Post Show Recap: X-Con

X-Con was... an interesting experience.
There were really great parts and really terrible parts and not a whole lot in between.

Let's get something out of the way-
X-Con was, hands down, the most poorly organized convention I've ever attended. There were a myriad of issues that made it incredibly difficult to do business.

For example:
On Sunday, the organizers decided to hold a concert on the show floor, which made it literally impossible to speak to customers. Even if they were standing directly in front of us and we were shouting. I shouldn't have to explain to anyone, let alone an event organizer, how unreasonable it is to expect someone to conduct business via pantomime.

Despite all that nonsense, I had the pleasure of meeting a lot of really great people while I was down in Myrtle Beach. And I got to spend a lot of time with Enrica Jang from Red Stylo Media which is always fun!

I started up a conversation with a group of knights (if you walk past my booth in full plate armor, there is no way on earth I'm not going to bring it up in conversation) and learned all about The Society for Creative Anachronism! From what I understand, it's like the Renaissance Faire, but with no spectators, only participants. 

After a delightful chat, I got to sit back and watch them beat the hell out of each other with four-foot poles. And I don't mean they acted out a choreographed fight. I mean they went on stage in full armor, got some heavy wooden poles, and started whaling on each other. That's not something you get to see every day.

...Or maybe it is. I don't know how you live your life.

Our booth was right next to Giorgio Tsoukalos from Ancient Aliens, who is apparently SUPER popular. He had a line of fans waiting for him every day.
He seemed pretty nice and even came over to check out our stuff at one point.

On the other side of our booth was a guy selling a device that turns any object into a speaker. Which means he spent the whole weekend turning stuff into speakers… Speakers that played about 10 different songs (half of which were country) over and over all weekend long. Words cannot describe how fun that was… Oh wait, did I say "fun"? I meant "excruciatingly annoying".

I never want to hear any of these songs ever ever again:

Dido - Life For Rent

Sheryl Crow - The Picture (feat. Kid Rock)

Zac Brown Band - As She's Walking Away

Zac Brown Band - Toes

I only did one show sketch, capturing the softer side of Wonder Woman. It looked terrible when I first started working on it, so seeing it blossom into something lovely by the end was even more satisfying than usual.

One of the best parts of X-Con was sharing a table with Ben Fraizer, who is an extremely talented young artist and a major contributor to several Red Stylo projects. He was the artist for The After Party story in Poe Twisted anthology and is the new penciller for Azteca!

In addition to having a case of "The Madness" that makes my own creative obsessions look like a touch of the sniffles, he's an incredibly fascinating person and one of the kindest people I've ever met. I really enjoyed hanging out with him and I'm looking forward to the next time our con schedules overlap!

When the show was over and it was time to go home, Ben Fraizer and I hopped in the car for a good ol' fashioned road trip to the airport… Which is to say we got horribly lost and spent several hours cussing out other drivers while driving in the opposite direction from our desired destination. It was just that kind of week.

In the end, everyone ended up getting home safely, which is what really matters.

Fast forward to the present! I took some time off to shake the nasty cold that'd been plaguing me all month, and I'm finally back in the studio! I'm currently working on a Daredevil commission, as well as some character designs for my semi-secret comic project. There's also a chance you'll be seeing a Hit Girl sketch cover in the near future as well. I'll post updates as often as I can.

Post Show Recap: Wizard World Philly

I have my post show recap for X-Con ready to go, but I'm still waiting on some photographs 

before I can publish it... So, while we're waiting for that- Here's what happened in Philly!

I had less than a week after X-Con (just enough time to complete that Luna commission and catch a nasty head cold) to get my stuff together for Wizard World. It was the first time I've ever had an Artist's Alley table all to myself and it ended up being the most financially successful con I've ever attended!

I had a great spot in Artist's Alley, right across from Red Stylo Media and down the aisle from my friends Ken Haeser (of Living Corpse fame) and Mike Capprotti (cover artist extraordinaire).

Rough Sketch Studios was there in force as well, with Steve, Brielle, and Andy all taking up residence just one aisle away.




Directly across from my table was a talented young artist I've never seen before. Her name is Sasha Yosselani and her work is incredible. Take a moment to check out her website, you'll be glad you did.

I also had the pleasure of running into Alex Saviuk!
I'd been looking forward to showing him my work ever since meeting him in Chicago, but I wasn't expecting to see him in Philly! He did me the honor of looking through my portfolio and was a joy to chat with. I'm looking forward to the next time we cross paths.

I was assisted by my own personal booth babe, Thomas Mitchell. He spent the weekend dressed as Doctor Strange and was, dare I say it, the belle of the ball. If Tom hadn't taken time off from work to help me run the booth, there's no way I would've made it through the weekend. He is the best show partner anyone could ask for, and I suspect he likes to rave about my artwork even more than I do.

Having Tom nearby to take care of customers also freed me up to work on more show sketches than I would've otherwise been able to do. Almost a third of my income from Wizard World this year came from show sketches. I've never done so many at a single event... They haven't gotten easier or quicker, but they have gotten a little bit better.

<-- The first was Black Widow for a
customer who liked Marvel redheads.

The guy who gave
me a tiny zebra print
sketch book in Chicago
made an appearance!
His name is Chris
apparently and he was the recipient of this
(somewhat mannish)
Wonder Woman.

                                                                                                                                                                             Emma Frost as The White Queen of The Hellfire Club, complete with condescending bitch face.

This Octopus Mermaid is my personal favorite from the show! I LOVE how she turned out! I'm planning on coloring her sometime in the future. It's fortuitous that this sketch turned out so awesome, since the customer is planning on getting this tattooed on his body!

And last, but not least, is this drawing of Wonder Woman having a tea party with X-23.
I get the feeling it's some kind of inside joke between the customer and a friend, but she was absolutely delighted when she saw the finished piece and announced that I'd "made at least two people very happy"

Those four days sapped a LOT of energy out of me... I definitely learned how exhausting it is to work a convention when you're sick. I returned home on Monday with a bone-deep weariness that I have yet to fully recover from and had to keep on truckin' since the RAW cosplay fashion show was only a few days away... I'll blog about that eventually when they post the photos/video.

Now, if you guys don't mind, I'm going to go collapse in a corner for a few days.

Keepin' Hope Alive

Morale has been down in the LG camp recently.

Things with Bluewater are NOT working out and I spent my Sunday afternoon working at a small comic convention, where I sold almost none of my work.

Aaaand I got my first student loan bill in the mail yesterday, which means the clock has officially started ticking.

So, feeling kinda shitty. Feeling down. And then, I saw THIS.

The man who bought one of my Wonder Woman Day donation pieces has been blogging about me and all sorts of people liked it and reblogged it.

Here's the link for his blog, Spandex and Sports Bras, as well as links to the first and second blog entries he wrote about me.

It's always nice when someone likes your work and it's even better if that person is a stranger, but it's the absolute BEST when you can eavesdrop on a whole bunch of strangers talking amongst themselves about how much you rock.

When the people involved don't know you and aren't aware that you're listening, they have absolutely no reason to be nice or polite- The only thing they're responding to is your work.

The internet is a mean place full of anonymous cruelty- so on those rare occasions when it smiles upon you, it is a very happy day indeed.

Upcoming Art Shows!:

This Sunday, on the 14th, I'll be at the C.H.U.D. Comic Book Show in Laurel, Maryland. You will find me at the Stormwatch Comics table, selling prints of my superheroine pinups as well as a whole mess of Doctor Who t-shirts.

The Amazon's New Clothes, pt. 3

The first one is done. The next one is well on it's way.

But first, re-organizing my life. Again. UGH.

The Amazon's New Clothes, pt. 2

I recently posted some sketches of Wonder Woman with promises of future explanation. This year I will be taking part in the annual Wonder Woman Day charity event! The following information is from Andy Mangels, who runs the website Wonder Woman Museum:

"Wonder Woman Day V is a free all-ages event ... which includes a silent auction of original art contributed by the world's top artists. There will be comic creators and costumed heroes on-site, raffles and prizes, rare memorabilia, and more... The previous four Wonder Woman Day events have raised a grand total of more than $89,000 to benefit survivors of domestic violence and their children."

This event started in Portland, Oregon and has spawned a sister celebration in Flemington, NJ. There will be a Wonder Woman Day benefit on Sunday, October 24th at Comic Fusion. Same as in Portland, they will be auctioning off artwork from both local artists like myself and nationally renowned illustrators (I've seen David Mack's contribution and it's spectacular as usual). The proceeds go to SAFE in Hunterdon, a local shelter for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. I'm extremely excited to be able to contribute in my own way to such an important cause.

Although nothing says the sketches need to be of the lovely Amazon herself, I've decided to tackle her new costume. This has proved to be more complicated than I'd expected, but it looks pretty sweet so it's worth the trouble.

Here are some of my preliminary sketches from the reference shot I took at Rough Sketch Studios. The lovely Emily Suydam modeled for me and as did the ever-patient Steve Sistilli. He has such a wonderful snarly face, I just had to get him in there to be the bad guy. One of my sketches is ready for ink, so I'll post images of that as soon as it's finished.

The Amazon's New Clothes, pt. 1

Very quick preview of a new Wonder Woman image I'm working on.

More information on this project later.