A very late post... CALGARY

Calgey Comic Con Weekend!

THE BREAKDOWN:
THURSDAY: attended some friends (Charles and Crystal) going away party at triple Bs- they are moving back to the country for the summer... Me and my co-hort Barney ended up convincing them that a spur-of-the-moment Calgary trip would be all kinds of awesome. They agreed and promplety ran home to pack for the trip.

(Charles and crystal, not too sure what they just got themselves into)

FRIDAY!

The adventure starts! 5Am (ouch) we started the day with a 5hour energy shot... they friggen hurt when drank the second you wake up (and on an empty stomach)

managed to make it into calgary in just over 13h, fantastic time.

ps- alberta just loves their nikelback... we could not escape nikelback songs on the radio

After only a couple bewildering detours downtown calgary- we stopped off at the BMO roundup centre (where the con will be held) to register/pick up badges and do a bit of setup for the next day.

It was already easy to tell that this would be a absolute Sh!t storm when tomorrow rolled around, the sheer amount of booths, merch, and displays was staggering. It was a scary thought to see this setup+a couple thousand people.

Having all my stuff ready to transform and roll out for Sat/Sun, we headed to “brewsters” for a much needed pint and some food. And good lord did this place have Pints! “Brewsters” micro brews a whole whack of their own beer flavours, they all tasted fantastic, we made a point of heading here for supper the next 2 nights as well.

SATURDAY: time for a con!

Barney, warming up Mr Nemoys seat

the con tables were very narrow... it was defiantly a bit of a cramped artists alley- good thing I had awesome neighbours.

(Charles and I hanging out with some storm troopers)

9:00 rolls around, and a wave of geeks, nerds, trekkies and everything in between poured into the centre

I hear they topped over 20,000 attendance on Saturday alone! My day was a bit of a blur, I could only really leave my table for quick bathroom breaks, other than that, it was a constant stream of people asking questions about my artwork, processes, etc and buying prints. It was overwhelming in a really great way.

I managed to snag myself a spot in the 2010 Calgry Expo artbook. It was a HUGE honour to share page spreads with the truly amazing talents that fill the book.

First thing saturday morning I sent Charles and Crystal around with my book to get all the artists to sign their pages in it, think they only missed a couple

The Chief likes my artwork!! haha I got the chance to chat it up with both Helo and the Chief from Battlestar Gallactica,(made a funny little comic about them) both super chill guys, wish I made up some better fanart to give em. next time!

con is done for the day = BACK TO BREWSTERS FOR PINTS

Hanging out at our friend Bailey's place, sipping back some "Dude" beer. tasty stuff :)

SUNDAY:

got to sleep in a bit (woot) On our way in, we saw the cons lineup (we get to use a “celebrity entrance” lol) this flipping line was wrapping its way completely around the huge Roundup Centre, it was just massive. Then, once you get into the convention, if you wanted to meet spock, it was around a 3hour wait in line. Eep.

Enjoy some other pics of the wknd :)

ps(i didn't take the pics below, just wanted to give you an idea of the cool stuff there!)(these guys rock)

And of course when sunday rolled to a close: BACK TO BREWSTERS FOR PINTS

Things for next time:

Lots of ideas and feedback on new prints to make! Including: Metroid, Halo elite, Mortal Kombat etc..

I have plans to make a limited run poster of the “queen vs predator” in the shattered style specificity for cons. I am so excited to start into it, especially after the phenomenal amount of praise and support for the shattered vector style

This is an annual trip for me now, fantastic times!!
Cheers mates!

Avatar

Want some Candy??

Needed a predator fanart- on account that they plan on making an actual GOOD PREDATOR MOVIE soon :)

Done using the shattered vector painting process

Headdress Revamp

played around with this piece, making it match my other series "broken wings", and "connected"

Just got back from a Easter wknd back home... included a too much chocolate, 4hour quading adventure through muddy forest trails(some brief swimming), pasture wandering, bit of rock band, and hanging out with a horse, a dog, and a small army of cats.

heavenly sword (touchup)

more fanart from another game I've never played. Though, from what I hear, Heavenly sword wasn't overly great. looked pretty, but didn't do much beyond that.

getting a huge print file ready for Calagrys comic con... I'm currently at something like 60 (12x18inches) pages, and still need to add a lot more... could be a pricey printing bill- but will be worth it! Right now I'm working on an Avatar (j.cameron's version) piece, that should sell quite well, any thoughts on other fanarts to sell for the con??

hmmm what else is new...
• held a wine+cheese party at my place recently, was a blast (from what I recall)
• I rode a horse last wknd, which I haven't done in a while. big beasties those horses.
• I'm swamped in projects... need a day or two just to sit and work, stupid life getting in the way of me and my computer.
• I am all kinds of pleased with this new "Shattered Vector Painting" process I'm using. fun fun stuff. Im now dabbling with the "Alchemy" program more as well, which is essentially the same style, i just duplicated it in illustrator.
• I really need to see "how to train your dragon" I swear, that movie was specifically made for me... Im going to go draw a dragon now.

cheers big cats :)

In the Master Chief, We Trust

A newer, far superior Halo fan art.

News!
Attended the Winnipeg Toy/comic con convention for the first time last week (over 1000+ attended). I did far more business in the Artists alley than I expected, selling out of all my new stuff, and getting rid of most everything else. I desperately need to re-stock my prints.

More Artists alley lessons learned:
• Prints Sell. Sell Prints.
• Come over-prepared, you can always sell stuff/or will need it later down the road.
(i was kicking myself for having such limited quantities last weekend)
• No matter how obvious you label your prices, you still need to tell people how much stuff costs.
• Funny stuff sells. especially fanart funnies.
• every kid under 18 wants halo artwork
• bring a large book/magazine full of comic book characters. I had a couple obscure requests I could of really used some reference for.
• Doing free sketches for kids under 12 is a fantastic way for getting other stuff sold

...I feel a bit... im not sure, dishonest? making all this fanart from shows/games that I've never even played or watched. lol

Calgary Expo is also coming up! tré excited to head to that, get to meet Data from star trek! (I am a big fan of the Next Gen series)

Big Sister

So here is my take on the Big sis's from the return to rapture! made her a tad more scandalous than the actual, but hey i try to give you guys what you want

Never actually played the bio-shock games, but the concept art and story has always been intriguing to me.

God of War! RAWR! hehe

from the games "God of War" 1, 2, and soon to be 3

spring is pretty much here! woot!
very much looking forward to some warm weather and riding my bike to work once more.
Also, be moving soon as well! which is always a bit exciting, as well as a massive pain... trying to pack up your massive accumulation of junk and move it. bleah.

on another side note: I've been watching the "Big Bang Theory" lately, good show :D

stay classy

Click for the full tutorial

enjoy!

District 9 bot

great film

kinda wish we could have seen more of this mech- but with a pilot that knew how to actually drive it, haha. Very much looking forward to the the next film.

...im about to attend a whack of conventions to sell my artwork, any suggestions for other characters you would like to see?

Alien Queen

I took screenshots during the creation of her majesty, and plan on compiling them into a tutorial for my next post!

Such an epic monster...

Lost Strings

“Lost Strings”
been sitting on this idea for a while.
this is the sequel piece to “Can I have the moon”
Inspirational song for this piece goes to: John Murphy, Surface of the Sun

Girl Fight and a Chief

A Hmmm to life lately.

This past Saturday, I participated in the Folk Fest Craft Sale event, which was my first ever craft sale... My setup was basically an array of small watercolours, complete with a sign advertising custom paintings upon request. Sold a handful of paintings, but things were fairly slow. What made it worth it: was one little kid who asked for a transformer type robot with a T on it's chest (for Trevor) half an hour later, Trevor and his dad came back, they were ecstatic over the result of the painting- so much, that they requested another for Ollie, Trevor's friend whom was having a birthday that very day. Cool. cool beans.

Watched Halo's animated project (Halo Legends) recently, which is a similar idea to the Animatrix film- you get about 6-8 animation studios telling an array of short stories in a array of styles. Bit of a hit/miss eperience, but fun to watch none-the-less.

We could use some of the King's Horse's and Men

Starscream.

My second favorite Transformer (after Bumblebee)

Messy vector piece :) This was super fun to make, I think I feel a whole series like this coming on...

On a funny side note: some random from New Zealand emailed me this morn- apparently they found my art through Google Images, and wanted permission to get a Tattoo of my "Greek Lunch" Medusa piece.
lol. cool.

Calgary Con... coming up!

My booth sign :)
so I'm making the trip out to Calgary's con in a little over a month, get to meet the likes of Data and Spock from Star Trek, Apollo from Battlestar G, the Doctor guy from Stargate Atlantis... and not to mention a sea of other talented illustrators. Should be a blast.

Im also playing with the idea of heading to the San Francisco con next year- If I can make up a chunk of the trip in sales, then why not??

paperbag princess

:) nobody uses paperbags these days

Google malfunctioned on me... or did it?

haha, just having fun :)

sketch

BEAR!

new pet

District 9, yo

Ammmmaaaazzzzing movie. loved it. cannot wait for the next one -when we get to see the rest of the aliens. If these prawns were just the "worker ants" I'm pumped to see the "warrior ants"

Broken wings

Connected.

NOT an alien

feeling a bit overwhelmed?

then just go to this video, crank your volume, fullscreen it, and stop your worrying :)

for a bit at least.

type sketch

just some vector experimentation. I'll get the scanner warmed up in the next day or two and get some other stuff up soon.

I also have a bunch of great stuff that I really shouldn't post! (phooey)
some pieces that will be in a gallery in a month or two, as well as my submissions to Calgary's 2010 artbook... it's hard not to share work your excited about...

Sad...

a jab at the melodrama that is facebook
(or any other social networking with a status option, really)

Sketch A Day 06

Sketch A Day 05

Sketch A Day 04