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Fifteen years ago, commercial signwriter Ivan Clarke reached for a finer brush and began painting the story of the Lonely Dog.
His change of paintbrush has paid off, as his limited-edition book of paintings, The Lonely Dog Almalogue, is to be made into an animated film by top Hollywood studio Warner Bros.
The film will be produced by Akiva Goldsman, who produced the Will Smith blockbuster Hancock last year and won an Oscar for his script writing on A Beautiful Mind in 2002.
The son of a painter, Clarke said he never aspired to follow his father until he become bored with his commercial painting job in Auckland.
"I shut up shop and set up in Queenstown, a place I'd always loved as a kid," he said.
He started painting landscapes, and came up with the Lonely Dog motif while "just horsing around with a paintbrush".
"Years before, I had been farming with a team of dogs and I joked that I'd one day write about their antics. I never imagined it would come to this."
Originally a series of paintings, Lonely Dog quickly expanded into an entire fantasy world - complete with sketches, stories and sculptures - and earned a loyal following of local and international collectors.
The Lonely Dog world is encapsulated in the Almalogue - a leatherbound, handmade book that weighs more than 4kg, of which there are only 95 copies. The most recent copies sold for $60,000.
Having already caught the eye of Oscar-winner Richard Taylor, who helped fashion limited-edition bronze sculptures of the characters, Clarke's work drew the attention of Warner Bros late last year.
Lonely Dog company chief executive Graham Burt said it was too early to know when the film would be released or where it would be made, but everyone involved in the project was extremely enthusiastic about it.
Clarke said he was nervously excited at the prospect of a Lonely Dog film.
"I have no idea what I will do for the movie, but I am along for the ride.
"It is quite a complex story - I have put my heart into developing this fantasy world which is far bigger than a movie.
"But since its inception, I have always thought, 'If this is going to be a movie, what components can we use to make it successful?'"
- ADDITIONAL REPORTING: Isaac Davison
