Phoenix Comic Con Report 2009
Phoenix Comic Con Report 2009
I had the brief crazy thought that I might do a report for each day after I came home from the Phoenix Comic Con which was January 22nd-25th, but that didn’t turn out so well.
Note to self: I need to get a laptop so I can write in the field, even if I don’t have internet access, so I can upload at home in a more timely manner..
In brief, Phoenix Comic Con was a lot of fun. I ended up spending a lot of time just hanging out at the Rebel Legion Mos Eisley Base booth (say that three times fast) and we raised over $400 for charity (Disabled Explorers) through our lightsaber raffle (donated courteous Ultrasabers).
Thursday 22rd Preview Night – Alice takes 3rd place in Zombie Beauty Pageant
Technically, Thursday was the “preview night” for the convention (i.e. if you didn’t pre-pay for a three-day badge, you couldn’t get in). Since I was planning to volunteer at the Mos Eisley Base booth for at least two of the three days at con, I decided that I would wear my dark Alice costume (as seen in the “American McGee’s Alice” video game) on Thursday.
I didn’t do much shopping in the dealer’s room because I ended up going outside to watch people practice for the “Lightsaber Exhibition Show” that members of the Mos Eisley Base were performing for the Comic Con. Call me five, but I was highly entertained by a choreographed lightsaber fight and audience participation where we got to learn the Jedi Code and use the Force against Asajj Ventress.
I went back inside to take a look at the film festival schedule and someone called out to me to tell me I should enter the Zombie Beauty Pageant because they didn’t have enough participants. I quirked an eyebrow at that, because Alice isn’t a zombie, but I guess enough blood on your apron means you can pass yourself off as one.
At the film festival, I watched a horrible horror short, followed by a pretty good one (the bad one was all “Blah! I scare you with my gore and kidnapped girls and horrible horribleness! RAWR!” while the good one was “I’m going to freak you out with my psychological thriller that has a twisty ending at the end that totally makes sense but adds to how screwed up my psycho killer is”).
I came out of the film festival in time for Jenny to shove an entry form for the Zombie Beauty Pageant at me. I just about choked when I was told I had to “perform a talent.” Walking around on stage in a costume is not much different from walking around a convention in costume. But I’m actually supposed to do something, like sing, dance, or tell a joke? Uh, crap. I was lame and went with “head chopping action” since I had a butcher knife because I had no idea what else I could do (and was willing to do). One of the real zombies ended up helping me “gore up” with fake blood on my face and knife.
In the end, the Zombie Beauty Pageant had a whole six participants, which is downright depressing when last year’s event had thirty. Thursday night was just a bad night, especially when the pageant didn’t start until 10:00pm on the schedule, and in reality didn’t start until 10:25pm. Fortunately, I had taken Friday off because I’m just that hardcore, but when I talked to the contestants backstage a number of them had jobs/school they needed to attend the next day, so the event was poorly planned.
In the end, I walked away with 3rd place, which is not too shabby considering that I wasn’t really a zombie. The action figure I won didn’t thrill me much, but the $50 Bookman’s gift certificate rocked.
Friday 23rd – Marina Sirtis is entertaining, and the Art Bug Strikes Back
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v286/Lady_Jedi/Phoenix%20Comicon%202009/Friday%20January%2023rd/Friday I geared up as a Rebel Fleet Trooper for my first day of volunteering at the MEB booth. Because all the tables inside got sold out before the Comicon agreed to give us space, we ended up getting permission to set up tables outside. This turned out pretty sweet since we had four tables and an overhead covering that members brought along with comfortable chairs (which was no surprise to me since many people, myself included, of the MEB are veterans of the “Star Wars Episode III Line-Up” where the Harkins theater gave us permission to camp on the sidewalk for a little under a week until the opening night of “Revenge of the Sith.” Yeah, I’m a geek).
I got to the booth, started doing the “We are the Rebel Legion” speech and the “lightsaber raffle, and pretty much didn’t leave until about a half hour before Marina Sirtis’ panel. For anyone who might not know, she played Counselor Troi in “Star Trek The Next Generation.” I literally grew up watching that show, so it holds a warm fuzzy place in my heart (I love science fiction and fantasy in general, so while my “Star Wars” fandom tends to come out most often, I also love “Star Trek,” “Babylon 5,” “Dark Angel,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Angel,” “Firefly/Serenity,” etc).
Saturday had the big panel with Brent Spiner (Data of ST:TNG), Wil Wheaton (Weasly also of ST:TNG), and Marina, but I figured I’d go to the panel with just Marina in case I couldn’t attend the big panel.
Just because someone is famous doesn’t mean they are interesting, but Marina is a seasoned pro at attending conventions and telling stories. She had me laughing a lot, and I really liked how honest she was about not being very much like her character (i.e. she used to be a bit of a diva on the set, etc).
I also got to experience my own five minutes of convention fame because a number of people on Friday and Saturday recognized me as “Alice” from the Zombie Beauty Pageant, which was a bit odd but alright I guess.
I went back to the booth, did the lightsaber raffle, and ended up pulling the name of a guy who left us three different numbers to get a hold of him, but he didn’t answer at any of them and I couldn’t even leave a message. The lightsaber went off to the second person I pulled, who happened to be in an X-Wing pilot uniform so that was kind of funny.
On my way to the “Dressing a Galaxy” panel (the MEB did the panel to show off our costumes and recruit others who might have an interest), I noticed one of the artist’s in the hall had a good picture up of Asajj Ventress. I suddenly felt the urge to buy the picture for DarshaAssant since she did such an awesome job on a Ventress costume in the “Jedi Lightsaber Exhibition Show” that I thought it would be nice to have an original piece of art of the character. It turns out the picture was a print, and the artist didn’t sell prints of her art but would do a new sketch. While the lady sketched, I chatted with her husband about role-playing games, specifically Dungeons & Dragons since he was flipping through a monster manual. The drawing didn’t take long, and I thought it was even better than the one that had caught my eye, so I was happy; I just hoped that it would be received well, because I know not everyone is as enthralled with art as I am.
After the costume panel, I had a little time before the “Star Wars Spirits of the Force” fanfilms were going to be shown, which would include the debut of the third and final film in the series, “Reflections of Evil.”
I went to the side of the dealer’s room that I hadn’t seen yet (the room isn’t very big, I just got stopped half-way on Thursday night), and that’s where I saw Benjamin Glendenning, an artist I’ve commissioned several times to draw Tenel Ka and Jacen Solo (www.skulljammer.com ).
.
At the 2007 Phoenix Cactus Comicon, he did this drawing:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v286/Lady_Jedi/jacenandtenelkabybenjaminglendennin.jpg2008 Phoenix Cactus Comicon:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v286/Lady_Jedi/Phoenix%20Cactus%20Comicon%202008/IMG_1346.jpgHe also did another black and white picture of Tenel Ka on the “do it yourself” cover of his comic book.
He’s a pretty nice guy and I liked commissioning sketches from him. This year I started off with the rather blasphemous thought that maybe I wouldn’t commission any art at this convention. I just wasn’t sure of what I wanted, considering I’ve collected a good amount of Jacen and Tenel Ka sketches (together and individual), to the point where maybe I’m done, I don’t need anymore sketches of them, and maybe I’d just pick up a few prints and comic books instead of commissions.
Yeah.
That thought would have only worked if I had stayed outside the entire convention at the MEB booth.
When I saw Ben, he was happy to see me and wanted to show me something. At first I didn’t quite understand, and I probably overreacted to an embarrassing degree, but what he wanted to show me was a sketch card of Tenel Ka:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v286/Lady_Jedi/Phoenix%20Comicon%202009/Friday%20January%2023rd/IMG_1344.jpgThe part that I didn’t understand at first was he took it out of the card holder and handed it to me, for supporting him over the years. I liked it so much I wanted to pay him, and it actually took a moment to sink in that it was a gift. I geeked out to such a degree I might have embarrassed him, but I was really touched that he choose to do the card for me as a gift (which, cats and kids, is nothing to sneeze at considering a colored sketch card can go anywhere from $10-$30 depending on the artist). I was beyond thrilled.
Maybe it’s not a hard thing to thrill me when you can follow the ABC’s of Carol: Art, Bread/Books, Cats/Comics/Conventions. If it falls into one of the five categories, I will be happy.
I didn’t have a carrying bag with me, but that was okay because one of the things I love about my RFT costume is I have pockets galore. I can carry my camera, wallet, keys, snacks, mini-notebook, pens, safety pins, and still have room left to carry more. The Tenel Ka sketch card went carefully into the pocket of my vest where it would be safe and sound.
Of course, it also didn’t hurt that the parking garage with my car was literally behind the convention center. A short walk to the car and I did a quick change from the RFT to normal clothes in case I wanted to do something out in public after the fan films were done (because people will look at you funny if you walk around in a costume outside of a convention).
Honestly, I was expecting to feel a little bored during the first two “Spirits of the Force” films because I’ve seen them many times, but I got pulled right in despite knowing who the people in the film are in real-life. I didn’t see my friends; I saw Kyle Katarn, Jan Ors, Master Bendeen, etc.
“Reflections of Evil” ROCKED.
Seriously, if you like fan films, “Star Wars” fan films in particular, and you haven’t watched any of the “Spirits of the Force” films, I recommend them (not just because I know the people involved, but because they are good).
www.spiritsoftheforce.com
After the films, it was 9:00pm-ish, and I called it a day, since I knew that Saturday would be the biggest day of con and therefore the craziest.
Saturday 24th – The White, The Darkness, and The Chaos
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v286/Lady_Jedi/Phoenix%20Comicon%202009/Saturday%20January%2024th/ Ah, Saturday. Traditionally speaking, the biggest day of a convention tends to be Saturday because most people don’t work and might choose to do a one-day pass for Saturday more than other days. Also, its no small coincidence that the biggest guests show up on Saturday, which is usually the day they have from filming/working/etc (in other words, a guest might fly out Friday night, do the convention Saturday, and fly back on Sunday to get ready to resume work on Monday like most normal people).
Sand Dancer finished work on my Atris costume (a Jedi Historian from the video game “Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II The Sith Lords) in time for the convention, and Saturday was our MEB “Jedi Day.” Atris has white hair in game, so DarshaAssant kindly gave me a wig she’d bought when she thought of doing the same costume herself.
I have come to the conclusion that I need less hair and more wigs because almost none of the characters I do costumes of have brown hair.
A tight bun and many, many, MANY bobby pins later, I got about 98% of my hair under control and under the wig. The wig was more of a colonial-era type wig and too curly for Atris, but there comes a time and a point where you work with what you’ve got and I still think it was pretty cool to get a wig as a gift to help make the character come to life.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v286/Lady_Jedi/Phoenix%20Comicon%202009/Saturday%20January%2024th/IMG_1326.jpgI’ll need to stop at Bubble of Joy for a wig upgrade, but what I had certainly worked for that day at con.
Saturday was also the first day of the “Jedi Lightsaber Exhibition Show” and it went over very well. The kids participated, the choreographed fight went well, and a good time was had by all. The lightsaber raffle was also very popular, being a $1 per ticket or six tickets for $5.
When I could pull myself away from the booth (because I honestly enjoyed talking to the public and hanging out), I went back into the dealer’s room with reference material in hand for a sketch.
Artists LOVE when you have a reference picture for them to work from when you have a sketch request. In general, if I’m asking for something obscure or I don’t know if that artist has ever even heard of a character, I’ll bring a reference picture. If I’m asking the current artist on a particular book or the creator of a character, I don’t worry too much because either they’ve drawn the character so many times they could do the sketch in their sleep or they have reference material on hand. I have had my Phoenix t-shirt end up being reference material before (it’s the Greg Land artwork from “Phoenix Endsong” issue number one).
Anyway, I went back to Benjamin to ask for something different this year: a sketch of the Winchester boys from the TV series, “Supernatural.” I love the show, and I wanted to see how the artist would do an interpretation of the boys. I’ve noticed it’s very hard to “realistic” renditions of real people, so it’s almost preferable to get an artistic interpretation where the expectation is not a recreation of real life.
Benjamin was doing sketches for donation to the HERO Initiative (
http://www.heroinitiative.org/ ), and next him was Tim Seely, a pretty awesome artist who has done “Transformers” and currently on the “New Exiles”. I asked Tim to do a sketch of Blink, an X-Men character who became popular from the “Age of Apocalypse” (which is still one of my favorite X-Men storylines).
Now, since this was Saturday and people have been requesting sketches since Thursday, I didn’t know if they could fit me in on the schedule. Fortunately, when I go to conventions, I tend to go the whole time, so I got on their lists and I happily put my donations in the jar.
I went hurrying down the hall to get in line for the big Star Trek: The Next Generation panel when a sign that I hadn’t noticed before for an artist caught my eye. I didn’t recognize the name, but I recognized the symbol for the comic book company Top Cow (which is a very distinct artistic rendition of a cow udder. Don’t ask, I wasn’t consulted on the company emblem). On further reading I found out he’s the inker on the Top Cow book, “The Darkness.” I made a mental note to return and investigate further and went on to find the line.
And there was a line. One which went outside and started to snake around the building, and I did not make it inside the room for the panel.
I admit that I was not overly upset at not getting in, for a few reasons.
One, I’d gone to see Marina on Friday as a safe guard against not getting in on Saturday.
Two, I’d known from last year that the Comic Con staff do not clear rooms between panels, and that’s the same way its been at just about every major convention I’ve attended (San Diego Comic Con, Dragon*Con to name the big two).
I heard two people behind me griping about the rooms not being cleared not being fair to the people standing in line, but I disagree.
I think it’s annoying as hell to have to clear out of a room if there are two panels back to back that I want to see, because chances are I won’t make it back in if I have to wait in line again. The people who run the convention have to walk the fine line between making the people who are already sitting inside a panel happy and the people who are waiting in line for a panel also happy. It’s probably also a huge pain in the ass to chase people out of the room every day after each panel ends (i.e. the convention would need enough volunteers to make the herding possible).
Since the panel was no go, and I had to work a shift at the booth before the next panel started, I opted to jump out of the line and head back to investigate “The Darkness.”
Now, I’ve read “The Darkness” series but stopped about the same time that I stopped reading “Witchblade.” My main frustration with the Top Cow books was the constant tease about the origin of the Witchblade was and the great mystery of the books being revealed in the next story-arc or the next mini-series and the answers I would get basically took a step forward but then a half-step back to keep something left to “reveal” at a later date. I got tired of it.
Recently, though, Top Cow has done some pretty amazing story arcs.
“First Born” gave me answers about the Witchblade (it’s the offspring of The Darkness and The Angeleus when those two opposing powers called a truce and created the Witchblade as the balance between the dark and the light).
“Witchblade” has had some pretty awesome story arcs that begin and *gasp* END within a few issues, and then a new story starts, instead of “tease, tease, new villain, tease, tease, new power, tease, tease.” I’ve been enjoying “Witchblade” so much that I’d been thinking about giving “The Darkness” another try, especially since it rebooted with Volume 3 of the series within the last year.
Anyway, I went back to the inker of “The Darkness,” Ryan Winn. He was sharing the table with another person, so I’m assuming that’s why I didn’t notice him before. On his sign, he indicated sketches, commissions, and original art but no specific prices. This is not atypical of artists; some have very specific prices for sketches, and some it just depends on the request, so there is a definite art behind getting art.
If an artist is open to doing sketches, a convention sketch may run anywhere from being a quick free head sketch to about $20 for a quick penciled head/figure (again this depends entirely on the artist, but generally speaking the more well-known an artist is, the more they can command for their talents).
If an artist is open to doing a commission, a commission is typically something that the artist will need to spend more time on because this is a nice, finished drawing. The line between sketch and commission is a bit fuzzy sometimes, but typically most commissions range between $20-$100, largely depending on who the artist is and what you’re asking the artist to do (Inks? Colors? Multiple characters? Background?).
If an artist is selling original art, the price of original art varies greatly. With comic book art, an original page may cost anywhere between $150-$300, and the cover art will go up to a thousand dollars or more.
I started first with asking about a sketch of Jackie (for anyone not in the know, Jackie Estacado started out as a hitman for the mafia and is the current bearer of The Darkness, a pretty kick-ass power with two major set-backs: one, it doesn’t work in bright/direct light, and two, the power will pass to the offspring at the moment of conception and leave the host dead, which means sex is very dangerous for our intrepid anti-hero).
I found out Ryan was doing sketches for free, so I kicked up my inquiry to commission status. Sketches are nice, but I prefer to get a nice finished drawing if it’s within my budget. He gave me a price for a full figure of Jackie, I thought about it for a moment, and I agreed. The hardest part for me what to decide what I wanted (Jackie in street clothes? Jackie in armor? Jackie in dynamite?) but ultimately I went with Jackie in armor because I thought that would look the most bad-ass and give me the biggest bang for my buck.
At that point, I was the first commission he’d gotten at the convention, which made me happy because that meant he didn’t have a long list of things to do before he could work on my piece.
We got to talking about the series and I admitted that I was not reading the new volume. I figured the truth wouldn’t hurt, especially since Ryan had several of the issues sitting on his table so if I wanted to I could buy them from him. I found it pretty cool that he was honest about some of the past Darkness stories being a little silly and that he was neither surprised nor offended that I’d stopped reading.
In fact, he pointed what a number of fans were saying about the new series that the writer Phil Hester gave Jackie inner monologues that really gives the character voice, to the point that the inker stopped reading the scripts and just worked on the art so he could see the finished comic and enjoy what Jackie was thinking during the issue. I was pretty well sold on at least trying out a few issues, and that’s when Ryan went ahead and gave me the black & white collected edition of the first three issues to read and let him know what I thought.
I walked away feeling pretty stoked about the series and the artist. Just because someone can draw does not mean they are people-persons. I can appreciate art without having a conversation with the artist, but I admit I like my art more when I have a nice warm fuzzy memory associated with the artist. It’s very rare when I have a problem with an artist, but when it happens the finished piece gets a bit emotionally tainted because I can recall the unpleasant feeling or memory from looking at the piece, even if I really love the art itself.
I spent the rest of the day at the MEB booth except for a food run with Sand Dancer. I have to admit one of the things that I love about the Phoenix Comicon is once you leave the immediate area, you’re away from con. With the San Diego Comic Con, the downtown San Diego area is just invaded with convention goers so it’s almost impossible to get away from crowds except in your own hotel room. We ended up stopping at Bookman’s, with Murphy’s Law being that the gift card I’d won as “Zombie Alice” was at home and the soundtrack to “Kingdom Hearts II” video game was there so I had to buy it. I had to, seriously. Besides art, my other crack is music of a weird, random, wide assortment.
Back at the Mos Eisely Base booth, we had our lightsaber raffle without a hitch. We called the lady, she came for her lightsaber, good times. After the booth was struck, I had to leave for my sister’s birthday party.
Of course, I would return for the final day of con.
Sunday 25th – We’re all fine here, now, thank you. How are you?
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v286/Lady_Jedi/Phoenix%20Comicon%202009/Sunday%20January%2025th/Awhile ago on ebay, I found a purple dress that was based off one of Padme’s dresses from the first animated “Star Wars Clone Wars” series. I bought it because I thought it was pretty, but I’m not sure it’s actually Rebel Legion accurate, so I figured it would make a nice convention costume.
I tried to do my hair up like it was supposed to be for the character. I gave up. It was either spend several hours getting everything in place, or saying “Screw it!” and going out the door to go enjoy the last day of the convention.
I also needed to stop by the bank to get more cash because Ryan Winn was right: Phil Hester’s take on “The Darkness” absolutely rocked. I loved it so much that I wanted to see if I could negotiate for a page of the original art because I got the feeling that if I put in a bid around about what I’ve paid for other pages that would be reasonable. I also wanted more of the comic books, so I was ready to go shoppin’.
Although I didn’t have a shift at the Mos Eisely Base booth, I stopped there first to say hello. I really liked our booth; I hope we can get something similar or comparable at the next Phoenix Comicon, because the booth was so much roomier and cooler than a table in the crowded corridor. While I was at the booth, the actor who played Admiral Motti in “Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope” was at the Phoenix Comicon and he came outside to take a picture with us. We also got a picture with Peter Mayhew, aka “Chewbacca.” Very cool.
After that, I went to go see Ryan Winn, and just so happened to overhear someone talking about prices for Ryan’s art. As it turned out, the guy was a friend so Ryan gave him a good deal, but the friend wanted to throw off art dealers who might have been looking for a deal and then marking up the price on ebay.
Given what little I do know about how much pages are worth (example: a splash page is going to cost a lot more than a page that has a bunch of small panels) I choose a page that I thought would go for a reasonable price, and Ryan gave me a good deal because I was a fan. Artists really do like seeing their work go home with someone who appreciates it instead of someone who’s looking to turn a profit.
My commission was still in progress, but I wasn’t worried. Just about every convention I’ve attended, commissioned something, and said I would be there until the end of the con, I’ve had artists who work right up until the “deadline.” Patience is a very good thing to have if you’re going to commission art. I also got more “Darkness” comic books, so art and comic books made me a very happy girl.
I don’t remember any panels really grabbing my attention that day, so I spent some good time in the dealer’s room.
The Atomic Comics booth ended up having one of the best sales on comic books that I’ve ever seen at any convention. Basically, they had their booth surrounded with $0.50 comic book boxes, which as a Sunday special you could use to fill one comic book long box for $10. Seriously, I think you could fit enough comic books into one long box that each individual issue would cost pennies. Also seriously, these were the $0.50 bins, so while there was some good stuff, the comics weren’t in alphabetical order and you really had to dig to pick the treasures out of the trash. I opted to pull 5 comic books for $1, largely because I didn’t want to spend my time digging through the boxes and I didn’t want to take a long box of comic books home to take up space if I didn’t really love all of them.
I went past the Padme and Leia sketches at first because I wanted to check the dealer’s room for anything that really grabbed my attention. I got pulled back to the Leia sketch because I thought it would make a good gift to Sand Dancer (she has the costume, so my brain made the “She has that costume and is good person, she should have that sketch;” I’m just a little random sometimes).
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v286/Lady_Jedi/Phoenix%20Comicon%202009/Sunday%20January%2025th/IMG_1337.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v286/Lady_Jedi/Phoenix%20Comicon%202009/Sunday%20January%2025th/IMG_1347.jpgThe Padme sketch I hesitated on because there was no price tag and I’m not that big of a Padme fan in general. I really did like the picture, so I did go back to ask. I’m glad I did, because it was less than what I’d been willing to pay/negotiate (sometimes artists are willing to negotiate on pieces if they can tell you really like it and have the cash for it). Funny enough, the artist liked it so much herself that she asked me to send her a scan/picture of the picture so she could have it for her records.
Post con-note: I overcame my more slacker-like tendencies and I did send her the picture of her picture. I also sent a picture of the color Jacen/Tenel Ka picture to Benjamin Glendenning because he lost his picture of it and wanted to post it on his deviant art site. Sometimes I’m good about being on top things; other times, not so much.
Last year, I got a Dark Phoenix sketch from one of the artists who worked on the convention’s badges, Tony Parker. One of my last purchases of the day (that I can now remember, because memories of the con have gotten fuzzy at this point) was to buy a print of Gambit and Rouge from that artist.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v286/Lady_Jedi/Phoenix%20Comicon%202009/Sunday%20January%2025th/IMG_1352.jpgIf I’d had more money to spend at his table, I would have, because I like going back to artists I like. If somebody makes the effort to leave me with a good impression of them and their work, I remember them and I want to buy from them again. Sometimes when I go to conventions, artists remember me or they remember the piece that I commissioned, so while I’m not the richest person I like being an art patron because I know the money is going directly to the artist.
I picked up my sketches from Benjamin and Tim Seely.
I do love my sketch of the Winchester boys, all art emo-angsty. :)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v286/Lady_Jedi/Phoenix%20Comicon%202009/Sunday%20January%2025th/IMG_1349.jpgI think Tim ended up doing mine twice because he thought he’d gotten it done but then couldn’t find it when I stopped by the first time to check on the sketch. Major kudos to him for doing it again and I really do like it.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v286/Lady_Jedi/Phoenix%20Comicon%202009/Sunday%20January%2025th/IMG_1350.jpgTravis Hanson was doing free sketches (he tries to do as many as he can) so I got a Jedi.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v286/Lady_Jedi/Phoenix%20Comicon%202009/Sunday%20January%2025th/IMG_1351.jpgI went back to the Mos Eisely Base booth because I wanted to sit down for a bit (which I admit is another reason I really loved our booth). The last Lightsaber Exhibition show of the day was going to start about the time that Ryan Winn found me to ask me a question. Turns out that work on my commission was going slower than he’d anticipated, and he wanted to return my money and finish the picture after the convention, rather than to try to hurry through it.
I was more than okay with the request, largely because he did return my money and did seem genuinely concerned with doing the commission well as opposed to done. I talked to him later at the end of the day when I picked up the page he’d held for me and he really liked the way the drawing was turning out. He liked it so much that he wanted to ink it, which he decided to offer me as part of my commission since he was going to be late getting it done.
YAY!
Normally, late is not something I’m all happy and cheery about, but I do love it when an artist likes working on my commissions. Some patience, and I would end up with something great. Works for me. :)
Post con-note: I do not have the finished piece in my hands, but Ryan sent me a small picture of the commission.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v286/Lady_Jedi/Phoenix%20Comicon%202009/Sunday%20January%2025th/DK_com_1_carol.jpgIt kicks ass. I can’t wait to see it in person, because with few exceptions, art always looks better in person (the exceptions that I’m thinking of make me sad; I don’t like being sad about art :( ).
I stayed late and closed the convention while waiting with friends to see what awards they might have won for “Spirits of the Force: Reflections of Evil” (which they did, so yay).
Went home.
Fell down.
Can’t wait to do Phoenix Comicon next year. :)
Before the dealer’s room closed, I picked up next year’s admission at a reduced price, so now it stares at me every time I go into the kitchen.
The only kind of bad thing about next year is that the convention will be the same weekend as Memorial Day weekend, so that might conflict with more people’s schedules, plus Phoenix is not nearly as nice in May as it is in January.
Minor quibble, though, since the convention is moving to the Phoenix Convention Center, which will have so much more room (the convention was practically bursting at the seams inside the Mesa Convention Center) and therefore has a chance to continue to grow, get bigger guests, etc. Though I do also have to admit a fondness for the small convention (about a thousand attendees) as opposed to San Diego Comic Con or Dragon*Con sized convention, so while I want the Phoenix Comic to be able to stand on its own two feet as a convention, I’d like the small con feel to remain for a while.
I just want everything, I guess. :P
Hmm…Comicon… :D
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ion_control's journal
