Thursday morning saw me driving out once again to the Los Angeles Convention Center. After braving the Registration line, I got down to business and went straight to the Artist Alley to check-in. As luck would have it, my line buddy was the partner of one of my friends.

I spent just about all of Thursday and Friday at my table churning out art - alternating between commissions and display pieces. My neighbors were great folks - one of whom even bought me lunch on Friday, for which I was especially grateful.

This time around, the Artist Alley was located in the Exhibit Hall itself, which allowed for even more traffic than last year. Although, it probably made for one awkward moment when a staffer mistook me for a Dealer (apparently because he only saw "Exhibitor" on my badge, and didn't notice the blue AX ART stamp all Artists received at check-in).

Saturday morning, I inquired about the Cartoon Network portfolio review. The staff member told me that the sign in sheet would only be put out at 10 AM, when the review session would begin. But, as luck would have it, the reviewer from CN overheard us, and invited me back for a review.

After perusing my portfolio (which I had re-assembled for the review just minutes before), the reviewer made the following suggestions:

Anatomy: I would benefit from more realistic life drawing. My anatomy is a little off.

Colors: I would benefit from some remedial color theory study. Knowing which colors best complement and contrast with each other will help make my characters stand out even more.

Perspective: She recommended that one night each week, I spend 20 minutes drawing the same object from different angles. My foreshortening needs a little work.

Inking: She recommended that I use Micron pens in lieu of Copic Multiliners and experiment with different line thicknesses. I actually already do the latter, albeit mainly using the smaller heads - I should make more use of the larger ones. She further recommended learning to ink digitally using Paths in Photoshop, citing that my pencil sketches were actually superior to my (manually) inked ones.

Backgrounds: I'd best avoid doing the "pseudo-abstract" marker scribbles I usually do - either fill in the space with an actual background or leave it blank all together.

The reviewer stated that my strongest piece was this pencil sketch of Mark: [link] , mainly because, of all my pieces, it has the strongest focal point (his raised fist) and the best perspective.


Needless to say, I was especially grateful to the reviewer.


Sunday, after finishing the last of my commissions, I closed up shop to wander about the Exhibit Hall. Fortunately, UDON Entertainment still had copies of the Darkstalkers Tribute available, so I bought myself a copy, and got a free exclusive Demitri resin bust. Afterward, I headed on home.


Overall, it was a good trip this year. I once again broke even with my earnings paying for my table, food, gas and parking. Most significant of all, I learned what I must do to further hone my talents.

And of course, I'm especially grateful for all the wonderful folks I met up with:



Time for me to readjust to reality.

More as it comes.

~Edgard