MID OHIO CON

FINALLY. After 36,565 conventions this year, I'm down to number 36,566, the final convention. MID OHIO CON, Columbus Ohio, November 6 & 7.

Above is a batman commission I did at Mid Ohio. I made a hellboy and a Silver Surfer, too, but alas, the "forget that your camera is right beside you at your bidding' bug bit me once more. The quite gifted Jeremy Sorrell (http://jrs2345.deviantart.com/) hooked me up with a JPG of the Batman sketch I did for him.

Some conventions surprise you, and some go just as you hope and expect. New York was verbs 1 & 2. San Diego- 2 & 3. Pittsburgh, Bmore, Balticon and the York Book & Paper Fair- fall in the Expect Only column.

Mid Ohio, however- and I still don't know exactly why- was a surprise... sort of. I was surprised I didn't make as much business as I'd hoped, and I was surprised at the little amount of traffic my table received. Those are surprises that bring a dropped head. But, there were the other surprises of the happy Dirk kind. I was surprised by how many familiar faces I got to see throughout the weekend, and the warmth of that familiarity made it as much a positive convention experience as any of the other cons I've been at. And I was surprised, despite lackluster sales, how much fun it is for me to share my art with those interested. I never get tired of explaining my processes, talking art with fellow and aspiring illustrators, and chatting, LEARNING from those who decide to speak to me on topics regarding illustrators of yore.

Pittsburgh's my 'home convention' for now- not because I once lived there or really know the area that well, because I honestly know one street, and that's it. It's home because I've been at that con now for at least 5 years in a row now, and most of the organizers know me, are very friendly, and definitely enjoy seeing me return consistently. Right back at 'em.

Bmore's my local con. I've done it a few years now, I tend to gain cool freelance gigs every year, and I've always been able to walk away with a few extra bucks from commissions in the pocket to take home.

San Diego is great, and loads of potential, but way too expensive- travel, food, shipping, table cost- all add up to negative Washingtons for my budget. Someone should fly me out there for free.

New York is San Diego but affordable! Simply put. Totally on the list forever more.

York Book & Paper Fair- the super local, super-out-of-my-element con. I do it for a couple reasons- I love old books and finding old illustrated novels to lust over, it's cheap, and the organizer is a hell of a man to root for.

Gen Con- one and done. If I belong in the gaming book world, it's going to be with a publisher who's willing to take a risk with my black & white scratchboard style. I don't see it happening, unfortunately, and that bugs me a little, but I guess I'm a decade late as color is much less expensive to print now.

Origins- Gen Con with less big publishers, and therefore even smaller pockets. But another nice trip to my Alma mater.

Balticon- the lone sci fi con- cute, cheap, a fascinating experience that can only get better in terms of roping me deeper into the realm of genre fiction, and possibly forcing my participation in either larping or bondage clubs. Both are at equal plausibility at the moment.

I haven't signed up for ANY cons next year yet. I have to really concentrate on being even more frugal than ever before if I'm to pay off the man in 2.5 years, and I want to make sure I'm making good calls as to where I travel. New York, Pittsburgh and Baltimore are lock-ins. Everything else is open on the table for consideration. But next year, I absolutely MUST make room for a good 4 day long hike or road trip. I missed out this year.

Thanks to Brian Kane, Dwayne Todd, Jason Bowser,, Otto, Wallace, Frank Cvetkovic, Joel Jackson, Mike Watson, Ren McKinzie, Dexter Rothchild, Emily Holt, Greg Kissner, Drew Jones, Jeremy Sorrell, & Phil Carter for the nostalgia.

PS- Michael Berryman is such a nice guy!

My friends over at EPISODES FROM THE ZERO HOUR asked me to provide a quick illustration for Jay's award-winning short story "The Robbers". I'll also be providing artwork, both cover and interiors for their upcoming Volume 4. Fun project!

Check out Jay's short and my final illo HERE

New York Comic Con...

...WAS THE BLITZ! Sorry. That doesn't make sense, but I typically use one of 2 other rhyming words in lieu of BLITZ.
Honestly though, it kicked nards. I sold original scratchboards, prints, Mice Templar books, worked on scratchboard and pen & ink commissions. Now I typically do this, but the difference here is that I made like 33% more at this con than I have at any other con. WOW!!!! Granted, the table cost 200% more than any other one I paid for, but uh... HEY, STOP MAKING ME STEAL MY THUNDERS!

To add to the fun, I had two of my good pals join me in the madness- writer/ fellow artist Frank Cvetkovic (http://gofrankgo.wordpress.com/), and comic nut/ doodler Seth, aka Sid, (http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=logo#!/ScarlettSpider). These chaps were great tag-alongs, helped me all weekend, and put up, without complaint, my excited obnoxiety (NEW WORD). We shared laughter in new cartoons, trolling around NYC, and grossing each other out... ok, that was MY personal duty.
I feel this whole year of convention going, whether it were at a table purchased, or merely attending, really culminated to this show. Particularly, I'm glad I got to go to San Diego with a Professional Badge, as it was pretty much great prep for the busy-ness that would be NYCC. The only regrets were that I didn't have a chance to meet many fellow creators, which could have been solved by hitting up one of the after-parties, but I had to get those commissions done. (SIDENOTE- I unfortunately am pretty absent-minded when it comes to taking pictures of commissions, but know this- I made a bangin' pen & ink commission (in the sense that I was a bit unsure how it'd turn out but was pleasantly surprised) of Swamp Thing, and a few scratchboards of Zatanna, The Human Torch, and Batman... crossed fingers that one or two of the customers post pics for me to 'borrow'.

(UPDATE: Oh look! One of them did just that!)
Up next- York Book And Paper Fair, a local, one-day show that specializes in print collectibles. My second year doing this show... maybe I can find a book or two illustrated by one of the Golden Greats, (last year I bought a 1919 3rd Edition of THE ARABIAN NIGHTS, illustrated by Maxfield Parrish). After that I just have the Mid Ohio Con left for the year, which means another return to Columbus, my home for 4 years during college.

-dirk

May the train chug along...

Been busy with cons and two jobs this year, and not dedicated enough to keeping the blog up. I'm trying, though.

Here's a commission of Abe Sapien I did for a young dude who met me at the Baltimore Comic Con. I couldn't get to it at the con, but conveniently, he lives nearby, so I got to do it this weekend. I'd like to begin focusing on a standard style for my commissions, so that it's easier for me to do these things. I look at folks like Chris Samnee and Mike Henderson and have much love and respect for how prolific they be with their work, which only cements and improves their style.

A scratchboard commission for the holidays...

I got the opportunity to do a few commissions for the Christmas season. It never feels bad when someone pays you to create a gift for someone else. Just think- that money could be in Wal-Mart or Sear's hands already, but instead they decided to waste... spend it on a personal commission. This is where the NBC 'More You Know' sound byte chimes in. Would've had another, but hopefully that one returns later down the road.

My three commissions this year were a Captain Kirk...

...A family portrait...

...And a quick gag gift.

Hey wait a minute....... this stuff.... is fun to do!

-dirkus

PS... NOW I'm going Christmas shopping.

Between Conventions...

One of the couple sketches I did at Pittsburgh Comicon...

... it's Batman.

Pittsburgh went well, not the sales I hoped for, but not too disappointing either. At this moment, I expect each con, each year to get better. All attention is on Baltimore. I need to work on my con sketching. One, bettering them, and two, getting more requests. Should do some pinups before next year's cons and put them in a port. My anatomy knowledge is fading a little, and we know what that means.

Sold an oldie to a con-goer. Gentleman emailed and asked to purchase my Vlad Putin piece, which I did back in college. Def feels good to get rid of old stuff. At least I still had it. For all I knew I might've used it as a doormat when funds were low. But its good. Ans I framed it. And I matted it.. cutting a mat took about 6 tries.

Alright. This blog screams of stream of consciousness. I must a read a comic, and nap, and get back to work on the webcomic. ROCK!

Convention Season Is Forever, forever, (forever)

Im in the middle of some fun times, as always when I give my mind something to latch on. Problem is, my sometimes lack of discipline means I often neglect important things to hunker down on.

Take for example- preparing for conventions.

My convention season is solely the fall this year- Pittsburgh is September 11-13, Baltimore is October 10-11. I look forward to these very, very, very, very, very much. Each year, I become a more professional voice and visual presence- from my first time, where I pretty much played 'special guest artist' and assistant set-up kid who signed books as they were sold, progressing to this year, my 4th, and 1st with my own table at both cons.

It's not a stretch to say I have a lust for custom building, and there's a reason. Such a great feeling when you can build something to your own liking out of whatever material you can find or deem essential, hopefully doing it for less or at least making it fit your exact needs... and hell. sometimes, what you make actually works!

I'm using this DIY ethic to make myself some modular display racks which I can change the size of depending on the table space I've allotted for it/ them. This takes time, from brainstorming, sketches, and thinking of the proper material, to goin out and buying all the supplies, to cutting, grinding, painting, and playing the fiddle to celebrate. All this time means dedication yes, but I lose the desire to actually do art when I go headfirst into projects like that.

In other words... Busy. But Lazy.