Wednesday, March 12, 2008

03/12/08 - Lexington Comic Show 2008

In case you haven't heard; there will be a Comic Show in Lexington on Saturday April 5th 2008. This is the third year running for this event! This one day show runs from 10AM to 4PM and is being hosted by Comic City Comics out of Nashville TN. Here is a link to their site with more info about the show.

Show guests (always subject to change) include - Lexington comics writer, Robert Kirkman, Lexington cartoonists, Kenn Minter, and Mark Kidwell.

Look for us, the Lexington Comic Creators Group (or CCG) to have a table at the show! Please come by and say "Hi", meet some of our members and learn more about our group.

Here is a link to the hotel (UPDATED) where the show will be held:

2143 N Broadway
Exit 113 I-64 & I-75
Lexington, KY, 40505 US
Phone:
859-299-1261
Fax:
859-293-0048
E-Mail:
ramadainnlexky@aol.com

03/12/08 - 2008 Gem City Comic Con in Dayton

Wow, two local comic conventions in one weekend!

Besides the Lexington Comic Show on Saturday April 5th 2008 there is second convention (luckily the next day!) that weekend in Dayton OH. The Gem City Comic Con is having it's third annual event Sunday at the Student Union at Wright State University, Dayton OH. Here is the link to their website.

Scheduled guests include popular Image comic artist, Billy Tan, and famous Marvel and DC comics writer, Marv Wolfman. A rare chance to attend a convention so close to home!

Sunday, March 09, 2008

Street Fighter Tribute!

Udon Entertainment has announced an open call to illustrators and artists to submit artwork in a contest for the new Street Fighter Tribute artbook. Udon is a Canada-based art collective, affectionately dubbed the "Udon Crew," that has been around since 2000. Their artwork appears in magazines, table-top RPGs, collectable card games, and numerous official Capcom artbooks and comics. (That's just to name a few.) Their artbooks always include such diverse artistic styles that even if you're not familiar with the franchises they illustrate for, you can still find joy in the work found in their pages.



Most of the artists can be found on Deviant art through Udon's postings, and being able to get your work published under Udon is almost garaunteed recognition and great exposure. I recommend browsing them to get a feel for what they might be looking for in an artist. For full contest details, go here: http://www.udonentertainment.com/blog/?p=87

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

03/05/08 - Blue Line Pro Charity Event this Saturday

One of the few art supply companies catering to the comic book market is actually headquartered here in Kentucky! Blue Line Pro has been making comic art boards and selling specialized art supplies for more than 15 years now. They are also the publisher of one of the top How To magazines targeted to comic creators: Sketch Magazine.
Their home base is located in Florence, KY where they share their building with a comic store - Comics2Games. This Saturday, March 8th, Blue Line Pro and Comic2Games are hosting a Sketch Card Gallery Show and American Cancer Society Benefit Auction. The Show starts at 10am and runs till 5pm. There will be artist appearances running from 5 -8pm (see the Comic2Cards website for who might be there). The online auction will start at 5pm and run for one week on E-bay. Here is the link to the store's page about this event, with complete information and directions to the store: http://www.comics2cars.com/sketchcardshow.htm


Let's support all the creators participating in this worthy event by making a strong presence at this Saturday's show and auction. Post a comment here or send an email if you are interested in attending, have more questions or want to inquire about ride sharing from the Lexington area.

Monday, March 03, 2008

03/03/08 - Lexington KY setting for Syndicated Comic Strip

Did any of you know Lexington was the setting for a nationally syndicated comic strip? I know I was pleasantly surprised to find out about this strip and the "discovery" of another great artist from the past!

From 1948 to 1959 Francis "Frank" Godwin drew "Rusty Riley" a wonderfully rendered comic strip. The title character is a young orphan boy who finds work as horse groom... where else but in the horse capital of the world! Frank Godwin was influenced by two famous contemporaries: James Montgomery Flagg (artist of the the "I want you for the US Army" recruitment poster with "Uncle Sam") and Charles Dana Gibson (the Gibson Girl artist). All three are consummate pen and ink men. With Godwin adding the brush to his tool set to produce black and white art that managed to create a great deal of of tone with just the use of line.

Godwin produced editorial art , commercial advertising art, illustrated stories and novels as well as drawing comics: most notably for the ground-breaking "Connie" about a strong, independent woman in the working world (1927-1944) during a time this was not the common portrayal. (The Art Lortie Connie site linked and mentioned on www.bpip.com as being comprehensive is no longer active apparently?)

Thanks to Jason Lambert (monitor for Sunday UK figure drawing sessions) for this post idea.