Post: SPX 2011

Hello,

 This past Saturday/Sunday in Behtesda, MD.  I was part of the SPX 2011 show at the North Marriott Hotel & Conference Center.  I was joined by the Joe Foo, Mike Roll, and Kelly Tierney.  This was my first time attending and I was quite impressed with the turn out.  Saturday was a non-stop crowd and it was quite over whelming at first but eventually I was able to adapt to it and being able to talk about my books to interested on-lookers.  I really got a lot of one on one interaction with people interested in the series, even though the size of the show was quite large.  I had a great time and a lot of coloring books were picked up so THANK YOU!

 I didn't sketch as much as I usually do at conventions but this being a big independent show, a lot of people were really into buying books.  I was also one of them.  It was definitely a show where you could spend a lot of money and everything was great.  I really love indie books and this was THE indie book show.

I think I would attend this show again.  I would need to work on a few new things and maybe invest in an easy to assemble sign.  I already have a big foam board sign that I've used in the past but it would have been hard to fly with. 

The best thing too was Nic and I were able to schedule a vacation around the show which we'll talk about in-depth (maybe) on our blog.

Next up for me is the Iowa Story City Festival.  

To here all about the great stuff I picked up at SPX, click here!

 

Fall Con Season starts with SPX

Hello! I took a break from conventions this month to pick up some side work and catch up on my commission list. I decided not to attend some August shows as I have booked some pretty big ones in September and October. Working most of the summer getting Coloring finished and the big shows in Louisville and Fort Wayne, I needed the break.

With that being said, break's over! We are gearing up in September with my first big show of the fall, SPX! Which will mark the first time I'm flying to attend a con. Nic and I are super excited.


I will be joining Joe Foo, Mike Roll, Kelly Tierney and the Draw Sucka Draw crew! My cousin also lives out there so we turned it into mini "workcation" where we can spend some time with him before and after the show.

Here's the show info:

A small hiatus and plans for the future...

With the completion of the fourth book, Coloring When I Was Little, as per usual I started thinking about what is next for WIWL.

I know I had mentioned in a prior post about wanting to end the series. That hasn't changed but with the positive response from the coloring book, I think I can find a newer and even more fantastic way to evolve the series so that it can still continue w/o reusing the same formula of the first three books.

So that being said, I have two big When I Was Little projects to go out with a bang. One of which I laid out on the ride home from Derby City Comic Con. From there I will make the transition into a different outlet to tell the stories.

I have some other book ideas that I have put on the back burner for quite awhile so I could focus on finishing this coloring book. Now that it is out of the way I want to go back and finish them. I will be taking a tiny hiatus from When I Was Little in order to complete these other book ideas.

Don't worry it won't be too long of a hiatus as I will still be doing 8x10 prints, Signature Prints, and promoting Coloring throughout the rest of the con season and book events I have planned.

I hope to come back next year with two new When I Was Little projects for you. So stay tuned!

' Til next time kids!

Post: Derby City Comic Con

Two weeks ago I attended the 1st annual Derby City Comic Con in Louisville, Kentucky. This was a great convention! I had the pleasure of getting to know Eric Banister, found of the Derby City Comic Con, over the last couple of months. It was a well put together show. His passion for comics really came through as his show brought out the crowds of all ages.


It was cool to see the poster I had done for him as one of the banners for the show. I had a great table location next to my good friends of Mutant Cactus and the always hilarious Victor Dandridge of Vantage:Inhouse Productions.

The crowd was great and met some really nice people. So nice that I hardly stepped away from the table. I was so busy talking to the crowd about When I Was Little and doing sketches for I didn't get a chance to walk around as much as I would have liked.

It was okay though because Eric had set up an auction that was happening right where my table was and Nicole was able to snag a limited leather bound edition o f Jim McCann & Janet K. Lee's The Return of the Dapper Men.

All in all it was a fantastic convention and I got to meet with some great people including Punch-Up's Frank Cvetkovic and Dustin Carson, writer of No Gods.
I look forward to next year's Derby City Comic Con which I know Eric's already planning. After the convention, Nic and I spent a few days in Louisville and Frankfort area for a mini-vacation which was amazing. More on that later...

I ran... to Derby City

A couple months back I got an email from Eric Banister who said he was putting a comic convention together in Louisville, KY.

He really like my worked and wanted me to do some promotional material for the show to put in libraries and local comic shops around the area.

I showed him two concepts that he both really loved. This one ended up being the poster which captured the "kids about comics" theme he was going for and the other concept was of The Flash racing a Derby Horse.

It turns out that he was a huge fan of The Flash which ultimately lead me to doing this new 8x10 that I wanted to debut for this show.

I had a great time making it and I hope a lot of you Flash fans out there dig it, Eric included.


I ran... by ~happyfestivus on deviantART

Post: Comic Book Mania!

This past Saturday was the Comic Book Mania Convention at the Gail Borden Library out in Elgin, IL.


The convention was such fun and today I had to ride solo with Nic being on a family weekend. I really liked the library back drop. It was such a comfortable atmosphere and the flow of people coming in was steady. I did not expect the huge turn out of kids and the Yu-Gi-Oh and Magic Tournaments. It was cool to see the amount of participation with the young crowd. It got me thinking of getting into card collecting....and I've already got an idea planned.

The sketch requests were kind of light but it was surely a button crowd. The kids responded well to the When I Was Little button sets.


I met with Bob Cassinelli, who organized the event, and we discussed a possibility to get together for a future event.

All in all it was such a great time and definitely one for the kids. I look forward to more!

Afterwards my brother, Serena, and I took in some dinner and saw the film, Horrible Bosses. It was hilarious.



Up next: Derby City Comic Con!

When 2nd Graders Were Little!

Remember when I blogged about skyping with the Lincon Elementary Second Graders?


Well they really enjoyed the Q&A that they hit me up with a very special surprise. There art project for the year was to create their own When I Was Little page. They collected all of them in a book and gave it to me at the end of their school year! How cool is that? There's some amazing pages in here and I took a few snap shots for your enjoyment.