Tuesday, October 04, 2011

Maverix Studios Gone?

What can we say to start but offer a warm thank you to all that have been our friends and supporters over the years?

So, thank you — all of you. From the Animation business stand point; it has been an honor to carry the torch from the time when Maverick Studios (note that the name had “ck” originally) was founded by Robert Valley in 1994. Since then it has been a welcoming place to many artists in the community looking for inspiration and a place to hunker down. It has been a revolving door of talent and an important place for networking.

Our doors have indeed closed and as it has been said lately, "an end of an era". Times have changed, technology has blossomed and the animation industry has suffered in some ways, but gained in so many ways. It isn’t the intent here to get into the business aspects of the Maverix Studios era, but more a reflection on its positive contributions that we hope will be remembered throughout the art community in the Bay area and perhaps beyond.

We will never forget how so many came forward for the causes as we proudly sponsored benefit auctions, ranging from helping a friend with medical bills and disaster relief to the cure for Alzheimer’s and cancer. It has been truly humbling.

We also won’t forget the friends and colleagues (many of them new friends we’ve made) that shared the office space, offering trust and companionship. We’ll miss those that dropped in from time to time just to say hi.

There is a lot to miss about Maverix Studios and lot of fond memories to hold dearly.

But; one should never say never, right? The spirit of Maverix Studios will live on; we have no doubt. And someday, somewhere we will all be together again doing what we do best, inspiring, networking, and having another successful fundraiser for the next great cause!

Keep the Spirit Alive!

Love and best wishes to all,

The Maverix Studios gang

Monday, April 04, 2011

ONE , ひとつ - Big Success!





One,ひとつ was a HUGE success. All 50 pieces were sold ~!

Many thanks to all the donating artists, the volunteers and special thanks to Dice ,all the Maverix Members for their work and Seiji Horibuchi of New People for letting us use Superfrog Gallery for the event.

Thank you also to the hundreds of people who came to the show.

...All together as ONE , we raised $30,605, well over our initial goal for the cause :)

Considering we only had a few weeks to prepare, it is an amazing success!!


Thank you so much to everyone who made it to the ONE event Many of you donated precious art , donated generous cash , bought the awesome art , donated time and helping hands or bought things at the merchandising tables , we all together- as one- helped raise a good number of dollars , a lot of help , for Japan

Event video coming soon
































Photos by Tom Rubalcava .trubalcava.com/One_art_auction/
& BHPang




Saturday, April 02, 2011

ONE , ひとつ - Sho Murase

Another exquisite piece from Sho Murase!


mixed-media on wood

12"X16"

During the last several years Sho has been working in studios across London, Barcelona & San Francisco as an illustrator, animator, designer and storyboard artist.

In addition to her animation work she has been a part of several gallery shows and creating graphic novels.
Her fist color graphic novel “SEI” was published by Image Comics in November 2003. Since then she illustrated covers for comics and many graphic novels, including the Nancy Drew serie


http://www.shomurase.com/

ONE , ひとつ - Vaughn Ross


Vaughn Ross is contributing this thoughtful acrylic at the art auction.

10"X10"

Acrylic on canvas

Vaughn Ross is a story artist at Lucasfilm.

Vaughn is a contributing member of the artist co-op "Maverix Studios"

Vaughn is a character designer, animator and illustrator.


http://vaughnross.wordpress.com/

Friday, April 01, 2011

ONE , ひとつ - Robert Valley

This cool piece is by Robert Valley , drawn in traditional animation paper using graphite .

Robert has been directing animated commercials and music videos for the past two decades,  working in projects such as Gorillaz

ONE , ひとつ -Helen Chen

This very well executed piece  is done by Helen Chen
Title "Sushi Chef"
11x 14 oil
http://jigokuen.blogspot.com/

She is currently working as a visual development artist at Disney animation Studios

ONE , ひとつ -Meghan Jean Kinder


















Artist: Meghan Jean Kinder
Title: "Cicada Song"
Media: Mixed Media on Panel
Size: 10 x 8 inches

-"The images of Japan that flooded the media after the disaster were hugely upsetting; People terrified and displaced among the destruction of their homes. But incredible stories of bravery, humanity, and triumph emerged, too. Like those stories, cicadas are a symbol of re-birth. In Japan specifically, their sound signifies the summer season as they emerge from the ground to sing, re-born."-Meghan Jean Kinder

ONE , ひとつ - Marcos Mateu


Marcos Mateu's bold blacks and composition stand out in this one.

Untitled
Ink on Paper
14"X18"

Born in Palma de Mallorca. Graphic-novel artist, Illustrator, working in animation since 1991 (2D backgrounds, 2D layout, storyboard, visual concept and development). Author of "Framed Ink, drawing and composition for visual storytellers". Currently at Dreamworks. Film credits: We're Back, Balto, The Prince of Egypt, Eldorado, 3 Wise Men, Toto Sapore, Asterix and the Vikings, Surf's Up, Megamind.

http://marcosmateu.blogspot.com/

ONE , ひとつ - Ed Bell


Here is Ed Bell's wonderful piece. Always exploring shapes, line and tonality. Such a talent.

"A Bending"
Pencil and Marker
11" x 14"


Ed Bell is a filmmaker, director, animation artist and designer. A native of South Central Los Angeles, he went to California Institute of the Arts for their film and video program. Since that time he has been involved in bringing art to life in various forms. His directing and artistic credits include both film and commercials for clients such as HBO, Warner Brothers, Disney Features, Nike, Sony, and BBC Television. He is an affiliated commercial director with Special Agent Productions, and is currently collaborating on a graphic novel with comedic horror writer, Michael Boatman.
http://houseofmanycolors.blogspot.com/

ONE , ひとつ - Steve Purcell


Steve Purcell has given us a mysterious, yet charming piece to salivate over.

"They Meet"
Acrylic on Board
4" x 6"

Steve Purcell is a cartoonist and writer, best known as the creator of comic book characters Sam and Max. He is currently employed in the story development department at Pixar.

http://spudvisionblog.blogspot.com/

ONE , ひとつ - Jonathan Wayshak

This striking mixed media piece is by John Wayshank



JonathanWAY$HAK  has been a freelance illustrator since 1996, after a brief stint as an employee of Target and Media Play.  He likes to draw comics and occasionally paint. 

La Times Press release..

Animation Artists converge for Japan disaster relief

Click Here

Thursday, March 31, 2011

ONE , ひとつ - Dan McHale


Dan McHale created an awesome homage piece.


Title: Tiger and Moon (after Hokusai)
Dimensions 11" x 14"
Acrylic on board

Dan McHale is an animator at Maverix Studios

http://web.me.com/danmchale/Site/Dan_McHale_Portfolio.html

ONE , ひとつ, Enrico Casarosa

This tale tell beautiful piece is titled: 金魚-Kingyo
and is in pencil and watercolor

Size: 11"x14"

 " Kingyo : I love to draw japanese streets with strange characters in them, this is taken from a photo I took in Gyon, Kyoto. A fox, a badger and a kappa are mourning over a little dead goldfish."- Enrico


Enrico Casarosa was born and raised in Genoa, Italy in the early 70s. After a couple of years at the University of Engineering spent mostly doodling during classes, Enrico found his calling and moved to Milan to attend Illustration courses at the European Institute of Design. In 1994 he moved to the US to pursue studies in animation and illustration. He studied in New York at the School of Visual Arts and at the Fashion Institute of Technology. He, somewhat proudly, never finished a major at any of the colleges he attended.
Enrico started his career in animation in New York City working for several TV Animation studios and projects in different capacities. He then landed a position at Blue Sky Studios, storyboarding for 20th Century Fox’s ICE AGE.
Enrico moved to San Francisco in 2001 where he’s been since working at Pixar Animation Studios as a story artist on movies like Ratatouille, Up and Cars2. In his free time he has drawn comics, made art books and started an international drawing Marathon event: SketchCrawl.

Visit his site for more information
http://enricocasarosa.com
http://sketchcrawl.com

ONE , ひとつ - Yoriko Ito

The title for this beautiful piece is  " Prayer for the hope"

Size 11.5x 15
Medium Water color, and gouache, silver flake, ink on watercolor paper

-"Thinking the girl, I read the article who lost her parents for the Tsunami, 10 years old girl is survived  with her grandma. Her mother was 9 month pregnant.The article said she met the body of her parents and after their funeral she never show her tears again told by her grandma."- Yoriko

Yoriko Ito is originally from Japan. 
She lives in California and has been working in the animated  feature film industry over the past 15 years in companies such as Dreamworks , PDI &  is currently working as a visual development artist at CinderBiter.  
She has also published 5 children's books in US.
http://yorikoito.com/

ONE , ひとつ - Mari Inukai


Mari Inukai contributed this charming flight of fancy!



TOROTOROMARILLAZ II-UMI WO KOETE OIL ON LINEN CANVAS 11''X14''




Mari Inukai was born in Nagoya, Japan. In 1995, Mari came to the US to pursue her studies in art. She first attended Santa Monica Community College (Mentor program), then Associates in Art, Sherman Oaks, CA and finally California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA, where she recieved her BFA in Character Animation in 2004. Her professional works include Nickelodeon, New York, Nylon Motion Inc., LA, Oishii Productions, LA, and NGTV, LA. Her short animated film, Blue and Orange, has been an official selection at numerous national and international film festivalss including the Sundance Film Festival 2003, and was the Japanese Grand Prix winner at the Short Shorts Film Festival EXPO 2005. Besides her animation works, Mari regularly exhibits her paintings and drawings, designs clothes, ceramic toy figurines, and other fun products. She lives in Los Angeles with her daughter, Sena.

http://www.mariinukai.com/

ONE , ひとつ Jamie Baker

This fun and awesome Colour Pencil on Canson Paper piece is titled "Jet-Kid Hola-Gato"
and measures 9x12 (16x20 in Frame)

-" In trying to do a piece for a show that honours Japan, I started out by thinking of all my favourite Japanese cartoon characters, which is where my love of Japanese culture began (Cartoons is where my love of America began too, incidentally). After a few days of doodling I ended up with this image; MY version of two Japanese Cartoon icons, at the beginning of a beautiful relationship." - James Baker




JAMES BAKER was raised in Australia but now lives in San Francisco, where he is a Freelance Storyboard artist working in Animation (clients include Pixar, LAIKA, SONY and ILM).

http://www.James-baker.com

ONE , ひとつ Jackson Dryden

Title: Floating Blossom
Size: 12.5"x12.5"
Medium: Ink and gouache

Jackson is currently working at CinderBiter as a junior illustrator. 
 

ONE , ひとつ Soosa Kim



Title: 
“Together”

Medium: Oil
Size: 14”x14”

-“Together...

walk, smile, touch
sun still high.
we go together."-









Soosa Kim is this crazy Japanese artist friend of mine.
He works for Namco as a concept/CG artist.
He’s the man with stories. Anyone who knows him would know what I mean.
Next time you go out with him, ask him about his Yakuza experience and the stories from his male host days. I heard his stories  many times but I still laugh my head off when I hear them.

The poetic story attached to his work , reflecting his fun and interesting personality  will suck you in to his world!
http://www.simplestroke.com/wp/?p=550

ONE , ひとつ Ronnie Del Carmen

This amazing  -very touching -Story master Ronnie del Carmen piece is approx

8"x 10"
(11" x 14" framed ) 

Medium: Gouache
Title: "Tearful Alice in waves"




























-"I attended the grand Mary Blair show in Japan last year. It was a pilgrimage of the faithful.

I was enraptured all over again. But even better it was curated and collected in Japan.
Japan is a very special place for me personally.
In that same trip we also went to Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Seas. Spectacular.  And yet throughout that trip all I wanted to do was to be on the streets of Tokyo and meet the people, visit friends and see the neighborhoods again.
Japan is my Disneyland. I wish for all to be well and a swift recovery." -Ronnie


Ronnie del Carmen is currently working for Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville.  Prior to that he's worked at Dreamworks and Warner Bros.

He self-publishes his own comic book, Paper Biscuit.
He is maintained by his wife and kids and is not allowed too much peanut butter.

http://www.ronniedelcarmen.com/