About Us..

Kitten Hawk is a graphic novel written and illustrated by Smudge Miramar. A veteran of the film and games industry, Smudge set out to create an efficient production pipeline for comic creation by applying his game industry skills. Using 3D models and rendered scenes, he aimed to reduce the need for drawing every frame while maintaining visual consistency. Initially, the process was somewhat cumbersome—modeling characters, rigging them for posing, and creating animatable structures took time. But once the first few characters and vehicles were completed, along with photos of his own backyard (yes, Smudge lives in a rainforest in New Zealand), the workflow became far more streamlined.

Kitten Hawk took around seven weeks of full-time work, five days a week, to complete. For Smudge, it was more of a passion project than a commercial endeavor. While there’s an idea to develop it into an animated TV series, Smudge is currently enjoying his retirement and isn’t feeling especially driven to pursue it just yet.

The story of Kitten Hawk was inspired when Smudge's four cats mysteriously went missing for three days, leaving him worried and wondering what adventures they might be having. This sparked the idea: what if they were off on a wild quest, like searching for Colonel Kurtz from Apocalypse Now? And so, Kitten Hawk was born—a blend of cuteness, mechs, explosions, and a promise that no animals would be harmed. This became the winning formula for the graphic novel.