Gary Gianni signs my copy
In mid-May I had the pleasure of attending Spectrum Fantastic Art Live in Kansas City, where I had my copy of “The Prince Valiant Page” signed by Gary Gianni. Mr. Gianni, a master of pen & ink, has been a hero of mine for about 20 years, and my goosebumps grew goosebumps when he drew the above for me!
In a nutshell, “SFAL” takes the only thing that ever interested me about big comic conventions- namely meeting the artists, seeing new work, etc.- and removing it to a quiet location away from massive halls filled with crowds waiting to see the secondary cast of “Twilight” or “Glee”. Artists Mike Mignola, Brom, Gary Gianni, Ian McCaig, Phil Hale and Android Jones were the guests of honor, but other heavy-hitters such as Gregory Manchess and James Gurney were there among many others.
Fortunately I was at my booth most of the time, when I left it to look around I spent money. I met the incredibly nice Craig Elliott and bought a book of his with accompanying sketch. Several of the artists made me want to quit; Bruce Holwerda and Armand Baltazar, I’m looking in your direction!
The show was small, ultimately 4,000 people came through the doors, but Spectrum has already announced a show for May of 2013, so do yourself a favor and get there!
Very cool, Scott!
It was such an amazing show & cannot wait for next year! Can’t decide whether I want a booth or not though, I had such a great time meeting idols & new artists that I may not want to be chained to a booth! Haha! But, I think not having a booth is far more expensive, I saw too many things I just had to have =]
Absolutely! Either I start a savings account just for Spectrum, or I save money by getting a booth! Well, either way, it was money well spent! Good to hear from you again- SQ