I talked a little while ago (as in, 3 hours ago) about being an exhibitor at Spectrum, and this time I want to focus on the experience as an attendee. Now, since I was an exhibitor and not a full attendee, there are plenty of things I missed, so keep that in mind.
The famous artists
It was truly a wonder to be in the same room as so many incredibly brilliant artists. I’ve been a fan of many of them for a long time, and to meet them and have them be so laid back was wonderful.
- Chatting with Michael Whelan for a few minutes, after he asked if the Museum of the Weird (whose shirt I was wearing) was a cool place. We talked briefly about horror and ambiguity, which is was great.
- Talking with Gary Gianni for a good 10 minutes about art, inking, and the like.
- Chatting with Ben Templesmith, who is just as cool as his art.
- I only had a moment with Mike Mignola, but I did like to hear what ink he uses (which I do too, for ink washes).
- Talking with James Gurney, who remembered many of the things I’d commented about on his site over the last couple of years (especially Russian artists).
- I picked up the second Poe book from Gris Grimly, who was great to talk to. It was funny too, I had tweeted that I was wearing my “Lego Evolution” shirt, but missed that he had commented on it on Twitter (because of the sketchy wifi). He brought it up when I went around to his booth, which was cool.
Artists that were new to me
I met so many incredible artists at Spectrum that I hadn’t met before, and they were all just fantastic folks. The artists just in the booths around me were incredible, and such nice people too. I imagine I’m going to miss lots of folks I met, so don’t be offended if you were there and aren’t mentioned. It’s mostly because my brain is still soft from the event.
There were also a few attendees that I met that I remember or only saw first names only, which doesn’t necessarily help when posting about them.
- Christina Hess, who I traded a piece of my art for one of hers. I think I managed to get the better deal though, but her piece is gorgeous (and already on my wall): http://christinahess.com/grapespider.html
- Edward Howard, who has some of the best work I’ve ever seen. Absolutely beautiful, I wish I had been able to sell some of my work so that I could turn around and buy his.
- Armand Baltazar has not only beautiful art, but his illustrated book will be an absolute wonder. I really hope to see it in all the stores soon, it’s wonderful art and a great story.
- Allen Williams‘ work, in both pencil and acrylic, was simply astonishing. Incredible detail, great composition, and just sheer beauty in all of his work.
- I loved Eric Velhagen‘s work, especially that sly sense of humor in many of his works. I’ve toyed with that in some of my own pieces, and it’s reassuring (and inspirational) to see someone as great as Eric painting with those ideas. I mean, just look at this piece: http://ericvelhagen.carbonmade.com/projects/2672751#17
Artists I’ve talked to before, but just online
I was able to put faces to artists that I’d only talked to online before, which was great too. Again, if I’m forgetting you, I’m still pretty tired and I apologize.
- Jeremy Caniglia, who I know I’ve talked to online here and there over the years, but I hadn’t met in person. Great artist, and my nephew Brody and he really hit it off there. I wouldn’t be surprised if Brody ends up working on some similarly styled art.
- Eric Steiner (aka King Unicorn) was great to talk to at Spectrum, as he always is online. The web doesn’t do his great sculptures justice, go see them in person if you can.
My very first professional portfolio review
Since I don’t make it to many conventions/shows (as I am broke), this was my first chance ever to get a portfolio review by an art director. I mean, I’ve put it front of publishers before at cons, but in those cases it was to look for work and less about what they thought of my overall art.
Spectrum gave attendees a number of options for directors, and I chose to get mine reviewed by Tor’s Art Director, Irene Gallo. Partially because it’s Tor Books, and they are a leader in the industry. But honestly speaking, she’s a huge supporter of illustration, and I thought her insight would be best.
I won’t go into the details, but a few things did stand out. She knew who I was from my online presence, which in an instant proved all of my networking was a good idea. She also said that my art in my portfolio was consistent, as in solid, no real bad pieces but a consistency throughout. That was good to hear, as I had a few inks within all of the digital pieces, and I wasn’t sure those would fit. I also had included a few images that had the sketches and production art with them, to show how working with publishers went. I think those were good to have in there, though I don’t know if overall they helped or not.
Lastly, I didn’t have any real fantasy work in there. That didn’t hurt the review a whole lot, but it was a reminder to try and keep things relevant for an art director. In my case, the fantasy and sci fi art I’ve done was early in my career, and I’m way better now. There was a discussion in my head of whether I show the best work, or my old fantasy work, and in the end I decided that the best work would be a better choice.
I also had created a “leave behind” piece for her to have. In this case, it was a small booklet of a few choice pieces of my art (maybe half a letter-sized page). The cover for it is on the right, and I think it actually turned out pretty well. I don’t know if it helped, or had any effect, or simply found the round File #13 afterwards, but I still think it was a good idea to have ready.
What I took most of all from the review was that my art overall is doing pretty well. But the thought that came to mind later that evening, after thinking about some of the things she said, was the idea that I need to, more or less, decide what I want to be when I grow up. Gary Gianni had earlier sort of hinted at that very thing as well. That, at least on the publishing side, maybe I should decide what type of artist I want to be and concentrate on that. Ink? Great. Fantasy? Great. Horror? Great. Maybe just decide to try being published as one, and keep the other stuff aside.
What did I take away from the event?
I think it was a solid event, and I’m glad I went (despite few sales).
I fight being an introvert all of the time, so I tend not to want to interrupt people or even give the slightest idea that I might be. That means that I maybe could have shown my portfolio to more artists (especially since it was on the iPad), but my brain kept telling me not to.
I approached a lot of artists, and really did get to know the artists around me. But there were a number of times that I shied away from talking to an artist, or simply avoided booths if I didn’t want to bother with them. That’s something to work on as well.
I always hope, on the other side of things, that I am approachable. I’m a bit 50-50 on my casual attire there. On one side, the tshirts were great conversation starters, not only with many folks coming to the booth but with other artists too. On the other side though, being dressed a bit nicer in my button up shirts might have made me come across as more professional. Something else to think about.
Where do I go from here? Where does my art career lie now?
This might be an even longer discussion, because I simply don’t know. I mean, I had a lot of compliments, both from attendees and other artists. Many liked the fact that I had different styles of work too, which surprised me some.
But, as I mentioned above with the review, not having just one idea or one style may have hurt my sales. There’s a chaos to my overall work, with so many different media and styles, that perhaps people just didn’t know what to make of it. Those styles, too, look much different than most of the art that was there, and the sense that maybe I don’t fit in anywhere creeps up into my head.
I’m quite torn right now, between the excitement and inspiration of all of the beautiful art that I saw, and the near total lack of sales (or even publisher pickups) that I had. Spectrum was a gamble, a big one, and in the short term is going to be very difficult to overcome. I get the feeling that, as more and more Spectrum events go by, the public will start attending in greater numbers. It’s a great event, how could they not. If I really want to do art then I need to be in it for the long haul. Perhaps folks will come along and buy online what they saw in person, or publishers will contact me later in the year for work based on what they saw.
Partly, Spectrum was an opportunity to put my art out in the world and say, “look at me”. Right now, I feel that no one looked. The question morphs now into the ideas of how I continue on. Do I stay on the same path, creating what I do and continually hope for success? As the man said, that’s a “long wait for a train don’t come”. Do I alter my plans, and start creating the art that will “fit in” or that will sell? Things like landscapes, still life pieces with oranges and apples, those kinds of pieces. That art doesn’t speak to me, but at what point do I and the family starve to death waiting for the rest to take off?
It could also come down to patience as well, and practice. It’s a long road, with lots of decisions to make about how far I’m willing to take it before the tires blow out. I started down this path almost exactly 13 years ago, and I either need to keep at it and persevere, or stop the train now, and carry on with life without the art side of things (at least publicly mentioned art).
Spectrum was a great event, and it marks a big turning point in everything I do. It gave me a lot to think about, both good and bad. To quote yet another film, it comes down to one simple idea from here on out.
“Get busy living…or get busy dying. That’s goddamn right.”
