When we left off, I was wrapping up my first meeting with Jason Gonzalez, a colorist for Todd McFarlane’s Spawn.

Livesay stepped up to the booth and I finally got to speak with him.  He seemed a bit more interested in taking commissions than talking to yours truly, but I got a chance to get his top 3 reading recommendations!  He plugged his own book, Doom Patrol, but also suggested Punisher and Dark Avengers.

I bothered him about his inking work, mainly looking for insight to his process.  He explained that an inker looks to give texture to things, this brought a lot of his craft into perspective for me.  When I think of comics, I rarely think of what happens from the time the writer finishes the script till the time it hits the shelves.  Inkers like Livesay add depth and give life to the pencil work.

I wrapped up my impromptu chat with Livesay and went to weave through the line coming from Jim Lee’s booth (he only showed on Saturday). Unfortunately, I didn’t get pictures with Jason, Livesay or Jim, but I assure you they were all there.  I have J Gonzo’s card to prove it!

We met up with Dana and went hunting for artists to talk to when my artist contact showed up.  He and I split away from the ComicImpact crew in search of a style for our own work, but nothing was happening.

Static con moments are few and far between.  Usually it’s an aside, like “hey guys what are we doing now”, or “hey let’s meet up later for lunch.”  Every so often, you end up just standing there looking around all dumbfounded waiting for direction, or purpose.

We went outside for some fresh air, a clan of Predators was arriving, but they disappeared before I could grab a photo.  Then it was back in, and that’s when we found Jerrell Conner.  Creator and Artist behind The Redr, Jerrell’s clean character designs are a thing to behold.

My artist friend got Jerrell talking about influences and it was like eavesdropping on a lecture.  A lot of independents like Jerrell like to talk about how they broke into things.  For Jerrell, it started with a school project that grew into something so much more.  In the end, he had a website, a large sketchbook full of great character designs and a story idea.

The biggest challenge for him is time.

Unlike Dean Trippe, the next artist I came across.  Dean got his start doing the Daily Grind Iron Man challenge, which is like a dance-a-thon for comic strips.  Draw a strip for each business day until you drop out.  He managed for three months and of that came I Heart Butterfly, a strip about the side kick of a side kick.  I remember Dean talking about how sidekick’s names were never as dangerous sounding as that of our hero’s, thus his main character.

For Dean, comics is a fun outlet for his greatest strengths.  He enjoys maintaining creative control over everything that goes on in the page, and his cartoon style art shows the liberties he takes.  Another thing I enjoyed with Dean was the way he played with the genre, and I’m sure you’ll see a huge Batman influence coming from his general direction.  We wrapped things up with a handshake.

As we took off from Dean’s booth, we were arrested by a Storm Trooper…

Rich Bashara
Rich@comicimpact.com