Wizard World Philly and What Else Is Going On With Scott...?

Last weekend I went to Wizard World Philly and I had a table in 'Artist Alley' for three days next to my artist friends Mike Manley and Scott Cohn. Due to foot problems I was not there on Friday but I heard that it was dead so I don't miss missing the lost day. The show as a whole has gone downwards in terms of the number of people attending and the lack of kids in general who were there and were comic fans. I've done the convention every year since they started and every year it's worse. The only reason I still do the show is because I have certain fans who buy original art from me at the show every year so I feel compelled to do it. This year was the worse financially. If it wasn't for two original art buyers who made the show for me, I'd probably be crying. Haha!

The state of the comic industry is in trouble and needs new younger blood to sustain it. This is why I'm glad I do licensing art and comics is just 10% of my yearly income. These shows while fun to see my artist friends whom I don't see that often are great to go to and hang out at, but I go primarily to make money as a pro by doing sketches and selling books or other products I've worked on. It was just a weird vibe for the whole show this time. Everything was off. I only did 5 sketches total for people (I did much more last year) and sold a ton of comics. I had sold out of Strawberry Shortcake product in about 4 hours early Saturday morning, which has NEVER happened. I mean every storybook and coloring book went. Every show I go to has something different about it and what moves faster over something else so it's always hard to figure out what to bring.

I only do two shows a year and that's Wizard Philly (cause it's practically in my backyard and the cheapest show to do in terms of overhead expenses) and the Baltimore Comic Con which is run by my friend and super, big comic fan Marc Nathan. Baltimore though is a lot like Wizard Philly now in that it's more of a one day show really. The second day (Sunday) is usually always poor in sales. Baltimore does have a great artist list and it's one of the premiere shows that feature comics and their creators. Heroes Con does a great show too and is a pure comic show. I would recommend going to both if you are a comics fan.

In other news with me, I posted a new Alfie comic strip a few days ago and finished up the new June issue of DCM Magazine which went to press on late Tuesday afternoon and I got copies of the printed mag today.

As for other work, I have more Power Rangers I'm working on and two Scooby comic scripts for DC Comics I have hanging up to do as well. So it's busy work wise.

I'll also be doing a tutorial for 'how to digitally ink' for Mike Manley's DRAW! Magazine as well. I've had many people ask me how to ink digitally so a tutorial is the best thing I could think of to show fellow artists and fans how I do it. More on that as I post later.

Other than that, it's been a low key week after Wizard Philly and I've been enjoying the weather, taking it easy and enjoying life. As Ferris Bueller once said, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

Wizard World Philly 2008 Free Giveaway Print!

I've been at the Wizard World Philly show since it started in Philly. It's an OK comic convention, though it's dwindled the past few years in people coming to it. The best part of the show is the low expense to do it since it's in my backyard and I can drive home to the suburbs every night and not have to pay hotel bills. Every year I make up a free and cheap giveaway print that sits on my table and are free to those who stop and say "Hi." I usually make 50 and that's it. I got some breathing room today and banged it out to get it done early so that I'm not letting it go till the day before the show. Past experience usually has me getting everything ready the day of the thing, so this year I'm trying to make it easy on myself.

I used the black and white art from the Scooby #133 cover I did and added the word balloons that I did on my color version that I posted a while ago. It will be 8.5" x 11" in size and make a nice coloring page for the kids as well as a free autograph take home gift. Plus it advertises this blog! BooYah!