The comic convention this past weekend was awesome. I got to hang out quite a bit with Mike and Lora Innes at The Dreamer table. I had some fantastic interviews with some prominent companies and met a few fellow illustrators whose work I admire.
I had the tremendous pleasure of meeting and engaging in a long conversation with the great Bobby Chiu whose talent, affability and resourcefulness are all in equally great supply. I briefly met the sweet-spirited Kei Acedera whose work is also incredible. I met Grant Gould who is both humble and generous with encouragement. Tom Hodges was also very encouraging. (I even walked away this weekend with an original Tom Hodges drawing of Chewbacca that will hang in my office indefinitely. Its awesome.)
I met many other talented artists and it is because of these artists that I am now, quite literally, overwhelmed with inspiration.
One piece that I did for this weekend is the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles piece that you see above. It was a big hit. I have to admit that I was a little concerned about it, simply because I had to finish it very quickly. As I discussed in my previous posts about my painting of John Locke and The Smoke Monster, I don’t often draw or paint characters that I did not create. Part of the reason for that resolve is my belief that if I am going to take the time to create a piece of artwork that features someone else’s character(s), I’d better have something to contribute.
I think it is really important to have something new to say, to present a new point of view or a fresh approach if I am going to do an illustration of familiar characters like the Turtles. I think of it the same way I think of cover songs or remakes of old movies. You want to remake an old movie or cover someone else’s classic song? Great, but contribute something new in the process. If you don’t contribute, the best possible outcome is an accurate, albeit shallow, facsimile. I want to help to expand the existing mythos with every interpretation that I make of someone else’s character(s).
I am not entirely sure I that have succeeded in this endeavor with the new Turtles piece although I was assured by a representative of Wizards Of The Coast that I had been successful. Don’t get me wrong, I am pretty happy with the image. …and perhaps my own personal technique is enough to justify the existence of an illustration like this one, but I wish I had contributed something more. I wish there just a little more magic in the piece.
I guess its not bad, considering how quickly I had move. (I completed the sketch and values in one day and I finished the color in a single night.) I’m just relieved that it didn’t end in disaster.
I’ve added a couple of process screenshots below.
I’ve finally got another podcast in the works. Those should even out pretty soon now that the Con is over and I’m not in over my head with freelance work. I won’t be broadcasting again until Wednesday at the earliest. I’m going to take a couple of days off to recharge.
Until then, go well.
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