MCCC recap

[listening to "the game of love" by daft punk]

my commissions from MCCC

so, Motor City Comic Con was quite a blast! we were guests there thanks to the fantastic fellas at DrunkOnComics.com! though we were kinda in the back, we were still able to meet lots of Michigan-ders (if they can be called that) and had such a nice experience. i didn't do too many commissions this time around but we did make some great connections at the show. which is probably the most important thing to do.

me and Adam Martin

i also got to finally meet a fan of mine, Adam Martin, who loves my sketchcards. i believe he says he's got close to 100 of my cards (maybe even more now). it's amazing, especially since i didn't even realize i've drawn so many already. cool perk to finally making it out to his neck o' the woods. =)

we got to sit down and hang out with the Drunk On Comics guys. had some serious nerd-time. =) got to chill and talk with my cool friend Agnes Garbowska. she only happens to do covers for a little comic called "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic." super sweet gal. and then we got to have one-on-one talks with amazing talent like Tyler Kirkham (Green Lantern: New Guardians), Carlo Barberi (Deadpool), and Ale Garza (Fathom). these guys, i tell ya. it's quite overwhelming.

after this show, i will definitely need to reprint lots of my prints. super cool folks have really cleaned me out of my stock! so great to feel so loved. i don't think i'll be printing any more of my mini artbooks this year. at least not any time soon. because i'll be making it a point to print the bigger one!!! so excited to get that together and have a brand new book! i'll have it definitely by San Diego Comic Con but it may be sooner! who knows!!!

whelmed

[listening to "blue ocean floor" by justin timberlake]

i am feeling sufficiently whelmed, if i can say that. i have some new developments that more or less just popped up this weekend. firstly, i think i may have an art rep. which is crazy cuz i didn't know that i would ever get one of those. but if that gets solidified, i'll bring u more details. got some possible cover work coming up and i am trying to pitch a couple of cover ideas for "Adventure Time" so we'll see what happens with that. i have some commissions i need to catch up on and some people i need to email. it's lots of stuff. but oddly enough, i don't feel overwhelmed. definitely not underwhelmed. hence, my post title.

we just got back from Motor City Comic Con and it was quite a blast. so as i try to gather those pics together, i am sharing these two little doodles that i did a few weeks ago. just thought i'd try turning Adventure Time characters into Sugar Rush-like characters. i definitely wanna color it at some point, just haven't had a chance yet. but whenever i do, i will definitely post it here!

jumbled

[listening to "bittersweet" by ellie goulding]

we're trying to get ready to head out (yes, again) to Detroit, MI (or someplace near it anyways) for the Motor City Comic Con this weekend! we will be guests at the show and we will be set up in their artist alley signing books, selling prints and whatnot. i only have about 5-6 mini artbooks left so if you're thinking about getting one, please do and please get it early least i run out. =) theFranchize even did a Motor City Con Exclusive Cover for the latest issue of Fanboys Vs Zombies #14 so if you're going to be there, don't forget to pick one up and have us all sign them! i hear there's only 500 printed.
i still sometimes find myself beside myself (is that how u say it?) when i think about all the different places within the country that i've been to. i know i never imagined i would be traveling so much when i was a kid thinking about what i'd be when i grew up. (which, btw, i never had an answer for that questions as a kid. i had NO clue what i wanted to be so i threw out random stuff like teacher and doctor. HA!) i didn't think i'd ever go to Michigan, mostly cuz i don't know anyone up there.

i don't really have any new pieces to show since we've really been busy with cons and FVZ pages. i do have these sketchcards i did about a month ago for 5Finity Productions' Female Persuasion 3 set. i haven't been able to do as many sketchcards as i used to with my current schedule so i only did these 3. the theme was just pinup ladies. i decided to keep a color theme with these because i liked the contrast of the pink with the minty green.

here's some recent doodles in my sketchbook. enjoy! i usually use my red pencil to sketch stuff, then my Iris Blue (or sometimes my Deep Rose) Derwent colored pencil to go over the loose red sketch. the middle picture is me trying the combination of a 2B graphite with gray copics. i think i like it!

SEE U IN DETROIT! (or someplace near it anyways.)

uninspired

[listening to "gimme more" by britney spears]

as i struggle to find something to inspire me, i figured i'd share with u my latest commission in someone's sketchbook of Lady Mechanika. i used my brown copic pens (cuz i love those) and generally wanted to give the whole illustration a brown tinge as a whole to kinda go with that steampunk look. it's really too bad that they haven't made any moves on this story in like, i dunno, 2 years or something. cuz it seems to have had a considerable following. but ah well.
of course these are scans so the colors are a bit fuddled with. but i tried to get it somewhat close to what it actually looks like in person. sometimes i get really sad when i have to color something traditionally cuz though i'm comfortable with copic markers, i'm not a pro. and i feel like a lot of the effort i put into the lineart gets lost in the colors. (which is probably my shortcoming from not knowing how to use copics markers all that well.) still, it turned out pretty well despite that.

also, here are some Adventure Time fun things. used these images for cards that i've been taking around to cons. if u see us at comic cons, u'll know what i'm talkin about. the other guys in the studio did other characters.

dragging

[listening to "beauty" by dru hill]

after sleeping for about a day and a half, i'm finally dragging myself out of the trenches and getting back to working and updating online. so here's my recaps of the last two events we just attended!

C2E2 fun times and cosplayers worthy of my picture-taking

commissions i did at the C2E2

C2E2 was great! the experience and response from fans were definitely a huge improvement from last year. this year our studio is starting to set up as separate stations for each artist. what we've done in the past is put all of our stuff together in one or two portfolio books so people can get a look at everyone's stuff all at once. i've always been afraid to separate into stations, mostly cuz i thought i would be Sad Sally with nobody paying attention to me. but it really turned out quite the opposite and i can't even tell u how happy i was seeing people pick up my Octo-Pie and koi mermaid mini prints. because as much as i love drawing fanart pieces of superhero ladies, i have a larger sense of accomplishment knowing people are picking up my art for the art and not the known character.
the guys (theFranchize and Flash) got to go up on the main stage and show people how they should be drawing Superman and Spider-man. =) i got to sit at the Girls Drawin Girls table for a couple hours each day to help out. they printed out a copy of my Octo-Pie and that sold on the first day. so yippee! all in all it was fun times!

me and Gail Simone at fcbd - DOPE!

(guess i better get used to gettin kicked out of my seat so the hubby can be a celebrity. =P) theFranchize and the ladies of The Hangout on comicosity.com

fcbd tent at Third Eye Comics

THE BEST harley quinn cosplayer i've ever seen. ever.

Free Comic Book Day - also great! Third Eye Comics really know how to do it up BIG for this day. i've never seen so many people lined up to get into a comic shop EVAR. the store opened up at 9AM and folks had been in line since 11AM the day before! that's right - AM! not PM! we got there at 7:30a and there was barely any place to park. it was ba-nay-nays! they had that Doctor Who photo booth out front and i'm sure people were losin their marbles over that. we were set up in the tent behind the shop with the likes of Gail Simone, Cullen Bunn, Joelle Jones, and Billy Martin. i got to talk to Gail one on one and even handed her a copy of my mini book to flip through on the plane. incredible lady in an industry full of old dudes. got to shake lots of hands, sign lots of Fanboys Vs Zombies graphic novels, and even sold some prints! got to meet 2 out of the 3 ladies of comicosity.com's The Hangout and they are apparently pretty big FVZ  fans. felt very much like a celebrity. can't beat the comic fans at Third Eye. they're the bestest. and even better than that, they had an incredible sale on everything in the store so we got to pick up some stuff for a great price. including my Hyrule Historia book! its such a pretty book with so much pretty stuff inside. bein a pretty huge Zelda fan, it barely gets better than that.

next up, a small local show in La Plata, MD in a school called the ANS Sci-Fi and Comic Con. we're mostly there for Third Eye Comics but we should have some prints for sale. no rest for the wicked!!!