Free Comic Book Day Wrap-Up

Here's some of the free sketches I drew for customers at Lightning Comics in Coeur d'Alene, ID on Saturday. I was there with my friends in the Comicsmiths' Guild for Free Comic Book Day.

The shop had a really good turnout, and we were busy sketching the whole time, almost non-stop. It was great to talk to so many people who had been there for FCBD the past couple of years, and were looking forward to seeing us again.

There was a small write-up in the local paper about the event - the Guild got a mention, and they even included a picture of me sketching for one of the kids who was there. You can read it here: The Coeur d'Alene Press

 Also, there's a new comic up on the In Geekness page at my website, so be sure to check that out too!

Hey Look, Comics!

I did another journal-type comic a while back - it was fun to do, and got a pretty good reaction from people, so I thought I'd try to do some more along the same lines. I'll be posting these, along with some commentary, over at my website, which I'm hoping to change into a sort of hub for any comic-related content I produce.

I’m tentatively calling these strips “In Geekness and In Health”, and you’ll find them at the In Geekness link on the main menu of the site.

Not sure, but think I'll shoot for at least a couple of these a week - I figure it'll make a good compliment/replacement to real day-to-day blogging and mean some regular comic content on the site.

 A few other important reminders/notes:

 - I'll be at Lightning Comics in Coeur d'Alene this Saturday, from 10:30 to 3, drawing free sketches for customers for Free Comic Book Day.

- The Catbeard Indie-GoGo campaign is still going; this is the fundraising/pre-order campaign for the first print collection of the Catbeard webcomic. You can read all about it here: Catbeard Book One is Go!

 - I'll be at the upcoming Spokane ComiCon (May 19), along side my buddy Matt Nelson, the creator of the aforementioned Catbeard.

 - And I just got confirmation that I'll also be at the Jet City Comic Show in September, sharing a spot in Artist Alley with another friend and local artist Josh Montreuil.

Free Comic Book Day!

It's here once again - the day that's Christmas for comic geeks, and also a great chance to introduce comics to new readers and make a new generation of fans.

Free Comic Book Day is this Saturday (May 5), and is a national event that provides retailers a lot of awesome comics, from a variety of publishers, that they can give away for free. All of the comic book stores in the Spokane area will be participating, and I will be at Lightning Comics in Coeur d'Alene on Saturday from 10:30 - 3, drawing free sketches for customers along side my friends in the Comicsmiths' Guild.

If you're not local, be sure to check out the FCBD website for a participating retailer in your area, and I hope to see everyone else this weekend!

Free Comic Book Day Wrap-Up

Free Comic Book Day is always great, as it's kind of "Geek Christmas", but this year's was particularly fun, though a pretty long day...

I was over at Lightning Comics in Coeur d'Alene, ID with my buddies in the Comicsmiths' Guild, where we were drawing free sketches for customers for a little over four hours. There were people lined up and waiting outside before the doors opened, and we kept busy the whole time, with a steady flow of people.

After we were done there, we headed over to the local theater for another 2+ hours of sketching - this time of only Thor (and related characters) as part of a promotion for the new movie. We were only drawing for people who were going to see Thor, and we were still swamped, and stayed longer than planned.

But we had to eventually pack up and leave, as we had a free screening of Thor waiting for us, courtesy of the theater management. I thought the movie was awesome, even with my expectations as high as they were, and being such a fan of the source material.

It was a lot of fun, with a surprising amount of (actually funny) comedic bits and plenty of big super-hero action and fight scenes. Afterwards I was left thinking that the new Superman movie is going to have it's work cut out for it to compete...

But if you do see it, I wouldn't waste your money on the 3D version. I thought it really was unnecessary, and the conversion wasn't the greatest either. Unlike other 3D films I've seen, it seemed like they didn't adjust the brightness or contrast or something, as the glasses actually made things really dim. Which made many of the scenes (like the night-time sequences) a bit hard to see. I'm planning on seeing it again, and going for 2D next time.

And here's the pics I got of sketches I did during the day. These are all from the Lightning Comics session - I unfortunately didn't get any of the Thor pics, but it was kinda crazy at the theatre...

Free Comic Book Day!

Tomorrow (Saturday, May 7) is Free Comic Book Day, and I'll be sketching up a storm at Lightning Comics in Coeur d'Alene with my friends in the Comicsmiths' Guild. We'll be there from 10:30 - 2:30, and then head over to the Regal Riverstone theater, where we'll be drawing free Thor sketches for customers from 4:30 - 6:30.

Members of the Guild will also be over at Merlyns in Spokane from 11-2 doing free sketches for kids. Along with sketches from the Guild, the Imperial 501st should be there from 1 -3 for photo ops and there will be a costume contest with prizes for kids and adults.

If you're not local, be aware that Free Comic Book Day is an international event, so you can check the FCBD website and find a participating retailer in your area. Otherwise, we hope to see you this weekend!

Emerald City ComiCon is this weekend...

... but unfortunately I won't be there this year.

Jenny and I were planning on going, even though I wouldn't be at a table this time (Artist Alley sold out way early and The Comicsmiths' Guild didn't get a spot), but her job requires a minimum 3 months advance for time-off, and we didn't think to put the request in till after New Years. Oh well, realistically we probably don't have the money to spend on the trip right now anyway...

But, if you do happen to find yourself at the Convention, there will be a few local friends & Guild members in attendance:

- Levi Skeen and Nate O'Brien will be with the Sketch Crew, at A-15/16/17 in Artist Alley. Copies of the new Comicsmiths' Guild Anthology will be available for purchase there, featuring a comic short from yours truly.

- Erik Thompson should be at the Rorshach/MicroBrew Studios booth (114).

- Lars Brown will probably be at the Oni Press booth (806), but only on Saturday.

- Jay Gunter will be at the Creator's Edge booth (L-01/02), promoting his upcoming novel, Left Hand Tree.

Emerald City is an awesome convention, and I wish I wasn't missing it, but we'll definitely be there next year (both Jenny & I, and The Guild). For now, I've got to start thinking about the upcoming Spokane ComiCon and Free Comic Book Day, both in May. I'll be with the Guild in Artist Alley at SCC, and we'll be at local comic shops on FCBD, doing our regular deal of drawing sketches for kids.

The Guild's first "real" event as a group was for FCBD in 2009 - it's kind of awesome to think we've been together for 2 years now, and we're just getting started!

Free Comic Book Day Wrap-Up!

Well, Free Comic Book Day has come & gone once again. It's always a fun experience, and this year was no exception.

I spent Saturday at Lightning Comics in Coeur d'Alene, ID, sketching away like crazy with other members of the Comicsmiths Guild and Joshua Covey, another awesome local artist who we just met that day. It was a packed house pretty much the whole time, and the day was mostly a blur of people and drawing. We were scheduled to be there from 10-3, and ended up staying till 4 since there were still people coming in.

A few other guys from the Guild were over at Merlyns in Spokane on Saturday, and apparently it was just as crazy over there as well. It's great to know FCBD did it's job and got people in the doors of comic shops to check them out. Hopefully some of them will come back and become regular readers.

Myself and a couple other Guild members came back to Merlyns on Sunday, as the owner was extending the FCBD festivities to the whole weekend. It wasn't near as busy, but that might have a lot to do with the day also being the annual Bloomsday Run, a huge local event that draws most of the city's attention. But we still ended up doing a few sketches while we there.

Below are some of the sketches I did both days (click the pics to enlarge) - unfortunately there were quite a few I didn't get photos of.

Free Comic Book Day!

The Comicsmiths' Guild will be on hand at local comic book stores this Saturday and Sunday to do free sketches for kids, as part of this year's Free Comic Book Day weekend.

On Saturday members will be at Lightning Comics in Coeur d'Alene, ID from 10:30 to 3, as well as Merlyns in Spokane from Noon to 4. The Guild will also be back at Merlyns on Sunday at the the same time.

Free Comic Book Day is a single day - the first Saturday in May each year - when participating comic book shops across North America and around the world give away comic books absolutely FREE to anyone who comes into their stores. So drop by a local comic shop this Saturday, see what's happening in the world of comics and pick up some free books!

Many comic shops organize events, such as in-store creator signings or contests, to coincide with FCBD. So wherever you're at, be sure to check with your local shop and see what's happening. And if you're in the Spokane/CdA area, drop by and meet the Guild!

Happy day-after-April's Fool Day

Hopefully everyone avoided any unnecessary nonsense, tomfoolery or shenanigans. There was the normal annoying fake internet news and the people in charge of deviantArt messing with everybody's avatars, but luckily nothing in "real life" to contend with.

It's yet another beginning of a new month, and lots of things on my to-do list right now. Mostly comic & art related stuff, including getting ready for the Spokane ComiCon next month, but we also still need to take care of (i.e pay) our taxes and a lot of other miscellaneous household type things.

Free Comic Book Day is coming on May 1st, and the Comicsmiths Guild will be sketching for kids at local comic shops again. I'll probably be over at Lightning Comics in Coeur d'Alene with a couple other guys and other members will be at Merlyns in Spokane.

A reminder that most of our wedding pictures are going to disappear from our Flickr account in the next few days, so if anybody still wants to grab any now's the time. Our Pro (paid) account expires in a couple of weeks, and we're not re-upping it. So we're cleaning out most of the old pics and will maybe start actually posting some of the tons of new pics we have on the computer and haven't done anything with yet. We'll see, it's not really a huge priority right now.