Back from the whirlwind of ICON6 in Pasadena!  The entire conference was an incredible experience and well worth the travel.  It was well organized, thoughtful, informative, and an excellent forum to connect with other artists and art directors and feel part of a strong community.  I met some really wonderful artists and was so inspired by everyone’s talent.

Above are photos of my table at the Roadshow, a forum where 100 selected artists showed their wares to invited art directors and buyers from all industries.  You can see a few of the children’s books I’ve illustrated, some postcards, my portfolio, and my animated short Elegy screening on my brother’s laptop.  (Thanks bro!)  My good friend and wonderful talent Julia Lundman also had a table there.

All in all, it was an extremely rewarding experience and I’m convinced I should be attending all future ICONS!  Many thanks to all involved with the organizing, it really was a blast.  And meeting featured guest Todd Oldham was a treat and insanely inspiring!

I’ll be attending ICON6, the illustration conference, in Pasadena this week from July 14th through the 17th.  I’ll also be participating in the Roadshow on Thursday the 15th, where a select group of illustrators will be showing their work to invited art directors, buyers, and media professionals.  Looking forward to some inspiring workshops and meeting incredibly talented folks!

I know I haven’t really been posting too much lately, but here’s why.  I have a series of 4 children’s books coming out in a few months, and luckily I get to show you all a sneak peak.

The series is called Amazing Autumn and is an educational look into some of the fun things that happen during the season.

Click on the pics for a larger view.

These were great fun to do, and I’m looking forward to the opportunity to do more books.  I’ll give a shout out to everyone when they are hot of the press!

I recently had the pleasure of designing some website illustrations for a great local SF rock band for kids, The Sippy Cups.  Their new website is finally up and live on the web, and you can check out all the cool stuff right here, as well as check out some of my art that’s all over the site.

I got to hear one of The Sippy Cups live shows last fall, at an outdoor celebration concert for the grand opening of the new Academy of Science in San Francisco.  What’s great about the Sippy Cups is that their songs not only cater to kids, but are really enjoyable for the parents and adults as well.  They definitely don’t have that super-saccharine Barney-thing going on.  Musically they’re fun and eclectic with a whimsical-punk style, and they even do cover songs of the Ramones and Queen!  All kid-friendly, of course, but super fun for the adults in the crowd.  Plus their live show is incredibly fun and entertaining with an almost circus-like zaniness.

I’ve updated my site to include some of these Sippy Cups website illustrations, so please feel free to take a peek here!

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!

For the Totoro Forest Project!  Visit the website and start bidding away on all the fantastic art for this great cause!  Online bidding ends, I believe, Friday night, and the highest bid for each piece will be the starting bid for the final auction this Saturday night, Sept. 6th.  You may still end up with the piece you want even if you can’t attend the auction in person!

Keep checking the official blog as the organizers are constantly updating with new information and showcasing many of the artists.

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!

I’ve been lousy poster as of late. It started a little over a month ago when I came down with a nasty little bout of tonsillitis, and continued after I got better and busy with work.

Something big is in the works which I am grateful to have been asked to be a part of. It hasn’t officially been announced yet, so I have to hold off on letting you in on the details. However, it’s related to the photo above which is my blank canvas. Or blank paper to be precise about it. Not a great photo or anything, but you get the idea.

Preparing my paper/canvas for a painting or illustration is an exercise I really get into. There’s something quietly serene and pure about cutting the paper, setting it to my board, taping the edges, and sizing it to paint on. It’s become a little ritual, a little offering to the gods of creativity out there who I hope will lend me a little bit of their sugar. I’m hoping to show you what happens with this one soon. Hopefully when this whole thing is announced!

One of my favorite children’s book illustrators is Trina Schart Hyman who sadly passed away in 2004 of breast cancer. She won 4 Caldecott medals for her work in children’s books which is no small feat, and she was the art director of Cricket Magazine during the 70’s. (Cricket was cool!) My introduction to her work was through the gift of a Peter Pan book for Christmas when I was nine years old.

Peter Pan was and still is a huge favorite of mine, but Trina’s illustrations in this particular edition brought the story to life in a whole new way for me. Gone were the cutesy Disney designs from the animated film.

Here was a raw and primal vision of Pan in stark black and white, emoting love, rage, curiosity, bravado and naiveté. I literally fell in love with this romantic vision of Peter Pan, the fierceness of this Tiger Lily, the warmth of this Wendy and the cruelty of this Hook and his pirates. No other Pan can be real for me. No other can compare.

Trina’s astonishing draftsmanship was and still is pure magic to me. But there is warmth and richness to her drawings and compositions that take my breath away.

It’s hard for me to describe. But there is something more than just technical prowess here. Trina captured something archetypal and intangible, and each time I look at these drawings they make me want to cry because of the rawness and vulnerability that is somehow apparent to me.

Or maybe I’m just being sentimental. I was nine after all! And yet, why do I still feel the same way looking at these images now, as I did back then? It’s magic. And that’s the quality I would love to have as I keep doing what I do.