Your Guide to Behind the Scenes at SNB

Start here to learn how to use this blog..... New posts are less frequent now. In part because of changes to the "Blogger" format that I've found frustrating and difficult to embrace :)
For the most recent news on Stuart Ng Books, check the SNB website, Twitter and Facebook.

This blog is a time capsule of SNB adventures from my (Amy's) perspective:
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Stuart Ng Books is a family run, very small business in Torrance, CA. Our bookstore is mostly mail order. We started in the era of old school hands-on bookselling, and we've survived the transition to the Internet age. In addition to our website, we sell books at conventions & book fairs. Our niche is books on illustration, animation and comic art and our wonderful, loyal patrons are artists, students & collectors in these fields. Stuart travels here and abroad searching for great books and artists, including his annual trip to France to attend Europe's largest comic art festival. He doesn't speak or read French; he selects his inventory strictly for the art. I've been taking French lessons... so now I can order more than a ham & cheese sandwich at the cafes. When Stuart launched our business full-time in 1997, we had no idea we would become a world-wide resource for books in our field. When I married Stuart... a LONG time ago.. I had no idea I would also be marrying a small business.. (we didn't meet in business school).... but that's another story :)

The blog started in 2008 as a way to share (my) news &views on our booths at conventions ... and on exhibits and shows we attend that artists might find inspiring.
Reoccurring themes on the blog archive include "Get Inspired"... "Your Science Lesson"... "Your Business Lesson," "Con," "POV shot," "Horse Show," "Book Fair"...
See "FAQ," "Stewardship" and "Legacy Books" for posts about bringing YOU the benefits of a devoted rare bookseller in world where mom& pop bookstores are themselves becoming antiques!

There are posts here on my SNB experiments (like our booth at a Twilight convention Oct 2010.). See scenes from our bookscouting trips (Aug 2009 is a good one). Want to see a post on the time someone shipped us a book in a used pizza box?!? (search Aug 2008 for "Pizza"). For posts written back when I had Mary's job, search "Daily Brew" (2008 - 2010). All this and more lurks here on the blog for you to discover..

2011 was the most active year on the blog and is where you'll find some of my favorite posts (ie "horse show - artists sketchbook 9/11/11" and "Family Fun - Dino Hall artists sketchbook 9/1/11" ).

Sample highlights from 2011:
See August 12, 2011 post: "Hello World.." for the 100+ countries counted so far as worldwide visitors to the blog. Learn the SNB-tangent item that is the most-viewed post here... but more recent posts are gaining on that record. The real horse race is on :)
NOVEMBER 2011 POSTS:
9 POSTS on CTNX
SKETCHTRAVEL IN STOCK!
YOUR SCIENCE LESSON... MARIE CURIE
KOLONIE ARTISTS SIGN AT SNB NOV 5th
PETER DE SEVE IN SKETCHTRAVEL... AND AT CTNX
ANIMAL ANTICS.... your preview here on the blog of the Pres Romanillos sketchbook!!
OTHER POSTS OF NOTE:  SECRETARIAT (Sept 2010) and THE BLACK STALLION (Oct 2010) now with video embedded. Also Aug 2010 posts on the ART OF ANIMALS exhibit at Forest Lawn in Glendale with links to more images from amazing artwork at this show!

3 POSTS ON MODEL TRAIN SHOW (oct 30th 2011)
SKETCHTRAVEL!! yes, it's true! We're the first in the US to import this French book. In stock now at Stuart Ng Books!

Also in 2011....YOUR SCIENCE LESSON FOR TODAY, EXPERIUM SCIENCE ACADEMY
3 POSTS ON "MARY BLAIR PANEL" AT ACADEMY OF MOTION PICTURE ARTS SCIENCES


Other topics to try..... "DREAM CON 2011"
"BRONZE ANIMALS BY ERIC BERG"... and "BRONZE ANIMALS, LAZY DAISY CAFE OSCAR'S HOME IN BEVERLY HILLS"
"HORSE SHOW 2011 - FLYING HIGH" (You'll find this in the Sept 2011 posts... including some of my favorite action shots of horses from several years of the annual charity horse show:)


2011 POSTS WITH FREQUENT HITS:
"Get Inspired - Artist contacts from Printing Fair 2011"
"Get Inspired - Carlos Grangel at CTNX Nov 18th - 20th " (after Tim Burton Post)
"GET INSPIRED - TIM BURTON MoMA SHOW AT LACMA" "GET INSPIRED - NORMAN THELWELL"

Search "FAMILY FUN" for posts on the blog that detail events and attractions near our showroom. (ie: From SEPT POST 9/5/11: Two "Family Fun" posts about Wilson Park). There are lots of family friendly things to do in and around Torrance... so if you want to browse our showroom for awhile and your family doesn't... you can all come to Torrance and do different, fun things!

 

SEPT POST 9/6/11: 3 posts on the LA County Museum of Natural History... Discovery Center and Dino Hall:

See July and August 2011 posts for our booth at Comic Con (SDCC) for that year.

Some blog posts highlight the directions that SNB takes me (but not necessarily Stuart)... search the archive posts to find Hoops &Yoyo; Twilight; the Black Stallion; Women &Words. I'm not sure why there's so much music in my life right now.... but check out this clever music video w/ agility dogs! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHlJODYBLKs

Here's the link for the MSBNC show that featured Stuart:http://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/innovation/video/american-business-super-nicheSee AUGUST 2010 posts additional pics and info on SNB on MSNBC...

FYI notices: 1) Stuart's last name, "Ng", is pronounced like the suffix "ing" in "drawing" or "Wendling." 2) you can email comments or questions directly to me at seahorse310(at)gmail.com. Aloha and thanks for visiting.

CONFETTI by Brittney Lee back in stock

For those who have asked, this book is back in stock. You can find it on the Stuart Ng Books website under "Sketchbooks"

http://stuartngbooks.com/new-arrivals/lee-brittney-confetti-signed.html

Angouleme 2012, post 1 of 3

Here are 3 posts on recent Angouleme festival in France. Mostly pictures... for more on Angouleme, see my posts from 2009.

Here is sunset view from the New York Tents at west end of festival:

The "Hotel" that isn't a hotel, it's the town center:
One of many buildings in the city with a Bande Dessinee-esque mural. (These murals are up all year; not just for the festival)
The Herge statue in near the center of town is permanent; the tent behind is one of the many tents put up throughout the town for the festival.
Inside one of the tents. Here's one of several "festival" booths selling souvenirs of the show:
This year, we dropped off Stuart Ng Books cards at the freebie table. Happy to say they were snapped up!
Mr. Herge sported several different looks during the convention:

Angouleme 2012, post 2 of 3

The Angouleme Festival is held every year at the end of January. That means it's winter. The tents are well heated... and busy. You see lots of attendees lugging their heavy coats around as well as bags of books!

This is one of the most elaborate booths at the show.... they have a wooden "book bar"... and extra chairs that were quite popular with tired attendees.
Several of the booths feature prints and posters like this:
At almost every booth, you'll see artists doing elaborate sketches for signings in the French style.
I liked the spiral display of books at this booth:
And this cute book about a cartoonists life with his dog "Dugly" had this wall of photos of someone dressed in as Dugly visiting famous sites in Paris.

Angouleme 2012, post 3 with pics of Stuart

Here's inside another large tent with booths from the major publishers...
Stuart spends a lot of time going through booths.. large and small.. to review the books and catch up with artists and colleagues...
Here's Stuart with artist Enrique Fernandez
Stuart and the line for fans to meet another artist friend...
Chatting after the signing....
Stuart and Juanjo Guarnido (artist of Blacksad)
Artist Stan Sakai was also signing at the festival!
2012 was the 39th year for this festival. Stuart has attended every year since since 2005.

PHOTOS from Craig Elliott signing Feb 11

We were pleased to welcome artist Craig Elliott to the Stuart Ng Books showroom on February 11th, to sign and sketch in his new book The Art of Craig Elliott.



There's a great interview with Craig on John Fleskes' blog:

http://fleskpublications.com/blog/2012/01/14/craig-elliott-interview-discussing-the-art-of-craig-elliott/

We had a large number of mail orders for this signing, in addition to the crowd who joined us for this special event. We are still offering Craig's Stuart Ng Books exclusive bookplate for copies purchased at our showroom or via our website.

And here's a You Tube clip of Craig narrating a "tour" of his book:

B is for Ben Franklin (and Family Fun!)

Why not combine a visit to our showroom on Saturday Jan 14th... with this terrific program at the International Printing Museum just 10 mins from us! Great for the whole family.

The Printing Museum Invites You
to Come Celebrate…

Ben Franklin’s

Electric Birthday!

Saturday Jan 14th 2012
from 10AM to 4PM

Come celebrate our Founding Father Ben Franklin’s Birthday at the Museum! Join the festivities with cake, punch and more. Activities will be going on all day including making your own Almanac “the 18th century way” and hand printing your own Colonial keepsakes using our antique type and printing presses.

Special Presentations include:

11:00 AM – The Inventive Dr. Franklin (Family Version). Family show recommended for all ages.

1:00 PM – The Inventive Dr. Franklin (Adult Version) including a symposium at 2:15: “Ben & Me” – An actor’s view of Franklin and his time with Phil Soinski (AKA – Ben Franklin). Adult show recommended for
15 or above in age.

Tickets are $8/Adults & $7/students & seniors

http://www.printmuseum.org/

http://www.printmuseum.org/2011/11/come-celebrate-ben-franklins-birthday/