Illuxcon Report!

Well, I'm back from Illuxcon and finally (more or less) recovered. I managed to make it back to my own bed at around 11:30 on Sunday night, and pretty much promptly collapsed and fell asleep. Yesterday I still felt a bit like a zombie stumbling around, still exhausted even after eleven hours of sleep. The cold wind and grey skies didn't help, either. But today I'm back in business. I'm taking it pretty slowly so I can save my strength for Anime Crossroads this weekend, but for now, a few details on the con.

I traveled with my illustration teacher and my friend Bekah in our teacher's tiny stick shift Honda. The drive on Thursday was particularly terrible; by the time we were in Pennsylvania it was pitch dark and we were fumbling with the flashlight and a very small map, trying to find the right road. As it turned out we missed our exit but ended up on an alternate route. Still, I was feeling rather sick by the end of the evening.

Friday! We got our badges and went to a panel on self-promotion and marketing with several illustrators including Julie Bell, Ruth Sanderson, and Donato Giancola. Much of it was advice I had heard before, but it was still entertaining, especially when Giancola brought out a huge metal...thing that had all of his promotional materials in it. As soon as he got it out somebody called "is that from the future?!" and everyone laughed. There were some really good ideas and stories told, though. I ended up stopping by Giancola's booth later and buying four prints from him for the low low price of $20!, so clearly he's doing something right.


After a somewhat overpriced lunch I had my portfolio review with Lou Anders, from Pyr Books (a sci-fi company). He was really nice and had a lot of very positive things to say about my portfolio. I knew going in that my art wasn't what he would really use for his work, but thought his advice would be more appropriate than a concept artist or the art director from WotC. But he said my art was really beautiful and that he didn't see any reason it couldn't be published in children's books right now. He did suggest including some mock-up covers in my portfolio, which I don't have any of yet, and to not include sketches unless requested. He loved the parrot circus piece and space turtle, saying Space Turtle would definitely sell if I could get the story together. He even suggested that I could send him updates every now and then, and that while he couldn't use it, he might be able to recommend it to someone else. I was really excited to hear this, especially since I've been having some troubles recently with mental blocks and doubting myself.

The bronze pour was later that evening and it was a lot of fun, even though most of it was sitting out in the cold waiting while the bronze melted. The weather was honestly pretty nice all weekend: mild enough that I was able to walk around in only a long-sleeved shirt outside and still be comfortable, but definitely cooler in the mornings and at night.

There was meant to be some sort of cocktail party in the evening at the hotel, but by the time we got back from the pour everyone was pretty exhausted and we wanted only to relax. Probably for the best anyway, although I did wish I had gotten a chance to sketch with some of the other artists.

Saturday was, shockingly, even busier than Friday. The events didn't start until noon, and we grabbed a quick lunch at the local Sheetz (a sort of gas station/fast food place) before diving into that day's panels. We watched John Jude Palencar talk about his work, and then went to an art director FAQ which included Jon Schindehette, art director for Wizards of the Coast; Robh Ruppel, a concept artist; Ben Thompson and Jeremy Cranford from Blizzard; and Lou Anders from Pyr Books. The talk was very informative and also really entertaining; Jon and Lou probably talked the most and had some very interesting stories. Probably one of the most interesting questions centered around how each of them got to where they are today, and how their original jobs ranged from illustration to photography to acting. It was pretty awesome.

By the time that panel was over it was almost four and I was starving; I'd only nibbled on quick snacks for most of the day and hadn't had a solid meal. I looked for Kathy and Bekah to see if they had any ideas, but they were in panels that weren't due to end for another hour and a half. So, with some regret, I forked over the somewhat expensive price for the Bistro's dinner buffet, as it was the only restaurant anywhere nearby. Pricey as it was, though, it really did end up being worth it, with amazing food like roast duck, roast chicken, tasty salad and steamed snow crab legs. There was plenty that I didn't even get to eating, like lobster-stuffed haddock and a shrimp scampi mix. I stuffed my face until almost six, and only just managed to save room for dessert, which included chocolate mousse in a chocolate shot glass (!).

At six I went and found the others, and we headed back to the hotel. We had only a short time to clean up and rest before we had to go downstairs again and set up our wares for the artist showcase. Kathy and Bekah represented Herron and were selling prints and coloring books, as well as taking donations for our illustration scholarship fund. I was selling my masks.

It was a pretty good show; there was a lot of traffic, which almost made up for the fact that the room we were in was a sun/breakfast room and there were only a few fluorescent lights, which made everything very dim. I did manage to sell two of my masks (one of them to Julie Bell!) and the others picked up quite a respectable sum in donations. We also had several of the pros (including Jon Schindehette) buy a print or a coloring book.

The showcase didn't end until eleven, and it was almost midnight by the time we'd gotten everything hauled back up to the room. I think we managed to stay conscious through most of an episode of Mythbusters and then everyone collapsed into bed.

Sunday was very low-key; we really only stayed for Bekah's portfolio review around eleven. Of course, we nearly got ourselves killed on the way, first. We had packed up the back of the car with all our stuff, including the cooler perched on top. As we were about to pull into the Sheetz, the car ahead of us slammed on the brakes suddenly, and I barely had time to register the red lights and shout "STOP!" before Kathy hit the brakes too... and then all at once there was a cooler flying toward the front! Bekah said that she almost saw it in slow motion as it flew over the arm she'd flung out to stop it, but all I knew was that it was suddenly there. It dumped quite a bit of icy water in my lap and scraped my pinky, and Kathy got a bump on the head, but luckily we were all okay.

When we repacked the car later, the cooler was firmly on the bottom.

We got our breakfast from Sheetz again, managed to get to the convention without any further incidents, and went to hang out while Bekah did her thing. I chatted briefly with Dan Dos Santos at his booth, as I recognized the cover art from the Patricia Briggs Mercy books. He had another print there of what turned out to be the cover for the upcoming 5th book, although he seemed unsure as to whether or not she had actually written it yet. I didn't get a chance to get a picture, but it is up on his website, here.

Once Bekah was done, we stopped at a Denny's for a decent lunch and then headed out on the road. The trip back felt a bit more low-key and was more enjoyable, but it did take forever. And seriously, next time we are driving an automatic. Not only was it hard on everyone to have only one driver, but the stick shift was just incredibly jerky and not as comfortable.

I do have some pictures, but I'll put those up in a separate post, as this one seems quite long enough already.