over due C2E2 blog

I know I said I'd do this yesterday... but, I didn't.  Here is what happened the whole weekend of C2E2.  It's not exceptionally entertaining but here you go.

Emily and I started off at about 8:00 pm Thurs. and did really good time wise.  The traffic was a piece of cake and we had the audio book "Lord of Chaos" from Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time Saga with us so that helped.  Got to Tom's around 11:20 or so Chicago time.

Headed out to the convention the next day, sorta took a wrong veer and ended up at Target.  Which was okay because we needed some things.  Then magically ended up in just the right parking structure for the show and got to our table hassle free.  The show went really well, artist alley was really packed full of people and it was almost non stop.  Highlight of the show was when a friend brought us home smoked uncut bacon and cookies, including a batch of his peanut butter and bacon cookies.  He actually brought us three parcels of bacon but we're supposed to give the other two to the Petersens and Katie Cook and her husband Ryan.  After the show we had dinner with the Petersens and Mark Smylie of Artesia fame.  The line for the restaurant was too long for our too hungry selves so we decided to try the bar.  It was loud and cramped and busy and we didn't get menus until Julia decided she would bus our table for us and took all the empties up to the bar and gave them to a waitress.  After that it didn't take long to get some notice.  I will say I think there were like two waitresses for the entire area, so I empathized. Getting back to the car was a fiasco, couldn't get to the right floor of the hotel to get to the sky bridge because after 11 you need a room key to get the elevator to work right.  Then I tried putting my self pay parking ticket into the machine at the hotel instead of across the street at where my car was parked.  Okay I know that sounds kinda dumb but, all the machines look alike and all the buildings are connected and no where on the frigging thing does it say "this machine is for hotel parking only" even if it had said "not for cars in lot A" I would've felt less of an idiot.  That wasn't the end of the troubles of trying to get to the car but I don't want to talk about the rest, sooo...

Sat.  was pretty darn the best con day I've had to date.  Got to the convention a little late due to traffic but when I did get there, there was a bit of a line at my table and my con sketch list for the day filled almost immediately.  Which was pretty cool.  Lots of people throughout the day and after picking up books from Tom last night I didn't have to worry at all about running out.  After the show Emily and I had planned to just go back to Tom's and order a pizza and just relax but Tom was over at a friend's birthday party so we met him there and received an awesome home cooked meal. 

Sun. was also really surprising for a Sun. usually I make about a third of what I can on a Fri. but it was about the same as Sat.  I had a nice talk with one of my favorite artists, which made me feel really cool.  Afterward we took a stroll and got some sushi with Gordon and Jennifer of Transylvania TV and Dave and Julia Petersen at a restaurant called Triad, just a few blocks from the convention center.  It was a delicious way to end the show.  We loaded the car up with CPG trades and said farewell to Tom and headed home.

That's about it, hope I didn't bore you too much, heh.  Among the things I had at the show I did have the finished Kickstarter print original there and a couple of the Pook the Tarantula plushies.  I successfully handed over the Kickstarter piece to Tom and he should have been able to get it scanned by now.  I will be able to post some art from it soon.  Here are a couple of the con sketches I managed to remember to take photos of.

The next con I'll be attending is the Comic Geek Speak Supershow in Reading Penn. April 30th and May 1st.  Hope to see you there.

the seagreen man

So it's kinda late for me, but I finally got around to finishing up that print, here you go.  It's 8 and 1/2 inches square, and they will be $10 ea.   See you at the show!

the sea green man

that print that Tom suckered me into doing. part 1

So for those who don't know what I'm talking about when I say "the Kickstarter print", what I mean is a Cursed Pirate Girl print that was made to be an extra bonus for anyone who contributed to the trade of CPG on Kickstarter.com.  This is a print that was not featured as an incentive initially during the run of CPG on Kickstarter.  Tom just thought it would be nice that if we met the goal of 500 backers we should do something extra.  So he commissioned me to do something "really special".  It's been a bunch of months after we first talked about it and... I finished it Mon. around 2:30 am.  I don't have a name yet, but it measures 13 inches tall by 18 and 1/2 inches length wise.  I will not be posting it until later... sorry... heh.  I will post several times on this subject and will show a bit of the process.

I just thought you'd like to know that it is done and when I get back from Chicago this weekend I will be getting back to Cursed Pirate Girl vol. 2 issue 1 "the Bright Star". 

C2E2... dunh dunh duhhhhh...

For those who will be coming out to Chicago this upcoming weekend for the Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo [also known as C2E2], I will be in artist alley at table I-3.  I will be there all weekend except for a signing with Archaia for the Legends of the Guard trade [which I still don't know when that will be] and the occasional bathroom break.  This year I will have tons of trades of CPG vol. 1 as well as buttons, prints, a special guest appearance by a small spikey potato, maybe portfolios, and I want to display the Kickstarter print.  We will see how that goes though, no promises.  I am working on a new print that is taken from said Kickstarter print and will be a little bit smaller than the stained prints.  I am planning on coloring it, so it will be a lot different than the other prints available.  Here is the black and white version though...

The original is from the border of the Kickstarter print, and measures 3 1/8 inches from coral crown to the end of his sea weedy mustache and 3 1/4 inches from sea shell to sea shell.  I will post the colored version later tonight after I finish it.

I will also be opening a commission list for con sketches, there will be 4 spots a day and they are just a measly $75.  So come early, if you can. 

Hope to see you there!  

Tink preview

Hey!  I almost forgot!  Thanks to Katie Cook I found out that Darkhorse has a preview for the Tink one shot book I did some work in on their site.  You can see one of the pages I did for it.  It's the last page in the preview, here check it out.  Heeeheeeheee!  I'm extremely thankful for this reeeeallly cool opportunity.  Thank you so much Felicia for wanting me to contribute to your baby and I don't mean in a procreative/Serpentor sort of way [you know cause they spliced a whole bunch of dead guy dna to create Serpentor, and cause I said contribute... errr... anyway]!  Dark Horse is my favorite publisher!

some me stuff and some more lucky images

I don't really have an agenda as far as what to post for right now.  I'm still on the Kickstarter print, and getting closer to the finish.  Emily suggested I post some stuff about me, soooo here's a couple of things.  I'll put some art at the bottom so if you want you could always just skip all this personal stuff, heh heh. 
I grew up in Ypsilanti MI, famous for the phallus shaped water tower just across from Eastern Michigan University.  Oh and home to Eastern Michigan University.  Some things you might not know about myself:

My mom worked at Katherine's Catering, the catering company that is used by Domino's world headquarters and located inside Domino's world headquarters.  That's Domino's Pizza by the way.  She got to meet a lot of famous people and collected some autographs for me.  I still have [somewhere] an autographed Al Kaline baseball, Tom Monahan owned [if not still owns] the Detroit Tigers baseball team.

additional items about Domino's world headquarters, there's a petting zoo, an antique car museum, a Franklin Lloyd Wright museum, and a secret Noid [you remember- avoid the noid] gift shop not open to the public.  At least that's what was there when I was like 11.

My dad worked for and retired from GM.  A job he did not particularly enjoy but had to endure due to having two sons and a wife to provide for.  He has always said that heaven on earth is making a career out of what you love to do.  I've very much taken those words to heart.

My brother is my best friend and always has been.  Growing up I did not socialize well.  He has always been more responsible than I and more technologicallly advanced. 

I started playing the saxophone in the 5th grade and only stopped after highschool.  By my senior year in highschool I was 1st chair [of two people...] tenor saxophone. 

Oh and I forgot my saxophone when Symphonic Band went to NY on band tour... heh ... heh... errr... I've always been a little freaked out by travel.  I've gotten better about forgetting reeeally important stuff.

I might have mentioned this one before, I apologize if I'm being repetitive about any of these.  My left ear was partially torn off by my dog when I was 17 and regardless of what was stitched back it is not a complete ear. 

I left Ypsilanti almost immediately after I graduated YHS in 96 and went out to the Art Institute of Pittsburgh.  Met some great creative people that I'm glad I can call friends.  I sometimes still have dreams about returning to AIP to take more classes.

I also still have nightmares about showing up for a band concert with a brand new reed and not being able to play.  You know what I'm talking about woodwinds...

So that's some inside info for ya, now here's some artwork.  These pieces are also from "Your Lucky Book".  The elephant piece I was very happy with until I saw it in print.  It was shrunk considerably and you couldn't see all the texture I put into him.  The second piece with the spider and the rabbit had to be split up a little in the book, so for the first time you can see what it was supposed to look like here.