Arfabet opens tonight at Velvet da Vinci Gallery!

Here's a few images from the Arfabet installation at Velvet da Vinci Gallery

Arfabet launches this week!

If you're in the San Francisco area this weekend, I hope you can make it to the official opening and book launch of Arfabet!  The show runs from October 24 - November 25, and the opening event is this Friday night from 6-8pm at Velvet da Vinci Gallery.

In the meantime, here's the animation I created to go with the book. Enjoy!

getting ready to animate

Hello Beautiful People!

I have an update as I prepare to shoot the sequences for my Arfabet stop-action animation! It's hard to believe it's been a whole year since I've done this, and I'm hoping it won't be too difficult to get into the swing of it this time.  For any of you who are new to this conversation, this animation is a companion piece to my forthcoming sophomore publication Arfabet, due out in the next month.  There will be some advance copies available in late October at my book launch at Velvet da Vinci Gallery on the 26th. I just got the postcard in the mail the other day and am soooooo happy with it. If you're in the San Francisco area, please come by and see the show and say hi if you make it on opening night!

But I'm here to tell you a little about my work on the animation. I am not sure if it will be completed by the time of the opening, but one thing is for sure: I need to film it before the show since it stars the pieces that grace the pages of Arfabet that will only be in my hands for the next few weeks! I have worked up a basic idea of how it will work, and it seems that most of the pieces I made for the book are perfect to use. There are, however, a few pieces that I decided to rework in order to animate them.

The Kookierhondje with the kumquat just needs to jump, so I made a stunt double so I could do this on a flat surface.

Similarly, that Zuchon just wouldn't be as fun if it weren't jumping over the Zuccotto, so he's also got a flatter version for the animation.

I decided to remake the Dachshund as well, so that it could show the layers being stacked up to make the Dagwood sandwich. The piece in the show is much larger and glued into one piece. I will eventually glue this one together if I decide to sell it, but I'm also thinking about keeping it in parts to use as a demonstration piece for the future--or possible April Fool's deli platter. You never know.....

I plan to start shooting this week, so will check back with more behind-the-scenes updates as this project nears completion!