My normal fare for conventions is the Penny Arcade Expo, and as a result I am accustomed to informative panels with a few medium to large names and a whole slew of upcoming video games to play on the show floor.
WonderCon presents a whole new array of things to be excited about, including the chance to meet some of your favorite artists (both comic book and otherwise), as well as see huge names in TV and film during presentation and special announcement panels.
I'm going to go ahead and focus on the artists that I met, because those actually involved conversations and eye contact. First and foremost, I met Brittney Lee! I've mentioned her before, and I'm going to go ahead and talk about her again.
I was anxious to find her booth, purchase her book and ask her about her work flow. There are some things I've been trying in my own paper art, and I figured I may as well take the opportunity to ask for help from someone that I admire. I ended up purchasing a print of hers as well, which is exciting.
Her booth was fairly busy, but eventually I had a chance to say hello, gush about her work, and ask her how to curl paper. I experienced a technical malfunction and only part of the video survived (sad sad sad) but here's what I managed to salvage of her demonstrating paper curling techniques:
I could have stood around and thanked her a million more times for her help, but I had taken enough of her time. I had also been a bit awkward. Watch the next video to find out why.
The second artist that I had the pleasure of meeting was Kris Straub, creator of the webcomics Chainsawsuit and Starslip, as well as the co-star of Kris and Scott's Scott and Kris show and Blamimation on PATV. He is, hands down, the friendliest and most laid back individual I've ever met sitting at a table. I approached him on Saturday, having recognized him from his show with Scott Kurtz, and started babbling away about how funny the show is. He was gracious and pleasantly chatty. I filmed part of our conversation, and I'm going to share it with you here:
I went ahead and told him that I didn't realize he had his own webcomic *le gasp* and he was kind enough not to tell me to get the hell away from his table. I had only ever seen his videos with Scott on PATV, so I figured he was a friend who liked to doodle. Turns out, he's a friend who likes to doodle and has his own very successful webcomics that he draws for a living. Whoops! haha As I stood and chatted with him I flipped through all of the Chainsawsuit books that he had for sale and ended up buying one. They're very funny, and you should buy them too.
On Sunday Andrew came with me and he stopped to say hi to quite a few artists while I hovered in the background looking at pictures. Some of them I recognized, like Stephen Silver, and some of them I didn't, like Joe Weatherly. We also chatted with Andrew's friend Fabian Molina. We saw Mike Mignola, but his line was outta control.
I can't wait to build up my own art, maybe make a book and sell some prints and have more opportunities to meet those that inspire me! Check back tomorrow to hear about the panels I went to, and how I reacted when Charlize Theron came on stage.
-MJ
WonderCon presents a whole new array of things to be excited about, including the chance to meet some of your favorite artists (both comic book and otherwise), as well as see huge names in TV and film during presentation and special announcement panels.
I'm going to go ahead and focus on the artists that I met, because those actually involved conversations and eye contact. First and foremost, I met Brittney Lee! I've mentioned her before, and I'm going to go ahead and talk about her again.
Brittney Lee herself chattin' things up with prospective customers.
Her booth was fairly busy, but eventually I had a chance to say hello, gush about her work, and ask her how to curl paper. I experienced a technical malfunction and only part of the video survived (sad sad sad) but here's what I managed to salvage of her demonstrating paper curling techniques:
I could have stood around and thanked her a million more times for her help, but I had taken enough of her time. I had also been a bit awkward. Watch the next video to find out why.
The second artist that I had the pleasure of meeting was Kris Straub, creator of the webcomics Chainsawsuit and Starslip, as well as the co-star of Kris and Scott's Scott and Kris show and Blamimation on PATV. He is, hands down, the friendliest and most laid back individual I've ever met sitting at a table. I approached him on Saturday, having recognized him from his show with Scott Kurtz, and started babbling away about how funny the show is. He was gracious and pleasantly chatty. I filmed part of our conversation, and I'm going to share it with you here:
I went ahead and told him that I didn't realize he had his own webcomic *le gasp* and he was kind enough not to tell me to get the hell away from his table. I had only ever seen his videos with Scott on PATV, so I figured he was a friend who liked to doodle. Turns out, he's a friend who likes to doodle and has his own very successful webcomics that he draws for a living. Whoops! haha As I stood and chatted with him I flipped through all of the Chainsawsuit books that he had for sale and ended up buying one. They're very funny, and you should buy them too.
On Sunday Andrew came with me and he stopped to say hi to quite a few artists while I hovered in the background looking at pictures. Some of them I recognized, like Stephen Silver, and some of them I didn't, like Joe Weatherly. We also chatted with Andrew's friend Fabian Molina. We saw Mike Mignola, but his line was outta control.
I can't wait to build up my own art, maybe make a book and sell some prints and have more opportunities to meet those that inspire me! Check back tomorrow to hear about the panels I went to, and how I reacted when Charlize Theron came on stage.
-MJ
