Beauty is an intangible thing; can not be fixed on the surface, and the wear and tear of old age on the body cannot defeat it. -- Robert Henri |
My first son, Senju Tsutsumi(堤 仙樹） was born at 5:48 am on the 22nd of December 2011.
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Sketching him has been absolutely fascinating. Everyday, he shows whole new faces to us.First oil painting session was not an easy one… My model pooped half hour into the pose and got too hungry after that.
After an hour break, he made me swing him for good half hour… Must be the most demanding model ever!
Happy New Year Everyone!
明けましておめでとうございます！
2011 was an intense year for me. Starting with that horrible earthquake and tsunami in March, we launched Artists Help Japan Movement that generated close to $200,000 worldwide. And then, most of my time after that was spent on preparation for Sketchtravel auction in October which included my first animated short film. Oh.. also, I have been working on Pixar’s 2013 release Monsters University as Color/Lighting Art Director of which production is now in the phase where my schedule dance card is completely full everyday.
All those had seemed a lot of achievements until December 22nd when my first son was born. Seeing my wife delivering our baby with such strength and courage made me realize how a life project like that is far more precious and meaningful. It gave me an opportunity to think about what I’m going to do next.
2012 should be a year to look forward to!
Most of you might have already seen and heard the fantastic result of the Sketchtravel auction that took place last week in Brussels.
It was a loooong journey and it paid off very well.
The original Sketchbook = 70,000 Euros (96,200 US$)
Total of 9 Signed Sketchbooks = 6,000 Euros (8,250 US$)
Total Proceeds from the auction = 76,000 Euros (104,450 US$)
Looks like we are able to build more than one library!!!!!
Thank you soooooooooooo much for every one of you who supported directly and indirectly this labor of love project.
And here is the animated film I created for the project. You may have already seen it because it has been played on many other websites.
I cannot say its quality is what I was hoping for but it sure taught me a lot for sure. I hope I can try to direct another film and next time I can use the wisdom I got from this experience to help!
http://www.sketchtravel.com/video.html
With less than a month away from the Sketchtravel charity auction in Brussels, I have been struggling to find time to breathe at all.
First of all, I just organized a mini Sketchtravel show at Pixar. And then we have been doing all the heavy facebook marketing to spread the word. Check out our facebook page to follow what we’ve been doing!!
In the meantime, my pathetic short film is close to be done! Slowly and surely!!
Here are some more frames from it~!!
The 5 year long project I have been working on, Sketchtravel now has a brand new website!
Kudos to Seth Van Booven for designing such a beauuuutiful website. I worked with many many talented web designers but by far he is the best I have seen. He turned this website in less than 3 weeks.(while he’s still working full time in house)
The sketchbook that was passed around the world between 71 artists over the course of 4 and half years will be for sale on 10/17/2011. The publication of the book will also be available in October. All the proceeds will be used to build a library in South East Asia(starting with Laos) and to sponsor a local artist to do a children’s book in their native language through internationally respected non profit Room to Read.
This is something I have been working on with my buddy Gerald Guerlais for 5 years now. With the finale of the project, the charity auction in Brussels is only a month away, I’ve been working crazy hours to get enough preparation done for it!
Despite the world economic crisis Today, let’s hope we can raise enough funding to build at least one library and sponsor one children’s book!(and more hopefully!!) If you can help spread the word, that would be very much appreciated!!!
五年がかりの夢のプロジェクトがとうとうあと一ヶ月でオークションで売られます。オリジナルの本の売り上げ、出版される本の売り上げ、そして個人の寄付によって、Room to Readを通じて第三国にスケッチトラベル図書館を作る事が目標です。さらにはその地域のアーティストによる絵本の出版もスポンサーします。皆さんも是非クチコミで呼びかけ協力お願いします！