This past weekend was one of the best times I have had in
years. All the wonderful people behind
Charticon put on a fantastic event, full of fun, great guests, good people, and
many other good things. This will be one
part review of the convention, and a big part telling stories of my awesome
experiences at this convention. I
sometimes have a hard time actually putting personal thoughts out there as
candidly as this, but I felt many of these things needed to be said.
I found out about Charticon through a few friends, and not
long before pre-registration closed, two
of those friends and myself decided to take the plunge to register and go. The
guest line up looked great, it wasn't
too far away, the activities lineup
looked fun, and it was very affordable. So, I spent my time before the
convention getting my art portfolio
together which I always carry around at conventions, painting up an 11x14
painting of Depth Charge, and spent two days running off several hundred
Transformers vinyl car decals, and then off we went!
The whirlwind of awesome and insanity that this
weekend turned out to be started within an hour of our arrival. After stashing
our stuff in the hotel room, we headed out to pick up our convention badges and
to stick our heads into the “How to Draw Transformers “panel. Along the way we were trapped in the elevator
because some child had punched all the buttons.
We were on the 15th floor. It was a long ride down. Now,
also in that elevator happened to be one of the IDW special guests, James
Biggie along with a very nice friend of his.
Being trapped on an elevator instructed to stop at all the floors, for
fifteen floors meant that we had ample time to chat, be introduced, woe about
the endless elevator ride, and all that which occurs when you are stuck in an
elevator with a stranger who shares common interests. This was the first but
not the last time we crossed paths with these two gentlemen.
Upon the completion of our long decent we parted ways with our new elevator
friends and ambled off to get our badges and see what was happening in the
drawing panel. We regrettably did not stay long as we were fried from the drive
and desperately needed food, but what we did see was entirely entertaining and
fun to listen too. It highly amused us
to hear that what they were saying boiled down to ‘bullshit it and hope’. Sounds about right to me, personally.
Once we were sufficiently fed, we also popped into the trivia contest to see
what was going on there (without the expectation that my friend Rachel would end up in the finals), then just loafed around and took the evening easy in
the room or sitting down in the lobby to see just who happened to wander by. It
had been a good time already, and we were perfectly content.
Day two came early, with a not so insignificant amount of grumbling and
semi-awake shumbling around to get dressed and get moving to ooze our way down
to the freshly opened dealer room to see what and who could be seen.
The dealer room was very nice, full of a good amount of vendors, fantastic art
and interesting toys to look at. The only complaint we had was a lack of
apparel to purchase, so hopefully next time there will be more items like
T-shirts available. I did not really buy anything, as I wasn't looking for anything specific and I was watching my budget. What I was there for was all the wonderful people
and the atmosphere. It was incredibly
refreshing to just be around so many good-hearted people who enjoy the same
things I do.
Not long after our entry into the dealer room, who but
flagged us down but our elevator buddies from last night! So, we went over to
chat with James Biggie and his friend for ten or fifteen minutes about this,
that, and whatever. At some point my
portfolio ended up in Mr. Biggie’s hands, and after some further conversation I
cannot quite remember the proper order of (it was early and I was not awake
yet!), we said a few things about Beast Wars which is what mostly my portfolio
is comprised of, and I think after a mention of Optimus Primal being his
favorite, I made sure he saw my 3D illustration of Primal.
He looked at it a bit funny and asked me what my deviantart handle was.
He recognized the print.
I cannot quite put into words the feeling that something as simple as having my
work recognized from the internet by someone put into me. Then having that
feeling generated by an industry professional none the less just took it above
and beyond. Such a simple little thing
meant so much to me. My weekend could
have ended right there and I would have been happy.
After a few more minutes, we parted ways once again and we just ambled around
and enjoyed ourselves for a good while until the voice actor Q&A occurred,
which as such things usually are, were lovely to listen too. All the stories
and ideas bounced around, all the voices and the insight into the world of
voice acting were fascinating. It was so
much fun, and everyone seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves, to the point the
panel ran way over in time. I certainly was not complaining about that.
Afterwards, I ambled out with my armload of art and decals to see what was
happening with the parts party and hung out with David Cunningham who was kind
enough to help me promote my decals. Because of him, I sold most of what I would
sell during the weekend standing right there.
Thank you again, David!
There was more wandering around, more waving at the handful of people I kept
running into regularly, and then it came time for the autograph session.
The session was run very well. It went smooth, and quick, yet no one was rushed
and everyone had the chance to have individual attention from the guests. This,
to me, is one of the biggest benefits of smaller conventions. You do not have
to be rushed to compensate for a larger crowd.
My only critique would have been to not put the guests along one long
solid table, but to have gaps between or smaller individual tables where fans
could step around for photographs with them more easily
Now, as mentioned before, I spent the bulk of my short time between my friends
and I deciding to go to the convention and the dates of the convention itself, working
on a Depth Charge painting.
The painting is 11x14, done in acrylics on watercolor paper.
I did this in about three weeks, from sketch to signature, pulling 6-12 hour
marathons when I could to get it done. The paints on Depth Charge himself are
mixed with a steel-based paint and his tan/gold/cream segments are mixed with a
metallic gold paint.
I also got the back of this painting signed by David
Sobolov.
I admit, I had some major inner fangirling going on after
that, since Depth Charge is about my favorite character from the Beast Wars
series.
Now, allow me to explain just why I was wigging out
internally just a tad. You see, I ran a few prints of this, and had sold one to
a very nice young woman a few slots ahead of me in the autograph line. Me,
being four or five people behind her, was talking to some people while waiting
to start getting autographs. All the voice actors were lined up along a very
long white table, and people just went down the line.
That day, Daniel Ross was the first guest that you met at the start of the table. I was
waiting to speak to him, and I looked up only to have David Sobolov staring at
me with this sort of wide-eyed look. The woman I had sold the print to, had
pointed me out in the line and I looked up at the right time.
Then I moved to speak to Daniel. He said something about me
carrying my portfolio around of artwork, and wanted to see what I had. So, I
handed him the painting because it's just the easiest thing to show since it
was in hand. After looking it over, he turned to David who was several feet
down the table from him and exclaimed, "David! Have you seen this?".
David acknowledged, and I finished up meeting with Daniel and moved along to
meet David properly for the first time.
Before I could say anything, he greeted me with a
"HELLO very talented person!”, or something very similar. All the awesome
in the moment sort of made a few things blurry. We spoke a bit, and he signed
the back of the painting for me, since I was an idjit and trimmed off too much
of the watercolor paper to leave room to sign it on the front.
Then, David topped it all off by asking me if I had prints,
and if he could get one. I refused to let him pay me and just gave him a copy,
because how could I charge the man who voiced my favorite character in my
favorite show growing up? The show that is the reason I do a lot of the art I
do, and why I learned how to do 3D modeling and visual effects. In a final
boost to my not often so expansive ego, he displayed it on the table next to
his own prints so everyone else in line could see it.
Inspiration is enough, David. That's worth more than the $10
you would have given me for it if I had let you pay.
I moved along the autograph table to Hal Rayle, and ended up
standing around chatting with him for a few minutes when the lights went out
and it took a bit to figure out how the lights worked. It was rather neat, as while he stood there he pulled a lovely little string instrument out from under the table and strummed a few bars. Once we were rescued from the dark, I had the chance to re-meet
the wonderful Paul Eiding after having met him at Botcon a couple of years
back. All of them are fantastic people,
and I am happy to have had the chance to meet/re-meet the lot of them.
The rest of the day was spent hanging around, popping in and out of panels, and
hanging around listening to the charity auction. I ended up sitting out in the
hall with one of my friends where I sketched for a while, just listening to Hal
and his hilarious sense of humor kill the room. I am sorry I was not actually inside
for most of it, but a combination of tired and people-overload sent me fleeing
to elsewhere. Not very far mind you, but just enough to have a bit of breathing
room.
After that, there was a drink had in the bar, and hermiting in the hotel room
to relax and snooze until the start of day three.
The last day of Charticon began as painfully groggy as the
first, and just as early. I do not regret the lack of sleep however, as the
third day was just as lovely as the first two.
The morning started off a bit slow, but I managed to catch David Sobolov for a
quick picture before the autograph session which I appreciate greatly, then my
friend and I headed off to the autograph line to get a few sketches I did the
night before signed and the #1 print of my Depth Charge prints signed so I have
something to display David’s signature on that has the signature on the front.
Today the autographs began with Jon Bailey, who was very pleasant to speak to,
and after chatting a few minutes I moved on to Daniel Ross once again. Now, I
have to back up a moment and tell a short bit from the autograph line the day
before. See, In my lack of time to do anything decent for him, Hal, and Paul to sign, since I spent all my time on Depth Charge , I originally handed Daniel
a blank sheet of art paper which is my weird sentimental default for signatures
when I have nothing better.
Of course, Daniel had plenty of funny quips to say about the white sheet of
paper and requested to have his photograph taken with it (which occurred after
much crass language mentally shot at his phone because it didn’t like me and
wasn’t playing nice). So, I had sketched a quick (and not all that
great, urk. Perspective, what’s that? ) Bay-Starscream head while sitting in
the hall listening to the auction run, which I handed to Daniel and smarted off
about how “It’s not blank today!” and promptly
after I found myself arguing with his phone once more to get a photo taken of
him posing with the sketch.
After moving on to David and having my print signed, I once again greeted Hal
and handed him a sheet of sketches to sign since the day before he was another
victim of the Blank Piece of Paper. It
made me grin when he looked over the sheet of sketches and named off Snarl,
Shrapnel, and Animal one by one. Mostly because that meant they were decent
enough that they were recognizable.
The last voice actor autograph of the con was obtained when I handed Paul the first Perceptor
sketch I did that I was reasonably happy with. The one I had the day before was….eeeeh..lets
just not go there. But the new one was
passable. All the other sketches I did came easy, but not Perceptor for
whatever reason. It took four or five tries to do something that I felt
reasonably looked like him, and I promise the. Signatures in hand, we waited
around for and then claimed seats at the script reading panel.
Following some “fumfering ”(Is that right? Am I even close? I have no idea…), and a mini voice contest to pick a fan to say
a few lines in the script, the voice actors came in.
Not long after they arrived, Paul totally
caught me off guard by talking to me from the stage (we were in the front row),
and cheekily asking me to hold his used gum. Of course, in all of my eternal
endless wit all I could do was sit there and look confused. It was
also entirely funny, and I wish I would have had a good come back to his
teasing. Next time! ...Or maybe not. I suck at comebacks.
The script reading itself was hilarious, and the audience participation part
was clever and fun. We all thoroughly enjoyed it, through all of the pop
culture and fandom references, and the general sillyness. It is always great to hear the voices we know,
love, and sometimes grew up with being spoken aloud in front of us in person.
It brings the characters to life in a unique way, to hear them being read in a
living, personal manner beyond the pre-recorded words we all hear in the shows
and video games. When a character voice
is spoken to us in person, it is almost
as if a small bit of the magic of childhood is brought back into our lives, and
we know again the wonder and fascination for these characters all over again. It is something that I appreciate, and am
always humbled to experience when I have the chance to sit in on a script
reading panel.
Thank you Jon, Daniel, David, Hal, and Paul for being the good gentlemen you
are and being willing to participate in something as special as this, where we
can laugh with you, be silly, and see a small glimmer of what it must be like
to do the work you do.
With the convention drawing to a close, I was sad to leave the atmosphere of
friendship and camaraderie that came along with being around a community of
fans again. The entire weekend had the feel of just being among friends, no
matter who the people were or what you were doing there were honest, and
friendly people everywhere. I already
miss seeing the faces of people I met, or simply just crossed paths with in passing,
the people who became friends, even if I did not necessarily know their name.
This convention was well worth the cost of admission. There may have been
little bumps, but it was run incredibly well from my point of view, and felt
like a well-established con already. The amount of guests was amazing in my
opinion for a first year convention, all the panels we went to were
interesting, and there was almost always something to laugh along with. There
was a lovely balance between enough going on to keep us occupied, but not so
much going on that it was too much to keep up with. Everyone on staff was lovely as well.
Friendly, energetic faces everywhere. I have no complaints about anyone. David Cunningham, Megan Warren, Susan Lane,
and everyone else on staff I met this weekend; it was wonderful to have met
you, and thank you again for the great convention.
Thank you to James Biggie all the other IDW artists as well. I enjoyed seeing
your work, and having the chance to speak to a few of you along the way. I
loved hearing about your methods, and how you tackle your work and produce the
lovely art you do. I may not read many comics anymore, but I appreciate the
hard work.
Barring unforeseen circumstances, I will be back if I can.
‘Till next time,
Melissa Emerick
