CONvergence 2015 Guest of Honor Badges

Since co-founding the first CONvergence in 1999, I’ve drawn unique, custom badge art for every CONvergence Guest of Honor, every year. It’s time consuming, but I believe—both as a convention runner and as a frequent guest at conventions myself—that it creates a powerful first impression towards CONvergence being a unique convention experience.

I usually try to reference something from a given guest’s body of work in a clever way, as well as try to incorporate our mascot, Connie, on badges for Guests who have been to CONvergence before and are already familiar with the character. Here are the custom Guest of Honor badges I created this year for our CONvergence 2015 Guests.

	Wesley Chu It’s always a challenge designing a badge for author guests if I don’t know of a recognizable visual “hook” associated with their work. But when I saw multiple references by Wesley in various bios and interviews to trying to perfect his “Blue Steel” look (he’s a big Zoolander fan), I knew what I had to do. Upon meeting him, Wesley said to me about his badge “How did you KNOW?” Follow Wesley Chu’s blog at http://www.chuforthought.com/
	Nicole Dubuc When I read that Nicole Dubuc had not only written a Flash comic but had voiced Iris-West Allen on Young Justice in addition to writing episodes of the series, I was tempted to do something with that theme for her badge art. I was worried that it was just my Young Justice bias showing, though, so I instead decided to work with the bigger milestones of her career. Kim Possible was one of Nicole’s first writing gigs and she developed the recent Transformers: Rescue Bots. She told me at the con that Chase happens to be her favorite Rescue Bot! Now if only we’d had more time to talk Young Justice… You can follow Nicole Dubuc on Twitter as @NicoleDubuc.
	Chad Frey Chad Frey has been a set designer and art director on more films that I could even begin to work with, and I didn’t really know which were favorites or his level of contribution to each beyond the job title. I ended up focusing on his design work for Oz the Great and Powerful and had elements from his other films swept up by the cyclone, including references to Transformers, Cloverfield, The Green Hornet and even Mad Men. Learn more about Chad Frey on his website, www.FreyArt.us.
	Charlotte Fullerton While I try not to over-use Connie on our Guest Badges, I knew it was safe with Charlotte. She’d been to CONvergence before when her late husband (the great) Dwayne McDuffie was a Guest of Honor, so she knew who Connie was. It was kind of a no-brainer to dress Connie up as Ben 10, as that franchise has dominated much of Charlotte’s career for several years, including her role as story-editor on Ben 10: Omniverse. You can follow Charlotte on Twitter at @TheCFullerton and on Facebook at The Charlotte Fullerton Page.
	Lee Harris Lee Harris is an author and editor, currently Senior Editor for the new Novella imprint at Tor.com, which presents the usual issue I have with finding a visual hook for someone known for work in a non-visual field. I ended up going for a fun graphic treatment of a picture of Lee himself, which seems to have worked. Lee commented “You must be a great artist. You managed to make me look cool.” I have to note that Lee was fantastically funny our annual, very silly SMACKDOWN! panel. It was great getting to spend some time chatting with Lee over the con weekend! Learn more about Lee Harris at his blog, www.LeeHarris.com, and follow him on Twitter as @LeeAHarris.
	Jennifer Ouellette Sadly Jennifer is the one Guest of Honor I never managed to meet face-to-face over the convention weekend. All you really need to know about Jennifer’s badge art is that one of her books is titled “The Calculus Diaries: How Math Can Help You Lose Weight, Win in Vegas, and Survive a Zombie Apocalypse.” I feel like I nailed 3 out of 4 elements of that title. All four if you consider bits of a zombie being missing as weight loss. Jennifer writes the blog, Cocktail Party Physics for Scientific American. You can learn more about Jennifer Ouellette on her website, www.jenniferouellette-writes.com, or follow her on Twitter at @JenLucPiquant.
	Gordon Smuder I’ve been friends with Gordon for many years and have been lucky enough to collaborate with him on a few projects. I flat out asked him if he had a preference for what he wanted on his Guest of Honor badge. I swear I thought he said “No puppets,” which baffled me because Gordon is best known for his puppet building and for puppet-based projects like Transylvania Television and his upcoming Vermin (Featuring MST3K Alumni Trace Beaulieu). So I went with something I knew was one of Gordon’s great fandoms: The Herculoids. Gordon said he LOVED the badge, but that he’d told me “No MUPPETS.” Why the heck would I ever have considered putting Jim Henson Studios characters on Gordon’s badge? Ah, well… You can see many more of Gordon’s puppet creations at www.thepuppetforge.com. Learn more about the Vermin web show and its Kickstarter at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/792672696/relaunch-vermin-web-show
	Toni Weisskopf Another stumper: Toni Weisskopf, publisher of Baen Books. I didn’t want go to the “portrait” option for a third time, so instead I did a fun graphic treatment of the Baen logo. I lucked out again as Toni loved it. I don’t think I ever saw her face-to-face again after the Guest Reception on the night before the convention properly began, so I hope she had a great con weekend! http://www.baen.com/
	Bryan Thao Worra And finally, Bryan Thao Worra was another 2015 guest I’ve been lucky enough to have been friends with for a few years. When I asked him about badge art preferences he mentioned a couple of options, including adding something to his collection of Naga artwork. So for a multi-year attendee CONvergence panelist, one more Connie. This one being Connie as a Naga, with each of the Medusa-like crown of snakes sporting their own Connie-style antenna. You can learn more about Bryan Thao Worra at his blog, thaoworra.blogspot.com, and follow him on Twitter as @thaoworra.

So that wraps up all of the CONvergence 2015 badge art. You can check out my 2014 blog posts featuring the CONvergence 2014 Guest of Honor Badges and the CONvergence 2014 membership badge art as well! And if you’re interested in checking out more badge art from previous years, I’ve got most of it posted on my blog under the “Badge Art” tag – click here to check it out!

I’ll be at Comic Card on Saturday June 27!

If you’re in the Twin Cities area and want to see me to have me sign your books, to buy one of my prints or comics, or to even have me draw a sketch for you, you’re in luck! On Saturday June 27 I will be a guest at ComicCard along with fellow comics creators Paul Pelletier, Erik Burnham, Dave Wheeler, Frank Fosco, and Dave Strong.

ComicCard brings the best of comic books, sports cards, memorabilia and pop culture collectibles under one roof, and will also feature sports guests including former Vikings Jake Reed and Keith Millard.

New Prints Since Last Year 

I’ll have my usual selection of prints from my 11″x17″ full color prints for $20 each or 3 for $50, and 8.5″x11″ black-and-white prints $5.

 

I will be doing sketches during the convention. Stop by my table, U10, on Friday or Saturday to get on my list! Here are my at-the-con sketch rates.

Full Figure: $60 for the first character + $40 for each additional character
Head Sketch (shoulders & up): $40

In addition to selling comics and artwork, I’ll also have free mini-prints for my Facebook and Twitter followers!

ComicCard
Admission to ComicCard is only $5 and kids get in free.
10:00am – 4:30pm  at the Bloomington Armory
3300 W. 98th St., Bloomington, MN [Directions]

Minnesota Whovians! Come see me at CONsole Room this weekend!

This weekend (May 29-31) I’ll be a featured guest at CONsole Room 2015: The Twin Cities Dilemma , a Doctor Who convention here in my local Twin Cities, MN held at the Hilton Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport. I couldn’t attend last year’s inaugural convention due to a conflict, so when I was invited as a guest this year I was delighted to say yes!

Here’s my schedule for the weekend:

Friday 7:00 PM

• Opening Ceremony (Main Stage/Ballrooms II-IV) Opening ceremony is our time to officially welcome both our attendees and guests to CONsole Room 2015: The Twin Cities Dilemma. Join us for a welcome from convention chairperson Jason Tucker and wave hello to all of our fabulous guests as well!

Saturday 11:30 AM

• Introducing fans to the new series of Doctor who (Mallard Point) Rose or New Earth? What are the best episodes of the new series of Doctor Who to show to a newbie? Featuring – Christopher Jones, Sarah Humphries 

Sunday 2:30 PM

• Comic Book Artist Conversation (Main Stage/Ballrooms II-IV) Are you an aspiring comic book artist? Visit Main Stage to hear from two of our Featured Guests who have worked on comics like Young Justice, Marvel Superhero Squad, X-Files, Godzilla and more. Featuring – Christopher Jones, Gordon Purcell

Sunday 4:00 PM

• Closing Ceremony (Main Stage/Ballrooms II-IV) It’s the end, again! How did another CONsole Room fly by?! Join CONsole Room chairperson Jason Tucker along with all of our guests to bid farewell to CONsole Room 2015. Don’t worry though – you’ll also get to hear a little bit about what we have planned for CONsole Room 2016!

I’ll of course be set up at a table for the duration of the convention and have my full selection of prints available, featuring Doctor Who, superheroes and more. I’ll also be selling comic books I’ve worked on including Young Justice trade paperbacks. I’ll also be doing sketch commissions.

The Guest of Honor at CONsole Room this year is Doctor Who‘s Sixth Doctor, Colin Baker. Given that, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to add an 11×17″ color portrait of The Sixth Doctor to my collection of Doctor Who prints!

Each of these 8.5×11″ black and white prints are just $5.00!

I’ve got some 8.5×11″ Classic Doctor goodness too.

 

And, let’s not forget the 11×17″…

 

These 11×17″ full color prints are just $20 each (a significant discount from my Etsy store), and as usual, 3 for $50 on all of my 11×17″ prints.

I’ll also have my newest free mini-print for my Facebook and Twitter followers!

Looking forward to seeing all of you Whovians this weekend!

If you haven’t pre-registered for CONsole Room but would still like to attend, you can find At-the-Door Registration info here. They DO have 1-day passes available!

See you in the CONsole Room!

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.