I Am Such A Moron (Art of Akira at DragonCon)
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I have been running around like a chicken with his head cut off trying to finalize everything for DragonCon this weekend. In case you've been actively ignoring me, I'll summarize: The Art of Akira Exhibit is a pretty big deal there this year, and we're doing quite a lot with the con.
To help people keep track of all that's going on, I had some "infocards" printed up -- 2,000 of them -- to hand out and pass around the con. The point was to create a high quality keepsake that people could take with them from the con to remember the exhibit, which served a dual purpose of informing everyone about the events I'm involved in.
Here's the art:
Front:
Back:
Here's the card:
Here's the problem: I got the time on the Sunday panel, Is Digital Killing Analog Art, wrong. It's actually 11:30 AM Sunday morning.
So my options are to a) reprint and lose a BUNCH of money, due to sunk costs plus overnight shipping on the new cards, b) write all over this keepsake in sharpie informing about the misprint, or c) just suck it up and deal with it.
I guess the bright side is that, if this is the worst thing that goes wrong all weekend, I'll have one hell of a great weekend. But the dark side is that it could end up being a sign of things to come.
Art of Akira at Toonseum -- The Full Exhibit
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Finally, I've uploaded the full exhibit from Toonseum to Flickr! Now you can experience some of the pieces I've not shown on the site until now!
This full exhibit will combine with the travelling exhibit at DragonCon to form a massive, 120-140 piece showing of original Akira production art. If you can get to DragonCon, do so!
Art of Akira at DragonCon - Program Update
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Check it out - The new DragonCon progress report is out! And right on the cover, our show! To read the full writeup, check out page 42 (or look here on the DragonCon website)! I really hope to see you all there! Also, I know that there's been a lack of updates lately - expect that to change. A LOT of work is done on the digital gallery. Look for new stuff to show up soon!
Art of Akira at GenCon in Indianapolis, IN Aug 7 at 6:00PM
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Hey all, I've just confirmed that I'm giving an Art of Akira talk and show-and-tell at Gencon in Indianapolis, IN on August 7 at 6:00PM! Come on out - I'll bring some new, never before seen pieces! And I'll talk about the Pixar visit! And maybe even wear that one shirt my wife says matches my eyes!
io9 Writes Up Art of Akira (Again, But Bigger This Time)
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What an honor it is to be written up in io9! I'm a huge fan of the blog, and to make the pages not once but twice is such a thrill. I was glad to sit down with them and talk about the history of the artwork, acquiring cels, and overall just geeking out with Cyriaque! Hope you enjoy!
I still can't believe it, but last Friday, I was invited to Pixar to give a talk about the Art of Akira Exhibit and show some of the art. It was AMAZING. I have been blabbering ever since about it, mostly because it's the exact sort of thing I dreamed about when I was cooking up this little exhibit. My intent was to share this art with animators, artists, illustrators and film people. It's a piece of film history, and it's important that everyone and anyone with a background or interest in the medium get to see it.
Anyway, here's some photos from the whole shebang.
That's all I can really say at this point. Well, that and the rest of this blog post. But I figured I'd start with that because it's what I said when I got the email inviting me to come to Pixar tomorrow morning (Friday) at 11:30 to talk about Art of Akira to the animators.
This is a huge milestone for me, because these guys are exactly the type of people I was hoping would be interested in the Art of Akira Exhibit -- industry pros who want to see the behind-the-scenes aspects of what made Akira tick. From what I understand, there will be people in attendance tomorrow who have never done handmade animation - they've used a computer their entire careers. It's for them that I put this thing together in the first place.
I feel it's incredibly vital that we as a society hold on to our ability to make things with our hands. I use a computer daily; I love my computer. It speeds things up tremendously and gives me a quality of output I can't achieve with handwritten or hand designed things. But the physical has something very magical about it... Especially when it's something as astonishing and groundbreaking as Akira.
That said, for the very first time since I started talking about Akira, I'm nervous. As I tweeted earlier today, I feel like me picking out things that the pros at Pixar would want to see is like a guy who plays Golden Tee all day at a bar telling Tiger Woods what clubs to use at Augusta. But I'm going to do my best to get stuff that isn't just "OH COOL THE BIKE!" or "NEAT EXPLOSION BRO!" I'm going to pick things that really show the heart behind the art - the sketches, the layouts, the painted backgrounds. I'm bringing two sets that have never ever seen the light of day just for the Pixar guys.
Wish me luck.
I'll try to Ustream the talk - no guarantees, but if it happens, it'll be on the Art of Akira blog.
Just a quick post to say how fantastic opening weekend for Art of Akira Exhibit was! Here's the note from Joe Wos, director of ToonSeum:
Can a little bitty museum be an actual attraction?
The ToonSeum opened it’s newest exhibit “The Art of AKIRA” this past weekend. Visitors traveled in from around the country just for the opening of the show!
Toronto, San Francisco, New York, Columbus, Minneapolis, Atlanta, Dayton, Connecticut and lots more.
A quick search on the web will show the buzz building for this exhibit and tweets and blog post like “anyone want to come with me to Pittsburgh to see the Art of AKIRA?”
The exhibit was picked up by I09.com, AOL News, Time Out New York, and tons of animation, technology and geek blogs. Not to mention local press including the Trib and City Paper.
The ToonSeum has already been featured nationally in the New York Times, Airtran Magazine, and West Wood One Radio to name a few.
It’s all about a fan based culture that surrounds the cartoon arts. AKIRA is a great example of the type of fan base who appreciate the art and drive buzz. It’s a secret San Diego Comic-Con, George Lucas, and Hollywood have known about for years, fan based culture can drive success!
We even got an email from someone in Spain who is flying in for the exhibit next month! He said it best when we told him we were a very small venue, “I’m not coming to see a big building, I am coming to see the art.”
So can a tiny museum dedicated to the cartoon arts be a draw?
You bet we can.
Joe
Photos and a full writeup, including media links, coming tomorrow. For now, I need some sleep!
