This last weekend I went off to visit Baltimore and see what their Comic-Con had in store. I wasn’t dressed up as anything as I was mostly there to promote the comic and take lots of pictures. Both of these things were done!
You can see the photos here:
I have attended a lot of conventions. One of the things I love to check out is the Artist Alley. This is where the various comic/fantasy/painter artists hang out and have tables and do sketches. You can walk by and visit with them, browse their artwork and even have them do a sketch for you.
From an photography artist, this made me a little jealous. I love the idea of sitting in a booth or table and doing on the spot artwork for people, or having elaborate mat-boards for people to browse through. But as we all have learned, I am still in the early stages of drawing, and I don’t really have some printed artwork that I can display…….
or do I?
I went through some of my older photos and noticed a theme. I have a lot of nerdy prints that I have taken over the years. Some of these would look cool hung up in a study or in your geeky nerd cave. So I have decided to compile them all into one place, and then offer them up “Project Nerd Prints”.
If I am at a convention I will try and have some of these printed out and available, as well as having the ability to do on the spot portraits. This is coupled with my working on sketching.
If you think of something that would be a good Nerd Print, please pass the suggestion on and I will see what I can do. Please feel free to browse the full gallery over at Flickr and some of the selected works below.
I think I should wait till I have about 20 or so strips under my belt before I decide to call myself a Webcomic author, but yeah, I am making comics now. It started a while back when I was relating to Nick that we should have a webcomic for the RetroNick site. I had some great ideas for some strips that involved us, the hosts, but since I couldn’t draw (and he can, amazingly) we could team up.
Well, the problem with that is that Nick is extremely busy. Also, drawing takes a lot of time. So I gave up on the idea until the other day when I thought about just doing them in Photo form. I had seen Joel Watson of http://hijinksensue.com/ so them on occasion and they looked pretty straight forward. So I wrote up some quick jokes, talked to the guys and suddenly…BOOM, RnR comics was born.
As of this posting, there are only 2 active. I have 4 nearly finished, waiting on some info and extra photos, and another 2 in script form. This process makes me both envious and NON envious of some of the webcomic authors I follow who can actually draw. I know they put a TON of effort into drawing each strip as well as coming up with new material each week/day/etc. On the flip side, drawing some of the panels would make the limit of “what can I pull off in the real world” a little easier. (Example, I probably couldn’t pull off a picture of me and the guys in a theater watching a movie)
So keep an eye over at the RetroNick site and look for the new comics on Tues and Thurs!
So on a whim, yesterday, I decided to try and make a comic strip. So, I can’t draw for crap. I have loads of talented friends who can draw so I am always jealous of them. Occasionally I get some decent ideas on something that I think would be funny in a strip but that lack of drawing kinda puts a damper on things. And don’t give me the whole XKCD argument, that boy can really draw.
What I can do is take pictures, and I have lots of material to use. So I give you the first Trooper Adventure strip!
I am still working on formatting and such so if I do more they won’t be near as big. Also, I may not stick with just the troopers. It’s a work in progress.
My life is pretty wacky. I am a pretty huge geek on a number of levels. At 37 I still love to play video games, I love comic books (Batman > Superman), I own and have worn many different costumes from Superhero Spandex to StormTrooper Armor. I sometimes collect various toys and still love to play with Legos. I can discuss the inner workings of the Star Trek Holodeck and have seen the entire run’s of shows from Firefly to Doctor Who.
Just 10-15 years ago I would have been considered an Outcast to society, (some may still think that) but, I love who I am, and I love what I do. I have many friends that think/act/enjoy like I do and those are my family. Some people may look at me and think the typically “Bro” thing of “How do you ever date?”
Well, here is the secret. Almost 5 years ago I met someone perfect. She worked at a comic book store and we had so many of the same interests. She loved to play her Super Nintendo on a tiny CRT screen and would stay up late nights playing Fallout 2. She had assembled a Teen Titans Raven costume to wear and has a Batman tattoo. It was a match made in Gotham.
3 years ago today we escaped out to Las Vegas to get hitched. Family and friends were still there and it wasn’t weird. I wore a suit, she wore a dress (which for us was still like wearing a costume). Ever since that time, I am constantly amazed that we managed to find each other and still wonder/fear that this amazing dream will end.
I hope it never does.
Happy Anniversary Sarah!
I have been a very long time reader of a web comic called Real Life Comics. I found the series back in probably around 2002, went back and read all past strips and then have been reading ever since. Needless to say, I have been a big fan. Unfortunately, I never really got into posting on some of the forums and fan groups because I just didn’t need yet another social site to try and keep up with. None the less, I love the strip and the work that Greg does. Every now and then he would throw up a strip that nearly mirrors conversations that Sarah and I have had! (Some of them almost verbatim).
Well yesterday Greg posted about a charity auction that he was helping out with by donating his hand made 4th Doctor Who scarf! Now, Sarah already owns a 4th Doctor scarf and loves it. I have always been jealous of her massive warmth in who-dom. So I got pretty excited about the potential to have my own that 1: Was hand made by someone who I am a big fan of, 2: helps out a great charity!
So Last night I sat and watched the timer tick down on the auction waiting for the price to skyrocket out of my range and was pleasantly surprised when it didn’t! For just over $200 I am now the proud owner of Greg Dean’s Hand Made Doctor Who Scarf!
Big thanks go out to Greg for making laugh on a (nearly) daily basis!
It’s now secret that I am a comic book fan. (Fan is probably an understatement) I love the super hero comics and even some of the Sci fi type comics. The one odd ball in my current pull list is Jonah Hex. I don’t know what it is about Jonah Hex as a comic but it really appealed to me. For those that don’t know, Jonah Hex is an Old West style spaghetti western type comic. The character of Hex is a Bounty Hunter who used to fight in the civil war. He was raised by Indians and is a tough as nails, hard to kill bad ass. Imagine Batman in the old west (with no money and a scared up face). Hex has no powers and no reservations on who should live or die, as long as he gets paid. The comic is gritty and real(ish, it is a comic after all.) That’s the main draw for me. Simpler time where the line between black and white was much thinner, and there were no real politics to how Hex handled situations, and no hidden motives. So two years ago I heard they were planning a Jonah Hex movie. I was elated! The story could have been pulled from any of the great runs of the comic and been amazing.
Skip ahead to the present. Many announcements were made about the movie. Josh Brolin was cast as the lead and I thought “Yeah, I can see that”. Even him talking about the makeup and the limitations of doing the Eye and the Lip skin flap, and how they had to fall back on how it looks now because it was the most feasible, it’s all understandable. I groaned when I heard Megan Fox was cast. (Personally I think as long as she shuts up she is ok.) I secretly wished she would be cast as Tallulah Black. (Tallulah ended up as another severely scarred up Bounty Hunter.)
So now we have the trailer launched. I see the story they are going for and I am thinking……WTF?!?! Take a look for yourself:
Seriously. Hex is not “Supernatural”. He has no powers. He got his scared up face from the Apache Indians! Why did they think they needed to go with some strange powers just because it’s a comic book movie?!? Look at 3:10 to Yuma. It was a great Western movie with a bad ass and it worked! That should be the same recipe for Jonah Hex! I know I will still go and see the movie because I want to see more comics made into movies but I reserve the right to be upset about the changes to a beloved character.
Sigh
