My First Comic Con!!

Last weekend I went to my first Comic-Con and I was not quite sure what to expect. I had two pieces up in the art show so I wanted to make sure I was there. I had my portfolio ready and plenty of cards to pass out, my goal was to make connections. I arrived at the San Diego convention center and it was HUGE!!!! I heard the con was big, but actually seeing the size of the convention center and how many vendors there were was overwhelming. I went and hit the ground running, going to as many publishers as I could find. I hit up the Del Rey booth, expecting an art director to be there that I could show my work to. Unfortunately none was there, but I gave the editor my card anyway, hoping he would pass it along to the art director (kinda doubt it). I did that to several other publishers, and then went to pay a visit to my old boss, Eric Joyner. It was good to see him again and catch up. I learned that he met Matt Groening and had a small talk with him, very cool! After my visit with Eric I went to go visit one of my favorite artists, Donato Giancola. He is easily one of the nicest guys to meet, very open to give feedback on my portfolio. I learned a lot just from talking to him and getting feedback from a grand master. I might go visit his studio when I take a trip to New York in September. Next stop was Todd Lockwood, who was also very open to give feedback on my portfolio. He laid down a lot of faults in my work, which was actually very helpful and that I will use. Next up was my portfolio review with Wizards of the Coast, which actually went really well. They loved my work but want to see what I can do when I push my work even more, through color and dynamic composition. I talked to the senior art director of D&D and the game designer which really helped and gave insight to what they were looking for. I came out of it with the art directors card and already started an e-mail thread, which was golden. That's all I could ever wish for, a direct contact within Wizards that I could send work to as they come along and eventually come to the point of getting work from them. My paintings didn't sell, but getting that portfolio review and contact info from Wizards was worth more than my paintings.

All The King's Men Final!!!!!

It's finally finished!!!! I'm really happy with the way it turned out and I consider it my best yet, conceptually and technically. I'm taking this down to this years' Comic Con to debut it to the world! I'm super excited to get some feedback and see peoples reaction to it. I feel this painting needs as much exposure as possible and could very well lead me to my big break.

"All the King's Men" W.I.P. 6/9/10

Here's an updated pic on "All the King's Men"! It's getting there, but I have to solve more of the background and simplify some things in the wall.

It's Coming Along!!

So, here's another w.i.p. pic of "All the King's Men". Don't know if I'll make the personal deadline of May 28. I never know though, it may happen. I still have plenty to do on the background, the wall, and of course Humpty. I want to save him for last because I know I'll just half ass the rest if I put all my energy into him in the beginning. I'm happy with the way it's progressing.

"All the King's Men" W.I.P.

So, here's a work in progress picture of my latest big painting "All the King's Men". So far I'm really excited about it and am working hard on it. Seeing that this is my own personal project I'm holding it to some high standards and putting a lot of faith in it. I set a personal deadline to finish it on May 28, and it is now the 14th. I feel I really need to focus harder on it and get it done, but at the same time I don't want to rush it. I got a commission going on which I need to work on, but my personal priority is this. I still plan on taking this to comic-con and see how it is received. I hope it is a big hit.

plein Air paintings

While up at a cultural arts and dance festival at the Edward Dean Museum I decided to do some plein air painting of the Koi pond. Overall It came out pretty nice and happy with it. Also did another plein air painting as a demo for my students in my painting class. I'm pretty happy with that one as well. The Edward Dean one is on top and the demo painting is on the bottom.

Decade Anniversary

Today marks the day that ten years has passed since my father died, and I feel I need him now more than ever. I don't know why I'm writing about this, I think it's easy for me to put this down in words. If I were to think of how he would feel of my accomplishments if he were alive today, I honestly believe he'd be ultimately disappointed. He may say he was proud, but be disappointed. He was my inspiration and it was both of our dreams for me to go to art school and do something with it. And here I am, back in the town I grew up in. I feel I let him down. It's hard to make a living as an artist, especially when no one will rep you and in this type of economy marketing yourself is a full time job. I do what I can, but don't feel it's enough, and think I need to work harder but my motivation is not enough. I wish I could ask him what I should do and hear him make some obscure answer with a joke, that was his style. He was also a very philosophical guy and read a lot of books about different philosophies. He gave me a book about Zen Buddhism by D.T. Suzuki, which he wrote several notes and and highlighted. In the back cover of the book he came to a conclusion and wrote a note. It said, "In life, it's not about how much money you make or how much you own and successfull you are, but how far you get from where you were." Smart guy, I guess I have to take that quote to heart and make a goal to advance further in life.