Saturday, February 20th, 2010 from 2pm to 4pm

Free and open to the public

(San Francisco, CA)  Visit the Cartoon Art Museum bookstore on Saturday, February 20, 2010 as we host San Jose-based illustrator Jim Hummel.  Hummel will be signing copies of his new book A Bubble C, a children’s book that showcases the alphabet through an entertaining adventure of two sisters.  Hummel has been a longtime illustrator for The San Jose Mercury News, among other publications.  This event is free and open to the public.

A Bubble C is an adventure of two twins, Morgan and Parker, as they initiate a treasure hunt in search of their birthdays.  In this journey, the twins encounter alphabetical creatures who help them find their way, but they must beware of…the stickers!  An unusual alphabet story, Hummel has created a host of characters for children to read again and again.

In addition to A Bubble C, Hummel also created its predecessor, The Two Sisters, a book about the girls’ adventures with numbers.

About Jim Hummel

Jim Hummel has been the Art Director of Pacific Stars and Stripes in Tokyo, Japan, as well as the Promotional Art Director for the Associated Press, New York, New York.  He was a longtime illustrator for the San Jose Mercury News in California and has won multiple awards including the National Cartoonists Society’s Advertising and Illustration Award, the Society of Illustrators Humor Award and the California Publishers Award.  Currently he lives in San Jose and teaches Illustration at San Jose State University, in addition to freelance work with San Jose Magazine, Burlingame Daily New and the San Francisco Airport Museum.

Sunday, February 14th, 2010 from 1pm to 3pm
Book Signing with Rob Reger and Buzz Parker
Free and open to the public

Celebrate Valentines Day with Emily the Strange creators and Illustrators Rob Reger and Buzz Parker. Emily the Strange came to life in the early 1990s and quickly became a beloved counterculture icon all around the world. In her earliest years, she was a quiet but sharp-witted stranger, slinging philosophy and cultural observations in a series of hand-screened t-shirts and stickers. As her presence grew and became a standard in the cultural underground, Emily’s own story began to emerge in a series of gift books, then comic-books and graphic novels, and now a novel series for young adults.

Emily’s not your average thirteen year-old-girl. Pink is her worst nightmare…she wears the same black dress every day. She loves math and science. Her best friends are her four BLACK CATS! She’s into old rock & punk, but also digs newer bands like My Chemical Romance.

Today, Emily continues to be a voice for individualism and self-awareness, and her appeal is especially strong among alternative-minded young women and girls who identify with her signature singularity. Her presence in the worlds of art, pop culture, literature, and fashion celebrates non-conformist and reminds us all to cultivate that which makes us unique.

This event is free and open to the public. Sweet treats will provided by From Scratch.

Ed Hannigan:  Covered

Presented by The Cartoon Art Museum and The Hero Initiative

Cartoon Art Museum exhibition: February 13 – June 20, 2010

Reception and Charity Auction:  April 2, 2010
 

PvP @ CAM
Presentation and booksigning with Scott Kurtz

Cartoon Art Museum Event:  Thursday, February 11, 2010, from 7:00pm to 9:00pm
$5 suggested donation

The Cartoon Art Museum welcomes Scott Kurtz, creator of the popular webcomic PvP: Player vs. Player from 7:00 to 9:00pm on Thursday, February 11 for a special presentation on the business of webcomics.  Kurtz will discuss the origins of his award-winning comic, the ups and downs of web distribution, and will engage the audience in an informative discussion on how—and why—to self-syndicate your own comics.  A booksigning will follow the presentation.

About Scott Kurtz

Small Press Spotlight on Andy Ristaino

Beginning on December 19th, 2009, the Cartoon Art Museum's ongoing Small Press Spotlight will feature the art of Andy Ristaino.

Andy Ristaino is a cartoonist and animator currently residing in the San Francisco. Originally from Franklin, Massachusetts, he has been drawing comics ever since he could. His first published work, a comic strip based on Greek myths entitled Myth Conceptions, appeared in The Pompeiiana Newsletter when he was in high school between 1992 and 1994. He attended the Rhode Island School of Design majoring in illustration/animation, during which time he self published two issues of his martial arts comedy zine Nightblade The Nearsighted Ninja, and drew a back up story featuring the character Dangerman, in Oz Squad from Patchwork Press.

Ristaino’s first solo book Life of a Fetus, a story about a bored baby who decides to jump out of the womb early and go on a road trip, was published by SLG comics in 1999 and ran for seven issues. This was soon followed by the spin off series The Babysitter, A send-up of Japanese pop culture. All three issue of The Babysitter have recently been collected by SLG comics. Ristaino’s work tends to focus on themes of the strangeness of life and the fragility of the human psyche, claustrophobia, and the odd space between understanding and incoherence. He looks at storytelling as something liquid.

His work has appeared in numerous comic anthologies such as Meathaus S.O.S., Spectrum 16, Tales of Hot Rod Horror, Spark Generators 2, Pet Noir, Go for the Gold, and the soon to be published Popgun vol. 4 from Image comics. His children’s comic the Uncredibly Confabulated Tales of Lucinda Ziggles was a regular fixture in the now defunct Nickelodeon Magazine.

Ristaino anticipates the publishing of his next SLG graphic novel Escape from Dullsville, a 288 page collection of Life of a Fetus with over 80 pages of unpublished material, sometime in 2010.

For more information about Andy Ristaino’s works and upcoming events, please visit http://www.skronked.blogspot.com and http://www.skronked.com.

December Cartoonist-in-Residence: Alan Groening
Cartoon Art Museum Event: Saturday, December 19th, 2009 1pm to 3pm
Free and Open to the public

The Cartoon Art Museum hosts cartoonist Alan Groening on Saturday, December 19, 2009 from 1pm to 3pm as part of its ongoing Cartoonist-in-Residence program. Museum visitors will be offered the chance to talk to him about cartooning and view Alan’s work.

From 1992 to 1997, Alan Groening was hard at work in the comic industry creating his own brand of cartoon funny books. After a successful 6 year and 13 issue series, he took some time off from professional art and returned to college to learn video editing and 3D model building and in 2003 began working on several short films. In 2007, and after only one semester of Macromedia Flash, he was contacted by a client to create two short animated educational videos teaching kids about the fundamentals of mathematics.

In 2009, Groening created the first in a string of short cartoons for Family Community Church. He is currently freelancing and creating other animated cartoons for his church.

This event is free and open to the public.

The Cartoon Art Museum regularly hosts professional cartoonist in its galleries as part of its Cartoonist-in-Residence program. Museum patrons see cartoonists at work on their latest projects and learn everything you ever wanted to know about cartoonists--but were afraid to ask. Past featured Cartoonists-in-Residence include Paul Madonna (All Over Coffee), Keith Knight (K Chronicles, (th)ink), Paige Braddock (Jane's World), Michael Jantze (The Norm) and Jimmy Gownley (Amelia Rules) among many others.

Fantastic Mr. Fox

The Cartoon Art Museum proudly presents original works of art from Twentieth Century Fox’s feature film FANTASTIC MR. FOX, scheduled for nationwide release on November 25, 2009. This exhibit features two sets from the stop motion animated film, “Flint Mine – We Took Everything” and “Farmer Scale Yellow Door,” which include puppets and props used in the film’s production. These works will be displayed in conjunction with the Cartoon Art Museum’s permanent collection of classic animation cels and drawings throughout the holiday season.

About Fantastic Mr. Fox:

FANTASTIC MR. FOX is visionary director Wes Anderson’s first animated film, utilizing classic handmade stop motion techniques to tell the story of the best selling children’s book by Roald Dahl (author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach). The film features the voices of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Michael Gambon, Willem Dafoe and Eric Anderson.

Mr and Mrs Fox (Clooney and Streep) live an idyllic home life with their son Ash (Schwartzman) and visiting young nephew Kristopherson (Eric Anderson). But after 12 years, the bucolic existence proves too much for Mr Fox’s wild animal instincts. Soon he slips back into his old ways as a sneaky chicken thief and in doing so, endangers not only his beloved family, but the whole animal community. Trapped underground and with not enough food to go around, the animals band together to fight against the evil Farmers - Boggis, Bunce and Bean - who are determined to capture the audacious, fantastic Mr Fox at any cost.

Twentieth Century Fox presents, in association with Indian Paintbrush and Regency Enterprises, an American Empirical Picture, FANTASTIC MR. FOX. Directed by Wes Anderson and written for the screen by Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach, the film is based on the book by Roald Dahl. The film is produced by Allison Abbate, Scott Rudin, Wes Anderson and Jeremy Dawson with Steven Rales and Arnon Milchan as executive producers.

The production team includes animation director Mark Gustafson, director of photography Tristan Oliver, production designer Nelson Lowry, music composed and conducted by Alexandre Desplat, supervising editor Andrew Weisblum, music supervisor Randall Poster and puppets fabricated by MacKinnon and Saunders.

Monsters of Webcomics:
Webcomic-Con 2009

From the Comic Strip to the Animated Short:
Cartoon Art Museum class for adults

For beginning and intermediate level cartoonists, at the Cartoon Art Museum

Monday and Tuesday, December 7 and 8, 2009, 5:30 - 7:30 PM
Cost: $40 for CAM members, $50 for non-members

Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol: The Magic Behind the Making of the First Animated Christmas Special

The Cartoon Art Museum welcomes author Darrell Van Citters on Tuesday, December 8, 2009 from 7:30 to 9:00pm for a special presentation on the creation of Mister Magoo’s Christmas Carol, the first animated Christmas special. Van Citters will sign copies of his new book following his presentation.

Mr. Magoo and Charles Dickens may have seemed like an odd match at the time but Americans of a certain age will remember that the pairing resulted in bit of pure magic. Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol was the first-ever animated Christmas special, and is now the subject of a splendid new book by Darrell Van Citters.

Looking for Calvin and Hobbes in San Francisco
Booksigning with author Nevin Martell

Cartoon Art Museum Event:  Sunday, November 15, 2009, from 1:00pm to 3:00pm
Free and open to the public

The Cartoon Art Museum welcomes author Nevin Martell on Sunday, November 15, 2009 from 1:00 to 3:00pm as he signs copies of his new book Looking for Calvin and Hobbes:  The Unconventional Story of Bill Watterson and His Revolutionary Comic Strip.  This event is free and open to the public.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Looking for Calvin and Hobbes:  The Unconventional Story of Bill Watterson and His Revolutionary Comic Strip
By Nevin Martell

For ten years, between 1985 and 1995, Calvin and Hobbes was one of the world's most beloved comic strips. And then, on the last day of 1995, the strip ended. Its mercurial and reclusive creator, Bill Watterson, not only finished the strip but withdrew entirely from public life. There is no merchandising associated with Calvin and Hobbes: no movie franchise; no plush toys; no coffee mugs; no t-shirts (except a handful of illegal ones). There is only the strip itself, and the books in which it has been compiled - including The Complete Calvin and Hobbes: the heaviest book ever to hit the New York Times bestseller list.

In Looking for Calvin and Hobbes: The Unconventional Story of Bill Watterson and His Revolutionary Comic Strip, writer Nevin Martell traces the life and career of the extraordinary, influential, and intensely private man behind Calvin and Hobbes. With input from a wide range of artists and writers (including Dave Barry, Harvey Pekar, Jonathan Lethem, and Brad Bird) as well as some of Watterson's closest friends and professional colleagues, this is as close as we're ever likely to get to one of America's most ingenious and intriguing figures - and a fascinating detective story, at the same time.

Only 3,160 Calvin and Hobbes strips were ever produced, but Watterson has left behind an impressive legacy. Calvin and Hobbes references litter the pop culture landscape and his fans are as varied as they are numerous. Looking for Calvin and Hobbes is an affectionate and revealing book about uncovering the story behind this most uncommon trio – a man, a boy, and his tiger.

REVIEWS & PRESS:

"Nevin Martell's book provides a rare glimpse of the riddle wrapped in the mystery inside an enigma that is Bill Watterson and his brilliant work, which I now know was almost called 'Marvin and Hobbes.'”
- Stephan Pastis, creator of Pearls Before Swine

"Watterson can hide, but he can't die. His work lives on and we're lucky to have Nevin Martell reminding us so colorfully in this joyful book."
- Berkeley Breathed, creator of Bloom County and Outland

"...Martell provides the most comprehensive look at the life and work of one of the most influential American cartoonists. A book I highly recommend picking up."
- The Daily Cartoonist

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Nevin Martell is the author of Looking for Calvin and Hobbes: The Unconventional Story of Bill Watterson and His Revolutionary Comic Strip (Continuum, 2009), Standing Small: A Celebration of 30 Years of the LEGO Minifigure (DK, 2009), Dave Matthews Band: Music for the People (Pocket, 2004) and Beck: The Art of Mutation (Pocket, 2001).  He is a Contributing Editor at Filter magazine and his music journalism has appeared in Paste, Giant, Men’s Health, High Times, and Flaunt, as well as online at RollingStone.com.  Currently, he lives with his wife outside Washington, DC, where he develops documentaries and non-fiction television.
  

Spend the day at Pixar Animation Studios
For the Sixth Annual Cartoon Art Museum Benefit!
Saturday November 14, 2009

The Cartoon Art Museum, the only museum in the western United States dedicated to all forms of cartoons and comics, is delighted to host its sixth annual benefit on Saturday, November 14, 2009 at Pixar Animation Studios.  From Pixar’s inception in 1986 with the premiere of its iconic short film, Luxo Jr., to the studio’s latest full-length feature, Disney•Pixar’s Up, Pixar has wowed and charmed the world with its incredible computer animated creations. This year, there are two great ways to experience the magic of Pixar up close and personal at the studio’s Emeryville home:

The Family Fun Tier
(1:00 – 4:00 pm)

Manga Mania with Karen Luk

A Saturday workshop for youth ages 8-18

Come and level up your drawing skills at the Cartoon Art Museum’s Manga Mania! Karen Luk, professional illustrator and comic artist, will reveal the secrets behind Manga faces, body language and basic character design. Basic drawing skills are helpful, but not required.
 
Two sessions on Saturday, October 24, at the Cartoon Art Museum:
 
8-12 year olds from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm
For beginners and curious students, bring your questions and imagination!
 
13-18 year olds from 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm
For more dedicated students, bring in your drawings for review and questions! Karen will provide critiques in the workshop.
 
Drawing supplies will be provided.
 
To register please call 415-227-8666 x303 or email education@cartoonart.org

Participants must be pre-registered and pre-paid by Thursday, October 22nd to attend the class.
 
About Karen Luk

Since 2004, Karen Luk has self-published comics and is currently posting new comics on Girlamatic.com. She joined Manga Start in 2008 - an artists' group dedicated to educating students about the art fundamentals in relation to Manga-styled drawings and comics. She has taught various workshops on drawing skills, comic making and Manga style. Her portfolio can be found at
http://www.karenluk.net.
 
Instructor: Karen Luk
 
Date: Saturday, October 24th, 2009
 
Time: 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM for 8-12 year-olds; 2:30 PM to 4:30 PM for 13-18 year-olds

Place: Cartoon Art Museum, San Francisco
 
Cost: $12 per person