Posts Tagged ‘Art’
39 items.
(Above, the great swag I got from the show)
Aotea Centre was busy and full a couple of Sundays ago. It was Mother’s Day. The sun was shining outside, on a beautiful autumn Auckland day, and people were making the most of it by getting out and enjoying it. It was also the day of the inaugural Chromacon event. An Illustration and Comic Art festival being held in the centre of town at the Aotea Centre.
As an exhibitor, I had access to the space early for setup the day prior to the show. Walking through the floor where everyone was setting up, and getting a sneak peak at what was to come, I could already tell it was going to be a great show! There were several spaces that I walked past and my jaw was dropping to the floor. It was cool to see so much talent was being assembled in the same space.
The morning finally arrived, and the early birds were in completing their booth set ups. Soon enough 9am rolled around and the show was officially under way. It probably took about an hour for some real crowds of people to start flowing through, but once the floodgates were opened, that was it. It was busy all day.
I had a great time. People were mentioning to me things like “we had no idea there was all this talent in our own country”. Which I guess just re-enforces the reason why putting on a show like Chromacon was absolutely worth doing. The public were great. I talked to a lot of really nice people. The artists were equally as great. I didn’t get as much time as I had hoped seeing all the different exhibitors, as I was basically stuck manning my own table the whole time. I did manage some quick trips as the show was coming to a close however and some good folks that were there were kind enough to stop by my table as well.
Outside of my comics, by far and away the favourite item I had for sale was my Anchorman print. I’ll throw an image of that up above this blog post. It’s available in my store if you’d like one. As are a couple of the other prints I had available.
Everyone who came through and stopped by my table. Thank you. It was wonderful to talk to everyone. All the artists who I know through social media, and met on the day, it was really great meeting you. Big thanks to Michel, who saved my butt when it came to setting up the booth, and last but not least to Allan and his team for putting on a great show! Apologies to all the artists whom I just didn’t get a chance to go see in person. Hopefully it’s an event I can add to calendar every year!
Thanks for reading,
Marc
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Here’s another print I’ll be releasing at Chromacon this Sunday. Clearly I dig Wes Anderson films, as this is the second drawing of mine based on one of his films. In this case the Royal Tenenbaums.
When approaching these drawings I wanted some clearly defined characters and his movies do that really well. I went with Margot and Richie for the print because I like them as characters, and I liked their arc in the film.
As always too, Wes’ characters always looking really interesting, so they were fun to draw as well. I did a small sketch of Margot in my sketch book before I carried on with the art. I liked it enough that I thought I would share it with you all.
Hey, Chromacon is this weekend! I’d best get to showing you another print I’ll have available for sale there. This one is a familiar one. As it recently appeared in the comic. I liked the comic so much I decided I’d make a few of these available as a print. I’ve also turned this into a vinyl sticker…it’s kinda cool.
Anyway, the show is this weekend. I’m pretty excited about it. I’ve spent a lot of time preparing for it, so it’ll be nice to get there and see everyone.
Hope to see you there!
Thanks for reading,
Marc
Hey all,
Here is an update for you. I’ve been working hard. Not on comics for the site, not yet…but they’re coming.
Instead I have been getting some stuff sorted out for a new show that is happening here in Auckland spot lighting local artists, comic creators, illustrators – called Chromacon. The show is happening on the 12th of May, so make sure to mark that down in your calendars. Check out the Chromacon website, there is some amazing talent that has been organised for this show. It’s very exciting! It’s happening right in the middle of the city, at the Aotea Centre, so it’ll be nice and easy to get to. I’m truly excited to be a part of this show, and hopefully it is the first of many. Please come out and support what will be a fantastic showing of local talent!
On my side of things. I am trying to organise reprints of older comics. I’m creating some new digital prints that I will have for sale, both online and at the show. I’ll have some new stickers available. It is going to be fun. I’m excited to show off some of these prints I have been making. I’ll show some very soon right here on the site. On top of that, I’ve been enjoying the new digital prints thing so much, that I will be seeking suggestions for subject matter on what I might draw next for the next print. I’ll put the call out soon.
I recently got back from Christchurch. I did a quick day down there, and caught up on how the city was going. It was good to see where it currently is. It’s got me thinking about how I’ll interpret it next for the next batch of stories. I put some photos up on my Flickr, if you are interested in seeing some pics of where the city is at.
Finally, I uploaded a free ActionMan Adam Wallpaper for your computer. If you feel like you need some Canadian Kraft Dinner action representing on your desktop, notebook, tablet, whatever, you may download it.
Some Adventure Time fan art. I loved this episode, it was called “Another Way”. It made me laugh a lot, so I thought I’d draw some art.
If you have children, and you are not watching this cartoon with them. You’re really doing them, and yourself a great disservice. It’s amazing. There is also a cool print comic available from Boom comics.
Draw Something and Basketball – it’s all happening!
April 13th, 2012 |Posted In: Blog, Uncategorized
The comic is still under way. I got started on it late due to a very busy Easter weekend. The glorious weather that weekend kept me out and about with various activities, so it was a late start to drawing this weeks page. It has been started. I’m just getting into the inks. I’ll get it completed over the weekend and up early next week. Hopefully I can get a start on the next page this weekend as well.
Meanwhile, I thought I would post up some Draw Something pictures I got a little carried away on. I’m sure by now everyone knows what Draw Something is, right? If you don’t – it’s basically a Pictionary type of game for mobile phones. The cool feature about the game is you can actually watch someone drawing in real time – though I’m sure this is horrible for all my opponents, as sometimes I take too long and they might still be waiting to guess what it is. Either way, it is fun, and I sometimes use it as a way of just drawing something fun that I would not think to draw – outside of my own comics. If you have access to a phone that is capable of playing the game, it’s a fun game to play against friends.
At the moment I’m right into my Basketball. The NBA has a reduced season thanks to labour negotiations – and while the season started late the same amount of games are being played in a shorter amount of time. It means as a spectator its been fun to watch games essentially every day, with teams turning out for a game over couple of days.
On top of that, The NZ Breakers are in with a good chance for back to back finals in the Australian Basketball League. They won it all last year, and last night I was able to witness them win the first game in a Grand Final series for this season. It’s win two games to claim the championship. They’re playing against the Perth Wildcats, so now they have to back up their first victory and fly to Perth to try and win the championship over there. If that doesn’t work it all comes down to a big game three here in Auckland. Either way, it will be awesome.
Fun times!
Thanks for reading,
Marc
Still playing with Sketchbook Pro for the iPad. It’s a pretty amazing app. I mean the amount of versatility you get out of it, versus the cost of the app, talk about value! This app can do so much. It was certainly worth the investment. If you like to mess around with digital art, and you own an iPad, I can’t recommend it enough.
Get yourself a really good stylus to draw with though. I’m using the Cosmonaut, by Studio Neat. It’s definitely the best one I have tried. Some are a little touch and go, but this one is just a really good option, for writing or drawing. They’re affordable too.
Hey, two years ago today I started posting comics online! Nice.
Thanks for reading,
Marc
This AMA piece was drawn by my younger brother, Tony.
Tony inspires me a great deal. He never gives up in the face of adversity. He gets on with what he has to do in life and I admire the fact that he can do that with little complaint.
Generally we have the same sense in humour, so it is fun hanging out with him and going off on wild tangents about some crazy shit we might be talking about at the time. Those kind of moments can really help kick off ideas for the webcomic.
I was honoured that Tony drew this piece for me. Thanks bro. It means a lot.
Thanks for reading,
Marc
About three weeks ago now, I left for a couple of days in Australia. Of course, upon returning to New Zealand we were greeted with our stuff taken from our house so that sucked. It was a sour end to what was a nice break.
However, though the return was spoiled. The holiday itself was very cool. Having never been to Melbourne, the wife and I were looking forward to having a look around. Sadly it was only a quick trip, so we barely had a chance to scratch the surface. The stuff we did see and do we really did enjoy.
It was difficult to gauge what the city was to everyone. There was evidence of a lot of artistic pursuits around the city. Cool boutiques, galleries, theatre and lots of cool graffiti and street art to gaze upon. Though on top of that it seems to be a city spoilt for choice with sports as well. A taxi driver went to great lengths to discuss with us just how much he (and by his own words two thirds of the city of Melbourne) disliked the AFL team Collingwood. Later that night, walking across the river we noticed the lights from the MCG stadium were ablaze indicating that the locals were watching an AFL game. I guess the best way to sum up the city is “diverse”. Seems like there is something for everyone in Melbourne.
The weather was reasonable. We hit a fine patch amongst the rain the city had been experiencing. We made sure we got out and walked quite a bit of the city, only relying on the well utilised and planned public transport a couple of times when we had to.
Even got a chance to catch up with some friends!
While it was only a short visit. It certainly won’t be our last. Melbourne, thank you for having us. We hope to return one day soon, in the future!
Thanks for reading,
Marc
Way back in 1999 I hung out with three guys during my student days, in Christchurch. We were a tight unit and frequently went out on the town as young guys do. My good friend Matt had a place right in the city centre just 2 blocks away from all the popular bars, and one block away from the favourite watering hole, the Dux de Lux.
It was a great thing, and I have to give a lot of respect to Matt, whether he wanted it or not, he was always gracious and welcoming, for the partying that began at his apartment there in the city. Two years later, I’m trying to come up with an idea for a one page comic, and as a joke I suggest it would be cool to do a comic based on our mutual friend Adam. Over the course of the next hour, Matt and I are throwing ideas back and forth and we basically nail down the story for the first ActionMan Adam comic. Subsequently when it came time for the second story I went back to Matt and again, we were able to get another story done.
What’s cool now is, after being burnt out on his own artwork, Matt has finally returned to it. Art was something he was always adept at, so it’s good to see him getting back into it. Bringing it back full circle, Matt now has an art blog, and has decided to use ActionMan Adam as one of his practice pieces, as well as other pop culture and comic book characters.
Please go check his blog out, leave some comments, and follow his RSS, as he throws up some vector based drawings and gets back on track with his art agenda. Tell him I sent you!
Thanks for reading
Marc