'' (''MLP'') is a toy line and media franchise developed by American toy company Hasbro. The first toys were developed by Bonnie Zacherle, Charles Muenchinger, and Steve D'Aguanno, and were produced in 1981. The ponies feature ...
", "
Aggretsuko
''Aggretsuko'', also known by its original Japanese title , is a Japanese animated comedy streaming television series based on the eponymous character created by "Yeti" for the mascot company Sanrio. The character first appeared in a series of ...
") formed their own imprint: Pegamoose Press. Their first book, Hickey's "Halls of the Turnip King" was successfully Kickstarted and published in early 2020. The second book from Pegamoose Press will be, "Angora Napkin: The Golden McGuffin" which is slated to be published in the early fall of 2020.
Works
* 2001-2003: ''Chiaroscuro #1-7'' (Meanwhile, Studios)
[Single-issue publishing dates per Diamond Comic Distributors's "Shipping This Week" files: #1 on 2001-09-06, #2 on 2002-01-16, #3 on 2002-04-17, #4 on 2002-08-07, #5 on 2003-01-02, #6 on 2003-03-05, #7 on 2003-05-14.]
* 2004-2005: ''Chiaroscuro #8-10'' (drawn but not published)
* 2005: ''Chiaroscuro: Patchwork Book 1'' (100-copy
POD
Pod or POD may refer to:
Biology
* Pod (fruit), a type of fruit of a flowering plant
* Husk or pod of a legume
* Pod of whales or other marine mammals
* "-pod", a suffix meaning "foot" used in taxonomy
Electronics and computing
* Proper ort ...
demo, late 2005, collecting #1-10)
* 2007: ''Chiaroscuro HC'' (
IDW Publishing
IDW Publishing is an American publisher of comic books, graphic novels, art books, and comic strip collections. It was founded in 1999 as the publishing division of Idea and Design Works, LLC (IDW), itself formed in 1999, and is regularly re ...
, October 2007 hardcover collecting #1-10)
* 2008: ''Chiaroscuro TP'' (
IDW Publishing
IDW Publishing is an American publisher of comic books, graphic novels, art books, and comic strip collections. It was founded in 1999 as the publishing division of Idea and Design Works, LLC (IDW), itself formed in 1999, and is regularly re ...
, October 2008 softcover collecting #1-10)
* 2009: ''Angora Napkin'' (
IDW Publishing
IDW Publishing is an American publisher of comic books, graphic novels, art books, and comic strip collections. It was founded in 1999 as the publishing division of Idea and Design Works, LLC (IDW), itself formed in 1999, and is regularly re ...
, graphic novel)
* 2012: ''Angora Napkin: Harvest of Revenge'' (
IDW Publishing
IDW Publishing is an American publisher of comic books, graphic novels, art books, and comic strip collections. It was founded in 1999 as the publishing division of Idea and Design Works, LLC (IDW), itself formed in 1999, and is regularly re ...
, graphic novel)
* 2013: ''The Powerpuff Girls'' (
IDW Publishing
IDW Publishing is an American publisher of comic books, graphic novels, art books, and comic strip collections. It was founded in 1999 as the publishing division of Idea and Design Works, LLC (IDW), itself formed in 1999, and is regularly re ...
, comic series)
* 2015: ''Hunter S. Thompson's
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
''Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream'' is a 1971 novel in the gonzo journalism style by Hunter S. Thompson. The book is a '' roman à clef'', rooted in autobiographical incidents. The story foll ...
'' (Top Shelf Productions)
* 2016: "Angora Napkin: Cuddle Core Collection" (
IDW Publishing
IDW Publishing is an American publisher of comic books, graphic novels, art books, and comic strip collections. It was founded in 1999 as the publishing division of Idea and Design Works, LLC (IDW), itself formed in 1999, and is regularly re ...
, graphic novel collection)
* 2018: "Radically Rearranged Ronin Ragdolls" (
Kevin Eastman
Kevin Brooks Eastman (born May 30, 1962) is an American comic book artist and writer best known for co-creating the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with Peter Laird. Eastman was also formerly the editor and publisher of the magazine '' Heavy Metal ...
Studios, comic book)
* 2019: "Rick & Morty VS Dungeons & Dragons" (
IDW Publishing
IDW Publishing is an American publisher of comic books, graphic novels, art books, and comic strip collections. It was founded in 1999 as the publishing division of Idea and Design Works, LLC (IDW), itself formed in 1999, and is regularly re ...
, comic series)
* 2020: "Rick & Morty VS Dungeons & Dragons: Painscape" (
Oni Press
Oni Press is an American independent comic book and graphic novel publisher based in Portland, Oregon. In 2019, it became an imprint label following the company's merger with Lion Forge Comics. The merged company, Oni–Lion Forge Publishing Gr ...
, comic series)
* 2020: "Radically Rearranged Ronin Ragdolls Adventures" (
Kevin Eastman
Kevin Brooks Eastman (born May 30, 1962) is an American comic book artist and writer best known for co-creating the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with Peter Laird. Eastman was also formerly the editor and publisher of the magazine '' Heavy Metal ...
Studios, comic book)
* 2020: "Angora Napkin: The Golden McGuffin" (Pegamoose Press, graphic novel)
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
References
External links
Pegamoose Press– Pegamoose Press official website
;Text interviews
A 2009 interview of Troy Littleat
Comic Book Resources
''Comic Book Resources'', also known by the initialism CBR, is a website dedicated to the coverage of comic book–related news and discussion.
History
Comic Book Resources was founded by Jonah Weiland in 1995 as a development of the Kingdom ...
(about ''Angora Napkin'', ''Chiaroscuro'', and his career)
;Video interviews
* from
CBC (
Flash
Flash, flashes, or FLASH may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Fictional aliases
* Flash (DC Comics character), several DC Comics superheroes with super speed:
** Flash (Barry Allen)
** Flash (Jay Garrick)
** Wally West, the first Kid F ...
link)
* from
Eastlink TV (
Flash
Flash, flashes, or FLASH may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Fictional aliases
* Flash (DC Comics character), several DC Comics superheroes with super speed:
** Flash (Barry Allen)
** Flash (Jay Garrick)
** Wally West, the first Kid F ...
link)
"Chiaroscuro from IDW with Troy Little" Oct. 2007 interview
podcast
A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...
from ComiXology (
AAC
AAC may refer to:
Aviation
* Advanced Aircraft, a company from Carlsbad, California
* Alaskan Air Command, a radar network
* American Aeronautical Corporation, a company from Port Washington, New York
* American Aviation, a company from Cleveland, ...
link)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Little, Troy
1973 births
Living people
Canadian cartoonists
Canadian comics artists
Canadian comics writers
Canadian graphic novelists
Sheridan College alumni
Writers from Prince Edward Island
People from Prince County, Prince Edward Island