Eric Goldberg at the CAM!

Last Saturday I got to meet one of my all-time favorite animators, Eric Goldberg. He gave a great presentation at the Cartoon Art Museum, located conveniently down the street from where I work. If you don't know the name, you most certainly know his work:





Of course Eric has worked on many other things - including the Rhapsody in Blue and Carnival of the Animals sections of Fantasia 2000. He's also a huge Warner Bros. fan and does a mean Bugs Bunny impression. By the end of his presentation we were all wondering why he doesn't do voices for animation.

Eric talked about how he got his start in animation, which began as a young kid making flip books and watching 8mm animation films frame by frame. He showed us animated versions of the flipbooks he made in highschool...incredible. I can see why this guy is as great as he is. Not only were they drawn very well, they told stories and were very funny!

He eventually moved on to Richard Williams' studio in London and got to work with some amazing animators like Art Babbit and Ken Harris. He later started his own animation company and later ended up at Disney for a ten year stint. (Until Disney declard 2D animation dead. Boo.)

After Disney he worked on a variety of projects that we got to see some bits and pieces from. Apparently at one point Maurice Sendaks "Where the Wild Things Are" was going to be made as a fully CG film. Eric did a short pencil test of one of the monsters...terrific stuff. I would love to see a whole movie of that...unfortunately the film was canned. Only to be revived years later as the new version directed by Spike Jonze coming out next year. (Live action and CG/puppets...hope its decent.)

Eric was there mostly to support his new book - "Character Animation Crash Course." I've read the book (and had it signed, woo!) and it is hands down one of the best animation books I've seen. It's like the Richard Williams book, except it covers more than walk cycles and is very easy to understand without being dumbed down. Highly recommended!

Zoo Trip!

Finally got a chance to see the San Francisco Zoo last weekend. It's a really fun place to spend the day. Here are some sketches:

 

  

  

Kookaburras are really cool birds!

Sketchcrawl 20: The Mission

Took a while to get these scanned in, but here's some drawings from the last Sketchcrawl in San Francisco. Color added later in photoshop.

 

  

  

  

  

 

Holiday Cards for Sale!

I've opened up an etsy store! Check it out at billrobinson.etsy.com .

I am offering boxes of all four holiday cards that I had at APE. There are 10 cards per box (all  the same design.) and 10 envelopes. They are 5"x7" (nice and big!) and on high quality card stock. They are blank inside so you can write your own jolly holiday greetings. Cost: $12 per box.  You won't find these at any store near you - head over to etsy and grab up the remaining inventory!

Card designs:

I will probably put up the extra prints that I've got here too. Woo!

APE was a success!

I had a terrific time at this year's Alternative Press Expo. A huge thanks to everyone that came by our table and checked us out and/or bought stuff! It was my first con and I think I learned a lot from it. Looking forward to more in the future! Here are some pics:

Setting up for the big day...

Mayka is hiding.

A wee pirate showed up!

Aaaand some bigger pirates.

Kevin and Chris of Fleet Street Scandal.

Liz Ito and her awesome monsters.

A closer look at the goods.

Wooo, shiny!

APE is here! Booth 283

Alternative Press Expo 2008

The Alternative Press Expo is almost here! As you may know, Brittney Lee and I will be at table 283 with all sorts of fun stuff for sale. See this handy map:

We're directly behind the Pixar guys! How cool is that?

Here are the prints that I will be offering in large format (up to 13"x19"):

  

  

With a few other surprises! 

These pictures will be offered as mini prints (under 10"x7"):

Also there will be buttons:

And bookmarks! And holiday cards! (As seen in recent posts here.) 

Note: If you have a badge from this past year's comic con, you can get into APE for free! Follow this link for location info, maps, exhibitors, etc. APE is a great time and a good introduction to conventions for people who are afraid of something larger like ComicCon. Come on by my table and pick up some free schwag and maybe buy something if you want. :D

Purr-casso 2008, IF: Repair

I've got three pieces to donate to the Purrcasso 2008 auction. The money from this auction will go to help repair the old humane society building. Check em out:

This is a large (24"x16") acrylic painting on masonite.

These two are smaller (12"x12" framed) gouache paintings:

And here's an in progress shot, as well as some pics of the framed versions:

Artists! The deadline for artwork has been extended to this Friday, October 31! You can still submit! Check out the Purrcasso Blog to see all the other great pieces in the auction.

Also, don't forget to come to the auction itself:

Sunday, November 9th from 12-4 pm at the Hollis Street Project located at 5900 Hollis Street, Emeryville. There will be free food and wine! And awesome art!

APE Bookmarks, Illustration Friday "Late"

These sweet Hansel and Gretel-themed bookmarks will be available for free with any purchase at APE! Don't be late to get them! (haha.)

Ape Card 4: Sleigh Ride

Here is my final card that I will have for sale at the Alternative Press Expo on Nov 1 and 2. Hope you like it!

APE Card 3: Mistletoe

Awwww.

Also, I added in the fire to the fireplace card:

Illustration Friday: Sugary

 This illustration is so cute that it can only be described as sugary. This is card number two that will be for sale at APE in November. I just okay'ed the proofs for the cards today and they will hopefully be here next week.

Illustration Friday: Packed

The room is packed with presents! This is my ideal Christmas night image, and I actually did a similar illustration for a Reporter magazine cover back in college.

More importantly, this is one of four holiday cards that I will be offering for sale at the Alternative Press Expo in November. I will post the other three shortly! And I will be offering 3-4 large format prints and some smaller mini-prints which I will also post soon. (I will probably print up some buttons and other small stuff, too.)

PS, I really wanted to have a subtle glow coming from the fireplace, but I worried that people would be concerned for Santa's well-being. I may still add it...

My Summer Vacation

I know, I'm a bad blogger. I've been slacking this whole summer. I still want to write about Siggraph and post some stuff I've been working on, but in the meantime you will get some sketches and pics from my trip to Massachusetts last week. We had a big family reunion type thing and I got in a couple sketches of my cousin's kids:

I had a great time while I was home. I saw tons of family and friends, as well as Cirque de Soleil! ("Saltimbanco" was the show we went to. Amazing.) Unfortunately photography is not allowed at those shows. I did manage to take some decent pictures of other stuff while I was there:

My new neice, Leah! So cute.

Slow exposure of kids playing with glowsticks at night. Neat effect.

Great picture of my cousin's kid.

In my mom's garden.

Cool mushrooms!

The lake at sunset.

Guy on stilts in Northampton. (Advertising Cirque de Soleil.)

My friend, Brie.

One of the cutest dogs ever. Bat dog!

We also stopped by the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst. What an awesome place. There was a neat exhibit on fantasy illustrators of the early twentieth century. Definitely worth a trip if you are in the area. In other news, Brittney and I were able to get a table for APE (Alternative Press Expo) here in SF this November! So I will be busy making really cool stuff to sell at that show. Will post again here with some of our wares as they become available. Hooray!