So I have a pretty big, awesome announcement to make.
Two weeks ago was Rob-Con, as you probably already know. I didn’t do as well this year as I did last year, but it was still a blast and I still managed some decent sales and got some nice stuff for myself too. I met a woman there who had been walking around talking to all of the other artists. She was from the William King Museum in Abingdon, where I’d taken a few art classes when I was at Highlands. She told me about how they were setting up an exhibition of comic art in one of their galleries early next year from the private collection of Shelton Drum. Shelton, for those who don’t know, owns the Heroes Aren’t Hard to Find shop in Charlotte and is the one who puts together Heroes Con every year, so I’m willing to bet he has some great stuff to display. Anyways, she told me that she wanted to do a show in the upstairs gallery that she curates to coincide with this one, showcasing local artists, and gave me her card.
Last week I emailed her. We set up a meeting for Tuesday morning, after I had a dentist’s appointment. I took my portfolio with me that had mostly poster illustrations, pages from the last few chapters of Other Sleep, and pages from Burst Reach 3.
She told me I was the only artist who’d gotten in touch with her about doing a show, and that I can basically do whatever I want. After some chatting, we decided that I’ll be doing a solo show exhibiting work from Other Sleep. Original pages, prints of the fully colored pages, stuff like that. And the show will be in February, coinciding with the comic show mentioned above.
Me. A solo show at the William King Museum. Based on Other Sleep. Be still my beating heart.
My plan always was to try and have the book finished by the end of this year. Now, I have an insanely good reason for doing just that. It’s more than just finishing the book, that’s just the first step, there’s going to be so much more to do, but this is a huge deal to me. I am buzzing with excitement.
So now I’m working like crazy, more motivated than ever before. You understand, right?
Oh, and one other thing. Next Saturday, August 17th, is Koku Manga, an anime convention being put on by the same folks responsible for ETSUcon back in April. It’s being held at the Holiday Inn in Johnson City, and I of course will be there, purveying my usual wares and doing sketches. So come check it out, say hi, buy some stuff! Get a mutant portrait drawn! Because seriously, I didn’t do a single one at Heroes OR Rob-Con, and that’s distressing. Why wouldn’t you want your portrait drawn as something out of a body horror film?!
Finally, here are a couple recent pieces I haven’t really shown yet. Both are of characters from the new graphic novel I’m slowly formulating. I’m aiming for a look that’s a bit different from Other Sleep, as you can see:
Alright, that’s enough chatter. There’s work to be done. See you next weekend.
[Brett]