This month, I chatted with Bobby Chiu about art, life, following your passions and what it’s been like bringing Lightbox Expo online for 2020. Lightbox Expo debuted in Pasadena last year to much acclaim. While many events have gone online this year, Bobby and his team have taken a unique approach to bringing a singular event  to the art community designed by artists for artists. All the information and more is included in the video, but a brief rundown is here:

There are over 400 artists that will have their work available in the virtual Artists’ Alley and there are, so far, over 300 online workshops, demos, panel talks, portfolio reviews, and collaborative events scheduled, literally around the clock.

In addition to the chat rooms we’ve seen at other events, Lightbox is bringing “collaborative sketching rooms” – the opportunity to draw with up to 30 other artists on the same virtual sketchpad, allowing for interaction and collaboration in ways we usually only get to see at face-to-face events. Several events  will feature some of our “art heroes” collaborating on creating a digital painting right before our eyes, bringing into being things that have never been imagined before, all from the safety of everyone’s own home studio.

One of the really cool things is that all attendees will receive an opt-in email to be included in the online artist database. As a way to connect creators with companies looking for new talent, you can create an artist profile that will then be made available to all event sponsors including: Procreate, Pixar Animation Studios, Dreamworks Animation, Walt Disney Television and Animation Studios, Riot Games, Adobe, Sony Pictures Animation, Imagine FX, Weta Workshop, Warner Bros, Wacom, Netflix, Nicolodeon, Gnomon, Sketchboard Pro, Gnomon, Magma Studios, Illumination, Bento Box Entertainment and more. We ourselves are currently working on a collaborative video project with a company we met at Lightbox Expo last year.

While I’m not going to list 400 artists, a selection of artists we all know who will be attending and presenting includes: Iain McCaig, Claire Wendling, Karla Ortiz, Mike Mignola, Dug Stanat, Kei Acedera, John Picacio, Wesley Burt, Victor Maury, Stan Prokopenko (“Proko”), Brynn Methany, Patrick Masson, Vance Kovacs, Dan Chudzinsky, Michael Blank and Irene Gallo.

It’s going to be a terrific weekend with lots of surprises, great information, fun interactions and collaborations and, most importantly, an opportunity for all of us creatives to gather and… well, be creative together again, something many of us have been longing for in 2020.

The facts:

What: LightBox Expo Online 2020. Registration at lightboxexpo.com

When: Friday, September 11, 9 AM through Sunday, September 13 Pacific Standard Time USA. Artists’ Alley and Programming runs literally around the clock, 24/7 all weekend long.

How much: Registration is “pay what you wish” from $1 to $40. As a note, to keep bots and trolls at bay, you do have to register at the minimum of $1 to access the website and view the full list of attending artists and program schedule. However, you can see examples of many of the participating artists’ work and samples of programming in the video interview above or on the Lightbox Expo Facebook page if you want more info.

Colin and I are doing a number of demos, panel talks and workshops each day. Our full schedule is below. It’s going to be a very busy weekend!

Hope to see you there!

Until next time, Keep Creating!