Chicago Book Expo 2014

My last show of the year will be this Saturday at Columbia College. The third annual Chicago Book Expo will be December 6, from 11am - 5pm at Columbia College Chicago, 1104 S. Wasbash. The event is free and open to the public. Come on down and get in on this great literary event!

The "SUNDAY AFTER ALL THE SALES" Sale!

This Sunday, November 30th, use the code: SUNDAYSALE to receive 25% off your entire order!

Click on the banner to head to my store.

Reading Rainbow

Last summer Levar Burton and Reading Rainbow broke records with their kickstarter. One of the rewards they announced was a calendar inspired by the theme, "Go Anywhere, Be Anything." They had a contest to submit a piece of artwork to be included as one of the 12 months that features artists such as Chris Eliopoulos (Ordinary People Change the World, Katie Cook, (My Little Pony, and Penny Aracde.

Last weekend they announced the winners and although I wasn't one of the artists to win their very own month, they were so impressed with the artwork I submitted that they selected it as one of their nine honorable mention entries to be featured on the back cover of the calendar!

So I wanted to give you all a closer look at my contribution:

Geek Galaxy Con 2014

The first ever Geek Galaxy Con is this weekend November 15-16! I'll be at table 8! I'll also be recording an episode of Sequential Spirits with Tressina Bowling and Justin Stewart. It should be a good show so tune in for that. Click the links for more info!

Wizard World Ohio Con 2014

I will be attending the Wizard World Ohio show this Halloween weekend in Columbus, Ohio!

My table number for artist alley is B26. If you come by on Friday (Oct.31st)  I'll be handing out free Halloween themed  #HEARTcards. And on Saturday I will be doing an #ArtDrop or two so follow @whenuwerelittle via twitter or instagram for clues!

Southland Author Fair 2014

I was asked to participate in the Southland Author Fair at the Orland Park Public Library Saturday October 11, from 10am-1pm. We will be in the main lobby of the library talking about the art of comics. I will have several copies of  comics I have worked on including HEART and my newest project with Victor Dandridge, WONDER CARE PRESENTS: THE KINDER GUARDIANS. Hope to see you all there!

Post: Aw Yeah Sketches for The Hero Initiative

This past Saturday, I was invited by Aw Yeah Comics to sketch for donations to the Hero Initiative.  I accompanied Randy Field, Ben Hunzeker, and Kurt Wood and we sketched from 11am - 2pm but we all stayed over a little extra because it was so much fun!

Here are some of the pieces I did that day all in the name of Jack "The King" Kirby:

#Kirby4Heroes

Post: Wizard World Chicago Art Drop

This past Saturday, I attended Wizard World Chicago. I was not only there for the release of Wonder Care presents: The Kinder Guardians #1, but I wanted to do an art drop experiment for the show.

An art drop is where you go to random locations and hide a piece of art in a specific area and give clues on your social media feed (Instagram, Twitter, or both) so that people who follow you can find it.

Since I was only going to be at the convention for the one day I thought it'd be fun to leave a little something, something for the hundreds of attendees. It also gave me something to do at the show besides walking around and spending money. 

I had Miker with me and we got to the show around 10:30 am. We must have walked the entire show floor a dozen times. 

I tried to leave the drawings in places that would have a constant flow of people such as information booths, eateries, and rest areas. 

About lunch time, I hit a snag with the clue portion as I wasn't able to upload my photo clues to Instagram and Twitter. It was quite frustrating not being able to tell my followers where I've hidden my #carsBOREDsketches. There was no Wi-Fi and the cell service was terrible.

I stopped by Victor's table for our Wonder Care signing at 1pm. It went excellent and I hid an art drop in one of the issues which my cousins ended up finding.

photo credit: @eliza_bacani on Instagram

Being fed up with the terrible cell service. I decided not to worry about uploading the clues until I was able. Miker and I took a break for lunch and I shut my phone off. After recharging my battery...and my phone, I tried again. 

Success! The clues were able to upload and I was able to post the photos of where I placed the last four sketches. I also left one at our table.

Getting my second wind the next art drop was the most fun. For my Winter Soldier sketch, I found a cos-player donning the look of Winter Soldier / Bucky Barnes. The best part was he had one of those giant convention bags,which after a few attempts, I was able to drop the sketch into. It was really exciting!

Now, the very last art drop I did wasn't technically an art drop. Back at the Wonder Care signing Victor said I should give the Merle Dixon sketch to Michael Rooker...ya know for fun.

So I did. I dropped that sketch right into his hands. He was super cool about it and even busted my chops with a critique saying, "Why do I look bald, man?!" He said he dug the piece and we snapped this photo:

Hope you enjoyed this recap of my day of sharing. I know of at least 4 of the pieces that were claimed so if you found one, please let me know via @whenuwerelittle and #wwchicagoartdrop. I definitely had a lot of fun doing it. It was a nice warm up to September 2nd...

Wizard World Chicago Wonder Care Signing & Art Drop

Now I don't actually have a table for Wizard World Chicago this weekend, but I will be attending Saturday, August 23rd! I will be walking the show floor and will be signing at Victor Dandridge's table, B31 for our new book, Wonder Care Presents: The Kinder Guardians around 1pm!

... and as a bonus, while I'm visiting with friends, I will be doing 10 Art Drops, randomly hiding art all over the convention floor. Hope you find one!

Post: TMNT Day

The TMNT Day at the Hollywood Palms went over pretty great. Kids and adults were sporting their TMNT gear and were really excited for the new movie. They had a ton of activities to take part in like ninja star throwing and face painting. I sold a few of everything: books, prints, and sketch cards. Some of the sketch cards I put up at my online store and the prints I will be taking with me for my fall shows. It was shell-tastic time. (yeah i went there)

ALS Ice Bucket Challege

Joe Foo's Desmond nominated Thump and LB for the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. I nominate Trevor Mueller and Gabrial Bautista's Albert The Alien, Tressina Bowling's Dracullama, and Joe Dunn's Joe Loves Crappy Movies.

I will be selling this art work for $150 and 100% of the proceeds will be going to http://www.alsa.org/, if interested, please email me at wheniwaslittle@gmail.com

TMNT Day August 9th @ Hollywoold Palms!

I will be at the Hollywood Palms cinema for their TMNT Day to celebrate the release of the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie which is out this Friday.

The event will take place Saturday August 9th from 11am-4pm and there will be all kind of activities to partake in, even a free showing of the classic 1990 film!

I will have prints and books to sell as well as sketch cards of your favorite heroes in a half shell. Hope to see you down there. Cowabunga dudes!

Post: Comic Book Mania 2014

This past weekend I was at the Gail Borden Library in Elgin, IL for Comic Book Mania. It was the fifth year of this show and the attendance just keeps on growing. A lot of great comic creators showed up including Art Baltazar, Serena Guerra, and Hilary Barta. They had face painting for kids and writer pal, Russell Lissau, and I did a panel for kids on Making Comics. It was a fun comic show and it's always a great time chatting with kids about comics. See you next year!

 

Post: Kids Read Comics 2014

And we're back from Kids Read Comics! I had such a great time at this year's show.

Mike and I had a fantastic turn out for our Quick Draw, which was actually at the Ann Arbor Arts Center a block or two down from the libary.

Foo and I even got to shoot some videos for Camp Pencil Point with the creative team behind Scratch 9! (Rob Worley & Joshua Buchanan)

Thanks to Jerzy, Dan Mishkin, and the entire AADL crew for putting on another fantastic show.

photo taken by Edith Donnell

Kids Read Comics 2014!

Hi everyone!

Sorry for the long delay between posts but I have been super busy with amazing fun stuff in the works. More on that in a future post.

I just wanted to let you know that my convention season rolls along this weekend with the Kids Read Comics show at the Ann Arbor District Library in Ann Arbor, MI! Click on the banner for more information:

Noon – 6:00 pm
Artist Alley (Saturday & Sunday)
Artist Alley features over 50 working artists and writers from the worlds of print and web comics, animation, book publishing, and videogames who’ll be displaying their work. They will have material for sale and the occasional free giveaway. They’ll also be happy to talk comics with young and old alike!
1st Floor – All Ages

I will also be doing a Quick Draw with my good friend and artist of the Apooka book series, Mike Roll:

Quick Draw! (Saturday 2:00 pm – 2:30 pm)
More wacky and wonderful improvisational drawing as YOU put a couple of quick-thinking cartoonist on the spot. Brought to you with smarts and sass by Justin Castaneda and Mike Roll!
Ann Arbor Art Center (117 West Liberty Street) – All Ages

FCBD 2014!

I will be at two locations on Free Comic Book Day this weekend! The stores and hours are below:

Dreamland Comics (11am-2pm)
1415 W Schaumburg Rd, Schaumburg, IL 60194
(847) 524-6060



AW YEAH COMICS (3pm-?)
4933 Oakton St, Skokie, IL 60077
(847) 423-2916





I will be doing FREE #cardBORED sketches
and signing copies of Scratch 9 FCBD book!
In anticipation of awesomeness 
here is a preview page from this Saturday's release:

c2e2 2014!

I will be at the c2e2 Convention this weekend, here is my schedule:

Artist Alley Table: V15

SATURDAY -

Free sketches in Kid Zone @ 1pm
Artist Alley Stage @ 4pm

SUNDAY -

Drawing Workshop @ 1pm

Hope to see you this weekend, and I'll be bringing my #cardBOREDsketch box. Come get some!

Aw Yeah Comics! #7

Extremely humbled and proud to have a story in the latest issue of Aw Yeah Comics with Trevor Mueller. A big thanks to Art and Franco for letting me play in this wonderful world of characters they created!

Hard Time now available!

If you are going to  c2e2 this weekend, I will have copies of this AND Downtime at my table, v15!

Hard Time featuring the continuing adventures of Dev Bivens, AKA The Devastor is featured in Omega Comics Presents Vol 2. #3 from Pop! Goes The Icon.

The new short, written by Russell Lissau and illustrated by yours truly is now available here (GO GET IT):

http://www.popgoestheicon.com/product/omega-comics-presents-vol-2-3/

Read My Heart and St. Louis Comic Con

I had the honor of reading HEART to two classes at Holy Cross Lutheran School and Church. It was a fantastic time and the kids were so well behaved. I look forward to doing more school readings in the future.

Also I was down in St. Louis for the Wizard World show and I had an absolute blast their as well. The cardBORED box went over well and Nicole and I geeked out over meeting half the cast of Firefly/Serenity.
You can find me at c2e2 at the end of this month as convention season rolls right along for me.