From October 8-11, I attended all four days and worked that show hard to network and get my name and work out there. I had been readying for the convention all that spring/summer, doing new work, organizing my portfolio, and getting samples packages ready to hand out.
It was a different time and place. There was no internet back then, young people. You had to have manila envelopes with copies ("Xerox" copies as we referred to them back then) of all your best samples (each sample in the envelope had my name, address, and phone number on the back of them) and a business card. You also wrote your name on the outside of the envelope for identification. I think mine was "Scott Neely Art Samples" or something close to it. You had to make it easy for people to pull out and go through. I had made up 25 envelopes which I carried in a backpack. I forget what black and white/color copies cost back then but it was an expense you could at least write off on your taxes. These days it would be a helluva lot easier as we live in a digital world, but you still had to go out and sell yourself.
This was my "seize the day" (or weekend as it was) opportunity as one of the biggest comic conventions was in my own backyard, so to speak. I don't remember anything as big taking place in Philadelphia. It was held at the old Philadelphia Civic Center, which was massive, and they would later tear it down and build the new Philadelphia Convention Center in a better location. Even all the Philly Wizard World shows that took place at the new convention center didn't seem to be as big as this one was.
It was 1993, Comics were booming and I wanted in.
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When I saw that John Romita was attending the show, I wondered if he would be doing any portfolio reviews. I didn't know, so I called the Marvel offices and asked for him. He picked up and said "Hi, this is John."
I couldn't believe I was actually doing this. I was young and hungry.
I introduced myself and apologized for stealing a moment of his time and asked him if he would be, in fact, at the convention and if he would be looking at portfolios. He said he would be and he told me to stop by and he would look at my stuff. Wow! Sometimes it can be that easy. I was a fan, and valued his opinion highly, as he is the greatest Spider-Man artist of all time.
I met him and his son (John Jr) as both were sitting at a table together (the Romitas had always sat at a table together). I had to wait for two other hopefuls to talk to him but listened to what he was telling them. Then it was my turn, I introduced myself to him and he remembered me. He gave me good criticism and I told him to not sugar-coat anything. He went through my sequential page copies and then laid tracing paper over them (which I brought in case I needed some) and drew over my drawings and showed me how to make the layouts more dynamic and how to better frame my shots. I took it all in. He was very generous with his time and was the true gentleman that the industry knew him to be. I'm glad he saw my stuff. Some of the things he told me took root in my brain and I use them to this day.
I also met a guy named Richard "Rick" Taylor who worked for DC Comics. He was at their booth and looking through portfolios. He liked my stuff and told me to come back around noon that day. I showed back up and he took me aside so we could get some peace and quiet to talk. The industry was at its highest level at that point in time and the noise and excitement of the convention made you have to talk a little louder to people so they could hear you. We sat near the far wall of the convention where people were resting (it was like sitting outside a "mosh pit") and he spent 45 minutes with me going over my stuff. Another amazing time! Although I wouldn't do work for DC until years later, I valued what he said and he gave me good criticism to fix areas of my storytelling and what they were looking for in artists. Not much has changed in that respect.
By Sunday, I was exhausted and had a sore throat from talking so much. They were long, full days... and when I got back home each night, I didn't talk at all in an effort to save my voice.
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When all was said and done, I walked away with 4 gigs.
The first gig was received and accepted at the show. The contract would be mailed to me.
The second gig would arrive around two weeks later in the form of a phone call!
The other two gigs would show up before the end of the year.
When I list my "official" start date doing art as a career, it all started with this convention! It was a good time... for a little while, at least. Why you may ask? What could possibly have happened?
Unfortunately, this was the year before the entire industry imploded and started to crumble and fall apart... (In some respects, it's kind of like the chaos in the world of entertainment right now. But let's keep it positive).
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