NYCC and Other Assorted Chaos

The Shakespeare Shaken book signing at Stormwatch was a moderate success. I didn't sell as many books as I was hoping to, but most of that was because there were customers who had purchased copies before the event and were bringing those in to be signed. It was a bit slow, but I managed to sell enough prints to keep me from getting too disappointed about the turn out.

By the next morning, we were back on the road again- headed out to New York this time. NYCC was absolutely wonderful for me this year! I kicked off the weekend by landing a book cover job with a legitimate publishing house! I can't say about it much yet, but I am super excited about this project and I hope it's the first of many!

Photo Credit: Robert Hoskins

The first day of the con was spent showing my portfolio to every book publisher I could find. I got a lot of positive feedback, so hopefully some of those leads will turn into new projects within the coming months. After I finished making the rounds as a professional, I was free to kick back and act like a fangirl for the rest of the weekend.

I'd been adding some extra details to my Poison Ivy costume, with the intent of turning it into a Queen Titania costume for Halloween. After I saw another Ivy wearing a velvet cape, the temptation to take my dream cloak for a test drive was too strong to resist and I unveiled it a few weeks early. I am SO proud of how this whole get up has turned out. There are a few things I'd like to add, but the area around my face (the hood and clasp and the way my wig just pours out of the cowl) is exactly the way I wanted it.

I found out about a graphic novel adaptation of the Book of Revelations, illustrated by Chris Koelle. It's GORGEOUS and it does a really good job of staying true to the original text, while at the same time, making the story as coherent as possible. I can't wait to get my hands on a copy.

Photo Credit: Jason Torse

I must've stopped by the Jersey Jack Pinball booth at least twice a day. They had a new Wizard of Oz game that they were letting people try out for free.

As far as I know, there are only two pinball machine companies still in existence, so I'd never even seen a brand new pinball machine before! It was SO shiny! It had a gorgeous video display and surprisingly good voice acting! If I ever win the lottery, I'm definitely buying myself a pinball machine. ...And a copy of Magical Truck Adventure.

While at NYCC, I learned about Red Bubble, which enables artists to sell their work in new & interesting ways and customers to obtain some seriously cool items. I now have a brand new online store that's chock full of lovely prints, as well as some t-shirts and even iPhone cases! There's something about seeing my own work on a cell phone cover that is indescribably cool to me.

On Sunday, I worked a one-day comics show
at the International House in Philadelphia.

While there, I did this Batwoman sketch cover for a customer and reconnected with my contact from Dynamic Forces. You should definitely keep your eyes peeled for new LG sketch covers on their front page!

All in all, not a bad way to spend a weekend.

 

Upcoming Events:

MARK YOUR CALENDARS! This year's Punk Rock Flea Market will feature a table manned by yours truly! It'll be in Philadephia on Sunday, December 9th in the "Punk Rock Flea Market Dome", which is a fancy way of saying "the old FedEx Warehouse across the street from The Starlight Ballroom". The building is at 9th and Spring Garden and the event will be open to the public from 10 am to 5 pm.

ALMOST FORGOT! For those of you who haven't seen it yet, here's a mini-comic about the thoughts that went through my head while waiting in line at NYCC.

RAW Video: Cosplay Fashion Show

RAW: Natural Born Artists has posted another interview with yours truly, this one taken on the night of the Cosplay Fashion Show. It was absolutely delightful to be able to discuss my passion for costuming in a setting that views it as art, rather than recreation. There's footage from the runway walk as well as the interview, so it's definitely worth checking out!

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.

C2E2 & Pittsburgh Con Recaps

So much has been happening recently it's hard to keep it all straight!

I just got back from the Pittsburgh Comic Con and before that I was in Chicago with Enrica Jang from Red Stylo Media. Now that I'm home, I hardly have time to catch my breath before packing my stuff back up again and setting up for the Gloucester City Art Festival.

First things first - C2E2 was incredible! 

I had no idea how overwhelmingly massive this convention center was until we got there. (Apparently, McCormick Place is the largest convention center in the country. Who knew?) It was easily as large as NYCC, but mercifully less claustrophobic and less smelly.

I was sharing an Artist's Alley booth with Enrica Jang from Red Stylo Media. She's the editor for the Shakespeare Shaken Anthology I've been working on and was personally responsible for getting me involved.

I really cannot say enough good things about her. She's whip smart, energetic, and a joy to work with. She also said that if anyone tried to hurt me, she'd stomp their hands apart, so yeah, I'm pretty much in love.


New Shakespeare Shaken information: The release date is August 15th!
I'll post links here (and everywhere else) as soon as it's available for purchase.

Despite the fact that our booth was situated as far away from the entrance as it was possible to be, we got plenty of foot traffic all throughout the weekend! We were situated immediately behind comic legend George Perez and vaguely adjacent to sometimes actor Shia LaBeouf, which helped keep a steady stream of new faces coming our way.

This was my first time in Chicago and the windy city did not disappoint. I ate some of the most delicious food I've ever had in my life, made a ton of new friends, and got to spend some time hanging out with old ones!

I hung out with the talented Sara Richards and I can confirm that she is exactly as awesome as you think she is. Possibly more so. She's silly and fascinating and I really hope to run into her at another convention sometime soon.

(This was the view from
the hotel window!) ---->

I also got to meet the minds behind the Kind of Epic Show podcast. David, Gabe and Ian are the kind of people I wish I met everyday. There's a kindness about them that radiates outward and they're the perfect blend of silly and amiable that makes them fun to be around. If they didn't live in the middle of the country, I'd hang out with them all the time.

Just when I thought the visit was pretty much over, we met longtime Spiderman artist Alex Saviuk in the airport shuttle. He was super friendly and offered all sorts of advice for an artist trying to break into the industry.

  

Then off to Pittsburgh!

The Pittsburgh Comic Con is an annual favorite of mine. I don't know what it is about the place, but every time I go there, I meet the most amazing people. This year was no exception!

I met long time comic book veteran Mike Grell at a drink and draw event and proceeded to chat with him for hours! If you ever have the opportunity to meet him- do it. He's funny and tells the most amazing stories.

I stopped by the booth for Bad Place Productions and had a really promising discussion with one of their creators, Paul Schultz. So, fingers crossed, I hope to be hearing from them again soon. I also talked to the crew at Hound Comics, and I may end up doing a pinup illustration for them in the near future. I'll post any developments here as they happen.

And perhaps most excitingly, I picked up a copy of the Eisner nominated comic Princeless from Action Lab. I was hooked on the story after reading the 8-page preview in Feedback Magazine (it starts on page 20). It's about a princess who's been locked in a tower waiting for a prince to come slay the dragon that guards her and rescue her from imprisonment... only she decides that's stupid and teams up with the dragon to save herself and her equally trapped sisters. It's extremely well written and a joy to experience. Seriously, go pick it up for yourself.

As usual, my first day at the Pittsburgh Con was spent shopping my portfolio around. After that I booth-babed for Stormwatch Comics, and sold my prints on a section of the table that Bob was kind enough to let me use. 

I'd been working my fingers to the bone on a Poison Ivy costume that was unveiled for the first time at this convention. I sewed every leaf onto the body suit by hand. One leaf at a time. Because I'm some kind of creative masochist. 

At the 70% completion mark, I was completely sick of greenery and cursing myself for ever thinking this was a good idea, but I'm nothing if not stubborn and I saw it through to the end. I worked right up to the deadline too. The drive from Jersey to Pittsburgh is 5 hours, and I sat in the van sewing for every minute of it. I wasn't done until 1 AM on the night before it's maiden voyage. 

The struggle I went through made the finished product all the sweeter though and I'm REALLY proud of how this costume turned out.

Upcoming Events:
This weekend is the 4th Annual Gloucester City Arts & Music Festival! I've participated every year they've had it and I'm not stopping now. I'll be in Proprietor's Park in Gloucester City, NJ from 11AM to 5PM. It's all happening on Saturday, April 28th. There'll be local bands and tons of artists. Come check it out if you're in the area!

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.