It had been long enough that I had forgotten how large the crowds for this show were.
Okay, it's Wednesday. Three days after the mega comic show that is Planet Comicon. I think I can make it through this blog post now that my mind is a lot clearer. Many of you have probably already seen the mini-documentary I did, that covered my experiences there. Many of you also think I was uncharacteristically down or perhaps under the weather. You'd not be wrong in this, but the underlying message of the video was not one of negativity, I had no intention of that. Instead hoped that I'd shed some light on what being a creator or vendor at one of these shows is like. Investing time, effort, creations, and like I was talking to my friend April about, a constant element of gambling is always involved in doing this. I just want people to understand that being self employed is not all fun and games, and the lows often outnumber the highs. But as this post and much of the humor in my documentary points out, the highs are worth it. I did have a hell of a lot of fun at the show. I meant what I said in the video (for those of you who've not watched it's at the end of this blog entry), and finally remembered what the joyous moments of being part of something like this entails. So sit back, I've got a lot of photos, and a lot of story for you all. But before I begin, let me take the time to thank every single person that put on Planet Comicon, to every guest, to every artist, vendor, attendee,... I thank you all for coming out and attending a show, that at it's heart, like many other shows similar to it, celebrates fandoms, artwork, creativity, and brings about new friendships, rekindles old ones, and allows many of us to feel accepted, safe in our hobbies and loves, and for a weekend at a time, it gives us a chance to really get out of our shells and celebrate those stories, modern mythologies, and moments that will live with us for years to come.
(Left) A quick enhancement of this great pose that (Right) a cosplayer and members of the 501st pulled off.
I'm going to be all over the place with this pictorial update. I can't help it, I had a lot of hours of video footage and a whole heck of a lot of photos to comb through which I edited down for this update.
So lets start off with the fact that all of the Star Wars cosplayers were killing it as usual with sets and stuff like what you see above. I loved how the Emperor had the fellow cosplaying the Jedi knight get up on the throne. If you're an illustrator, these are incredible moments that you can use to get great reference for practicing poses, framing shots, etc. Of course if it goes further than that, you need to get model releases/permission, so never forget that.
Three of the illustrations I worked on through the weekend.
There's always a little slow time in which I am able to get some quick illustrations done, and a few commissions here and there. I've been doing these sort of things for so long, and I have boxes of these character studies and sketches at home. I really think I need to put these out for sale at my next show.
I had forgotten my commission sign, but for future reference, full color illustrations that are 9x12 inches are $40 each, black and white are $25.
Shankalonian Lab's work... omg, is this not just the coolest freaking thing ever?!
Artist alley seemed to have been divided into three sections from what I could tell, as there seemed to be fine art and fantasy item laden booths up by the cosplay area, merging into the traditional comic artists, over into the the pin up and poster art guys, to finally the upcycled and three dimensional artists.
This booth with it's amazing creations made from old computer parts was just too damn cool to handle. And worth every freaking penny. That photo doesn't do them justice, it just doesn't. You need to check out "Shankalonian" on Etsy for more like the above!
The process from blue line rough, to finished sketch, to Victor Pena's art collection.
Chris Jackson is one dude that finds some insane ways to get famous people here, from Stan Lee to Edward James Olmos, whom I was so nervous to meet (THANK YOU for that chance Victor, I appreciate it so very much!). I did want to meet quite a few others at the show, but it was all I could do to man my booth, leave every once in a while, and shoot stuff for the documentary, and all of that.
The Wonder Woman original artwork has a new home now. And the last art reproduction of Druilla was sold as well.
So lets talk some cosplay, there were some insane great ones to be had, and these were the ones I managed to get photos of.
(Left) Honey Lemon from Big Hero 6, (Middle) Beetlejuice loved Tank Girl, and (Right) my buddy Justin being super excited about the Batman he got.
Even though larger shows can be overwhelming at times for me, it's really when you get to see people go all out on cosplays. I mean check out Lady Loki below!
(Left) She really got the pose and look of Loki down. (Right) Tank Girl holding my last copy of Tank Girl!
Three others that were stand outs on Saturday were this stunning Lara Croft, a wonderful Agent Carter, and this great rendition of Captain America.
(Left) Lara Croft, one of the best I 've seen. (Middle) She really looked a lot like Hayley Atwell! (Right) This is of my favorite versions of Cap's suit, right behind the Stealth Suit one.
I really liked the moment that happened right after I took that pic of Cap above, where two little girls REALLY wanted to take a picture with him, and, man, this is why I love cosplayers that do this. He was so patient and nice to these little ladies who were just like "OMG, it's Steve Rogers! It IS Captain America!" The blonde one on the upper part of the pic especially kept staring at him.
(Left) Daphne and Velma from Scooby Doo. (Right) Cap poses with some young fans.
I later was over by the cosplayer's area at the show, and ran into my absolute favorite cosplay of the show. La Muerta from Book of Life. I mean just LOOK at that!
This picture just has too much freaking awesome sauce in it.
I also found a master helmet maker (whose info is coming later on to this post as well), that made an Ant Man helmet, so damn well, I got weak in the knees. At some point, I will own one of these, and my first cosplay will be Ant Man. If you watch the video, I go on about my love of the Scott Lang Ant Man MCU character.
Great Gene Simmons and Sauron cosplays.
I really lost track of how many other great costume efforts I made notes to track down while I was selling at my table. Biggest issue is, and I am sure many of you know this feeling. If you see a cosplay at a show this big, GET THAT PHOTO then and there!!!! I had this issue at Naka Kon, where I was not able to get to some and never saw them again that weekend.
(Left) Anna from Frozen. (Left) Star Wars steampunk cosplay.
(Left) Wednesday Addams (Middle) Psylocke and Spider Man (Right) A lady with a cute little pooch.
If it's a show I know people at, I try like heck to get around to people, so I can pick up books, do trades, and all of that, and get of course more pictures if I can. Even though I talked to a lot of people quickly, I didn't manage to pick up books from my buddies Anthony (below), Brad, Mike, or Ed, even though I spoke briefly to all of them, and I STILL need to pick up Long Walk to Valhalla!!
Anthony "AO" Oropeza, whom some of you might remember from the ArtSpeak Radio show segment I did.
The wonderful fellow below is the hilarious and skilled creator of Dark Hopper, Steve Daniels.
He was personalizing Volume 1 of the Dark Hopper book for me.
By late on Saturday I was feeling worn out. I don't know if it was because the area of Artist Alley I was in was slow, or because I was tired from all the pre show prep. I have no idea what it was.
(Left) I still got a ways to go to get to his size. (Right) Ivy looks kick ass as M. Bison.
The conversations I did have during the show went from past days at Hallmark, to show traffic and sales, to catching up with and meeting new people. I met Ivy DoomKitty, who is as outspoken and smart as she is skilled at cosplay. You can check out her store here.
Mark Wise from the Comic Bros Podcast, an old friend of mine from CMSU.
One huge and great surprise was my friend Mark stopping by to say hello. He drove up from TEXAS to get to the show. Texas, people. It doesn't get more hardcore than that. He runs a great podcast called Comic Bros. where he and his fellow hosts talk about and interview people in the comics and art world.
The arcade machines that were onsite. Oh man, whoever thought to do this was smart as hell.
R2-D2 was my first action figure ever. So that started my obsession with robotics and robots in general. I always get a kick out of seeing the whole line up of droids at these shows.
Love these little guys.
The vendors that came to Planet of course came armed to the teeth to do battle with an armada of wallets and debit cards, and many velcro latches and plastic cards were laid low in the aftermarket frenzy of buying I saw happening. I myself, had wanted to hold off on vintage toys for the most part, but did get one in my show haul that I was happy to find.
This was a lot of Power Ranger Zord goodness.
I've sometimes gotten parts of my collection off of ebay, but I much more prefer hunting and bargaining for items in person. These reissue Japanese Takara Transformers were sweet as hell.
I missed out on so many of these as a kid.
And of course, although I didn't end up picking up any, Lego fandom had a massive presence at the show, especially in minifigs. Many were knock-offs, but there were a fair few real Lego ones to be found.
I really really like that blue display case.
The KC Brick Lab group had an amazing display on hand, which many many little ones who were at the show, found hard to keeps hands off of.
A mix of custom and retail kits made up the display.
I'll probably do a more indepth review of this on Tenacious Ninja, and the impact of Lego at comic cons.
The Stay Puft Marshmallow man was so freaking cool.
On Saturday, I got the chance to hit up my favorite sushi place, and give some thought to how the show was going, what my booth was looking like. And give myself a bit of a mental kick in the head.
Seriously the best in the KC area.
One photo I am so freaking happy to have, and thank you Mark for suggesting we do this! (Dennis it would have been nice to have gotten you in this, Joel, were you at the show for Go Comics?)
Memories are so insane when they come flooding back, and the passage of time is something to behold. I am so happy that many of my friends from school are still working and succeeding in being creators, writers, and out there doing art shows. This moment was the pinnacle for me to remember that if I had held off because of self doubt, had not done this show. This picture would not have come to pass.
My absolute favorite picture from that whole weekend.
At the end of this, I spent the next 18 hours attempting to put together a small documentary about my own efforts doing this show. It's rough, it's a little funny, it's a bit irreverent, but it's from the heart.
I am glad I did film it, even if it didn't come out perfect. Because I wanted to capture that element of stream of consciousness, so I had it for later reflection.
So here's what I did pick up from the show:
Josh Cotter's "Nod Away" and my program and exhibitor badge.
Interior shot dedication from Josh.
Fantastic prints from Mike Brown. Mike if you are reading this, you will love doing KC ZineCon!
Cameron Kieffer's "Smart Phone Chronicles", and Steve Daniel's "Dark Hopper Vol. 1"
An odd find at most any show I have ever done is anything having to do with Sega Saturn era video game characters. This is my favorite and best toy find of the year so far.
Now we are at the end of this huge old update on Planet Comicon 2016. It's currently a muggy and sunny Wednesday, and I'm still going over notes, pics, and all kinds of stuff from the show. I'll be back for a second round this next year. And with mostly all new art in tow. The show may not have been the best sales wise, but I love gambling and playing games of chance, and it gets boring if you win all the time.
For all of you that were a part of the show, thank you for putting it on. For those of you that worked it, keep going, don't stop, and there is always next year. For all that attended, I will hopefully see you all next year..
Until my next blog post, check out my documentary if you haven't already, be kind to your fellow beings, support your local artists, and I'll see you next time!
No comments:
Post a Comment