NYCC Artist Alley A4, (“A” for Aaron, “4” for four double letters in my name)

 

If you’re in New York and headed for the Comic Con, you can find me in the Artist Alley at Booth A4.  I plan to be at the booth all 4 days interrupted only by a few events scheduled (see below).  Mike Smith, the co-author/brewer of The Comic Book Story of Beer will be joining me Saturday and Sunday. Come talk drawing and beer with us!

  • Saturday 10/8

I will be signing The Comic Book Story of Beer with Mike Smith at the PRH/Crown Booth #2210, Time: 3:30 pm

  • Sunday 10/9
Comics in Real Life
Time: 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM

Location:   BookCon @ NYCC – 500 W 36th Street

  • Monday 10/10

Post-NYCC Author Coffee Klatsch

Time: 11:00AM-1:00PM (revolving door event)
Location: Random House offices—1745 Broadway, NYC 10019 (between 55th and 56th streets)
strangebrew_color_a
The original ink drawing of this image of Dr Strange, the Home Brewer, will be included in the NYCC Charity Art Auction benefiting St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.  The details are available at this link along with images of all the other contributions:http://www.newyorkcomiccon.com/Events/NYCC-Charity-Art-Auction/

The Charity Auction is Saturday night (10/8) at 6:45pm in room 1A18. Below is the B/W original:

strangebrew_aaronmcconnell
In addition to selling books and original artwork at my Booth (A4), I also look forward to the opportunity to draw commissions.  Below are some examples of 13th Age drawings. Thanks for your time and attention.  Hope to see you at NYCC!

One Strange, One Creeper

I managed to do a little drawing during ECCC.  I started this Dr Strange (reading Lovecraft) without a commission request and kept chipping away at it, but didn’t finish until I got home.  The Creeper piece was done for an entire sketchbook of Creeper drawings.  There were some really nice pieces in that book, and yes, I was intimidated.  I wanted to have rain pouring down on the Creeper through the grate in true Ditko fashion, but fortunately for the sake of time and sanity my table mate, Dennis Culver, talked me down from that ledge.  It takes experience to get comfortable sketching at conventions, I’ve found.  I’m amazed to see people who crank them out in the double digits.  Some artists manage to get commissions before the show and do a lot of the design layout prior, so they can focus on the rendering exclusively during the Con.  That’s a sweet arrangement.  Anyhow, I did a couple other commissions and if you, Dear Reader, were the recipient and want to send me a scan of the piece to post on my blog, please do so (find my email top right of this page).  I had a request for a Sandman in another sketchbook, but the timing didn’t work out.  I wish I had asked to see the book, though, and I’m wondering which Sandman it was.  I assumed Gaiman’s…but which Gaiman version…hmm, apparently I wasn’t prepared to do a Sandman.  Oh, but next time I will be;)

Redrawing 2011

I’ve never cared for the term “Sketch Dump” which may be why I’ve never done one on this blog, but I wanted to wrap up this year with a look back at some of my sketches, and with the hope that a little reflection will help me set sail on a productive drawing year.  I have no idea how my work is perceived by others, but to me it sometimes feels like I’ve got different drawing brains that kick into gear depending on the subject.  I’m hoping to get a little more focused in the coming year.  We’ll see… I know it’s important to step out of your comfort zone to keep developing, too.  I went for some variety here, so I hope you find something that strikes your fancy.  Happy New Year!

 

The doctor is out…

…of body.

My wife saw this over my shoulder as I was coloring it and it wasn’t clear to her that the figure above is the same as the man, Dr. Strange, in the trance.  I think I may have failed in that regard.  While an out of body experience can be disorienting I didn’t intend for the depiction to be.  I think I should have used the candle smoke in a way that suggested a more dynamic change in the mental state of the character.  Plus I should probably try to experience a trance first hand.  See you in the outer realms…