I'm going to do another post with another monkey pic later, but I wanted to talk about this. I have to say I love the Dallas art scene. You could classify it as "comic art" but that would really take away from just how special it is. We're out there, letting the general public view us in a vulnerable state...during the act of creation. If you look at my stuff during the pre-production phases (see Hulk above) you'll notice that I don't have clean guide lines or mapped out thumbnails, I love jumping in and if I screw up finding a way to fix it. That's the beauty of live art, and I've taken it into my standard working procedures since I first tried it at
STAPLE! last year.
Last night the
Space Gun Kru went to
Titan Comics in Dallas for the
Hero Foundry's live art auction POW! I have to thank the guys again for such a great time. Good music, great patrons, and fantastic hosts. Jeremy and the Titan Comics crew were really gracious and helpful letting all us wild and crazy artists stomp around in their huge and immaculate store. Seriously, if you live in the area and you've never gone, you're missing out!
The night started off kind of slow, mainly because a lot of the artists went out to eat before the show started (I stayed and talked with folks). But when things got started they really blasted off.
I never really went to these sorts of get togethers until last year because of
Jake and
Luan, who have been clawing their way into the Dallas art scene for a while more than I have. They're outgoing and have forced me out of my shell, and I can't thank them enough for it, just from the exposure to how thriving our community is becoming.
I started off with a wolverine picture, then snuck in a monkey pic for myself (I'll show it later), then with not much time remaining (I think under 45 minutes left 0f the show) I did a hulk which was the last piece of the night. To let you know how this goes, you work on your piece, hand it in when you're done, then at certain points they auction off the work. I feel that my pieces did really well, and both went to one of my more recent additions to my group of friends
Paul Milligan , who also organized this event. There were a few bidding wars, one over a Tara McPherson print, between the owner of Titan and some other folks...I don't think they understood that when he entered the auction they should just bow out...IT'S HIS STORE!!! But it was funny none the less.
On my first two pics I used some cheap Folk Art outdoor acrylics, but I had found some huge tubes of Windsor&Newton acrylics...I've never used high class acrylics before and now I see the difference. It's like painting with liquid platinum. I hardly had to use water because the binder is so high quality. It's really renewed my interest in painting. So even though I was rushing to finish the hulk, I felt as though it was my best work of the night.
But more than anything, it was great getting to talk with people, my friends Gambit and Dan showed up, and I mainly see them at art events and shows, so it was awesome to see them last night unexpectedly! I talked with a lot of people (though it was tough sometimes because the music got loud for the space, the speakers were behind me).
I really can't wait until the next event. I think it's the weekend after I go to Baltimore, but I'll update you on that.
I'm supposed to get my business cards tomorrow...I'M EXCITED!!!
Lastly, if you want to see more pictures,
check here, you'll enjoy them.
