Strangefolk 2014, Second year, First rate artwork.

So I've finally gotten some time to get a new update on here. It's been a nutty series of weeks, full of late nights, shenanigans, and... wait for it... GOINGS ONS! Somehow I managed to finagle my way back into Strangefolk and brought my special brand of visual creation and casual friendliness to the city of O'Fallon, Illinois and it's unsuspecting inhabitants. I also planned to sell my art.

Strangefolk 2014! Stressful preparation for it. Long drive to get to it. But worth it again this year? Read on my friends!

Since last year, I decided I was going to push my branding, marketing, and art so far that people it would border on annoyance, but instead of it hitting you full frontal like an absent minded drunk, I hoped to mesmerize people with some illustration skills that didn't look like anyone else's work that was at Strangefolk.

The medallions with my logo that were to go on my new business card holder. (inset, upper right) More bottle elements for a new primary sign design.

In all seriousness though, I had been spending many months since the beginning of the year to establish the "AR" (Artisan Rogue) branding across all my social networks and show elements so that I could introduce the new concept of "Artwork for the Social Organism". The first step into this was my wood panel series. How you may ask? Well it's like this...

(Left and upper right) A bunch of new works in my ongoing wood panel series. (Lower two images on right) The continuing finishing steps of my business card holder.

Each of the works above, and like many prior ones that belong in this series are all numbered and belong to one large ongoing series that will for the foreseeable future, go on for the next ten years or longer.

See, the idea was to create a line of original hand drawn artworks that would allow everyone that owned at least one, to belong to a someday massive and growing collective bound by the evolution and variety of the artwork in this series. That's why I request to have photos of the owners, or the places where the art is displayed, etc., because I wanted to show how art can permeate and showcase the amazing spectrum of wonderful art collectors out there.

Inaugural set of stickers for my "Artwork for the Social Organism" movement.

Eventually, probably by the first of this next year, there will be either a section of my site or a separate site altogether that will be more focused on the concept of Artwork for the Social Organism. So there is more to come...

One of the last works I spent in the eleventh hour finishing up before I started packing up to leave for the show.

One of the requests I had gotten to try and illustrate was a work based on How To Train Your Dragon's Hiccup and Toothless. I took a little stylized approach to how I represented them, which I was a little worried about (fan art is always a dodgy thing for me, but I do enjoy making it), but evidently I had nothing to worry about as...

Oh snap! Toothless likes his picture! Twitterverse love!

TOOTHLESS liked it! I soooooo did not expect that, but man, that was super cool to see come across my feed!

This is a pretty common stop that I've made almost every time I've headed east. I stopped here last year for Strangefolk, when I was Gettysburg bound, and for Chicago Comic Con a few years back.

So with a dragon's blessings on at least one bit of artwork that I would take with me on the road, the trip was a go.

The crowds came pretty early, and in a plentiful amount on Saturday.

I'm not normally a crowd meandering type of guy, but thankfully, the vast majority of the people that attend Strangefolk are pretty laid back.

Gotta park in the shade.

So after parking my truck, it was onto getting the tent up and getting down to business.

One of the things that is always a hell of a thing for me to figure out is how to not make my set up look like a cut rate flea market...

I know that next year (if I'm lucky enough to get in, I wasn't kidding about the whole jurying thing... seriously people. If you like me being there, and you want more original art by this Illustrator/Poet/Voice Over artist, then go to the Strangefolk facebook page and tell them how much you liked the Artisan Rogue being at the show), I will have a tighter set up and way more original art.

...yeah, no. THIS isn't looking overly crowded.

I think the fact that I needed a table this year got on my nerves. I'm probably being too critical of my layout and all, but I'm always striving for more clarity and finesse in point of purchase and display. That's absolutely the Hallmarker coming out in me more and more.

I tried to utilize guard dogs this year. All they did was lounge around with that look that says "I sleep on PILLOWS at home..."

There's not too much more to add except that I met so many cool people, so many of you had wonderful and kind comments, and with sincere honesty and complete appreciation, that it totally made my weekend. It truly made all the late nights in preparation and dealing with the heat, worth it. And I meant what I said, if you all, any of you want to send photos (of your new art in your home) please do.

I also unexpectedly got to do a on the spot portfolio review (yes, next year I will absolutely do the same if I am at the show, I rather enjoy this, and thank you Mike Eldrige for showing me your artwork and listening to my input). Feel free to e-mail me if you'd like a portfolio review ahead of time though so I can be available/ready to do it.

Hot Air Balloon rides?! Autumn Wiggins, you've just raised the stakes on next year!

Sunday was actually kind of fun as the show started to wind down. I sat in the grass at the edge of my tent and watched a hot air balloon go up and down giving free rides to people. I have to hand it to Autumn Wiggins (she's the self described "strange" chick that runs this show), she knows how to grow a show and keep it running well. If anything, her efforts make me want to bring it even better next year in what I showcase.

Like all shows, when it comes to an end, I am pathetically slow to get my truck and trailer aligned to get my stuff packed up, and I am never as quick as the other 70 people around me.

I'm not going to kid you, at the end of a show, I usually have a lengthy drive home, so I run about as fast as frozen tar. Which... I actually don't really know how fast that would run. I mean,... maybe that's really fast, because it would slide on ice. And I know a thing or two about ice and slipping on it. I sense a Mr. Wizard moment coming on.

"OMG! Hurry up man! There's a new Sleepy Hallow episode on Netflix and the signal is terrible out here!" is what my pooch seems to be telling me.

So in closing, thank you. To all of you that read this, to all of you that came out and talked to me, bought art, told me your stories, asked about my comics (keep praying that my hard drive will be salvageable), and shared a laugh or two. You all are the reason I believe that I am worth anything in what I do. I do art, I write, and I do funny voices because I want to do what the heroes I have had in life did. Many of them wanted to make people happy. They wanted to make people smile.

Until next time, be kind to your fellow beings, smile, and do a good turn daily. I'll see you next time!

 - Mario, the Artisan Rogue