Totoro Forest Project

Framed and shipped!;


I'm very excited to tell you about an upcoming event that I'm honored to be a part of . I was invited to be one of the contributing artists for the Totoro Forest Project.

"Totoro Forest Project is an international charity effort to preserve Sayama Forest, also known as Totoro Forest. This endangered sanctuary on the outskirts of Tokyo is where director Hayao Miyazaki got the inspiration for his much loved character “Totoro.” Over 200 top international artists from animation, illustration, and comics are donating artwork especially created for this cause.

On september 6th 2008 Pixar Animation Studios will be hosting an art auction event featuring all these fantastic pieces of art. All the proceeds of this fundraiser will benefit the Totoro Forest Foundation."

The project is being organized by Dice Tsutsumi, Enrico Casarosa, Ronnie Del Carmen, and Yukino Pang at Pixar.
There are some amazing entries...you really should head over and view them as well as read more about the project!

The theme is "What is your Totoro?". I had more than a few ideas, and was so inspired by the challenge that I executed two of them. The background inspiration for these comes from my own childhood treehouse. Growing up in a small town in Missouri, that treehouse resided in my backyard. Many a day I piloted spaceships from it, fought monsters and traveled through time. I guess you could say it was the crow's nest for my young boy imagination.





...and, to this day, I can rarely find solace more than when I'm in the presence of a tree.