Totoro Update

Tickets have officially gone on sale for the upcoming Totoro Forest Art Auction Benefit Event to be held at Pixar on September 6th. The price of each ticket includes a copy of the amazing Art of Totoro Forest Book, a $40 value.

Here's the breakdown:
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 are on sale HERE. There are a limited number of tickets so if you're interested act quickly. All proceeds will be donated to the Totoro Forest Foundation!

The shop is open!

Or re-open I should say, to include my new book "Bookplate Betties".
So Belle du Jour, Bookplate Betties as well as the limited edition of Bookplate Betties are all available for purchase here on the blog. You'll find the "add to cart" buttons to the right. Purchases are PayPal only.

I've revamped the shop to make international shipping rate application easier. The shop seems fully functional but if you have any troubles or find a bug let me know.

Commish

Con was quite the blast. Thanks to everyone who stopped by the table, I met a lot of really great people this year.

Here's a couple of the commissions I did during the convention.

Panda from Jason Pearson's Body Bags:


A Greta naturally:


And this is actually a little painting demo I did for my fiancée shortly after con:


I'm hoping to get the Bookplate Betties book set up on the shop soon, so hang in there it won't be long.

Comic-Con 2008

I'll be at the Red Window, Inc. booth - #4800. Which is the same place I was last year.

With me of course I will have plenty of my new book "Bookplate Betties". And as an extra special treat I'll be offering a special limited edition version that contains an exclusive signed and numbered bookplate. The bookplate is a high quality art print, and the edition will be limited to 150 copies.

Here it is.

For those who can't make it to the convention, the regular edition will be available for sale here on my blog shortly.

I'll also be offering my previous book of Pin-Up goodness "Belle du Jour" as well as a limited number of the full color French edition of "Rex Steele". This edition also contains an all region dvd of the Animated short film of the same name.


Prints! I'll be offering high quality signed art prints too.

And some new ones I've never offered before.

For the Über collector I have a very limited number (one or two each) of these printer proofs printed on cloth. I have my cover print tests as well as an uncut sheet of the cover to "Bookplate Betties". They're made from the cloth the book is bound in and are pretty cool.


Hope to see you there!

BOOKS!

My new book arrived! Wow, just in time for Comic-con too. That was a close one.
I was hoping to do one or two more posts on the production process before they came, but that can wait till later.

They'll officially go on sale at Comic-con, you can find me and them at booth 4800 Along with Scott Morse and Jeff Pidgeon.





They look exactly like I imagined them, I couldn't be happier.



The book measures 7" by 5 1/2" and is 192 pages chock full of girls girls girls.













Here's what they look like sitting in my office at the moment (most of them anyway).
As I was stacking them I suddenly realized what it must feel like to be Wall-E.

Totoro Forest Project

Today is the official announcement of the Totoro Forest Project. It's a fundraising auction to be held at Pixar Animation Studios on September 6th 2008 (tickets will soon be available) featuring original art created by internationally acclaimed artists in the fields of animation, comic books and illustration. The charity was established to raise funds for the Totoro no Furusato Forest Foundation, established by Hayao Miyazaki himself, to ensure the preservation of Sayama forest (aka Totoro Forest) from the threat of urban development.
The event is the brainchild of my friends Dice Tsutsumi and Enrico Casarosa and over 200 artists have donated work. It's amazing to see the amount if inspiration people have generated for this cause. The website is now live so check it out. Not only that but a book of all the art will be available at the time of the show, not to mention an exhibit at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco.
The artists that were invited to contribute were asked to draw their own inner Totoro.

Apparently my inner Totoro is a pervert.

Return to France! Part 2

I must say that I've never been anywhere where the people have been as welcoming and generous as the people I've met in France. This was my second time back and I hope for many returns.

Arludik. The show was a wonderful success (still is actually, it will be hanging for the rest of the summer) and the turn out was just as good. Ironically there was a huge group of American students who were studying abroad that showed up. They're part of a group called the Shrunkenheadman Club at San Jose State which is not all that far from where I live. Go figure.





I was lucky enough to see many of the great artists that I met last time as well as meeting a lot more.
Here I am looking less than hip next to these awesome ultra hip Chinese comic book artists. Lu Ming on the far left and Benjamin on the far right.

I was happy to see that the show was well advertised around town too.



One of the most pleasant surprises of the trip (much lesser than getting engaged but still good) was stumbling upon an exhibition of one of my Favorite cartoonists, Kiraz. Wow it was amazing. I wish it was near my house so I could go there for daily inspiration. It's hanging at the Carnavalet Museum in Paris. I'm sure if you live in the area you must know about it already, if not, go. You wont regret it.
even the ads were awesome.


Check out the blog of by beautiful fiancée for more details of the trip, including a way cool drawing demo by Arthur de Pins, and some nifty Raving Rabbids toys from my friend John Banana.