A Portrait Worthy of Svengoolie for C2E2 2015

The late night horror host Svengoolie has been the on-air persona of Rich Koz since the mid-70s, and fans of his show know that it features vintage horror films served with generous helping of cheesy jokes along with background information on the films he shows and their stars that conveys a real love of the material. Ever since Me-TV came into the Minnesota market a few years ago, I have made sure to catch the show whenever I could. I really enjoy it. I didn’t know that Svengoolie would be at C2E2 last year until the 11th hour, and wrote on my twitter that I hoped to get away from my own Artists Alley table long enough to visit Sven at his signing, but I was skeptical that I’d be able to. Lo and behold, Sven and his camera crew stopped by my table as they did a tour of the convention, capturing material to be used in upcoming episodes of the show! It was tremendously cool!

Svengoolie and me at C2E2 2014

I did a little video with Svengoolie (which was really fun), and then gave him a gift of my Re-Animator print, which seemed like the most appropriate of the selection I had. Given the body of all ages and animation-based comics I’ve done I’m amused by how many people don’t know I got my start doing a lot of horror comics, including the original comic book adaptation of the Re-Animator film! Sven seemed to really like it, and I honestly don’t even remember that his crew was still filming when I gave it to him. I determined right then that if I saw Svengoolie again at C2E2 in 2015, I wanted to do something more to express my appreciation for the show.

It didn’t take me long to settle that would be fun to do a portrait of Svengoolie in a gothic, over-the-top haunted house kind of style. I got the idea of trying to evoke the style of Basil Gogos, who is best known for having done many great portaits of figures from classic horror as covers for Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine.

 

Hal reached out to Svengoolie producer Jim to share the finished artwork and see if it would be possible to surprise our favorite horror host with the gift at C2E2 this year. I spent the whole of Saturday at C2E2 2015 looking forward to Svengoolie’s visit after his scheduled signing. When team Svengoolie made their appearance, I was able to give Rich a framed copy of my Svengoolie portrait and he seemed delighted. I had a few extra copies for Jim and members of the Svengoolie crew, and made a point to get Sven’s signature on my own personal copy of the print for my living room.

Svengoolie and me at C2E2 2015

Presenting Svenoolie with my gift

Svengoolie signs a print for me (Photo by Gregory Parks)

The portrait as it now appears on the Svengoolie set. Thanks to my friend Tom Hogan for capturing the video for me to screengrab.

I’m pretty over the moon about this whole thing.

If you’d like your own copy of the Svengoolie portrait, yes, you can get one. If you can’t get to one of my convention appearances to get it from me in person, you can always purchase it from my Etsy store.

I’m looking forward to seeing Svengoolie again, but I don’t know if I can top this!

Christopher Jones Art Prints GRODD WANT ART ETSY SALE!

I know that due to logistics and geography, a lot of you haven’t had the opportunity to see me at a convention or signing, but want to pick up one or more of my art prints. You probably know that most of my art prints are available for purchase in my Etsy store, but to show you I appreciate you all just as much as those able to visit me at events, I’m holding an online art sale! This is your chance to pick up that art you’ve been eyeing from me at a bit of a discount.

My GRODD WANT ART SALE will run until June 23!

(Why Grodd? No reason. I just love Grodd.)

Check out my Etsy Store at http://www.etsy.com/shop/ChrisJonesArt to see the full selection of art prints I have available. Use one of the discount codes at checkout.

GRODDMEGA – 40% off any purchase of $150 or more
GRODD45 – $45 off any purchase of $120 or more
GRODD30 – $30 off any purchase of $90 or more
GRODD15 – $15 off any purchase of $60 or more
GRODD5 – $5 off any purchase of $30 or more
FRUGALGRODD – 10% off any purchase of $10 or more

Also, prints now ship inside the United States at just $5 for any size order, and there’s a combined shipping discount on international orders.

Art prints all feature an original signature by the artist (yours truly) and can be personalized upon request.

I won’t offer discounts on online purchases super often, but it is my plan to hold an online sale at least once per year going forward.

Nick Post, the Kingpin of Comics

Last summer marked the passing of someone very important to the local comics community here in Minnesota. Dominic Postiglione (Nick Post) left us all too soon, and I still find myself mourning him frequently.

You see, Nick was a larger-than-life personality, driven by a deep passion for comics. He was a steadfast supporter of local talent, always happy to use his resources as an organizer of the Midwest Comic Book Association (MCBA) conventions or as one of the owners of Source Comics and Games to help struggling creators out.

Nick had been an enduring presence in my life since the early days of my comics career. It was one of Nick’s MCBA conventions where I first set up at a table at a con. Nick gave me the chance and treated me as an established professional even though I hadn’t yet earned any clout. That made a lasting impression on me and generated a great deal of my loyalty to Nick and MCBA.

I’d never had the opportunity to get to be really close friends with Nick. I was always seeing him fleetingly at comic book conventions—either one of the MCBA shows he organized or at one of the other conventions where Source Comics and Games was exhibiting. Grabbing dinner with Nick outside of a convention was a rare treat, and the time he joined some friends and me for an hour in the hotel bar one convention weekend is still a source of oft-told tales.

When Nick passed last year, it was a shock that hit me surprisingly hard. Nick had been a constant presence in my career. I looked forward to sharing milestones of progress with him or picking his brain about things I was trying to work out. He seemed like the kind of giant who would go on forever. I know I wasn’t alone in the way I felt about Nick, so I’m sure his legacy will go on forever.

But I still miss you, Nick.

I had been tossing around the idea of drawing Nick as Kingpin for a while before he left us. It just seemed so . . . right. And amusing. And perfect. This week, I finally did it. I will have prints of this available exclusively at MCBA’s MSP Comicon this weekend.

Prints are 8.5×11″, full color, and just $5 until they run out. (URL watermark not on actual print.)

100% of the sales of this print will be donated to the Lupus Foundation of Minnesota, Nick’s charity of choice and one of the charities MCBA cons support.

Dominic Postiglione, Nick Post, the Kingpin of Comics.

The Digital Print I Created for Greg Weisman’s Rain of the Ghosts

I created this digital print as one of the rewards for the Rain of the Ghosts full-cast AudioPlay Kickstarter.

Rain of the Ghosts is the first in a Young Adult novel series by Greg Weisman, creator of Disney’s Gargoyles, and a writer and producer for numerous fan-favorite animated series including Spectacular Spider-man, W.I.T.C.H., Young Justice, and Star Wars Rebels. Greg describes the novel this way:

These are the adventures of Rain Cacique, a young girl descended from the indigenous Taíno people of the Caribbean.  Rain lives on the Ghost Keys, a chain of islands on the edge of the Bermuda Triangle, where her parents own and run a Bed & Breakfast that is both Rain’s home and place of employment.  Over the course of the first book, Rain goes from making beds for tourists to learning she has the ability to communicate with ghosts.  Rain has a mystery to solve, a mission to accomplish and a destiny to fulfill.  I can honestly guarantee that if you enjoy the sensibility, characters, plotting and surprises I’ve brought to such series as Gargoyles and Young Justice, you’ll love Rain of the Ghosts.

Now Greg wants to bring the story to life as a full-cast audio drama. Not just an audio book with the text of the novel being read by a single performer, but a full cast of 20 actors with sound effects and music! Greg has already paid to record the vocals out of his own pocket, but funds are needed to complete the post-production work and bring the story of Rain Cacique and her friends fully to life.

I created the image you see above as one of many rewards being offered to supporters of the Kickstarter campaign. The digital download print you can earn as a reward is at much higher resolution than this preview version and doesn’t have the big “Rain of the Ghosts” text in the middle of the image! 

Here’s more on the Kickstarter:

Cincinnati Comic Expo 2013 Hightlights

This past weekend I was fortunate enough to have been invited to be a guest at the Cincinnati Comic Expo. Hal and I arrived at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport which has the airport code CVG, the same abbreviation we use for our home convention CONvergence, which I suppose could be taken as a good omen for the weekend to come. We were met at the airport by Amanda Gilliam, which was the first time that I’ve ever had the driver-with-your-name-on-an-erasable-marker-board experience. Amanda wasn’t driving us though, she hooked us up with a pre-paid shuttle to our hotel in Cincinnati while she went back to wait for the next out-of-town guests due to arrive.

Friday afternoon was spent setting up my booth. We’re forever trying to find ways of streamlining my convention set-up, making it faster to put together and getting the most bang for the buck given the limitations of bulk and weight that is practical to bring to a convention by plane. This was the best iteration to date, but we’ve already got ideas of how to improve it for next time!

Young Justice fan art from Jim Haas

The convention was open from 5:00-7:00pm for a “preview night” for Exhibitors and VIP Ticketholders. I didn’t do a lot of business, but there was a lot of browsing and it was a great chance to meet some of the other folks there for the show while traffic was light. The cosplayers were already out in force, and we started capturing photos. When I say we, I mean mostly Hal. She’s the reason you see as many photos in my social media on a convention weekend as you do, as she’s both taking the photos and posting them while I’m busy drawing and talking to fans. Hals are very useful, I highly recommend them.

We captured so many cosplay photos over the weekend I created a separate blog post for them, which you can see here.

TMNT Balloon Sculptures at Geek Prom

Friday Night was the Comic Expo’s Geek Prom, which had a Saturday Morning Cartoons theme,with many of the attendees in cosplay or pajamas.

Art of War II at the Mainstay Rock Bar

Saturday Night featured an after party at the Mainstay Rock Bar including the second annual installment of an improv drawing event called Art of War. Artists went head-to-head in drawing challenges in an elimination structure. This year I was happy to just watch, but if I make it back next year, maybe I’ll participate!

I love meeting all fans, but I’m always especially amused by exchanges with costumed fans that revolve around their costumed personas. A Nightwing cosplayer asked if I would “sign his wing,” and then proceeded to lean over for me to sign the chest logo on his costume, playing it up like I was signing a female fan’s cleavage. (I never get asked to do THAT… maybe I should be grateful?) Judge Dredd and a colleague stopped by and were very concerned with whether the free candy being offered at my table met with regulations.

Signing Nightwing’s costume

These Judges meant business

I did a number of sketches while at the Expo, and you can see those below.

Ace the Bat Hound

Zatanna

Darth Vader

JLU-style Huntress

Artemis

Darkseid

Avengers sketch cover with Tigra

Green Arrow sketch cover with Arrow vs Etrigan

Madman without a Box

And finally, I did one more sketch just to be drawing during some down time. I started drawing the Joker, and had gotten as far as deciding what kind of tie to give him – bolo, straight necktie, or bow tie – when inspiration struck. Between the Joker drawing turning out pretty well and the Doctor Who reference, this seems to have gotten a pretty good reaction on social media. I may have to do another version of this as a print! I’ve still got this original art, so it also will be available at my next convention unless I get a better offer! ;)

At the Hall of Justice – Cincinnati’s Union Terminal

Before leaving town I had to visit the great comic book geek landmark of Cincinnati, Union Terminal which these days is the Cincinnati Museum Center. Back in 1973 it served as inspiration for the Justice League’s Hall of Justice on The Superfriends!

My thanks again to everyone that stopped by my table at the Cincinnati Comic Expo, and all the great volunteers who made the event happen and made me feel so welcome there. You’ve got a great convention and I’d love to come back!