As high-tech as our lives have become, there are many reasons to celebrate pencil and paper – and DRAWTASTIC, coming up later this month in West Seattle, is a big way to do just that. Organizer Tony White has joined the WSB sponsor team to get the word out – here’s his announcement:

Pencil April 30th into your diary for Seattle’s most ‘drawsome’ festival of Drawing & Animation, at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center in West Seattle!

DRAWTASTIC is the brainchild of British award-winning animator, author and educator, Tony White. With the unceasing rush to modern technology in this digital world it is easy to devalue the most wonderful hardware we have ~ the humble pencil!

Although the creative world fully embraces every technological resource available to it these days, it is almost certain that every idea either begins with pencil sketch, or as a result of years of drawing practice, or even through a full-time application of this most wonderful piece of hardware ~ which even comes with its own rubber ‘undo’ button at the other end!

White therefore is seeking to put the pencil back on its pedestal where it belongs. DRAWTASTIC is a ‘Pencil-fest’ that embraces all the artistic worlds that the pencil touches. Speakers include a top Simpsons animator from LA, an Australian living in New York who has made his own drawn movie and who is flying in to present it for its Seattle premiere, a caricaturist who is acknowledged as the very best the industry offers, and a respected game industry professional who acknowledges like everyone else how the pencil is so fundamentally important to their work.

Additional DRAWTASTIC events include the screening of 62 animated shorts from around the world ~ all vying for a prestigious ‘Golden Pencil Award’ ~ together with a vendor hall where indie work is shown and sold. Other drawing-based events will take place, including a ‘how to caricature’ session and ‘how to draw an animated flipbook.’ White himself will reflect the huge interest in drawing that he’s found through his online ‘Animator’s Sketchclub’ ~ currently possessing over 6,000 worldwide members ~ by hosting his own drawing for animation ‘Happy Hour.’

Entry is FREE to the festival, although there is a small charge for the speaker presentations to cover basic costs. The event runs from 11:30 am until 5 pm on Saturday, April 30th, with a ‘Meet ‘n Greet’ get-together afterward ~ where speakers, vendors and visitors can all meet and chat (presumably about the pencil) in a friendly and relaxed manner. White hopes that the event will once and for all prove the maxim that… ‘Pencils are Drawsome’!

We thank Tony White and DRAWTASTIC for sponsoring independent, community-collaborative neighborhood news via WSB; find our current sponsor team listed in directory format here, and find info on joining the team by going here.