Well, we’re packing up and road-tripping it to lovely Indianapolis, Indiana for Gen Con from August 5-8!
Gen Con, “the best four days in gaming,” is the longest running gaming convention in the world. With more than 28,000 attendees last year, this year promises the same kind of exciting art exhibits, jaw-dropping costumes, opportunities to interact with gaming industry professionals, and sneak peeks of the latest in games and gaming technology. You’ll even have the opportunity to play your heart out with fellow gaming enthusiasts.
Events include an Anime Rooters Room, art shows, Asian film screenings, a Gen Con-wide costume contest, a Pajama Jammy Jam dance, an eGame arena, live music, belly dancers, film-making seminars, writer symposiums and more (including non-gamer activities for friends and spouses who get sucked into attending Gen Con against their will).
Guests of honor include artist Tom Baxa, author Elizabeth Vaughan (best-selling author of Chronicles of the Warlands series), a slew of professional game testers and designers, cast members of “The Guild,” and champion of Geek culture, Wil Wheaton.
DragonArt Evolution, How to Draw Everything Dragon by J NeonDragon Peffer is now available in the North Light/IMPACT Shop!
Discover how to draw dragons by following demonstrations with step-by-step instructions for 20 all-new dragons. Learn how to draw dragon anatomy and how to assemble different parts into an original dragon of your very own!
At the Comic-Con in San Diego Jeph Loeb, Executive VP and Head of Television of Marvel, announced that a series of Marvel Comics will be brought to television via the G4 channel (the gaming channel). The shows will include Iron Man, Wolverine, X-Men, and Blade.
Iron Man is expected to launch in spring of 2011, while the rest will fall into place shortly after.
For our international readers, check with your cable company to see if you have G4 or Animax, as the premier of Iron Man on Animax is in October.
For more detailed information and to follow up in the future, see G4 TV’s website at http://g4tv.com.
For more than 30 years, Artist’s & Graphic Designer’s Market has been telling fine artists, illustrators, graphic designers, and, yes, even cartoonists, where and how to sell their work. And up until now these tricks of the trade have been in book form. But guess what, they’re getting digital!
While the book only comes out once a year (in fact, 2010′s version just came out), right now you can head to the Artist’s Market Online’s Facebook page to get amped up for the launch of the new Artist’s Market Online site. The site will soon be the online hot spot for aspiring and professional artists to grab submission tips, market info, industry news and other goodies on a constantly-updated basis.
If you aren’t familiar with AGDM, it’s a reference guide for artists who want to establish a successful career in fine art, illustration, cartooning or graphic design (and who doesn’t want success?). You’ll find complete, up-to-date contact and submission information for more than 1,500 art markets such as greeting card companies, magazine and book publishers, galleries, art fairs, ad agencies and more. It’s also chock full of informative interviews with successful artists and art buyers, as well as information on how to obtain grants, market and promote your work, and network with fellow artists.
This morning we’re looking back on one of Cleveland’s finest, Harvey Pekar. This memorable Toby-Harvey exchange from American Splendor involves two of our faves, White Castle and nerds. IMPACTastic!
Check out this great timeline of Harvey by Comics Alliance.
Taking up practically the whole left-side of the middle section of the 1400 aisle, Impact Books, the leader in how-to write and draw comics, graphic novels and fantasy art; Krause Publications, the authority in pop culture and collectibles publishing; and Comics Buyer’s Guide, the world’s longest-running magazine about comics, have teamed up, the Brave and the Bold-style, for this year’s Comic-Con International in San Diego to make the experience of attending Comic-Con even more rewarding.
All 130,000 attendees are encouraged to make booths 1415 and 1419 their destination location, bypassing all other booths to get to this section. Once there, they’ll discover a plethora of merchandise, giveaways and contests that will fill hours of entertainment that otherwise might have been spent waiting in line for star-studded celebrity panels.
The Impact Books section offers a wide selection of books, in many categories, including how-to, graphic arts, writing, humor, film, collectibles, and much more, all priced at 50% off! Books by Orson Scott Card, John Howe, Peter David, Bob Hobbs, and many, many others are all on sale. During the Con, Tom Nguyen, Brian and Kristy Miller, Ryan Mecum, and Harry Hamernik are on the bill to sign copies of their books and Tony Pacitti will be giving away advance copies of his book, My Best Friend is a Wookiee!
Speaking of giveaways, attendees should check the board for daily book giveaways at pre-assigned times throughout the show. Also, while they last, free awesome Bryan Hitch posters announcing his new book, Bryan Hitch’s Ultimate Comics Studio,are available!
In the Krause Publications section, we’ll have promotional Ozzy fans, so everyone can ride the “crazy train” and sing the praises of our new book, The Wit and Wisdom of Ozzy Osbourne. Plus, we’ll be promoting our newest film book, Horror Movie Freak, which comes with a free DVD of Night of the Living Dead and will be available first exclusively at Comic-Con!
We’ll be busy at the Comics Buyer’s Guide section, too, promoting our newest comics price guide, Comics Shop, the only full-color price guide on the market. Attendees can play CBG Trivia for a chance to win a signed poster featuring art by Mark Sparacio. Plus, there will be a giveaway of 1000 Comic Books You Must Read, CBG issues for a buck, and, the ever-ubiquitous, much more.
And for those who think they have what it takes, Impact’s own editorial director Pam Wissman will be checking out art portfolios in Area D, on Saturday, July 24, from 2:30 to 7:00 p.m.
Check out the booth schedule daily for details on giveaways and authors and make sure to come by booths 1415 and 1417 at Comic-Con!
For more on F+W and other interesting news, head over to http://themarketingteam.wordpress.com/
If you guys don’t know who Mark Crilley is, you should really visit his website and Youtube page!
He’s an awesome artist/illustrator/cartoonist/author and the creator of the manga series Miki Falls and Akiko. His Youtube page currently has 100 videos that give advice to artists on how to draw manga, including topics like “How to Draw ‘Realistic’ Manga,” “How to Draw a Female Body, Manga Style,” and “Manga Boby Proportions.” His “How to Draw a Realistic Eye” video has almost ONE MILLION VIEWS! If you’re looking for advice or inspiration, watch one of his (free!) video tutorials.
And if the words “Miki Falls” and “Akiko” mean nothing to you, here’s a summary of each of the series. Anyone out there a fan?
Miki Falls is about high school senior Miki Yoshida who falls for Hiro Sakurai, the new boy in school at Fukuyama Har Dand High in Fukuyama Har Dand, Japan. At first Hiro rejects Miki’s attempts to become his friend, so Miki spends most of her time following him around. Their eventual friendship gets the duo into several complicated situations. Turns out he’s a “Deliverer,” a being sent to earth to try to preserve love, which seems to be dying. Rumor is that Paramount Pictures and Brad Pitt’s Plan B have acquired the rights to adapt Miki Falls into a feature film.
Akiko follows the adventures of a Japanese-American girl and her life on planet Smoo. Originally an Eisner-nominated comic series, Akiko has been adapted into a children’s book series. The series has been described as a blend between The Wizard of Oz and Star Wars.
Although Mark’s from Michigan, the series are truly inspired by Japan. Mark’s time spent teaching English in the Far East (in Japan and Taiwan) after graduating from Kalamazoo College in 1988 led to the invention of Akiko. He also drew heavily on the beauty of the Japanese countryside to illustrate Miki Falls.
