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Moebius

As you all know, the great Moebius (M. Jean Giraud) has died... he was one of the greatest illustrators and comic artists.


I loved his sense of color desgin and imagination. He invented a world all his own that influenced many artists and animators including yours truly. I've always heard he was working on a brand new feature film fully computer animated, yet I never saw the film released, if it ever was.


I did see two films that he worked on, the infamous "Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland" (1989) out of Japan, and then of course "Heavy Metal" (1981) out of Canada, which used his designs for one of its episodes.

I never met the great French artist, but I heard he was a bit eccentric and quite private.
But I think we all know him though his brilliant artwork, and will all miss his genius.

Bali and Gili Islands..

Beach at Gili Trawangan, Lombok

Been spending spring break in Bali, and now off coast of lombok indonesia in the Gili ilands.. a rad little spot.  Haven't been good about posting for obvious reasons.  Back in Singapore on monday, and we will catch up! until then enjoy some photos (from my crappy phone)

Festival in Padang Bai, Bali

rad family.. ilu, the mom, i've known since she was a kid herself, back when i first came to bali 15 years ago.

my favorite beach, biastugal, bali

balinese dude at temple

riding my bike around the island, gili's

looking out over to lombok, gili's

crappy morning sketch of some fishing boats, gili

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Epic Sketchbook: Gérard Michel...

 

Gérard Michel is a Belgian architect based in Liége, who also teaches courses in sketching and drawing at the school of architecture there. Aside from that, I know little about him except for the wealth of his wonderful location drawings as displayed on the Urban Sketchers blog and on Michel’s own Flickr sets.  Thanks Charlie Parker:)

Shorts International Awards

As I was traveling around the Rocky Mountains I got an urgent call from my agent that I'd just won an award at the shorts International Awards Ceremonies, and they wanted me to come out there next week to receive the prize.

Hell, I'm not one to turn down a special prize, so I said yes! As soon as I returned to New York, I turned around and hopped a plane to L.A. and the famous Oscar Week.

I've been selling my short films to Shorts International for a long time, so I was happy to accommodate their wishes. They put me up at the swank Loews Hotel on the beach at Santa Monica. The pool overlooked the beach as they were setting up the tent for the Spirit Awards on Saturday night.

The chauffeur drove me to the fancy Soho house where I got to hang out with Tom Sito, Bill and Sue Kroyer, Rick and Amanda Farmiloe, Bob Balser (of Yellow Submarine fame), the great June Foray, and Bill Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg of the Oscar winning Moonbot Studios.

Receiving the award was very cool but it was the end of the evening and by then everyone was drunk and more interested in their own conversation than mine.

As we exited the party, I nearly knocked over Owen Wilson and his entourage entering the party.

I want to thank Linda O. and Carter Pilcher of Shorts International!

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ARYZ..

Not sure how I have gone so long without knowing about this guy.. amazing stuff. totally inspirational.

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L.A. Animation Festival

My good buddy John Andrews was one of my earliest supporters. When I started selling my shorts to MTV, he was always on my side. These days, he runs the L.A. Animation Festival, and this year they're honoring yours truly! So I'll be out there in the mecca of animation from March 9 - 13.

I'll be showing Alexia Anastasio's documentary on my life and career called "Adventures in Plymptoons". It will be shown Sat., March 10th at 7:30 (tickets and info available here)

Then on Sunday night, I'll be presenting the 20th Anniversary of my landmark feature film, "The Tune" -- March 11th at 8:00 pm (tickets and info available here)

As usual, everyone who comes to my screening gets a free, on-the-spot sketch!

I'm also delighted to share the event with Brad Bird and his screening of the fantastic "Iron Giant". Also scheduled to show is Trey Parker and Matt Stone's hilarious "Team America", plus a screening of MTV's Liquid Television.

So if you're in the LA area next week, please stop by and say hello, and come to the animation parties!

http://blog.laafest.com/


See you there,

Bill