These are some rough ideas for a self portrait I am working on. It is part of an assignment that I created for a high school art student that Jeff Harter is working with. I figured I would execute the same assignment that I gave her. It is a self portrait created using Collage as the medium. The working space is 12X18. I haven't decided which direction I am going to go with so if you have any opinions on the sketches fire away.

Here are a few more sketches from my many travels.

When I entered kindergarten the kids took an assessment test to better understand where each child was in their development process. One of the items was to draw a picture. I drew a man in a plaid vest. This caught the teachers attention and she spoke with my parents and explained to them that I had a strong visual awareness . I guess you could say this is when "creativity" took a hold of my life. Unfortunately the teacher kept all the tests so all I have to go by is my mothers description of what the drawing looked like. She remembers it very vividly which is nice. A few months ago Disney Consumer Products held a creative camp. Yeah, I still don't know what that means either. There was a pre-assignment to generate a piece of art that demonstrates the moment when creativity chose you or you chose creativity. At first this seemed like a ridiculous assignment that must have been drawn up by some non-creative. Turns out that non-creative who drew up this idea was none other then John T. Quinn. I guess that "T" in his name makes him sound important or something. After telling John what a dumb idea this was he informed that he came up with it. It is all good though because John worships me and could never have a bad thought about me ever. :) Once I pulled my foot out of my mouth and promised John I would put forth my best effort, I decided to take my moment in kindergarten and make a story out of it. Nothing too complicated just a simple story about the man and the people, places, and animals around him. Oh yeah, they are all plaid. I included the cover, the plaid dog and two spreads from the book.

Here are a few more sketches from my many stops in airports and on the Bart. I have been switching back and forth between brush pens and Crayola crayons. It keeps it interesting and forces me to make different choices. Enjoy.

My good friend Ernesto Nemesio inspired me to create a self portrait after seeing his own self portrait. I didn't have any preconceived idea other than to just start building an image up with shapes and color and hopefully at some point it would start to resemble me. No drawings or sketches. Just purely reacting to my natural instincts. I started with torn cardboard glued to a 16X20 masonite board. After that I started layering a variety of colored papers and tissue paper. It was a blast. So much so that I am working on a new one as we speak. I encourage everyone to create their own self portrait. It is a very liberating and self reflective process.

I came across this piece I created a few years back to accompany a show of art and design from Pixar Studios that was being displayed at the Studio Ghibli Museum in Tokyo. The two companies have a very close bond and this piece was created to thank them for their dedication to Pixar and animation. If you ever have a chance to visit Tokyo I highly recommend visiting the Studio Ghibli Museum. There you can see the evolution of Totoro, Nausicaa, Porco Rosso, and so on. The museum is truly magical and houses one of the most amazing zoetropes you have ever seen.

Dig Dug is one of my all time favorite games and I jumped at the opportunity to put my spin on this classic game for the upcoming "I am 8-bit" show. Growing up my family did lots of road trips and whenever possible we would stay at a Holidome. This was a Holiday Inn with an indoor pool, miniature golf course, and arcade. Sometimes they were bigger and more extravagant and sometimes they were very simple. Either way they almost always had a Mrs. Pac-Man and Dig Dug. My dad and I would spend hours on the Mrs. Pac-Man machine and I would then jump on the Dig Dug machine and drop a few dollars. I am by no means "King of Kong" good at any of these games because I also had an interest in fresh air and girls. Last year I was lucky enough to find a perfect condition full standing Arcade version of Dig Dug for $300 at our local Thrift store. SCORE!!! Ever since Silver Spoons I have always wanted arcade games in my house along with a train and duck phone. So far I only have one arcade game. My next mission is to add Mrs. Pac-Man and Galaga to my collection. Then the search for the duck phone begins.

The look of Dig Dug was a perfect fit for collage. Layers of pixilated earth! I used dirt, paint, tissue paper, cardboard, sand, rootbeer cases, coffee cozies, colored scrap book paper, and a lot of glue on top of canvas to create the final look of these pieces. The horizontal canvases are 12X40", and the vertical pieces are 20X24". Long live Dig Dug!!!

Well, after a lot of pressure I have finally decided to add some sketches to my blog. Up until the last year I never sketched on a consistent basis. Now that I do I wonder why it took me so long to start. Most of these are either meetings or airport sketches. This is because that is where I spend the majority of my life. I will try to post a few samples from my sketchbooks every so often.

Well the wait is over. Here is the final piece I created for an upcoming fundraiser to help save the forest that inspired the movie Totoro. It is a massive show with close to 200 pieces of amazing artwork. It was an honor to be a part of such a great cause and have the opportunity to expressive my appreciation for Totoro and how much it has inspired me. The theme of the show was to express what your spirit of the forest is. I based mine off of the idea of looking up at the tall trees and watching them sway back and forth. To me that is the spirit of the forest moving around me and although I may not see it I can feel it. I picture the forest growing on top of this large centipede like creature that moves so slow beneath you that you would never know he is there, until you look up and see the trees moving back and forth. Then you know he is real and moving all around you.

Here is a detail of a project I just finished. I am not at liberty to show the complete piece until a later date. This is a quick photo and the color is too yellow and washed out but it gives a good sampling of what the final image looks like. The image was created with a variety of papers and cardboard.

The day has finally arrived. "Lots of Bots" has hit the shelves. Here is the final cover design. How can you live with yourself if you don't read this book every night before you go to bed. Now stop looking at this blog and go out and buy one, two, even three copies. You won't regret it. :)

"Lots of Bots"






Here are a few images from my latest book project. "Lots of Bots" is a picture book I illustrated for the Pixar film WALL-E. The book will be released on May 13th. It not a complete retelling but rather a charming little side story of WALL-E's search for his friend Eve. The deadline was really tight which had its benefits and drawbacks. The plus was there wasn't opportunity for too much art direction and I was forced to go with gut instinct and not take too much time editing myself. The drawback was it meant completing illustrations for 48 pages from concept to finish in about a month and a half. This was of course only on nights and weekends since I had to keep up with my regular job. I don't recommend this and probably wouldn't do it again. I am however really happy with the results. I will post more images of the book soon.

Finally I have a new post. I just got back from Nuremburg Toy Fair in Germany. While there I stayed at a small hotel called the the "Drei Raben", or the Three Ravens if you don't speak German. The entire hotel is decorated with unique themes and stories, including all the rooms. They also have a variety of art that uses the theme of the three ravens scattered throughout. I got inspired and decided to created a collage piece of my own to give them when I left. I wasn't sure how they would react but they loved it, and even hung it up in the lobby. It was a lot of fun. If you ever visit Nuremburg I highly recommend the "Drei Raben"!

Here are some cats I created for our monthly theme.

Here are 9 more that I just finished. Enjoy.

So I decided to join Mr. Quinn and Mr. Thompson on the monthly theme assignments. The work they did on Bigfoot was really awesome and it inspired me to join in and see what I could do. I started working on this assignment on my 13 hour flight to Hong Kong. I limited myself to three things. Small blunt childs scissors, glue stick and magazines. I had only planned on doing a few but I got hooked and now I am nearing twenty. These are the first nine. The enjoyment of not drawing them is I was able to find the personalities and characters from the shapes I see in the magazines and eventually cut out. It really allowed me to think and design in a more intuitive manner. The next batch should be up in a day or two. Enjoy!

Our friends Kamal and Priya are heading back to New Zealand and I wanted to create an image that would forever remind them of living here in Contra Costa County. This image is where the 24 and 680 meet at Walnut Creek. Kamal and I see this view every day we commute home. This piece was created in mixed media on a 24X24 canvas.

Safe travels Kamal and Priya. You will be missed.

Hey everyone. My wife Leeanna just set up an awesome blog with all plush creations. Check it out and drop her a line if you get a chance. Here is her page.

http://leeannasthread.blogspot.com/

Here it is. The moment you all have been eagerly anticipating. My Pirates collage for the upcoming Disneyland show is complete. The final size is 24"X48". A bit larger than my 6"X9" comp and as a result it took on a slightly different look. Hope you enjoy it!

Here is a rough color comp I put together for an upcoming Disney Gallery show that I am contributing to along with Quinn, Shelly, and others. The theme is Disney Land so I chose my favorite ride in the park, Pirates! I wanted to capture the feeling of the colors and the mood during the ride. The final will be much bigger, mixed media, and with a little more definition of the scenesd in the ride. Not too much more, but enough to recognize it. Should be fun. If I remember I will try to pay homage to Mr. Jeff Shelly and photograph the stages as I work.

Well I finally added a new post to my blog. This is the assignment I did while attending the "Illustration Academy". Overall a good experience but in ways I would never have thought. The assignment was SanFrancisco plus catagory from the list they provided. I chose music and went with Miles at the Fillmore performing his Bitches Brew sessions. Formally known as Black Beauty. My illustraion got torn apart during my final critique and I have stared at it ever since deciding on whether or not to change it. The instructors felt like Miles was getting lost and the values were not pushed and for some reason they don't like the color purple. To me this particular piece of music is abstract and shattered so I went about creating what I see when I listen to the music. Miles does get lost in the music and the moment on stage at the Fillmore. I also think of Fillmore in terms of purples with moment soft lights hitting off of him as he works his way through the music. I was envisioning a smokey dark theater with spot lights on him and the fusion jazz creating all the colors. This piece desribes how I see it perfectly and I am sticking with it.

Here is another Holiday card concept that was not used because Jack-Jack had a string of lights in his mouth. I thought he would be the perfect source of electricity. Nevermind that he actually bursts into a ball of flames in the movie. Ahhhh, the sweet sound of bitterness.

This is a Holiday card that was created for Pixar employees.

Here is another paper collage piece I did for a co-worker.

In honor of "The Art of Pooh" book hitting the shelves this month I thought I would post the piece I created for the book.

Here is a painting I did for a Nemo water game awhile back.

Here is a paper collage piece I did awhile back for a colleague of mine who left our group. Paper collage has become my favorite medium to work in lately and I continue to learn with every piece I create. I really enjoy the layering of colors and shapes and the depth that is created from that.

. . . . Ben Butcher and I am jumping into the blog world due to overwhelming peer pressure from the Mighty Quinn. Actually I have just been procrastinating but was finally motivated to open myself up to this blogger world when John T. Quinns youngest daughter Merideth blew me away with her amazing artwork and blog. If she can do it so can I! It also allows me to chime in on her blog too and tell what an amazing artist she is. I welcome any and all feedback since that is really the essence of this whole blog thing. People who love art sharing their joys, passions, and learning. I can't wait to see what this blog opens me up to.

This first image is a small childrens book project I started with my wife to explore the relationship between me and my good friend Ken Pak. The project is called Ken and Ben. Simple odd couple theme with the personal twist of our personalities and how they play off of each other. The Ben character is a large bear who lives for 64oz mountain dews and doritos. Just writing that makes me hungry. The Ken character is a small racoon who loves reading and watching movies. That pretty much sums it up. Fire away with any feedback or simply to say hello.