Emerald City Comic-Con 2011 Wrap-Up

A huge thanks to everybody who swung by Seattle this weekend and say to me and Damon as we headed up our first ever individual table over in Artist Alley!!

The weekend was a huge success; met many new fans, met up with old friends, and hung out with some wonderfully talented artists!

Friday Damon and I got interviewed for an awesome podcast called Air Raid, and talked about working in the industry and how we met. Go check out the podcast here!

http://air-raid.net/podcast.php?podcast_id=64

That evening, we got to go hang out with the ifanboy people and Molly McIsaac and do some live painting with some really great artists. Damon and I got to work on a painting side by side (and with!!!) Camilla D'Errico, Scott C and Jim Mahfood. The paintings were later auctioned off for charity Saturday night.

Painting by me, Damon and Jim Mahfood!

Saturday and Sunday, we got to meet and hang out with other artists at the con. There were a bunch of Girls Drawin Girls ladies around the exhibit hall, including Laurie B, Brittney Lee, Liana Hee, Megan Levens, and Amy Mebberson.

Brittney, Me and Liana; some AMAZINGLY talented ladies!

More awesome artists who I got to run into and who you should TOTALLY check out their works are Echo Chernik, Alberto Ruiz, Drake Brodahl, Dean Trippe, Kevin Dart, and too many more to mention!

Chillin' with Scott C and Jim Mahfood

I have two remaining necklaces for sale, and a few sketchbooks and prints that I'll put be putting up on my Etsy store, so if you missed out, don't worry- there's still a few goodies left!

Here are a few commissions and sketch cards I did for folks!

All in all, a great time was had by all, and Damon and I are already signed up for ECCC 2012! 

Also, a HUGE thanks out to Jim Demonakos of Kirby Krackle for his amazing hospitality and for running an amazing show!!!

Impressions of NYCC

Here are a few drawings from New York Comic-Con this past weekend!

First night in NYC!

Since NYCC was paired with Anime Fest, we saw lots of Anime-type things. Including Harajuku inspired Lolita dogs outside. Yup. You heard me.

On Saturday, Paigey and her friend Fenny dressed up as Vegas showgirls to booth babe it up. It was a day of "PAIGEY'S BOOBS, oh, and girls drawin girls." HA! I'm a straight lady, and even I couldn't take my eyes off that rack! ; D

clockwise: Maria Danalakis, Erica Hesse, Paigey!, Melody Severns and Me

I drew things on Sunday, but I drew them on little art cards, and they sold right away, so I have no proof of them. But I did draw a few things! : D

ALSO, I have to give an awesome shout-out to all the amazing new and old artists I met and discovered this past weekend:

Echo Chernik, an amazingly talented artist from Florida who makes beautiful art nouveau inspired girls
Devin Clark, co-creator of Ugly Americans
Dan Goodsell of Mr Toast (who I already know, but had the pleasure of being next to at the GDG booth!)
Kirby Krackle, of the same music video Damon and I worked on
John Lustig of the hilarious Last Kiss comics
Ben Templesmith of 30 days of night fame
My Plastic Heart, where I'll be part of a group shows, "Ladies Night" in NYC in December

Go check out these amazing people! DO IT! NOW!

Comic-Con Inspired by: Girls Drawin' Girls

Tonight's sexy valkyrie piece is inspired by the lovely ladies over at Girls Drawin' Girls. These kick-ass girls are a collection of artists and animators who get together to throw shows, make books, and sell their art featuring sexy, cute and sometimes naughty pin-ups.

They were down at Comic-Con selling their latest book, "Girls Drawin' Girls Volume 2: Once Upon a Girl," as well as showcasing a variety of different member's art, prints, books, and buttons.

I recommend checking out their site and checking out any one of their fabulous artist's links/blogs- these are some seriously talented gals!!

Girls Drawin' Girls

some GDG girls worth checking out!

Anne
Jennie
Steph
Anand

Illustration Friday: "Canned"

So, this is a two for one post; one being an Illustration Friday entry for "Canned," and the other continuing my series on highlighting/ being inspired by different artists I met during the San Diego Comic-Con this past weekend.

This piece was inspired by a really cool artist by the name of Josh Frankel, and his series of "wordless natural history comics." This illustration is based off the one called "Seafood," which tells the story of the life of a tuna, and how it gets from being a wild predator of the sea into the small can of processed fish you see on your supermarket shelf.

Josh brings a fantastic awareness of ocean conservation and awareness to his art, something that I hope to bring to my own art one day. The style of both his art and narrative of his work is really striking, and I highly recommend checking out his books and website. That, and he's a super nice guy to meet and talk to : D

Josh Frankel

Trilobite
Seafood
Twilight of the Sea Cow
and Water Column, which isn't for sale on his site yet, but is beautiful in it's abstract microscopic look at plankton (with a great surprise ending!)


Also, remember to eat responsibly when you eat seafood!

Comic-Con Inspired by: Mike Mignola

So, I'm going to try and do my next few drawings inspired by some of the amazing artists I got to meet and see down at the San Diego Comic-Con.

This piece is totally inspired by the art of Mike Mignola, the creator of Hellboy. I was so excited to get the chance to meet him at the con; it was totally by luck that I happened by his table, and there weren't any crowds, so I went up and got to talk to him and get him to sign one of his sketchbooks for me! (eeee!) I love his blocky graphic style, his strong contrast/silhouettes, and especially the way he draws monsters and skulls. (not to mention I just love the characters/storylines in Hellboy, which I'm busy catching up reading now- such an amazing series!!).



Also, apparently Titmouse (where I worked on Metalocalypse S1) animated his one-shot comic a few years ago, The Amazing Screw-On Head, which was a really cool looking animated short.

Anyway, if you haven't, you should check out his work; I enjoy both the movies and comics, but I realize they're two separate creative visions from two immensely talented men (the movies are definitely more Del Toro's direction, vs. the books which are all Mignola)

Sunday, July 27th, 2008

Back from Comic-Con 2008!!!

Wow, what a great time! The best comic-con yet! I got to run into so many old friends, new friends, see so much inspiring art, costumes, craziness and artists, and just take in the whole energy and excitement of the entire weekend.

I got to sit on a unicorn, see Triumph the insult comic dog interview Wolverine, meet Mike Mignola, get my new exclusive SDCC 08 My Little Pony, go out partying with all my wonderful friends, and meet so so many new incredibly talented artists and get the chance in person to thank a lot of inspiring people and artists. Not to mention stock up on lots of books, freebies, and TONS of photos.

A HUGE thank you to all the amazing artists I got to meet and talk to- I'm going to try and go through all my cards and emails and catch up this week once I recover a bit more. I also want to post and link to artists i got to meet here on my blog and share some of these talented folk with everybody else in the week to come!

Saturday, July 26, 2008

"Breakfast with the Bush"

So, this morning at breakfast in the gaslight district, Damon and I were watching all sorts of costumed folk making their way down to the convention center, when all of a sudden we see this man in full sniper/jungle camouflage gear walk up across the street and into the pub where we're sitting outside having breakfast.

We're trying to figure out what character he could possibly be, when he comes back out and grabs a seat next to us, so we start talking- and we find out he's actually a real-life navy seal who had to walk around the con in full recon garb to pass out cards (which I can't say he was super thrilled about- it also looked like it was 100 degrees under all that burlap!!). He was such an interesting guy- he majored in photography, and now does recon photos for the navy of "things that never happened in places that don't exist," and overall, really great person to talk to.

He kept referring himself as "the bush," since he did look like a large walking shrubbery, and he told this hilarious story of how he scared the bejesus out of some people at the Comic-con by mistake when he blended in next to a potted palm tree then got up to move.

Anyway, if you're out there, this one's for you, bush!

Two for one!

Just some quick sketches for tonight; there's the "whoo hoo Comic-Con!" one and the other one was inspired by a happy Rogue Wave song. Guess which is which?

Enjoy!! : D