RAW Video: Holiday RAWk

Two interviews that were recorded at the Holiday RAWk show have found their way onto Youtube. The first is my official interview, put together by the talented RAW video crew. (The dimensions are a bit messed up, but I can't figure out how to fix it.)

This second interview is by Alan Fenstermaker, a roving videographer who was covering the show independently. This one features interviews from another RAW artist (Amber Kane of Fabricated Ends) as well as myself.

The Collingswood Patch

Journalist Matt Skoufalos from the Collingswood Patch wrote up a brief article about last weekend's Second Saturday festivities- which includes the T.A.R. Salon event where I was exhibiting my work! I've even been quoted!

Check it out!

RAW and T.A.R.

Picture this-

It's the last few days before the Holiday RAWk event and I'm scrambling to get everything ready. December snuck up on me and I'm making a mad dash to get everything prepared in time. I'm feeling stressed out and anxious and that's when I hear the voice of my Madness* saying "Y'know what would be really cool? What if we made a sign with our name on it... And then made it glow! It would be so easy! We'd just carve our name into some cardboard and and paint it black! And cover it with paper and put some kinda light behind it. Come on! It would be so easy!" And I'm like, "Shut up, voice. I've got stuff to do."

Yeah, take a wild guess how that ended...

I can't help myself.

The Madness* requires that all my coolest ideas are unnecessarily complicated and only conceived at the most inopportune of times.

It was made out of some spare cardboard (including a lid from one of my comic boxes), rice paper, acrylic paint, tin foil, and christmas lights. Oh, and lots and lots of packing tape. It gets pretty hot, so I brought a fire extinguisher to the RAW show just in case my makeshift creation decided to burst into flames. It didn't.

But enough about the sign...

Despite being a last minute addition to the list of featured artists, I managed to pull together the nicest display I've ever done for any show EVER. I'm really pleased with how it looked and I know that it definitely turned some heads.

Once I get someone's attention, the art can speak for itself, but getting them close enough to see something they like is half the battle.

I made some new friends, met a few people who might provide me with gallery opportunities in the future, and sold enough artwork to make it worth making the trip. All-in-all, a successful night.

I want to send out yet another thank you to Thomas Mitchell for helping me run the booth. In addition to being a spectacular boyfriend, he also fills the role of my part-time event manager and as soon as I make enough money to actually pay him, I'm hiring him on to do this full-time. He's incredibly helpful and almost as passionate about talking to people about my artwork as I am.

Fast forward to December 10th!

The T.A.R. Salon's Second Saturday exhibit was such a great event! It was a packed house. When I tell you that from 7 to 9, you could barely move in there, I mean that sometimes people would go outside for a minute and find themselves watching the show from the doorway because the way in had closed behind them.

The Tommie Griggz Band performed an incredible set (both original songs and a few well picked covers) and I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on a copy of the live CD they recorded of that night.

There was unbelievably delicious food there, also from local restaurants. Cuban food from the store next door as well as what can only be described as artisan cupcakes. My favorite was a banana bread cupcake with creamy frosting that was very subtly peanut butter flavored, topped with a caramelized piece of bacon. It might sound a bit weird, but it was heavenly.

The best part of that event though was the afterparty.

Tom and I were invited to go back to one of the musician's houses for drinks and conversation. We left with them, intending to stay for a half an hour or so and ended up staying out until almost midnight! I met so many wonderful, inspiring, and genuinely fascinating people! One of wants me to tutor her kids. Another is a childhood friend of Ethan Van Sciver (a fancy pants comic book artist, for the civilians reading this blog) and is the person responsible for teaching him how to draw. I am SO glad we stayed out!

* "The Madness” is what makes you want to get out of bed and draw. And then when you are done drawing, draw some more. It makes you miss meals, because you are too busy painting. It's an irresistible, incurable compulsion to create things, and I've got it BAD.

Second Saturday - T.A.R. Salon

Upcoming Events:

I'm participating in Collingswood's Second Saturday event this month, so all you Jersey locals have no excuse for not coming out to see it! My work will be hanging in The T.A.R. Salon at 559 Haddon Ave, Collingswood.

The T.A.R. Salon is usually a hair/nail spa, but the owner is emptying it out for the night and filling it with local artists and musicians! And since the building was originally an art gallery, it has nice high ceilings and good lighting and seems like it'll be a wonderful venue to display my work!

The opening itself is this Saturday, Dec. 10th from 6 to 9. There'll be live music from the Tommie Griggz band, special giveaways (first come, first served- so show up early if you want cool free stuff), and of course, wine and munchies. It's also a great opportunity to help raise money Pennsauken Animal Shelter. So, seriously, come on out and have some fun with us!

DRAWING

I'll write up a post-show review for the Holiday RAWk Show and tomorrow's Second Saturday event soon enough, but the most important thing about today is that I've been able to return to the drawing board for the first time in months! The recent rash of art shows and conventions has kept me away from my studio for far far too long and I'd been going absolutely stir-crazy in it's absence. Clients are good and paying gigs are even better, but it's been too long since I drew something just for me.

During today's creative frenzy, I finally finished up a Black Cat image that had been giving me trouble (I couldn't quite get the angle of her face to look right until now) and made a lot of progress several on projects that will reappear later as Christmas gifts.

I also had the chance to work on several secret projects that I'm really excited about! Here's a tiny glimpse of what one of them is going to look like...

Tomorrow I'll be back to prepping for shows, but for the rest of the night, I'm not going to worry about a thing except using up some of this pent up creative energy I've been saving up since September.

RAW Awards Review

The RAW Awards show was kind of a mixed bag.

This is what it looked like before the house lights were turned down.

Most of the people who showed up were friends and/or family of the other artists (i.e. not interested in purchasing art), so I didn't sell anything at all. However, I did make arrangements to sell one of my pieces to someone later on in the week and also met with several gallery owners who seemed genuinely interested in carrying my work, so it wasn't a total bust. Whether or not last week's RAW show was a success will depend on if those leads for "potential future money" pan out.

Despite my lackluster experience at this last show, I really do think that keeping my fingers in this particular pie is going to pay off in the long run. The guy who runs the RAW shows absolutely loves my work and has asked me to exhibit with them again in December, which I'm much more excited about. It's a holiday show, so it should draw a crowd that is showing up specifically to buy art. No distracting voting, no jockeying for floor space- just the displaying and selling my artwork.

CLICK HERE TO ORDER TICKETS

(or click on the image above)

The RAW Awards!!!

The RAW Awards are tomorrow!

Please come out and vote for me!

There's going to be live music and drinking and tons of fantastic local artists!

If you haven't already bought your tickets, you should do it before you show up. Ordering the tickets online is cheaper than buying them at the door. Pre-ordering tickets also allows 18+ guests to get into what is usually a 21+ event!

CLICK HERE TO ORDER TICKETS

AUUUGHTOBER 2011

Here's what I've been up to for the past month… You know, when I haven't been at a show, restocking inventory after a show, or in transit on my way to a show.

The Collingswood Book Festival kicked off this month's jam-packed show schedule and although I was only expecting moderate foot traffic, it ended up being one of my most successful shows to date!

I had also intended to set up at the Barrington Harvest Festival, but sudden health issues forced me to cancel at the last minute.

Thankfully, I recovered in time for our next outing- the New York City Comic Con.

Awesome doesn't cut it.

This convention was definitely several notches above anything else I'd seen before. To anyone who's thinking of going next year, my advice to you is go on Thursday. Get yourself a VIP pass or whatever else it takes, because that is the only time the floor isn't going to be a body-to-body wall of people. On Thursday, the place is packed. On Friday, it's a mess of super-smelly gridlock.

I genuinely believe that someone urinated in the tunnel that connected Artist's Alley with the rest of the floor, because by the end of the day, it smelled like hobos on fire. Just awful.

Don't get me wrong! I had a wonderful time in NYC! I got to hang out with Bob Wayne for a little while on Thursday, (before the massive turnout on Friday made further conversations impossible) and was able to meet Andrew Sumner, a delightful fellow from Liverpool. I also met Diana Meneses, (dressed as Harley Quinn in the photo above) a spunky playful girl who was a total blast to hang out with. I really hope we run into each other again sometime. I showed my portfolio to half a million people and even got encouragement from some of them. We got to eat like kings on DC's dollar. A good time was most certainly had by all!

The highlight of NYCC was getting to meet Jenny Frison, a cover artist whose work I absolutely adore, and learning that she got her start doing what I've been doing all along: Going to cons, showing your portfolio, making contacts, building relationships, working your way through a million little jobs until the right person sees one... It's a hard path and progress is slow, but to see that it's still worth it, that it's a path that might take me where I want to be, makes it SO much easier to keep going.

Meanwhile, back in my studio, I'd been using any spare scrap of time I could find to work on a logo design job for the wonderful people over at Quail Run Farms. My brother and sister-in-law run a small business (Tehachabee Honey LLC) based around the beehives they keep on their property.

I've already designed the labels for their honey jars and beeswax chapsticks, so converting the preexisting design to a circular format for their new line of lotion bars was relatively simple.

In addition to supplying the graphic designs for Quail Run's bee products, I was also hired to create a logo for their new business- Blessed Bee Birth Services. The sudden illness that kept me away from Barrington also slowed me down significantly when I was trying to work on the logo, but I was finally able to finish the design after returning from New York. We're both extremely pleased with the final result.

The weekend after NYCC, we packed ourselves back into the truck and set sail for the Mid-Ohio Comic Con. Ohio was WONDERFUL. In terms of making money, making friends, making contacts- all of it. The Stormwatch booth was situated perfectly. We were between the concessions, the bathrooms, and the door.

I sold a decent chunk of my inventory and Bob sold at least half of the stuff we'd brought with us! It was great! Also, the ceiling was magic.

First and foremost, I want to send a huge thank you over to Enrica Jang of Red Stylo Media, who made this trip SO much more exciting and enjoyable for us! She showed us around her hometown, took us out drinking with her, and generally made our trip more interesting just by being her wonderful self.

One of my favorite memories from Ohio was simply sitting at her booth on the morning after a particularly delightful cocktail party, quietly recovering over a cup of coffee and some bagels. We're always running into each other at shows like this, so I'm really looking forward to seeing her again when the con season starts up again next spring.

Ohio was a great chance to spend time with friends, both old and new. On Saturday, Max Ink came by and wandered the show floor, passing out Blink comics to anyone who'd stand still long enough. I was able to hang out with him for a while, which is something I'd been looking forward to for months! I hung around Paul Storrie's booth for a while- making lewd comments, scaring away his customers, and generally being a nuisance. I also spent hours chatting with Tony Isabella, who if you don't know him, is a veteran of the comic book field and one of the biggest sweethearts I've ever met. He even gave me a shout-out on his blog in one of his post-convention recaps, which delights me more than I can say!

I also got to meet the lovely duo of Sarah Gray and Emily Gibson-Roberson, one mister Erick Korpi, and Kayleigh Lascio- a young Monkees fan who is so adorable it's unreal. Seriously. This girl is like a spy who's one objective has been to break into my heart and steal all the secret government documents I keep there.

So freaking cute. Instant cavities.

About 2 hours into the 8 hour drive home from Ohio, our truck broke down- stranding us in Washington, PA for a day. Once I finally got back home, I had barely enough time to restock my wares before heading out to the Superheroes Anonymous event on the 30th.

I had really high hopes for this show, but it was not as well attended as I would've liked... Which is to say, there was almost no foot traffic during the day. It seemed like everyone was waiting until the after party to show up. Between the tolls, parking, and gas, it cost a lot of money just to get there and I barely made enough sales to cover my dinner on the way home.

That being said, Tom and I were interviewed by the Discovery Channel for some special they're doing on Real Life Superheroes. So there's a very good chance we'll be on TV and that's kinda cool. Also, it was a nice excuse to put on my Black Widow costume and take Tom's Doctor Strange outfit on it's maiden voyage.

Even though it didn't really pay off, I'm still glad we showed up.

The weekend after THAT, we packed all my stuff up once more and set up shop at a Gloucester City Cultural Arts event that was taking place in the community center that's attached to Firehouse 54. It was low-key, but actually rather nice. I wasn't expecting many people to come in the door, since the venue was pretty unassuming, but it attracted a much larger crowd than I would've guessed. There was live music (some of which was really very good) and free food and wine. Not a bad way to spend the afternoon.

I had the walkthrough for the upcoming RAW event on Thursday and I'm trying really hard to pull everything together in time for the show, without totally freaking out about how small my space is and how crowded the G Lounge is going to be. I just dropped off my files with the giclée printer last night. I'll feel a helluva lot better when I have my show boxes all packed up and ready to go.

In the middle of all this chaos, I also managed to finish up a commission for a friend. A zombie Spiderman fighting a zombie Venom. Pretty standard stuff, but I have to pay the bills somehow.

After the RAW Awards, my show schedule should slow down to something resembling normal life. At which point, I need to get 100 sketch covers to Dynamic Forces ASAP before I can even think about drawing anything for myself. A set of Vampirella books that were solicited on Halloween and some Marvel Girl books that (as far as I know) are supposed to grace the front page.

No rest for the weary, man.

Superheroes Anonymous Gala

I'm going to be in Manhattan this weekend, selling my art at the annual Superheroes Anonymous event! It's open to the public! You should come!

Superheroes Anonymous is a non-profit organization that unites people who do good deeds in cool costumes. They're basically philanthropists who also happen to be comic book fans.

They're holding a workshop where you can create your own superhero persona and costume (with assistance from professional costume designers). After that, you get to have a photo shoot with Peter Tangen, the man behind the posters for most of the recent superhero films (Batman, Thor, etc.) And, of course, an afterparty!

I'll be dressed as Black Widow, selling superheroine pinups in the Pow-Up shop beside my lovely assistant, Doctor Strange (aka Tom Mitchell). If you can make it, and you totally should, come over and say hi!

RAW AWARDS 2011!!!

Oh my god, you guys…

GUESS WHO'S ONE OF PHILLY'S TOP 5 RAW ARTISTS?!?!

Thank you soooo much to everyone who helped me in that first round of voting!

I'm SO freakin' excited about this nomination!

The awards ceremony itself will be on November 17th, so if you're local or able to make the trip, I'd really appreciate it if you came out to support me. It would be absolutely amazing if I was voted the best RAW Artist in Philadelphia, but honestly, I'm just thrilled to be in the running! As soon as I find out where and when the awards ceremony will be, I'll send out the details.

RAW throws a great party, so I can pretty much guarantee you'd have a fun time.

Again, thanks to everyone who helped me make this happen!

I couldn't have done it without you guys!

RAW Awards

I NEED YOUR HELP.

Voting for the 2011 RAW Awards has begun and every artist that RAW has showcased last year is now competing to be named the best of 2011!

The top five artists from every category then go to an awards show where the guests vote on the best artists in Philadelphia! There's even a chance I could end up at a big fancy party in Hollywood, CA if I make it past the semi-finals, but let's take this one city at a time…

Please please please vote for me!!!

Click here to get to my RAW Artist profile.

You can cast your vote once a day from now until October 15th.

The image above provides instructions on the simplest way to cast your vote. If it doesn't say "you have voted today in this category" after you're done, it didn't go through right.

I really REALLY want to be in Philly's top 5!

Please help me get there!

(If you want to know more about the contest itself, click here for details.)

Daily Special #8 - Elektra

Out of all the "traditional" superheroes, Daredevil is by far my personal favorite- So when I found out there were new DD sketch covers coming to Dynamic Forces, I flipped! I wanted to do several different covers (Elektra, Black Widow, even Ol' Hornhead himself), but I could only get my hands on enough books for one design.

I went with Elektra, a lady ninja who is as lovely as she is off her rocker! Daily Specials only remain on the Dynamic Forces website for 24 hours, so go check it out now!

(click here to read the article after it has expired)

Upcoming Events:

This October is going to be a REALLY busy month for me!

Last weekend was the Collingswood Book Festival and already there's another outdoor art festival looming on the horizon!

I'll be setting up my table again on October 8th for The Barrington Harvest Festival, which takes place in downtown Barrington (along Clements Bridge Road) from 10pm to 4pm. If you're going to be in the area, stop by and say hello!

After that, it's off to the New York Comic Convention on October 14th and the Mid-Ohio Comic Con from October 21st 'til the 23rd. I'll be there with the usual Stormwatch crew, splitting my time between working for The 'Watch and showing my portfolio to anyone who stands still long enough.

Welcome to AC - Take 2

I came up with this Atlantic City piece back in May, but was never really happy with the results. I decided to go back to the pencils and redo the whole project.

This is what it looked like a few months ago, as compared to how it looks now.

I think it's a rather nice improvement.

I especially enjoy Medusa's new snakes and the paperiness of the zombie girl's skin. The newer version was drawn almost twice as large as the first one, so I was able to get in there and put in the proper amount of detail.

These thumbnails don't really do them justice, so I'd recommend clicking on both pictures to see larger versions of the two images.

Hellblazer Process

I'm currently redoing the "Welcome To Atlantic City" image I'd done for Rough Sketch Studios' Daddy's Little Girl title. I'm just not happy with how the first attempt turned out. I'll post progress images of THAT a little later on, but for now, here's the time lapse animation for that Hellblazer image I did last week.

Hellblazer - Completed

Finished it up just in time to leave for the show!

<-- Also, this is what it would look like if it was actually on the cover of Hellblazer.

Hellblazer

Here's a quick preview of the Hellblazer inspired image I'm working on right now:

Daily Special #7 - Emma Frost

Guess who was the #1 seller for Dynamic Forces yesterday?

Guess who sold out and still was the #1 seller?!

My Emma Frost covers made their way onto the Dynamic Forces front page yesterday and sold out completely before I had a chance to take a look. They also posted about it in the news section, if you're into that sort of thing.

This definitely won't be the last time I draw Emma, but before I can revisit the White Queen, I have a few other projects that need addressing: Some private commissions, a pin-up for Rough Sketch Studio's upcoming title "Daddy's Little Girl", and a Hellblazer inspired piece that is underway right now. I'll be posting some images of THAT later on this week.

I'm trying to get it done before the Baltimore Comic Con this weekend, since I'll be showing my portfolio to representatives from a ton of different publishing houses. I'm cutting it a bit close to the deadline, but as long as I don't run into any problems, I should still be able to finish it in time for the big show.

Wish me luck!

Secret Project - pt. 4

I've been working on some of the details of the G.G. Project.

Her tech is slowly taking shape, one piece at a time.

Emma Frost - Pt. 2

Here she is- Older, but lovelier for it.

I also straightened her hair a bit, because I noticed that all of my reference of Emma was pin-straight and yet, I'd been drawing her with full-bodied waviness for some reason.

Emma Frost

I've been working on an Emma Frost pinup for my next set of DF sketch covers. The image I came up with is laid out nicely, ascetically pleasing, and completely wrong.

The character of Emma Frost is a self-serving, cold-hearted bitch, but the girl I've drawn here is too young and soft looking. She's pretty enough to be Emma, but she's too generic and bland for my taste.

My initial attempts to fix the problem went a bit too far in the other direction and made her look more like a witch with a headache than a telepath with sex appeal, but on the third try...

Here's our Emma: a little older, a little more angular

...I ended up with that comes much closer to capturing the spirit of the character than before. I'm still not entirely satisfied with her, but she's getting there little by little. Once I iron out the last of the kinks, I'll post an another update.

Rita Hayworth, pt. 2

Very quickly, here's the finished version of that Rita Hayworth image I'd alluded to earlier. A special thanks to my sister-in-law, Stacia, and my father for being wonderfully cooperative models.

Tom Waits

Mister Scott Derby is an extremely talented artist and all-around awesome guy who I've had the pleasure of knowing for a few years now. He's provided me with really wonderful encouragement and advice on many occasions. He recently helped me through a couple tricky bits of freelance negotiation, so I wanted to create something just for him as a thank you for taking the time to help out of his busy schedule to an emerging professional.

I found out that he really likes the singer Tom Waits, so I set out to create a portrait, based on the reference photo below.

I'd love to give credit to the photographer, but I've no idea who it was.

If anyone does know, please email me: LauraGuzzoArt@Gmail.com

Steve gave me some of his old scratchboard paper the last time I was over at Rough Sketch Studios and I've been looking for a good excuse to use it ever since then. It wasn't until I was about halfway through the Tom Waits project that I realized that celebrity scratchboard portraits are a major staple of most high school art curriculums... If I wasn't careful, this image would come out looking REALLY amateurish and the last thing I wanted was for Scott's art present to look like something I'd pulled out of the back of a closet at the last minute.

The scratchboard version, from start to finish.

The other bit of trouble I ran into is deciding how much of his face to show. I like how it looks when you can't see anything except the tip of his nose, but I wanted to make sure that the viewer would be able to clearly identify the singer, and for that, he'd need a face.

The version Scott'll get in the mail is the one on the lower right (his eyes are hidden, but his mouth is visible), but I haven't yet decided on the version that'll make it into my online portfolio.

Update: Scott totally flipped out when he saw the finished project, so I think I can safely assume that is doesn't look like it came from a highschooler. He says he's going to frame it and hang it up in his bar, which is exactly where this piece belongs. It's so cool when an artist whose work you respect and admire gets excited about your work. That alone is a reminder of why I shouldn't give up and go work at Target.

Rita Hayworth

I'm currently in the middle of a freelance assignment that involves a celebrity likeness, so you know what that means... Lots and lots of floating heads.

DC Comics Meeting

So, yesterday I attended a DC retailer meeting along with Stormwatch Comics, which had the wonderful side effect of giving me a chance to meet/talk to Jim Lee! He was incredibly nice and approachable, and gave me some suggestions on where to take my artwork.

I also got to hang out with Bob Wayne (the other man in the photograph), who is another major player at DC Comics. We spoke of conventions and The Prisoner and all manner of delightful things!

If retailer meetings are ALL this enjoyable, then I can't wait for the next one!

Lady Loki Commission

Enough of this Bluewater ridiculousness!

Let's focus on something positive for a change.

I just completed a Lady Loki commission and I must say... She's lookin' good!

This was one of those projects where I fell in love with it as soon as it was finished. I wish I could've been there when the client picked it up (I would've loved to see his reaction first hand), but judging from the voice mail he left me, I think it's safe to say that he was just as pleased with the finished product as I was. It's always extremely gratifying when one of my custom pieces finds a good home.