Dave Pimentel published a lovely book: "Evoke"

I've written on these pages several times already about my colleague Dave Pimentel.

Dave is a story artist who's probably the loudest cheerleader I know for drawing, drawing, drawing--at all times, in all places and with all media--and he's got the tweets, posts and sketchbooks to prove it.

He was lucky enough to be in the late Walt Stanchfield's gesture drawing classes at Disney. Stanchfield's philosophy and approach had a profound effect on him (as on so many others), and in the spirit Walt embodied he loves to share with and encourage other artists. He genuinely gets a charge out of not only creating his own work, but by seeing what everyone around him comes up with, whatever their take might be.

When I first started working with Dave I'd seize the chance to flip through his sketchbooks. He always had at least one in progress and a stack of what he'd just filled up on a shelf in the office. Each page was fun to look at, and each page was drawn from life. In fact, it was on those pages that I got to know his family before I'd actually met them--from the beautifully observed and executed sketches of them at the park, the bookstore, the beach, in the car...just engaging in ordinary everyday pursuits, but made to seem lyrical and alive on paper. The same was true of the anonymous passersby in his world, caricatured just enough to be recognizable as unique individuals. They all contained stories.

I hoped he'd self-publish a book of his drawings, and he has--he's also made it not only good to look at but to feel; it has a tactile, hard cloth binding with one of his ink brush drawings embossed on the oversize cover. He wanted it to resemble like the kind of 1950s-era books that all artists are drawn to(in my experience anyway) and it succeeds.

In addition to the many sketchbook excerpts he wrote a about a dozen pages containing the tips and ideas he uses in his gesture classes and applies to his own work. It's 100 pages of a very handsome and inspiring call to the pen, the pencil, and the sketchbook. Looking at it will make you feel good. And you'll really want to draw.





You can buy it from him here: EVOKE: The Art of Dave Pimentel

Rocket Johnson!

From Paul Briggs here finally is the announcement of a project that an awful lot of guys have been working on in their spare time-of which they have precious little. Nevertheless, somehow they all pulled it off.
I was lucky enough to see most of the book and it's a must-have. Talk about a roster of names; some very familiar, some you may not yet know-but all have done terrific work.
Here's Paul's email press release:

"Who is Rocket Johnson?" is a 72 page graphic novel anthology being self-published by Walt Disney Animation Studio's Story Artists and Directors. It's an all-ages book in which every artist answers the question: "Who is Rocket Johnson?"
It will be sold exclusively at booth 2302 in San Diego (http://www.comic-con.org/) and is a limited edition of 1,000 copies.

Cover painted by:
Paul Felix

Artists contributing stories:
Steve Anderson
John Musker
Dean Wellins
Mike Gabriel
Kevin Deters
Paul Briggs
Tom Ellery
Sam Levine
Nathan Greno
Don Hall
Mark Kennedy
Aurian Redson
Daniel Chong
Tron Mai
Lawrence Gong
Joe Mateo
Michael LaBash
Chris Ure
Bruce Morris
Mark Walton

Featuring pin-ups by:
Glen Keane
ChenYi Chang
Byron Howard
Arthur Adams

That's some lineup. For more information visit the official website.

Edited to add: Briggs informs me that at the present time there aren't any plans to do more than 1000 copies, take advance orders, or do any mail order at all. That means that if we want one we'll all have to plan to be at the Rocket Johnson booth at San Diego during the Con-probably early in the week. I feel positive that sketchbook resellers such as Stuart Ng and Bud Plant will be picking up multiple copies to offer at their own outlets, but with only 1000 available to begin with those too should sell quickly. I have to think it likely that when the initial run does sell out, more will be printed-eventually. But for now look for it only at the Con.