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finally settling in after a longish weekend in charlotte for the 25th anniversary heroes convention (here’s to 25 more, shelton!)…if you read ‘ringo’s blog ( www.mikewieringo.com ), you’ve probably already read his latest entry about the con, which pretty much sums it up. highlights were just hangin’ with todd and mike… and the legendary nick cardy (who i’m proud to call a friend… not spending time with our fathers, we were able to share father’s day with nick and had a great time hearing his stories). we sold quite a few copies of both trades and the con exclusive print and talked with lots of great folks who dig the ‘haps as much as we do… and i did a buncha commissions (one of which i’ll post below, courtesy of christian… thanks for the scan!)…

in all the hubbub, i did manage to lose an address for a jarek/koj commission i’m working on… so if ya read this billy (or one of your friends) drop me a line with yer address so i can get it out in the mail!

and before i went to charlotte, i also did this piece for my friend jill to give to keiran on father’s day… (gotta love us nerd types)… and on that note, didja see the robot chicken star wars show? todd, mike and i were laughing our butts off in the hotel at a few bits.. (admiral ackbar cereal…”it’s a trap!”)

well, back to work.
-c

got a lot to do before johnny’s birthday party this afternoon, but figured i’d post real quick…

first off, here’s the colored version of the spider-man art for the heroes progam book (i’ll have a few 8.5×11 prints for sale at the show)…definitely going for a more “illustration” feel (and would love to do more, we’ll see)…

and here’s one of the star wars 30th anniversay sketch cards i did for the upcoming topps set (and check out the rest of’m, kindly posted by keith over at at http://www.starwarssketchcards.com/ in the “star wars 30th anniversary” section… duh)… glad i didn’t poke around the site before i did my cards (looks like some folks put a LOT of time into these “sketch” cards… more like full color illustrations… wow!), i never would’ve gotten done in the time i had…

and the sox’ve won the last 2 games (man, that was a tough hit to watch in the bottom of the ninth with only one out to go in schilling’s game thursdya… tough break) and look like they’ve gotten back into hitting the ball last night (jd drew… wow!)…

i’ve got a bunch more commissions to post, so i figure i’ll get one or two in before charlotte…

-c

okay, so heroes con in charlotte is coming up quickly!

turns out this year’s show is on the weekend of johnny’s 3rd birthday, so we’re having his party a week earlier (he’s only 3, so it’s not a big deal.. and heck, he has a party sooner)…i’ve been heading down to this show for years (only missed it 3 years ago when johnny was born… which was a pretty darn good reason) and always have a great time hanging out with friends like todd and mike (and WAY too many other to name… like you, mr. “can’t be a booth boy since megan’s gonna be there but we’ll gladly keep you around ” brian mulcahy) and talking with fans…

wanted to get a piece in the program book (and the theme was either silver surfer or spidey’s black costume) so i came up with the one over the weekend…

besides that, i wrapped up my 100 sketch cards for the upcoming topps star wars 30 set (how could i say no?! i’ll post’m later, i’m sure) as well as my latest dc licensing gig, so it’s back to those commissions (thanks for being patient… oh, and if by some odd coincidence you’re on the list and plan on being at heroes (robert?) lemme know if you want me to bring the piece and get it in person)…

we managed to get out and see knocked up this weekend as well (i absolutely loved it – but ithen again, i thought freaks and geeks was the best tv show in years … trish, not as much) and got to watch some of the sox-yankees series (even losing 2, boston’s still got a healthy lead )…

if you’re a comics fan and reading this, i’m sure you check out ringo’s blog… and WOW, is that new set-up sweet (makes me wanna redo my sitre… someday)…

well, back to work on this rainy monday morning…

-c

hmmm, since it’s been over a week, you’d think there’d be a lot to post… but with the two kids during the day and working on the dc licensing gig after the family’s in bed, i haven’t had much time for anything else… besides a few tv shows, which i’ll get to in a bit.

we DID get a chance to visit our good friends jamie and karen at the hospital after the arrival of their beautiful baby daughter (good luck with her, jamie!)… since johnny couldn’t visit, he’s been going on… and on… and on… and on… about going to play at their house and see the baby (who’s quite the cutie, i gotta say)…

should be (well, kinda have to be) done with this dc gig next week, so i can get back to a big pile o’ commissions and get ready to head down to charlotte for heroes con (and before that, have johnny’s big 3 birthday party)…

so, we’ve gotten to the end of another tv season… heroes seemed a bit anticlimactic, but still interesting… 24, well, it’s over… sopranos is looking like it’s gonna end with a bang (the last one was just crazy good), the office was great (if you didn’t check out creed thoughts over on nbc.com, go do it now! man, i’m really loving that character these days… and the very last bit with ryan = priceless!)… and lost?! i won’t spoil anything, but i’m glad i stuck around, ’cause it really picked up and i’m loving what’s going on… but GAH, another show with a 9 month wait for the next season?!)… still haven’t watched any of the latest veronica mars (figured i’d try and enjoy’m, since that’s all we’re gonna get… which is a shame, but it’s not the first time a GREAT show got cancelled because it couldn’t find an audience… at least we got 3 great seasons, right? although it does make me wonder about people when the pusscat dolls show gets better ratings)

okay, back to work… oh and here’s that wonder woman i mentioned…

-c

okay, here’s yet another canson commission… always fun when it’s someone/thing i haven’t drawn (the upcoming list including josie of the pussycats and jasmine from aladdin, as well as hermoine, should be fun)…

still working on the dc licensing gig, not much else going on here workwise (which is good, ’cause that dc job is keeping me plenty busy)…

thinking about getting together a second canson sketch book for charlotte (although, since i didn’t have the first one at last year’s show, i might wait ’til baltimore, now that i think of it)… hmmmmm.

sox are on fire these days, dice-k finally showed us what he’s really capable of last night and lived up to the hype… very nice. (funny that as a life-long red sox fan, i keep thinking i’d better enjoy this streak now, since the season’s barely started… we’ll see come september)

don’t watch many commercials these days (thanks, tivo!) but i do catch those mac ads once in a while (downloaded and am enjoying the quirky book by john “pc” hodgeman)… as a mac owner, i do find some of those spots funny – not necessarily true, however… especially the mac “genius” spot, seeing that my experience with a “genius” was far from successful (me, after waiting about an hour – “hey, i think there might be a problem with my powerbook’s drive, but i’m not sure”, genius- “oh no, that’s just the cd disc drive, sounds out of balance… it’ll be fine for the time being, but you might want to replace it in the future”, me- “um, okay… thanks” while thinking i should back up the drive again just in case, which i didn’t get to do since the next time i started it up when i got home from the apple store, the hard disc crashed… and while i didn’t get any “cryptic error” message like they say pcs get in another spot, i just got a question mark in a folder… not much more encouraging, if you ask me)

okay, enough rambling, back to work!

-c

what i’m listening to as i type this… “the else” by they might be giants

one of the great things about being in new england here is the changing of the seasons… spring is back and all the trees are starting to bloom (and the kids can play outside again)…

got to see a good game up at fenway … ugly first inning from dice-k… 5 (runs on 2 hits? ouch.) but it got better.

had a good time up at jetpack comics on free comic book day … and then spending a few hours at my local shop on sunday.

work moves along on commissions and the dc licensing gig… who knows, maybe i’ll get motivated and start contacting editors at dc and marvel again soon…

here’s another piece i did for hitoshi and his most impressive collection (check it out on the comic art fans gallery… sorry i don’t have the link handy)…

so, there’s an end in sight for lost… good for the storytelling, i think. (this season really bounced back after an uneven start… so did 24, to a lesser degree…) season (and series) finales are on the way in the next few weeks, looks to be some good tv.

-c

wow, what a beautifully sunny thursday here in new england… been working hard on yet more commissions and a fun job for dc licensing…

was able to catch a sneak of spider-man 3 last night. it was pretty darn good, although it seemed to try and fit an AWFUL lot into the story (with way too much connecting of story elements)… and a few bad “funny” moments ruined the momentum for me… but great action (maybe a bit too frenetic at times) and character development. i’m still thinking the 2 movies i wanna see this summer are superbad and knocked up.

heading up to fenway tonight to see dice-k in action, hope it’s a good game!

man, i LOVED that new hellboy book that came out this week (duncan fegredo is easily one of my favorite artists working today… brilliant stuff!)

oh, yeah, here’s a few star wars pieces i did for john higashi (hence the title of today’s post… although i guess it should be “bring on the bug guys and trooper droids” but that just doesn’t sound as cool)…

-c

geez, with all these commissions i’ve got here, i could be posting more, huh? guess i don’t wanna post’m too quick (in case i get bogged down and the commissions slow up… although at this point i’ve got at least a dozen in the queue… and all the ones i’ve already done and scanned).

anyway, here’s another of hitsohi’s pieces…

so, sox are doing great, yankees not so much (it’s still early, i gotta keep telling myself!), randy moss to the pats…. strange stuff!

free comic book day is coming up this weekend, so i’ll be up at jetpack comics in new hampshire on saturday (along with ed mcguinness and dexter vines!) and down at my local shop (stillpoint comics in somerset, ma) on sunday afternoon…

not too much to report on the work these days, doing another fun job for dc licensing… with any luck, we’ll see what’s going on with other pjojects soon…

well, gotta get back to work before i need to go pick up the kids at my folks’ house!

-c

what i’m listening to as i type this … year zero – nine inch nails

okay, so esther asked me for a silver age catwoman and went so far as to send me images for reference… which i glanced at quickly and went ahead and did the piece… not realizing i changed the boots to the golden age costume. not wanting to be trouble, she pointed it out and said she’d take it anyway… but heck, the customer is right (and i clearly wasn’t) so i did a new one… luckily, she digs it (and the other one found a home in hitoshi’s collection, so it’s all good!)

and for folks who’ve read mike wieringo’s blog about his feeling a lack of confidence in his work (or a place in the industry), it’s kinda telling how many of his peers (and friends) express the very same feelings… myself most definitely included. i think going to conventions and seeing other artists’ work can be motivating… and humbling… and downright depressing when i think about how my stuff compares… heck, i get that feeling almost every week looking through new books at the comic shop.

-c

just read that drive got the boot from fox… (heck, i still haven’t gotten to watching the first few on tivo… oh well)

okay, so we made it back safely from todd’s last night (thanks again, brother! a great time was had by all)…

and now that it’s been on the air, i guess i can finally mention one of the gigs i recently did for dc licensing…

smallville: justice and doom! if you were watching the show on the cw last night (sadly, i was busy and tivoing my name is earl), you’dve seen a minute and a half “animated” comic story featuring the smallvile version of the justice league (impulse, green arrow – that’s my sample tryout piece above to prove i can do more than animated stuff- cyborg, aquaman, oracle) which continues a subplot on the show about lex luthor and project 33.1… and ties into a big cross promotion game thing with toyota yaris and more… the project was pretty cool to work on, doing all the art on different layers for the animation and effects. they’re got 4 more done by other artists which’ll air over the next month…

and if you didn’t catch it , you can see it online (and learn more about the game) at www.cwtv.com/justice

alright, back to the commission pile! (what an eclectic list… some jedi, josie of the pussycats, creature from the black lagoon, hermoine… and that’s just a few)…

-c

tivoed the first few hours of drive but haven’t watched yet… but the shield was just brutal (in a good way, but damn if this is gonna get ugly).

ref got me hooked on one of my new favorites on the discovery channel … survivorman