A Public Service Announcement from Our Friends at the Totoro Forest Project

Totoro Forest Project Tickets Available Monday 8/11 10:00am Pacific Time!

Many of you have been wondering when and how you can buy tickets for the upcoming Totoro Forest Art Auction Benefit Event to be held here at Pixar on September 6th. Finally we are ready to start selling these online! The first pre-sale will start monday 8/11 at 10am. Here's the options available - Please note that all tickets include the stunning Art of Totoro Forest Book (worth $40)

Forest Friend - 100$ regular admission + book.
Forest Sponsor - 200$ includes admission + book + signed limited edition print
Forest Champion - $300 includes middle VIP live auction seating + book + signed limited edition print + gift certificate to Blowfish Sushi
Forest Hero - $500 includes front VIP live auction seating + book + an original drawing by one of the artists

Tickets will go on sale here exactly at 10AM Monday! We have a rather limited numbers of tickets so we suggest acting quickly if you want to be part of this event. Remember many of the donating artists will be in attendance, this will be a night to remember!! All the "Totoro inspired" art is up for preview at TotoroForestProject.org. All proceed will be donated to the Totoro Forest Foundation!! Let me know if you have any questions.



Unfortunately, I won't be there. So anybody who does buy a ticket please email me some photos and if they're serving those bowls of peanuts & raisins put some in a baggy and fedex 'em. I'd appreciate it, and we'd all appreciate your purchase of a ticket!

The Totoro Forest Project

Anybody who loves the work of Hayao Miyazaki should know about the Totoro Forest Project. It's an international charity organized by several hard-working Pixar animators. In their own words, the aim of the Totoro Forest "is to save Sayama Forest, also known as Totoro Forest in Japan. Have you watched the movie "My Neighbor Totoro"? This wonderful forest is where Miyazaki came up with the idea for Totoro. Miyazaki has been actively working towards the preservation of this urban forest, which has been in danger of the city's urban development, for many years now." Co-organizer/animator Enrico Casarosa talks about it on his blog

To that end, the TFP has organized an auction of especially created work by over 200 international artists, cartoonists and animators, as well as a gallery show and the publication of a book. Animators are the most energetic and indefatigable people out there, which may explain why their drawings move so much. I'm practically inert in comparison, yet they asked me to do a drawing for the Project, the only direction given was to draw my own Totoro. And it couldn't be Miyasaki's, so no tracing.

Well, I love My Neighbor Totoro, it's the most human-scaled of all of Miyazaki's movies, and little Mei is one of my favorite characters. I stole some from her when creating Alice (though I'm not sure they'd get along well; Mei is a lot more selfless than Alice). Here's my Totoro that I drew for the Totoro Forest Project


So please go poke around on the Totoro Forest Project site, there are some lovely things to see. And if you see one you'd like to hang on your wall consider bidding at the auction. All the info is at the site, or soon will be.