KickStarter Love

I love KickStarter. It's freaking great seeing all the cool projects being backed. I wanted to plug some current projects by some friends of mine, and do some shout out to others that have recently succeeded!

If you are capable of sharing or donating I encourage you to do so :D Click on the titles to jump to teams Kickstarter page.

Sioux City Kid Album:


I had the pleasure of watching these guys live 2 weeks back and their sound is truly unique and fresh. They played one hell of a show and every single member put their heart and soul into each song. I would love to see these guys succeed. So even if it's a dollar help them out!

Frog Bar:

I've met some insanely talented artists out here in the SF Bay area, and a bunch of them have been pouring their hearts into this project! This is a very ambitious project and I wish the crew all the success!

One per Person:

I know a few of the animators that have been busting their butts on this project. And it looks like it just blew up as they have passed their goal! So Congrats to everyone :D

BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR:

The Duck:

I have only spoken with Simon a couple of times through email, and the dude is freaking humble and super nice. Very passionate and serious talent, I'm so glad to see that his projected succeeded in raising it's goal. 

Mercenary Kings:

This project is badass and so is the team! It's practically the same time behind the Scott Pilgrim game. Can't wait for this. Also Stéphane Boutin is a super awesome person. 

CODAME

I was recently asked to help run the Live Drawing event at this year's CODAME!!

What is CODAME? 

CODAME is a non-profit event, run by volunteers with a passion for art and technology. CODAME's goal is to bring together creative minds, be inspired and enjoy learning from others. 

This will be CODAME's third year and there will be three floors of projects, three floors of live DJs, Fire-dancers on the roof, halloween costume contest, a Live Drawing contest with great give-aways! It's going to be sick. 

If you’re in San Francisco this Halloween, make sure you’re here.

Festival RSVP + tickets here. All Donation based. :)

We are also looking for Artists!! Email us if you would like to have your work shown at the event! us@codame.com

Expect more updates about this event soon!

Sumos, Sushi, and Sake

Since moving to the Bay area, I've organized quite a-few meet-ups for drawing events or just fun random gatherings.

This past weekend was another great event! We were front row watching some world champion sumo wrestlers! How freaking fun, and what great shapes to draw.

I've been thinking a lot about founding a group. For almost all of the drawing events I use the name "SketchCrawl" - which is very familiar to artists from around the world as it's a very well established global event. Super cool.

I'm not interested in creating a global event (just yet :P ) but I would like to do something that was my own. What I want to do is for everyone and anyone, drawing abilities not included. I've created a fun name for my group and now I'm developing a logo for it.

I've always enjoyed getting people together but out here, I've realized how much I love getting people together and organizing / hosting events. A while back, I thought about quitting my day job and start looking for a gig as a event planner or promoter. I was doing quite a bit of work for one organization and I realized I could put that energy into something of my own and have the outcome be directed towards something I wanted. Thus benefiting me and others and in the future having an even bigger outreach.


I'm slowly progressing forward doing all the things that I enjoy; combining my passions. That's the key. I think. :)

more to come!

One Year Ago

One year ago I packed a duffel bag along with a couple of sketchbooks and flew out to the Bay area. First I crashed on a couch in Berkeley, then making my way into the city and finally finding a place back in the East Bay just north of Berkeley.

Less than 6 miles from my class. I became very familiar with the streets of East Bay, running, walking, biking everywhere. In February I was fortunate to find a gig in Burlingame. Only 28.6 miles away, doesn't sound far. But with no car, no bike and only using the Bus and trains to commute, it devoured almost 4 hours of my day. That's 20 hours a week!

I was working a part time job by just commuting, I used those hours as best as I could. When I bought a bike that helped save me 15 mins and turned my legs into tree trunks :P

I put up with that for 7 months and it broke me. My health quickly went out the window and now I'm in recovery mode. I wised up a bit and moved a mile away from work. MY. GOD. I can't believe I can get more than 4-5 hours of sleep now. I can't believe I put up with that commute for so long. I kept tricking myself but couldn't take it any longer.

Now I'll use that time to continue working on my growth again (surprised?) And I'll use that time to meet new faces and build stronger friendships. SO much has happened in the last year, so many stories.

I've written almost all my stories down and have now decided to create a 30-50 pg little comic book about my experience. I'm in no rush to do so, as I have one particular objective; which is to become better artist. I've already started drawing some of the ideas out, but I'll start fleshing it all out around Nov-Dec this year.

It's hard to believe that it's already been a year. ONE YEAR. I came out here not knowing anyone, I was uninspired, my whole "plate" was wiped clean when I lost all my work when my computer crashed. It was a very symbolic, I had a fresh start. I did come hungry however.

Now, I have more ideas than I know what to do with. I'm surrounded by some of the greatest artists and people I've ever met. And this city never ceases to amaze me with what is happening or what I might stumble upon. Kind of silly I didn't come out here sooner. But it's been exactly what I needed.

I'm going to hit the last four months hard and crank up my work. I have a lot of new things in the works and I can't wait to share them.

Stay tuned.