Back In The SPRINGFIELD PRESS For My St. Eugene's Elementary School Appearance!

Just got the new edition of the Springfield Press in the mail today and saw my pic from my second appearance at St. Eugene's school so I thought I'd post it here. I posted other pics for it in a previous post.

My Appearance At The ALFRED G. WATERS MIDDLE SCHOOL Tonight For Their "Real Men Read" Event!

It seems I'm on tour this week with speaking engagements but this is the last one for a little while. Tonight I was at the Alfred G. Waters Middle School in Middleton, Delaware for their annual event called "Real Men Read", which is an event to promote reading in general but also for men to get their sons into reading by showing them that it's fun. Apparently, there are a lot of kids who don't like to read on a daily basis unless they are forced to for school or for homework assignments, so any program where families can come and see writers and illustrators and then purchase some new books is a good thing.

I did a shortened version of my usual talk for two workshops which ran about a half-hour each. There was a lady there who was working the event named Patty Brown and she took these pics with my camera. She did a great job so I'm posting a bit more photos than usual. Thanks Patty!

Here's me talking and to a packed house as well. They said they had over 600 people who came last year and I was busy so I don't know how many attended this year. There was great traffic coming and going. UPDATE: Was told today that there were around 900 attendees this year!

Me being witty... because I am! Wooo!

Me drawing my 30-second Bart Simpson which kids and adults seem to love...

Showed one of the drawing videos I made that was speeded up so they could see how I draw from start to finish.

It was a great mix of families and age groups!

Me talking about construction theory and how characters are built from the ground up...

This picture I thought was funny. Look at the guy in the middle tugging his kid to leave and the kid doesn't want to go yet... Can you blame him for wanting to stay? I'm a compelling guy (no, really)... plus I was only half done my Scooby sketch!

Throwing some quick inks down on Scooby as I had to then set up my store in another room and sell some product to my breathlessly waiting crowd of fans... Hope they had a good time and enjoyed my workshops!

By Popular Demand, My Second Appearance Was Today At ST. EUGENE'S Elementary School!

After my appearance last week I was told that the younger students and their teachers were upset that they didn't get me to see me in their classes, so arrangements were made early this week and I went back today and spoke to six classrooms filled with the little ones. I mostly sketched for them and just answered questions and didn't do any slide shows since I was moving between classrooms every 30 minutes and their attention spans are shorter. It was a long morning but they seemed to enjoy it a lot and a little girl in the kindergarden class gave me two thumbs up, which was pretty funny. They all agreed my Scooby jacket was awesome, which of course it is. Each class kept all the sketches I did and I signed one for the class to hang if they wanted to. I'm a hero to the six-year-olds! The harder ones to draw for were the kindergarden class as they really don't know any of the characters (since they were so young) that I do outside of Scooby, Phineas and Ferb, Mickey and Winnie, and a Charlie Brown sketch I did.

My Appearance At ST. EUGENE'S 'Career Day' Last Week!

Last week, on February 4th, I was invited to appear for 'Career Day' at St. Eugene's Elementary School in Primos, Pa, which is close to where I live. I spoke to three different classes and talked about what I did with slide shows, my drawing videos, and then did some actual sketching to show them how I draw.

Back In The SPRINGFIELD PRESS Again!

The Springfield Press printed the new pictures of my appearance at the Springfield Library this week and they really gave me a big spot in the paper! I also like how they hyped my blog with the second picture.

As a note to all artists (and my DCAD students) who are trying to build on their futures... I took the pictures of the color corrected and cropped photos to the library on a disc for them to give to the Press. Well, as usual, they just sat there and when I called about if they were submitted they of course said, "Oh! We thought you were going to do it." These could have been in the paper a week earlier or not at all unless I didn't take the upper hand and do it myself and drive them down to the paper as soon as I got off the phone with the library. I typed out the taglines myself really fast and the Press printed what I gave them. Lesson One: If you want something done right, do it yourself. Don't rely on anyone to do it for you.

Making A Local Appearance At THE SPRINGFIELD LIBRARY!

On Monday evening (June 29) at 7pm, I had an appearance at the Springfield Library (which is in my area) and I spoke at one of the summer programs for kids. It ran for an hour and a half and all the kids were thrilled to have me there drawing in front of them from the feedback I got at the end. I wound up staying after to do free drawings up till the library closed for the evening. Here are some pics from the evening that a librarian took for me...

In addition, I also donated over 10 short boxes of comic book graphic novels and hardcovers to the young adult section of the library! I had to start cleaning out my storage unit, and since the state cut the library's budget, I figured I would help them out my donating a bunch of books that will hopefully get the local kids all reading comics of some kind...

Getting Some Local Press...In The SPRINGFIELD PRESS And DELAWARE COUNTY MAGAZINE!

Here are scans of the printed pages of the press I got recently from my appearance at Sabold Elementary School on May 29. Since it was a local appearance I was only able to get it in two of the local papers: the Springfield Press and Delaware County Magazine. Since I do work for DCM, it was easy enough to get the space and I quickly designed the layout for the half page story myself and added an ad for my next appearance at a local library. As for the Springfield Press, I dropped off a disc with the pics and info at their main offices and they printed one of the pics two weeks later. Here is the layout I did for DCM...

Below is the original picture I saw in the paper for the Comic Book Club at Sabold as well. I'm posting it for an example to any of my DCAD students or other artists who may be beginning their career who are trying to get noticed. Try to get some press for yourself! If people don't know you exist, they won't hire you! I contacted the school and the teacher after I saw this photo and a month later, I'm in the same paper with my own picture and ad. It's all promotion for your career and you have to make it happen...because no one else will!

Meeting THE COMIC BOOK CLUB At Sabold Elementary School!

On Friday, May 29th, I had an appearance at Sabold Elementary School (a school that I went to back in the day when I was a little one) and I spoke to teacher Kathryn Robertson's class about what I do for my illustrious living. Kathryn is also the sponsor and in charge of one of their many after-school programs...one of which is called The Comic Book Club. It's made up of 3rd and 4th grade students who all have a common love of comics, photography, art and short stories. I saw a photo of The Comic Book Club in The Springfield Press a few weeks ago and contacted the school to see if they would like to have me come in and speak to the kids since I draw a lot of the material that all kids seem to love. I'm always on the look out to promote myself so I thought this was a match made in heaven. The members of the Club sat in with her regular class and I told them all about my work.

I did a slide show presentation for them showcasing my work that I had done, and then I showed them examples of model sheets, what original artwork looks like, what sketches look like, and other animation and licensing treats that most people never get to see. Once again, Courage The Cowardly Dog was well known and well loved by the class so I did a sketch of him to show the class how's he's drawn. I also did some simple cartoon drawings so they could all draw along with me. My comics version of Alfie was also a hit with the kids! The school was excited to have me come in and a great time was had by all!

The Comic Book Club also received a large and generous donation of free comic books from comic publisher DC Comics (dccomics.com) and Captain Blue Hen Comics (CaptainBlueHen.com) in Newark, Delaware!