Day Three – Junior Tracy – The adopted son of Dick Tracy and later a police forensic artist. First appears in a Steve the Tramp episode. In 1937 The Blank episode he is 10 years old. It was learned early on that he was originally named John “Jackie” Steele, and that his birth father was wealthy prospector Hank Steele and Mary Steele, both who appeared in the strip. (from Wiki)

July 1st – Dick Tracy
July 2nd – Flattop

Here are the ones I can think of:

Howard the Duck
Destroyer Duck
Donald Duck
Uncle Scrooge
Duck Dodgers/Daffy Duck
Darkwing Duck
Herbert the Duck from the Dungeon
Yakky Doodle from Hanna Barbera
Plucky Duck from Tiny Toons
MingMing from the wonderpets
Count Duckula
Deadeye Duck from Bucky O’Hare
Baby Huey from Harvey comics
Quacker from Tom and Jerry
Ace the Pilot from the TMNT cartoon

And that list does not even include any of the Ducks from Disney’s Duckville!

If you draw one be sure to post a link so I can check it out!

In the end I figured I would go with the other hand… That would be the artist that made me really want to draw as a teenager. To create art that was more then just trying to master drawing another cartoonist characters.

As a teen I think the art that really grabbed me the most and made me want to start to draw was that of Edward Gorey. I was a big Sherlock Holmes freak in Junior and Senior High school and that meant that I would watch MYSTERY on PBS when ever they did one of their Holmes stories. For those not familiar MYSTERY opened with a animated segment of art created by Gorey.

The thing that attracted me to Gorey was the fact that his work was black and white. For some reason I have always been drawn to B&W work more then color. I also loved the grim gritty feel that always seemed to be present in his works. It seemed to always have a mysterious air to it.

Right before he died 2000 I picked up one of these signed print of Goreys. I have never bothered to look for it on EBAY in fear of finding out what it goes for and being tempted to part with it…

I have never tried to pull Gorey’s B&W ink style into my own work, but I do have a pulp detective story that I would like to tell someday and a hybrid of gorey’s ink style and my cartoons might be perfect for it!

So the first Springcon has come and gone and Microcon is no more (unless they change Fallcon’s name to Microcon since it is now a one day show!) and let me tell you it was a great show.

When I got to the con on Saturday morning I found my table with the help of the wonderful volunteer staff I was sitting with my good friends Josh Brown and President Nelson to the left of me and to the right was Evan “DOC” Shaner and the guys from Johnny Recon! I don’t think that anything will ever top the year that I found myself sitting right next to Don Rosa at Fallcon, but sitting next to these guys takes a strong second place!
So before I even unpack my bags and set up my table I went over and said Hi to Mitch Gerads and Scott Dillon. I wanted to pick up a copy of Johnny Recon #2. I really didn’t need to buy a copy of JR#2, I have a special edition coming from having taken part in their Kickstarter fund drive, but I didn’t want to wait to read! Plus since Doc Shaner and Kyle Latino where there I was able to get it signed by all the people who had worked on it! Not to mention that I want to keep supporting these guys as much as I can! There comic is great, it has that fun feel that I think the industry in general has lost.
Having got that out of the way I got myself back to my table and started getting set up for the day I still have no finished comic to sell so It was mostly just sketchcards, drawings in my portfolio and my sketchbook.
Then it was time to wait…
I think the set-up time in the mornings are my favorite time to be there. Once you are all set for the day there is time to wonder around and talk to the other artist from the area. I was able to see and chat a little with Grant Gould, Jessica Hickman, Michael May and Alex Ness before the day started. I never did make it back to Jessica’s table to pick up her sketchbook, guess that I will have to order it from the internet…
I managed to pick up three new sketches for my Duck collection Both Mitch Gerad and Scott Gallatin did a DarkWing Duck for me and Brent Schoonover did me a Duck Dodgers.
I sold a number of sketchcards and artwork to some great people. Their was one couple in particular who were repeat customers. They picked up a couple pages of uncut sketch cards this time after having bought my 88 Faces from me at Fallcon last year. I didn’t think to get their names, but they did take my contact info so that they could have first chance to buy the piece that they saw me working on at my table!

I managed to slip away for awhile to visit Scott Gallatin at his table and Matt Kaufenberg at his. I give Matt’s art a lot of credit for reminding me it is ok to try to make the art fun and has played a major part in me swinging my drawing style back to the “double circle style” I started with! Joe Combs swung by our table on Sunday so I managed to talk to almost everyone that I wanted to this weekend. The one exception being Jim Keefe from the Flash Gordon comics. Jim is a great guy and a real trip to talk to for anyone who is into the old school heroes and style. I just never managed to track down his table.

For the most part I hung out at my table talking to Bill Josh Brown and President Nelson and being a geek… I started a number of drawings for various people and need to get them finished up this week. Josh is a great writer and was selling some of the comics htat he has had stories appear in as well as writing custom Haiku’s for a quarter at one point even offering free quarters with the purchase of a Haiku. Prez of course was a very popular fellow with his pin up prints of the various super-heroines and way low pieced commission pieces!

One the coolest things of the weekend though was getting to sit and watch as Doc Shaner drew sketch cards and commissions for people. I found myself seeing him doing amazing ink work and creating full images from just some very simple rough line sketches. It was a blast getting to spend time getting to know Evan and Carla and look forward to seeing them at more conventions in the future. Carla was amazing and I got a kick out of watching the way she interacted with the geeks that came up to Evan’s table. She did a great job in engaging the fans!
And I can not forget to mention how great it was to finally meet blogger Sharyn Morrow in person with her son and to have Michael Waite and his son stop by for a visit!
All right… I know I am forgetting to mention someone or something that happened but it is time to wrap it up….

Oh Jeff Parker! Almost forgot about him… Have to say that he is one of the friendliest pros that I have ever met and that it was a trip meeting him!

Links to people and things from the con that I mention in order of appearance in the post:

Josh Brown

President Nelson

Evan “Doc” Shaner

The Johnny Recon boys

Kyle Latino

Grant Gould

Jessica Hickman

Michael May

Alex Ness

Brent Schoonover

Matt Kaufenberg

Joe Combs

Jim Keefe

Sharyn Morrow

Jeff Parker