30 - HeroesCon
Art Exclusive
The ROO! I haven’t made anything just for fun in a while, but I was inspired the other day to make a new superhero. Behold, The Roo! He has all the amazing powers of a kangaroo, he can hop, has a tail and of course a pouch. Crime better be on its best behavior when this Aussie is on patrol.
Completed
HEROESCON
Dude, so much happened at HeroesCon, here is your recap from my booth.
FRIDAY
I had a preshow commission, Red Hood from DC Comics, so I handed that off first thing.
I did a commission in an art sketchbook (some art collectors have artists do their commissions in a sketchbook in lieu of a single sheet.) It was an “artist's choice” commission. I had a thumbnail of Venom in my sketchbook and decided to finish it out on a large scale.
That night was the Drink and Draw, where artists draw on blank coasters and paper to raise money for Parkinson’s. Here are the pieces that I donated.
SATURDAY
I got commissioned to do a large Black Widow illustration.
An art collector liked this color print I have of Galactus and asked if the original was for sale. I told him, yes, but it is in my sketchbook. He offered to buy it, so out came the exact-o knife.
That evening was the Art Auction, I had submitted a piece but it was saved for the Sunday morning auction.
SUNDAY
I was inundated with commissions. I had a DM come up and ask me to draw one of her characters for a D&D campaign, I was happy to do it. Then three of her party members came and got commissions of their characters. I spent a lot of Sunday doing portfolio reviews and networking so I put off finishing these commissions and finished them right before the end of the show.
Here is my submission to the Art Auction. I had painted this piece in 2020 for the 2020 HeroesCon art auction, but that show never happened, so I held on to it for this day. It sold for $300 for Parkinson’s research. This was very gratifying because that was my asking price for similar paintings at my table. It helped confirm my price point and value as an artist.
The raffle winner from the show is Cayley H. shoot me an email and I’ll get your shipping information to send you your prize. It was a great show, one of my favorites, I look forward to next year!
BOY AT THE END
I made a fan comic based on Boy at the End, a character made by Skottie Young. You can read the whole comic on my website Here. Young is a huge inspiration to me, he was at HeroesCon and I gave him a printed copy, it made him smile which made my day. If you want to see more of his work, he has a substack called Stupid Fresh Mess.
Current
GRAPHESIS
Andrew and I have a contract for a publishing deal! We are just negotiating the details. Here is some more civil war art to hold you over till I pencil some more pages.
Upcoming
COMIC SIGNING!
I will be signing copies of my new comic, The Oblivion Trials at Infinite Realities Comics and Games in Tucker, GA this Saturday from 11-3. I will also have original pages from the book, sketches, and a few variants on sale. I hope to see you there and hope you will come to support this book that I sunk my heart into.
Book Shelf
WATCH: GALAXY QUEST
I watched this movie with some of my siblings this last week. I forgot how funny and heartfelt it is. It is a spoof of star trek and comic cons, which, coming off HeroesCon, was a great laugh. It also sports an all-star cast. Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman, Sam Rockwell, Tony Shalhoub, and many up and comers
READ: INVINCIBLE
I finally finished reading all of Invincible from Image comics spanning 144 issues. Written by Robert Kirkman and drawn by Cory Walker who was succeeded for most of the series by Ryan Ottley. The series tries to buck traditional superhero values and storytelling for a more real-world approach, where there are real stakes and people die. That said, I think only about seven named characters die over the course of the whole series. Obviously, it is not for kids, the series is quite violent and later deals with some very adult moral and ethical quandaries. overall I would give it an 8/10. It was great, the art superb, very popcorny. My biggest gripe really is the last few issues. It feels very rushed in the wrap-up, and the final line is a reference to a moment that I had forgotten and had to look back up so it didn’t really land, but it was satisfying.
LISTEN: ANDROMEDA STRAIN
I listened to this audiobook written by Michael Crichton. Crichton has become one of my favorite authors of late. I think it is because of how well researched and fleshed out all his worlds are. The Andromeda Strain was fantastic because I went in not knowing anything, so if you like suspense, scientific dilemmas, and that sinking feeling when the narrator tells you that the characters just messed up, then this is the book for you!
Philosophical Rant
FAN ART
So, here is the thing, fan art is a huge part of comic conventions but it can be a big problem. Fan Art is kinda in this grey area of copyright at conventions. Characters and IP are of course copyrighted to their prospective owners, however, there is an unspoken open door to make fan art on a small scale for sale because the creators recognize that it helps promote their property. Obviously, creators would rather make royalties off of every fan art print sold, but that is too complex to set up, and there are too many small fish out there making fan art for IP owners to fry them all.
Here are my personal likes and dislikes about Fan Art specifically at Conventions.
Things I love about Fan Art
A fresh take on a classic character.
Sometimes, the publishers of books can be a bit controlling of their properties (for good reason, they want to make sure the image is consistent) but when you remove those gatekeepers sometimes you get gold, like the Batman above by Lee White in his Children’s book style.
Practice.
Fan art can be a great way to practice drawing or storytelling. If you are a young artist and don’t have your own characters, then you can make a comic about a character that already exists. It cuts out all the background character work and allows you to focus on a part of the storytelling.
Passion and care.
The word fan is short for fanatic. Fans have a deep love for their comic, character, movie, or whatever they adore, and that love tends to show up in the final product. Take pretty much any fan film. Almost none of them are monetized because of copyright, they don’t make money, they were made just for fun and love of the thing.
Things I hate about Fan Art
If all you have at your booth is fan art.
This tells me that you have nothing unique to offer. I do my best to have less than half of my table be fan art. Right now 4/6 of my books, 5/8 of my prints, and the vast majority of my original art are original works as opposed to fan art. Fan Art can be great to draw people in to share your new original project.
If I can google the image that you copied or traced.
Often I will look at fan art and realize that someone has just googled an image of the character and copied or traced it. For a previous rant on tracing images visit another rant here:
If it is not true to the character.
This is probably my biggest pet peeve, tho it is rarely crossed. I just want people to be respectful. but occasionally people will draw something irreverent or false about a character. Obviously, it is done to get a rise out of people and to be subversive, but It just annoys me. The worst is that one booth at almost every con that is just pin-up drawings of everyday characters, usually in demeaning and impractical poses.
In summary, I think fan art can be great. I have made two fan comics recently, Old Man Windu, and Boy at the End. I do fan art of comic characters I love all the time. but I try to focus on making original art, characters, and stories.
Thanks for the update, Anderson! Looking forward to the signing on Saturday!!