View halloo, all!
Sorry for the delay, I meant to have this out yesterday like all my State Of The Artist updates, but commission backlog from Florida SuperCon had me busy. But, just a little off-schedule, here is the latest update!
Weekly Words
First forget inspiration. Habit is more dependable. Habit will sustain you whether you're inspired or not. Habit will help you finish and polish your stories. Inspiration won't. Habit is persistence in practice.
- Octavia Butler, 1947 - 2006
While Octavia Butler was referring specifically to writing, this certainly applies to any creative endeavor. But, inspiration, by it's very nature, is unreliable. That's not to say it's not a vital part of the creative process, it is, but consistency is the key. Something I'm still working on.
Current Project
Florida SuperCon is over for another year, and it has been steadily growing, which is a good thing! It's nice to have a successful con in Miami for a change, as most genre cons in Florida take place in the central corridor of the state (around Orlando.) So, it's nice to have a con in my own back yard for a change. Don't get me wrong, I love the cons I attend in other parts of the state, but I get wiped out driving 4-5 hours back and forth for every one of them multiple times a year.
That said, I'm pretty sure SuperCon will be moving to a new venue in Miami next year, and if it will prevent the complete clusterf*ck that was the Artist Alley layout this year, I'll happily drive the extra 20 minutes each way and fight traffic out to the beach.
I didn't get to see much of the con (I never do, as I spend all of my time at my table) but the numbers for Saturday topped out at 25,000 attendees, a huge jump over previous years, and not in little part due to George Takei and Kevin Smith on the guest roster, I'm sure.
All that said, I took a number of commissions at the convention over the weekend, more than I usually do, so I thought I'd post them here! (In no particular order)
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Two full body pencil sketch commissions for the same customer, both of which had really interesting involved backgrounds and stories to go along with them. I think we actually spent more time discussing the pre-WWI history and background of the character on the left than I actually spent drawing her. O.o
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LEFT: This was a full color commission for a woman who wanted a stylized steampunk version of herself including elements from the A&E series "Vikings," which is AWESOME and AMAZING and I loved every episode and I can't wait until it comes back because ZOMG!Ragnar Lothbrook! This was a fun piece!
RIGHT: This customer wanted a full body pencil sketch of Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender, and thank heavens for smart phones and the ability to Google reference pictures! >.< I had a lot of fun with those hands! Usually hands at odd angles frustrate me to no end, but these actually came off without a hitch. :)
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LEFT: A full body pencil of an original demon character. I was given some great background info on this guy that really just instantly resolved into this whole arrogant and insufferably smug image in my mind. I was provided with some fabulous reference images, too!
RIGHT: A full body pencil sketch of an original novel character. This client had already commissioned a number of other artists for their interpretations of this character to see whose vision fit with what he hand in mind. I'm thrilled that he was very happy with my take on his character.
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LEFT: A grayscale w/ accent color commission for a lovely woman with whom I had an awesome conversation that spanned Art Nouveau, comics, and OhayoCon, which she attends regularly. I was very excited to work on this piece, as it was just the most effortless piece I worked on all weekend. I'm only sorry I didn't get it done before she had to fly out, so it is in the mail and on it's way!
RIGHT: A full body ink for fellow Artist Alley table monkey, Derrick Fish, of his original character Zoe. I was given a beautiful comic of this character as reference and I can only hope I did her justice!
Whew!
Near Future
Well, now that SuperCon is over, I'm just waiting to hear about table applications from NYCC as far as big cons go, and I am SUPER excited about that one... and more than a little intimidated, to be honest. It's also the most expensive convention I'll be attending, in terms of table/travel/hotel costs.
In the meantime, I'm set for AFO in Orlando from August 16-18, which is in a new location this year.
I heard a number of good things about some pretty local, smaller cons over the weekend, so I'm looking into those either as a last minute addition to my schedule for this year, or as options for next year. I'll post more informaion about them as it becomes available!
I also have two rather large commission projects to get started on now that SuperCon is over. I'm excited to get them going!
Well, I think that's all for this week's State of the Artist update here on Planet Kit.
I thank you for joining me again this week! Feedback is the food which fuels the creative discussion between Artist and Audience, please, feel free to comment or leave suggestions for new projects!
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