Wow, so in three days $100, $200, and $500 dollar tickets to the charity auction at Pixar have already sold out! There’s still time to snag tickets to the event, but seems like you’ll have to be quick. $300 tickets are all that are left and I don’t know how many. Click here for the site to get your tickets. All proceeds go to charity!

Also, the Totoro Forest Project has put up a blog to keep everyone updated.

Tickets are are sale today for the big auction at Pixar!  Check below for the message from Dice Tsutsumi, Pixar art director and the organizer of this special event!

Many of you have been wondering when and how you can buy tickets for the upcoming Totoro Forest Art Auction Benefit Event to be held here at Pixar on September 6th. Finally we are ready to start selling these online! The first pre-sale will start monday 8/11 at 10am. Here’s the options available - Please note that all tickets include the stunning Art of Totoro Forest Book (worth $40)

Forest Friend - $100 regular admission + book.
Forest Sponsor - $200 includes admission + book + signed limited edition print
Forest Champion - $300 includes middle VIP live auction seating + book + signed limited edition print + gift certificate to Blowfish Sushi
Forest Hero - $500 includes front VIP live auction seating + book + an original drawing by one of the artists

Tickets will go on sale at this LINK exactly at 10AM Monday! We have a rather limited numbers of tickets so we suggest acting quickly if you want to be part of this event. Remember many of the donating artists will be in attendance, this will be a night to remember!! All the “Totoro inspired” art is up for preview at TotoroForestProject.org. All proceed will be donated to the Totoro Forest Foundation!! Let me know if you have any questions.

Woo, finally got around to updating my website with some new work! Feel free to poke around in the Concept & Story section where there is quite a bit of newer work up. Some of it you may have seen on this blog, some you have not.

I’ve also finally added some sculptures to the heretofore empty Sculpture section, and changed Books so that it reflects the upcoming release of the Totoro Forest Project publication. Enjoy!

I only managed to get three books at Comicon, but since things are pretty pricey at Stuart Ng books, this was my limit!

Picked up a book of Henry Yan’s beautiful figure drawings. Henry is an instructor here in SF at the Academy of Art, and his figure work is particularly striking to me because of the energy and dynamic quality he is able to capture, while keeping everything loose and playful. Really gorgeous stuff.

Also finally picked up two books of Toppi’s work. My colleague Brian O’Connell introduced me to Toppi a few years ago, and I was stunned by his linework, composition, use of silhouette, negative space, and looseness. The texture and patterns he incorporates are incredibly appealing and rich. I’ve been salivating over picking up some of his work ever since. There are definite influences of Gustav Klimt, and I see quite a bit of Barron Storey and Bill Sienkiewicz in there as well. The copy in both books is entirely in French, however, and I have a lot of brushing up to do to help me get through it!

Whew! Finally updated to the newer version of Wordpress. It’s always a bit harrowing doing an update since I usually end up trying to fix some random part that gets broken along the way. But at least everything seems to be up and running smoothly. Please let me know if you notice something a little off. Should be getting some posts up soon!

Aaaah. Back from the massive nerdage of Comicon in San Diego. I’m still recovering, and I have to say that quite honestly, this event is way too geeky for me. I really can’t understand hordes of people who painstakingly dress as their favorite characters. But they are always welcome here.

I was at the event with my client Dee to shop around a particular project we’re working on. I’ll talk more about that in another post, but feedback was positive and we’ll be following up with several publishers and perhaps even a studio for our comic idea. I also managed to pick up a few books, but again, that will be another post.

For now, here are some photos. I forgot my camera in the chaos of preparing, so these are taken with my iphone. Didn’t have as much time for picture taking since we were on a mission…

Don’t know who these guys are, but I had to start somewhere.

Lego Leia and Lego Maul

Random Wolfman

Giant Ugly Dolls! And you can see part of the new and improved Castle Greyskull in the background. There was a giant statue of a new and improved He-Man as well. He lost the prince Valiant hairdo.

You can take a picture riding the unicorn from Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay

Blurry Corey Feldman!

Blurry Corey Feldman #2!

Spikey fans.

Tried to get one of the few Jack Sparrows lolling about.

What the heck is Bob’s Big Boy doing at Comicon?

Not just 1, but 4! Count’em 4 Sexy Jesus’! By far these guys were my favorite. I love you Jesus!

Ah, the Tonight Show babes interviewing a hapless geek on air.

You know what they say about the size of a man’s sword.

Huh??????

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!