Fun. Interesting.
Monthly Archive: May 2008
May
31
2008
May
29
2008
June 7th, FREE Summer Sampler day at the Schulz Museum
On Saturday, June 7th I will be at the Schulz Museum in lovely Santa Rosa CA to promote my summer animation class. You can find me in the education room creating animation by way of Zoetrope and Stop Motion. Admission to the museum is FREE all day.
Come sample some of our summer class activities and meet our instructors. Learn about manga, create your own cartoons, and enjoy hands-on art projects throughout the day.
May
29
2008
Reminder: Cartoon Boot Camp this summer at the Cartoon Art Museum
I was at the Cartoon Art Museum yesterday going over my curriculum for my upcoming Summer classes and I just wanted to send out a reminder. I am really looking forward to the two new classes on drawing a comics page and animation. The information has now been updated at the museums website (scroll down to the white box on the right side BTW) and has a PDF to download with the application. I have posted it below for you convenience with my own info added.
Download PDF to Registar for Boot Camp Classes!
Cartoon Boot Camp 2008
June 16 – 20: Character creation - Almost Full.
June 23 – 27: Comic design and layout - Space are still available.
July 14 – 18: Flip book to animation - Space are still available.
August 11 – 15: One-day basic training workshops ( I will be teaching the Watercolor and Face classes this week) – Space are still available.
It’s time for our third year of our Summer Cartooning Classes for intermediate level art students ages 10-14. Young artists will enjoy week-long classes that allow them to learn and improve their cartooning skills, taught by Cartoonist Brian Kolm (Beyond the Great Chimney) www.atomicbearpress.com
AGES: Intermediate level artists from 10-14 yrs old.
TIME: 12 pm – 2 pm each day the class is in session
NUMBER OF STUDENTS: The class size is limited to no more than 10 students. The class is filled on a first come, first served basis.
COST: $100 for CAM members, $125 non-members – per student. Fees must be paid in full to secure a seat in the class.
SUPPLIES: Basic Drawing Materials will be provided. Students are welcome to bring in their personal sketchbooks and materials, however.
For Registration and more information, Contact: Cartoon Art Museum (415) CAR-TOON (227-8666) ext. 300 or office@cartoonart.org
*Cancellation: Full refund for cancellation prior to a week before the classes start date
May
26
2008
Baycon 2008 review
On Saturday I was at Baycon 2008 and I thought I would give a review of the day for those who might want to attend this fun convention in 2009. Photos can be found on Flickr.
When: Memorial Day Weekend. May 23-26, 2008
Location: Hyatt Santa Clara. Easy to get to by Car. Not sure if there is any public transportation.
Cost: $45 for a single day ticket on Saturday. The price vary based on the day and time of day. In fact there was a $20 evening only ticket) It was cheaper to buy a ticket ahead of time as well as buy for more then one day.
Themes: Sci-Fi and Fantasy convention run by fans.
About:
BayCon is one of the five largest regional annual science fiction and fantasy conventions in the United States, and has been held annually since 1982. While BayCon has an emphasis on writing and art, attendees can also find things like costuming, hard science, music, gaming and much more.
Parking: FREE! The parking was FREE! I figured that it would overpriced hotel parking, but nope, it was not.
Attendance: The last number I heard was 1300 people attending. A small convention compared to Wondercon or Fanimecon, but enough to have lots of energy. On average the adults were 35+, but there were family and kids too. I figure the tweens and teens would be at the Anime Fanimecon. This holiday weekend also had Kublicon, an RPG convention*.
Panels: I went to two panels that I enjoyed and seemed to have a good number of folks in attendance. The artist guest of honor talked about there techniques of digital paintings, but I was having a good time and missed the talk.
Staffing: No problems. Helpful and professional.
Layout: The Hyatt has to basic problems of any hotel, the space is broken up. But the convention staff provided good material and signage to find what you were looking for.
Artist Alley: Artist alley consisted of 4 folks at table in the hall way outside of the Art Show and the Dealers Room. The impression I got from the folks I knew at tables (more then half) that sales were slow and the folks where somewhat hidden by many who passed by on their way to other places. On the other side the Artist Alley tables were very reasonable prices: “A place in the Alley can be yours for only $20!”
Art Show: The art show was mostly professional work and featured photos, traditional and digital art, and lots of art prints. The top sellers seemed to be prints and ones that featured elaborate scenes. The guest artist has some beautiful digital paintings as prints that were amazing work. I would be intersted to get a panel next year. The price per-space was quite reasonable. $17.50 for each 4′x4′ panel.
Dealer Room: Costumes, clothing, toys, Jewelery, and Collectibles. Did not spend much time but there seemed to be nice stuff. Heavy on jewelry and costume/clothing.
Costumes: Yes! Lost of hall/masquerade costumes. The theme was Pirates and they were in full force. Steam Punk was also very big this year. I wish I had my pirate gear on since it sure looked like fun to dress up.
Food: Usual hotel priced food. But the hotel had both a special menu as well as a quick service. The restaurant was filled up, but food could be ordered in the lounge as well. The food was quite tasty and high quality which made the slightly higher prices a lot more palletable. The quick service was buffett style and looked quite tasty. The pre-made sandwiches for lunched looked fine. There was fast food near by, but possibly would require driving. I am not 100% sure.
Parties: The convention had a Party Floor which had sponsored rooms and lots of great food and drink (booze and non-booze) which was a great way to mingle and have fun. Many rooms had games and videos playing. One party offered mixes of different soda and syrups while we watched costumes on the BCTV. Another party was toga themed and one was a Turkish tea featured Turkish Coffee and Mint Tea, Turkish Delight and Baklava. So much tastyness in such a short amount of time.
Entertainment: There was Boffers – Like pillow fighting with pillows shaped like swords and other weapons. Kids Activities – including arts and crafts. Gaming – RPG, Board, Cards, Video, LARP as well as the Iron Game-Designer Challenge. Writing Workshops, Readings, Fanzine Lounge, Anime Room, masquerade
And then in the evening you add Live Music, Dancing (Swing, Regency, Rock), Filk Music, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Party Floor (see above), Concerts and a Charity Auction and Casino to name a few. Oh and the reading of the Eye of Argon (so wonderfully bad it has to be read to be believed).
This was one of the highlights of the day and part of what makes the $45 price so worth while if you stay till late….there is lots to do. You can dance, listen to music, then go get some drinks on the party floor. It’s also great to find the quite spots and get to know like minded fans. There were lots of folks roaming around
Verdict: I would go next year if I can swing it. I had a good time and would want to do a hall costume too. It’s definitely a convention that is great if you can stay at the hotel and really amerce yourself in the experience. It’s a lot mellower then let’s say San Diego Comic-Con which makes it more intimate. It’s good if you are a fan of Dr. Who, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, Pirates, Lord of the RIng, RPG games, etc. this is the convention for you.
As an artist I would definitely want to put some art prints and originals in the art show, but I would have to think about if I wanted an Artist Alley table, though the price is very reasonable. I would not go to the dealers room since I feel my work would get lost in there. This is not a convention to get notice by a publisher or the media, but a great place to build your fan base.
*Note: I wanted to give a shutout to my friend Joe who is at Kublicon this weekend running an RPG game called…Deppthulhu. Yes it’s H.R.Lovecraft mythology where you play a John Depp character. Very cool Joe.
May
23
2008
Recent Artwork
Since I have not posted for a while on the Log Blog I decided to show you some recent art I did.
Click for a bigger image.
First off is a piece of fan art of a Japanese 70′s Superhero…
Art from the April 111 Minna St. sketch event….
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A weird fan drawing….
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Dragons….
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and some fantasy folks too….
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May
23
2008
Jason Peck’s Adventure of the Brush
A new favorite blog of mine features the work of artist and painter Jason Peck. He practices classic painting techniques like oils and watercolors to create cool fantasy and adventure themed illustrations and art. He has a fully painted graphic novel comic out, the Explorers, that looks fantastic. So check out his work HERE. To celebrate the release of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Crystal Skull, check out Jason’s Indy artwork…HERE.
artwork ©2008 Jason Peck and used with out permission.
May
23
2008
Baycon 2008 (this weekend) – Adventures in Space: a pirates tale.
I know, I know that I have not been posting as much here on the Log Blog, so here is information on the largest Sci-Fi/Fantasy convention in the Bay Area…Baycon. The convention was today, and Friday through Monday. I will only be there tomorrow all day. So if you see me walking around, come and say Hi. I will have some free postcards and my portfolio with me. Hope to see you there.
May 23 – 26, 2008 |
At Our New Port:
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May
21
2008
More on the Orphan Works Bill – More action to take.
Thanks to artist Colleen Doran we have some more information. I think this sums up both some pros and cons of the bill. The idea of having a bill to deal with Orphan Works is not the issue as much as some of the other items that accompany the bill. This is from the folks at the Graphic Artist Guild who are focused on protecting the work of professional artist. They are hoping to amend the bill to make it more functional or else have it not succeed.
Press release, in its entirety.
Graphic Artists Guild Opposes Senate Orphan Works Bill
NEW YORK – The Graphic Artists Guild’s Board of Directors voted unanimously Friday to oppose the Senate’s passage of the Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008 that significantly alters copyright protection rights. The Guild says the bill approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee is incomplete legislation, insufficient protection and indifferent to American workers.
The Guild has been advising members of Congress about the “orphan works†issue since 2006 and participated in discussions with the Copyright Office since 2005. The Guild withheld comment about the Senate bill until work was finalized. That position changed when the completed version was announced only hours before the Senate committee vote last Thursday.
“This is a disappointment,†Guild President John P. Schmelzer said, “We’re encouraging creative people from all industries to contact their senators to express their disapproval before the full Senate vote later this year.â€
Orphan works legislation is intended to limit monetary rewards and injunctive relief to stop further infringement of copyrighted works for which the user has been unable to determine the identity of the copyright owner. The Guild and the artist community are concerned that the manner in which the limitations are imposed could produce an incentive for theft in the highly competitive industry that contributes $13 billion a year to the U.S. economy.
Guild leadership was pleased that lawmakers agreed with their recommendation to exclude artwork used on “useful items†such as textiles or wallpaper from being subject to the bill, but they say the measure otherwise has a long way to go before sufficiently protecting copyright owners.
The bill is incomplete because three key provisions the Guild sought to protect artists were left out. At the center of the controversy are the “best practices,†“database certification†and “notice of use†clauses.
When artwork is being considered for use but the artist’s identity is unknown, the bill’s provisions state the user is to attempt to locate the artist by following the best practices outlined by the Register of Copyrights. These practices have not yet been drafted however, and the bill will go into effect prior to their adoption.
The bill also references a database that’s supposed to make the search for copyright owners possible, but no such database exists for graphic, pictorial or sculptural work. There are no plans for the Copyright Office to create this database, and Congress cannot mandate one be made by a private company. In this case, no matter what best practices the Copyright Register might determine are appropriate for finding a copyright owner, the capacity to do so is not possible at this time.
The Guild proposed a further compromise that the legislation include a publicly accessible “notice of use†filing statement. This provision requires an individual or organization to submit a copy of the visual work believed to be orphaned to the Copyright Office prior to using it.
The Copyright Office would then post the filed information on the Internet so copyright owners could review the website and self-identify themselves as the owner. The virtual “lost and found†department would additionally ensure bad actors could not falsely assert they fulfilled the diligent search requirement of the law prior to using copyrighted work.
The Guild says copyright law was established to protect the creative community that made America the inventive capital of the world. The bill in its current state does too much to protect the interests of possible infringers and reduces protection for creators. The measure is indifferent to artists because it fails to take into consideration the long-term effect to the income potential for a workforce whose yearly median income is only $39,900 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. People who use artistic works, such as advertising and promotion managers, make a median average of $73,060 per year.
Guild Administrative Director Patricia McKiernan says the group will remain engaged to resolve these high priority shortcomings of the legislation.
“Copyright protection is an important issue for our membership and the economy they serve,†McKiernan said. “When anyone’s economic rights are reduced, it has enormous implications for the country as a whole. We will remain steadfast for the artist’s interests and this important industry.â€
Write to the US Senate about the Orphan Works Act now!
Take Action!Urge the Senate to protect creators’ rights on S. 2913
“The Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008″ S. 2913 has passed the Senate Judiciary Committee, and has now moved to the full Senate for a vote. We were unable to achieve significant changes to the bill to better protect the rights of visual creators and rights holders.
Now is the time to write to Senators. The bill may still be amended while under debate of the full Senate. Write to Senators and urge them to amend the bill, and ask them to vote against the bill if it is NOT amended.
Click on this link for a sample letter to use. You may also personalize your own letter. The letter will automatically be emailed to the US Senate. We recommend you also print out the letter and mail it.
Thank you for taking action!
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