Gday's first comic convention.... or, how I made people draw Stilt-Man all day

[gdaybloke]

Let me say... Wheee!

I was able to attend the Toronto Comicon today. Got to watch Carmine Infantino do a Jonah Hex sketch, Billy Tan and Mike Choi doing their thang, Francis Manapul not saying a word while another gent at his table spoke for him, Udon's line of artists, and aside from the coolness of basking in the niftiness that abounded, got some cool sketches!

I had a wonderful time chatting with the folks in artist's alley. There's a few there I would have liked to get sketches from that I unfortunately missed out on, but whaddaya gonna do. Sorry Agnes, you weren't at your table the two times I swung by before I had to skedaddle for the evening, so I wasn't able to get your take on Stilt-Man...

But I was able to get a bunch of others!

First up, John Migliore provides a sketch of Stilt-Man vs his creation, The Grad!
[spoiler][/spoiler]

Next, Blair Kitchen provides a sketch of Stilt-Man vs his creation, The Possum! (this one was actually sketched over 2 pages, I stitched them together in photoshop)
[spoiler][/spoiler]

Then, Mike Kitchen provides a sketch of Stilt-Man vs his creation, Spy Guy!
[spoiler][/spoiler]

Then, Thalia Flood provides a sketch of Stilt-Man vs the sun! (well, kinda)[spoiler][/spoiler]

Finally, just to prove I'm not 100% single-minded, Sam Agro provides a sketch of She-Hulk!
[spoiler][/spoiler]

So yeah... I had a good time :)

[GrizzlyBearTalon]

 :thumbup:Sounds like an excellent expedition, tell me though what were some of the reactions of the artists after being asked to draw Stilt-Man? I just can't imagine that is something they get asked very often if... ever before.

[MJB]

I'm sure they all passed out at the sight of Gday, Stiltman doesn't hold a candle.

-MJB

[GhostMachine]

I heard somewhere that Stilt-Man was a clone.....

Seriously, though, grats on the sketches, Gday. I really like the Blair Kitchen and Thalia Flood ones.

(If I ever get to go to a decent convention, I hope they have Ben Dunn there and he does sketches.....)

[Nymph]

Those are all really good! Stilt-man should become a member of Hamster or maybe their enemy....the guy who lifts clones on buildings.

[gdaybloke]

Grizz: I had to get a reference comic (I grabbed Punisher War Journal #1, the infamous "Death of Stilt-Man" issue), but once I explained why I wanted Stilt-Man, they were all over it. Sam Agro was the only one who seemed a little befuddles, but I think that was primarilly because he had no real familiarity with Wilbur, so I had him to the She-Hulk sketch instead. John Migliore in particular was having fun with his one, and the Kitchen brothers kept giggling as they did theirs too. Speaking of whom just finished reading the comics I'd brought from them - highly recommended for a bit of Indy fun.

MJB: Carmine Infantino gave me a funny look at one point, but that may have just been because of the hat I was wearing. Other than that, no-one seemed particularly fazed by me myself, though I did get some cocked eyebrows when I asked for sketches of Wilbur.

GhostMachine: The Thalia Flood one was free - she had a little sign on her desk saying "Ask me to draw something!" - and so I did. It's delightfully whimsical! The next con I'll be invading will be this one - even MORE people for me to harass!

Nymph: Two reasons why that can't happen. One, Wilbur's dead. Two, Wilbur's dead. I know that's the same reason twice, but I thought it significant enough to bear repeating ;)

[Night Dragon]

But the suits still around... hmmm Stilt-Grizz... or Stilt-Bear. :lol:

Cool sketches, love the Shulkie one and agree with GM on the Stilt-Man ones.

[GhostMachine]

Were the Udon guys doing sketches? I've seen some of their work up for sale on eBay, and they do some darn fine sketchwork from what I've seen.

Have fun at that next convention. Hopefully you'll get some more good art. :)

Btw, you could always try asking for some Alpha Flight, Captain Canuck or Wolverine sketches, if you can't think of anyone to ask for sketches of.

[gdaybloke]

ND: The midsection of the suit's been destroyed, including the leg actuators - all that remains is the upper torso and most of the legs. Maybe our long lost Beyonder could war it, since he doesn't really have a midsection per se, but other than that, it'd largely have to be rebuilt.

GM: The Udon guys were doing sketches if you bough a $30 sketchbook. I would have liked a Stilt-Man from them, but finances what they are right now, I just couldn't afford to drop another $30. As it stands, I spent less than $50 at the convention, including the entry fee.
As for the next con, I _know_ I'll get some good stuff - I'm well familiar with one of the artists in attendence - she's a member of comic art forum I frequent, and an all 'round cool chick. I'm looking forward to meeting her in person.
And why would I ask for Canadian comic characters when I'm Australian??? Hee... though I do have a soft spot for Alpha Flight in general. My main list for characters would probably be:
Marvel: Stilt-Man, Black Bolt (or pretty much any of the Inhumans), She-Hulk, Black Widow, USAgent, Arachne
DC: Manhunters (either the 'bots or Kate Spencer), Crime Syndicate, Legionnaires (specifically Ultra Boy or Triad)
Indy: Abe Sapien, Toy Boy, Katchoo/Francine/David/Freddy (Strangers in Paradise -Terry Moore's gonna be at the June con, so I have a shot at this one), Nils/Kate/Jeremy/Arthur (Platinum Grit - chances of getting these outside of Australia are between zip and nil)
Personal: Ms Knockout
Soooo yeah... no shortage there. Heh.

[bearded]

... but once I explained why I wanted Stilt-Man, they were all over it....

so, i have to ask now.  what did you tell them that was so compelling?

[captainspud]

He explained his carnal longing for extending legs through a semi-nude interpretive dance.

They drew sketches to make him stop.

[GhostMachine]

GM: The Udon guys were doing sketches if you bough a $30 sketchbook. I would have liked a Stilt-Man from them, but finances what they are right now, I just couldn't afford to drop another $30. As it stands, I spent less than $50 at the convention, including the entry fee.
As for the next con, I _know_ I'll get some good stuff - I'm well familiar with one of the artists in attendence - she's a member of comic art forum I frequent, and an all 'round cool chick. I'm looking forward to meeting her in person.
And why would I ask for Canadian comic characters when I'm Australian??? Hee... though I do have a soft spot for Alpha Flight in general. My main list for characters would probably be:
Marvel: Stilt-Man, Black Bolt (or pretty much any of the Inhumans), She-Hulk, Black Widow, USAgent, Arachne
DC: Manhunters (either the 'bots or Kate Spencer), Crime Syndicate, Legionnaires (specifically Ultra Boy or Triad)
Indy: Abe Sapien, Toy Boy, Katchoo/Francine/David/Freddy (Strangers in Paradise -Terry Moore's gonna be at the June con, so I have a shot at this one), Nils/Kate/Jeremy/Arthur (Platinum Grit - chances of getting these outside of Australia are between zip and nil)
Personal: Ms Knockout
Soooo yeah... no shortage there. Heh.

$30.00? Ouch. I remember when I was looking on eBay a couple months ago, you could buy Udon sketchbooks that included a sketch on it for about $20.00. Granted, about all of them had Street Fighter II character sketches....

I suggested Canadian characters because you're in Canada. :P

Those are some pretty good characters you have in mind to ask for sketches of. Personally, I'd love to get some sketches of Batman fighting Godzilla (Yeah, that'd be a short fight. Batman would win in under 30 seconds!), The Phantom, and The Shadow either laughing or firing both of his .45 automatics, just to toss out a few unconventional ideas for sketches I have.

(I have a pretty good collection of tapes of the Shadow radio show, including a tape with a couple episodes of the Australian version of the show, and GM's CoH appearance is partially based on The Shadow)

Back when I went to conventions (ie, before they stopped having them here), about all we ever got for free was promotional posters and pins and such, and the artists attending only signed autographs. (Then again, I'm not so sure I'd have wanted a Todd McFarlane sketch anyway.....)

[gdaybloke]

so, i have to ask now.  what did you tell them that was so compelling?

Something along the lines of...
"You may have heard recently that there was a death in the Marvel universe. A character beloved by many, looked up to by his peers, a veritable pillar amongst his kind... yes, that's right, I'm talking about Stilt-Man."

This of course, necessitated an explanation of why I'm fond of Stilt-Man.

The explanation is simple. Think about the characters in the Marvel Universe, and their capabilities, their powers. Super strength, speed, durability, high-tech, magic, scientific, whatever - pretty much every character has something about them that makes them a viable hero or villain, something that you can look at and say "okay, I can see that particular ability being used in this manner", no matter how narrow that manner may be.

Now, picture Wilbur Day. Stilt-Man. His schtick is something easilly duplicated by any member of cirque du soleil, not to mention inumerable carnival performers, and yet he has the gumption to think that he can turn this schtick into a viable career in super crime?? Clearly, Mr Day had bigger cajones than anyone ever gave him credit for... except maybe Princess Python. After all, she married him.

So after a lifetime of misery, mockery and defeat, Wilbur gets taken out by a bazooka to the crotch and a bullet to the head. The amount of sheer moxie he was packin', he deserved better than that. Thus, the sketches.

He explained his carnal longing for extending legs through a semi-nude interpretive dance.
They drew sketches to make him stop.

Actually, I showed them photos of you and explained that you liked to roleplay in the bedroom, and had a fetish for chrome armour and people taller than you.

Back when I went to conventions (ie, before they stopped having them here), about all we ever got for free was promotional posters and pins and such, and the artists attending only signed autographs. (Then again, I'm not so sure I'd have wanted a Todd McFarlane sketch anyway.....)

Those in artist's alley will pretty much sketch anything if you're willing to pay their price. I would have loved to walk out with a Carmine Infantino sketch, but can't afford to drop $100.

[GhostMachine]

Those in artist's alley will pretty much sketch anything if you're willing to pay their price. I would have loved to walk out with a Carmine Infantino sketch, but can't afford to drop $100.

Gotcha. $100 for an Infantino is a bargain, in my opinion, but when you can't afford it...

If I had the money, I'd be buying some commissions from some of my favorite artists, but I just can't afford it. Some of them have reasonable prices (Bob Layton - can get a single figure drawing from him for around $50.00 - pencilled and inked), but some of them are also crazy. (Marc Silvestri - I'm not even gonna mention how much he charges, except his rate for a single figure, no background, pencils only drawing is outrageous!) The two I want most you have to inquire through their art dealers, and I'm afraid to even ask.....

[gdaybloke]

If I wanted to drop money in the four-figure range I would have walked out with one of Billy Tan or Mike Choi's covers. Would have been neat to pick up some of Lopresti's art too, but again, finances don't allow it right now. We're looking at needing a new vehicle in the VERY near future (read: couple of weeks at the most), and my PC's in bad need of an upgrade.

Would have been neat to get a Francis Manapul sketchbook too; he was doing headsketches on the covers of the sketchbooks.

[GhostMachine]

Gotcha.

If I wanted to drop four-figures myself, I'd be going after artwork done by legends. I'd love to get my hands on a Byrne or Perez.

I see a lot of sketchbooks with original sketches on them up for sale on eBay and have been tempted to buy them, but unfortunately the good ones always seem to come up for sale when I can't afford to. :( They had an Ed McGuinness sketchbook with a Batman profile sketch I really wanted for sale, but I was low on money at the time.

The only autographed item I've ever bought online was an art print autographed by George Perez. Its a headshot of Power Girl (the only other characters available were the New Teen Titans, Scarlet Witch and Wonder Woman, and those cost more since he's actually associated with them).

*edit* Just looked, and they've got more Ed McGuinness sketchbooks with original sketches for sale up on eBay, and they're about $10.00 more than they were a couple months ago. Looks like its the same seller, too. If only I didn't have a green Jushin Liger mask on the way.....

[gdaybloke]

I picked up a cool Fastback head sketch by Scott Shaw through the Unscrewed auctions that Zapow's been spearheading to raise funds for those bilked by Rick Olney - you might want to keep an eye on those, you never know what'll crop up.

Also, check out http://www.comicartfans.com/, online galleries et al. A lot of people have stuff for sale or trade, and it monitors ebay for art auctions as well.

[Glitch Girl]

That's great G'Day - those are hillarious (except for the She-Hulk one, but that one looks good too).  You need to  get down to Chicago and continue your quest for more Stilt drawings. 

[gdaybloke]

I'm not thrilled with the lips on the She-Hulk one, but other than that I quite like it. Chicago would be nice, but I don't see it happening this year... (*sighs*)
I'll just have to console myself with June's convention in Toronto

[MikeB7]

 :lol: Those are great!  Neat seeing them sketch Stilts with their own creations. :lol:

[Silver Shocker]

G'day, At first I thought you had some weird fixation on Stilt-Man. Keep in mind I wasn't sure if it was Wilbur Day who died, or his recent replacement from Marvel Team-Up.  No love for Black Goliath?

[gdaybloke]

Wilbur Day was known for being a bald man, and even the cover of the "funeral" issue had a picture of him bald on it... yet the person in the armour in the death issue had a full head of hair...

Princess Python showed up at the wake, recognised by the other attendees as Wilbur's missus, adding credence to the theory that it really was Wilbur that was killed... but I'm still in denial. Heh.

As for Bill Foster, there's enough talk about his death at the hands of Clor our there; Stilt-Man gets no love. I'm saving my pennies to get a big name to do a sketch at the next con... or, of course, I could just spend it all on VS cards, who knows.