San Diego 2007
Bill drew and painted 70 original art bookplates for limited editions of his
Belle du Jour book and these were nearly all gone by the end of Preview Night. I made it my first stop once finished with helping my brother Stuart set up. This is my choice: #4. Bill is working on 30 more for an even 100.
Bill Presing is a story artist at Pixar Animation Studios. I discovered his (with Matt Peters) Rex Steele stories in the Monkeysuit comics anthologies before the collected
edition in 2004. Rex is a 1940's American pilot fighting Nazi's. Alex Woo, now at Pixar, but a NYU animation student at the time, turned one comic short story into a student Oscar-winning animated short film. It is now available as a DVD.
With the debut of his Belle Du Jour in San Diego 2007, Bill emerged as a sought-after pin-up artist. The limited edition with the painted bookplates sold out within hours. The French publisher Akileos published Rex Steele in a beautiful full-color hardcover edition with a DVD. Bill went on a French booksigning tour with an appearance at Angoulemne in January 2008. For San Diego 2008, Bill debuted his Bookplate Betties. In 2009, France's Edition Audie published their version of Belle as Bill Presing Artbook. In 2010, Bill and Josh Cooley released a deck of 54 International Cuties Playing Cards.
