I’m in New York City at the Roosevelt Hotel behind Grand Central Station for the ICON conference, which started yesterday with a Sketchcrawl and a panel on the role of illustrators’ societies. On the schedule for today, there are studio tours and the opening reception tonight with Steven Heller and other luminaries, then the next couple days are full of workshops and events. If anyone wants to go, the organizers are encouraging those of us already registered to bring another person along for only $145 (you have to cough up something extra for the workshops). That’s down from the $595 it would normally cost. This buddy thing is not advertised on the site but I’m betting that if you just show up and tug on someone’s sleeve, they’ll be your “buddy” and get you in for that cheap price. It’s worth a try. At the very least, stop by and meet people hanging out in the bar! We are all wearing big tags around our necks and are easy to identify.
UPDATE
I may have spoken too soon (or late, rather) - checking further into it, they seem to have made a buddy cut-off date of June 30. And, the form says $450, not the $145 that the email notification did. So be warned. Still, how can they turn you down if you’re standing there with money in your hand - ? And, people are milling about outside the roped-off area, so you can still network.
This portrait of Muddy Waters is part of an exhibition of relief-block prints by artist Stephen Alcorn entitled Modern Music Masters. The series “pays homage to the men and women who bridged the gaps between tradition and innovation, craft and genius, entertainment and art, music and poetry, composition and improvisation, black and white.”
Animator Donnachada Daly has been turning his fluid drawings into stereoscopic 3D images using the “Magic Eye” technique. Fun! He’s compiling the images into a book with the clever title Depth Charge.
One of my favourite pixel-slingers, Etherbrian, is giving away some hand-drawn goodies in what he calls The First Annual Mucho Grande Giving Away of Nineteen Magical Mystery Drawings.
Illustrator Lowell Hess, whose career began in the 1950s, has a modest image-rich website put together by his wife. In addition to his marvelous magazine and advertising illustrations, the site is home to some of his wood carvings and pop-up paper work. For more, our pal Leif Peng contacted Mr. Hess back in 2005, and you can read the interview, and see more of his work at this archive of Leif’s blog.
If (like me) you’re a fan of the films of Hayao Miyizake (Totoro, Spirited Away), this might interest you. It’s a glimpse of the first trailer for his new film, Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea, which will be released in Japan in July, 2008.
According to IMDB, the film is about a five-year old boy and his relationship with a girl-princess fish who longs to become human. Overall, it looks like a really nice return to the innocent and child-like fun of Totoro.
Also, here’s a slideshow of behind-the-scenes images (including distinctive concept watercolours by Miyizake himself) overlaid with an addictive theme-song.
