Updates,
Yeah they're coming. People are asking what i'm sculpting and i'm going to show some soon.
Ted.
Ted.
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Saturday, September 24, 2005
My trip to San Diego
Well this one is a little late but here it is.
San Diego ComicCon 2005 was a series of firsts for me my first trip to the USA, my first time flying, first vacation(though I was there networking for work) first time to see the ocean and California! and it was the first time i got to meet some of my internet friends.
I can tell you how big ComicCon is but it's still bigger then that, the convention center is HUGE! from the outside it looks like a big Habitrail for nerds, but once inside it's even bigger. There is almost every company connected to the comic/toy/scifi/fantasy/anime/manga/art field you can imagine there, they're all trying to sell you stuff and most of them will give you free stuff.
I met so many artists that i had admired it was incredible. From being hugged by Tim Bradstreet to watching my friend Gabe show off his Batman tattoo to Jim Lee to talking about what pens to use with Brian Stelfreeze, it was incredible.
I got to meet people I had learned from like Mike Mignola, Frank Cho, Mark Schultz, Jim Lee, Josh Middleton, Tony Moore.
My main reason for going was to show my sculpts to some of the companies there. I started with more then a dozen full photo portfolios and I gave them all away.
McFarlane toys, Mattel, DC Direct, NECA, Mezco, SOTA, Diamond Direct, I gave them all a port.
A big part of the trip was the DC Direct Talent search where they had a panel of the DC Direct guys split all the sculptors off into groups and we each had a guy look at our stuff. They chose two guys to try out, one was a guy I didn't catch his name but he was already in the field he had done a Hellboy fig for some company. the other guy was Byron from Jaredeon Studio, who just happened to sculpt a beautiful Poison Ivy bust for the Statue forum Iron Sculptor contest. When i saw Byrons Portfolio I knew why they chose him. He had a solid portfolio covering a variety of subjects.
I was sadly not chosen, but I was given the cards for the Art Directors. One of the guys insisted I send them some more stuff, he gave me an honest critique which is something I really respect. Some of the pieces in the portfolio were too stiff, like animation maquettes and pieces that looked like statue poses should be left out. They felt I was at the level to be in the field and I need more port pieces, and that's what i'm working on.
I was able to meet Tim Bruckner, who's a sculptor for DC Direct if you have any of their figures or statues then you will own something he sculpted, it was great to get his advice, as well as Barsom's who is another sculptor for them. they both told me to beef up the portfolio and i'll be in.
I also got to meet Andy Berkholtz, he's a freelance sculptor, he's done work for damn near everyone. He gave me a good critique, it focused on stuff like sculpting hair, and manipulating waxes like castilene.
The other part of the trip was being a fanboy in the shangri-la of comics, i bought some cool stuff by some Pixar animators, got a Middleton sketch, basically I nerded out.
i got to spend time with some good people I met on the internet, had a lot of laughs, some good food, watched drunken comic creators, i even got to see Alkaline Trio in a real Californian punk show. I have to say the kids in the Cali scene were really polite and much nicer then the jock tough guy approach in the Toronto scene.
A few other highlights were meeting Robert Jordan! i went to his panel where he did some pronounciations of his characters, talked about the series and his pland after it. I even got up and asked a few questions! the coolest part was after the q+a he did a signing where I showed him a crummy photo of a drawing i did that's being sculpted. It's an Aiel Maiden of the Spear i asked him to name her and he did "Arhuin" Ar-win, hey it works for me. I shook his hand and got a pic with him.It was an honor to meet him.
While walking around on the last day I was killing time looking for deals when i see a guy in a blue shirt walking towards me, no way i thought JOSS WHEDON! creator of Buffy/Angel/Firefly so I introduced myself shook his hand and even got a picture with him, that's a highlight!
I was on my own for the last night as my friends were going back to LA and Vegas i didn't think i would get to sleep but I was so damn beat i nodded right off. Coming home was a painful experience, I have always dreamed of going to California, and having to leave it sucked.
If you got this far thanks,I know it was long and i know I forgot so much but that's for later, leave a comment if you want.
Ted.
San Diego ComicCon 2005 was a series of firsts for me my first trip to the USA, my first time flying, first vacation(though I was there networking for work) first time to see the ocean and California! and it was the first time i got to meet some of my internet friends.
I can tell you how big ComicCon is but it's still bigger then that, the convention center is HUGE! from the outside it looks like a big Habitrail for nerds, but once inside it's even bigger. There is almost every company connected to the comic/toy/scifi/fantasy/anime/manga/art field you can imagine there, they're all trying to sell you stuff and most of them will give you free stuff.
I met so many artists that i had admired it was incredible. From being hugged by Tim Bradstreet to watching my friend Gabe show off his Batman tattoo to Jim Lee to talking about what pens to use with Brian Stelfreeze, it was incredible.
I got to meet people I had learned from like Mike Mignola, Frank Cho, Mark Schultz, Jim Lee, Josh Middleton, Tony Moore.
My main reason for going was to show my sculpts to some of the companies there. I started with more then a dozen full photo portfolios and I gave them all away.
McFarlane toys, Mattel, DC Direct, NECA, Mezco, SOTA, Diamond Direct, I gave them all a port.
A big part of the trip was the DC Direct Talent search where they had a panel of the DC Direct guys split all the sculptors off into groups and we each had a guy look at our stuff. They chose two guys to try out, one was a guy I didn't catch his name but he was already in the field he had done a Hellboy fig for some company. the other guy was Byron from Jaredeon Studio, who just happened to sculpt a beautiful Poison Ivy bust for the Statue forum Iron Sculptor contest. When i saw Byrons Portfolio I knew why they chose him. He had a solid portfolio covering a variety of subjects.
I was sadly not chosen, but I was given the cards for the Art Directors. One of the guys insisted I send them some more stuff, he gave me an honest critique which is something I really respect. Some of the pieces in the portfolio were too stiff, like animation maquettes and pieces that looked like statue poses should be left out. They felt I was at the level to be in the field and I need more port pieces, and that's what i'm working on.
I was able to meet Tim Bruckner, who's a sculptor for DC Direct if you have any of their figures or statues then you will own something he sculpted, it was great to get his advice, as well as Barsom's who is another sculptor for them. they both told me to beef up the portfolio and i'll be in.
I also got to meet Andy Berkholtz, he's a freelance sculptor, he's done work for damn near everyone. He gave me a good critique, it focused on stuff like sculpting hair, and manipulating waxes like castilene.
The other part of the trip was being a fanboy in the shangri-la of comics, i bought some cool stuff by some Pixar animators, got a Middleton sketch, basically I nerded out.
i got to spend time with some good people I met on the internet, had a lot of laughs, some good food, watched drunken comic creators, i even got to see Alkaline Trio in a real Californian punk show. I have to say the kids in the Cali scene were really polite and much nicer then the jock tough guy approach in the Toronto scene.
A few other highlights were meeting Robert Jordan! i went to his panel where he did some pronounciations of his characters, talked about the series and his pland after it. I even got up and asked a few questions! the coolest part was after the q+a he did a signing where I showed him a crummy photo of a drawing i did that's being sculpted. It's an Aiel Maiden of the Spear i asked him to name her and he did "Arhuin" Ar-win, hey it works for me. I shook his hand and got a pic with him.It was an honor to meet him.
While walking around on the last day I was killing time looking for deals when i see a guy in a blue shirt walking towards me, no way i thought JOSS WHEDON! creator of Buffy/Angel/Firefly so I introduced myself shook his hand and even got a picture with him, that's a highlight!
I was on my own for the last night as my friends were going back to LA and Vegas i didn't think i would get to sleep but I was so damn beat i nodded right off. Coming home was a painful experience, I have always dreamed of going to California, and having to leave it sucked.
If you got this far thanks,I know it was long and i know I forgot so much but that's for later, leave a comment if you want.
Ted.
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