It’s been a long wait, but I’m very excited to announce that my first kids picturebook is now available! Thanks so much to the kind folks at Tricycle Press and the author (Leslea Newman) for giving me the opportunity to work on this wonderful story. It should be at your local bookstore but in case it isn’t, you can also try:

• Amazon
• BN.com
• Random House
• Google results for the book

If you’d like to pick up a copy, that’s GREAT! Nearly as awesome would be to help spread the word! Who knows, it may lead to more kids books for me in the future. In the meantime, there are some plans in the works to visit local bookstores to promote the book. To get updates on this and other news, follow me @duttonart on Twitter.

Thanks for looking!

Folks had a pretty positive reaction to the “making of” video my brother did a few months ago of me working on my comic. So here’s a second one! The camera-work and editing are both dreamy. The art? Well, it’s sped up so that once again it looks like I know what I’m doing. ;)

One Swoop Fell - Pot. Kettle. from David Dutton on Vimeo.

Here’s the link to the first video in case you missed that:  http://vimeo.com/7035927

Thanks!

My brother Dave, a super-talented film-maker, recently picked up this gorgeous new camera. It’s an SLR that happens to shoot really great HD video. .. okay I admit… there’s way too many happy adjectives in those last two sentences… but I’m seriously excited to show you guys what he can do with this camera. He’s been wanting to film me working on my webcomic, One Swoop Fell, so he hung out for a couple sessions in the studio while I worked on last week’s page. The end result is awesome and I hope you guys will go watch and enjoy it! (I’d embed it here, but it doesn’t appear that we’re allowed to!)

One Swoop Fell - Never the Task at Hand from David Dutton on Vimeo.

… It’s a major credit to Dave’s expertise in editing and photography that I appear to look like I know what I’m doing (though we also get to see how often I erase, redraw, and be indecisive in general). Please “heart”, comment, and share this video with friends if you like it! Based on the feedback, I’m hoping to do some more of these, but with dubbed commentary.

Hey everyone, long time no post (seems to be my standard greeting).

So here’s some great news: I have a short story coming out in the upcoming Flight volume next month. It’s been a long time goal of mine to be a part of this series, so you can probably imagine my excitement! Here’s a preview:

I’ll be signing books along with the rest of the Flight crew next month at Comic-Con. Hope you can swing by! For those who can’t, why not pre-order a book from my aStore?

While I’m talking about Flight, I have to help spread the word for my friend Kazu Kibuishi, by asking all of you art pros out there to cast a vote for him on his Eisner nomination for Amulet. He definitely deserves it. There’s only a day or two left, so vote while you can!

Also on the topic of comics, things are ‘taking off’ over on my weekly online comic, One Swoop Fell. If you haven’t checked it out before, maybe now’s a good time!

Earlier this year, I had a lot of fun working on Autumn Moon Entertainment’s A Vampyre Story. The game is finally out so I’m now free to show some of the background art I did. I don’t wanna ruin it for any of you gamers out there though, so I’ll keep it to just three images.

You can download a free demo of the game, where some other bits of my work show up, like the layout for the options screen among other minor things, like the graveyard office door and stove textures.

The game itself seems to be generating some buzz, albeit amidst mixed reviews. I can’t say I cared much for the protagonist’s voice (possibly the worst attempt at a french accent I’ve ever heard), but the game does seem pretty fun. At the very least, the visuals are worth seeing. Give it a shot!

Good to see the GA blog back up. Thanks to Fed and Vic for all the hard work.

Here’s a small gathering of panels from my weekly webcomic, One Swoop Fell. I hope you enjoy taking a look!

Sorry for the nearly shameless self-promotion, but I wanted to share an article about me that came out today in the Oakland Tribune. I say “nearly” because during the interview I tried to talk about N.C. Wyeth, the Totoro Forest Project, and other far worthier artists they should cover…. but ah well. :)

I don’t have an online link yet, but here is the scanned article. Just click to read it.

And thank goodness for good editing. At one point in the interview, we began discussing life, how short it is, etc. I can’t remember what kind of heavy-handed mumbo jumbo I must’ve spewed out, but I’m glad it wasn’t this:

There’s also some mention in there of a webcomic I’ve been working on. The site is up, but the comic hasn’t launched yet. Still, it’s a good four or five minute’s worth of material at the moment, so you may wanna visit for now, and bookmark or subscribe for later.

www.OneSwoopFell.com

Thanks for lookin!

Hey everyone. Sorry I haven’t posted in a while!

So I’ve got some exciting news about a project I was asked to participate in for a huge charity event. Many of you are probably familiar with Hayao Miyazaki, the Oscar-winning filmmaker who made Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, and Princess Mononoke. Well, he started this non-profit foundation a while back to help save a large mystical forest just outside of Tokyo from urban development. This forest was his inspiration and backdrop for one of his earlier films, the classic My Neighbor Totoro. My friend Daisuke Tsutsumi, along with Enrico Casarosa and Ronnie Del Carmen came up with the idea to support this cause by gathering artists from all backgrounds to donate artwork for a fundraising event. I was honored to take part in it, especially because Miyazaki is a huge influence and inspiration in my own work. It’s been an amazing experience seeing how many other artists have been inspired by his work and moved to contribute such beautiful artwork, not just for a great cause, but as an homage to this great man.

To read more about it, visit http://totoroforestproject.org

The idea was to paint your own personal Totoro within a location that inspires you or maybe you grew up around. Though Totoros may resemble large cuddly creatures, they also represent a kind of spirit within their setting. I’ve spent most of my time living near the Northern Californian coastline, from Monterey to the Bay Area, so I created a sea otter-ish Totoro and placed him in my favorite place to go to paint, unwind, and recharge: Dillon Beach.

“Cypress of Sighs” 16×20 Gouache and Acrylic on Board.

I know a couple other artists from our good ol’ Gorilla Artfare crew were also invited to participate. I would love to see them share their artwork here along with the stories behind their pieces!

Apologies to anyone who’s seen this announcement made by me elsewhere.

A few months ago, I started going out early in the morning to paint with a few friends. Most of us have dayjobs (the majority excluding myself being at Pixar), so we’d start at around 6:30 or 7:00 and go for a couple hours before taking off. We started up a collaborative blog based on our sessions, which caught the eye of the gallery I’ve been with the past year or so, and now we have a painting show that opens today, with a reception this Saturday evening.

Here are the details:

Wednesday, February 20th - Sunday, March 9th

reception: Saturday, February 23rd, 4-8 pm

Gallery info:

Studio Gallery

1718A Polk Street (between Clay & Washington)

San Francisco, CA 94109

415.931.3130

You can see some advance photos of what’s hanging here.

And here’s a few pieces of mine:

Hope some of you bay area locals can make it out!

Here’s a spread from my journal that I painted today.

All a bit random, though all based on personal projects I’m currently working on. Hopefully I’ll have something to show for it very soon. Thanks for looking!