Visiting the Set of Svengoolie

I recently had the privilege of visiting the the set of Svengoolie in Chicago (no, not Berwyn) and wanted to write about it. But first, some history!

You never really know a man until you’ve walked a mile in his coffin. (Photo by Kevin Reisberg)

I first met Svengoolie (aka Rich Koz) in 2014 at the Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo (C2E2). I’d been familiar with the concept of late-night horror hosts on TV since I was a kid, but it was only when Svengoolie’s show went national with the Me-TV network a few years back that I finally had one I could regularly watch, and I quickly became a fan.

After hitting it off at C2E2 2014 I decided to create a portrait of Svengoolie which I presented to him as a gift at C2E2 2015. Sven seemed sincerely surprised and delighted by the portrait, and I has hugely flattered that it was added to the TV show’s set! I wrote about all this and the story behind the portrait in more detail here: “A Portrait Worthy of Svengoolie”.

Svengoolie and me at C2E2 2014.

Svengoolie signs my personal copy of the portrait at C2E2 2015. (Photo by Gregory Parks)

I had done my best to keep in touch with Rich and his producer Jim Roche since then and had been extended a generous offer to come visit the set some time. I finally managed just a few weeks ago to make it to Chicago at a time that coincided with Svengoolie filming a few weeks ago and got to make my long-awaited visit.

The set is smaller than you’d expect, but is densely filled with ghoulish, geeky detail. It is lavishly stocked with statues, figures and props, and most fans have likely noticed that it gets redressed for each episode with figures specific to that week’s movie. Many of those figures are pulled from the personal collections of the crew and staff that makes the show happen, and when not drafted into on-screen use most of those figures reside around the desks and cubicles of those crew members! The craftsmanship on Sven’s gimmicked-out coffin is as impressive in person as you’d hope, and the cameras are automated so they can be run from a control room down the hall!

I got to watch Sven and his crew record intros and outros for four upcoming episodes while I was there, and also recorded an interview with Sven that will be included with the Svengoolie episode “The Black Cat” on March 2, 2019. But most importantly, I got to throw rubber chickens. Watching the show I always think of the chickens that pelt Sven during these segments as coming in from beside the camera, but actually the chicken throwers are sitting on rubber mats on the concrete floor in front of the camera, lobbing the rubber chickens up in the frame, trying to get *close* to Sven without a) smacking him hard, b) their hands coming up too high were they’ll be seen by the camera, or c) having a wild throw take out any of the collectible nik-naks displayed around the coffin. All these things can happen – and have!

I was kicking myself after the day was over that I got photos with Svengoolie but not with Jim Roche or any other members of the crew I met that day who were all so gracious and made me feel so welcome. Oh, well – next time!And yes, if you’d like your own copy of the Svengoolie portrait, they are for sale. If you can’t get if from me in person at one of my convention appearances, you can always purchase it from my Etsy store.

Updated: Here’s the interview segment from the episode.

Keep an eye out for my live tweets during episodes. When I’m at home I’m watching I’m usually commenting as @chrisjonesart. See you online my fellow Sven-fans!

My 2016 Hugo Eligible Fan Art

I’ve been contributing artwork to conventions for a really long time. As in, about two decades. Most notably as a CONvergence co-founder, I created the CONvergence mascot characters and over the years have produced a vast majority of the art for the convention. But I like to contribute to other conventions too. It’s just something I do because I love fan-run conventions and I love lending my skills as an artist to make those events a little more special and unique. I never really gave it a lot of thought outside of generally being proud of my work, and enjoying the community’s reactions to it.

So it’s fair to say I was surprised when a good friend suggested to me that these works are eligible for Hugo nomination under the Fan Artist category.

This is a great (if you’ll pardon my pun) illustration of the dichotomy inherent to being a professional artist who is involved with fandom. There’s this whole side of my life as an artist that is absolutely professional—yes, I get paid, under contract, to draw comic books. But then there’s also this significant side of my life producing artwork that is, well, not professional at all. It’s all about being a fan and contributing to fandom. And it honestly, really never occurred to me before that my non-professional works could potentially be significant enough to be recognized.

I understand it’s common for those with Hugo eligible work in a given year to do a post listing it. So this will be me doing that. I’ve never done this before so I hope it’s not too off-base.

Click on any art to see it larger.

CONvergence

The theme for CONvergence 2015 was Dystopia. Here is the art I did for the con in 2015.

Programming Guide Covers

I created the covers for the CONvergence 2015 programming guide and pocket programming guide (called “The Grid”; its cover always has a grid theme. It’s possible I’m fond of visual puns.)

 

T-Shirt

The CONvergence 2015 T-shirt art references 1984, but with Connie Mark 2, the (slightly evil) little sister of Connie, CONvergence’s mascot.

Badges

I created the art for three of the four CONvergence 2015 membership badges. (Space intentionally left at the bottom for names to be printed.)

Guest of Honor Badges

Every year I create unique, custom badge art for every CONvergence Guest of Honor. Here are the Guest of Honor badges I made for CONvergence 2015. (Click here to read more about the process behind them.)

CONvergence 2016 Ad

The ad I created for CONvergence 2016, which will celebrate the great and interesting modes of transportation in science fiction and fantasy. This appeared in the back of the CONvergence 2015 programming guide, and on the CONvergence website. Bonus points if you can name all the vehicles!

CONvergence 2016 Logo and Web Graphic

Every year I create a new custom logo to reflect CONvergence’s theme, and 2015 was no different. The logo and website header graphic must be created a year in advance of the con, so that they can be published in printed materials and go live on the website immediately after the convention. Here is the logo that I created for CONvergence 2016, pictured as part of the website header graphic that I also made.

Rocky Mountain Con

Rocky Mountain Con is a fan-run convention in Denver, CO that serves as a fundraiser for Aurora Rise, a charity established to support victims of the 2012 Aurora Theater Shooting. For their 2015 convention, I created this commemorative artwork for them to sell at their merchandise table, with 100% of the sales going to the con’s charity.

Midwest Comic Book Association

MCBA is a fan-run organization that produces two nonprofit comic cons in Saint Paul, MN annually. In 2014, Nick Post, the beloved founder and driving force behind MCBA, passed away unexpectedly. It hit the community very hard. This is a piece of artwork I produced for MCBA’s Spring con to memorialize Nick and to raise money for MCBA’s partner charity.

Gallifrey One

2015 was kind of a light year for me doing artwork for Gallifrey One, a fan-run Doctor Who convention in LA. I did draw this train sporting the seal of Rassilon, which the con used for the Gallifrey One 2016 (Station 27) ad in their 2015 programming book.

JOFcon

Umm… platypus? Fez? Badge art? Yes.

Other Fan Art

This is some other fan art I made in 2015. I put it in the art shows and/or display it in the artist alleys of conventions I attend.

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.

Remembering Nick Post

I drew this portrait of my friend Nick Post (Dominic Postiglione if you want to be formal) who passed away this past week for a tribute to him in the upcoming Parallel Man comic book I’ve been drawing.

Nick had been very supportive of this homegrown Minnesota-based project, which should come as no surprise to anyone who knew him. I’ve never known a more passionate supporter of the local community of comic book fans and creators.

Nick was co-owner of The Source Comics and Games and the driving force behind the long-running MCBA comic conventions (Fallcon and Springcon). I can count on one hand the times I had a chance to have dinner with Nick or otherwise see him outside of a convention or an event at The Source. But for over 20 years Nick had been a regular presence in my life, always greeting me with a smile and always eager to support any project I was working on.

Every year when I showed up for Fallcon and Springcon I made it a point to seek out and have a chat with Nick. Those conventions have always been very special and considered must-not-miss appearances on my annual calendar. They were the first conventions I ever attended as a professional, and I was always treated *professionally* there even when I was just starting out and was an absolute nobody. I’ve always felt extraordinarily well treated by all the volunteers and staff at MCBA shows, and I don’t hesitate to attribute that to Nick who led by example.

I’m going to miss Nick so much and am sad to think how conspicuously absent he’ll be at Fallcon this year. But I’ll console myself in looking at those ongoing conventions as part of Nick’s legacy. I’m sure others will step up to not only run them but to help welcome the next generation of comics fans and creators to the fold.

It’s what Nick would want.

En Route to BUTT-NUMB-A-THON!!!

I’m spending the first half of today in airports, making my way down to Austin, TX for Butt-Numb-a-Thon 14!  Butt-Numb-a-Thon, or BNAT, is a 24-hour movie marathon produced in partnership between Harry Knowles of the Ain’t it Cool News website and the Alamo Drafthouse.

BNAT14WOLF poster

I look forward to this event every year! I’ll have a lengthy blog post recapping BNAT14 next week, but in the mean time, check out my BNAT13 recap from last year. For more information on Butt-Numb-a-Thon, your best bet is the BNAT Wikipedia page.

By the way… Interested in following BNAT14-related hyjinx this weekend? Check the hashtag #BNAT14 on Twitter! (Obviously there won’t be many tweets during the actual festival, but there is plenty of visiting, not to mention parties & events surrounding it!)