Otakon was...amazing!
This year was once again, another truly fun experience. I swear, Otakon doesn't disappoint!
Okay, first and foremost, I just wanted to say that...if there was nothing else, the Udon panel on Saturday made the ENTIRE con worth going to. If you missed it, then...you REALLY missed out...alot. Whether you're an artist or a fan, Omar Dogan's speech regarding art and the development of style was one of the most inspirational speeches I've EVER heard on this topic.
Okay, first and foremost, let me start by saying that I'm a huge fan of Udon. I LOVE their styles and truly believe they are some of the best anime-styled artists around right now. So with that said, you can imagine how stoked I was when I looked on the program on Friday and read, "Udon Crew Workshop". I mean, if you're gonna learn how to do anything, you gotta learn from the best!
So I actually went to the workshop about an hour and a half early and just sat there drawing (well, I was actually inking in Tensai's piece - inks are done now, btw).
So 6pm finally rolled around and I sat there as they set up their stuff...after which Omar starts putting up sketches. They look so simple yet if you really look at it closely, they still are FAR from what a "simple" piece for someone with less skill could pull off. Okay, I'm one of those people that is VERY difficult to impress yet just watching his work completely blew me away. However, that wasn't even the tip of the iceberg...midway through his demonstration, he starts giving a speech regarding art and how you should develop yourself while giving both the highlights and pitfalls of the industry. Through it all, it feels weird but I could sense a strong passion in his voice and I could really tell how much he absolutely loves it. I think it's when people are truly passionate about what they talk about that it really comes across to the listener...and boy, it sure did.
I've never had a 2-hour block go by so quickly before...not even while watching Batman: Dark Knight. Haha...sorry, bad reference...but I think he truly captivated that audience.
(It's a shame noone videotaped that panel...I think alot of aspiring artists out there would really benefit from it)
So, everything else...umm...there was a JAM concert on Friday, which was actually not as bad as some people are making it seem. I mean, I grew up watching these series so having the original singers join together and do a concert is quite cool for an old-school fan (I felt kinda bad for the GaoGaiGar singer though...barely anyone sung along with him, GGG was one of those underground series that never made it past Japan's borders). Umm...let's see, what else. Artist alley and art show was actually rather disappointing. I wasn't really all that impressed with the alley this year (almost everyone seemed to draw ONLY waist-up pics - one thing I've noticed when artists draw nothing BUT pics of people from their waists up, it usually means they don't know how to draw anatomically correct legs)...I chatted with a few people, met these 2 Vietnamese guys who were doing comic-book characters prints. Their style was okay but I thought they tried too hard to do an exact mimic of Jim Lee's art style. I mean, I'm one of those people that think that if you're gonna mimic, you gotta put a spin to the style at the same time...like, learn from the artist but don't
become them. Chatted with Silvia Shi (she tried to get me to buy her prints...I was like, "Uhhhh.........no."). I know, I know...that was so MEAN of me (but hey, I'm a cheap bum)!!!
note: Feverion is STILL pretty damn awesome (she let me hold her hand-carved wooden knife and gave me a lecture on how to carve wooden weapons - FANGASM!!!). I actually DID want to buy one of her prints with the samurai, but with the Udon panel and having to rush to dinner right afterwards, I didn't get a chance to come back and bug her for a print. I did, however, get a new Applegeeks Power-Symbol T-shirt (my old one that I bought 2 years ago has started to fade alot recently - it's my favorite T-shirt I have...that I wear almost everywhere I go...errr, I DO wash it though, I swear!!!)
Hung out and had dinner both days with the CoH bunch and had a heck of a good time. YOU GUYS ARE THE BESTEST! One of these days, I have to plan out a trip to visit Texas (A-Kon/Ikkicon) and Atlanta (AWA)...
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