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San Diego Comic Con 2016 Panel

This year I attended San Diego Comic Con as part of the TeeFury artist panel. As part of being a member of their artist panel discussing ‘Artist Self Promotion’ I met some really awesome artists, whose work I really admire. Artists alongside me were Karen Hallion (artist/illustrator), Tom Hodges (comic artist and illustrator), “Artist Abe” Lopez (artist/illustrator), John “Captain Ribman” Sprengelmeyer (award-winning illustrator/syndicated cartoonist), Austin “RebelArt” Frankel (artist/illustrator), and me.  We shared our experiences as pioneers in the pop culture apparel world and provided practical advice on building an artist brand. Along with our ramblings, artist Abe conducted a live drawing of a fan-suggested design.

A Q&A followed with some great questions from the crowd. Highlights of the panel included this golden nugget of advice from Tom Hodges – “Never be afraid of art direction and critiques. Artists are stubborn & don’t realize they are trying to help you sell.” RebelArt talked about the tougher side of being an artist – “That artist thick skin is something that I think drowns a lot of artists. You can’t give-up.” Followed by “I don’t like hands and faces…I’ll draw you faceless and handless…” All of the artists were open and offered great advice. Considering their successes they were a very humble group, which made me feel very comfortable. The TeeFury after party was an extension of the panel with art related stories and laughs galore. It was a pleasure to kick back with art people who’s egos are fully in check and who’s experiences are similar to mine.

During the weekend TeeFury also gave out my ‘Cute Hunter’ pin design as a SDCC2016 exclusive. During the day I had a chance to walk the convention center floor and experience the madness. I got lost in the mass of collectable toy releases, amazing posters and awesome cosplay. ComicCon is always a great experience but this year provided a different perspective for me. I also got to meet some truly awesome people too. Hopefully I’ll be back another year to relive the experience.