Comix and Stories 2011: A Sorta Belated Follow-Up

Well, Comix and Stories has come and gone. I have been a little busy getting more stuff together for the next con but I thought I'd take some time to divulge a little on last Sunday's show.

Firstly, I wanna give a huge thank you to everyone who came down to the Heritage Hall on Sunday. While the attendance might have been a bit...sluggish (hey, it was a gorgeously hot summer day out after all), I still feel pretty fortunate enough to have had plenty of people buy my stuff, check out my portfolio and even just give my table a browse through. You folks are awesome.

It also always serves as a wonderful opportunity to meet new friends and get input from fellow comicking peers. A special thanks goes out to Albert Art for being an awesome table buddy and providing lots of Gummy Bears. Oh man, did those Gummy Bears get us through those droughts of hunger and the slight zombie-like delirium that comes with being at your table for a few hours inside a balmy building. And a shout out to Julie for being a sweetheart with mad business skills!

Note to self: next time bring a hand held fan and don't forget to bring your giant water bottle. Trust me, I was longing for it by the end of the day.

Overall, I'm still pretty happy with how Comix and Stories went this year. :-)

One con down, two more to go!

Comix and Stories 2011

Remember those not-so-oblique references to a cluster of conventions I made in my last journal (that was a month ago)?

Well, here's the first one out of three conventions I'll be hitting up this late August/September.

Once again, I'll be appearing at Comix and Stories; a day long celebration of all things indie and small press be it comics, cartoons, animation, zines, artwork and culture. It's going to be held at the Heritage Hall in Vancouver, British Columbia this Sunday (August 28). Admission is $4 per person and it goes from 11 AM until 5 PM.

Not only will I have all my prints (including my most recent "Oh, Usa"), original sketch cards, greeting cards and mini comics on my table for sale, I'll also be offering everyone a sneak peek of a few character designs I've whipped up for my upcoming book...character designs that haven't even been posted online! Not even on here! (Ooooh!) Of course, my portfolio will still be there for you all to browse through and I may just whip up a new sketch card or two on site. Perhaps I may even sketch out an oh-so-creepy "Silent Hill" nurse if I have the time.

As always, don't hesitate to drop by my table to give me a shout. ;-)

For more information on the show and all the especially awesome and talented creators involved, visit the main convention site here.

Then again, you could always scroll down a bit and take a look at the spiffy flyer just below all this info.

Seriously though, I loved doing Comix and Stories last year (hard to believe it was that long ago) and I can't wait to do it again this year! :-D

Hope to see you there.

Hallmark? More Like "Hellmark"

Guess what I'm planning to do with this image. ;-P

Anyways, my mixed medial kick marches on with this little experimental foray into semi-collage work. When you can't find gift wrap paper with the right patterns you want then cut/tear/rip apart gift bags that do.

Oh, Usa

DISCLAIMER: Usa belongs to me, baby.

Another addition to the list of "subject matter I'm not totally done with playing around with and drawing yet": bunnies.

Well, okay, I technically drew this piece about a month or two ago but I only recently decided to recolor the backdrop so the black looks more stark and solid.

For those of you who have been following me on DeviantART and/or Twitter, remember my little offhand mentions about an upcoming book? Yeah, you're looking at the drawing that kick-started this idea. It all stemmed from my attempt to draw something "bubble goth-esque" but it ended up turning into something a little more Harajuku raver than I had anticipated (must have been due to the music I was listening to at the time).

Before deciding on a color scheme, I wanted to draw a full-body sketch of her outfit. I was faced with the temptation to draw this character standing in front of a portal in the ground with a floating digital sign flashing the word "WONDERLAND".

And so an idea was born.

Surgeon Dress Design

Nope. I'm still not done with my morbidly cute surgeon kick. Nor my lolita fascination.

Old habits will die hard...WITH A VENGEANCE!

So yeah, one day I want to be able to have the mad sewing skills to create a dress like this for real...and then splatter some fake blood on it.

Print Design: Sweet Surgery Symphony

D'awww, look at the cute widdle bunny rabbits...wielding massive scalpels. If anyone must be blamed for planting this imagery in my head, it has to be Mr. Vorhias and his Dr. Squid audio logs. Seriously though, check 'em out.

Now the reason I call this a "print design" is that I drew this like you would a printed fabric design complete with the flat colors and wrap-around imagery...though I don't think I got that across well enough. Simplicity and unsettling sweetness was the key. Now that I think of it, I totally should have added a heart rate monitor somewhere.

I do plan on incorporating this design in a future image. Just you wait and see.

Pro-tip: blood stains do an excellent job covering up bleeding marker edges.