CVG 2013 Ad

CVG 2013 Ad – Key

1. Connie as Emma Peel from The Avengers
2. Professor Max as John Steed from The Avengers
3. Connie Mark 2 as Nathan from Misfits
4. That Smiley Planet Guy from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
5. God from Monty Python and the Holy Grail
6. The Liberator from Blake’s 7
7. Starbug from Red Dwarf
8. Harry Potter from… uh… Harry Potter
9. An alien walker from John Christopher’s Tripods
10. Thunderbird 1 from Gerry Anderson’s Thunderbirds
11. The TARDIS from Doctor Who
12. Graffiti from V for Vendetta
13. A Triffid from Day of the Triffids

Not numbered, but visible in the background: The London Eye, Big Ben, and a Double-Decker London bus.

I considered adding a reference to The Prisoner or Sherlock Holmes or James Bond… but I didn’t want to over-clutter it. There’s a whole year ahead to reference the works of H.G. Welles, Sapphire and Steel, 28 Days Later, Quatermass…

The true measure of the convention’s success any year isn’t in those numbers or even in the money that is generated for our non-profit parent organization Convergence Events, but rather in the anecdotal stories of the experiences had by our members. Here’s one official photo gallery, but there are plenty more out there if you search for CVG2012 or #CVG2012. That #CVG2012 hashtag will also lead you to an epic number of CONvergence-related tweets on Twitter. If you’re wanting to get over the post-con blues by immersing yourself in all things CONvergence, the following links should help:

Official Page – http://www.CONvergence-con.org
CONvergence YouTube Channels – http://convergence-con.org/media/videos
Facebook Group – https://www.facebook.com/groups/2204992216
Connie’s Facebook Page – https://www.facebook.com/CONvergenceCon
CONvergence on Twitter – https://twitter.com/convergencecon
And finally, the epic video teaser for CONvergence 2013

So for my last batch of images for CONvergence 2012, here’s a little more artwork I did for the convention this year.

Souvenir Program Guide cover

Here was the cover art for the Souvenir Program Guide. The Kill Bill image seemed like a nice alternative to the omnipresent Wonder Woman imagery for our 2012 “Wonder Women” theme, and I knew there was going to be a Kill Bill-themed sketch at the Opening Ceremony. I didn’t realize there was ALSO a Kill Bill sketch being organized by a different group for the Closing Ceremony. Maybe that’s Overkill Bill.

Mark 2 as Elle Driver

As a companion piece to that cover featuring CONvergence mascot Connie, I drew Connie’s evil sister Connie Mark 2 as Elle Driver from the same film. I don’t know if anyone else was as amused as I was by the eye patch over the Cylon eye, but it cracks ME up…

CVG 2012 Grid Cover

This was the cover art for the pocket-sized programming book, which presents our programming schedule in condensed grid form. It’s cleverly referred to as “The Grid,” and it’s a running gag that I try to do cover art for this each year that both reflects the theme and has some sort of “grid” reference as well. This year we went for the Ms. Pac-Man treatment. That’s a Connie-fied Ms. Pac-Man chasing around the maze with Mark 2-style Ghosts.

CVG 2013 Ad

And finally, here’s the ad for CONvergence 2013, which will have the theme of British Invasion. I managed to pack quite a few references in here, but I still didn’t manage to include The Prisoner, Sherlock Holmes, James Bond, and so many others! Well I’ve got a year to come up with something to work them into!

Now, back to work on Young Justice!

Here’s THIS YEAR’S Guest of Honor batches, which were handed out to the #CVG2012 Guests of Honor at the hotel last night. I say last night, but I’m pre-scheduling this post on Wednesday, so they don’t have them yet and I’m still hoping they’ll like them! This is the grand finale to several days worth of posts sharing the art I’ve done for badges for the past several years of CONvergence.

#CVG2012 – Bonnie Burton

#CVG2012 – Jennifer Clarke Wilkes

#CVG2012 – Judith Walcutt

Jennifer Clarke Wilkes is an editor, notably of the book The Last Supper. So you can see what I did with a parody of that book’s cover. I hope she finds this joke funny.

Among her other credits, Judith Walcutt was Executive Producer of the The War of the Worlds 50th Anniversary Production.

#CVG2012 – Lyda Morehouse

#CVG2012 – Ruth Thompson

#CVG2012 – Sharyn November

Ruth Thompson’s badge is a Connie-fication of Ruth’s print Eye of the Storm.

Sharyn November is the author of the Firebirds series, including the award winning Firebirds Rising.

#CVG2012 – Sophie Aldred

#CVG2012 – Tamora Pierce

And finally Tamora Pierce’s badge is a reference to her Songs of the Lioness series.

So these guests are walking around the Double Tree hotel in Bloomington, Minnesota wearing these badges. Hopefully they like them.

Once again, watch for all the CONvergence-related tweets at #CVG2012. I hope to see many of you there! Look me up at one of my signings or panels!

I promise to return with some Young Justice blog posts soon!

Here’s the last batch of art I’ve done for badges for the Guests of Honor of CONvergence 2011.

#CVG2011 – Edward Douglas

#CVG2011 – Brain Van Camp

#CVG2011 – Jason Carter

Actor Brian Van Camp was in the film and sported a zombie look not entirely dissimilar from this badge art.

The film also features actor Jason Carter, best known to many sci-fi fans from his role as Ranger Marcus Cole on Babylon 5.

#CVG2011 – Lynne Thomas

#CVG2011 – Seanan McGuire

#CVG2011 – Catherynne Valente

Author Seanan McGuire is a Munsters fan and made the mistake of mentioning publicly that she identified with Marilyn Munster. Clearly she paid for her mistake.

I was at a bit of a loss for what to do for author and poet Catherynne Valente, and ended up referencing the fairytale element of her work very literally.

#CVG2011 – Brian Keene

#CVG2011 – Anthony Tollin

#CVG2011 – Greg Weisman

The first badge I had an idea for this year was Anthony Tollin’s. Anthony is a historian of The Shadow and other pulp heroes, and is publishing deluxe reprints of The Shadow and Doc Savage pulp novels. I first knew of Tony for his work as a colorist, specifically his work as colorist of Keith Giffen’s Ambush Bug series for DC Comics. Mash up! There you go.

And finally we had another returning Guest of Honor with Greg Weisman, who I was working with on the comic book version of Young Justice, based on the animated TV series for which is is head-writer and producer. Red Tornado is featured in Young Justice, a character Greg has a history with, so Connie got the Red Tornado treatment.

That’s it! We’re all caught up! I’ll be scheduling a post for tomorrow with the 2012 Guest of Honor badges, but otherwise I’m off to CONvergence! Watch for all the CONvergence-related tweets at #CVG2012. I hope to see many of you there! Look me up at one of my signings or panels!

#CVG2010 – Chuck McCann

#CVG2010 – Jeremy Bulloch

#CVG2010 – LA Banks

“Boba Fett? Boba Fett, WHERE?” Yes, I went there on Jeremy Bulloch’s badge.

An elegant design based on a character from L.A. Banks‘ writing. She is missed.

#CVG2010 – Paul Cornell

#CVG2010 – Wally Wingert

#CVG2010 – Bridget Landry

Wally Wingert’s obsession with the Adam West Batman appeared again, this time mashed up with Wally’s new gig as the announcer for Jay Leno’s Tonight Show.

Yep, it’s another plain Connie badge for cosplay queen of the rocket scientists Bridget Landry. I wanted to produce a new badge in the style of the 2010 Guest of Honor badges, but I made sure the scale and position of the Connie figure was the same as her previous badge, so the costume overlays I was providing her with would work equally well with the new badge. I didn’t try to keep this plan a surprise this time, and contacted her in advance of the convention to ask if there were any planned cosplays I could match.

#CVG2010 – Bridget Draco

#CVG2010 – Bridget Kira

#CVG2010 – Bridget Maleficent

If you’re coming to #CVG2012 be sure to look me up! I’ll be doing two signings and on a bunch of panels.

The CONvergence 2010 theme was Bring on the Bad Guys, a celebration of villains that saw Connie’s slightly evil sister Connie Mark 2 take over the convention. This was a goldmine for artwork ideas, and I tried to give a lot of the graphics a fascist, propaganda poster edge, while still having a fun, CONvergence flavor.

#CVG2010 – 5 & Under

#CVG2010 – Ages 6-12

#CVG2010 – Ages 13-17

The evil alien kids from Village of the Damned made for a creepy badge for the 6-12 crowd.

And the teens got Red Mist from the newly released Kick Ass.

#CVG2010 – Adult Badge

#CVG2010 – Exec Badge

#CVG2010 – Service Animal

And the Service Animal Badge that year saw the evil Mirror Universe version of Connie’s dog Sparky.

In 2010 we eliminated having separate badges for members of the Board of Directors, and we just got our own ConCom Badges. It was a good call. All hail Mark 2!

Mark 2 was overthrown by Closing Ceremony, of course, and all was right with the con once again. But Mark 2 plots her return to power from her new role in ConSuite. Who thought letter her near the food was a good idea?

If you’re coming to #CVG2012 be sure to look me up! I’ll be doing two signings and on a bunch of panels.

#CVG2009 – Brian Keene

#CVG2009 – Dwayne McDuffie

#CVG2009 – Frank Conniff

The badge for the late, great Dwayne McDuffie features the comic book and animation versions of his character Static meeting face-to-face.

Frank Conniff’s badge, like all the badges for the Cinematic Titanic crew reflect the silhouette gimmick for their show, while the background image makes a joke referencing their earlier MST3K. I had to do something with Torgo. Please note the brand of pizza being delivered.

#CVG2009 – Joel Hodgson

#CVG2009 – Kelly McCullough

#CVG2009 – Mary Jo Pehl

I was delighted to hear that Kelly McCullough was giddy to have his Melchior character morphed with Connie for his badge, and the art is even featured currently on his website!

Mary Jo Pehl’s badge features an unfortunate camera angle on The Amazing Colossal Man (although he’s got his disfiguration from sequel, so technically it’s the Colossal Beast – #geek).

#CVG2009 – Patrick Rothfuss

#CVG2009 – Trace Beaulieu

And finally Trace Beaulieu had been at CONvergence before, so I had no issues with dressing Connie as Mr. B-Natural, from a famous MST3K bit.

If you’re coming to #CVG2012 be sure to look me up! I’ll be doing two signings and on a bunch of panels.

The CONvergence 2009 theme was Comedy – a celebration the funny side of Sci-Fi and Fantasy. This was more challenging art-wise than I would have imagined going in. When you’re usually trying to do a funny take on something series, it’s hard to then do a funny take on something that was already funny. The really funny thing that happened in 2009 was that our 1-time deal of CONvergence being a Thursday-Sunday 4-day event for our Year 10 convention in 2008 became permanent. You can never please everyone and certainly some folks preferred the 3-day model, but a TON of people really loved the extra day of con in 2008, and we made the counter-intuitive discovery that for a lot of volunteers four days was EASIER. We had a TON more at-the-con volunteers in 2008, and our Convention Committee was more relaxed. My theory – people find it easier to spare some of their time for volunteering when their hours at con seem like less of a premium. And for those working all weekend, more time between Move-In and Move-Out improves the ratio of hard work vs. time spent enjoying the convention.

#CVG2009 – 5 & Under Badge

#CVG2009 – Age 6-12

#CVG2009 – Age 13-17

PROOF that I’ve long been trying to feature the work of artists other than myself at CONvergence! This year the decision was made to further break out the age ranges for badging purposes, which resulted in an extra badge. The three youngest brackets this year featured artwork by Holly Spotts, which I then composited into the badge design. If the badges look a little blank, it’s because the CONvergence logo was being applied that year in the form of a hologram sticker as an anti-counterfitting measure.

#CVG2009 – Adult Badge

#CVG2009 – Exec Badge	#CVG2009 – Directors Badge
#CVG2009 – ConCom Badge

#CVG2009 – Service Animal Badge

#CVG2009 – Finance Badge

#CVG2009 – Badger Patch

The Service Animal Badge started with Connie/dog art by Lou Frank, and I added the fire hydrant in making a badge design out of it.
I had drawn our mascots as the Addams Family and The Munsters for 2009 Publications, so tycoon Gomez with Morticia seemed like a nice choice for the Finance Badge.
And it’s not badge art per-se, but this year was the debut of our Badger Patch, an embroidered patch given to volunteers who spend time doing the vital job of manning badging stations at the convention.

#CVG2009 – Temp Thurs

#CVG2009 – Temp Friday

#CVG2009 – Temp Sat

#CVG2009 – Temp Sunday

#CVG2008 – Wally Wingert

#CVG2008 – Marv Wolfman

#CVG2008 – Bridget Landry

Marv Wolfman, who was only the writer when Dick Grayson got his first Nightwing costume in the pages of New Teen Titans.

And finally the badge for Jet Propulsion Laboratory rocket scientist Bridget Landry.

What’s that, you say? Bridget’s badge looks a little plain? She probably thought that, too when we first gave it to her, although she was too polite to say anything. But you see, we had a little surprise for her. When Bridget was first a Guest of Honor at CONvergence 2006, we learned that she was a cosplay maniac with a special love of original series Star Trek cosplay, appearing in several different spectacular costumes that weekend, all of her own creation. So what I did was I created this very simple badge for her featuring Connie, but then additional created several transparent overlays on lamination material, that featured paper-doll style costumes scaled and positioned to dress the Connie on her badge so she could cosplay WITH BRIDGET! These overlays were given to Bridget at the Guest of Honor Reception after she’d already gotten her badge and she was delighted!

The images below show the various cosplays provided on overlays to Bridget.

#CVG2008 – Bridget Red Shirt

#CVG2008 – Bridget Blue Shirt

#CVG2008 – Bridget Gold Shirt

#CVG2008 – Bridget Rand

#CVG2008 – Bridget Medical

#CVG2008 – Bridget Mirror

And that’s finally the end of the #CVG2008 badges! On to #CVG2009!

If you’re coming to #CVG2012 be sure to look me up! I’ll be doing two signings and on a bunch of panels.

#CVG2008 – Mercedes Lackey

#CVG2008 – Peter Mayhew

#CVG2008 – Andrew Probert

I’d thought of this image the first time Peter Mayhew was at CONvergence, but didn’t use it then because Peter didn’t know Connie yet. This time that wasn’t an issue.

The first time we’d had designer Andrew Probert as a guest I’d referenced his work for Star Trek: TNG and Airwolf. This time I referenced his role as designer of the Cylons for the original Battlestar Galactica!

#CVG2008 – David Weber

#CVG2008 – Len Wein

#CVG2008 – Greg Weisman

I had fun dressing Connie in the original costume of Len Wein’s creation, Wolverine.

Spidey is about to get a surprise now that the sun has gone down on Greg Weisman’s badge, referencing his Spectacular Spider-man and Gargoyles animated TV series.

One more batch from #CVG2008 to come!!!

If you’re coming to #CVG2012 be sure to look me up! I’ll be doing two signings and on a bunch of panels.