wow. another year has passed and hollywood comic con is here. i’m indulging this year and flying down to san diego on wed night and flying back to s.f. on sunday afternoon. it should be a blast. i’m looking forward to a long weekend of books, art, geeking out with friends, and sipping on something tasty. oh, and i’ll also be presenting some work and discussing my process with some colleagues on friday:

Friday, July 23

5:30-6:30 Concept Design for Entertainment— Avatar and many recent and upcoming productions are using not only state-of-the-art technology but also state-of-the-art design. Four of the industry’s leading and award-winning creature and production designers discuss and demonstrate how films are made from a nuts and bolts perspective and share their creative and artistic approach to design in film. Avatar’s lead creature designer Neville Page, production designer Rob Stromberg, concept designer Craig Shoji, and technical creature developer Alex Alvarez share not just the process of design but also the philosophical perspectives behind the approach. Room 5AB

i’ll most likely spend more time talking about my process for creating an illustration, and the problem solving that goes into it than showing off work. i’ll post the breakdowns on this site after the weekend. and i unfortunately won’t be able to show anything from thor since the content marvel is letting out is strictly controlled and out of my hands. but there’s enough visual candy getting out there anyhow that’s much more drool worthy.

i’m also looking forward to sipping a brew and watching diggnation live. and the TRS panel/taping. whatever the hell it is. i’m looking for laughs.

if you’d like to cross paths this weekend then get in touch. otherwise, have a great time in san diego!

Here is some work from my time on Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. I was fortunate to work with, and befriend a great team of talented artists and designers.

I’m hoping to properly post these on my website at craji.com, but I’m still pushing to make it more complete before it goes live. This should do for now.

- – -

Alice in Wonderland
dir: Tim Burton
pd: Robert Stromberg

since i’m living in the past, and have just gotten around to resizing and organizing some photos: here are some (abridged) memories from comic con 2009. it was the first time i’ve been able to go for 3 days, get a room in a gas lamp hotel, and NOT have to work a booth. the result? a lot of ketel one and fun with my friends (new and old). it was a blast.

crowds

the still, very lovely, nichelle nichols

not quite what the new costume looks like, but he’s owning the char.

rubber body suit?

party time boba pimp

not sure where those glasses are going.

sdfd appreciating the cosplay

big mthrfkr

the fists!

1:1 ampsuit fits nicely in a 16mm

i’m pretty sure belle’s day job is at royal/t

this guy owns a comic shop and knew enough about thor to chat it up so we bought him a drink.

ea love

the xo!

madelynne and jasna

what the rest of the night weekend looked like.

around the corner was an alice exhibit that we ducked into for a minute. it looked really great! and it was nice to see some of my work blown up 1:1.

here is one of the concept images i did for the round room. i believe it’s also been published in the disney 23 magazine.

my buddies from the Far-east Movement (FM) preformed at the palace of fine arts in san francisco this past week (international secret agents put on by fm and wong fu productions). they were gracious enough to invite me to check it out and i had a blast. those guys can really carry a crowd and put on a show. wow. it’s wild to think that it was only a few years ago that we were freestyling to beats in my living room and casually joking about making music a lifestyle. well, they’re doing it and they’re on the rise so keep a lookout. they’re also getting some local radio play on power 106 on the 7 at 7 with their track ‘girls on the dance floor.’

i took my camera to give ‘concert photography’ a shot and needless to say i was quickly humbled by all the rookie mistakes i made. of course, at the time, i thought i was on fire! striking my semi-squat photo poses on the stage, pushing composition to the eXtreme~!!1!, and turning this medium into my bitch.

then i got home and 3/4 of the shots were overexposed, blurry or simply in poor taste.

yeah.

go me…

here are some selects. hopefully they’re small enough to hide all my blunders.

also had a bit of fun with audrey and shae at the cafe du nord this past thursday seeing mother mother open for the sam roberts band. it’s too bad mother mother wasn’t headlining but i still had a great time. good music and a good venue. drinks are on the soft side, but i’m not complaining.

some of their music for those not familiar:

Quick update:

pensketch //

I’ve relocated pensketch to a new server thanks to Kevin Le (kevworks.net) so the forums and this blog have had a rocky few weeks. The mysql databases are back up and both should be working now, but there might still be some bumps to iron out so if you stumble across anything, let me know. Other than that, the uptime should be much more reliable.

work //

So I’ve wrapped up work (dec ’08) and parted ways with Los Angeles at the beginning of the year. I’ve been living in San Francisco for about 3 weeks now, adjusting to the new city. It took a little over a week to move in but I’ve now got a cozy little workspace carved into our dining room. Now all I need to find is, well, work. Or paid work that is.

Gutting Pasadena studio.

Driving over the Bay Bridge.

1,2,3…

Tada!

life //

In the meantime, I’d like to get up to Mammoth or Tahoe as much as possible. If anyone is interested in making a weekend trip with me and doesn’t mind driving, I’m more than willing to split the gas/driving. And in the case of Mammoth, can offer a place for you to stay.

I’ve been eyeing one of these, and think I can find one for a good deal since they’re so damn ubiquitous in the bay area :

If you’re selling one then get in touch. Until then, I’d love to make some snow friends up here. Like this guy.