Photo by Carlos Baena

Wow, what an incredible event!  This past Saturday night we saw over 200 beautiful artworks get sold at the Totoro Forest Project auction that took place at Pixar.  Every single piece sold!  Now that is a resounding success!  The estimated final tally for the Sayama Forest charity is $201,236!  Wow, that’s double what they were hoping for!  I was salivating myself over all the incredibly beautiful art, and getting the chance to meet so many artists that I deeply admire and am truly inspired by.

Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to bring cameras inside, but a select few photographers were there to document the event.  You can see some photos here at AWN’s blog.

There’s more to come!  All of the artwork will be exhibiting at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco from Sept 20th through February of 2009.  On a rotating basis I believe though, because of space constraints at the museum.  Opening reception will be held sometime in early December.

Also the Totoro Forest Project book will be available soon for purchase online.  Keep checking the blog for details.

A special thanks to all the hard work of Dice Tsutsumi, Enrico Casarosa, Ronnie del Carmen, and Yukino Pang who worked so tirelessly to make this entire thing possible!

All right gang, this is it. (I will stand my ground and say that my 2 readers formally constitute a gang!) The Totoro Forest Project is now formally being announced and the organizers have created this nifty website that will tell you all about it in more detail. Above is my framed contribution to this great cause.

In quick summary, this will be a charity auction to help save the “Totoro Forest” in Japan which was the inspiration for Hayao Miyazaki’s masterpiece “My Neighbor Totoro.” The auction will take place at Pixar Animation Studios on September 6th. But please make sure to visit the website for the full details, since there is so much more, including a book cataloging the event and all the art, and an exclusive exhibition at the Cartoon Art Museum!

The website is not fully complete as they still need to get some more artwork and artist bios up there, but it should be filling up soon. I learned that, like my own piece, some of the artist’s scans weren’t so great and so they are taking the time to re-photo or scan those paintings for better quality. My big thanks to Yukino Pang of the Asian Art Museum who told me she could arrange to have a higher quality photo taken of mine.

Another big thank you goes to my friend Dice Tsutsumi, art director at Pixar, who invited me to participate. I am truly thankful, and am deeply in awe of all the artists that are participating.

The finished illustration from here. The scan is a bit funky because of a gloss coat over the painting, but ah well. This piece will need to find a happy home with someone at a charity event coming up. The event still has not been officially announced, but I will send out links and info as soon as I am able. And yes, there was a theme… It’s going to be a doozy!

Here are a couple things I discovered this weekend while visiting home for Christmas. I found my very first record album I ever owned! My parents bought me this It’s a Small World folk song album when I was probably about three years old. I remember listening to this incessantly, and as you can see it’s pretty well worn. A children’s choir sings various folk songs, and of course the theme song is thrown in there. The words to the songs are on the back, so when I was old enough to read, I would sing along with the record.

I also adored the album art as a kid. I loved all the different costumes on all the children, and I remember trying to guess and figure out where each child was from based on what they were wearing. And what do I discover now? This fun and striking art was done by none other than Mary Blair. Signed by her on the lower right corner. Fitting, since she designed the ride at Disneyland!

Also, I came across my maquette for Julius, my character from my animated short Elegy. This was the first sculpture/maquette I ever created, not counting a bust I had to make for a class ages ago. I made this about four years ago with sculpey and painted him with acrylics as part of my pre-production for my animation. There are supposed to be puppets on strings hanging from his hands, but I never had the chance to attach them. I actually had sculpted the little puppets too, but they were reeeaaally clumsy. As is this maquette, but I still find it charming.

Julius holds a special place for me. His character pops up for me now and then, in some form or another. I’m sure you’ve noticed that in his most recent incarnation he’s been enjoying the snow with his red umbrella. He’s become a bit shorter since the making of this maquette and the animation. I liked the soft warm glow of the Christmas tree lights that bathes him here.

I got to see a screening of Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis last night at the newly remodeled Sundance Kabuki Theater. It was quite the event, with complimentary hors d’oeuvres and popcorn, a man playing some lovely music on a giant standing bass, and media and press people flitting about. But the star was Marjane who was there herself, along with her co-director of the animated film.

Based on her autobiographical graphic novels, Persepolis follows Marjane’s story of growing up in Iran during the revolution, and her life outside of her homeland, when she flees. The animation closely follows the stark black and white graphic style of her comics, but has also been flourished with shades of gray and minute instances of color. There are so many striking moments, visually, graphically. Some scenes are told with only images, and ultimately end up being more powerful than if they had included dialogue.

Marjane discussed her story and her views in a brief interview on stage before the screening, and her striking firebrand of a personality really burst through. However, her sly humor also was very apparent. And despite the horrors that she faced during the revolution in Iran, and some of the horror that is depicted in in her story, Persepolis is just as much about the humor and absurdity of life and of coming of age in this modern world. I loved it, and will see it again when it is released in theaters.

I just had a chance to check out the the animation design of Mary Blair over at the Cartoon Art Museum. I wasn’t aware of Mary as one of the first women concept designers for Disney, or her work by itself. However, you instantly recognize her style, since her designs and color styles are distinctly apparent in such classics as Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, Peter Pan, The Three Caballeros, and more. She designed the It’s a Small World ride in Disneyland! You can’t escape her work. We have all grown up with her style and whimsy, and I find myself smiling at images of her art that keep popping up in my mind. She managed to capture something iconic, full of warmth, surreal, and yet playful in her designs. I can only hope to try to emulate some her essence in my own work. Go check out the exhibit! It’s up through March 18th, 2008.

Maverix Studios is hosting another art auction, this one benefiting Glide Memorial Church, here in San Francisco. Finally I’ve come around and made a piece for this one! The auctions are always a great event to raise money for various causes and I’m happy to be able to contribute.

Some of you may remember Julius from Elegy. He somehow always finds his way back…

The list is getting longer! Elegy will screen in Hypefest, July 29-31 in Hollywood, CA. It’s also made it into the Woods Hole Film Festival in Cape Cod, MA, screening from July 30 - August 6.

I was notified yesterday that Elegy was a finalist in the prestigious USA Film Festival in Dallas, TX. This particular festival is an Academy Award qualifier, so it’s rather exciting to have even gotten to finalist level!

Elegy will be showing in the following festivals — the Moondance International Film Festival in Boulder, CO. And the Jackson Hole Film Festival in Jackson, WY. All in all, very exciting. The weekend of May 12, Elegy will be screening at three different festivals at the same time! The Kalamazoo Animation Festival, Antelope Valley Independent Film Festival, and Moondance International Film Festival.