When I Was Little for Joplin Tornado Relief!

Hi all!

I got wind of this via twitter. I will be donating some books this week to the Joplin Tornado Relief. Please visit he Hurley's Heroes comic shop to read more about it:

Recap: FCBD 2011

Hello this past Saturday was Free Comic Book Day. I was at signing at Dreamland Comics with Art Balthazar and Jeff Balke. A lot of families came out which was awesome and I gave out some free When I Was Little book marks and did some sketch cards for the kiddies.

After the event, I hung out with some of my good friends. We had linner at The Village Tavern where I had something amazing called, The Nachorama....oh yeah good eats:


Aftewards we continued the hangout where we played the new Mortal Kombat for the 360. I. Must. Own. That game is incredibly fun.

After that, I caught a double feature of Thor and Fast Five. Thor was amazing and it grows on you after the fact. The epic scale of Asgard and the humanity of it's characters it is definitely a great summer flick.

Free Comic Book day was a blast. I hope you got some good comics and met some great creators. On to the next: Summit City, June 18

FCBD 2011!

Free Comic Book day is coming and I will be at:

Dreamland Comics
Schaumburg Plaza
1415 W. Schaumburg Rd.
Schaumburg, Illinois 60194

The good folks at Dreamland were nice enough to have me back. Art Baltazar and Jeff Balke will be there. I'll be doing free sketches and they will have free face painting, balloons, and of course COMICS!

Check it out!

Questions, Anwers, and Interviews

Hi all,

On Wednesday April 20th I was delighted to answer questions via Skype with the 2nd graders of Lincoln/McKinley elementary school. A friend of mine works there and heard that the Art and Technology teacher has these Skype meet and greets and were looking for an illustrator. She got in contact with me and we set a date for me to talk to her class.

I was amazed at how much they loved the series. There were a lot of great questions asking me about my background in art and where did the idea for the series come from. They were so inspired that their art project for this year is to create their own When I Was Little pages which they will collect into a book and show to their fellow classmates and parents! How exciting and amazing is that?! I will be keeping in touch with Ms. Punke and her 2nd Grade class' progress on their own When I Was Little.


In other news, I was interviewed for ESCapism at c2e2 about my career in art and my children's books. They wrote up a very nice piece and posted the video interview just recently. So click on the image to check it out!

Persevere

per·se·vere: to persist in anything undertaken; maintain a purpose in spite of difficulty, obstacles, or discouragement; continue steadfastly.

I was inspired by the SkottieScott art blog to do my own piece to help in the aid of the Japanese tsunami/earthquake. So I am offering up this 5x17 Bristol piece of one of my favorite cartoons, Samurai Jack. Here's a character/show that exemplifies qualities to continue on, have faith, and believe in one's own inner strength.

I'm selling this one at $65 +$10 for shipping. All proceeds will go to Red Cross to help Japan and not only that but I will match the money so Red Cross will be getting a cool $150 and you get a great piece of art!

So for a chance to get your hands on this, E-mail Me! Put in the subject: persevere

Post c2e2

Hello all,

I've been away from the desk a bit after the dust has settled from what was a terrific start to the convention season for me.

The show was bigger and better in every way in terms of Artist Alley, vendors, guests, panels, and layout of the show floor.


I wish I could haven taken more advantage of that but in a good way, I was at my table for most of the show. I shared my table this year with Mike Roll, whom I went to Detroit Fanfare with last year. We plan on going to SPX and plans are in the works of returning to Fanfare in September!


Sitting on my left side I met the great Cary Kelley, author of Fallen Justice and the DynaGirl web comic. This guy was my savior when it came to odd sketch requests. He busted out his ipad with me and talked good ole' Austin Texas BBQ with Nicole. He is probably THE nicest table neighbor I have ever had at a con. The man knows EVERYTHING about EVERY CHARACTER in the comic book universe.

Friday night Nic and I had dinner with some new friends I met last year at Mid Ohio Con. We went to Jerry's Sandwiches. Where I had the best burger ever, the Crab Cake Burger.



Saturday day was busy day. It was also family and friends day as some came out to support me. I also re-met a few people who contributed to When You Were Little and stopped by my table to check out the book. It was great reconnecting with them and having a few moments admist my busy sketch-dule (hehe) for the day.





Sunday was kid's day and also Nicole was attending my niece's baptism so I was on my own. It was a bit nerve racking trying to take sketch requests, handle book sales, and draw at the same time but Cary and Mike were real helpful in watching my table during bathroom breaks. A lot of kids and parents responded to the new prints...it seems the Green Lantern from last year and the Captain America and Catwoman were the cutest of the bunch.

c2e2 was quite the experience and I look forward to the how the rest of the convention season turns out. Keep an eye on the blog, twitter, and facebook, as I'll eventually be adding more show dates and book festivals as they come to me.

Thanks all for the support and please stay tuned for what's in store in the When I Was Little series!

Here's some select sketches from c2e2 that I thought you'd enjoy:

c2e2 2011

Just a reminder that I'll be at the c2e2 convention this weekend at Chicago's McCormick Place. I'll be sharing a table with Mike Roll in Artist Alley, table i5. Come check us out! Here's another look at some of the new prints I'll have for the show.