Art Byte and H4H/ALM Recap

Well, the Art Bytes forum at the DMA was an interesting evening. It was essentially a convention panel format with people chatting about our craft and whatnot. I really like what they're trying to accomplish and really do like how they branch out from the traditional mediums of art. Sadly there is a huge deficiency of time for the evening, especially when there are more than two creators on the panel. By the time it was my turn on the slides, we were already about an hour over the allotted time. That unto itself isn't a big issue as the room schedule was free until closing (midnight). But because the forum started fairly late (9:30), at about 10:30 people are leaving for the evening. Luckily most of my presentation was about technique and form so i was able to rush through it real quick; sadly it was presented to just a small handful of people, most of whom were still there because they help run the event. The event itself is pretty cool though; Hopkins is a great presenter and Kristian showed some neat benefits to Manga Studio. It's a great way to spend an evening; they just have a few things to iron out before it run smoothly each and every time. Though I was introduced to a great bar/grill called Snookies; good place to grab a drink and it has really good bar food.

[image: my painting from the Heroes4Heroes\ArtLoveMagic event; more pictures on my flickr account]

The Heroes4Heroes\ArtLoveMagic show was a good turnout for what it was; I honestly don't think it advertised as much as it could have been. I didn't see much outside of a few websites and the usual Space-Gun blasts; granted, I'm not on the Twitter so maybe that's how people did it. I was going into the show in a funny head-space due to a jacked up sleep schedule and other personal issues. I essentially woke up in the afternoon and had just enough time to do a quick posture layout on a board and pack art supplies before heading out the door. Things like that is really off putting and messes with the mojo. It's difficult to rev yourself up for these events sometimes. Yes, they're fun and it's about having a good time, but you don't want to completely phone them in. I want to bring my A-Game as much as I can as to represent myself as an artist and as a member of Space-Gun Studios. Typically I try to roll into these things with a very Jeff Bebe swagger and kick as much ass as I can. You can sometimes spot me before the event bouncing around trying to hype myself up for these things; as a natural introvert, i have to fight the urge to say "Fuck it" and go home. This is especially true for the more comic book related shows as the people there are more of my peer group; which makes it doubly more intimidating. However, once the show started up, I was able to rock on through the evening and produced a piece that I could actually be okay with. I'm hoping to do a second pass at my painting as I had forgotten my reference material at home and could not remember the 'pacifics of the costume. Highlight of the evening was getting nearly all the artists to jam out on a huge board that David from ALM brought. It was a blast; we even got Elizabeth Breitweiser (colorist for Skaar: Son of Hulk, Fallen Son: what if, and Captain America: Zero Point) to jump in on the board as well.

[image: the night's jam piece]

Overall, it was a good evening. Things started out slow for me, but I was able to ease into it eventually and was rocking by the end of the evening. I think this will be the last of the live art events that I'll be doing for a while. 2009 is looking to be an interesting year and honestly, i need to shift my focus on myself and my own work. I've been meaning to write something up about that; maybe next time.