Reality Shift

7/25/2006 - SDCC 2006: The Aftermath!

Back to the daily grind after a fun weekend in San Diego.

Let me apologise in advance for so few pictures: it's like I keep forgetting I have a camera.

Took the Air Canada flight from Montreal to San Diego, with a stop over in Toronto, where a lot of the comic creating crowd of Toronto boarded the same plane. Crossed J. Torres path, but didn't really take the time to chat with him. What a shame.

This year, me and a few friends were staying at the Westin: well located, friendly staff, can't ask for more. I'll try and get a room there next year.

Highlights of the show:

Wednesday: preview night. Time to get the boxes and set up the booth. Time also to say hi to the people I hadn't seen in a year. That's always the best part.

Thursday: Amy had shown us the great sketchbook by Chris Sanders (Lilo and Stitch), so me and Rad Sechrist went hunting for that. It was great to meet Chris! At the end of each evening, we had a rubberband fight with the Those Guys sitting right accross our booth. Went to see a projection of the documentary "Dream On Silly Dreamer", describing the last days of Disney's traditional animation studios. I ended up nodding a lot, remembering having to go through similar type of events, though on a much much smaller scales.
In the evening, we went to a party where we mingled we Jeff Smith, Charles Vess, Scott McCloud, Raina Telgemeir and many others. I had way too much drinks, enough to beat Michel Gagné at "who talks more when they are drunk". Woohoo!

Friday: regretting that last wine glass from the previous night. I am in a haze until 5pm, when the last bit of hangover finally drift away. Got to meet Francesco Francavilla, artist of the Black Coat, got a Bruce Timm skecthbook (not meeting him though *sigh*), got two Mignola sketchbooks for friends at work. Went to the Eisner awards to cheer on some friends. Andy Runton won for best children book. I drew a happy Owly and Wormy on the evening's program. As the evening wore on and on, my sketches of Owly and his friend got more and more darker. This is going to be my last time sitting through the Eisner. It's just too long, boring, and with no surprises.

Saturday: Tried to get into the LOST panel, only to be turned away along with a few hundred more fans. Room 20, the biggest of the von, was filled to capacity. I was looking at the nearby stadium, wondering if they could have held the event there. They probably would have filled it too. I was planning to go to the Avatar panel later that day, but I ended up being a line Nazi at the Flight booth during the Jeff Smith signing. All went well, the crowd not being too big. Ouf!
That evening, group supper at Buca Di Beppo, great italian place. Afterwards, a stop over at the sketchbook session (it was midnight). We didn't bring out any sketchbooks, but there were three DS doing the rounds so we were having fun with Pictochat. Afterwards, short visit to the Hyatt.

Sunday, the last day: time to make last purchases, make last goodbyes, do one last party.

Treasures gathered at the convention: Original art by Ted Naifeh (Courtney Crumrin) and Linda Medley (Castle Waiting)
Skecthbooks by Stephen Silver, Pascal Campion, Louie Del Carmen, Brian Froud, Bruce Timm, all the Those Guys group, and many others.
The Dream on Silly Dreamer DVD, the Afterworks anthology, Rose and Isabelle Vol.2, and many wonderful trades with many talented artists.

And my absolute price: Justin Ridge has given me the most wonderful sketch of Aang and Sokka (Avatar, The Last Airbender). I just can't thank him enough, I'm so happy!! I'm posting it here for all to see (art by Justin Ridge)

avatar

I also uploaded a few pics on Flickr. I may ask a few of the people I was with for a few of their pics too, since I've been so lazy with taking photos.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmatte/sets/72157594212185015/

• Post A Comment!

7/26/2006 - Hi!

Posted by Rebecca S

Awesome! Yeah I was shocked Chris Sanders was there, I've always wanted to meet him, I absolutely flipped.. Thank you for the stick daemon (hope I spelled that right) book, it was adorable!

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7/26/2006 - Untitled Comment

Posted by pascal

what a wonderful post!
It was SO nice to meet you there!

Cheers!

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7/26/2006 - Untitled Comment

Posted by lydia f.ferron

j'adore avatar c'est ma série animé préférer?? j'adore toujours venir jeter un coup d'oeil pour voir si tu as du nouveaux stuff

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7/27/2006 - comic

Posted by Steve G

Francesco showed me your wonderful comic and I planned on grabbing a copy for myself - any chance of sending me one?

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7/27/2006 - Hi everyone!

Posted by Nofret

Rebecca and Pascal- it was great meeting you too! That's what I like about SDCC, more than the shopping: meeting people! Let's do that again next year (yeah, I went all fangirl with Chris Sanders, and for once, didn't embarass myself much, Yay!)

Lydia- J'adore Avatar aussi, mais pas de cable veux dire que je n'ai vu que les épisodes sur DVD. Je suis en retard d'une année complète! Augh!

Steve G - just send me an email or PM on the drawing Board, and I'll gladly send you a copy ( I'd be more than happy to trade :) )

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7/28/2006 - Untitled Comment

Posted by mike (aka: mr cow)

hey, it was great meeting you at the con! i can't wait to read your horus comic. sorry you didn't make it to the lost panel. you didn't miss (too) much. :)

thought you handled the chaos during the plympton/smith signing like a pro too!

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