Tag: appearances

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Dragons: A Sketchbook Coming Soon

lady dragon watercolor marker sketch for inktober 2019

My newest book – Dragons: A Sketchbook – is coming to KickStarter soon. As in, in the next few days.

The trend of these sketchbooks started with Witches: A Sketchbook, which collected all of my Inktober sketches of witches from 2017. (Inktober is the artist challenge to draw with ink every day during October. Usually there’s an official prompt list. I ignore all of them.)

Last year, I followed this up with Gods & Spirits: A Sketchbook, collecting all of my Inktober sketches of gods and spirits.

This year for Inktober, I’ve been drawing dragons and nothing but dragons. And I’m loving it.

dragon fantasy art inktober 2019 sketch

And soon, they’ll be in a sketchbook.

In previous years, I ran a KickStarter campaign to fund book printings AFTER Inktober wrapped up.

This year, I wanted to start the pre-order ball rolling sooner, because November is going to be a bit of a schedule whack-a-mole for me.

So here’s the deal: email newsletter subscribers are the first to get the news of the Dragons: A Sketchbook KickStarter launch. If you are NOT an email subscriber yet, get on that ASAP. There will be early-bird backer rewards available, and the best way to get them is to be on the newsletter.

Then – I’ll be at New Dimension Comics this Saturday for Halloween ComicsFest. If you check out my table there and back the KickStarter campaign on the spot, you’ll get some goodies from me in person.

After that, I’ll be posting links to the KickStarter campaign on social media on Monday.

How long will the KickStarter campaign last? You’ll have to see the campaign when it launches to find out.

The initial asking goal will be to cover the basics to make this book project happen. Stretch goals after that include:

  • a KickStarter backer-exclusive miniprint
  • a baby dragon sticker sheet
  • an appearance at a large comicon (hopefully near you)!

In short…

Get on the email newsletter if you want to back this KickStarter ASAP and get your hands on an early copy of this book.

If you’re broke, though, don’t stress – just share the link to the campaign when it finally launches. Every share helps more than you know.

Thank you so much for your support!

You. Are. Awesome.

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Coming to Halloween ComicsFest at New Dimension Comics…

IT’S ME. I’ll be coming to Halloween ComicsFest at New Dimension Comics, yo.

Specifically, I’ll be at the New Dimension Comics at the Ohio Valley Mall in Saint Clairsville, OH.

Halloween ComicsFest will be October 26th this year (that’s a Saturday). There will be free comics, scary comics, ALL THE COMICS.

I’ve got some spooooky deals in the works, like

  • giving a free sticker to folks who buy from the comic shop and show me the receipt (LE GASP!),
  • framed original sketches (DOUBLE GASP!),
  • $3 minicomics and zines marked down to half price (GASPIEST OF GASPS)

These deals will be only at Halloween ComicsFest, so if you’re in the Saint Clairsville, OH area, BE THERE, gosh dangit!

But if you can’t make it, there’s my online store, too. Just know that the online store doesn’t have these Halloween ComicsFest deals.

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RathaCon 2019 In Review

I’ve been to RathaCon many a year before. It was one of my first shows as a vendor, and has since become one of my anchor shows. Because of that, I do my best to go every year. I even turned down the offer to go to Awesome Con in Washington, DC again to get to RathaCon instead.

(Mostly because both shows were happening on the same weekend… but RathaCon is physically closer to me and lasts only one day. So I could just drive down, show off, and drive back home without paying for a hotel. Very nice.)

However, this year, RathaCon had a couple of things working against it.

See, Awesome Con wasn’t the only other show happening the same weekend: there was also Gem City Comic Con, and two other shows in West Virginia that I can’t remember the names of. So RathaCon had to work extra hard to get folks to come in.

To my understanding, they ran radio ads, because there were a few attendees who mentioned, “I didn’t know this show was a thing until I heard about it on the radio yesterday! So I HAD to check it out!” So, kudos to the RathaCon staff for getting the word out.

And I’ll humble-brag a bit: I think the print I made for RathaCon helped to draw eyeballs to the show on social media. Especially on Facebook.

That said, the crowd this year was about the same size as last year’s audience, but they thinned out WAY sooner towards the end of the day. Partly because of the rain, I think.

I’m not sure how many attendees were current students of Ohio University, though.

One of the reasons the convention staff picked the day they did was to try and entice the local college crowd to come and attend.

But here is where another factor worked against them: April 27, the day of RathaCon, was a week before finals. No sane college student is leaving campus the day before finals week hits, unless they are Sherlock Holmes’-level of confident about their work.

When I talked about it with the staff, we mentioned the idea of offering discounted attendance to people who brought a valid OU ID. Hopefully they do that next year.

Another thing I hope they do next year: get volunteers who check in with the artists more often throughout the day. I was the only person at my table and, aside from the one or two times I could see another neighbor’s table, I could not leave my spot. I’m glad I packed a lunch.

This is a grievance I’ve already discussed with the staff, and they’re working to resolve the issue for next year. I’m confident they’ll fix it, because RathaCon is VERY good at accepting constructive criticism and working to improve year after year. That is one of the reasons they are my anchor show.

In conclusion: was this the best ever RathaCon so far? No. It wasn’t awful or even bad. But there will be changes next year. Hopefully for the better.

And hey! I booked another appearance before 3 Rivers Comicon!

If you’re in the Saint Clairsville, OH area on May 4, stop at New Dimension Comics in the Ohio Valley Mall. They’re running Free Comic Book Day, and they gave the OK for me to showcase and sell my work. Also, there will be a GhostBusters division there. (I talked to some GhostBusters at RathaCon and they mentioned they were appearing at FCBD at the comic shop.)

That’s all for now. Thank you for reading!

You. Are. Awesome.

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Classic Plastics Toy and Comic Expo Coming Soon

artist trading card sketch card spread

On March 3rd and 4th, I’ll be in Parkersburg, WV for the Classic Plastics Toy and Comic Expo.

I’ve never been to this show, so I’m not sure what to expect. BUT I’ll be there with copies of my books, minicomics, zines, prints, and mini-prints, as well as buttons.

The Case of the Wendigo is not going to be available as a book at the show. I know. I’m sad, too.

But I will have free sketch cards. Yes, I’m doing this offer once again! Stop by my table at the show and I’ll have a free trading-card-sized piece of art made for you.

Here’s how it works:

  1. Leave a comment below to let me know what you would like me to draw. Keep in mind the card is about 2 inches by 3 inches in size.
  2. Make an appearance at Classic Plastics Toy and Comic Expo March 3rd and 4th during show hours.
  3. Claim your card!

Super easy.

Limited to one card per attendee.

Also, in regards to the sketch card, you can ask me to draw ANY character you like – one of mine, one of yours, one from a comic or show you like – I’ll draw it. If it’s something obscure I will ask for references, though.

Hope to see you at the show!

Thanks for reading.

You. Are. Awesome.

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New Art Added, Library Visits, and Other Updates

Today’s post comes to you in THREE PARTS.

PART 1:

So I was going through the site and I realized I hadn’t put any new art up on here for a while. So I fixed that!

There is now new stuff in Illustrations, Sketches, and even a few updated links in Comics, including a link to an old preview I made of The Legend of Jamie Roberts.

You can also read the preview comic by clicking THIS PICTURE:

Ch1Cover_promo

PART 2:

On Free Comic Book Day (May 3rd) this year, I will be speaking and showing off my work at the Apache Junction Public Library in Phoenix, AZ! It’s part of their celebration of Comic Book Day, so bring your family along! It’s an all-ages event featuring superheroes and local artists and lots and lots of books.

They asked me to make the flyer for this year, so start looking forward to some work-in-progress previews as I work on it.

PART 3:

The Legend of Jamie Roberts‘ script is almost finished. I was hoping to have it completely done two days ago, but no such luck. At least it’s 80% of the way there, so with much cracking of my fingers, I’m hoping to get it completely finished by April 14th.

With all of that said, The Legend of Jamie Roberts should be online by the end of June. I would launch at the beginning of June, but that’s Phoenix Comicon (another event I’m going to this year), so I’ll be doing convention-related work around that time.

Charlie & Clow is coming along pretty nicely, even though I need to change up the first few pages. It’ll be easy to tweak though.

There’s going to be a new story arc coming up in Johnson & Sir! And also, expect a new print sometime in the next month, inspired by this sketch:

JohnsonandSir_Sketch7_frozen.jpg

You can also reblog the sketch on Tumblr if you want to show it off to your followers (which you totally should).

That’s all for now. Thanks for reading!

P.S. I’m going to dare the biggest dare on myself and update my blog every day for the month of April. And no, none of the above is an April Fool’s Joke. I already pulled a joke on Johnson & Sir today. I’m joked out.

P.P.S. Actually I won’t be able to update everyday because for a few days in April I’m going to be in San Diego. Psych!