The Astronaut Chimpanzee

This little fellow unwittingly makes a monkey out of Cosmo!

The Garbage Barge

It's a natural rat habitat!

Phil and George

When Cosmo lands on a garbage barge, Phil and George are there to meet him!

Lending a Wing

When Cosmo is in a jam, who should come to his rescue but the Little Red Bird!

Kyle!

Faith and begorrah, it's Kyle, the bus-driving leprechaun!

Deep thoughts...

Cosmo contemplates one of the many choices he will have to make in "Cosmo Kimball and the Perfect Hat"!

Threading the needle...

That Cosmo is a crafty fellow!

Meet Cosmo!

Here's Cosmo, the hero of the story!

Meet Gus!

Behold Gus, Cosmo Kimball's puppet upon whom the Perfect Hat will fall!

Meet Ted Todman!

Ace illustrator David Vordtriede is cranking out the art for "Cosmo"! Here's a look at Ted Todman, the host of "Ted Todman's Talent Time", where Cosmo has a shot at his big break.

Creator Callout: Galen Fott

Hey, that's me! How awkward. Well now, let's just see what it says about me on the Cosmo Kimball website:

Galen Fott is the writer, director, and animator of Cosmo Kimball. An award-winning filmmaker, Galen has completed 14 animated films to date for the venerated Weston Woods Studios, now a division of Scholastic. For these films, he directed the vocal performances of Joanne Woodward, Stanley Tucci, Steve Buscemi, Sean Hayes, and Paul Giamatti.

Galen’s work has screened at the Guggenheim, Sydney Opera House, National Gallery of Art, Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Hiroshima and Anima Mundi animation festivals, and in the major film festivals of San Francisco (three-time Golden Gate nominee) and London. He has also created animation for Sesame Workshop, Marvel Comics, country star Trace Adkins, and Ralph's World.

Galen is also an accomplished actor, singer, and puppeteer, having performed these services for The Walt Disney Company and The Jim Henson Company. A former contributing editor to PCMag and a Macworld reviewer, he has co-authored eight books on digital imaging. Galen lives in Nashville with his wife Laura, son Burton, and their 2 dogs, 2 goats, 4 chickens, and 5 cats.

His personal website is www.grundoon.com.

Creator Callout: Scotty Huff

Scotty Huff is the amazing and multi-talented composer for Cosmo Kimball!

A Maine native, Scotty graduated from the University of Southern Maine with a Bachelors of Music in Music Education. His college years weren't simply filled with study; he was often contracted to support acts like Natalie Cole and the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra.

After moving to Nashville, Scotty immediately established himself as a trumpet player and began working with legends Boots Randolph and Danny Davis. Before long he was hired by The Mavericks to lead their horn section on a three-year world tour. Following that, Scotty was hired by Keith Urban to play rhythm guitar and sing backing vocals. He was an integral part of Keith's touring band through his first three solo records.

He next helped jumpstart the careers of many artists in their radio promotion tours, working as vocalist, guitarist, and music director.

Scotty has now given up full-time touring to focus on his film scoring and production talents, and also to be home to raise his two beautiful children alongside his loving wife. Here's the trailer for "Scaredy Squirrel at Night", the recent Weston Woods film for which Scotty composed the music:

 Scotty’s web presence is at www.scottyhuff.com .

Creator Callout: David Vordtriede

While Cosmo Kimball and the Perfect Hat has quite the cast of characters, I wanted to first introduce you to the behind-the-scenes "cast of characters" who are creating it. And where better to start than with the brilliant David Vordtriede?

David is the designer and illustrator of the world of Cosmo Kimball. David’s early diet of Looney Tunes, Muppets, and Saturday morning cartoons fueled an interest in illustration, painting and sculpting that has made him one of the top illustrator/designers in the St. Louis area. His award-winning talents in print and web design have benefitted such companies as Microsoft, AT&T, BP, Redbox, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, St. Louis Public Radio, the National Pork Board, and Chicago’s Brookfield Zoo. For EFG Publishing Inc., David illustrated the book Boredom Blasters.

But perhaps his proudest design accomplishment to date is his Muppabet. Begun as a pet project celebrating the Muppets, the alphabet poster is an officially licensed product of The Walt Disney Company.

More recently, David has been responsible for the visuals in Vevo's A.K.A. series, such as this entry on LL Cool J:

David lives in St. Louis with his wife Jenny and their triplets Vincent, Evelyn, and Marian. His online portfolio resides at theloulander.com .

Welcome!

Hello, and welcome to the "Cosmo Kimball and the Perfect Hat" production blog! As we work this year to bring the project to life, we're going to use this blog to give a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process, and to keep you updated on our progress.

Just in case you don't know..."Cosmo Kimball and the Perfect Hat" is an interactive animated film, delivered as an app for touchscreen devices. But we've got a whole website dedicated to it, which can fill you in on all the basics here:

www.cosmokimball.com

So check it out at your leisure, and be sure to check back here for updates!