Uniqlo had its grand opening last Friday. Although, I’ve been to Uniqlos quite a few times else where, I just couldn’t resist its “special pricing” promo. Since Michelle also happened to be in town, I picked a few (well, two) places to swing by while we’re at it. One of which was the Cartoon Art Museum, where they’re currently exhibiting the “Sketchtravel” project and the art of “ParaNorman.” You wouldn’t want to miss either.
Couldn’t start the day without…: 
From Anderson Bread. If you know Anderson, you’d also be drooling like I am. Right now. As I type.
Red and white, a classic color combo made to steal your attention.
Uniqlo had its grand opening last Friday. Friday is a crowded day, let alone having a grand opening of an international mega corp in downtown San Francisco. So I thought I’d swing by on a Tuesday instead. Apparently, the charm of Uniqlo is timeless:
15 minutes, we got in.
…and we grabbed a few things:
2 oxford shirts with 6 socks—$40. Slick deal, anyone?
Now that we got shopping deal hunting out of the way, we visited the day’s main attraction—Cartoon Art Museum:
I was there once and had a pretty good impression.
Sketchtravel is project started by Tsutsumi (Japan) and Gerald Guerlais (France). It’s a unique international charity art project. This red sketchbook was passed from one artist’s hand to another like an Olympic torch in an artistic relay through 12 countries over 4 and half years. This traveling museum contains the personal visions of 71 exceptional illustrators, animators and comic book artists, including artists such as Bill Plympton, James Jean, Rebecca Dautremer, Glen Keane, Frederick Back, and Hayao Miyazaki.
I heard about this project last year through a friend and was intrigued by the idea. I almost grabbed the book when it was only available in french. Recently they hosted a kickstarter campaign and I was instantly a backer. With $10 pledged, I got two tickets for their lastest exhibit at the Cartoon Art Museum:
The book even got its own custom wooden case!
A single idea and a blank spread of the canvas sprout amazing, creative, and inspiring ideas. Here are a few of my favorites:
Enrico Casarosa, story artist from Pixar.
The Brief Affair:
Bill Plymton (US).
Dominique Bertail (France).
Pierre Alary, comic book artists from Marvel.
Eric Gosselet, character designer from France.
Sylvain Marc (UK).
Peter Nguyen, artist from Blue Sky Studio.
Ben Butcher, product designer from Pixar.
Bill Presing, story board artist from Pixar.
Paul Felix, art director from Walt Disney.
Lorelat Box, artist from Walt Disney.
Taiyo Matsumoto (Japan).
Catia Chien (US).
Alex Puvilland, animator from DreamWorks.
Hayao Miyazaki, man behind Totoro, Valley of the Wind, and Spirited Away.
Luis Grane, animator from Pixar.
Enrique Fernandex (Spain).
Peter De Seve, illustrator and character designer from Blue Sky Studio.
Glen Keane, animator from Walt Disney.
Aside from the illustrations, I like to pay attention to the unique signatures from the different artists as well:
Then, the second part of the exhibit’s the making of “ParaNorman.” An incredible stop-motion animated film that I’ve heard so much about.
We all share the same trait.
Ideation for the house:
The actual house:
miniature sized:
Mindblowwwnnnn!
The attention to detail put me in awe:
WHAAAA.
Wrapping the day up with some greasy pizza:
Uniqlo was alright, but the show was a BLAST. I was overwhelmed by the inspirations from the exhibit. In fact, I took so many pictures of the show, I think I was able to make out an entire book from them, but I still bought the sketchtravel book instantly as soon I made it back home. Each individual piece reflects passion in every stroke, and it’s people like those that would truly make our world better. Visually.
’til next time,
-Benson
很讚