Wizard World Boston - My day there.

GDeep · Forum Newbie Joined: Dec 15, 2004 Posts: 7

Ok so here goes a long day. I'm up Friday getting my portfolio and samples all finished up and ended up getting finished at 1:30 am Saturday morning when I have to get up at 6:30 am to get ready and leave...not a good start. I get woken up at 6:29 by my little sister who is going with me...god that one minute makes a difference at my age! I do the morning ritual and grab all my stuff and triple checking before I leave. All good so far. Stop for coffee and breakfast at McDonalds...off we go. I'm about an hour and forty minutes from the show and thanks to Mapquest I have directions....yeah directions written it god only knows what language...well it was english but at 7 am it could be written in Mongoalian for all I know and I get lost in downtown Boston. Ok so I get directions from this real weird middle eastern parking lot attendant and actually understood him without a caffine IV in me. Real nice guy and if I ever see him again I'll have to thank him for getting me there.

We get to the Bayside Expo Center...$12 bucks for parking! (needed a quick vent there..sorry) We pay the admission, pick up some cool freebies at the door and head in. First table I see is Top Cow...oh yeah lets get the portfoilo rolling. "Sorry but we don't have any editors attending the show this weekend to view portfolios, but we'll gladly take any samples you have and see that they get them." Ok...well I can't complain, hopefully someone will get them. Off to the next one.

Ahh...DC comics. I've done a little work for them in the past. Here's a chance to show them all my other work. "Sorry but we don't have any editors attending the show this weekend to view portfolios, but we'll gladly take any samples you have and see that they get them." GAH!!!!! Ok so sample pack 2 down. My sister snagged so many DC freebies I almost had to rent a U-Haul to get home.

So it's still very early and so far I was able to turn in 2 sample portfolios to 2 of the big guys. Not to bad although I haven't opened my portfolio yet. So I venture through the show and see what's around. A huge PS2 booth with tons of games to play was there and that was where my sister stayed for a good part of the day. Oh yeah...she snagged more freebies there...

Two local (boston local) comic companies check out my portfolio and gave me a thumbs up. One of which wants me to do some pin-up and cover work for them. Not to bad. I'm feeling a little better. Good reviews even from other aspiring artists is always a good thing, especially when I'm working in a non-standard format in 3D and digital painting.

Now I hit what they call Artist Alley. Some big names there, some I never heard of. Just alot of real nice talent hanging around, self promoting, drawing for fans, etc. I see a table that looks real damn cool and very fimilar art on it. It's Angel Medina former Spawn artist, now working on Spiderman. He's not even setup and we just hang out al talk for a bit while he gets ready. We talk shop and I mention that I've done work for Brain Haberlin, we hit it off real well. Awesome guy and real fan friendly..with the coolest booth I saw there.

So now I go check out some of my other favorites there. Jim Starlin, Tim Sale, Mark Silvestre and Mark Texeria plus a few others. I'm still waiting for a chance to see the big guy of the show Joe Quesada. He's doing a panel discussion and some other things so I just wait and check out more of the show. Meet up with my sister and see she's struggling with bag after bag of freebies she got from all the companies there....to damn funny for someone that isn't much of a comic fan. We get something to drink at the consession stand....$2.50 for a bottle of water! (needed a quick vent there..sorry)

We see Mick Folley from the WWE and stop by there for a bit and split up again so she can go spend some of my money. Now a few hours into being there I finally break down and buy a few prints from Angel Mednia and talk with him more. I can't stress enough...if you ever go to a show and see this guy there GO SEE HIM! He's real damn cool to just hang with and talk to. And what a fast damn artist too. I watched him crank out a Wolverine sketch for a guy in like 5 minutes that would make you cry....and on top of it he was doing sketches for free!

Anyway we talk more since it's starting to die down at the tables because Joe Quesada is out signing now and the line was a mile long. i wanted to see him but the look of the line made me decide not to. So Angel and I talk more and here's a quick breakdown of what was said.

Angel: "Could I see your stuff?"

Me: "Sure, I might as well let someone see it seeing as not many are here looking at them."

(some joking about the show and how it's the first one here in Boston and not many editors wanted to come to the first one)

Angel: (Looking on the first few pages of my stuff) You did this?

Me: Yep, well that stuff you are on now was done by myself and Brain (Haberlin)

Angel: What about this? (Misc pages I've done for practice or fun)

Me: That's all me down to the printing smudge mark.

Angel: This is all CG?

Me: Well all digital. I do CG and then do alot of digital painting over the top of it in Photoshop.

Angel: (On the last pages now) DUDE! What the hell are you doing here?

Me: What?

Angel: Go up and show this to Joe (Quesada)...this stuff rocks! I'm not sure if he is looking at stuff today but just be persistant and if anything give him your samples if he'll take it.

Ok now I have to dare the dreaded line. Now I'm not sure how it would make you feel but when a top guy like Angel Mednia say they like your stuff...well it's a damn good feeling. I hope in line to see if Joe Quesada will check my stuff out. The line went very fast and I was actually up there in like 15 minutes.

So I'm infront of the big guy and I ask the question I have a few times today. "I was wondering if you were looking at portfolios today"

Joe Quesada: "Sorry not today but if you would like to leave samples I'll gladly take a look at them over this weekend."

Well that wasn't so bad. There was only one other submission pack there so I was on the top of the pile

I thinked him for his time and went on my way.

Over all the show ws great for being the first one in Boston. I was a little disapointed at the lack of editors there but I'm sure next year it will be even bigger. I got nothing but great comments and reviews on my stuff from those i showed it to and even from the bigger names in the business so out of anything that made my day bigtime. So out of six sample packs I made I only brought 1 home...hopefully with any luck I'll get a call from one of them.

Kudos go to Angel Medina for just being a real cool guy and very socialable to the fans that came to his table.

Big boo's go to the guy from the Animation Master table trying to sway my ways from my prefered 3D software!

I snag my sister and we head on home. I think I need a rear end alignment on my car from all the freebies she got and stuffed in the trunk of my car. I had to have lost a few pounds of air in the tires

GeorgeD

Hasdrubal

I'm curious, do they run any fan film events at the Wizard Cons?

GDeep · Forum Newbie Joined: Dec 15, 2004 Posts: 7

I didn't see any there today. I also didn't stay for the whole show. It ended at 6pm and I left around 3. There may have been or one on Friday or even this Sunday.

Lions Gate was there promoing some of there new films with lots of cool previews and freebies. Including lots of stuff on Saw and upcoming Saw 2.

I think there is an online program of the days events on their site still so it might say if there is any.

Also this was the first time it was held in Boston so the displays and companies there were a bit smaller than the ones in Chicago, Philly, Texas and LA. Next year should be alot bigger from the sounds of it.

GDeep · Forum Newbie Joined: Dec 15, 2004 Posts: 7

http://www.wizarduniverse.com/conventions/boston/programming.cfm

Link to their programs for this weekends events.

G~

Hasdrubal

I think they had some fan films for one of the Chicago shows a few years back. I think they've cut back on fan films in favour of running promos for the real movies.

Warner Bros. probably isn't tolerating fan films at ticketed events anymore.

GhostofMacbeth · Forum Member Joined: Sep 21, 2001 Posts: 615

Good luck and hope you had a lot of fun ... Those things are always so exhausting for me.

Joseph_OBrien

Sounds like you had a great time, George. Good luck and keep us posted!