Sabrina de los Rios

This lovely painting titled Serendipity is by the talented Sabrina de los Rios. Half Peruvian and half Italian, Sabrina was born in Miami and raised in Vancouver, Canada. Sabrina's passion for film led her to Vancouver Film School where she discovered the world of animation. While working there she was able to study various film courses most of which were in Acting and also led to part-time work as an actor. After spending 11 years at VFS as Registrar for Animation programs and then Program Manager for 3D Animation, she fled to New York for an opportunity to work as a Recruiter for Blue Sky Studios. Brown Stones to Red Dirt inspired Sabrina to return to her creative side and sparked a desire to do more. “It's important to always try to do something that takes you out of your comfort zone. By doing so, you will grow and be free.”

Lizette Vega Biancalana

This lovely portrait is the work of artist Lizette Vega Biancalana. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Lizette graduated from San Jose State University's Illustration and Animation program with a BFA in Art. After graduating she worked for Electronic Arts and did a stint with Hallmark Cards designing christmas ornaments. Currently in New York working as a Designer and Visual Development Artist with Blue Sky Studios, her film credits include Horton Hears a Who!, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs and the soon to be released Rio. Lizette's illustrated story Crawdaddy-O is part of collaborative sequential anthology Out Of Picture Volume 2, and her artwork has also been included in the Out of Picture exhibit in Paris and the Totoro Forest Project art auction. Besides being an avid sketcher, Lizette and her husband are working on writing and illustrating children’s picture books.

To see more of Lizette's art please visit her blog.

Ricardo Curtis

Ricardo Curtis may just be the busiest man in animation. In addition to being the founder and president of House of Cool, he has over ten animated feature films to his credit, such as Monsters Inc. and The Incredibles (Pixar Animation Studios), The Iron Giant (Warner Bros. Feature Animation) and Horton Hears a Who! (Blue Sky Studios) as animator, supervising animator, story artist and head of story. He has also taught Animation at Sheridan College and has served as guest speaker at numerous schools and venues.

Ricardo's postcard isn't his only contribution to BROWNSTONES TO RED DIRT. As president of House of Cool, Ricardo and business partner Wesley Lui were essential in the making of the film, offering both creative and financial support through every stage of the documentary.

To learn more of about Ricardo check out House Of Cool's website and blog.

Sho Murase

Titled Hope this lovely graphic piece is by Japanese-Korean artist Sho Murase.  Sho grew up in Spain, studied graphic design, fine art, cinematography and psychology, then received a 2D Animation Degree from the Vancouver Film School. Working in the animation and advertising industries in both Europe and the United States, Sho's clients include Nike, Virgin, Mattel and Evian, as well as Sony, Electronics Arts and Virgin; and her animation work has been nominated in animation film festivals such as Annecy, Zagreb, Mendrisio and Chicago International Animation Festival.  Sho's first color graphic novel SEI was published by Image Comics in 2003, since then she has created ME2 and illustrated over a dozen graphic novels including the adaptation series of Nancy Drew, currently in volume 20.  She has exhibited in galleries around the world, including the German Film Museum in Frankfurt and the Louisiana Modern Art Museum in Denmark, and will soon be exhibiting in a two person show at the Bluxome Street Gallery in San Francisco, California in April 2010.  Sho claims to be “the ultimate couch potato who sits around all day and night, takes long naps, watches reality TV, and does not work at all. Like NEVER.”

To see more of Sho's art please visit her website and blog.

Vadim Bazhanov

This amusing diptych titled Deer In Their Natural Form is by the talented Vadim Bazhanov. Born in Kiev, Ukrane, Vadim came to Canada at the age of eight years old. A graduate of Sheridan College's Animation Program Vadim's short film titled Fresh Eggs screened at the Ottawa Animation Festival, and the 2009 Sprockets Animation Festival in Toronto. Upon graduating Vadim worked as a designer at House of Cool in Toronto for a brief time before offered a job as story artist at Blue Sky Studios where he is currently storyboarding on the upcoming animated feature Rio.

For more of Vadim's artwork please visit his blog.

William Frake III

This illustration is from the versatile artist William Frake III.  William, known as "Bill" to his friends, is a veteran of the animation industry.  Having spent time in nearly every aspect of the process, from character designer and story artist to layout artist and writer, Bill has lent his talent and vast knowledge to many departments on over 30 different films and television series.  Besides his work on each Blue Sky Studios' film, Bill's art has graced many animated films including Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Thumbelina and The Iron Giant, while his television series experience includes Schoolhouse Rock!, It's Punky Brewster and Muppet Babies. Currently at Blue Sky, where among the many famous and whimisical characters created, Bill is part of the small team credited with 'inventing' the Scrat, the legendary squirrel whose slapstick antics have become recognizable the world over.

Ellen Heck

This is a lovely piece offered by artist Ellen Heck. After graduating from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with a degree in printmaking, Ellen moved to the San Francisco Bay Area where she currently works as an artist in residence at Kala Art Institute in Berkeley.  The image on this postcard is woven from several different proofs from her most recent print portfolio, Plus a Century, which is influenced by Mary Cassatt's set of ten color etchings shown at Galeries Durand-Ruel in 1891.  Ellen's portfolio presents portraits of young women from this century while alluding to the series created over one hundred years before. Her work is currently being exhibited in several cities in the United States.

To see more of Ellen’s work please go to her website.

Christopher Gilligan

In his joyful illustration New York City's Christopher Gilligan has captured the spirit of the lovely Augusta, one of the children featured in the documentary Brownstones To Red Dirt.  Chris is a talented and funny artist who has worn many hats, from lead stop-motion animator on James and the Giant Peach, storyboard artist on Robots, Ice Age and Horton Hears A Who!, to Supervising Director for MTV shows and Director for the short film Aunt Fanny's Tour of Booty for Blue Sky Studios.  Currently writing, Chris has just finished his first screenplay which we are all looking forward to seeing on "the big screen"!