I've been under the weather for the last few days since getting back from the CTN Animation Expo, but I want to do my own little wrap up of the event for anyone that might care what I thought of it. :)
I was there all weekend, and it was pretty amazing. I got to meet some people I've been following on line and some people I never thought I'd have the chance to talk to in my life.
It's going to sound like I'm name dropping, but it just that I'm so excited that I got to meet so many amazing people.
One of the great things about the event, was that pretty much all of the artists that were there were very willing to talk and look at portfolios and were very generous with their time and advice. This was the first year for this expo, and I bet it's only going to get bigger in the coming years.
First off, I met
Stephanie Laberis. I've been following her work on-line for years and it was really great to finally meet her. She was so nice. Her work is really unique. I love it.
Then, I actually got to talk with
Craig McCracken of "Powerpuff Girls" and "Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends" fame. And again, it was just so great that he was so willing to take time to look at my work and talk about it.
Then there was
Mark McDonnell. He teaches drawing classes at Disney Animation. And I got to talk to him one-on-one for like a half hour! It was so cool! Of course, a half hour gave me a lot of time to say some really stupid things, but oh well. :) He gave me some of the best advice on how to make my portfolio stronger. He was sooo nice. I know I'm getting repetitive, but everyone was just so nice.
Another guy that was really nice was
Lou Romano. He had a line of people waiting to talk to him all weekend, and he was so gracious with everybody.
I also got to meet designer extraordinaire
Ben Balistreri who's work I've been awed by for quite some time now, so that was a thrill.
Another artist that I met was
Bill Robinson. His work is so fun. It was really nice talking to him. I know I'd seen his work before, but this weekend was the first chance I really had to pour over it close up. And I am now a big fan.
David O'Keefe is a caricaturist who had some amazing sculptural work on display. I really had a good time talking with him over the weekend.
The last two people I met late on Sunday were at tables right next to each other -
Mike Daley and
Pascal Campion. Both these guys were an instant source of inspiration as soon as I started looking at their work. They both are fantastic artists and each piece of art they create down to the simplest little sketch tells a story. Which is definitely something I need to work on putting into my own work.
There were also a lot of great live art demos going on all weekend. I got to stand only a few feet away from artists like Bobby Chiu, Peter de Sève, J. Scott Campbell, Dean Yeagle, Brittney Lee, Francisco Herrera and on and on...
Whew, it was just one cool weekend.
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