Off to Rollercon

Another year, another Rollercon.

I'm excited.

I'm also not packed, nor am I fully recovered from the hilarity that was Comic Con.

Ah well.

Here's a photo of me, and LA Derby Dolls Enforcers Gia de los Muertos and Roger Assaultry last weekend:

















And Adorable Rafael got a Special Doodle:






















Funny that a Mexican dude has a thing for Teutonic blondes.

Anyway, I gotta get ready to sweat, get a horrible sore throat from the dry Vegas weather, and get some skating in. Can't wait!

But worry not my dears, I leave you with the BEST REDNECK THEATER BLOG ENTRY YET!

Booth Babe

I'm back from Comic Con.

And tired.

And kinda happy.

Comic Con was an experience. I remember why I haven't been in eleven years. The crowds are ridiculous. It doesn't help that I hate crowds.

It started ominously on Thursday with the Drive to Hell.

There was a HUGE accident on the I-5 near Camp Pendleton at 5am where the entire southbound freeway was shut down. They didn't reopen any lanes until 11am, and didn't get the rest of the lanes cleared until after 3pm. We didn't leave LA until 12:30pm, so we thought by the time we'd get to the affected area, everything would be back to running normally.

WRONG.

Traffic was backed up over 20 miles.

Ugh.

So we stopped at one point at a Dennys in the depths of Orange County after sitting in said hellish traffic for at least an hour and a half, and ate for about another hour, and that gave us enough of a break to get back into the slow-moving traffic mess that was the rest of the commute to San Diego.

Frustrating.

Then we get to the hotel, unpack our stuff, and take our bicycles to the convention center to hurriedly get our convention badges before registration shutters up for the rest of the day.

I now know that Comic Con is like Vegas to me: I need a reason to go.

I don't go to Vegas unless it's for Rollercon or a wedding. I won't go to Comic Con again unless I continue to be associated with a booth or manage to pimp something while there. To be in either place just existing would make me absolutely miserable.

So, being with the GirlsDrawinGirls booth made my Comic Con visit manageable and even fun. Especially since I brought Malibu rum in a Scooby Doo water bottle and the GDG founders had a drinking game to gulp down said rum all afternoon with the other GDG artists in attendance.

The game was called the Comic Con Mile and it resembled a scavenger hunt. The idea was when we got off our booth shift, we were to start at one end of the convention center and start meandering to the other end, taking a shot of rum from the water bottle every time we spotted something from the list.

The list included:

• Fat Batman(any era)
• Heath Ledger Joker(either gender)
• Fat Princess Leia
• V for Vendetta Mask
• any Sailor Moon/Sailor Scout character
• a couple dressed as Steampunks
• Darth Vader or stormtroopers with their helmets off
• anyone partaking in a hot dog and cup of coffee(the Official Convention Center meal)
• walking through a fart cloud
• a group of at least four attractive people who weren't working the con
• a farting fat female stormtrooper eating a hot dog and carrying a cup of coffee

I know there's a couple I'm missing, but that's the jist of it. With this list, we would've had to be carried out on stretchers due to alcohol poisoning.

We made it through the first half of our four-hour booth shift on Friday before we couldn't take it anymore and decided to start the Comic Con Mile at the booth while people slowly shuffled by. We quickly found out that the V for Vendetta masks are entirely too popular. We also learned that it's a good thing we didn't have fairy wings on our list, as they were as plentiful as the damn V for Vendetta masks.

Needless to say, by the end of my shift on Friday, I was toasted.

That was the highlight of my day, as we had the worst service EVAR at a local restaurant that evening, and it threw me into such a foul mood, we had to ride our bikes back to our hotel room to decompress for the rest of the evening.


Then there was Saturday.

The day I was to be Booth Babe for the GDG.

For the occasion, I decided to take last year's Halloween costume. You know, the Austin Powers Fembot costume.

Holy hell, that turned out to be an interesting decision.

Now, I know that Comic Con is full of nerds, some of whom don't see attractive women in the flesh on a day-to-day basis. But I got swamped by nerds as soon as I stepped out in the fembot outfit. I imagine that there are literally hundreds of photos of me in my goofy outfit out there in nerdland.


The weird part?

I'm NOT an attractive woman!


But in the alternative universe that is Comic Con, just put on a wig, throw on some high heels, glue some sparkly false eyelashes on and POW! Instant Nerd Magnet!

I have to admit, it was a helluva ego boost. Until my feet started hurting in the damn shoes.

I spent four hours luring in the masses to the GDG booth. People bought stuff. I got my photo taken a bunch o' times and got minorly groped a couple of times in the process. Ummm, EWWW.



Some of the coworkers came by during my shift. Two were very nice, and the third laaaaaughed at me, not with me. Ah well. A couple of guys dressed as Scooby and Shaggy happened to wander by and we all got our photo taken with them. That should be a great source of extortion in the future.

I think I may have sold all ten of the Puss N' Boots magnets that I had. Yay!! Didn't really sell any of the ten roller derby magnets. Boo!! Sold a couple of roller derby buttons. Yay!! The company that helps GDG with their art needs, ACME Archives, made some giclee prints of Puss N' Boots. Yay!! Didn't sell any of them because they weren't on display. Boo!!

All in all, a hilarious experience.

I ended seeing almost nothing of the rest of the convention and so I didn't buy a damned thing other than food all weekend. Great for the pocketbook, since the money for the hotel room was extravagant.

Saturday evening was spent with Scooby friends at the nearby Hyatt, where we sat and drank and ate and talked a lot about stoopid stuff and generally had an easy-going time. After awhile we found out that the Hyatt is the default spot to go to when you have nowhere else to go. The downstairs bar areas filled up with nerds, and our friends started wandering off, so the Dear Husband and I went up to a nearby balcony and started throwing paper airplanes on the crowd below.

And didn't get caught.

Then some of the GDG girls came trickling in so I took out the trusty Sharpies that had been unused all weekend and drew on them. That got things a-buzzin', and next thing I know I'm drawing on some guy's bald head. Then I drew on another guy's neck, but he started getting really flirty and borderline stalker, topped off with him shoving $10 in my shirt. The DH didn't like that, and said he wanted to leave NOW. OK, not a problem!

Bicycled back to the hotel, went to sleep, got up early, and got the hell outta Dodge. Made it back home in just over 2 hours. WOOHOO!!

So to recap, I'd go to Comic Con again if circumstances booth-wise are similar to what I had this year. And I'll take into account traffic reports much more seriously.

Now I need a nap for a day or three.

Oh, Comic Con!

Today I'm prepping to go to Comic Con tomorrow.

Which is slightly difficult, because I'm veryveryvery sore from running not one, but THREE rounds of "Tarametrics" for the kiddies at the LA Derby Dolls' Jr. Derby Camp that's in session this week. All I want to do today is sleeeep.

I heard that the kids didn't think I was as tough on them as they'd hoped. Harrumph. I hope they're sore as hell today too!

BUT...

I have my Sharpies ready to go. Think I have enough?

















I'm also bringing about 750 gumballs. That's right, gumballs. They have Scooby and Shaggy on them. No, I didn't buy them myself...the Dear Husband got them from one of his coworkers. Apparently said coworker has a gumball machine and ordered these gumballs for it. For whatever reason, they're not what he wanted, so he brought them to work to give away there. That's when the DH took over by saying how funny it would be for a bunch of women to hand out gumballs at their booth at Comic Con.

I also found my flask. That will be absolutely necessary.

Oh, I suppose I should say where I'm gonna be, since there might actually be a reader or two of this blog who might stop by and get drawn on(suckas!):

GirlsDrawinGirls booth #5528

Friday and Saturday, noon-4pm

On Friday I'll be doing "portfolio reviews"(lourd help the lost souls who dare approach me for that), and on Saturday I'll be a Booth Babe. Hint: I'll be the one looking like a tranny.

I actually can't wait to see the new book GDG is putting out: Once Upon A Girl. What I've seen already looks fantastic, so GO BUY THE BOOK!

As an added bonus, my Puss N' Boots pic is in it. So...GO BUY THE BOOK!

Hooray for nerds!

A Rare and Beautiful Thing...

As I scramble around trying to get ready for Comic Con this week and Rollercon next week, I decided to scan and post something that no artist working in the animation industry gets enough of.

Positive reinforcement!

The below post-its are from the last batch o' freelance I did. Yeah, the batch that nearly killed me. It was almost worth it since they actually gave me positive notes:






















Which I hope to remember that the next time I direct, I pass the idea along of leaving more positive feedback notes on story artists' boards.

I'm just amused that I'm called a funny lady.

Trying...

...to get myself together art-wise.

I can't believe how horrible I am at self-organization and self-promotion. It's staggering.

This week a call went out to DIY derbydom to send bout posters, league stickers, etc. to Michigan where they're filming the latest Drew Barrymore film, Whip It! They'll be using said posters and stickers as background elements in the film.

Well, since I wasn't young or cool enough to be a skater for the film, I thought that I should get some posters and stickers in ASAP. But, I don't have extras of the posters I designed to just give away, so I emailed the contact for the film's "art department" asking if I could send a disc of the images and if they decide to use them I'll find a way to print them up.

But noooooooooooooo, they won't go for that.

DAMMIT.

I'm pissed. Mainly at myself for not grabbing more copies of my stuff when I had the chance.

So all I have to send at this point are the Battle on the Bank posters (luckily they're big: 18"x24") and some stickers.

That'll learn me.

Speaking of art crap, here's the final result of the single drawing I did for SureGrip last year. They approached me at Rollercon and afterwards had me do a single drawing. Due to getting paid for that drawing, I was able to write off the entire convention on the ol' taxes. Good times!





















Nice looking ad, don't you think? Except for the fact that the skater girl doesn't have a nose!!!!!!!!!!!

Luckily the sticker turned out better:






















And no, I didn't grab enough of the stickers to send along to the Whip It! people either.

Criminey.

So Far...

Here's the WIP of my little jammer girl:

















Overall I'm really liking her. Again, I don't know what I'm going to do with her.

It's Like a Sauna In Here...

Holy crap it's humid.

At least it's partly cloudy, so that the sweat waterfall I have going down my back when I run errands on the bicycle is about .0657934% less than it would be if the sun were full-bore, but still.

It's gross.

So I'm staying inside as much as possible and trying to do an Illustrator version of this drawing:

















Cute, don't you think?

I don't know what I'll do with her. Maybe more magnets if the first batch turns out OK(still waiting for them to show up), more buttons, or even shirts. We'll see. Would you buy a shirt with her on it?

Apparently everyone got some kind of sickness after Battle on the Bank. Most people got a cold, some started barfing, and I got bronchitis. Well, it's actually a reappearance of whatever I had exactly two months ago when I thought the Dear Husband was going to kill me from coughing so much.

Two months ago, I was given the very popular "Z-pac" antibiotic to combat said cough. The doctor that I saw this time hates the Z-pac, because it doesn't thoroughly kill whatever it's supposed to. He said it's a marketing fad from the insurance companies. I tend to believe him.

This time I got some comparitively old-fashioned amoxicillin. Made me feel bloated the first couple of days I took it, but now I'm OK and not looking or feeling like a Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon. I'm on this stuff for ten days, so I'm on the wagon for that time. Which is probably for the best, considering the White Russian abuse I heaped upon my body on the Fourth of July.

Oh, and speaking of, I made a Holiday entry on the Entropy Project blog a couple of days ago.

Funemployed

You can tell I'm not working 'cos I'm posting here too much.

Below is a clip from Cats Don't Dance and it's one of my fave contemporary animated films. Very snappy animation, which I love. Didn't do well in the theaters, unfortunately. It also features my favorite villian in the whole world, Darla Dimple:






Her advice to be "Big and Loud" has obviously stuck with Hurricane Ken and myself!

Nerd Alert

Comicon is coming up.

Very soon.

I'm going to be attending for the first time in about, oh, eleven years.

CRIMINEY.

The San Diego convention center is going to be packed to the gills with comic book, animation, and movie nerds. The classic type o' nerd that probably lives with his parents well into his thirties and hasn't seen a grown woman nekkid unless it's at a strip club. The type of nerd that hasn't figured out the intricacies of personal hygiene and grooming in the form of bathing and putting on deodorant.

The last time I went, I barely lasted the day before I ran screaming from the convention center.

Now, I really shouldn't complain about nerds and conventions, especially considering that I met the Dear Husband at a sci-fi convention called Westercon 18 years ago. But that was different. He bathed and wore deodorant!

I have to say that there's also a bunch of people from the animation industry, and most of them have the whole hygiene and bathing routine down, as well.

So I shall be helping out at the GirlsDrawinGirls booth this year. Which should be entertaining, since I'm not much of a salesperson. As an added bonus, they want me to be a "booth babe". Which would consist of me wearing my derby uniform(and hopefully skates) trying to lure in the least smelly of the nerds to buy the latest GDG book. Ah, high comedy!

The other thing they want me to do is be present for "portfolio review". Which would consist of me looking at wannabe artists' portfolios and critiquing them.

Am I the only one who sees the flawed logic in this?

Alright, in reality, they want me to do it because they think it's funny.

And I guess it is.

So if you're going, be sure to stop by their booth and get ready to laugh. You'd better hope I don't have my skates on, though!

























Oh, and it looks like I'm gonna have refrigerator magnets to sell. I'm trying out two 10-packs of two different designs: the Puss N' Boots girl and the Battle on the Bank skaters. I ordered them thru CafePress, which I was told is pretty good about sending stuff quickly. If they sell, then I'll see what I can do to expand.

I'll take over the world one way or another, dammit.

Pity Party's Over

Yep.



I got most of the negativity out of my system.

And I've had a decent day so far. It certainly is shaping up better than yesterday and Sunday, at any rate.

So now it's time to get sh!t done. For now that's going to mainly focus on the house, as it's filled with a ton o' ca-RAP, but I'm keeping my body fit so that when I get back to the skating, I will not have lost anything but my bad feelings.

At least that's the current plan.

Carry on.