The late Motor City Post 2009

I never seem to get these post in on time...So, Motor City Comic Con was last weekend, and it was a wonderful start to the new convention season! I had not one, but three new mini-prints for the show...in continuation of my love of my childhood, I did a Fraggle Rock triptych. Here they are in all of their glory. I still have some left, which I will bring to the next convention in Knoxville, Adventure Con. So here is a rundown of the con.
Friday: Slow. Friday's are always slow, but it seemed moreso this year...people are always working, or having better things to do on a Friday than run around a convention all day. I saw all my old friends, was set up next to my buddy Ken Kreckler, had a great chat with Mark Sparacio, and generally had a good time. Amber went off to go Star gazing...Aaron Douglas and Michael Hogan of Battlestar Galactica were there, both of which were extremely nice guys...Amber did find out that Aaron was quite a comic fan, and quickly gave him a copy of my book....he was quite excited, and later asked me for the next chapter...I guess he liked it...Amber managed to snap a photo of him in his geeky glee. We were set up across from the General Lee....which I thought was going to be quite a pain, but it drove traffic to our section of the convention center quite a bit....it helped that Bo Duke himself, John Schnider was signing autographs there all weekend as well...On Friday he walked by my table and laughed at my Last Mupper and gave me a thumbs up, so it is now unofficially endorsed by Pa Kent himself! My friend Peter stopped by to keep us company for a bit, he had his heart set on buying some Wolverine Claws that day.
Saturday: Talk about busy! I have never seen a more crowded Saturday! It more than made up for Friday's lack of traffic. Amber was stuck at my folks house for our second bridal shower, so I brought Dad along to be my part time "booth babe"...personally I think Amber is sexier. Aarom stopped by briefly to say hi on the way to his table, he was leaving mid-way through the day, and he asked me to stop by if I had the chance. Sadly I did not, It was a steady stream all day. Costumes are always fun to see on Saturdays at conventions...and this was no exception. There seems to be a large ensurgence of Steampunk cosplayers in the past year...at least 2 airship pirate crews were there, and they really took their time on their costumes. Dad seemed to have a good time there...he picked up a few books from old students of his, but not much else. My buddy Jason stopped by, as did my friends Joe and Kamron.
Sunday:Everybody was tired and it was starting to show. Traffic was slower, but no where near as slow as Friday. I had a chance to walk around a bit, which doesn't always happen at these conventions. I talked again with Mark, who said he did very well this convention, and I gave him a print for being such an inspiration for my work ethic this past year. He gave me his cell number and email address and told me to call him whenever I needed to chat. That put me in a great mood for the rest of the con.
One last Image to discuss before I end this post. Last Summer I did a convention in Toronto called Paradise Con...Sadly it is not happening this year (but I am doing Fan Expo Canada!) Anyway, I was set up next to Brian Evinou, who is an animator based in the Toronto Area...I did a pinup for him of his character Lucy Legacy, and he said he was going to return the favor...only took him about a year, but he finally did it. I will be seeing him at Fan Expo Canada in August...can't wait!

The Search for Spock!

So, on Saturday, my brother Tyler graduated! Congrats Ty!
While in Albion Michigan, my folks and I stopped into a Burger King for breakfast. I was shocked to see the Star Trek toys for their kids meals, and I was drooling over the collectible drinking glasses. Sadly, I had no money on me, so I could not purchase said glasses. Ty got a free pizza coupon for Domino's Pizza at commencement, and he did not want it, so he gave it to me....Little did I know that my later trip out to pick up pizza would start a geeky quest. Amber and I were hungry and ordered the pizza, and I mentioned the glasses from earlier. Amber persuaded me that I did indeed NEED the glasses, and so with pizza and Dog in the car, we drove off to the local Burger King.
Upon arrival, I ordered Amber a veggie burger combo meal, and a set of the Glasses. The disembodied voice inside the speaker box said they only had 3 of the 4 glasses, and that they were missing Spock, i ordered the other 3, and we asked if they knew if there were any other BK's in the area that would have Spock. The dude assured us that they would. So our Search for Spock began! Unlike Star Trek 3, there was no planet going through an accelerated aging process, just one pizza, and an unsupervised burger in a bag...plus one hungry dog. We had to make a stop for Amber, and when we returned, only 2 minutes later, the burger was gone(and the dog burped). So now we not only needed the Spock glass, but another veggie burger for Amber (who by this point didn't want any of the pizza) We drove to the other BK in Ypsilanti...I went to order the glass and burger, and they responded "we don't have the Spock glass" so aggrivated I drove off. The quest continued into Ann Arbor, where we hit not one, but 2 Burger Kings! I even bought Amber's second Burger at one of them, but they tried charging us an extra $2 for the thing (after giving us a bun with lettuce and ketchup and nothing else) so we demanded our money back.
Still Spock-less, we drove to the edge of Saline. Again no Spock. I got on I-94 determined to get that damned glass!! We got off in Belville, and tried the BK there...and they had 10 CASES OF SPOCK!! Yay! So...to recap, we wasted an hour and a half, driving through 3 citys, hitting a total of 6 Burger Kings to complete the set! I was quite pleased, cause I wasn't the only driving force of this quest, Amber was determined too! (she is so not a Trekkie) We saw the movie the next day, and I loved it. Amber loved it! It is now my quest to get her to like Star Trek....I have had her watch 2 episodes of the original series since, and she liked one of them and fell asleep during the other....baby steps I guess.
Anyway, if you made it through all of this mumbo jumbo, you probably noticed my latest pin-up....anyone see the starfleet insignia hidden in the background?

Wolverine

So, I don't have the money to see the movie yet...getting paid Monday. But I was hyped about the motion picture, so I decided to do a Wolverine pin-up painting. I set off to complete an image of Wolverine after a fight; I wanted dramatic lighting, some smeared blood, a glowing cigar with puffy smoke, and some sort of setting that would be good for a brawl. But when I started drawing Wolvie, I found myself liking the hatching on his torso quite a bit, so Instead of shading him in with wash, I left him white. I broke out my airbrush and decided to get my dramatic lighting down before nailing down a setting. Again, once I removed my mask, I ended up liking the minimalistic background. It feels a bit more artsy or poetic to me. So I stopped. I like it too much to go further on it...it's done! What do you think?

I got it Covered.

So, figured I'd share with all of you what you are missing out on by not purchasing a copy of Into the Dust #4 on my website...Here are 4 covers that I have recently finished for some of my pre-orders. I am back doing regular Substitute Teaching this week, I was spoiled last month being able to sleep in, waking up by 5:45 was a slap in the face...but it is nice that by the time I leave the house, the sun is up. Motor City Comic Con is only 2 weeks away! Are you ready? I am gearing up to do a few more prints in the next few weeks to prepare, be on the lookout for more posts.
I think I need to do a Wolvie print, and some sort of Trek print before the convention....sound good?

Amber and I have our first bridal shower this Sunday, yay! Glad I only have to make an appearance at the end of it, not saying I don't like the people going to the shower, it's just not my scene.
Our Wedding is just a short 8 weeks away, sent out all of our invitations this past week.
Well, off to go gather some loose change from around the house for Wolverine tickets, wish me luck!