Day 3

It is interesting that, as far as I can tell, artists are damn nice people. I am not talking about the “about-to-becomes” who are trying to make it and are scared and nervous, etc, but the actual working artist. Today I met some of my favorite artists, and they have become some of my favorite people. I think this relaxation and niceness comes from a confidence of spirit, a realization that they are actually doing this for themselves. When you see beginner artists, who have never had an art job, have never been hired, they are typically nervous and unable to carry on a conversation. This is a normal stage, I think, that every artist goes through. Then you start to realize that you are actually doing this for yourself. Yes, you do need clients, and you do need to get paid, but ultimately you become your own man (or woman). You get to a point where you are doing it because you need to; no matter who you are working for, you become your own client. It’s interesting because the downside to this is you also become your own harshest critic. When you are originally sitting in line, waiting to have your portfolio reviewed your thoughts run along the line of whether they will find you good enough. Eventually, your thoughts change to “oh god I hate this one too!!” and so… the point…artists become damn nice people.

I’d also like to mention that there are some amazing costumes here… holy smokes! Did anybody see the predators?…awesome! the father and son predators were awesome!

A small note about Vehicle Issue 03……HOLY SMOKES…we got some amazing people wanting to be a part. And that’s all I’m gonna tell ya!

Later
Tyler

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Day Two

Today was another great day at the con. Last year we did not spend any time going to lectures and panels, and I now regret that terribly. Today we went to two panels. Panel one was Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba…fantastic. Very awesome guys with lots of really interesting stories. It was great to hear there perspective on comics, and continuing on a similar theme as yesterday, there dedication to the medium was very apparent. It was funny, one guy asked a question about comics in Brazil, and Fabio Moon responded by saying “well, after I climb down from my tree house, I ride my elephant…” it was very funny, playing on stereotypes I found particularly amusing coming from Canada, as we don’t, as popular belief would have it, live in igloos and all own dog-sleds, haha.

The second panel we attended was called After the First 1000 Pages based roughly on themes from the book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. Featured in this panel was Gene Colan, Becky Cloonan, Zander Cannon, Roger Langridge and Matt Kindt. Again dedication was obvious. It was awesome to hear these artists speak, especially as I am a big fan of Becky Cloonans work myself.

Another immense highlight was meeting Nathan Fox, who I would like to thank for reviewing my portfolio, and Eric Canete, who’s blog I read every few days. Both of these artists are a huge inspiration to me, check them out if you have not as yet seen there work, brilliant.

See you tomorrow,
I have some new artist’s sketchbooks to look at.

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Day One

Hello from San Diego!,

First of all let me acknowledge my excitement in being here, San Diego is a gorgeous, extremely hot, city. Beautiful trees, streets and architecture, especially the architecture. Second to the city, the con itself, this is our second year, and so we had an idea what to expect but the press of bodies of like-minded individuals was still a huge surprise. It is nearly overwhelming to be in a room, a big room, mind you, full to the brim of people all in love with the same thing you are…stories, characters, heroes, adventure, comics! It is amazing. Even more overwhelmingly for me as a creator, is to see the unbelievable talent, unbelievable dedication, unbelievable passion many hundreds of other artist have for their art.

It’s interesting when you talk to somebody who has been to say, MOMA, or the National Gallery of London, such as my wife, and hear them talk about how much impact the original work of art has on a viewer. It is hard to imagine that a still image can have that effect. We went to the panel highlighting Bill Sienkiewicz today. He talked for an hour answering people’s questions in a very enlightening manner, talked extensively on the metaphysical, spiritual, meaningful aspect of art. He told a story of going into MOMA and rounding a corner and coming face to face with “the Kiss” by Gustav Klimt. He said it brought him to tears. I spent a long time today, with Hilary, pouring over the originals of Bill Sienkiewicz himself today. Flipping through his paintings and sketches and comic pages, I was blasted by the desire to RUN….Run not in fear, but home, home to my drawing table and get my ass in gear. There is NOTHING, more inspiring to look on the original work of a fellow artist, (fellow ha!, I imply equality….the cheek) I wanted nothing more than to draw. I felt this last year as well, I love being among artists, love seeing their work, love being apart of that brotherhood of people who love what they do and do what they love, to entertain, to create, to inspire.