Michael Butkus was trained at Otis Parsons in Los Angeles and the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. He has taught illustration and rendering techniques, along with character design and visual development, to art industry professionals and commercial art students. Michael has worked on more than 2,500 films in the areas of advertising, movie poster art, set design, and character design. Michael also invented and illustrated hundreds of characters for Lucasfilms' Shadow of the Empire. Clients include Paramount, Warner Brothers, Universal, Disney, DreamWorks, and LucasArts, as well as a number of toy companies that employ his imaginative creations and conceptual renderings for product design. Michael lives in Los Angeles, CA.Michael Butkus, one of the top entertainment illustrators and concept artists since 1986, has been involved in the advertising and production of more than 1,500 films and series. For the last 14 years, he has worked on countless film and television projects and received numerous awards for his striking visuals. Mike s studio is located at Associates In Art in Sherman Oaks, CA.Michelle Prather is a freelance writer who began her career covering business for Entrepreneur, Entrepreneur s Start-Ups, and Entrepreneur International magazines. She has also penned gift books and guided journals for Avalanche Publishing, and edited novels at TOKYOPOP. She holds an M.A. in history and a B.A. in film, and she dwells happily in her Los Angeles--area abode with her husband, two stepdaughters, a toddler, and one kooky terrier.
