Wow!
Last year I was saddened and a little frustrated when I was unable to attend the first Spectrum. When tickets went on sale for this years' show I bought one immediately. Im so glad I did.
The show had nearly every living illustrator that I follow, many of the top art directors in the fantasy sic-fi world and lots of enthusiast. In the first 5 minutes I was having drinks with John Foster and a handful of other incredibly talented people during the thursday night meet and great in the hotel. Next morning I heard the laugh of one of the Sidebar guys and was then introduced, talking and showing my work to Adrian and Dwight. Those guys are as much fun in person as they are on the show! I also met Sam Weber of the Your Dreams, My Nightmares interview podcast.
Drew Baker asked me awhile back if I would be interested in helping out at his booth, covering for breaks and clean up at the end of the show. He is such a talented and hard working artist, and a very nice guy too. I learned a lot and enjoyed hanging out with him. I also hit it off with Jeff Miracola who gave me one of his prints after talking shop and then reviewed my work and introduced me to Jon Schindehette. And again, what a nice guy.
Saturday night's award show was the Emmys of the illustration world. The show really opened me up to how tight knit a community this is. All these artist and art directors go out of their way to help advance each other like one large family. The show was fantastic (as the name implies). All the nominees where so good. Brom won the much deserved Grand Master award. Go Brom!
On Sunday I was able to get portfolio reviews from Dan Dos Santos and Lauren Pinapento. Both pointed out some areas for me to work on and were very encouraging. Both reviews where pretty inline with where I thought my work is at. Each pointed out how to push it to the next level with a few simple adjustments to focus and lighting. I guess thats where more reference will help.
In short, I feel rejuvenated. I met so many interesting and talented artist and made lots of new friends while looking at some of the best fantasy and sci-fi art in the world. You cant get any better than that!
