On Monday I had the privilege to visit Pixar Animation Studios for a private tour and portfolio review. A friend of the family, Arun, is a programmer there and was kind enough to take time out of his day to show me around the main studio. Pixar’s main building has a rotating exhibit of the most current movie in the case Wall E and some sections of their older films. It was a great honor to be given a private tour since Pixar is closed to the public and does not give any public tours. People who know me well know I’m a collector of concept and “art of” books and so to see the concept art in person was really exciting and awe inspiring. While we walked around Arun pointed out all of Jay’s (his friend I would meet later) pieces on the walls. After the tour we met up with his friend Jay for lunch, which was very taste.

After lunch Arun had to run to a meeting so Jay, who worked on Star Wars Episode 1 before coming to Pixar 6 years ago, was kind enough the go through my portfolio with me. He offered me some insight on what the directors would be looking for in portfolios and about the hiring process. I know have a better understanding of the difference in what directors look for in book portfolios vs. concept or story artist portfolios. I would like to give a big thanks to both of them and I hope to someday work with them there.

Do you need a kick start in your art creation? Are you not producing the amount of work you’d like too? Then come check out the Art-a-thon Challenge. The Art-a-thon challenges you to produce a piece of art every weekday. Be it sketches, drawings, color studies or finished pieces the Art-a-thon Challenge is a way to practice your skills and get more work completed.

Come join us at http://art-a-thon.blogspot.com/

KatGirl Studio will be at Silicon starting today! I will be at my table in the artist’s colony when I’m not giving my workshop or in a panel.

Meet the Guests
Friday, October 3rd, 2008
7:30 pm - 8:00 pm in Siskiyou Ballroom/Donnor Pass Ballroom

Standing out in a Sea of Awesome: Marketing for Artists
Saturday, October 4th, 2008
11:30 am - 12:45 pm in Monterey Room
One of the most important things for artists is getting your name out there but how do you do that and what on earth are art directors looking for? This workshop covers how to make mini promo books, promo sheet, post cards and why their important.

Digital vs. Traditional Art
Saturday, October 4th, 2008
2:30 pm - 3:45 pm in Monterey Room
Some artists are doing all their work digitally. Others work with paint and canvas and/or air brush. Most use some combination of tech and techniques. Working artists talk about what they like and what they use.

I’ll be offering the same images that are in my store at SiliCon so if you’re planning on attending save yourself the shipping and just pick one up there. If you are attending the con and want one of my images as a print and it’s not one of these please email me and I can see about making one for you. I will also be offering some buttons and maybe a few other goodies as well. So come by and ask me whatever you like or just say hi.

SiliCon
Updates on SiliCon: I’ll be participating in the following panels & workshops.

Standing out in a sea of Awesome: Marketing for Artists
Saturday, October 4th, 2008
11:30 am - 12:45 pm in Monterey Room
Description: One of the most important things for artists is getting your name out there but how do you do that and what on earth are art directors looking for? This workshop covers how to make mini promo books, promo sheet, post cards and why their important.

Digital vs. Traditional Art
Saturday, October 4th, 2008
2:30 pm - 3:45 pm in San Carlos Room
Some artists are doing all their work digitally. Others work with paint and canvas and/or air brush. Most use some combination of tech and techniques. Working artists talk about what they like and what they use.

Etsy
For those of you who didn’t read last week’s post the KatGirl Studio store is now open! Because it’s our Grand Opening the first 28 people to buy a print or Giclée get a free surprise print. Also in the coming weeks I will have some brand new special items up that I am currently working on. Curious to know what they are? Well you’ll just have to keep checking out my store to find out. If you’re also on Etsy drop me a convo I’d love to hear from you! TheBeadedPath just added me to their treasury take a look http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=6604 or visit my Etsy http://www.katgirlstudio.etsy.com

Spore
I waited over 3 years and now it’s finally here! I was watching the Discovery channel(my fav channel) on Saturday and saw the Spore special they were playing spliced with an animal’s of the future show. Apparently this was the show he saw that inspired him to make Spore. So on Sunday we ran about trying to find a store that had copies of the game. We ended up at Fry’s where they had a nice little display table with all the different collections you could choose for the game. I got the Galactic Edition and Aleric got the art book pack so we got all the special features combine. I had a blast playing the cell part until I saw Aleric playing it and his had much smoother movements and that’s when I learned I had had my settings set to high and now that I set them lower the game runs much smoother. But how awesome is that if it was one the best games I’ve ever played and it was even working right when I played it? I keep toying with the idea of applying to EA since the office that makes all the games of theirs I actually play is just a couple cities over.

Con-X-Treme
I’ve spend the last few days avoiding writing about the con since I don’t usually like to speak ill of anyone, but I can’t just let other’s fall into this trap if the con is still around next year. I’ve never seen a more mismanaged travesty than what took place at Con-X-Treme and I’ve been in student run school plays. The con was over pitched, they made it seem much more professional that it was and lied more than once about what was going to be there. Half of the things I went there to do never even took place including the charity auction. The staff there nice but basically forced to do the bidding of the one person in charge and as I found out later had to pay to get in just like everyone else. I felt worst for the attendee’s since they paid $30 for a day pass and there was almost nothing to do. We gave one attendee, Jeff Lee an impromptu art lesson after across the room silent hangman stopped being fun. All that unpleasantness aside I did meet some cool people Joey Jordan A fantasy/SiFi artist from Washington, Steve Savage creator of the blog Fan-to-Pro and the guys of the local band Phoenix Ash. I also re-met Jen of Juror2 who I had seen around our area at farmers markets in the past. Scott Aleric and I were also asked to be in a panel by Joey where we discussed design, color theory and layout. I could go on and on about why the con was a complete and utter failure but frankly I’ve got more important things to do.

Links to cool people:
http://thejefflee.blogspot.com/
www.joeysrealm.com
www.fantopro.com
www.phoenix-ash.com
http://juror2.net/

Etsy
On a more pleasant note the KatGirl Studio’s shop is now open! I’m operating it through Etsy, though you can also get to it through my site. Etsy for those of you who don’t know is an online marketplace for handmade items. Unlike ebay they don’t charge you to open an online shop, just a tiny fee to sell an item plus it looks more like a cute boutique than a used junk warehouse. Currently there are only Giclée’s(fine art archival prints) and prints but soon there will be mini masterpiece wearable art, mini canvas prints, ACEO’s and other cool handmade items in my shop. Also I am designing plushy Kiki Kitties (our mascot) that will hopefully become available for adoption around the holidays. Please check out my shop if you’re bored, in need of a gift or tired of staring at plain white walls. www.katgirlstudio.etsy.com

SiliCon
KatGirl Studio will be at SiliCon October 3-5. I will be sharing a table in the Artist’s Colony area with Scott Aleric the creator of Hell Has Found Me & Lost Graphics Studio. You won’t be able to miss us with our shiny new 89 in. retractable banners. We went last year and had a blast I was even a last min. stand-in in the Lolita Fashion Show. This year Peter S. Begal the creator of the Last Unicorn will be there along with a lot of other cool people.
I’ll be offering the same images that are in my store at SiliCon so if you’re planning on attending save yourself the shipping and just pick one up there. If you are attending the con and want one of my images as a print and it’s not one of these please email me and I can see about making one for you. I will also be offering some buttons and maybe a few other goodies as well. So come by and ask me whatever you like or just say hi.

I will be part of the following panels and workshops at Silicon:
Saturday, October 4th, 2008
2:30 pm - 3:45 pm in Monterey Room: Digital vs. Traditional Art

Standing Out in a Sea of Awesome: Marketing for Artists
TBA

www.siliconventions.com