now, were wuz i.... oh yeah. COMICON ! the i remember the first time i went. it was in the early eighties. me and a bud, marc williams, took an old clunker (was based in L.A. at that time) and headed down to the old place where they held it. man those were the days! seems to me that the comicon back then was more innocent (meaning it was for comics, by comic geeks). i was really blown over by how large the con has become. but that's another story.
flash forward. two years ago. got back into the con thing and equipt with a finished mini, i trucked down to the con. but as i said, i was just tripping on how LARGE every has become! and not only that, i had no contact was so ever. i had sent the mini to a pro back east that i really admired named rafael kayanan, and got back some kind encouragement from him. that sort of gave me a boost to actually show my stuff to other pros.
up and down i went through the halls of the convention center. that year was a lot hotter than i remembered san diego to be. i felt like the center's aircon was struggling to cool off the teeming hordes of humanity.
saw some cool artists and their wares. one thing i dig about the new layout: you can be up close and personal with the artist.
so while i was making the circuit, i was wracking my brain: who to show my stuff to. the artists that i admired were busy with signing and all, so my time was limited. not to mention that i was shaking in my boots. i was going thru this thought when i got to the begining of the artist alley and lo and behold, i saw i guy, whose work i always thought just rocks. it just so happened that there was a lull between crowds. and like the parting of the red sea, there was an opening. there he was in front of me. he was drawing/inking an old character named XO man o war.
it was whilce portacio.
