An Interview with Scott Neely

This week, I had the honor of interviewing Scott Neely. Scott is a professional illustrator who has worked on a ton of Scooby-Doo books, comic series, coloring books, DVD covers, and other illustrative projects for the franchise. Scott is a veteran with the franchise, and has been working on Scooby projects for 25 years. Outside of his illustration work, Scott also has taught courses about illustration, which he details in the interview. Check out my interview with Scott below, which includes a special announcement of a brand new Scooby project that Scott worked on, which will be releasing later this month!

ScoobySnax.com: What inspired you to become a professional illustrator? Were there any pivotal moments or experiences that led you to choose this career, or have you known this was your passion since you were a kid?
Scott Neely: I learned to read by reading comics. My mother would tell you that. Spidey Super Stories was a big thing for me. I had to know what was going on from all those exciting panels. Comics were cheap and accessible back then! I basically “graduated” from Spidey Super Stories to Marvel Tales starring Spider-Man to then realizing that Marvel Tales was just reprinting stories from Amazing Spider-Man. Spider-Man and Batman were my big two. I was into Superman comics when the first movie came out with Christopher Reeve.

In 1982, the crack habit of collecting comics fully started with Amazing Spider-Man #231, which I picked up at a 7-11 one afternoon after school. A comic book, Snickers bar, and a Coke-A-Cola Slurpee is pure magic. When I got to that last page… I HAD to know what happened next! That started seeking out comics and then finding the local comic store and the weekly trip for new books every Friday (comic stores got new books on Fridays back then).

The Star Wars comic that Marvel did was also pivotal for me. I was seven when Star Wars came out and it was my Holy Bible. I couldn’t get enough and The Art of Star Wars book showed me that people actually drew and designed the stuff that would wind up on the big screen!

Comics and films were majorly influential in my life. I loved Saturday Morning Cartoons as well, and Hanna-Barbera and Filmation did all that stuff. I knew I wanted to draw comics and cartoons, but they are also a lot of work! I’m self-taught in art. They say you have 10,000 bad drawings in you, and it’s true! You have to get them all out! I learned graphic design in high school and had a great teacher who pushed me. I took to graphic design like a fish does to water, and I won several “Celebration of the Arts” awards over two years. I knew where my strengths were early on. I was lucky in that respect. 

Scott drawing a Scooby-Doo comic

ScoobySnax.com: How did you get started in the field? What was the first project you ever worked on?
Scott Neely: The easy part is finding the passion, but that’s when the industry crumbles as you try to enter it! 

Back in 1993, I went to Comic Fest ‘93 in Philly and walked out with several jobs. It was an exciting time, then a year later, the industry started to crash. No one saw it coming, unless you were on the outside of the bubble. First thing I worked on was drawing Star Wars stuff for West End Games who did the role-playing games back then. I also had a Star Wars Galaxy Series 3 trading card in 1995. I got the deal at the convention in ‘93. I was to be in Series 2, but they ran out of room and moved me to the third series which was released in 1995. To my good fortune, my card was picked out and reprinted in 2021 in a new set! That was unknown to me, but very exciting in that I knew I put a LOT of effort into that art!

When the comic industry really went down the toilet, I got into advertising art and graphic design. In the late ‘90s, I was working in The Franklin Mint doing conceptual product design art. 

At that time, I had a friend who’s girlfriend worked at Golden Books in New York. I was pursuing doing more Star Wars art as the license for Episode 1 was in the industry pipeline. Ultimately, Golden Books lost the license battle to Random House, but I was offered some work on this thing called Pokémon, and I took the work. It was quick, easy, and fun to do! There were only 150 characters back then. I still have the model sheets they mailed me. Now everything is through the internet. 

In late summer of 1999, they asked me if I wanted to audition for a new license they just got. It was for Scooby-Doo. I said yes as it was possibly more work in my possible future. Nothing more or less. Looking back now, who knew?! I had to do two audition pieces for it based on two scenes they gave you. I did them and sent them in. I still have them here in my studio. I got picked over all the others who auditioned! I remember when the Golden Books designer in charge of Scooby called me and told me I got it. It was pretty cool! I would meet someone years later who came up to me at a convention and told me that they had auditioned for it too but “somehow they picked mine” he said with a jealous, friendly smirk.

I’ve done many auditions since then, some I’ve gotten and some I didn’t. I’ve worked on over 30 different licenses but I’m mostly known for Scooby. It’s my longest-running affiliation with something. Scooby and I have lasted longer than some marriages! The truth is that I liked Scooby-Doo, not loved it. It was a potential work for me and I thought I could build off of it. That certainly happened! I watched it growing up and I loved the painted backgrounds and mystery stories. While the stories may be so-so looking back, it was the main characters who remain solid.

I did ALL the Scooby-related art for Golden Books. I said yes to everything as The Franklin Mint was shutting down at that time. I worked on 4 Scooby projects at one time in the fall of ‘99. I remember they gave the Scooby Alien Invaders coloring book (with stickers) to someone else and they were having issues getting it right. The style was slightly different than the Classic ‘69 look. My designer mentioned it to me and I said, “I’ll do it!” They were really apprehensive about it as I had three projects on my drawing table, but I was a machine back then and everything got done on time.

When Golden Books went under, Dalmatian Press took up the license and gave me a TON of work to do across the board for ten years! Dalmatian Press was fun to work for and I can’t speak highly enough of them, but sadly, they’re no longer in business. The world has changed a lot in the publishing world and a lot of things are now aimed more towards the digital marketplace. 

I should mention that I’ve always loved coloring and activity books! I grew up with them and they were always around! I do collect them as an adult and have many of the ones that I had as a kid, although these are mint and unused. There was something to them and I would be proven correct in the future as the coloring book would hit the mainstream as a zen thing for adults who wanted to relax. Go figure!

Scott's sketch of the cover of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? #44

ScoobySnax.com: In your 25+ years with the franchise, what has been your favorite Scooby-Doo project to work on?
Scott Neely: I have to say that I have a few things that I really love that I did, but the one that really pops in my mind was the Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated book I did for Scholastic in 2010-11. I had to do an audition for it too! I had to match the style of the show in terms of character art and the backgrounds! I had to figure out out to mimic the way the backgrounds were painted. I’m still quite proud of it now. It was to be the first in a series of books based on the show, but the show sadly tanked and Cartoon Network was burning off the second season episodes to end it quickly. Cartoon Network was in trouble then too, which is a whole other story. I could have potentially drawn that version of Scooby for a while, but luckily, Warner Bros gave my name to Capstone Publishing and I did a whole LOT of classic Scooby for them over the course of four years (28 books). All that stuff was fun to do! I said yes to everything when they asked me! They asked me to do some Tom & Jerry work in 2020 during the pandemic, but I turned it down due to the really rushed deadline they needed it by.

SDMI: "Beware the Beast from Below" cover

ScoobySnax.com: You’ve illustrated a number of original Scooby-Doo stories, as well as re-imaginings of classic Scooby episodes and films. Do you enjoy illustrating for one more than the other? If so, why?
Scott Neely: No, it’s all good. The characters are mostly intact while the look may change. All the main commercial work features the Classic ‘69 Look. That’s what WB Global Publishing goes by at least. It’s like seeing a Marvel or DC Comics t-shirt at a mainstream outlet like Walmart, Target, or Five Below and it’s always some classic (“Retro,” dare I say) piece of art that is used on it.

I started with the Classic ‘69 Look, then the What’s New, Scooby-Doo? Look came in for several years and was the standard, then it went back to the Classic ‘69 Look and has stayed that way since. The Mystery Incorporated Look only lasted for the one thing I did. Although, the only other thing that used that look were the Scooby-Doo action figures they made. They switched them out with new molds to give them the Mystery Incorporated Look. I have both sets. I don’t know if they switched back as toy stores like Toys ‘R Us are no longer around.

Also, I should make note that the character of Scrappy-Doo has seemed to turn the corner. When I first started drawing Scooby, I was working on a Scooby-themed book that featured food. For one of the stickers, I drew Scrappy holding an ice cream cone. When I got the revision notes back at the time, I saw that Scrappy had a big, thick black X on him! Ha! I asked about it and was told that “Scrappy was crappy.” Again, WB Global Publishing kept it strictly to the Classic ‘69 Look and anything after the 1969-70 series was “disavowed” at the time, for lack of a better term. It wasn’t until the first live-action movie, where Scrappy (voiced by friend Scott Innes) made a comeback of sorts. I would insert Scrappy in as a joke—just to see if I could get away with it—but it was pulled every time. 

The only other look I drew was in a panel of a comic for DC where I had a photo flashback and I was able to draw the characters as they looked in A Pup Named Scooby-Doo. That was fun to do but I had to ask permission before I did it. The comic work was a little more lax in terms of doing things.

A page from the SDMI "Beware the Beast from Below" book

ScoobySnax.com: If you could work on any existing franchise that you’ve not yet illustrated for, what would be your dream project?
Scott Neely: A true “dream project” would be something that I straightout created and owned. 

The problem with the existing franchise idea is that if I wanted to draw Spider-Man, it would look like the classic art from John Romita that I grew up with. That tone and feel is what I would do and I don’t know if I would even be allowed to do that. What they do now is not “my” Spider-Man. These days you have all these useless “Spiderverse” characters shoehorned into everything. This is a hard question as I’m the “old man in the room.” 

Batman’s utility belt and costume are different, though the silhouette remains the same if you kept him in the shadows. I just have that Neal Adams/Jim Aparo look in my head that I would shoot for. Current stuff just kind of misses the mark for me, but that’s just age creeping in. I still love the comic medium itself though. 

I would be completely happy with drawing an issue of the Batman ‘66 comic (if they were still doing it). Or a possibly a Batman/Scooby-Doo thing if I could draw Batman as he looked on Superfriends, or how he looked on the ‘68 Filmation Batman cartoon. I would probably be the only one who would read it though!

Scott's cover for The Truth Behind Mummies book

ScoobySnax.com: You’ve also taught a number of classes about cartooning and character design. How did you become involved in teaching?
Scott Neely: This is a long story, but the short version is that I was taking a life drawing class at a local community college in the mid to late-90s. I got to know the teacher well as it was an “after hours” college thing and anyone could join the class if they signed up and paid the tuition fee.

The teacher, as I later found out, also taught a Saturday morning art class with kids. For some reason, I was up at the college one weekend and I walked past a classroom thinking that I heard her voice and I poked my head in. It was her and she asked me if I wanted to do some quick drawing lessons with the kids. I don’t know why she suggested it… but she later said that she thought that I would be good with kids. I did a step-by-step drawing of something and didn’t notice that she had left the room. When I turned around again she was back with some guy, who I would find out later, was the head of community education for the college. He watched what I was doing and then invited me to do a summer camp class for the kids, if I was interested. It can happen just that fast. I said okay as it was great money, and thinking back, they never asked me about a lesson plan or anything. I have no teaching degree either! I guess they were really desperate to fill the spot that summer! They just kicked me into the wild and let me do it. That first time was truly a “crucible of fire” for me, which is another story.

Once I figured it all out, I did classes for many years for the college. I also had classes at several other places, or I would get invited to do libraries, schools, etc. I did classes for kids, adults, and seniors. They were mostly fun and paid well. I would always ask for a “thank you” letter which I collected to show I did an appearance. They’re fun to look back at. I eventually got burned out on it all. Most of the classes were on Saturdays and I just didn’t want to give up half my weekend anymore at one point. I needed a long break.

Scott's cover for one of the 'You Choose' books

ScoobySnax.com: In 2014, you wrote your first Scooby-Doo story for DC Comics. You mentioned in another interview that you had 12 other comic ideas with an overarching plot that were not picked up by WB. If you’re able to share, what was the story arc you wanted to explore in the idea you pitched?
Scott Neely: Oh, yeah! I had several stories but the main thing I pitched was “The Return of The Creeper.” I still have my teaser art I drew for it! I skipped over DC and went directly to the guy at WB who loved it, but the comic format no longer allowed for the long-form story that I wanted to tell. I had to do it in ten pages. That was the format that WB wanted to stay with as they could republish 10-page stories around the world. Also, when DC cut back to save money, instead of having two new 10-page stories they would do one new story and reprint an old one. That’s still the current format for Scooby-Doo and Looney Tunes, and they’re not monthly anymore either. I understand the finances of it.

“The Return of The Creeper” was a large storyline that built over time over the course of 12 full 22-page comics. I still have my flowchart and story breakdowns for it. Looking back, it was episodic in the way that Mystery Incorporated was. The main idea came from an episode of Breaking Bad where you saw this storage locker with a large pallet of cash stacked on it. For some reason, I thought about the bank manager, Mr. Carlswell, in the original Creeper episode. What if the Crystal Cove bank wasn’t the only bank he stole from? He could have been at this for a long time! What if there was a whole lot of stolen money that was never found after he was arrested? That started it off. From there I built in stories of new random thefts around town that would ultimately lead to the Gang thinking it was return of The Creeper. Only they find out that Carlswell died in prison of a heart attack. So who was in The Creeper costume now? 

I also wanted to build on the idea that they didn’t catch the monster/villain/etc at the end. It was built to keep it going. Much like the original Spider-Man/Hobgoblin storyline by Roger Stern was so compelling in the mid-80s! Man, those were great comics! My storyline really was episodic like Mystery Incorporated though I wasn’t thinking that at the time. I just thought the Scooby comics that DC did were a quick in-and-out. I would absolutely be up for writing my story as a Young Adult novel! That could be the best way to do it now in a trilogy of books.

Scott's cover for The Truth Behind Zombies

ScoobySnax.com: Of all the franchises you’ve worked on, do you have a favorite?
Scott Neely: Nope! I have to be honest in that I’m lucky! I got to work on a LOT of cool stuff! I went where the wind and the opportunities took me. I have said this before, but I’m glad that I worked on popular characters that are known to most people. That was absolutely, positively key in my career, along with making sure I got a credit line for whatever I did! Golden Books thought I was insane to want my name in a coloring book. Nobody did that back then. My designers that I worked with all told me that I was the only one who insisted on that and they would have a chuckle at office meetings. 

What did that effort get me? A hell of a lot of recognition! WB got to know my name and they requested me by name for the upcoming Cartoon Network properties at the time. Even Golden Books stood back and took notice of that! I remember the phone call from my designer telling me that news. She was amazed! My career grew, literally, on word of mouth. This was also during the early days of the internet as well, mostly. Phone calls and the fax machine were still king in terms of getting notes and revisions.

I was invited to try out and join the Disney Storybook Artists group way back in 2001 or so. My designer gave me the contact info and was pushing me to do it as so many things were up in the air. I turned it down as you would then be under that umbrella and didn’t get any individual credit. Everything would be credited as done by “Disney Storybook Artists.” You were basically trading any individual credit for a stream of constant flowing work. I chose to stay independent. I made the right decision... for me. I did know others who had done it and they told me there were some regrets they had in the long run. To an extent, it makes me sound like Dustin Hoffman in Wag The Dog when he keeps saying at the end “I want the credit.” HAHA! It doesn’t sound petty in today’s world as everyone basically gets a credit line, but back then I felt it was so important to build something off the work.

If I was drawing, let’s say, Firestorm for DC, where the hell would I be? No one knows who that character is except for a comic collector. Most artists, these days, would just say they work for DC or Marvel and let that brand identification take hold in someone’s mind. I have a luxury of saying “Scooby-Doo” and who doesn’t know about Scooby? It’s very specific and you get a smile when they hear you say it.

A page from the SDMI: Beware the Beast from Below book

ScoobySnax.com: Do you have any advice for anyone who is looking to become an artist or illustrator?
Scott Neely: This is a very hard question to answer in early 2025. If you had asked me 5 years ago I would have had a different answer, but right now, in the current industry, things are quite scary. Economic issues, studio strikes, streaming rights and lack of royalties, AI usage, AI training on copyrighted works, declining readership, etc, etc. 

It’s a perfect storm. I am worried about my own career! I never really had to go out and look for work. I just got contacted out of the blue with offers. The studios gave out my name and life was easy. I’m thankful for that, but the game has really changed. I’m glad that I’ve done what I’ve done when I did it. For a young artist, I’m not saying it’s impossible but it’s going to be much harder.

When I go to LinkedIn and see people I know in the animation business who are now “open to work” after 20-30 years at one place… it’s shocking. There are many super-talented people that have been kicked out into the wild. Things were always freelance in my field, but many places are still floundering in many ways since the pandemic. WB was the last place where they would hire remote workers for animation work, but they were also getting hell for having storyboards done overseas for much less money. Plus, there are apparently economic benefits to producing content and then shelving it rather than releasing it. Scooby’s yearly direct-to-dvd movies are done. So are the Tom & Jerry ones. They’ve cancelled or shelved a lot of Scooby content the past few years. (One case in point to this shelving trend, check out actor Tim Matheson’s fantastic memoir, Damn Glad To Meet You, and read page 286!)

I’d also like to mention that the approval process is taking so much longer. This is simply a killer. I don’t know if they fired or downsized the people doing it, but this is highly concerning. If you buy a license and are trying to get things done for a deadline, you are left hanging with lengthy wait times. Approvals used to be two weeks, or less! I’ve had them in three days. In terms of licensing, many companies like WB, Disney, Dreamworks, etc would also rather sub out the IP work to a company who pays for the license and then has to produce it. The studios just sit back, approve things, and collect the money. They’re just IP farms for the most part nowadays. 

Most publishers, as I mentioned before, are also focusing more on digital content over print. Plus, they’re using older art or recycling art they already had. I was approved and on the list to draw the Sesame Steeet characters, but never got any work as they had two other artists who had been doing it for a long time and they defered to them first with any new projects. Last time I inquired, Sesame Workshop were recycling older art from their back catalog to save money, which is fine.

In terms of comic book work, I recently found out that I was apparently living “too high on the hog” ten years ago as the pay today is MUCH less today. Outside of the big two (Marvel and DC), comic pages rates are in the toilet. Most places pay well for a cover, but the interior page rates are savagely low.
(Don’t believe me? https://www.vice.com/en/article/its-impossible-to-make-money-for-most-writers-and-artists-in-comics/)

I could go on and on...   

Be that as it may, there are opportunities for young artists! You need to create them. Would you rather draw Spider-Man or own Spider-Man? Let’s just say that it’s better to own the house than rent a room in it. You need to focus on your OWN creations or be a part of something where you have a creative say AND ownership in it. Forget working or relying on the big studios for work! Right now, there are small groups of animation artists forming their own small studios to produce work that they have some equity in. You need to be creating your own personal work and name as a “brand.” If people like you, they may well buy whatever you are currently doing. We used to go to a new Spielberg movie that was opening because it was a Spielberg movie! His artistic vision was enough to get us in the seats.

Finally, I do think there is or will be a continuing market for hand-drawn original artwork! Yes, cheaper art prints will make some money, but the thrill of holding and appreciating a one-of-a-kind original may well become vogue again. With all the digital content around us, I believe that a physical tactile thing will find its place among younger people trying to unplug back into the physical world. Thankfully, eBay and Etsy (and many other sites) allow for art to grow. These days, you definitely need to have several avenues of revenue coming in at all times. 

Scott's cover for the eighth 'You Choose' book

ScoobySnax.com: If you can share, are there any projects you’re working on now that you want to plug?
Scott Neely: I have a few things that I can mention, and the more fully written posts for these are on my art blog, scottneelyart.blogspot.com: 

1) In November 2024, I was contacted by NBC Universal as they wanted to use a piece of my art on the spin off TV series Suits LA. I signed a release for it thinking it was a one-off to be in an episode for some reason and was then told that it was to be part of the permanent set decoration for a character’s office and that I might be seeing it often. As I do this interview, I know who the character is but their office wasn’t seen in the pilot as that was shot and greenlit as a series before I was contacted. I signed my release the week of the first table read for the first season. They were moving quick to finalize things. I’ll post more on my blog as I find out more as I have no idea what they will do with it. No, it’s not Scooby.
https://scottneelyart.blogspot.com/2025/03/a-piece-of-my-art-to-be-on-tv-spinoff.html

2) Upper Deck is releasing a Fleer Scooby-Doo trading card set! It will be out on March 19th! I am one of the artists who have done original hand-drawn sketchcards for it! All the cards I created were approved! I did 15 mini-masterpieces that some lucky fans may wind up with as they were all placed in varying packs at the manufacturer. I have two “Artist Proof” cards that I retained and will be selling those online this year. These are one-of-a-kinds and I’m quite proud of them! I’ll have a big post on my blog about the process of doing them right after the March release date!
https://www.dacardworld.com/entertainment/fleer-scooby-doo-trading-cards-hobby-box-upper-deck-2025#moredetails

3) Capstone Publishing came out with a 2nd box set release of my Scooby-Doo “You Choose” books I did. There are 4 paperbacks in the second set. I did a LOT of Scooby for Capstone, and there are two box sets currently available, although the individual books still look available out there.
https://shop.capstonepub.com/Shop/s/product/detail/01t4z00000Adea4AAB

4) Papercutz is reprinting the Phineas and Ferb comics that I did! They are back in print with the Phineas and Ferb Classic Comics Collection. I have work that I did in Volumes 2, 3, 4, and 5 from what I’ve seen so far. Volume 3 was recently released on February 18, 2025! They are also releasing them as hardcovers and as paperbacks! I’m quite proud of that work!
https://papercutz.com/product-tag/phineas-and-ferb/

5) Speaking of trading cards, I mentioned earlier that Topps reprinted my Star Wars Galaxy trading card I did way back in 1995! It was reprinted for a new Topps set in 2021 called the Topps Chrome Star Wars Galaxy Trading Cards and are available on eBay from many sellers. That was a cool turn of events and I was surprised to find out about it accidently. There is a base card and they made limited numbered variants as well of it. Wow! Would be nice if they told you though.
https://scottneelyart.blogspot.com/2025/03/my-1995-star-wars-galaxy-trading-card.html

A huge thanks to Scott for taking the time out of his busy schedule to do this interview! I really appreciate how in-depth his answers were, and loved getting to hear his stories about his time with the franchise. For those wanting to hear more stories from Scott, you're in luck! Scott was kind enough to contribute three behind-the-scenes tidbits for our weekly fun fact posts, and they'll be posted over the next three weeks (starting next Monday) leading up to the 550th fun fact on March 24. I hope you all enjoyed reading my interview with Scott. Be sure to check back each Monday to read a fun fact about Scott's career and work on Scooby!