C2E2 Recap

Hey Folks,

I've been a bit off of my new schedule of painting because of The Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo (C2E2 for short).
I thought I'd give you guys a mini recap with some photos and art.

Day 1: I was up early and out the door with coffee and snacks. As I was driving downtown the sun was coming up over a line of houses, creating a gorgeous skyline to drive next to. I pulled over real quick and snapped a photo. I was feeling pretty electric with pre-show jitters and excitement.



After I got into the show and set up my table, arranged my supplies and downed the rest of my coffee, I decide it was a good time to take a quick stroll to get the lay of the land. I found a balcony area where you could see almost the entire show floor. This was about 20 minuted before they opened up to the public.


Doors have opened and I'm ready to roll!

I decide to warm up and set the pace. I knock out a Darkseid sketch in watercolor. I notice right away that people seem to enjoy watching me paint. I finished this up and leave it on the table as bait.
A guy walks by soon after and asks me to put it on hold so he can come back and buy it later. We're off to a good start!

The rest of Friday was a bit slow but I sketched a few commissions and then completely forgot to take a photo before the customers walked off with the art.

Saturday was insanely busy and I managed to only get a couple of photos in between a bunch of commissions, regular sales and various chat breaks with an assortment of new and old friends
who stopped by the table.

During a slow moment I made a bet with one of my table mates that I could probably get a crowd if I painted a Yoda sketch. I did this sketch and had a nice little group of about 20 people watching me while I did it. The sketch sold quickly.


Knowing that post festivities were going to make me pretty tired the next day I went ahead and cranked out one more sketch before leaving. I was hoping to have something fresh to show people first thing in the morning on Sunday.

I painted this little guy. I think this was my favorite sketch of the weekend and it was a hard one to let go of but I figured I could always recreate it in the studio if I really wanted to.


Sunday morning was a little rough and mercifully slow. The show picked up speed after lunch and I was busy selling prints and doing more sketches. I managed to finally get out from behind my table for about an hour and walk around Artist Alley to see what else was going on. I bought a few sketchbooks and a couple of drawings and then was back to the table to wrap up the rest of the show.

All in all it was a pretty good weekend. Many more highs than lows. These big shows are nerve wracking and can end up costing quite bit but I had fun and made enough to make it all worth while.
I met a lot cool people, made some new friends and handed out a ton of business cards.

Time to start gearing up for the next show but first I'll be getting back to painting more of the fantasy/children's book art.


Thanks for reading!

Cheers,
Kyle

P.S. My cat Noodles was inspecting the damages to my con poster late Sunday night. I think he approves of the destruction.

Sold!

Heya folks,

Just a heads up... The Absinthe Faerie, The Owl Wizard, and The Witch are all spoken for.

All of the others are still available and I'm hoping to get 2-3 more done before the show.

Cheers,
Kyle

C2E2 this weekend!

If you're in or near Chicago this coming weekend you should come by C2E2 and say hi. I'll be at table D-9 in Artist Alley selling my paintings, drawings and prints. I still have enough time and space left to do one or two more commissions. http://www.c2e2.com/

I'll be selling all of my recent paintings as well.

Cheers,
K

Djinn

Absinthe Faerie

Just a quick watercolor sketch of an Absinthe Faerie.

A Faerie

My lovely and very observant wife has noticed on more than one occasion that I tend to draw more men then women. By that, she means about 95% of the time I draw men or at least male characters from a variety of species. She recently brought it up again and I felt it was time to make a change.
This is my first real attempt at drawing a faerie and my first real attempt at painting a woman since I graduated college 10 years ago.
I struggled through on this piece but I learned a lot while doing it and I plan on doing several more in the upcoming weeks.





Thanks for bearing with me while I relearn things I've forgotten over the past ten years. I'm trying to improve every day. Also, thanks for the nice comments and e-mails that have been sent my way. It's always nice to hear from people when they like something I'm doing.

Cheers,
K

Witch Cauldron

She couldn't find her broom so she just jumped into the cauldron and off she went.



K

A Sad Ogre

This started out as a pretty funny picture but as I progressed in the drawing stage and I accidentally drew a sad face on this guy. Once it was there the painting took on a life of it's own.




Hope you guys like it.

K

Owl Wizard update

The owl wizard now prefers to be known as the Wizard Ugla.



I added a little more paint and teeny tiny bit of photoshop to help fix the saturation and brightness of certain areas.

Hope you guys like. I have a few more lined up.

Wizard Owl

Getting into watercolor lately and I can't seem to get away from magic/fantasy stuff.

I'm thinking about doing some children's book work if I can find it.


Cheers,
K

C2E2

If you're in Chicago between March 18-20th, stop by C2E2 and say hi. I'll be at table D-9 in artist alley.





C2E2 is just a couple of weeks away and I'm putting the finishing touches on a few different pieces. I'm excited for the show. It looks like it's going to blow last year out of the water. There are tons of great comic and media guests.

See ya there,
Kyle

Troll Dad updated

I added a few more details, evened up some of the values and added another wash over the figure. It feels done to me now.

Enjoy,
K

Painting

I woke up the other day with an idea for children's book. It's a story about a family of trolls. I don't want to give anything else away except that the picture below is frustrated dad, pondering what to do about his daughter.

I started this is a sketch and never really meant for it to become a full blown painting but I was having so much fun working on this...well, I couldn't stop. I have a few more planned for this theme and style.
I think I've had more fun working on this than any piece over the last year. I might just be moving away from the comic and storyboard stuff for awhile to see where this style will take me.

Enjoy,
K