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WonderCon

I’ll be leaving for San Francisco and WonderCon tomorrow morning. I hope I get to see as many of my Bay Area friends and fans as possible.

I haven’t been to this show in awhile. Usually, when I’m up there for WonderCon, Howard Chaykin and I have dinner at Maya. This weekend, however, Howard (for some unknown reason) has chosen Pamplona, Spain over WonderCon. Priorities, priorities…

I am looking forward to blowing my diet and enjoying what my sons have described as the best ice cream they’ve ever had at Bi-Rite Creamery. Woo hoo! Maybe I’ll run an extra mile this morning…

I am really looking forward to being able to spend some quality time with my friends publisher John Fleskes and fellow Good Lizard Man Mark Schultz. Our booths are right next to each other this year (my booth is #1021).

I hear last year’s show was fantastic; I’m really up for this weekend.

See you all there!

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A Quick One…

A quick note to my friends and fans: I just learned that by the end of August a grandson (my first) will be added to the Stout family via my son Andy and his wife Amy.

Woo hoo!

No names chosen yet for the little lizard…

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Nice San Diego Trip

NiceFinalColorTiny

I just returned from a two day trip to the San Diego Natural History Museum. I had an incredible time; the Museum staff, particularly director Mick Hager, have been so consistently supportive of me and my work. Believe me, this is highly unusual for a museum.

I try to reciprocate.

I taught a large group of kids how to draw dinosaurs on Thursday evening (a huge success; for the first time in my experience, parents and grandparents were drawing right along side of the kids!). The signing I did after the dino drawing lesson was terrific: it went non-stop until the museum closed. The book shop had a beautiful display devoted to my books. A lot of grandparents bought the New Dinosaurs A to Z book for their grandkids.

I gave a personal tour of the murals to the museum’s major donors Friday morning, then to the hard working (but enthusiastic) museum docents in the afternoon. I greeted the American Museum of Natural History personnel on Friday, too (they just installed a new exhibition, Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries, at SDNHM, hence the appropriateness of my appearances there).

I felt like a total dope, though, when I noticed that nowhere on the front cover of Dinosaur Discoveries does it mention that these are all the most important dinosaur discoveries from the last twenty years, a very important selling point for the book. Aaargh! Next edition…?

I also did a HUGELY long interview with Robert Pincus, the wonderful arts editor of San Diego’s biggest newspaper, the Union Tribune. Robert and I seemed to really hit it off; we spent over an hour and a half together.

All in all, a very successful trip.

About the picture illustrating this entry…

This is the rejected cover for a new CD collection of rare material by one of my favorite 1960’s bands, The Nice. If you don’t recognize that group’s name, there’s a good chance you still might know the keyboard player’s name: Keith Emerson (later of Emerson Lake & Palmer, for whom I’ve also just drawn a cover). Personally, although I like both bands, I prefer The Nice over ELP; their music was more poppy and psychedelic than ELP’s, plus it had a great sense of humor running through many of the songs. While Carl Palmer is undeniably a brilliantly skilled drummer, personally I find Brian Davison’s drumming for The Nice much more sympathetic to and supportive of his band’s music. Sadly, Brian passed away April 15, 2008.

Oh, yes: I said “rejected”! The cover depicts Azrael, the Angel of Death, the subject of a couple of Nice recordings. It was considered in poor taste to depict Azrael on the cover so soon after Brian’s death, so I drew a new cover based upon a song, “Flower King of Flies”, from their first LP. Wait until you see that one! Coming out soon from Shout! Factory…

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Fullerton & L. A.

Despite the horrific weather, a good group of folks turned out for my lecture at the Fullerton Museum Center last Saturday night. We all had a great time! I lingered afterward to chat with people, look at the work of a fine upcoming artist and to sign and sell a few of my books. My thanks to the Fullerton Museum Center for coordinating and hosting this event, as well as the CineSaurus exhibition.

The following Sunday afternoon I was a guest at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. I displayed some of my art and signed and sold books there, visiting with lots of people. The weather was pretty nice and there was a huge turnout.

The museum staff I met were quite gracious and extremely well organized. I would love to paint murals for their newly planned prehistoric hall but I don’t know if that is going to happen despite my attempts to get the gig. There is a saying that applies to this: “The prophet walks unnoticed in his own land”.

Meanwhile, I am helping to put together a killer exhibition of great animal art for the Forest Lawn Museum. The show will begin in the fall and carry through to the new year.

Meanwhile, if you’re in the Laguna area, don’t miss my big retrospective at the Laguna College of Art + Design. You won’t be disappointed! The exhibit ends this Thursday.

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CineSaurus in Fullerton Tonight!

My retrospective exhibition at the Laguna College of Art + Design (LCAD) looks amazing. The works I selected for this one man show are all beautifully and thoughtfully hung and lit. It is enormously gratifying to me that this is the best attended exhibition in the College’s history.

I gave a lecture at the show last Thursday night. I was told that this was the very first time they had to ask students to leave so that the gallery could be locked up and secured.

The following day I gave an illustrated lecture and sold and signed some of my books. I had a long, long line but the students (and faculty) were impressively patient.

Thank you, LCAD students and faculty — you all made me feel so extremely welcome and appreciated. Everyone had great questions and comments; I hope that you were satisfied with my answers and responses.

Tonight I’ll be giving a slightly different lecture at the Fullerton Museum Center. I have a wall of original art in their current show, CineSaurus. The exhibition is a history of dinosaurs in the movies, from the silent era to the present. It includes some of my character designs for Walt Disney’s Dinosaur as well as my cover for The Little Blue Brontosaurus, the children’s book that inspired The Land Before Time animated feature.

I look forward to seeing all of my O. C. friends at the presentation tonight!

AND I look forward to seeing my L. A. dinosaur fans at my 2:00 – 4:00PM book signing at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles in Exposition Park tomorrow!

Busy, busy, busy…

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Laguna College This Evening

I am really looking forward to giving my illustrated lecture at the Laguna College of Art + Design this evening (see News>Appearances on this site for details, address, etc.).

I’ve put together an entirely new biographical show with lots of unseen and current work.

The College is currently hosting William Stout – From Antarctica to Zombies, my largest career retrospective to date.

I look forward to seeing as many of you as can make it to the lecture and book signing this evening! Lots of stories and Big Time fun!

…especially if the PowerPoint (the first I’ve ever compiled) works!

If it doesn’t, you should come out if only to enjoy the humiliation! Woo hoo!