Old School memories.

Good afternoon (it feels like morning to me because I was working on a drawing until 5 am- oops)-

So I was digging through my dresser, looking for obviously something to wear, when I stumbled across a T-Shirt I haven't seen in awhile.

(apologies for the kinda bad scan- tees don't scan well and I can't find my camera...)



What's so special about this? Well, this is a Tshirt from the mid 90's, from a museum that used to exist in Northampton, MA called the "Words and Pictures Museum". This was an awesome place, dedicated to preserving and showcasing comic book art and history. Kevin Eastman, one of the co-creators of the Turtles owned it if I remember correctly.

It was a great place. They even had a floor specifically for children, complete with crazy ninja turtle statues hanging from the wall.

Man, I miss that place. It was one of my favorite childhood hangouts right next to the roller skating rink and the movies. It closed down bout the end of the 90's and while it has a website presence now (go check out the "Virtual Tour" under the "Museum History" section and you'll see those Turtle statues I was talking about!) ....nothing new really comes of it. And while there are other museums like the Cartoon Art museum in San Francisco, I haven't found another comic book art museum that had the same charm and magic as Words and Pictures.

Oh, and the drawing itself- if my signature eyes are correct, it's done by none other than Mark Bode. He's a pretty cool cat, I like his urban style thing he's got going on, and Cheech Wizard is kinda cool (although his father Vaughn created THAT character...) minus the sexual things swimming everywhere but eh, what am I saying, I read Heavy Metal for gods's sake.

Anyways. Just thought I'd share that little piece of ancient history with the world.

Spokane Comiccon Can Do!

So, I just came back from another con on my list of cons to go see during the summer...this time it was a comic book con in my hometown- I had went last year too. It's a small con, but it's enjoyable. Probably because it's in my hometown. Something I can be proud about. 5 years ago we NEVER had these sorts of things (or they were silent and nobody really knew about them) in my hometown of Spokane. I'm glad that something like this is finally happening....something to inspire local artists, in particular aspiring comic book artists.

Anyways, hmm, thoughts in retrospect?

- One teensy thing I had to note was a matter of SPACE...there were ALOT more people there this year, and the room was CRAMPED. I mean, I thought Anime Boston was cramped, well...there were more people there, that's for effin sure, but I had space to BREATHE and walk around at least. Ya might...want to fix that next year, if anybody who organizes the con catches this. There was less of the space issue at Gonzaga the previous year, but then again it wasn't as hugely adverted as it was this year either....=/...maybe even consider a downtown space like bigger cons get?

- Mega Man X2 for SNES is FINALLY MINE BUAHAHAHAHAH! Now all I need is X3 (easier said than done- REALLY rare SNES game.) and I will own every single original version of the games...eff yeah...because I love Megaman X and have to collect EVERYTHING related to it. >_>

-I attended the panel on Webcomics (primarily because I'm in the beginning stages of planning to either resurrect or create a new webcomic)- AWESOME JOB. It was a nice calm chat between 4 northwest (some even local) creators of webcomics, that illustrated that webcomics...are broad and diverse critters. =D If I had more money, I would have like, bought all of their stuff...but...*pauses and takes breath*

- I did get to visit Eric again from the webcomic PX! and got to meet Manny as well (who I had missed the previous time :<)- two local Spokane artists- and they're pretty chill guys. Because they're chill guys (chill enough to listen to my mother yammmer about....various things, I'll spare the details *SIGHHHH* >_>), I bought Book Two of their series. I had bought Book One the previous ComicCon.



Seriously. Readers. If you like crazy stories with pandas and British dudes and skating disco hicks and goats and ...just...crazy....GO READ IT ONLINE. NAOW. AND THEN BUY THEIR BOOKS AT J00R LOCAL SHOP OR AMAZON. I'S DEMANDS IT. >D

I was even "cool" enough to get a free sketch of my favorite character Weatherby (Although I tend to think like the girl and call him in my head "Wederby", lol!).

(So obvious Disclaimer: I did not draw this.)



It's gonna chill over my drafting table for awhile. I love receiving art from other artists. In particular when they're free sketches, some people have kindness in their hearts, hell yeah! >D And being surrounded by art...is cool.

Anyways....in conclusion, aside from the cramped space....it was a respectable con. I really hope I can be home next year, because I HOPE to have material to have my own table there. It would be fun to chill in Artist's Alley.

Anyways, I'm off to draw some more- cons always energize me to draw at least SOMETHING. Later!

Yet another RF WIP

Oh, and I forgot to post up the other thing I was working on from Anime Boston (I haven't really touched it since though....durr hurr hurr might want to work on that one soon). In the RP world I have we recently did a "time skip" in "Redux" so you know what that means....time to make new character images for the wiki pages for Keegan and Matt! Again! *slight groan transitions to accepting sigh* =/

(K's player is currently roasting in the Cali deserts at NTC, doing that whole soldier thing he honorably does, so um....he won't get to see whatever work I do for a couple of weeks more....la la la)



I'm also finding Painter to be more sexy than I previously thought it wasn't. OMG. Painter's Gouache and watercolor tools= sexy. =D I'm not sure how much I really feel like working on this more....I need to detail his pants/shade...and then there's the question of the background.

(BACKGROUNDS? I'M LAZZZZZZYYYYYY~ XD)

I have a report on Spokane Comicon I will post up here shortly ~ It was exciting! Yus!

Anime Boston- MISSION COMPLETED, BRAVO ZULU!

So, it was a crazy three days, but Im finally done with Anime Boston.

Frankly, I did find it to be a little of an overwhelming and a little bit exhausting. I did a nice job starting off at one of the bigger anime conventions on the East Coast, lol. There were TONS of people to deal with, talk with, try and socialize with (which I'm not very good at, remember). Not to mention the sudden appearance of.....mood cramps (so to speak) that decided to show up during the con. Meh. Motrin makes EVERYTHING hurt less though.

I did learn a lot about where I perhaps stand in regards to my art. It's not as harsh as where Ringling thinks I am ("You can't draw- be an illustrator without drawing"), but I certainly aint hot cakes like I WISH I was one of these days. I sold a few prints, some Shrinki Dink (shrinkable plastic) knick nacks, and hey, even got my first commission! I wasn't in it for the money though- and thusly I PROBABLY broke even from what I had printed...and then I spent it on Dragonball Japanese manga (to replace some that I had lost in the mail?), A Megaman print (which will be mailed after the con to my house in WA), and an artist's sketchbook who apparently works for Archie on Sonic. Like I said, not really in it for the money. =)

Its a start. I'm fairly pleased considering I just showed up at the con to get the experience and have fun.

Anyways, aside from the art that I showed off in my last post, I made the following printable piece for the last day (it sold a couple of prints- I only printed about 5 anyways)- it was a cartoon of Solid Snake that ORIGINALLY was a Shrinki-Dink with it's own cardboard box and CalorieMate....but I had scanned it prior to selling it and then I put it on 4x6 glossy prints.



The commission that I got during the con was a custom Shrinky Dink piece.....TONS of characters in a montage. That, and I did this in one night because the person wanted it for the end of the con (which I had gotten the commission on Saturday, and Sunday is the last day, duh). It was exhausting, but fun, and I learned a lot from it. And I got to draw the Ninja Turtles, Street Fighter, Mario/Yoshi, and Smoke from MK. Don't get to do THAT everyday. I SHOULD THOUGH! =D

This is the piece in its pre-shrunk form.....which is more useful for showing it off...it's hard when it gets reduced and what not to tell details....



Thanks for the commish!

That's it from Anime Boston. LIke I said, a start. I kinda wish I had a table at Spokane Comicon now, as that was a blast...but I kinda also want more time to just BLAST through my sketchbook and things and draw my arse off to improve my ideas.....

I also did work on one more WIP piece for my own amusement during the con- but that gets it own blog post later.

The next con I'm going to (although NOT Artist's Alley, sorry) is Spokane Comicon on the 30th of May. Gonna go romp around the Alley, maybe see some folk I saw last year....w00t!

Anime Boston Ho!

To all of those who are in the Boston area and are attending Anime Boston: I will be there the weekend in Artist Alley! Come visit me at table 112- I will be there with three of my Ringling school mates Bob, Pachuco, and Jester!

I will be doing sketchcards, sketches, and taking custom commissions and Shrinkydinks for sale (with possibility of custom orders for dinks). I also have three prints of things I did on Tegaki on 5x7 cardstock to sell- along with showing off some Rebel Forces art! Here, take a look~!

Prints for sale- 5x7 cardstock. If you are not attending the con and would like a print feel free to contact me either by email (see my profile for that) send a note on my dA page and I can send you one for the print price + Priority Mail Flat Rate Envelope (2-3 day delivery) if I have any extras or after the con when I get home if I run out of prints.





Rebel Forces Sample Art- I will not have these for sale at the con- they are just samples of my OC art. I might consider shipping out prints of these AFTER the con if interest is high enough.





And again, I will be doing sketch cards/sketches at the con, and custom commissions for after the con- so if you want me to do other stuff, just ya know, ask me! See ya'll there! =D

Zero Colors

Now that summer is here I can draw...whatever the hell I want. yay. So I decided to do the colors for the drawing of Alex (AKA Zero) that I drew last month or so...

.

I did the color on white so if I ever need the figure for a group picture, it's there...but....I kinda like it a bit better against black. For comparision.



Colors for Ryusho (the last of the "main characters" of the "Rebel Forces Redux" universe as I like to call it)? They're coming soon, but I kinda want to redraw Ryusho as he's got anatomy problems- I also need to rescan his picture because I can't find the hi-res versions I had done- I may have scanned the picture on my Ringling account and then erased it?