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.

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!