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.

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.

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!

The Art of Rough Sketch

I'll soon be posting an extensive blog entry about all the things I've been up to in the last three weeks, but since it's taking an awfully long time to finish, here's a look at my most recent colored pencil piece while you wait!

To give you a little bit of background info, I interned with Rough Sketch Studios back in 2009 and very quickly became fast friends with the guys who run it. Steve Sistilli and Dexter Weeks are two of my closest compadres. Meeting them was one of the best things to ever happen to me. So, of course, I jumped at the chance to contribute to their new anthology book, The Art of Rough Sketch! It should be coming out just in time for Wizard World Philadelphia.

Here's the finished image, along with all the juicy extras you've come to expect.

The image is a reference to Daddy's Little Girl, a fun horror comic that Rough Sketch puts out. Imagine a story set in an alternate version of Atlantic City that is secretly overrun by monsters, starring a Paris-Hiltonesque sort of character, and you'll come close to what Daddy's Little Girl is all about.

A special thanks to my models: Brielle Wilson, Amber Love, and Robert Hoskins!

THIS JUST IN!!!

I just got an offer from Bluewater Productions to do the interior art for Political Power: Richard Nixon and, if all goes well, after that I'll be illustrating the interiors of the comic that I did the cover for a few weeks ago.

Exciting and scary!

Exciting, because it'd be absolutely amazing to hold up a comic book and say that I'm responsible for 100% of the artwork in it.

Scary, because I've never done anything like this before. I think I have the resources to make it work, though. I can probably get some advice from Steve at Rough Sketch Studios about how to layout the page properly.

After that, it's just a matter of getting everything done on time, which will be no small feat. It's due by December and I'm going to have to do the penciling, inking, and coloring myself. YIKES! Guess I need to buy that Wacom tablet sooner than I thought I would!

I'm supposed to get the script by the end of this week, so wish me luck!!!

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.

Wizard World Philly 2010

It's summer time, so you know what that means! Wizard has come to town! The convention ran from June 11th to the 13th, and on the final day, I got my very own booth in Artist's Alley! It was my first time selling at a venue this large! Very exciting!

Photo by Achuff Photography and Video

It was much more successful than the previous shows I've been at and gave me a better sense of how to price items. I've also made great strides in how to display my work, which is largely due to the help of the fellas at Rough Sketch. I'm lookin' at you Steve. You're a lifesaver.

For the first two days, I worked as a "booth-babe" for Stormwatch Comics. For those of you who are uninitiated (AKA Comic Civilians) in the ways of the comic-con, being a "booth-babe" usually means dressing up in a costume and chatting up pedestrians to try to get them to buy things. And in exchange, the owners of the booth you're herding nerds toward will make sure that you don't need to pay for anything for the rest of the day. They'll provide food and cover your admission. All you need to do is be friendly and make yourself useful whenever there's boxes to be lifted or money changing hands. Needless to say, it's a pretty sweet gig and a wonderful way to experience a convention. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

"Booth-babe"ing is just something I do for kicks, but several of the business contacts I made at the convention were people who initially struck up conversations with me because of what I was doing. It's much easier to talk to someone wearing a silly costume than someone sitting behind a table, obviously waiting for you to buy something.

I even got to see a friend of mine, a fellow artist, who goes by the alias Split Stitch. She's a seamstress and it shows. She showed up in a costume (Tira from Soulcalibur 3) that was absolutely INCREDIBLE! I was overjoyed to hear that she'd won the costume contest that day, because she definately deserved it!

Here's a few more pictures of convention silliness, including the

difficulties of being a superheroine without the proper training: