Friday, March 26, 2010

Where the attempts at Magic happen

My workcrib - it's what all the cool artists do and if I do it, I'll be cool too, right?


Ye olde drawing board(looking a LOT tidier than usual because I just finished pencilling an issue). Old Disney friends will recognise quite a few toys up there.
The red and yellow blob on the shelf is the ComiCon 07 My Little Pony special. Super-Pony, yaaaay!
Note the home-made Muppet model screencaps. I don't trust anything Muppety that's not drawn by Michael Frith, so I go straight to the DVDs ;)


Computer corner. This is Eve, the second workstation Scott has built for me over the years. The Eve rug on the floor is a lot dirtier than it looks since a certain dog showed up. On the window sill are the My Little Pony collection (shut up) and various vintage ornaments (and Spooky).
On the wall - my treasured hi-res scan of Chris Sanders' original Lilo watercolour.
Don't ask how I got it.


The lesser-used corner of the room since I got the Cintiq. Both the lightbox and the folder shelf are ex-Disney and at the back is basically my archives and ephemera collections. Work in progress.
Next to the lightbox is a pile of stuff waiting to be framed. Luv my art.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Emerald Con 2010- a roundup

I spent a fabbo weekend in Seattle with all the guys at Boom! for Emerald City Comic Con.
I got to meet some folks and get some smashing art. I especially enjoyed meeting the fabulous Brittney Lee, who looks like she should have wings of gossamer, live in a toadstool house and sup the nectar of flowers.
I wanted to get Kate Beaton's book, but you couldn't get NEAR her booth for the crowds. This is what happens when famous webcartoonists offer post-it doodles for a buck.

Boom! had a fantastic weekend and I finally got to see my Monsters Inc. and Muppet Peter Pan trades. Looks MUCH nicer on the glossy paper stock and each book has a full cover gallery, so go buy 'em! By the end of the show we'd sold out of MI trades and only had 2 Pans left, so thank you everyone for stopping by and buying some fun stuff!

I didn't get to see much else of the con because quite frankly, I was SWAMPED all weekend by sketch-seekers and lovely people saying hello. Boom! had the prime anchor location right at the con entrance and I probably missed seeing SO much cool stuff because my head was bent over my sketchcards. I started by doing little pencil sketches for free with book purchase, but after a while people kept eyeballing a little rendered card I did of Kermit and asking if they could buy it. So after a while I decided to just take commissions for the sketchcards. Boy, did a queue build quickly and didn't diminish until the end of the con! But the response was fantastic, I got to make a bit of cash and Boom! moved a LOT of books that weekend with 3 artists in attendance (me, Toy Story artist Nate Watson and Cars artist Alan Gladfelter.
When you get bear-hugged by your CEO, you must be doing something right.

Animal was far and away my most popular request, followed by Kermit and then Beaker.
But one person got rather creative and started something...

He asked for Death as a Muppet. I can NEVER resist a mash-up ;)
I took a quick snap of it before he collected it and we went our merry ways. The next day someone came up to the booth saying 'I got word that Amy did a Muppet Death, does she have a picture?" He had not MET the guy who got Death, but somehow word got around. He was delighted and immediately commissioned a Delirium.
God dammit, I hate it when another series presents itself.

But my ultimate geek-out moment was this: There I was, sketching away and I detected someone looking on. I heard a cheery "hello!" and looked up to see a smiling lady eagerly beaming back. She said she thought my work was lovely and she was so thrilled to see the classic Muppets being seen and loved by kids again. I said thank you. She mentioned she'd just done a puppeteering workshop in Seattle. Something in my head whispered ''Old on... why does she look familiar?" It must have registered on my face because she said "I'm Karen Prell, I played Red on Fraggle Rock!"

(pen drops from hand, leaps to feet)
Amy: *breath* EEEEEEEEEEEE!!! OHMYGAHD SUCH AN HONOUR TO MEET A REAL OLD-SCHOOL MUPPETEER!!! (or rambling fangirl words to that effect)
She indicated the gentleman in the natty hat with her who again, looked vaguely familiar to me for some reason.
"Oh, and this is Jeff Pidgeon from Pixar Story Dept!"
Amy:(fangirl volume rocketing to eleven) EEEEEEEE! OHMYGAHD I'VE FOLLOWED YOU ON FLICKR FOR AGES OF COURSE I KNOW YOU!!
Camera came out in record time (Nate also dropped his sketches in a cloud of dust and came over when I told him) and we had a lovely chat about adapting Muppets and Pixar to comics and they went away well-stocked with Boom! Kids books.



So yes. Excellent weekend, I came away all fired up to make my trip to C2E2 next month even better. And more well-organised. My liver is glad to be home.

Friday, March 05, 2010

Conning



So, whassup?
I'll be at Emerald City Con next weekend. Boom! Kids will have an entire booth all to ourselves, so come check out the AVALANCHE of stuff me and my Pixar/Muppety colleagues have been doing! There'll be several of we creators there, so come say hi! :)
I'll also be seeking out certain people to fangirl and possibly buy some bitchin' prints for my wall.
I will also be at C2E2 with Boom! on April 16-18, for all you midwesterners.