Con sketches for sale.

Yesterday (November 30) I appeared at the Wales Comic Con in Wrexham. The event (as is usual these days it seems) featured a few comic pros & a whole bunch of celebrities from film, TV & sport. Despite it being extremely well attended (the queue went around the block more than once before the doors opened) it was something of a quiet affair for me personally, unfortunately. As a result, in the frequent gaps in activity, I took the time to do a few unsolicited sketches, a couple of which did eventually find homes, but the six shown here were left like wallflowers awaiting a dance..... So if anyone reading this (does anyone still read this??) fancies having one (it might solve the Christmas present dilemma for that one particularly awkward relative) they are available on a 'first come first served' basis for the paltry sum of £22 which includes postage (UK residents only, if you're a damn foreigner ask for postage rates). Just leave me a message in the comments, or at staz.johnson@yahoo.com. Given that there are three 'Hulk' images, you'd probably better specify exactly which one you want, if you have a preference.

KnightConUK

I'll be making another public appearance this weekend... & no, I don't mean 'doing my shopping in the Asda',. I'll be at the KnightConUK show in Doncaster. I have to say, this is a bit of an odd fit for me, given that is almost entirely a TV/movie media event. However, hopefully there will be some crossover audience into comic fans. Personally, I'm hoping to get an up close & personal view of the Batmobiles!!

I'll be doing the usual business, if you're a regular reader of this blog you'll know what that means. In addition to sketches (charged at £25 for a single figure, like the example below) there will be signed comic & posters too.

Check out their Facebook page for more regular updates.

Bristol Comic Expo 2010

The last minute nature of my decision to attend this years Bristol show was (I'm sad to say) reflected in my complete unpreparedness for the event. So my check list for the weekend read something like this....Hotel booked right on the opposite side of bristol to the con?..check! Mobile phone/camera battery not charged up?.. check! No organised location to sign & sketch?..check! That'd be a full house then.

As a result of this, my dissection & debrief of the event, is somewhat lacking in images. After only a couple of clicks, my phone scoffed at me when I pleaded with it to take pics of the sketches I'd done. So here are all i have, plus a couple I stole or had sent to me.

The naked comic character sketches were done for Ivo, a collector from Belgium, who has this as his theme for the sketches he has done by me. The girl with the Spidey face background is Mary Jane, & the other one is Wonder Woman.

Bart, another Belgian, asked me for the Lord Vader sketch.

Wynn Ryder is currently collecting trading card size sketches of James Bond, which being a massive Bond fan I was happy to do, & Sam Gardner asked me to sketch his girlfriend Chloe as Star Saphire.... I embarrased myself, & displayed my complete lack of comics knowledge by asking.."What's a star saphire?", Sam's withering stare said it all.

Thanks to Wynn, Sam & Chloe for the pics.

Wales Comic Con pictures.

As mentioned (& incorrectly named) in a previous post, I attended the Wales Comic Con on Sunday. This was my second time at this show, & like the previous occasion, it was a fun event. The title of comic convention is something of a mis nomer, since the actual comic part pales into insignificance compared to the movie/TV element of the show. However, I didn't find that a detriment, on the contrary, the presence of well known faces from Torchwood, Doctor Who & Star Wars (amongst others) drew a crowd with a much wider demographic than would attend a purely comics event... I believe.

I was positioned inbetween the uber talented twin strikeforce of Neils Roberts & Edwards, both of whom are gentlemen of the first order. I was kept busy most of the day drawing the sketches you see here, & participating in a Q&A session about comics, which some might say was lightly attended, I'd prefer to call it intimate....

My highlights of the day though both came in the guise of unexpected surprises. Firstly I was amazed to find that Neil Marshall (director of Dog Soldiers, The Descent & Centurion, among others) was a last minute announced guest. I'm a huge fan of his work, & managed to say hello to the man himself. He seems a genuinely decent bloke, & the fact that as I made my babbling fanboy approach he seemed to be checking over my shoulder just to make sure that the security guys were close by won't make me change my opinion. My second highlight was meeting voice actor Marc Silk.. he does a few of the voices in a couple of my daughters favorite TV shows (Fifi & The Flowertots & Roary The Racing Car), he gave me signed photo's for both my kids, & his Patrick Allen voice had me giggling to myself for hours afterwards.... a genuinely funny guy.

Anyway, hope you like the drawings, & if you were there I hope you enjoyed the show as much as I did.

Wales Film & ComicCon

I'll be appearing as a guest at the Wales Film & ComicCon this coming Sunday. The event takes place at Glyndwr University, Mold Road, Wrexham between 10:00am & 5:00pm. As well as yours truely, there'll be a host of guests from the worlds of comics, & TV & movie fantasy. Click the link for a full guest list.

I'll be doing the usual stints of signing & sketching, & as is now also customary at these events, I will be making a small charge for sketches. I addition to this, I'll be doing a Q&A session on drawing comics for fun & profit... but without the fun part.

Here's one of last year's happy customers, brandishing his booty.. that's in a 'pirate' sense.. not a girls buttocks sense.... jeeze, this post is turning out to be harder work that I'd envisioned..

Just be there, ok? And bring your cash!!

The Wales Comicon

Coming up at the end of the month is the next event in this years convention calender. The Wales Comicon takes palce on 27th September at Glyndwr University, Wrexham. I'll be there obviously..(why else would I be mentioning it, right?), but along with yours truely, there will be an impressive guest list from the world of fantasy film/TV (LOTR, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Torchwood, Doctor Who etc) & comics.

I'll be doing my usual stint of signing & sketching (sketches, like the one shown here, will be charged at 10 of your Earth pounds).

Hope to see you all there.

Thought Bubble:The Aftermath 3

Just one last (unless you know different) postscript to the Thought Bubble event. Simon James was kind enough to send me a very good quality scan of the Batman sketch I did for him at the show. And incase you're wondering.. yes, the paper in Simon's sketchbook really is yellow!!

Thought Bubble:The Aftermath 2

Here's a quick addendum to the overview of last weekend's Thought Bubble festival. This is the Spiderman sketch that can be seen in last post's video. And was sent to me by the the video maker Russ Entwistle, so thaks to Russ for both.

Thought Bubble:The Aftermath

So the Leeds Thought Bubble convention was a few days ago, & very succesful it was too. It was (at a rough estimate) around twice the size of last years event, & attracted some very notable names.

I was kept busy all day, sketching for the punters, sadly however, I kept forgetting to take pics of both the people & the sketches.... Fortunately, some enterprising soul thought to take their video camera along, & subsequently upload the result to YouTube, so presenting here, my single solitary photo from the day, & said video in which I can be seen completing a Spidey sketch... can you dig it??

Leeds Sci-Fi, Comic & Card Fair report.

As previously mentioned, yesterday was the Leeds comic & card fair. I spent a good few hours down there. It's been a couple of years since I've appeared at one of these events, I'd forgotten how much fun they can be. The crowd is more of a crossection of the public than Comic Conventions tend to be, no bad thing in my opinion, pulling curious passers by from the Saturday afternoon shopping crowd. Everyone I met was nice here's a few of them, & some of the sketches I did.