NYCC part 1

So this is one of three posts related to my experience at NYCC back in October. I just haven't really been able to update my blog about anything since I got back to school....

First off, I did some artist doodles (apparently nobody does doodles of the artists as they doodle... I was so META):

It was a great chance to practice getting a quick likeness down (these were roughly 5-10 mins each). Also sorry about writing "bearsex" next to Craig's face... I had to take some important notes for future illustrations.

Let's get down to the cool stuff... SWAG:

I bought a copy of Robbi's webcomic, Frankie Get Your Gun while I was smoozing in artist alley. :] Check out his work on his deviantart and the blog on his webcomic.

Had to get an issue of American Vampire signed by SGM himself. The guy is too cool and you can check out his deviantart. If I had the money, I'd buy an original spread from Joe the Barbarian or Hellblazer.

Awwwww I got to meet Yuko and Ananth of Johnny Wander! :3 Webcomics are amazing.

Did I mention I got this sweet Wolverine sketch from Guillermo Ortega? SO WORTH $30.

And much more stuff will be covered in the next NYCC-related post. I have to write a review for this graphic novel and etc.

Detroit Fanfare and Tashmoo Biergarten!

Since school started, I have been super busy everyday working on classwork and student government and NYC trip stuff. I also got a job working as a waitress down the street from my apartment building at Byblos on Wayne State's campus. It's a lebanese restaurant so I tend to smell like chicken shawarma and falafel. Sometimes tabouli too.

That means I have to hold off on major updates and a layout change for this blog until I find some time to do this properly. As in, before October so I don't look unprofessional in front of artists and publishers I swapped cards with at the cons I attend.

This weekend I had the luck to get a free pass to Detroit Fanfare Comic Convention as CCS (College for Creative Studies/my school) had a table at the con for portfolio reviews and recruiting. As I haven't officially gone through Student Ambassador training yet for school info sessions/campus tours, I instead got a chance to see how to run a table at a con.

Thanks to Dave Chow, Zach Ares and Hannah Stockdale!

I got to hang out with Joe Foo, a professor at CCS and the creator of Desmond while he was sitting with another CCS alum, Mike Roll. Joe and Mike's tables were right next to Ethan Nicolle, one of the creators of Axecop (he's the illustrator, his 5 year old brother Malachai writes the stories). I sat in as an advertising asian while bothering them at their tables.

I also got cards from Top Shelf and spent major dough on some swag.... but it was worth it. A rare, out of print, complete 2-disc 20th anniversary Blade Runner soundtrack, digitally remastered and resubtitled 3-disc set of A Better Tomorrow Trilogy in a special boxed package, and an artbook of Yoshitaka Amano's concept art for Final Fantasy. I also got some more art supplies and talked major shop with some comic artists. I will make a separate post about some things I learned and some stuff I drew later this week.

Sunday, I woke up 3 times in the morning before getting up from my couch around noon with Futurama dvds on repeat. Then I went to the opening of this Sunday daytime biergarten in Detroit's West Village called Tashmoo.

The biergarten is open on Sundays for the next few weeks with a rotating menu of local brews and eats. I was really impressed with the crowd the neighborhood event created, and the design branding done by my good friend Jacob Hagen (pictured above) at lovio george communication+design was really sharp.

The end of the night concluded with a short film about the Detroit People Mover (which is finally starting construction to expand down to 8 Mile) and was art directed by Michael Burdick, a CCS Illustration Grad who currently works with Team Detroit. Music in the beginning of the film was from Of Oceans, the solo work of Peter Bosch, a CCS Photography student.