Love at first sight. Frank Godwin. Or, Why I love museums.

Art dealer Mitch Itkowitz, from Graphic Collectibles, was sweet to send me this Frank Godwin scan as a condolence. I saw the painting from across an isle or two at ComicCon and was immediately and inexplicably drawn to it. I see tons of great artwork and I'm happy to live with them briefly -- in a museum for a few minutes or in my office for a few weeks -- but there was something about this painting, which grabbed me from a distance too far to have appreciated it and didn't let go once I was directly in front of it, that made me deeply regret I would never see it again.

I wish I could express why.

Mitch warned me that a number of people were having the same reaction, it would likely be sold very quickly, but it was out of my price range. (Despite the fact that I work in publishing solely for it' s massive paychecks.) When I went back the next day, just to get another look, it was gone -- nothing but a hole in the fuax convention walls. I'm sure whoever owns it now will enjoy it for a life time, and I hope that they decide to leave the painting to a museum some day where the public can appreciate it for decades to come.

Comic Con Wrap Up

In past years I complained that ComicCon lasts about a day an half too long, this year I needed at least another day and half to see everything I wanted to. Everything is still a blur and so, a rather disjointed and sure-to-overlook-too-much recap:

The demos were a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. Particularly when a number of people told me that they were worth the price of admission, all on their own. It was gratifying to see as many established pros attending them as there were emerging artists.

I had the pleasure of introducing Tobias Buckell to his cover artists, Todd Lockwood. They stared at each other for half a beat and then broke into a manly bear hug.

I was reunited with a number of the Illustration Master Class alumni -- great to know that those bonds are strong.

Tor.com gave away a handful of t-shirts, many books, and tens of thousands of buttons. It turns out, giving stuff away is fun! Special thanks to Deirdra for being our A#1 giveawayer.

I met John Howe and had a lovely conversation about the pricelessness of original paintings. I was also excited to meet Christian Alzmann and Robh Ruppel - both lovely guys and great artists. All on my wish-list.

I had a great dinner with Spectrum. The Fenners are truly dedicated to helping advance illustration, they always have many interesting ideas and insights into the field.

The good folks at io9 invited us out for a fun meeting of minds meal.

I had breakfast with David Apatoff and his charming wife Nell. David writes the always insightful Illustration Art. One of my must-read blogs.

Lunches consisted of way too many chips, and pizzas, and other horrible convention "food" items. This part I will not miss.

The final night, Team Tor.com got together for a small bonding dinner and ran through our first impressions of the convention. I swear, more good comes from co-worker meals than any kind of office meeting.

Now I am sitting at home with a pile of promising portfolios and postcards to go through. I'll use them to reference the artists website and see who I want to put in my wish-list, who I want to invite into the Tor galleries, and who looks like they have enough promise that I should keep tabs on.

I wish I had kept up the blog as I went and reported more cohesively, but I'm sure I’ll keep referring back to things I saw as the weeks go by. All in all -- I can't wait for next year!

PHOTOS: FIRST SET: Tor.com: Deirdra, Carey Tse, and a Storm Trooper. SECOND SET: Mark Winters looking at Rick Berry's portfolio. Eric Fortune showing off his wares. Todd Lockwood giving Scott Murphy some pointers. THIRD SET: Spectrum dinner. Patrick Nielsen Hayden at Io9 dinner. Rebecca Guay at her booth. FOURTH SET: Costumes FIFTH SET: Eric Fortune v. Dave Palumbo. (I forgot who won.) BELOW: Tobias Buckell and Todd Lockwood. Rick Berry and I. John Howe and Donato Giancola.

ComicCon Demos

Quick write-ups over on Tor.com:

Jon Foster

Greg Manchess

Rick Berry

Stephan Martiniere

Annual ComicCon Leg and Arm Wrestling

Lost a little, won a little.

When Ugly Dolls Retire

SDCC: End of Preview Night

Preview night is over and it’s already late, ate night. (Actually, I should say, an not-early-enough morning.)

It started by trying in instigate a fight between Tor.com and Io9, which didn't go very far. Instead we traded buttons and business cards and the Io9 people were so cool, they invited us to crash a DC party under their name.

There, I had my second Batman moment of the con -- party swag included Bat signal light-up pens!!! So very exciting. (I love TV Batman. True, I know nothing of the cool Batman comic books and hip movies, but campy-ass TV Batman is part of my soul.)

After we finger-fooded our why through dinner and had a couple of drinks, we headed off to the traditional illustrators' haunt, the Westin lobby. It was a slowish night -- it’s the first day of the con and most people just arrived today -- still, I had a great night talking to a number of people, including Jeremy Lassen, of Night Shade Books. Jeremy has the dubious pleasure of being both a editor and art director - it was very interesting for me to hear his take on the business. I’m hoping to interview him and/or have him write a bit for Tor that explores what it’s like to wear these two hats simultaneously. (And, anyone that knows Jeremy, knows who seriously he takes his hats.)

But for now...sleeeep. Wonderful, wonderful sleep.

PICTURES:

FIRST GROUP: Tor’s Patrick Nielson Haydon and Io9’s Annalee Newitz and Charlie Jane Anders. Scenes from the DC party.

SECOND GROUP: Hanging out at the Weston. Jeremy Lassen, Greg Manchess, and Jon Foster looking and Kristina Carroll’s (hidden behind Jon) portfolio. Jeremy Lassen. Dave Palumbo, AKA, the man who made me famous via zombification. Donato and I.

SDCC: Set-up

I always look forward to some kind of Batman moment at ComicCon -- so here I am on Wednesday feeling oddly complete for the week.

As usual Wednesday afternoon is all about running round. A shout out to all the union guys who were surprisingly nice to me as a danced with their forklifts. Another shout out to Adam the Cabie for cheerfully shuttling us to Dick Blick Art Supplies, to pick up a number of things for the upcoming demos, and then to the Apple store, and finally back to Tor.com command (aka Carey and Liz's room.) Luckily all this running around made me just miss helping out my friends doing their set-up. (Shucks, guys, I meant to help.)

And now the doors are open and the "slow" day is already a mob scene.

San Diego Comic Con: Arival

After one sleepless night of getting ready, I am now in San Diego, anxiously awaiting ComicCon starting tomorrow. My hotel is just two short block away from the convention center. Yay!Although it has Victorian doll displays that you pass by in the elevator between floors...much more creepy than pretty. I wonder which they where going for.

The convention hall is already busy, with union workers rather than fans. I'm always amazed how quickly the convention takes over the entire city. Every lamp post has SDCC signs, every bus is covered in the year's hot movie posters, I even saw a pedicab with an "Alex Ross At Booth ..." sign.

Tomorrow the action starts -- set-up and opening of preview night.