CTN-X MARKED THE HOT SPOT!

I just spent the weekend at the sooper very first ever Creative Talent Network Expo here in Burbank, California and man, it rocked like a hurricane!

See, the folks at the Creative Talent Network looked around and saw that there was no annual event in the LA area dedicated to networking for the animation community. So why not make one?

Yeah... WHY NOT?!?


But usually these things are a wreck the first year or two (I'm talking to you, NYC COMICON). They're disorganized, you can't find anything, they get overcrowded, it's hot and sweaty and the floor is covered with rotting giant squid (or something like that).

NOT SO with CTN-X! They really had themselves put together and put on a great event that people are gonna be talking about for a loooong time.

Personally, I couldn't have had a better time. I wandered the floor catching up with friends who had tables to hawk their wares (Craig McCracken and Lauren Faust, Bill Presing and Ikumi Moriya Presing, Scott Morse)... I hung out with other attendees (Khaki Jones, Chris Hamilton, Wilson Swain)... I went to absolutely amazing and informative panels (Pixar Storytelling, Dreamworks Production design, Animators who've made the transition from 2-D to 3-D, Visual Structure in storytelling, an interview with Mike Mignola) and made sure to introduce myself to lots of artists I've admired or had the pleasure of discovering at the event.

And, of course, I asked lots of folks to draw in my sketchbook. So over the next coupla days I'll be posting them up and telling you about some of the great panels.
In the meantime, here are a couple drawings:

This one here is by the legendary Eric Goldberg?!


Pixar's Bill Presing and his wife Ikumi... both old school New Yorkers!


How's about brilliant character designer Ben Balistreri?!


And there was lots of stuff to see and do. There as a wonderful life drawing model doing costumed poses (a cowboy, a pirate, the Godfather), live drawing, sculpting and digital demos by assorted artists, raffles, and of course, parties!



So all and all-- congrats to the Creative Talent Network for a MASSIVE success. They worked hard on this event and it showed.

So what could they do to make it even better for next year? Well for one, they're gonna need a bigger space. The floor was generally easy to get around, but the conference rooms weren't big enough and a lot of people got shut out (BUT... and this was VERY smart of the organizers... they had all the panels transmitted to TV's in the lobby!).

What else? It would have been nice to have badges for the attendees so you could know who's who.

But that's about all I've got to complain about.

Well, that and the fact I wasn't made Sooper Triple Just Moved to LA Guest of Honor.

Oh well.

Keep it locked for more in the next buncha posts.