The Demian Rant

WE'RE MOVING

Just wanted to post a notice that we're moving blogs and will ultimately be taking down omgh4x and replacing it with something totally unrelated, random, and hopefully a little bit cool!

Come read Jaci and my blog at http://www.teamsiudemian.com

egads, nothings been posted in a long time and given the craziness of the past few weeks I doubt I'll be posting anything interesting (if it ever was that) or rant like for awhile.

In the mean time, there has been some amazing news! Square Enix (makers of Final Fantasy games for those of you not geek enough to know) have just launched an online store!.

It looks like I might have some fancy new additions for my wishlist coming up soon!

Baltic cruise details coming soon...

AAAHHH! WE WENT TO SUPERCON!!!!

Hrmm... doesn't quite have the same effect as announcing we got engaged, but in case you live underneath a rock and you don't know whats been going on you can see Siu's post below with all the details of what we've been up to and why we've been MIA. Wedding planning is quite zeh busy.

Anyways, we're NEVER too busy to go to a comic book convention! We went to SuperCon last year but it was in Oakland and so we were pretty sure we weren't going to be going again unless there was an artist there that I REALLY wanted to see, but not only was SuperCon's guest list super ultra mega exciting, they moved it to San Jose! Some of the guests included: Buzz, Frank Cho, Mike Choi, Terry Dodson, Ale Garza, Michael Golden, Aaron Lopresti, Philip Tan, and INDUSTRY ICON JIM LEE!!! (tee hee, I still think its funny how they refer to him as an industry icon) but I mean anyone in our generation who follows comics knows Jim Lee. If you grew up reading comic books in our day and age, he was THE man, most famous for his X-men run and the founding of image comics with Todd McFarlane, Rob Liefield, Marc Silvestri, Erik Larsen, Jim Valentino, and Whilce Portacio.

Jaci was only able to come with me on Saturday, but thats really where we got our bounty! The layout of SuperCon was kind of lame as it was just in this real big hangar-type place (South Hall in San Jose Convention Center) but I image it was nice and cheap for them. Saturday really consisted of a lot of line waiting, saying hey to a couple of artists who we see pretty regularly and meeting some new ones. Sunday was primarily me going back (this was right before my last week of class so I was pretty busy) so I just went back for an hour or so to pick up a couple of things. Without further ado, here are the pictars!

The beginning was pretty hectic cus as soon as we got in there was a line forming for Jim Lee, but he wasn't even there yet! So Siu oh so willingly offered to stand in line for Jim while I looked around and tried to see what else I could get. While she was waiting I found out Terry Dodson had just arrived and he was taking commissions. I was last on the list and unfortunately wasn't able to get anything from him, but it was still great meeting him and talking to him and his wife (his wife inks over his pencils! pretty cool huh?)

Either way, while we were standing line Siu noticed that Frank Cho was giving out sketches. (He wasn't supposed to be, but who are we to say otherwise!) So I jumped into his line and got a sketchbook and asked for a sketch. He looked at me and told me that he wasn't doing female sketches (even though thats what he's best known for) and I thought he was joking... until he started drawing the below sketch!

Probably one of his "famous-er" non female characters -- Ralph, a midget circus bear from his comic Liberty Meadows.

I was actually pretty surprised to find Philip Tan there! Apparently he wasn't listed until a week before the event (by that time I stopped checking) and this was his first bay area appearance! I commissioned a pretty cool SuperGirl piece from hime awhile back, and he turned it into a print! You can check out the commission in my gallery. Philip was such a nice guy and I got a quick sketch from him in my sketchbook.

He's probably most well known for his Spawn. He still does a lot of covers and stuff for them and recently just did work on Godslayer.

I have like a gazzillion Ale Garza pieces, but he keeps making me want more! You can check out the Supergirl piece and Rogue piece we got from him awhile back, but I still had never got anything in my sketchbook from him. So I decided to snag one from him this time!

I've been getting supergirl commissions from him since before he started working on the comic for DC, but he clearly is an EXCELLENT fit for this comic book.

Most of you already know that I help out Aaron Lopresti with his website from time to time, so whenever he comes in the area I try to see him and say whats up.

He did a White Queen drawing before that Siu really liked and he was kind of enough to do one in my sketchbook!

Well, after much waiting in line, we got to meet the man, the legend, superstar ultra mega mecha comic book artist Jim Lee.

Documented proof we got to meet Jim.

After waiting in line, I overheard Eddy (the guy manages pretty much everything in WildStorm) saying that Jim wasn't taking sketches. We figured it couldn't hurt to ask though! So after we saw Jim, Siu asked him about a sketch (I got her to ask because #1 She's a chick (although that probably wouldn't make any difference) and #2 The sketch we were looking for was Rogue, which is Siu's favorite character and one that Jim really redesigned. When we got there Jim said he wasn't doing any sketches yet, but he gave us a number in our sketchbook and that we should come back around 4:45 to see what he was doing.

When we came back, they started a sketching line and we were #7 and were able to snag this beaut!

Greetings once again fellow readers. In general, Siu and I have been posting less frequently, but hopefully we haven't lost all two of our devoted readers!

Sign up for your free ipod and stock (From me! Really! Demian's company!)
First off, I have to do my obligatory eMax post. I've been working with a couple of friends on this new company and as a part of generating users for the site, we're giving away stock and an ipod. Click here to sign up. So make sure to register (you'll need a valid e-mail address and your real name to sign up), validated your e-mail account, and pass this on to all your friends. If you have any questions on how this works, hollar a at playah.

Just to give a basic rundown on what the company is all about:

eMax is an online consumer community focused on organizing group buys to maximize members' purchasing power. eMax's proprietary technology empowers members to obtain compelling prices at popular national chain stores, restaurants, and services providers across the United States and Canada.

I know most of you that read don't comment, but if any of you have good ideas on how to promote free stock and a free chance to win an iPod without sounding like a scam, give me a hollar.

WonderCon: the joy of being a nerd

So Siu and I went to wondercon this weekend (well, just Friday and Sunday). First off, lets all take a moment to appreciate how nice it was of Siu to keep me company on my comic book nerdliness tour.

***moment***

Well then, onto the festivities. I think the most accurate description of this convention is best represented by a conversation that Siu and I had with one of our favorite artists, eBas (Eric Basaladua). We were just hanging out and talking to him and he asks us what our favorite part of the convention was, and Jaci quickly responded with "Getting the Supergirl commision from you" (pictures below). This was followed by your typical "awww, really?" "no really" answers and then Eric asked me the same question. I just stopped... looked up and around... and had to think for awhile. My problem was that I was having a real hard time thinking of something REALLY good that happened at this convention. Eventually I blubbered out some answer about seeing artists that I had met last year again and just catching up and seeing how they were doing... but there wasn't really anything out of the ordinary or fantastic about the convention this year.

Last year(our first comic book convention) was the first time we met a lot of the cool artists like Buzz, Mike and Eric who were geniunely awesome people. They were awesome artists, but they made you feel comfortable and they just exuded an aura of NORMALness. I'm not going to name any names, but one of the new artists we met was very stand-offish, had the attitude that made you feel like he was too good to be there, and he was doing a big favor for you just by being there...wat the heck?

All in all, the convention was good though, just not as great as I think either of us hoped it would be. So just to run through the highlights of the convention:

Friday:
We got there a little bit early on Friday to wait in line. I played on my PSP while Siu read her Orson Scott Card book. After we got I went directly to the Aspen booth to check out who was there. I got a sketch from Micah Gunnel (artist for Soulfire and Shrugged) and sadly was informed that Koi (Fathom artist) and Peter (Aspen colorist) weren't going to make it. Both of them are really cool people and I was hoping to get a sketch from Koi in my sketchbook. Ah well. The sketch from Micah turned out pretty awesome and while he was doing it I send Siu to see if Josh Middleton was taking commission. Unfortunately, my battle plan was flawed! I accidently sent Jaci to Josh Ellison's table and she came back to the Aspen booth dazed and confused! So we probably should have done this in the first place, but I had Siu wait with my sketchbook while Micah was working on it, and I looked for Josh Middleton. He was pretty easy to find, but by the time I got there I was 4th or 5th in line. However, some of the poop-heads in front of me apparently had sent some of THEIR friends to check some things out and when they came back in like I was bumped to like 6th or 7th in line. I got on Josh's list, but he was only able to get to a couple of commissions, so I didn't end up getting anything from him. WAH!

While I was still in line, Micah had finished my sketchbook and Siu picked it up for me. While she was waiting, for the sketchbook two things happened to her. First of all, she had a "moment" with Michael Turner (my favorite comic book artist) while she was flipping through his cover art, and Mike Choi also found her. He came to WonderCon to check some things out with his lady and an amazing colorist Sonia Oback. We've been in talks about getting a witchblade piece from him, and was finally able to snag it from him today. So Mike gave Jaci the piece for me in case didn't run into each other later, but some time later during the show I found him. When I think about it, WonderCon is a pretty small show. Something else eBas mentioned was that a lot of people get bored of WonderCon and end up leaving after a little while. When you compare it to other shows like San Diego or WWLA he says that there usually isn't enough time to do everything throughout the day.

Either way, the rest of the day we spent saying hi to Buzz, signing up for a commision from Ale, and saying Aaron. Met Aaron's son who came along for the trip. Also talked with Matt Wagner and got a quick sketch from him. He got Siu interested in the CBLDF (Comic Book Legal Defense Fund) but I let her talk about if she's still interested in it or not. We also found Eric later on in the day and talked with him for awhile. When I think about it, most of this convention was just walking around, and talking with Eric.

After chatting with people we spent a little time checking out the Westfield mall and eating at 'wichCraft (Siu's review below).

Sunday was pretty much exactly the same as Friday, except we spent more time at the mall =P Siu was tempted to buy some Pooh art, but ended up not getting any since she didn't want to spend too much scrillas.

300 Screening

Maybe when I think about it, the second best thing at WonderCon, after getting all my comic art, was winning tickets to the 300 screening. When registering for your ticket you got a chance to win tickets to watch 300 that night at Metreon's IMAX theatre. The screen was huge, and I think the best seats in the place are probably at the back. Unfortunately, something had to happen that day to ruin this too. So everybody at the convention, in all the programs, said the movie started at 8:00pm. So we got into line around 6:30 (got good seats) and they let us in around 7:30pm and at around 7:55pm some dude says the movie wont start until 9:00pm. We all thought he was kidding, but then he just walked away. Who let's people in for a 9:00pm showing at 7:30pm. Wat the heck?! Turns out the guy said he was informed the movie wouldn't start until 9:00pm but he decided not to tell anybody else? LAAMEEZ000rrz. So dinner that night consisted of hot dog, nachos, and egg rolls. YUM YUM.

The movie itself was pretty awesome. Action sequences were of the chizzain and I thought the acting was pretty great. Jaci said she was distracted by some of the side stories and she wanted some more plot development, but I thought it was still a pretty awesome movie. I think a lot of people will go in there with really high expectations and will come out pretty satisfied with the movie. This wasn't the most ground breaking movie, but definately a movie you should see in the theatre.

Now the moment you have all been waiting for... Pictures of new art demian got. First of all, most of the pictures are gunna suck because I used the scanner at home and its too small. I'm going to either have to rescan these or take better pictures of them or something. Either way, consider this a little preview.

This is a colored version of the piece I got from Mike Choi. This is a double page spread from witchblade #100. I couldn't scan in the pencils/inks I got of this because since its a double page spread it'd be even harder to line everything together. I have some mental thinking to do but this piece is definately in the running for one of my favorite pieces in my collection.

Ale is such an awesome artist, so everytime I see him I think I might have to get a commission from him. He pumps these babies out really quick, which is something I appreciate. Rogue is Siu's favorite character so since I already have a supergirl from him I thought I'd get a Rogue for Siu!

So Ale also the new penciller for the Supergirl comics which is really awesome. He's totatlly redesigned the way he draws supergirl to make it more fitting for the comics and I think he did a great job. We were flipping through his portfolio of stuff and saw this piece, it looks like he did this piece in the middle of the transition period of his supergirl. If you want to compare it to the other supergirl piece he did for me check out my gallery.

I'm not sure, but this may Jaci's favorite piece in my collection. I've been waiting about a year to get this from Eric, but I was glad I was finally able to. We both love the way he draws Supergirl, and I think the job he did on the background and the overall composition was just awesome!

Free sketch I got from Micah of Soulfire's Grace.

Free sketch of grendel from Matt Wagner.