Emerald City Con Recap & Sketches!

Yayyyy it's good to be home! Well, kind of. It was really nice getting to see the gorgeousness of the west coast again, and traipse about in Seattle's perfect (PERFECT) weather and pretend I lived there. I'm therefore always a little sad to come home again.

Comic conventions are always a gaggle of emotions and experiences for me, and after they're over it's good to get to relax, but also hard to relax when you've been so motivated and inspired to DO MORE COMICCCCSSSS all weekend. That is just part of the delicious nature of this comic beast - get all ramped up and exhausted creating stuff, then spend a weekend yelling and laughing and discussing comics all weekend, then flop home exhausted, but still wired and inspired to do more comics stuff once again. Sigh. Sometimes it's hard to sulk back to my day job after such experiences, remembering I have some Clark Kenting to do in my real life until comics become my real life.

Every convention I try to do better at The Thing I Am Worst At - i.e. promoting myself and networking with fellow comics peeps. This year I think I did a bang-up job, even though it wasn't without it's awkwardness (Yes, I did splash myself in the face with water as I was talking to someone). To put things in perspective, last year at ECCC I spent a lot of time hiding out in my hotel eating my meals alone. So this year it was bound to be better! Plus, it didn't hurt that I found some beloved comics peeps I've hung out with before, and they allowed me to chat within their orbit and meet others through them.

I think I've learned one of the most important aspects of networking - just try to be a pleasant human that's in the conversation. Just stand there, absorb, and most importantly, ask about and listen to the other people. Don't push yourself or your work on them. Participate, be a good conversationalist, enjoy the moments, and hey, maybe they'll remember you next time. And don't beat yourself up if it doesn't work. Or rather, if you THINK it's not working. True, you may get into an annoying situation where the other comics peeps pretend you don't exist or that you've somehow invaded their elite comics party, but sadly that's the nature of the beast. All of us creators are socially awkward in SOME way, and it's best not to assume others are maliciously being tool bags, just unintentional tool bags. (Plus you can quietly go home and unfollow them and they'll NEVER KNOW.)

Okay, enough of my convention musings. All of you guys who came by and chatted with me and told me you read Bonnie and/or Gods & Undergrads (and didn't hit me for not updating it for a while) and bought sketches and did things - you're all so wonderful. THANK YOU for being the awesome people I'm lucky to have as readerssss!!

Let's get on to the sketches! I was really happy with this bunch, they were so much fun to do.

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Sketch Dump!

I've posted a couple of these as I was doing them, but here's a consolidated bunch of some sketches I've done recently ....

There was this amazing little girl at Stumptown who was dressed as a little Catwoman ... the best part was the whole time she was there, she kept running around and sneaking up on her dad to karate chop him!

... And Free Comic Book Day last weekend! I had such a great time at Collectors Corner - Randy really knows how to throw an event! The line was out the door, around the corner, and down the street. Check out the super cool documentary they put together about the day! (there's even an embarrassing part where I introduce myself and my website)

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Kick-Ass Women - The Michelles

I know this was supposed to be a WEEK of Kick-Ass Women, but I've been a little busy this week prepping for Spring Bada Bing, so I think I'm going to turn this into an ongoing series on them instead. Because, let's face it - I will never get tired of talking about them.

The next Kick-Ass Woman is actually THREE women who all impacted my view of what at a kick-ass woman could be. And they all happen to be named Michelle!

No, not Michelle Obama, even though she has charmed the entire country with her guns:

The three Michelles I want to talk about are Pfeiffer, Rodriguez, and Yeoh.

MICHELLE #1: Michelle Pfeiffer

After I saw Tim Burton's Batman, I wanted to be Vicki Vale. I don't know what it was about her I admired so much - the blond hair, the big red lips, the awkward way she handled herself around The Joker? I would draw her face over and over again, I suppose thinking I could transfer some of her power into my own body.  I couldn't see her being surpassed in my mind as a memorable female character in Batmanverse until, of course, Batman Returns rolled around.

Michelle Pfeiffer was amazing as the pitiable, weak "administrative assistant" who, at the beginning of the film, lets people walk all over her. So great, that even when she transforms into the whirligig force that is Catwoman, we don't have to squint too hard to see Selina still in there, calling the shots. Catwoman is incredibly sexy, but she wields her sexiness as an accessory. Her motivation and her appeal is her craziness, her craftiness. (After all, she did whip up her whole black vinyl outfit on her cute little pink sewing machine she had tucked away amid her stuffed animal collection.)

One of my favorite scenes is when Catwoman stops a mugger attacking a woman in a lone alleyway - the stereotypical set-up for a hero to save a damsel in distress. Catwoman instantly recognizes the opportunity for what it is, and DOES save the woman, but she also takes a dig at the woman for letting herself be vulnerable. It's an interesting parallel to her past, having been manipulated and abused at the hands of her boss, Max Shreck. Catwoman abhors the part of herself that was victimized but luckily doesn't use that as a weapon against other victims. She still has her humanity left.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lalexosgwUk]

MICHELLE #2: Michelle Rodriguez

I don't pretend to know anything about Michelle other than in her role as Anna Lucia on LOST (Although my 17-year-old cousin thinks the only movies are the Fast & The Furious movies). Anna Lucia was a damaged ex-cop who wound up amongst the unlucky pack of Tailies on the island TV show. Before the island, Anna Lucia had brought vigilante justice down on the guy who had shot her and unwittingly killed her unborn child. As soon as craziness starts happening to her little group on the island, Anna Lucia defaults into protector mode the only way she knows how -- by blurring the lines between necessary force and an excuse to shoot everything that moves. And yet, even though she lost her confidence in herself as a police officer, she's still damn good enough to recognize Goodwin for being the lying murderer that he is.

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I really wish they hadn't cut short her character on the show and had allowed her more time to develop. And, I also wish I looked as buff as her in a tank top.

MICHELLE #3: Michelle Yeoh

Michelle Yeoh is the only honest-to-god action star I've mentioned so far. She doesn't just play one onscreen, she IS one. She's in it, doing the action, fighting the fights, falling the falls.

I first saw her alongside Jackie in Supercop, and then in the regrettable Tomorrow Never Dies, playing probably the most competent and bad-ass of the Bond Girls in any of the movies.

But in the graceful, beautiful Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, you get to see how incredible she is in every single scene. LONG, continuous scenes that show you the range of her skills and talent and don't try to hobble it together with cuts and fancy angles.

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She's the real deal.

I'll admit it's been several years since I've seen CTHD, so I won't discuss the aspects of that particular character in terms of an action star. Michelle Yeoh is an action star that WAYYY supercedes any single role.

Those are your Michelle's for the day. Anyone else got a Michelle who's particularly bad-ass that they want to bring up?

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Weekend Warrior

Whew! Quelle weekend! First things first - I'm starting to transition stuff over to a new Etsy store (one that has a more reasonable name than "Artemna", which is what my store is currently called), and I just placed my Mad Men Greek Myth prints up there! In a couple weeks there'll be nothing left in the Artemna shop, so come join the party over at LipsticKissPress!

I've got loads of news and updates and fun. But allow me to take a moment to gush about how wonderful all the people were who came by to stop and chat and purchase things at my table at the Baltimore Comic-Con were this weekend!

I usually don't like to harp on the fact that I'm a woman making comics (*gasp*!) but luckily for every douchebag that comes up to me and ridicules my stuff (especially Boobage - mature, right?), or asks me if I'm the comic artist's girlfriend, or just wants to take a picture with me but not read any of my stuff ... there are families, dads, moms, kids, teachers, fellow comickers, and comics fans who come by and make it all worthwhile. They tell me they identified with one of my awkward stories, enjoyed the gore of my assassin comic, or are as much of a Greek Myth nerd as I am. And that just puffs me up with happiness and makes me want to do so much more. So thanks, everyone!

The Greek God wrist cuffs were a HUGE hit, I'm so thrilled! I have more gods and designs and plans to do custom orders soon, so stay tuned!

In other upcoming news, Bonnie will resume updating next Wednesday, August 31st. Mark your calendars! And look for Gods & Undergrads to resume soon, too.

Now - on to the sketches I did this weekend!

As always, if you'd like a commissioned piece of artwork, contact me and we can chat!