More RAW Preparations

My new egg-displaying contraption came in the mail!

That's one less thing for me to worry about... Now I'm just hoping that my Zazzle shipment arrives before the 5th.

The walkthrough is tonight, so I'll FINALLY be able to take measurements of the wall and properly plan out where I'm hanging what. I've been going crazy without that information.

RAW: Natural Born Artists

I've been so busy preparing for this show that I almost forgot to blog about it!

So, for those of you who don't already know, I'm going to be one of the featured artists for next month's RAW event and I AM SO EXCITED ABOUT IT!

I attended their April show (Unearthed) and it was unlike anything I'd ever experienced. They describe themselves as "an artistic circus of creativity" and that's pretty accurate. There's a million things going on at once.

If you walk into the G Lounge during a RAW event, you'll probably see:

- artists of all types exhibiting and selling their work, which ranges from abstract oil paintings to handmade jewelry and custom clothing

- models (both male and female) in elaborate body paint, displaying the talent of the makeup artists who have been asked to come to the show

- a runway show for this month's

featured fashion designers

- at least four live bands and a DJ

- three bars and a tiled back wall that lights up

Art Gallery + Dance Club + Bar + Fashion Show = AMAZING

Needless to say, I had a marvelous time, and I am full to bursting with excitement over having the chance to exhibit with them! I plan on hanging as much art as I can fit on the walls, as well as setting up a table to sell my sketch covers and t-shirts and painted eggs. Basically, if it's art related and not nailed down, I'm going to try to sell it at this show.

Thursday, May 5th

8:00 pm - 12:00 pm

G Lounge, 111 South 17th Street

It's a 21+ event, cocktail attire (since the G Lounge is a schmancy place)

Tickets are $10 if you order them in advance. And you should,

because they're talking about the possibility that they might sell out.

When you buy your ticket, be sure to put yourself on my guest list!

Upcoming Art Show:

Somewhere, in the midst of all this chaos, is the third annual Gloucester City Riverfront Art & Music Festival. It's happening this Saturday (April 30th) at Proprietor's Park and I'll be selling my work there. If you're in the area, come by and take a look!

Pittsburgh Comic Con - 2011

I just got back from the Pittsburgh Comic-Con and I am exhausted.

I made a few new friends, as well as a number of potential business contacts!

Instead of purchasing a table in Artist's Alley to sell prints and whatnot, I focused on showing my portfolio to publishing houses in hopes of drumming up some real business. I plan on doing the same at a bunch of east coast conventions: Wizard World Philly, Baltimore Comic-Con, Wizard World Chicago, and Wizard World Boston. Pittsburgh doesn't draw any of the major labels, so I had considered it more of a trial run than anything else, but it was far more fruitful than I had expected!

I got to talk to representatives from Moonstone and Big Dog Ink, both of which were exceptionally friendly and helpful. I also got to show my portfolio to several small press labels like Post Mortem Press, Diamondgoat Media, Fortress Publishing, and Boomtown Press.

And (because no convention is complete without a bit of cosplay) after I'd shown my portfolio to everyone, I was able to switch from professional mode to Stormwatch Comics booth babe. I'd been working on a Black Widow costume just for the occasion, and I must say, I am extremely pleased with how it turned out!

I spent some time walking the floor with the wonderful Amber Love.

(shown below, hugging comic art veteran George Pérez)

photo by Scott Allen Stafford

Amber is a comic book goddess with quite a sizable... following.

She's a journalist, an avid blogger, a model, a cosplay diva, and soon to be a published comic book author! She's a busy girl, that's for sure, so it's unsurprising that making the rounds with her takes quite a while. We ended up stopping at almost every single booth, since she knows everybody there. In all seriousness, she was on a first name basis with 50% of the people in that building, which is extra astonishing to me on a personal level, because I am so terrible at remembering people's names.

Through Amber I was able to meet Paul D. Storrie, a prolific comic book author who is just as much fun to talk to in person as he is to read. He was delightfully witty, which is something I don't often come across in real life. Clever yes, sarcastic sure, but witty requires a balance between a quick mind, sharp tongue, and dark sense of humor that is only pulled off by characters in scripted TV shows. Hanging out with him and Sean McKeever (another writer) was definitely one of the high points of the show.

I also met Lauren, an absolute darling of a girl, who was working one of the other booths. We became friends almost instantly and spent most of the show hanging out with each other. The great thing about conventions is that it brings together people who would never meet otherwise, but the tragedy of it is that I end up making friends with wonderful people (like Lauren) who live incredibly far away from me.

Thank god for the internet.

As always, Ken Haeser of Living Corspe was set up in Artist's Alley, drawing his heart out. I got to share a meal with him, his wonderful wife Tabi, and the rest of the Stormwatch crew several times throughout the weekend. The Haesers are some of my favorite people, so it was wonderful to get to spend time with them.

I got to see some really spectacular costumes, including an extremely elaborate Robo-Cop suit that the person had made themselves (complete with a lady scientist who guided him around since it was obvious that he could barely see through that visor). There was also a really impressive Jareth the goblin king from Labyrinth walking around and a guy (Alexander Rae, according to the internet) who pulled off the best Superman/Clark Kent look I've EVER seen!

I entered my first costume contest ever on Sunday. I was harboring no delusions about winning, since there are people who show up at conventions for no other reason than to exhibit the costumes they've been working on all year. The winner of the children's category was a 2 or 3 year old girl dressed as Ms. Marvel who was too cute for words. When she won, the trophy they gave her was almost as big as she was. Robocop won for the Adult TV/Movie category, a team of steampunks won Group and the adult winner overall was a 10-foot Chewbacca costume that was movie set quality and 100% handmade.

At the end of the contest, Little Miss Marvel ran up to Chewbacca, threw her arms around the fuzzy tree trunk he was calling a leg and cried out "I won 'Bacca! I won!" So, yeah, if you heard a weird cracking sound on Sunday, that was probably my just heart breaking into a million pieces from the unbearable adorableness of it all.

Now that I'm back home, I've got my work cut out for me. I have a HUGE show coming up on May 5th and there's a million things to do to prepare for it! I'll post more info on that later on this week.

Daily Special #6 - Invisible Woman

Sue Storm made it to the DF front page last week, but I wasn't speedy enough to post about it before it expired. Here's the screencap if you're interested in reading about it anyway.

This image might be the first of a set of covers featuring the Fantastic Four in their new white outfits, or it may end up being the only one- we'll see. I have 50 of these to draw and 50 Dominos that are on backorder until we get more X-Force books in, so I'll have plenty of sketch cover work waiting for me when I get back from Pittsburgh.

Speaking of- I'm leaving tomorrow for the Pittsburgh Comic Con! I'm super excited, since this'll be the first con of the year for me. I've been gearing up for it all week, putting my portfolio together and finishing up the missing pieces of my Black Widow costume. I will return with photographs, stories, and hopefully a few new business contacts. Wish me luck!