Wonderconmania!

Ahh...sorry for the delay...been meaning to update about my class and, especially, the Wondercon!!
After a pretty productive figure drawing class (@ left) it was off to the comic convention where, exactly one year earlier, I had met Enrico and Ronnie for the first time. I had also met James Baker one year ago Saturday. Last year was quite an experience; I met so many people I had only read about, it was incredible. I just happened to bump into a technical director whose name I have forgotten, animator Angus MacLane, and animator Sanjay Patel recognized all the books on my lap and asked me if I was a fan of Ronnie, Enrico and James'. Although not quite as unpredictable as last year, this year's visit was nonetheless amazing.
As we walked down the street to one of the Moscone buildings I rummaged through my bag but couldn't find the list of booths I wanted to check out...but I had their names all in my head and I was pretty confident I'd find them. On my list was the infamous Louie Del Carmen, super cool James Baker, awesomely-talented John Nevarez and super tall Brian Kolm from the Atomic Bear Press (who also has a cool comic!). I also wanted to stop by Stuart Ng books to see if he had Blacksad 2 to accompany my Blacksad 1...
After I had given up looking for my list in my bag we noticed a poster on one of the (unnaturally creepy) streetlights (that transformed from tall, needle-like poles during the day to even more intimidating claw-shaped things at night...the tops of them seemed to swivel from virtacle to horizontal...glad I wasn't there to witness the transformation or I might have thought the streetlights were coming alive...). The poster said that on that very day real sets from the Wallace and Gromit Were-Rabit movie were at the Zeum, the building kitty-corner to the Moscone center! And, it said, I could get my picture taken with Gromit. That would have me in there in a flash, but unfortunately the Moscone was waiting.
The Moscone Center was very crowded...the hustle-bustle of a geek's paradise. Our group split up and agreed to meet up at five thirty to call it a day.
I decided not to plan out my search...I rather like stumbling across the paths of people I know rather than seeking them out sometimes... Anyway, the first booth I came across was that of James Baker, an uuber nice guy with a laugh-out-loud comic called ROCKET RABBIT. What a shame that I see him only once a year!! Each time I've met him at the con we have a great chat about upcoming movies or Wallace and Gromit or something along those lines. You should buy one of his books!
The second booth I found was Stuart Ng's books. I asked him if he had Blacksad, and he said, "Well I only have the second one..." and I said, "that's great! 'cause I have the first one!"
Two books down, don't check the wallet. Just buy and be satified!
The next booth, I decided, would be Louie's. Louie has helped me a bunch with proper storyboard techniques and has taught me a lot. He has given me great support, even though we had never met. He started his blog, Random Anomalies, about one year ago too. Don't you love how things can come full-circle? Now, a year after I meet him in "cyberspace" I meet him in person, as he sells his book "Random Anomalies!" In fact, that is kind of what his book is all about, how everything is connected somehow. "Behold the essence of life...fate and synchronicity" is how his book starts and ends. I love this little book. I can read it over and over and each time I go "Ah-hah!" It's hard to believe this is his first book! It's so professional and it's just great. Hope you Wonderconners got a copy, and I hope this isn't the last we see from Louie.
Something I wasn't expecting when I came up to Louie's booth was to see Ronnie there as well! What a cool little surprise! He greeted me with open arms and introduced me to his whole family and I got to chat with his very nice wife. At four thirty I brought my mom back over to Louie's booth so she could meet him. Also someone came up to me and asked if I was Amelia, I said yes, and they turned out to be Charles Kiasu (forgive me if I'm spelling that wrong!), a frequenter of Enrico's blog. That was cool, to meet CK after reading his comments on Enrico's blog for so long.
So all this time I couldn't stop geeking out and smiling, I had been surrounded by all my biggest idols...my cheeks were getting tired...but I couldn't give up just yet! After saying g'bye to Louie we rounded the corner and I saw John Nevarez. It was fantastic to finally meet him. If you haven't seen his artwork you should definetly check out his site, located at the links list. Or you could look up on my wall and see a few drawings he did as I stood right there at his booth! He was so generous to draw for me. I never imagined I'd have one of his drawings pinned up on my wall, let alone two! His fluid, soft and thick lines are so appealing, and he takes full advantage of the soft pencil to get the full scale of dark and light. I bought his book, Bits & Pieces, which showcases just a snippet of the great artwork he does. Hope to see him do a feature film one of these days!
I was almost about to call it a day. We did one walk through the Artist's Alley, to see what we could see. I saw from the corner of my eye Brian Kolm, whom I had met at the behind-the-scenes of The Incredibles at Pixar in 2004. He is a really cool guy, the soul person behind Atomic Bear Press and creator of Beyond the Great Chimney. I have just read the first comic and am quite intrigued by this idea...what a cool thought, to be transported through this huge chimney, like a gigantic elevator, to another world. And to be trapped there with a jerk like that knight guy! Oops...better not give too much away.. The second issue looks even bigger and better than the first and I am looking forward to reading that one too.
After a fun chat with Brian and Alexis Fajardo, who was sharing his booth, my cheeks were about to fall off. I swear my mouth hung open the whole ride home. Combine a full day of joyous smiling and superb surprises with the numbing stuffy-headedness of a cold and you get the image of Amelia on Saturday night: Not Pretty. However here are a few images that aren't so un-pretty, taken with a long exposure from the car, passing by the (rather ghostly?) ferry building and the bay bridge:
And today, since this week is "Ski Week," I had the day off. In the morning after working on my Senior Project Paper I went into town, did the coffee shop stop, the bank stop and the art store stop, as well as the Copperfields stop, then came home. All I did for the next 6 hours was sit down with my big sheet of paper, blue non-photo pencil (a new found fun utensil for me!) and my other color pencils was draw a pic I am considering entering to the CalArts program. It goes to the prompt: "show something that you think is unique about yourself."
And um..after that I downloaded pics, and now I'm blogging. Nice.
Happy Valentine's Day, World!!