Recap: 57th St. Children's Book Fair 2010

It was a bit chilly on Sunday but people still came out to attend the 57th St. Children's Book Fair. It was my first time attending so I was a bit nervous on what to expect. I heard someone say it was one of Hyde Park's biggest events and it did show. They had a nice balloon archway to greet you and stage performers and a parade to kick things off.

My brother and his family came down to see me. My niece is super cute and she was dancing to the music they had playing at the festival. Also my coworker came down with one of her friends to see me and they told me how amazing the 57th St. Books was.

As an exhibitor at the event I'd have to say it was a bit underwhelming. The key reason being location, location, and location. The entire event was a stretch along 57th St. and Kimbark Ave. and if you looked at it from above it was kind of a reverse L shape. I was one of the last tables on the end, a bit further from where the main intersection and balloon archway. 57th St. Books being at the central tip obviously drew the most traffic.


Being where my table was, I missed a majority of the people coming in and got a lot of people coming on there way out who have already purchased for the day.

I still made a good chunk of change just a little less than I'm used to. It was a good experience and I was able to talk to some fellow exhibitors and the locals about my books. With the amount of kids that showed up and it being a book fair, I was expecting to connect with the audience instantly. It was not the case, and it seems the comic-con crowd is really where I fit. It doesn't hurt to reach out to a different market. Hopefully with all the business cards and mini one-on-ones I did, I'll see a spike in online orders.


After the fair, Nicole and I checked out that 57th St. Books and it was an impressive book store. There are about five rooms filled wall to wall with books. It was like a cave with each room descending further and further back. If you are ever in the Hyde Park area, you should certainly check out that store. It was hard to walk away and not buy anything. Our post fair dinner was at Giordano's and we ended the night with a trip to Family Video. It was quite the Sunday.

Until the next show!

Special items for 57th St. Book Fair

Hi all!

Just a quick reminder that I will be attending the 57th St. Book Fair this Sunday (please weather, keep the rain away!) and I have some special items that I will be sellin' at the show.

I was informed that the theme for this year's fair is Mystery and Science: What Will You Discover at the 57th Street Book Fair? So I decided to do a special print based on that. I'll be selling these limited exclusive prints for 10 dollars a piece OR free with any book purchase.


57th Street Book Fair Print by ~happyfestivus on deviantART

Also my wonderful girlfriend had the idea to design some bookmarks I can sketch on the back of. So come on down and pick up one of these $2 dollar sketchmarks and you'll get a free doodle done by me!



Once again, here is the link to the fair: http://www.57cbf.org/

The 57th St. Children's Book Fair

Just a reminder:


Click on the poster for more info!

I'll be attending this year!

Buttons!

My good friends over at Mutant Cactus were kind enough to make some When I Was Little themed buttons which I will be debuting at the 57th St. Book Fair this coming September.



And please if you haven't yet, go check out Mutant Cactus, they have some great stuff for sale and even have their own web comic, Blue Collar Invasion!

Thanks MC!

Process: Green Lantern Print

Hello all. It's been a while.

I finished a new print that I'll be having for the Mid-Ohio-Con this November. I've been doing these special When I Was Little limited prints this year for my 2010 con tour. I thought it'd be a cute way to put my own personal spin on well known comic characters and incorporating the idea of my children's book. The response to them have been great.

I have two new ones I want to do for the end of the year which I'll be selling well into my 2011 con tour. One of them is Green Lantern and the other I'm working on is Bat-Girl.

I thought I'd share you my process. I've seen other artist do this and found it interesting to see the layers that go into a finished piece. Here's my take on it.

Whatdya guys think? Click for big!



Starting with top left: rough, inks, flats, shades, highlights, glows, and the Final.

Save the date! On a side note, don't forget I'll be at the 57th St. Book Fair this year on September the 19th. I'll be selling my books and other goodies too (more details to come).

57th Street Book Fair deets

Hello all,

I hope everyone had a good 4th of July! I just came back from vacation yesterday and I'm ready to get into things again. Here are the details on the book fair I will be attending in September.

57th Street Children's Book Fair
Sunday, September 19th
Hyde Park, Chicago
www.57cbf.org

Hope to see you there!

Character Design and updates on books to come.

I've been on an art funk and I'm slowly coming out of it. Did a bit of character designing for a new story idea I've been tinkering with. These designs are for a main character I had in mind, a little girl with a giant treasure chest on her back that she wears like a back pack. Now, this isn't the new book I've been tweeting about. That book is written and I've been doing some art style tests and character designs for that as well. That goes into production July/August and I hope to fish it around some publishers. Wish me luck! Anyhoo here are some concepts I've been playing with:

Here's some concepts for a story in the works...WAY in the works. It's fun to play.




P.S. - New blog header! YAY!