Last month I had the chance to get over to L.A. for the National Cartoonist Society swanky annual get together. Now, usually this is open to working cartoonists, but thanks to National President Jeff Keane and former President Steve McGarry, I was able to attend and meet some amazing artists and possible subjects. It was very cool! I made some great contacts and new friends and was able to do some shooting for the new book, too. I photographed 5 new artists including one of my heroes, Drew Struzan.
If his name doesn't sound familiar, you'd certainly recognize his work. Drew is one of the best movie poster Illustrators ever (can you tell I'm a huge fan?). He created the Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Harry Potter, ET, and about 160 more of the most notable movie posters ever. For me, it was just an amazing privilege. Now, I have to tell you, sometimes it's not necessarily a great thing to meet your heroes, but in this case it was the BEST. After meeting Drew, I love the work even more, as he is a very cool guy! I was also able to set up a shoot with my buddy Chad Frye.
Chad pretty much works in ALL the fields mentioned on the book jacket: Illustration, Comics, Animation, Cartoons, etc. I've been trying to set up a shoot with him for about 8 years, and on this trip, we finally found the time. While down in So-Cal, I figured It would be just a hop down to San Diego to photograph Ben Templesmith,
who was the Artist behind the comic book and eventual movie adaption, 30 Days of Night. Ben,originally from Australia, had recently re-located to the states, making it way easier for me to photograph him. After that shoot, through Ben, I was able to make contact with Jim
Mahfood.
I had seen Jim's work in a magazine about a year before, and was totally blown away, but up until now hadn't been able to figure out how to make contact (check out his website, you'll see what I mean!)
And finally, through one of the other artists in book 2, William Wray (sorry about all the name dropping, but make sure to click on all these links, neat stuff!) I was able to photograph the genius behind Dexter's Lab, and Samurai Jack, the incredible Genndy Tartakovsky.
All in all, this trip was unbelievable fun. Let me know what you think of the new photo's , as you can see I've started working in color, but just barely.
If you haven't had a chance to check out our website yet, click here, it's fun and it will help our Google rating too, HA!
