My creator page was updated at Papercutz!

Some small news item before the new year, Papercutz has updated my creator page to reflect my current list of available books!

https://papercutz.com/creators/scott-neely

Got my copies of the PHINEAS AND FERB OGN Vol. 1 a day early!

Another box showed up today with the mail. It had the hardcovers I pre-ordered through Papercutz of the Phineas and Ferb OGN Vol 1: Phineas and Ferb's A-MAZE-Ing Creature Double Feature!

It was a long time coming for this release... for a long time I didn't know when it was actually going to be done (and I only did the cover art, which took six months!). If you can believe it, there was more drama behind-the-scenes than in the actual book itself. 

As I flipped through it today, I noticed a lot of story changes they did from the original script I got...

More on all this drama is coming, but I'm trying to celebrate the positive here! It's finally out, and it does look great!

The book comes out tomorrow officially! 

 

My order of PHINEAS AND FERB books from Papercutz arrived!

WOW! I got my big box of P&F books I ordered from Papercutz today! From the tracking I thought they would be delivered next week, but they arrived early today with the normal mail! I ordered all this when they had their site-wide sale for 50% off. I ordered two copies each of the hardcovers and paperbacks for my archives. Papercutz did a beautiful job with them and the hardcovers are simply beautiful!  

I will say that Papercutz does know how to pack a box! They wrapped the books in a big piece of bubblewrap and placed the stack dead center in a sturdy box and then dropped packing peanuts all around the sides and top. They arrived perfect! Amazon should take notice, though they have recently upped their game a bit for other orders I made through them by using proper shipping boxes for books. 

I also had to order some copies of the Comic Book Inator from Scholastic too. It was an exclusive and you had to buy it from the Scholastic site! Luckily, they also had a site-wide sale the same weekend as Papercutz! It's a good thing I checked when I did! I bought them right after I placed my Papercutz order and saved some money! I got these copies about a week ago and decided to add the pic of them to this post.

You're probably asking yourself, "Don't they give you copies of the stuff you work on?"

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! No. 

I do have it in my Mad Cave Studios contracts to get two complimentary copies of both the Comic Book Inator and the A-MAZE-ing Creature Double Feature (OGN Vol.1) books. The Comic Book Inator was released back in August and I've still not received anything. The comic industry is in the toilet (DC Comics has always treated me fairly though), and you mostly have to buy your own unless you bother them about honoring their contracts.

Anyway, my box from Papercutz was a nice treat to receive after Christmas! They take a few weeks to fulfill your order, but they do take proper care in getting it to you!

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

This is a cropped close up of a digital illustration I painstakingly did for Delaware County Magazine, which I was Editor-in-Chief and designer for. Unfortunately, the publisher had to shut the business down in fall of 2024 as printer fees, paper costs, ink, distribution fees, etc, etc, etc all played their part. We kept it running as long as we could, and it was sustainable if it wasn't for the constant price increases our printer kept making us pay (I'm looking at you, Gannett). It was a great job and I had fun as I got to do a lot of different and creative work with minimal oversight!

I drew the initial design on paper based on the cover specs we used. Then scanned it in and painted over it in Photoshop, using my tight pencil sketch as a guide. I used the computer mouse to paint with and a set of brushes I had created at the time. Probably could have been much easier if I used a drawing tablet with pen sensitivity (didn't have one at the time) but it came out pretty great in the end! I did a lot more to the illustration than I needed to and used a lot of layers to keep it easy to change (or swap out) some aspect of it. I have 2/3rds of Santa's body done but only used the top half. In the end, I used it twice on two covers we published. First time was in 2019, and then tweaked it to look different in 2023.

This was all done in a pre-AI world. I still have the pencil drawing and still use my Photoshop brushes I created on various work like Scooby and the like.

This particular size and crop was for a holiday card version I created for the magazine to send out to our advertisers. I also created a computer wallpaper and email "thank you" pics.

Hope you like! 

 

Happy 100th Birthday, Winnie The Pooh!

On this Christmas Eve, exactly 100 years ago, Winnie-the-Pooh first appeared by name (he was originally called Edward Bear) in a children's story by A. A. Milne that was commissioned by London's Evening News for Christmas Eve! The story was later included in the first Winnie-the-Pooh book that was published in 1926! 

While my art I'm posting is of the Disney version (which most people generally think of), I'm happy to have worked professionally on such an iconic character who is celebrating a 100th Birthday all next year! 

Long live Winnie and his friends who inhabit the Hundred Acre Wood! 

My New PHINEAS & FERB book arrived on Christmas Eve Day!

I got a surprise today when I got home mid-afternoon from my last minute Christmas errands. My pre-order of the Phineas and Ferb Classic Comics Collection Vol. 5 arrived from Amazon! I ordered two hardcovers from Amazon on their Cyber Monday sale. They were released on the 23rd and I had them in my hands on the 24th! They were supposed to be here on Saturday but they arrived early. A nice Christmasy treat!

PHINEAS & FERB Classic Comics Collection Vol. 5 Out Today!

As this is the day of release for Volume 5, I thought I'd post this as the Papercutz site uses my story art in the preview!

Posted above is the original sketch of a panel and below is the final, revised, original rough art of the full page. You can see the final color version on the Papercutz site! The panel above shows Doof holding up a Perry the Playtpus mock-up which he called a "practipus." It's a log of wood (painted to look like Perry) with a fedora hat, a paper birthday party hat as a beak, tennis balls for eyes, tree twigs for arms, rubber gloves for feet, and a tennis racket (his tail) which is tied to the log. He uses it to taunt and train the Goozim to attack Agent P.

As you can also see at the top, the original title for the story was "Invitation Monster" which got turned into the more exciting "Night of the Goozim!" Things would get changed over the time you did them and you would see the final titles on the work contracts as the job numbers and titles had to match up.

No AI. It was all drawn by hand on paper with care. I feel stupid having to type that, but this is where we are sadly. The original art for this was sold. Another reason to draw on paper!

As with most Disney work, you would get the script and draw it, then submit it, then get any notes or changes to do. If you were lucky, most notes were about fixing small things like noses or hands. You submitted the revised page back to Disney for a final check. Once it was approved you moved onto the next step, which in this case, was the inking stage. Yes, I know my art looks inked. It was, but it was a rough ink job to lock in every aspect as this was Disney. I worked tight when I worked on licensed stuff. If I inked my own work I would normally tweak some minor things as I inked. Not always, but you could catch something that the powers-that-be might have missed. The approval times were quick then (which made it fun) and a fast turnaround to get paid (even better)! Not so much in today's world.

 

Ending the year with TWO new PHINEAS & FERB releases!

As 2025 comes to a close, I have not one but TWO Phineas & Ferb releases I'm part of coming out on Dec 23 and Dec 30! Wow!

DECEMBER 23, 2025

Phineas and Ferb Classic Comics Collection Vol. 5 is out today!

Published by Papercutz 
Distributed by Simon & Shuster

Phineas and Ferb: Classic Comics Collection, Volume 5 collects more of their comic adventures in their original release order — many never collected in a trade paperback before! I did a lot of P&F work and I’m listed as an artist inside, but I can’t tell you what I did inside specifically till I see one. The preview on the Papercutz website has some pages of my art!

Description
School is out for summer, and stepbrothers Phineas and Ferb are determined to make each day an exciting adventure through their outlandish inventions. Their elaborate projects frequently cause trouble for their older sister, Candace, who is constantly trying to catch them in the act and show their mother the evidence of their antics. Despite her efforts, the boys always manage to evade getting caught. Meanwhile, the family’s pet platypus, Perry, leads a secret double life as Agent P, a skilled operative who regularly battles the evil Dr. Doofenshmirtz. Dr. Doofenshmirtz is intent on taking over the Tri-State Area, but Perry’s quick thinking and bravery consistently thwart his plans.

Papercutz: 

https://papercutz.com/product/phineas-and-ferb-classic-comics-collection-vol-5

Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Phineas-Ferb-Classic-Comics-Collection/dp/1545820872

Barnes & Noble: 

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/phineas-and-ferb-classic-comics-collection-vol-5-scott-peterson/1146993046?ean=9781545820872

DECEMBER 30, 2025  

Phineas and Ferb's A-MAZE-ing Creature Double Feature is (finally!) out today!

Published by Papercutz 
Distributed by Simon & Shuster

I did the cover art for this long-awaited release!

Description 
In this outrageous and original double-feature graphic novel, Phineas and Ferb face an oversized maze full of oversized insects and oversized challenges, forcing them to invent their way home! The second story features an alternate reality adventure with Dr Doofenshmirtz as a horror movie TV host teaming up with Phineas and the gang to face real monsters, including a giant feral Perry!
    In the first half of this outrageous and original double feature, Phineas and the gang invent a maze to get lost in, but Doofenshmirtz’s ELONG-inator makes it so big that it absorbs all of Danville; and now everyone ELSE is lost too! Our heroes must invent their way out while Agent P stops Doof from exploiting the maze to take over the entire Tri-State area!
    The second story features an alternate reality take on our fan-favorite characters, with Dr. Doofenshmirtz as a cheesy, late night TV horror movie host. When Phineas and Ferb discover actual monsters in Danville, they seek out Doof’s help, even as Candace, a staunch non-believer, vows to reveal them as frauds. With the help of Doof and his horror movie knowledge, the kids build wild inventions to confront the creepy creatures, before facing their largest monster yet: a gigantic, feral Perry the Platypus! 

Papercutz:

https://papercutz.com/product/phineas-and-ferbs-a-maze-ing-creature-double-feature/

Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Phineas-MAZE-ing-Creature-Double-Feature/dp/154581322

Barnes & Noble: 

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/phineas-and-ferbs-a-maze-ing-creature-double-feature-the-disney-comics-group/1147396649?ean=9781545813225

PAPERCUTZ is having a BIG SALE this weekend! My PHINEAS & FERB work is 50% OFF!

Papercutz is having a BIG SALE from 12/5 to 12/7! Big discounts on my Phineas & Ferb work (50% OFF!), whether you want Digital, Hardcovers or Paperbacks! I think they have better prices than Amazon right now! 

Link here is to my creator profile page! Looks great! They're missing the Classic Comics Collection Vol 3 and the Classic Comics Collection 3-in-1 books on my profile page, but they're on the site and part of the sitewide sale!

https://papercutz.com/creators/scott-neely/

#papercutz #madcavestudios

 

Yet another SCOOBY cover variant that they did for Scholastic Australia!

Here's another interesting variant cover that they did for Scholastic Australia that I found online! This is a compilation book that collected the "Truth About..." book series into one volume. I forget how many were done, but I did two of them at the time. They took my Scooby art from the "Truth About Zombies" book and then changed the overall spotlight lighting and added some other monster art behind my zombies on the left side. It's another cool little find I found recently.

SCOOBY "You Choose" cover variant that was only available from Scholastic Australia!

Found this box cover variant online recently and it was only available from Scholastic Australia for my Scooby-Doo "You Choose" work I did! Looks great, huh? It would be nice if they let you know about it though, but I run across some amazing stuff online. I like to see the foreign/overseas releases. 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN with Phineas and Ferb!

Cover artwork I did for the Phineas and Ferb OGN that is finally coming out next month... though it seems to be more appropriate for the month of October! More on the cover art and all the behind-the-scenes drama soon...

Did not post much this past month as I was busy and had several things to get done in October... Will have much more soon!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SCOOBY-DOO!

On September 13, 1969, which was 56 years ago today, Scooby-Doo Where Are You? premiered on Saturday morning with the first episode titled "What a Night for a Knight"... and a legend was born! ZOINKS!

 

"PHINEAS AND FERB: COMIC BOOK INATOR" is out NOW as a SCHOLASTIC EXCLUSIVE!

Here is a larger version of the final cover art for the NEW Phineas and Ferb: Comic Book Inator I did for Papercutz/Mad Cave Studios! The lead story in it was originally slated to be a "Free Comic Book Day" comic back in May, but it didn't happen. So they merged the final comic with a bunch of classic P&F comics and worked a new deal for it to be released as a Scholastic Exclusive! You can order it directly from Scholastic.com!

More to come as I will be doing a long blog post about it's creation! Plus, the original comic art will be up for sale! No AI here, it was all done by hand on paper, baby!

Scholastic:
https://shop.scholastic.com/parent-ecommerce/books/phineas-and-ferb-the-comic-book-inator-9781545822289.html