NEW YEAR!

It's a new year and that means a lot! Hopefully 2014 brings a lot of cool memories just like 2013 did. I was lucky enough to attend CTN in November with a few friends and it was a blast, if not completely overwhelming. It was really awesome to meet a lot of the artists I have been following over the last few years and get to show them my work. Got a lot of awesome advice as well as some  prints and books by my favorite artists. I hope to make it an annual trip because there is just so much to learn there and unfortunately I missed a lot because I had to decide what demos and lectures to attend. It was really hard to miss out on some of them but there is always next time.

My friend Kellen and I went to attend Griselda Sastrawinata's demo, but unfortunately there was some technical issues with the Cintiq at her station so we got to chat with her for a few minutes and got a photo. She is an awesome person and really nice. Gave me some really great advice on my portfolio!

One of the cool parts about CTN was a lot of artists had prints and books for sale. Getting to purchase artwork directly from someone who has been an inspiration for a long time was pretty cool (and the added bonus of having them sign the work was even better). Mike Yamada and Victoria Ying had some great stuff on display. They were such awesome folks to talk to.

Me, Mike Yamada, and Kellen. Shortly after this I accidentally shoulder checked one of the founders of Headless Studios and almost sent him on the ground. I felt super embarrassed afterwards because Headless Studios has been one of my top, if not the top, animation studio I have been following the last few years. Hopefully I didn't scare him away from coming back next year....


I attended a pretty sweet panel with the directors of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, moderated by Jerry Beck. It was a really awesome experience and they showed a lot of the pre-production work that was really great and some deleted scenes. Plus some really funny stories about what happened during the production of the film. They had a poster signing afterwards with Cody Cameron and Kris Pearn. Got some sweet sketches by them. I said I had come there from AZ so Kris drew a tacodile..SUPREME!

 Throughout the days they would have some live models posing in costumes so people could sit and draw.  I was pretty busy with attending lectures and whatnot that I never sat down to draw but I made sure to attend a really awesome demo/drawing session with the author of the Force drawing books, Mike Matessi. He was such a great teacher. His books had basically been my drawing bible since my second semester in college and it was a terrific experience to draw with him in person. I didn't get to talk to him during the session but the next day I got my character design book signed by him and Kellen discussed hiring him to teach a session at our college. Hopefully he comes out! Kellen and Melissa got a sweet picture with him!