ECCC Day 2

Where to start... Day 2 and 3 were amazing. Day 1 was only the beginning of the greatness that was to come. I met more artists I admire, caught up with old friends, and overall, had an inspirational and motivating experience.

Saturday started with me running up to the celebrity autograph room. I had with me my toy DeLorean from Back to the Future, with the hopes that I wouldn't be turned away from getting in line for Christopher Lloyd's autograph. Back to the Future will always be a big part of my childhood. Before I ever owned the VHS copies of the trilogy, my family would go to Blockbuster every week, and BTTF I - III were some of my most rented movies. My parents soon remedied this by buying me all the movies, which still never stopped me from watching them over and over, though I'm sure my parents were happy they didn't have to spend anymore money on the same movies over and over! Doc Brown was my first introduction to Christopher Lloyd, soon to follow was Uncle Fester, and the frightening Judge Doom! But when I think of Lloyd, Doc Brown is always the first character to come to mind.
As I entered the autograph room, I found that Christopher Lloyd's line wasn't very long, so it was no problem getting to meet him. I've met celebrities in the past through ECCC, but none as surreal as meeting Christopher Lloyd. I shook his hand and told him the story of how he helped shape my childhood, which I'm sure he's heard thousands of times, but the grin on his face never faded and was just so sincere. He signed my DeLorean, and it wasn't until I began walking away that I realized that I had in fact met one of my childhood heroes. It's truly a great feeling and experience, and I think Mr. Lloyd is even more amazing than I did before. That pretty much concluded my time in the autograph room. From then on, I continued my trek through the convention, eager to find out what was to come next.

My toy DeLorean signed by Lea Thompson and Christopher Lloyd

Lisa and I visited our friend, Tony, whom we went to school with. Tony has a table in the artist alley every year at ECCC and we are returning customers of his each year. Tony and I have a run-on trend involving the subject matter in which I ask him to draw. I'm not sure how it all started, but every year, I request from him, as he expects from me, something weird. Past examples include Channing Tatum dressed in a Batman-type armored Peter Pan outfit, in reference to the news that Channing Tatum was considered as the star role of a Peter Pan reboot, titled "Peter Pan Begins." Get the joke? Another request involved Christian Bale wearing a sombrero and throwing a giant taco. This was in reference to the meme in 2008, where Christian Bale was being interviewed by a hispanic woman, who referred to him as "Señor Bale." I'll let you do the math on how the internet ran with that.

I feel like I'm getting a little more tame with my requests as of late, but I still try to make them wacky and fun. This year I asked Tony to draw Hulk and Spiderman playing a game of volleyball, with Spidey on Hulks shoulders, therefore being an unstoppable force! Lisa asked Tony to draw Hawkeye in a birds nest! What a fitting place for him to be, no? The end result is nothing short of spectacular, and I'm glad Tony has fun with these and is a good sport about it :).

Spiderman: "Nothing stands in the way of the Spider-Hulk!"

Near the end of the day, we stopped by Fiona Staples' table, where she was doing signings and sketches. Fiona Staples is the artist on the comic book "Saga", which is a fresh, strange, and adventurous read! If you haven't picked up the first trade, I'd suggest doing so, especially since it's so affordable! Sadly, there aren't a large number of females who have struck it big in the comics industry, which is unfortunate because I see more and more talent spring up every year. So it's always exciting to learn of a new female artist or writer climbing their way up, and Fiona Staples is one of them. What I love about her art is how natural she makes her pen strokes. She's able to make her strokes look defined with ease, with the end result having a sketchy but refined feel to it. With all the artists I admire, it's always tough meeting them and trying to talk with them, on my part. I love meeting new artists, and I love talking about comics, style, technique, and art in general with all of them! But every time I get to meet the "the pros" I always feel socially awkward.. I introduced myself to Fiona and mentioned that I was a local artist working in the game industry. A little bit of small talk in relation to art, but it was great. Fiona, if you happen to read this, I hope I wasn't weird. I enjoyed our short talk, and I'm excited to see more of your work show up in the future :).

I also stopped by Eric Canete's table to have him sign my Iron Man: Enter the Mandarin trade, which he was excited to see. Apparently he hadn't seen the book in awhile, and was reminiscing over it. I take it, it was a fun project to work on and one he's very proud of. Eric's work is definitely a big influence on where my art is today. I own nearly all of his books showcasing his art and have spent a lot of time referencing and studying them. His line weights and composition create huge dramatic effects, and give me a real glimpse into that world- something I hope to achieve with my own art someday. I had a few pieces of art on my phone, which I had him look through last year, and I only wish I had prepared more to show this year.

And with that, I have to call it a night.. I had planned on going over day 3 as well, but I'm way too tired to continue. So I will do so tomorrow :). Thanks for reading everyone. Art posts to resume in a couple days!