The Big 2007 San Diego Comic Con Wrap-up: One Month Later

What? I've been busy. You try sitting down and writing about that monster of a convention, right after getting back. Okay, you're right, a lot of people did, but they were ether payed to do it, or just out of their damn mind. Even Heidi MacDonald took a breather after the con before writing over 40,000 words on the subject, and and I'm sure she would tell you that it could have taken more.
Anyway we were there, pushing our new comic The Back Lipstick Curse.

Two things: One, I forgot to take pictures while I was there, so I'm going to find ways to substitute them with other things (and there are plenty of photos on line anyway) and two, my hearts really not in this. I love comic con, but it was so big this year, so overwhelming, that I came away with a feeling of isolation, that I believe was shared by many a comic book (and graphic novel) creator. I know that sounds odd, with over 150,000 people in attendance, but with so many other things to compete with, that had nothing to do with comics, and so many people going this way and that, it all kind of started to feel a little meaningless.
Right, let's start with the arrival, where we first got our badges and souvenir books. Great news on that front. All of my students Star Wars 30th anniversary pin-ups made it in. Great job kids.
Then it was on to:

10:30-11:30 From Fan to Creator: Goal-Setting for Creative Types—Which side of the convention table do you want to be on, artist or fan? If it’s artist, what’s keeping you from getting there? If you have an idea in your head that you’ve had trouble bringing into reality, you might benefit from this practical goal-setting workshop. Teacher and leadership trainer Douglas Neff will show you techniques for setting and achieving your most important goals. Whether you want to write your own screenplay, draw your first comic, or shoot your independent film, you’re sure to get something useful from this informative workshop. Room 30CDE

On our way we got to wave hi to our passing friend Pan Noles as she shuffled Neil Gaiman to some unknown event. She came an went so quickly, it made me feel a little sad. Anyway, the room was full. Took a peek in, to see what it was all about, and lost interest very fast. Listening to the man talk, I realized I'm living the goal-setting lifestyle as it is, so it was off to the exhibit hall for us, where our little girl Katelyn met her first celebrity.




As you can see, it was love at first sight. As we rolled wee lass away, she kept turning around for one last look. Damn cute.

Now, where did we stop? In no particular order.

Exhibit A Press:
...where we picked up the Supernatural Law Companion. It's a wonderful little book written by artist and writer Batton Lash's wonderful wife (and SL editor) Jackie Estrada, who was kind enough to note my small contribution to their comic within. Jack also had the presence of mind to take photos.

Then it was on to Eddie Campbell, whom I also didn't get to see for very long, and for the stupidest reason. By the time we got to see him, we weren't sure if we had enough money to stay parked where we we're, and thus cut short our last day at the con. I hate being broke.

Neko Press. Wonderful people. Great art. Took some video of artist and owner Billy Martinez, doing some fantastic live painting. Enlarge the picture to see when his next show is by the way. I did a piece on them, in this blog, which you can read here.
I'd like to thank David Mack for this poster and the copies of Kabuki that he gave to my students at Art Is Our Passion. David, I will not forget your continued kindness toward my students, and your support of their education.
We also go to spend some time with another great comic book painter, Dan Brereton who is going to be coming out with a whole bunch of new stories for his book The Nocturnals. I cant tell you how much I love his work, and I really recommend you pick it up.
Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg where on hand, signing their book The Plain Janes. I think this is a very good book to put into the hands of any young person.
My wife Faith, and baby Katelyn watch as am unidentified ego goes by.
I stop to say hi to one of my fans.
Also stopped and traded coming with the folks at Bleeding Edge, who I'm quite a fan of. Believe it or not, I really like the comic they're putting out, to tell the story of their toys. It's sincere, and unashamed of what it is. A quality sorely laking in a lot of things goth.
We also had the pleasure of meeting up with Dame Darcy, for a nice chat about our upcoming projects. She's a very nice woman with an imagination to match, and I love her work.
Another victim of the parking lot cures were our friends at Penny-Farthing Press, whom I've written about here, and who have just debuted there first animated film, The Lock.

...and that was it, I think. I don't know, I'm sure there was more, but I was beat.

More Star Wars Fan Cartoon News

Well, here are my wonderful students working hard on my Star Wars fan cartoon. They're doing it all on a volunteer basses, using their valuable class time to work on the movie when they could be working on their own stuff, and have (through their own stylings and designs) made the project as much their own as it is mine, so from here on out, I shall refer to it as our cartoon.

For more on the project, we now have our own blog for it, called Star Wars Is Our Passion.






This last shot is of our animation table, where all the stop motion footage is shot. All of the above photos were taken at Art Is Our Passion.

Another Update, Date to the Up, Yo!

Our Star Wars project is coming along quite nicely, (at Art Is Our Passion) where I teach. We've started officially shooting as of two weeks ago, and the students are loving it. So am I for that matter. All involved have exceeded my expectations. Below we see one of them, hard at work, making a stop motion model of a droid of his (2nd place winning in our last art show) design.

It may only look like a Dr. Pepper can, and some wire right now, but soon...
...it will look like this.
Here is a photo of some of the other 2D, stop motion figures, by other students.
I would also, at this time, like to thank Megan Culver of Gencon, for sending us passes (for Star Wars Celebration 4) to raffle off to the the students. As you can see in the next photo, we're very excited about the upcoming event. Oh, and we have our own STAR WARS BLOG now, documenting our work as we go along. Go check it out.
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In other news, interest is steadily growing in my prints, which is making me feel good. Here we can see an order, matted and ready to go out the door.

Top Shelf's Owly @ Art Is Our Passion Art Show

Hello and welcome to the art show.
Oops sorry. Couldn't help but have some fun with that fish eye lens. The photos by Art is Our Passion owner Tom Violand. Anyway the weekend before last we had our biannual art show at Art Is Our Passion, in Agoura Hills, CA where I teach. We've got a lot of very talented students. I'm so proud of all of them, and there endeavors, so this was a great way to show off what they can do. It was also a chance to raise awareness to another art form which is near and dear to my heart... comic books. I would like to send out a very heart felt thanks to Chris Staros of Top Shelf Comics, for sending us 150 free comic book day additions of Owly, for us to put into our gift bags, for the students.
I feel that a lot of these kids art going to be tomorrow's art stars, in not only fine arts, but comic books, and animation.
Owly is a great example for them to see just how a story (with a beginning, middle, and end) can be told visually, and in a format that is safe for the whole family to enjoy.

I'm not sure what the final turnout was for the show, but I'm happy to report that we had 300 people vote for there favorite pieces of art, in 26 categories. Could this be the Sparta of student art shows?
"Who was there?" you ask. Well in this picture (above) we see in the top left, waring a purple shirt, we have (as one of our art teachers) the acclaimed artist and designer David Durand. In the grey shirt, and blue jeans, just a little lower and a little to the right, is Keva. He'll be a big name some day in either art or sports. Only time will tell which. And in the bottom right hand corner is our surprise celebrity appearance, tween star Emma Roberts. Yes, she's Julia Roberts niece.
...and here is only a small sample of the work that was on display. Note the Alex Ross, Superman, charcoal drawing. You'll be hearing more from that kid in the near future, I'm sure.
Above is the best in show winner, in the adult category. It's by 16 year old Meghan Toomayan; a student who is so good that we hired her as a teacher.

...and here is best in show winner for the kids category, Sonia. Sonia is also one of our lead artist in our upcoming Star Wars fan cartoon, which my animation class is working on as we speak.
There's more to come from Art Is Our Passion. Next up will be our movie night, showing the David Mack documentary The Alchemy of Art. Oh, and if you'd like to know more about Free Comic Book Day, play the You Tube video below.

Star Wars and Art Shows

This is just an update on what I've been up to, for this month with teaching. I'd like to share with you the drawings that my animation students have come up with for the San Diego Comic Con 2007 souvenir book. One of the themes, as you can see, it the 30th anniversary of Star Wars. They're also working on a Star Wars fan cartoon, which I'll post more on latter.

Age 11

Age 12

Age 11

Age 11

We're having our student art show this weekend at Art Is Our Passion, where I am a teacher. I'll do a post on that after it's done.

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As I have talked about my goth day's in the last post, I thought this little video good for a chuckle. It's fun, and I feel much love for these people. The only thing I'd make a point to disagree with them on, is that you hear a lot of them talking about how their outer appearance is "who" they are. Come on people; it really is what's on the inside that counts. Gothy clothes are just for fun. *****************************************************************************
Then there's this one, which is just strait out funny to me as Beatles fan, and a horror movie fan. This is exactly the kind of thing my art friends and I liked, back in the day. Not ever taking ourselves seriously, we referred to it as humor. *****************************************************************************
Oh, and here's my pic for the Comic Con book.