Hello!

About Mike Dutton

Mike has been a writer/illustrator most of his life. He completed his first book when he was seven, a stapled mass of dot-matrix printer paper filled with leaping dinosaurs. He once drew the entire Sunday Funnies during class, but none of the jokes were funny. In fact, his teacher found them to be quite rude and his parents were asked to pay a visit. Since then, Mike has worked on all kinds of stuff, like his first (non-dot matrix) picture book, Donovan’s Big Day, numerous coloring books, comics, sketchbook journalism, and Google homepage logos seen by millions of users around the world. He’s still learning to be funny, but thinks you might enjoy his online comic, One Swoop Fell (www.OneSwoopFell.com).

Mike lives in Berkeley, California with his wife, Alex, their new baby, Elliot, and a slightly jealous cat, Raven.

Highlights

  • Google Doodler - In May 2010, I joined the Google graphics team as a full time designer and illustrator. Since then, I’ve had the opportunity to work on some of the most exciting projects I could ever imagine, such as creating Google’s first video doodle to commemorate John Lennon’s 70th birthday, marking my acting debut by playing Charlie Chaplin in a Google Doodle short film, collaborating with TV celebrity and cookbook author Ina Garten (the Barefoot Contessa), to create an interactive Thanksgiving doodle, as well as working with world renowned artists like Wayne Thiebaud and Robert Indiana.  Other highlights include celebrating a few of my personal heros in illustration and kids publishing, such as Mary Blair, Antoine St. Exupery, Roger Hargreaves, Richard Scarry, and Will Eisner. I’ve also had a great time getting my hands dirty, like when I got to paint an original oil on canvas to honor Paul Cezanne, as well as carve a giant half-ton pumpkin in a time-lapse video for Halloween.
  • Totoro Forest Project - I was honored to be invited to contribute an original painting to a benefit auction to help save the forest that inspired Hayao Miyazaki’s film, My Neighbor Totoro. The auction was held at Pixar Animation Studios with a follow-up exhibition at the San Francisco Cartoon Art Museum.
  • Spectrum 14 - An annual publication highlighting the best in contemporary science fiction and fantasy art. Something like 7000 entries were submitted to this juried show!
  • Flight 6 - It’s been a long-time dream of mine to work with Kazu Kibuishi on his Flight series, which finally got to happen for the sixth volume. We’ve seen become good friends – his advice, both professional and parenting-related – has been incredibly helpful.
  • Oklahoma State Capitol Grounds - I had the pleasure of working with Daub and Firmin Sculpture Studios (then Daub, Firmin, Hendrickson Sculptor Group) preparing sketches for a proposal to the Oklahoma Capitol committee. Our bid was accepted to install a monumental sculpture garden honoring the state’s African American history, which will include over twenty bronze statues.
  • Oakland Tribune Newspaper - I was featured on the front page of the Metro Section in July ‘08. I have no idea why. Still, you can read the original article here.
  • Early Bird Painters Show - I helped coordinate a group show at an art gallery in San Francisco with a few of my friends and colleagues to showcase our paintings from early morning sessions. You can visit the gallery’s website here to see more.

Clients/Work

Shows

2008

  • Totoro Forest Project - Group Benefit Show, SF Cartoon Art Museum, San Francisco
  • Early Bird Painters - Small Collective Show, Studio Gallery, San Francisco
  • Solo Work Display - (2 shows) Thinkers Cafe , San Francisco
  • Solo Work Display - Berkeley Ironworks, Berkeley, CA
  • Mischief - Group Show, Studio Gallery, San Francisco
  • Solo Work Display - Great Western Power Company, Oakland, CA
  • Solo Work Display - Papillon Cafe, Lafayette, CA
  • Solo Work Display - Mission Cliffs, San Francisco

2007

  • Mischief - Group Show, Studio Gallery, San Francisco
  • Terrain - Group Show, Studio Gallery, San Francisco
  • City Streets - Group Show, Studio Gallery, San Francisco
  • Tiny - Group Show, Studio Gallery, San Francisco

2006

  • Tiny - Group Show, Studio Gallery, San Francisco