Tag: Doctor Who

November 24 / / Cons

This past weekend in the spacious San Jose Convention Center, a unique convention took place that blew my socks off. Aptly named Heroes and Villains FanFest for the mission to bring together celebrity and artistic talent under one room for the fans. That’s why it’s called “FanFest” because the group that organized this event wanted to focus on the fans and not the talent invited to attend. It’s an interesting idea that is quite refreshing amidst the larger conventions that focus on either too many things or limit the celebrity interaction.

Heroes and Villains FanFest in San Jose is actually the first time this type of convention was held anywhere. The creators and organizers of this FanFest all were a part of Walker Stalker Con held in various cities. And their main mission was to somehow capture this idea of connecting fans with celebrities and providing a memorable experience. In my opinion, they did a great job and Heroes and Villains FanFest was one of the most fun and memorable experiences I’ve had at a convention in awhile. This was made in part by the amount of celebrities present such as Stephen Amell, John Barrmowman, Lord Mesa, Paul Blackthorne, Karen Gillan, and Hayley Atwell.

July 21 / / Cons

You would think I would be San Diego Comic-Con’ned out but here I am writing about this year’s SDCC one last time. That sounds super dramatic but it’s not suppose to sound like that. Anyways, even though we posted our highlights already which you can find here, I’d like to do a quick retrospective of my return to the show. And, if you haven’t read my experience of the multiple days I attended the con, you can check those posts here: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

And, away we go!

IMG_6996

June 16 / / Guides

We continue our countdown to San Diego Comic-Con 2015 by talking about a big part of the show, in my opinion, the artists! Comics wouldn’t be what they are without the talented visual artistry of these individuals who bring countless stories to life. They create these elaborate worlds where we can live in, interact with the characters, and see how the stories play out, albeit in the pages of the comics we read. And, San Diego Comic-Con bolsters tables after tables of these skilled artisans, creating sketches, signing autographs, and selling art fit for framing.

ccititle_ArtistsAlley_0

I tend to spend a lot of time at Artist Alley, just walking up and down the tables, seeing if anything catches my eye. I’ve fallen in love with a few artists along the way as a result of this, and as a comic fan first, if the art grabs my attention as I pass by, I’m more or less going to grab it for my Batcave wall. Since this is a guide, I’m going to try to give a few suggestions on getting the most out of Artist Alley. In the ever-capable words of Benedict Cumberbatch,

Shall-We-Begin-Star-Trek

    1. Get familiar with the artists

    The key is to know who is going to have a table at Artist Alley. Some big names like Francis Manapul, previous writer/artist on The Flash, Joe Benitez, known for his latest creation, Lady Mechanika, and Stanley Lau aka Artgerm, known for being an awesome digital artist, have had tables in Artist Alley in years past. Artists like Stanley Lau typically will cap the number of prints he sells per customer and you can bet your bottom dollar that certain characters will sell out each day (he allocates a certain number of character prints per day in order to give patrons a chance to purchase the character they want). So if you really want to get certain prints from a certain artist, you may want to dedicate visiting them first thing! I typically follow my favorites artists via Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and they typically will have a nifty advertisement of what they are selling at SDCC. I know that helps me decide on hitting up Artgerm before others if there’s a character print or art book that I want to pick up. You can check out the list of artist who will be at Artist Alley here.

    featured_image_SDCC_Artist_Alley