Chris Sonnenburg

Chris Sonnenburg is one of my favorite people in the world. He is big, boisterous, immensely talented, and everybody's friend. Chris was an Animation Director on Kung Fu Panda, and I had the pleasure of working with him on Futurama. He is also one of the heads of Conduct Happiness, a design company who offers T-shirts, childrens' books, accessories, and much, much more.

Chris recently released a "Little Golden Book" style childrens' book with his design partner Joe Moshier (also a Beatles Sketchblog contributor to be featured here soon). Go Pea Go! tells the story of Pea, who desperately needs to make his way to the Pea Bowl. The book is full of appealing, hilarious illustrations that harken back to the childrens' books of our childhoods.

Chris's take on the famous "Let It Be" album cover simply kills, and I'll be the first in line if these guys ever make this into a t-shirt.




Here is a sample spread from Go Pea Go!


And here are a few of my favorites from Conduct Happiness's t-shirt line.

Sergio Aragones

Sergio Aragones is a legendary cartoonist, probably best known for his work on Mad Magazine. His "Mad Look At..." series is consistently the funniest comic strip out there, usually containing incredibly witty gags told without the use of words. Please notice in the piece above that Sergio worked in a great gag as well.

For more of Sergio's gifts to mankind, check out:
MAD'S GreatestArtists: Sergio Aragones
Groo
DC Solo: Sergio Aragones
Actions Speak
Louder than Words

Inspiration Series: David O' Keefe

In the "Inspiration Series" I'll be highlighting beautiful Beatles work I've come across, but sadly do not own.






From David O' Keefe's Website:

In 2007, David left his day job to pursue his passion of painting and sculpting pop culture icons. O'Keefe's work is transformative, capturing not just the likeness of his subjects, but their personalities as well. He has recently released an epic depiction of the characters from The Godfather and of the entire I Love Lucy cast. His company, David O'Keefe Studios, distributes his work through galleries across the country.

Tim Sale

Tim Sale is one of my biggest influences and is truly one of the nicest artists in the comics industry. His work on Batman: Long Halloween and Batman: Dark Victory defines the character for me, and his Superman For All Seasons is one of my favorite Superman stories of all time. Tim's passion for and knowledge of the history of illustration is infectious, and wouldn't you know it, he's a HUGE Beatles fan. Just this last weekend at the CTN Expo in Burbank, Tim created this beautiful piece for the Beatles book, depicting George, John and Paul as they appeared very early in their career in Hamburg, Germany. This is before Ringo joined the band, when Pete Best and Stuart Sutcliffe were temporary Beatles. Big thanks to John Higashi for whispering whatever sweet magic he did to get Tim to do this piece for us.

Ben Balistreri

Ben Balistreri is an amazing character designer and storyboard artist. He won an Emmy for his designs on "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends", one of my absolute favorite cartoons of all time. He's also been nominated 6 times(!) for Annie awards in storyboarding. His graphic novel Seaweed: A Cure for Mildew is a really fun read, and contains a great sketchbook and development section worth the price of the book on its own. I approached Ben at a convention to do a Beatles piece, and while he was too short on time to complete it at the con, Ben very nicely said he'd do a drawing if I sent the book to him afterwards. I never expected Ben to do a full color piece with all four Beatles! This piece is legendary!

Scott Campbell

Scott Campbell (Scott C) is one of the quirkiest, funniest storytellers I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. Scott works in video games (see Brutal Lengend), and still finds time every day to post a new comic strip to his daily comic blog. His "Ninjas All Over the Place" print sits in the prime spot over our mantle, and the staggering genius of the piece makes me laugh every time I look at it.



Here's an image of the Ninja print from Scott's Blog:



How great is Scott's Beatles drawing! He did this one out of his head, with no reference, while he was holding a conversation with a group of friends! Amazing.

Michael Daley

Blue Sky Studios storyboard artist Michael Daley did this beautiful drawing of John Lennon for me at SDCC 09. I love the simplicity of John playing music under a tree.

Pascal Campion

Pascal Campion is a really prolific illustrator whose work I first saw in the Flight Anthologies. His blog is full of beautiful paintings inspired by his family. He admitted not knowing a ton about the Beatles, but did a very lovely drawing for me anyway.

Scott Morse-off Sketchbook Painting

This painting is just about my favorite thing in the world. I can't believe it's mine! Scott Morse is a comic book artist, as well as a story artist at Pixar. His graphic novel Barefoot Serpent is a fantastic read, particularly if, like me, you have an affinity for the films of Akira Kurosawa.

The Beatles Rooftop performance is probably my favorite Beatles moment, and in my head they are singing "Don't Let Me Down", which is one of my top 5 Beatles songs.

Eric Canete

Today's Beatles sketch is by Eric Canete who was reluctant to follow Robert Valley in the book but definitely brought his "A" game. I really enjoyed the contrast between watching Eric's process as compared to Roberts. Where Robert threw down very precise lines, Eric threw down a huge mass of kinetic lines, searching through the chaos to find his beautiful drawing.

The Book Is Born...

I have always been fascinated by the concept of artistic style. Style can be viewed as a road map of an artist's influences, a marker of his current inspirations, and often a unique insight into how he views the world.

Last year, I discovered the work of one artist that lit such a fire in my heart that I was just burning to pick up a pencil to take advantage of the creative spark that had ignited within me. Robert Valley designed and animated the opening cinematic to The Beatles: Rock Band. My brain exploded. I'm a lifelong Beatles fan, and am also an animator, and the fusion of my two loves was just pure bliss to me. I can pay no better compliment to a piece of art than the fact that it just made me want to pick up my own pencil and draw.


After seeing this amazing video, I just had to meet Robert and pick his brain. It turned out that Robert was attending San Diego Comic-con, and I got my chance to meet him. He was very generous with his time, and I can only hope my enthusiasm didn't creep him the hell out. Having attended the Con for about 10 years now, I've seen alot of different ideas for themed sketchbooks. A fan would bring a blank sketchbook, choose a theme or character (usually Batman, or Superman, or any scantily clad Fanboy dreamgirl) and approach all of his favorite artists in hopes of filling his book with different takes on his chosen subject.

That's how the Beatles Sketchbook was born. I always wanted a themed sketchbook of my own, and I knew I was about to meet Robert Valley, so...



Robert drew this out of his head without looking at reference! He didn't construct the drawing, he didn't search for the lines, but he drew as if he saw John and Ringo clearly in his head, and traced his vision. Amazing. Thank you Robert for starting off the book, and inspiring everyone who followed you.

I'd like to invite you fellow Beatles fan, to see all of my favorite artists' wonderfully different takes on the greatest band of all time.