HEROES CON pics and Diary!

Ghostbusters car re-creation outside the show on Saturday. I had to snap a pic!

My little "apartment" under the desk. It was actually VERY comfortable! Believe it. 

One of the sketch covers I did for the show. 

The view outside our window. Look at that shit!!!

The hotel lobby, moments after my arrival. I'm sittin in the bar area looking out. 

Of all the commissions I did this weekend, this was my favorite. It was a Doctor McCoy birthday card! I wrote it. The front reads "Dammit Christine (the persons name), I'm a doctor, not a calendar!" (inside says) "But I remembered your birthday anyway!" 

I felt inspired Friday so I thought I'd revist some old friends....

I don't get into costuming or cosplay much, but I liked this dude. Some post-apocalyptic duds from this cool dude. Very nice! Looks like he could be right off the pages of Anna Pocalypse 2! Speaking of which...

Here's some ugly mo mo behind the best standee in the world! 

Lastly, Brian Stelfreeze's Auction piece. STUNNING!!!!

6-20-12

I set my alarm for 4:30, and I get up and have some coffee with dad. I am trying to regulate my sleep so that I sleep for the long nights drive to come. He ends up laying back down for sleep an hour later, and I update blog and my to do list for the day. The wife wakes up and I take her to work, so I can keep the car for the errands I have to run all day. The rest of the day is a blur, but she gets home and I attempt sleep in bots’ room, which lasts about 45 minutes. I end up taking off around 10:30 and heading for Charlotte, NC for HEROES CON!

6-21-12

I drive all night and stop at a rest area just before the Ohio/West Virginia border and take a nap from 5am-7am. I get back up and head on out. I record videos along the way. I arrive in Charlotte around 12:30 and wait in the hotel for JJ. He calls after he lands and arrives at the hotel. We check in and I go back to unload the car. Then we head over to the convention center to check in and I set up some of the stuff on my table. I text Brett to see if they have made it in yet. JJ and I go to Fuel Pizza to grab my first meal since 5pm the day before. Then back to the room to relax. He takes a nap and I make a little “apartment” below the desk, giving Mark Walters my bed for the weekend. JJ gets back up and we go downstairs to the bar. I enjoy a couple beers while seeing everyone arrive and I use the hotel lobby Wifi (FREE) to talk to the wife. Finally I go back to the room and pass out around 11pm, exhausted as hell and ready for the show the next day. I am also flat broke because I forgot about the $18 a day parking at the hotel. I am officially wiped out for funds, so I am hoping to make some cash the next day to get enough gas to get home and for food eats.

6-22-12

4am, I get up from my little floor apartment to piss. I notice Walters hasn’t joined us tonight in favor of sleeping in Brooks’ room, so I take the bed for the rest of the morning. Around 8:30am, I get up for good, shower and head on over with the rest of my stuff to the con center to set up. I meet my table neighbors and set up. I run into Manny Cartoon who is doing great. I see Brett, his mom and Kevin and we make plans to grab lunch after. The show opens and its slow going. In total for the day I think I made $50. It was slowwwwwwww. Instantly I am feeling sorta bummed about it but still confident of a great Saturday to come. The show ends and I meet up with Brett and co, and we walk four blocks down to Five Guys Burgers and Fries. We eat hearty and catch up. Then head back. I go back to the room and relax for a while  and finish a commission and an Anna 2 page spread. I get really pumped to draw at conventions! Then JJ comes back and convinces me to go downstairs to hang out. I get there and no one I know is around. JJ talks with his pals and I sort of just check online stuff until getting bored and head back to the room. I am really focused on just getting pumped for Saturday and the nervousness of my piece possibly getting into the “big room” for the auction tomorrow night. I end up passing out in the room around midnight.

6-23-12

I get up, shower and head on over to the show around 9am. As soon as the floor opens, I start making huge sales. I do a few commissions and sell lots of prints and print cards. A very impressive total for the day after that. Great! So now my worries of gas money home and all that are over. Now just the hurdle of the auction piece getting in. I turn it in to the Heroes office and head back to the table. I finish out the day a much happier dude and meet up with Kevin, Brett and his mom again for a 4 block walk back to the food court up the road. We choose to eat at a place called Firehouse Subs, which is AWWWEEEEESSOOOMMMMEEEEE!!!!! We eat hearty and I head back as I don’t want to miss the auction. My nerves are on edge as I have banked a huge amount on the idea that if my piece didn’t make it in, I’d take it personally. But after the good sales day I had, I sort of softened on the idea. Also I decided I was really going after the lust of the result and allowing that whole thing to take a larger position in my importance scale than it needed to be. I explained all this to JJ at the room and he dropped some mad science to me as he always does and I felt instantly better about it. I adopted a “come what may” attitude about the whole thing. The pressure was gone.

We head down to the auction and I scan the pieces. Mine is no where to be found. For the third year in a row, I wasn’t picked. And my initial reaction wasn’t anger or sadness like I thought it would be. It was relief. The pressure was off and I knew that tomorrow, someone was going to bid on it that really wanted it and it was going home to a real fan of the piece. There was nothing to measure about it and I was out of the loop on it. I appreciated it and felt great about it. I sat and watched the auction for a while. I got glassy eyed once again during the Mike Weiringo scholarship announcement (as I always do there. His work means a lot to me). I get to just before halfway through it and I go back to the room to crack open some beers and record a video or two. After liquoring up a bit, I go down to the bar and grab an Amaretto and sprite and head back to the auction. I run into Brooks, who says he beat his old record on his new piece for the show. I offer up hearty congrats and its great to see him again. There’s some sort of “smokers jacket” thing going on with the big boys where they let new guys into the “club” each year. Mark Walters got in this year and he’s enjoying wearing the jacket at the show! After trying to hear the auction over the talking to no avail, I retire back to the room to continue drinking. JJ joins me after the same frustration and Walters joins after that. We sit and talk for a while and Mark leaves for downstairs. JJ and I sit and have a deep, deep conversation which I really enjoy. I always love that part of the shows, the deep connections you make with like minded people and you get to be a part of it. Its humbling. Finally we head back downstairs together to find Walters outside with some pals and we chat for about an hour by the water fountain, enjoying the night air. We head back inside and I pass out around 2am, a long day over.

6-24-12

I get up around 8:30 and pack up my part of the room. I wake goodbye to a sleeping Walters and put my stuff in the jeep. I head over to the show and run into Uko on the way in. I say hi and catch up. Once inside, I do some very light shopping. I get some Tales from the Crypt digest trades for a $1 a piece and a Matt Busch art book collection for $5. I see Manny again and talk to a few other sketch card artists and introduce myself. I get cards and contacts for new pals in the gig and promise to follow up when I get home. I walk around saying my goodbyes, as when I decide to leave, I am just gonna jet quick. Kevin and Brett try to talk me into doing a show in August at a fair festival in Ann Arbor, which I promise to think about doing. The show opens and I make a few nice small sales. I price stuff low to go as I don’t want to lug it back home. Around 2:30, it dies off pretty low and I decide to leave the show early. I am quite homesick and just ready to get going. I pack up and carry everything quite awkwardly to the car. Finally there, I am flop sweating like a mother fucker. I cool off to the AC and head down the road. All thoughout North Carolina there’s heavy chubby rain and I am concerned for my safety on the drive home. But after the Virginia border, it gets dry and fine. The wife calls and I make her happy knowing I left two hours earlier than I thought I would. I drive on through the day and my folks call me as I round Columbus to say they are heading home as well. They got their own version of homesick going on. I thank them for staying with Kelly all weekend and they leave the house. I get home about three hours later and bring my stuff in. I hug the wife and she’s happy that I am home. It feels great to be here once more! I check internet shit on my phone and pass out around 3am.