Sunday, June 28

Daily Art Weekly 22

The latest batch of daily art posted to Tumblr and Facebook. You can now buy the posted pieces here and in previous daily art posts! The price differs if you pick it up at a convention or want it mailed (mail price reflects shipment costs).

Sizes
Which piece do you want?



Tuesday, June 23

HeroesCon 2015

That show was jammed.

Saturday, traditionally the main day of any weekend show, expanded further with the late addition of Stan Lee, and business, as they say, was a'boomin'.

Surprisingly, Sunday was the second strongest day for sales despite being an hour shorter than the previous two days. There are conventions what would kill to have on Saturday the kind of attendance HeroesCon had on Sunday.

Not surprising, as I've talked about on this site before, was the demographic breakdown. Conventions are drawing women, and they are buying. The majority of my commissions were for women, and, again, cosplayers shop too. I hear the complaint that they don't, but my numbers bear it out for another year of shows. Heroes is a great show for everyone, and that demeanor has welcomed a variety of attendees who engage with the vendors and artists. Sure, many come to see specific names and buy specific items. But a healthy number brows our wares and take home something that caught their eye.

They're happy, I'm certainly happy, and we get this great show every year.

I walked with Kelly Sue DeConnick Saturday morning and nabbed a great head shot from Doc Shaner on Sunday. I saw friends get under-the-carpet drunk. I ate great food, and I came home with more money than I arrived with. Victory for days.








 

Monday, June 15

Daily Art Weekly 21

The latest batch of daily art posted to Tumblr and Facebook. You can now buy the posted pieces here and in previous daily art posts! The price differs if you pick it up at a convention or want it mailed (mail price reflects shipment costs).



Sizes









COMMISSION PIECE

Tuesday, June 9

Going to HeroesCon

Got my table assignment yesterday. Flatbear and I are at table AA-206. Oh hey, here's a handy graphic.


We get moved around each year. This is my fourth year with a table, and I've covered every quadrant of artist alley. It's my hope to get into Indie Island, and maybe my 2014 trade of issues and my forthcoming graphic novel can help that along. Maybe.

Still, I have new prints and posters for sale, and I offer a discount for cosplayers. I want to see all the costumes, people. Swing by and say hi.

I'm still taking commission requests. The info for that is here. 

Monday, June 8

Daily Art Weekly 20

The latest batch of daily art posted to Tumblr and Facebook. You can now buy the posted pieces here and in previous daily art posts! The price differs if you pick it up at a convention or want it mailed (mail price reflects shipment costs).



Sizes








Wednesday, June 3

DragonCon 15: First Try with the Frodo Costume

Previous posts:
Making Frodo



Since checking a fabric and craft store for Mithril ideas, I ordered a Frodo costume from Amazon. The plan was always to treat this as the base and spruce it up as needed. Here's what the original looks like.


We got the costume a few days ago and put it on The Deputy to see how it fit and what alterations were necessary.


He's already pretty happy with it, as you can see. And it's not bad. The colors are pretty good. The fabrics are distinct. I was expecting a Ben Cooper vinyl onesie. This is a good start for his first DragonCon costume. He's already talking about who else he can dress as in the future, and I remind him to see how this year goes first.

I think he'll be fine. He's attended book parties and other conventions in a Jedi costume without much of a fuss. But DragonCon is on such a bigger scale than all other shows. The number of people discourages me from giving him a Sting to carry around. It will look great for pictures, yeah, but he could also clip people's Achilles tendons with every turn.

In the first fitting, I decided we need to do the following with my meager sewing skills:

1) Hem the sleeves. They're  a little long. That should be no problem.

2) Pin the interior vest flaps. That should also be easy.

3) Use a green leaf broach to clip the cape around his neck. The easiest element. I already ordered a broach replica.

4) Make Mithril. Because of the fitting, I now know how much to make. He'll get a dickie instead of a full shirt -- more like a bedazzled bib -- to avoid heat stroke. That will be my biggest task, and it seems feasible.

5) Make Hobbit feet. We found these plastic feet that strap over shoes, but they seem too big for him, and that dense convention population will probably crush them within an hour. Also escalators and stairs seem like bad ideas. I'm thinking of painting some very small Converse to look like hairy feet. That should take an hour at most.

6. Maybe add fabric paint to the buttons to make them pop. I have leftover paint from last year that should work.

That belt seems like it should go under the vest, but it's attached to the top layer. We'll tuck it next time and see how it lies. We might cut it off. Then again, if he does have Sting, he can carry it in the coat belt.

We already have the ring and necklace. When we put the costume on last night, he started reciting the Frodo/Boromir scene from the end of Fellowship. I think he'll be a hit. I think he's gonna lose his mind.