ArtisticallyChill

Day 2 was off to a rough start due to the insanity of getting into the parking garage. Cars were backed up on both opposite sides of the cross street. Serena decided to jump out of the car as we were just sitting there idling. She made her way to the convention hall and was set up well before I even got the Irken Elite (my car) into the parking garage. It wasn’t until additional police officers showed up to help direct the traffic that the lines started moving more efficiently. We are definitely gonna try and leave as early as possible to beat this rush tomorrow.

Once we settled in, the atmosphere was a bit more normal for a convention. Lines of people were in crowding the lobby as they were waiting to pick up their wristbands and badges they had bought online. The entry way to the hall floor was crowded as well as lines were forming at the autograph booths. Why Wizard World decided to put the autograph booths closest to the entrance is beyond me and anyone else with common sense.

Putting my game face on, I navigated through the aisles. I bumped into Ethan Van Sciver and we both shared a look, and, as if by telepathy, we could hear each other saying, “Wow, this section is ridiculously crowded.” He zigged and I zagged, going down another aisle. When I reached Serena’s table, she was talking to another passer by. I breathed a sigh of relief as I slumped into the chair and told Serena how jacked up the parking garage thing was.

After catching my breath, I went into my meet and greet mode – saying hello to everyone who stopped by Serena’s table while she worked on a new Executive Assistant Iris piece to warm up and add to her portfolio. She noticed a lot of people marveling at her finely detailed Grace sketches and decided to add a finely detailed Iris piece would be a nice addition. She’s also a bit hesitant to sell both Grace pictures so the addition of the Iris will hopefully encourage fans wanting a finely detailed sketch to contact her post convention for a commission by mail.

One of my roles at Serena’s table other than Public Relations Manager, CFO (Chief Financial Officer aka money handler), and Model is that of a Gopher. If Serena needs references for a sketch I go out into the wilds of the show floor and find her that reference. Sometimes money is involved if the reference material is a comic book. Other times, I take our digital camera with me and snap a few pics of the target reference. This time, she needed some fabric with intricate designs. I really didn’t have wander around too much as my keen awareness for my surroundings lead me to a vendor who happen to be selling oriental weapons and dresses.

My recon mission didn’t take too long, but by the time I got back to Serena’s table she had sold a few more sketchbooks and was already done with one of the free sketches. As she worked on another sketchbook sketch, another person came up and requested a commission in his personal sketchbook. After she took down his info and the kind sketch he wanted, another person came up to the table and bought two of her prints. And soon after that another sketchbook is sold then another commission requested. This went on for a good hour. By 2 pm, Serena was booked solid for the whole day!

One of those commissions was for a picture of Jubilee (X-men). The guy requested this after he had bought one of Serena’s original pieces of Jubilee she did a while back. So when Serena asked about a pose for the commission, I came up with this:

An hour later, Serena finished the commission:

As you can see, Serena has been experimenting with shading and highlighting using Warm and Cool Grey markers by COPIC. The Jubilee fan was all too pleased with his very own Jubilee sketch by Serena!

The highlight of today was definitely Serena’s last visitor at her table – J.Scott Campbell. Serena went off to stretch her legs after a long day of sitting down. So I manned the table while she was gone. J.Scott Campbell was walking back to his table when he stopped to chat with one of our table neighbors, Jeremy Sorrell. I knew it was him. But I didn’t wanna get all fanboy about it. So I sat there and was hoping Serena would make it back in time to catch him as he would pass her table. Just as Serena came back and sat down. He finished up his conversation and started walking past her table. Before I could nudge Serena and say ‘Hey there goes J.Scott Campbell!’ like a giddy little boy on Christmas morning, J.Scott Campbell stops and begins talking to Serena. He tells her how he had looked over her shoulder while she was sketching earlier and that he thought she did beautiful work. I was completely speechless. I didn’t even bother introducing myself as that would have surely killed that moment. After she said thanks they chatted for a bit and he told her that his table was right around the corner.

After he left for his table, I said “You know who that was?” all excited.

She said, “No…”

“That was J.Scott Campbell!”

Serena was surprised, and a bit embarrassed, that the gentleman in the denim hat, who stopped at her table to tell her that he admired her work was one of the many artists that inspires her! After getting over the ‘OMG’-like moment she got up and walked over to J.Scott Campbell’s table and then proceeded to geek out and explain how I had told her who he was and how she knew his art and the name but never what he looked liked and whatnot. She spent a good ten minutes chatting with him some more alongside some other fans. I remained at the table guarding her wares but mostly still feeling a bit giddy over the fact that J.Scott Campbell liked Serena’s work!

And that, my friends, is definitely a Chicago Comic-Con experience worth remembering!

~ LoneWolf