Travel Journal: Spectrum Live 2014

Forest Rogers - A talented sculptor...
and fellow admirer of Baba Yaga

Dear Reader: If you don’t know what Spectrum Live is, please check out my post about Spectrum from last year.

The Journey to Kansas City

We brought Batman with us again

It hardly seemed like a full year had passed on the evening of May 2nd, but as Kaitlin and I attended the senior showcase at the Ringling College of Art and Design it was clear that Spectrum Live was just around the corner. We observed our normal weekly routines, cleaning the house, watching Game of Thrones, and working on our respective creative projects during the late night hours seemingly unaware that we were a mere 48 hours away from an amazing cross-country road trip.

Fields of flowers

We shopped for food, packed on the evening of Tuesday, May 6^th, and departed shortly after 11am the following morning. We observed the ancient traveling traditions of quietly waiting for a few moments in the doorway before departing (a tradition designed to help people remember if they forgot to pack something) and stepping on each other’s feet (we’re not really sure what this one is supposed to do, but we do it anyway) before loading up the rental, a white Ford Fusion hybrid, and departing for Kansas City, MO. With the box of semi-perishable food items like single servings of soy milk, peanut butter, honey, bread, cereal, cereal bars, pickles, nuts, and the like we felt pretty pro at traveling until we realized that we forgot to pack floss.

This is the place we got sick last year...

This year we avoided the Subway that gave us food poisoning, instead opting for Quiznos and drove without incident straight to Birmingham AL… A quick aside about the Ford Fusion: It’s a pretty awesome car with many interesting quirks that I thoroughly enjoyed for the 41+ hours of driving we endured. The colored HuD had the same color scheme as my comic book (a fairly uncommon color scheme), and the battery charging mechanic shows you how much power you’re able to store every time you apply the brake, making a little mini-game out of slowing down. All in all it was a pretty cool car and for the first time ever, Ford has impressed me.

Colorful HuD of the Ford Fusion
...and no, I didn't take the picture.

We passed wild flowers, familiar signs from the previous year, cows, rivers, farmland, the” Waffle King”, an aviation museum, an alligator farm, the rest stop we’d stopped last year to get sick, and our GPS navigated us to a Macaroni grill that was no longer in business for dinner. Perturbed we drove 2 additional miles out of our way through traffic to a Panera Bread and had a pretty awful experience there: Ultra cold air conditioning combined with soups containing scant portions of food. No meat or noodles in my chicken noodle soup and an utterly underwhelming garden vegetable soup for Kaitlin. We enjoyed the day’s drive though, listening to the No_Sleep short-story horror podcast that’s really grown on us and a Librivox rendition of Don Quixote, a story I found to be much more depressing than expected. We ended the night at around 10pm CST, in a Day’s Inn with an extremely slanted parking lot but with a very friendly staff and patrons.

The charm of the hotel was lost as we got to our room, had difficulty getting through the front door (due to a key-card issue everyone else also seemed to be experiencing too), and endured the rank stench of pot, heavy in the air.

This photo does not accurately depict just how slanted the parking lot really is.

At 8:30am the next morning we drove through a really pleasant part of Birmingham, saw a miniature statue of liberty, conducted business for work that I can’t really discuss here in a closed restaurant, and promptly drove off for O’fallon IL. We passed goats, more cows, gigantic fields of yellow and purple flowers, a giant rocket, and a number of familiar rest stops we remembered from last year. We had a wonderful little picnic at the TN welcome center & rest stop, consisting of peanut butter and honey sandwiches with pickles & chocolate soy-milk. We drove on while listening to more of the No_Sleep podcast, which is something we really enjoy when driving because the stories keep you awake and present. Around the time I took a wrong turn just north of Nashville, followed by another wrong turn, I got some insanely good news about a series of upcoming performances with my band and Video Games Live and had to stop myself from speeding while discussing the details with the man in charge. I’ll probably talk about these performances (happening this weekend) in a future blog post so I won’t go into details here.

Picnic!

We saw more interesting sights and when we arrived in O’Fallon at about 7pm we were treated to a delicious dinner by friends, and introduced to a show called River Monsters while playing Munchkin and chatting about the horrors of retail work until the late hour of 11pm, CST.

Early Morning in O'Fallon is brighter than expected

The following morning at about 8am we departed for more business related activities in the St. Louis area that concluded at around 11am. From there, we passed the familiar old buildings of St. Louis, the comically well intentioned ‘Jesus Saves’ billboard next to Larry Flynn’s, and stopped for gas at an old style general store in Missouri that sold food, clothes, guns, gas, and antiques, all in the same building! The dog outside of the store really sold us on the idea that it was perhaps an old general store from the 1900’s or earlier that had simply adapted over the years to stay in business. It was pretty cool and we both regretted not spending more time/money there on arrow heads, boots, shotguns, and fresh fruit.

Yep... We're tourists...

Within Kansas City itself we stopped at Café Gratitude for a quick lunch and in addition to the meal, we learned far too much about the people sitting on either side of us. The food was great though! We checked into the Aladdin Hotel (which, despite being slightly less classy than the Hyatt is a lot more convenient to get in and out of), and eagerly walked to Spectrum!

Spectrum Fantastic Arts Live III

We arrived at Spectrum just past 3pm and checked in. A number of Spectrum attendees had remarked on their own blogs last year that it was good to actually speak with the people that they worked with regularly (via computer) in person and I found myself mirroring their thoughts as I caught up with the artist I’d met last year and have been working with since: Eirich Olson.

Darlene Nelson creates fantastic creatures out of sticks, stones, and bones!
[If anyone can find her website or Fb page let me know so I can put a link here]

It’s sort of difficult to put this into words but our experience from one year to the next has really shifted our perspective of the event. Last year we were outsiders experiencing a strange new world. This year we frequently found ourselves speaking with artists we’d met last year, gotten business cards from, had purchased books by, read books by, or interviewed. We could also visually see what some of them had worked on over the last 12 months or how they had grown or changed their style. While we noticed the absence of certain artists we had enjoyed meeting last year, there were also many new faces, both of artists and attendees alike. Attendance seemed to have grown as well. We walked row by row, each booth brimming with talent, and it seemed like there was hardly enough time to see even half of the exhibit hall before the doors closed at 6pm… Because there wasn’t.

Colin Nitta paints a woman

About 30 minutes later we took part in the artist meet and greet, being social and chatting with the people who stood nearby. To our right was one of the designers for the upcoming game Lichdom Battlemage, and to our left were a few concept artists who work for Red Storm Entertainment (This is a big deal for me as I used to be on the top 1000 on the R6V & R6V2 leaderboards and am generally a huge fan of Tom Clancy games). To clarify: These were just regular folks with the “attendee” badges that I was able to freely chat with, who I probably would have waited in a line at any other festival/convention to watch give a panel. The environment of Spectrum Live is pretty magical like that and you never know who you might be talking with. Later the same evening I seemed to further prove this point to myself by chatting with Frank Cho about traveling to Spectrum before realizing who he was (admittedly on the following day).

Many friendly faces at the Meet and Greet

We got back to the hotel around 8pm, ate an extremely light dinner in the room, and decided that we would take a short nap before returning to the evening’s events, which started up again at 10pm... Instead, we wound up sleeping through all 3 alarms and woke up the next morning at about 8am. We had a quick breakfast and arrived at Spectrum a full hour before the exhibit hall opened, primarily due to my watch still being on Eastern Standard Time. I recognized Cathy Fenner, who we got to chat with for a few moments, and who was kind enough to offer an official statement for MF magazine.

Throughout the day various artists traded off their work on 1 of 3 sculptures

As the doors to the exhibit hall opened we interviewed three really interesting artists (the interviews will be posted here at a later date), and caught two panels: one on being a female artist, one on figuring out how to price the pieces of art you’re selling. I often watch panels at other conventions to be amused or in the hopes that I might learn a single tid-bit of information that might be relevant, and found the panels at Spectrum to be significantly more informative. The panel speakers were extremely knowledgeable industry professionals, freely telling it like it is and answering questions from the audience. You can also freely approach them after the panel is over if you have any additional questions free of formalities. It doesn’t get much better than this.

From artist to art director, each person above
offered a unique perspective on being a woman in the art industry

The rest of the day was spent trying to see all of the remaining booths in the exhibit hall, purchasing some great art pieces, and chatting with the people we met. I really can’t stress just how incredible it was to be able to speak with the artists themselves about their works. The best example from the weekend was when we passed a series of sculptures I didn’t really understand or have an appreciation of at first glance. I causally asked the artist what they sculpts meant to her, how she’d made them, and the answers she gave me, the passion with which she spoke, and the subtle details which I’d completely missed really gave me an appreciation for her work. I wasn’t hearing someone’s interpretation of what they thought the artist was trying to accomplish in the work, I was getting a very personal account of exactly what she was thinking when she made them, and also picked up that one shouldn’t just look at a sculpture in the same way you’d look at a painting (a misconception I’m admittedly guilty of), but instead observing it from many angles and perspectives. While she didn’t outright say this it was something I picked up based on her making some of her sculpts appear as if they are different creatures when observed from different angles.

This is the same sculpt visible on the far right of the other picture...
Later the same day

On a fairly personal note I bumped into someone who works at my favorite comic book publishing company, who offered some extremely valuable advice on how to go about submitting my comic book. I also talked with a seasoned veteran of the comic book industry who also offered some really fantastic advice that changed my entire release strategy… It was the sort of detailed information you can only really learn by doing yourself or talking with someone who has.

Dan Chudzinski - Easily one of the most interesting people I've ever met

It took us until 5pm to finish all of the above. We departed and caught a quick meal at Café Gratitude’s bar. Again, the food was fantastic and after we noticed that the person sitting next to us was wearing a Spectrum Live badge, we wound up talking with an aspiring young artist with a lot of talent, passion, and an impressive portfolio.

Downtown Kansas City, MO

A few hours later we found ourselves at the Midland Center for the Saturday award ceremony. Last year we sat there alone, not really knowing anyone, and quietly observed the events unfolded as outsiders. This year we saw a number of familiar faces from this year and the previous one, talked with a few of them, and were genuinely rooting for people we’d met or talked to as the awards were announced. In short, it feels like we’re slowly becoming a part of the Spectrum community and it’s pretty awesome. Notably, during the nominations for the “Unpublished” category we recognized a piece we’d seen the previous week at the Ringling Showcase! We stayed a little bit after the ceremony, said our goodbyes, and promptly went to sleep. Due to the sudden shift in events for the next week we would be forced to depart Spectrum Live a full day early.

The historic Midland Center... A truly massive and impressive place

We left the Aladdin Hotel by 7am because we had at least 20.5 hours of driving ahead of us. It’s funny how you can watch your GPS change its estimated time of arrival with each MPH you speed up or slow down on long trips like that… The drive itself was fairly uneventful, save for Siri navigating us again to a restaurant that didn’t exist. Highlights included goats, cows, discovering how to use cruise control, the No_Sleep podcast, random sing along sessions with our iPods, and passing through eastern Tennessee around dusk, which was so beautiful that the phrase “purple mountains’ majesty” would have been an appropriate descriptive phrase. We sadly passed I-75's scenic RockFalls, vowing to return as tourists one day, accidentally explored the pleasant architecture of Chattanooga while looking for a Moe’s South-West Grill, and stopped for the night just south of Macon in a very nice hotel. We arrived home the following day at around 2pm. And then, before we knew it, Spectrum Live III was over. However, the creative effects it had on us were only just beginning to take form.

Featured Interview: Dan Dos Santos

After much delay and a lot of excitement, I can finally announce that the January issue of Mir Fantastiki made my interview with the talented Dan Dos Santos the featured article! The cover you see was produced and printed over 30,000 times out of Moscow and is available in hard copy throughout Russia! Special thanks to MF for allowing me to post the interview in English, thanks to Sergey & Cate for the introduction and formatting, and a special thanks to Dan Dos Santos himself for agreeing to the interview and answering the difficult questions.

The Cover of the December issue of MF

A conversation with Dan Dos Santos

Dan Dos Santos was born in 1978. A dedicated fan of comics, his childhood dream was to become a science fiction artist. Dan studied at the New York College of Visual Arts where he perfected his love of painting on oil, the technique in which he creates all of his works. After college, Dos Santos rented a studio, prepared a gallery, and began work as an illustrator. Dan Dos Santos has collaborated with well-known companies like Disney, Universal Studios, Wizards of the Coast, and DC Comics.

Dan Dos Santos, by his own admission, likes to portray beautiful and powerful heroes in his paintings. Works by this American artist, who's favored genre is Urban Fantasy, decorate many book covers. Today Dos Santos shares his thoughts with us on how to break down stereotypes about comics, reveals some of his "kitchen" secrets, and confesses his love for the show Firefly.

You are a famous fantasy artist. How would you define the genre?

There was a really good quote I heard recently that said "Fantasy begins where nature ends" and I think it's a perfect affirmation of what it really is. The fantasy genre is broader than people give it credit for and while many people just assume it's a lot of boobs, armor, comics, and dudes with swords it's really anything that doesn't exist. This includes the majority of the novels that we read. The genre I work in primarily is Urban Fantasy, which includes anything with a little bit of magic in it or anything a little larger than life.

I think maybe 15 or 20 years ago fantasy art had a stigmatism to it and even great artists like Greg Manchess would work under a pseudonym like Ravenwood (or Rick Berry who worked under the pseudonym Rakeland) because being a fantasy artist would not quite ruin your career, but it would seriously add enough stigma that you couldn't be in a gallery or earn the same respect. My generation grew up with Spectrum, which I had in college, and I particularly aspired towards fantasy art. Even at a young age all of my favorite cartoons in America in the 80's were ThunderCats, Dungeons and Dragons, Voltron, and Transformers, which were all fantasy.

In your work, which is more important: Trying to tell a story with an image or showcasing a character?

It depends on the subject. I never think of myself as a fine artist but when I do get to do a piece for myself I'd say it's probably a little bit about the story and the emotion. When you say story I'm not thinking a literal novel but for the most part that is my primary goal: to achieve the flavor of that novel. I'd say 99% of the work I do is commercial work so i'm really focusing on the accuracy of the character, capturing that character's attitude, and getting not just a scene of the story but the flavor of the whole book.

Do you get to read the books that you're asked to create a cover for? If so and you don't like it do you get to reject the commission?

[laughing] So i'd say most of the time I get the manuscript and I always read it. Every now and then for the really big titles the cover actually gets painted before the book is even finished, like all my Mercy Thompson covers. I'm working on a cover right now and the author hasn't even begun work on the novel because they start promoting it to the Barnes and Noble buyers early. By the time I read the manuscript no, you can't say no anymore, and sadly there's a great number of really horrible books I've read, that even though the book is bad those are some of my favorite covers, oddly because they just have good visual material to work from. Maybe the character looks really cool or some absurd scene makes for a great cover even though the story is not so good.

Is it easier for you to draw with more specifications from a client or less?

Just enough. I really do need a compass to tell me what to draw. If you tell me "Oh just paint whatever you want" I could do a guy, I could do a girl, I could do a dragon, a vampire, anything. If you tell me to draw a cool vampire now all of a sudden I can think of 20 different cool vampires and can really focus in on it. Some of my hardest covers have been the ones where they let me do anything I want. It's difficult when you have a million options and you don't know what you want but if you box me in I'll find a way to think outside that box a lot easier.

Do you ever feel too limited by the description of a character?

No. Oddly enough authors tend to provide a surprisingly small amount of description in most of their characters because they want their reader to envision them (the character) the way that the individual reader wants to envision it. It's usually "oh she was really tall or really buxom and had glaring blue eyes" but usually not much more than that. So no, i'm not too restricted.

Do you think that portraying the portrait of a character on the cover of a book in some way inhibits the readers imagination?

It's kind of tough because when it's nondescript you always envision it the way you want to envision it and the moment you put a face to something people will love or hate it. It's either what they envisioned or not what they envisioned. So I can [create] what I had in my mind but if there wasn't that much description in the book, all of a sudden you start getting complaints from readers saying "that's not what he looks like," and I think "no, the author doesn't say what he looks like. It's just what you though he looks like." There's a book I love called Name of the Wind and the main character Kvothe is described as having red hair but that's pretty much it. I've seen so much fan art because the covers don't actually show is face, and no one ever gets my Kvothe, the one I have in my head. I'm not even sure that I could achieve that if I tried painting him, it's tough.

What's it like working on preexisting characters, like your Firefly/Serenity piece?

That's a geekout for me. I got that job because the A.D. knew I was a huge Firefly fan. I'm a browncoat forever and I might be doing a 6 issue miniseries (the covers). We'll see though, their first deadline is tight and I don't know if I can make the first issue. If I can't make the first issue I might not get any of them because they don't want to change artist mid series. I've got my fingers crossed. As for the piece I already did that was a funny job. It was a total geekout but because I have so much passion for Firefly I felt this weird weight in having to really do it justice. It gave me an excuse to go back and re-watch the entire season for the zillionth [**Translation Note: a fictional number that Americans generally use as an exaggeration. It rhymes with Billionth**] time, doing screen captures of Nathan Fillion's face, because I didn't want to use the same Google Image photos everyone has. Then, I flopped the screen caps, trying to  figure out a good face that no one had and I put it on my body to make a new pose that didn't exist. That's kind of what we artists live for and even though those kind of jobs don't pay as well as some of the other book covers those are the ones that make it all worth it.

Do you often use yourself as a photo reference?

Sadly so. I've posed as 14 year old girls on covers but usually I'll find a really handsome model to get the face. I think maybe it's the way I draw. I tend to draw poses for comic [projects] that are so off the wall that it's really hard to get people to take those poses sometimes, and I know what i'm looking for. I'll usually set the camera on a timer, get that body pose, at least just enough for reference, and then when I hire the real model I can move them like a mannequin and just mimic what I did. I'd say at least 50% of the time i'm using myself.

In Russia and in America people regard comics as simple entertainment for children. What do you think is the origin of this perception and do you think there's truth to it?

Absolutely. We don't give comics nearly the respect that they deserve. Some of the most talented and hard working artists I've ever met are in comics, particularly American comics because they come out on a monthly basis. French comics, called bande dessinées are treated so much more like an art form, and they take a year for the artist to complete. I wish we had the same amount of respect for them here. As for why they're considered childish, we don't get pictures in our books anymore. If I want to read Treasure Island, it's not childish to me to have a chapter head drawing or a picture in the book but for some reason we have that bizarre stigma here where people say things like "Oh there's pictures in that book so it must be for kids."

How do you think we can overcome the stigma?

I'm hoping e-books might be the saving grace. For a lot of people reading seems a lot more cerebral than simply looking. It's a higher art form or it's considered that, so I think pictures went out of fashion. Financially it's also really difficult to print a book with pictures in it. I'm hoping E-books, because there's no overhead cost to having an illustration inside an e-book will revive that a little bit.

What do you think of the oversexualization of female characters in fantasy art?

Artists get so much blame for that but it's the market. Almost every single art director I work for on a regular basis is female and all of those covers I do that seem overly sexualized are these female art directors asking me to do that, generally for a female author and a female readership. You can't blame it on sexism, it's not a guy thing. It's really just a market thing. Women know that if they want to read a romance novel there's probably going to be a buxom woman on the cover so they want me to paint a buxom woman on the cover because that's their audience. If I painted it to look like something else they're going to miss their market, not that it's necessarily faithful to the book, but you've got to reach your audience.

I feel like people are so worried about it lately that it might change. A lot of the worry is from the internet. Outspoken people are always outspoken but if these people really had what they wanted there'd just be words on the cover. They wouldn't have any pictures and no picture can ever do justice to what they want. My problem with sexualization: I don't mind making a woman sexy. Sex is okay. Making her look weak or like an object, that's different. If you make her look sexy and make her look tough, or make her look powerful, who doesn't want that? Guys want to be sexy and powerful in the same way. It's the submissiveness that I take issue with and for the most part I don't do those covers.

Everything you do is by hand but there are those who think that digital (versus traditional) methods of creating art will take over the industry. Where do you see the future of art?

It's kind of like saying the Casio keyboard is going to make pianos obsolete because it's not. Top 40 music will be created digitally, commercial art will probably be produced digitally, but there's always going to be a niche for traditionally created art. When you go to a concert you want to hear a real grand piano. If you want to hang a piece of art in your house you want it to be an original piece of art. So it may come to that, but I also still think it has a place commercially. I expect that within the next few years we'll see a [demand] for people to painting traditionally. There's just so much digital work and it's all become a little incestuous because digital art is so young that people are feeding off the same artists over and over that I think they're lacking the voice that they need, that they're going to look for new ways to do be creative and they might go to traditional media and manipulate their works digitally, almost like CGI in a movie. I think the perfect blend is a little bit of practical effects mixed with CGI.

Could you explain the concept of Muddy Colors?

Muddy Colors is a fantasy art collective. The basic idea was that it's hard to maintain a daily blog with a daily readership on your own (as an artist) unless you're James Gurney, so I got some of my best friends to help me put together a blog and it's grown from 9 to 14 people. It's basically some of the leading artists in the fantasy industry providing insight to their process and the industry for the benefit of aspiring illustrators. I have a really poor concept of time but I think it's been around for two to three years.

You've done a few videos showing your creative process. Do you have any advice for young artists?

Drawing is a super important aspect of painting. My painting was not as good as it could be for a long time because I kept overlooking the amount of effort that drawing takes. One of my teachers once told me that beneath every good painting is a great drawing. If you don't have that great drawing don't take the next step yet. You have to start with the under-painting a little bit before you take the next step.

For more of Dan Dos Santos' work, please visit his website: www.dandossantos.com/
For more information on Muddy Colors, please visit their blog: www.muddycolors.blogspot.com/

Travel Journal: Spectrum Live 2013

All Photos by Kaitlin

This week's entry is kind of long so I feel bad adding more text up here before I even get to the main article. However, because most of my readership has no idea what Spectrum Live is this seems an important topic to broach. Because he does such a great job and because I don't want to reinvent the wheel I'm going to basically plagiarize a section from Mr. Mike Linnemann's review of Spectrum Live 2.

What is Spectrum?

"Spectrum, in case you don’t know, is an annual book—a volume rather—that showcases the best in the field of fantasy and science fiction art. This year marks the twentieth anniversary of the volumes. They’re called individually “Spectrum X: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art.” The X is replaced by the number..." [-Mike Linnemann] This year is Spectrum 20. Spectrum is pretty awesome because you can see a broad diversity of fantasy art just by flipping the page. It also has the names of all the artists with their website, which generally has their contact information. As an artist you can follow people who have a similar style, learn some cool techniques you maybe didn't know, and make friends within the artist community. As an employer/project designer you can find an awesome artist who can breathe life into your ideas/works. As a human being who appreciates art (or a collector) you can marvel at the ease of access to countless masterfully crafted pieces of work. The best part? There's always new artists featured each year and all of the images have to survive a gauntlet-style panel before they're accepted into Spectrum so you're only looking at the best of the best.

What is Spectrum: Live?

"The convention is a gathering of artists, art directors, collectors, and fans in the middle of America. The convention celebrates the annual book and the art field." [-Mike Linnemann] This is basically the best place to meet the artists featured in Spectrum and is a super-gathering of really high talent individuals I'd otherwise find myself driving to Arizona to meet individually.

Last note: This is my personal Spectrum: Live 2 Report. I'll be writing up a more professional event review for MF shortly, in addition to a half-dozen interviews that will likely take a few weeks to put together.

------- End of Notes -------

Batman and The Open Road

Day 1 - Tuesday May 14th, 2013

It was after a full day's work that we started packing for Spectrum Live. I seemed to have let the days slip by and despite counting down the hours until my departure, packing somehow fell by the wayside. We packed everything we expected to need in just under an hour and observed an ancient Russian tradition I picked up from Wikipedia that consisted of stopping at the entrance of the house, waiting though a few moments of silence, and stepping on each other's feet. This is done partly to help remember things you might have forgotten to pack and partly because it's amusing. It worked, and I went back for an Elric of Melnibone' poster and my official MF Press pass. This week I'd be representing the Russian magazine Mir Fantastiki. 

Batman and the Tampa roads

Kaitlin (my partner in crime) and I departed at around 6pm, somehow avoiding the usual traffic, and passed hundreds of acres of blooming purple, red, and white flowers that seemed to line the highway. We passed I-4, my normal routine, then Tampa.

So many flowers!

Now further north than anywhere I typically drive the scenery changed and became oddly western. We saw dozens of horses, hundreds of cows, some boar, and even a few deer. We passed antique malls, Florida's mini bible-belt, and dozens of sun-bleached signs for Cafe Risque while listening to Brom's The Child Thief (read by the remarkably talented Kirby Heyborne). Around sunset, 8:20pm, we stopped at a Subway and caught a bite to eat. Around 11pm, somewhere in the panhandle, we pulled over and puked our guts out. Passers by commented in broken English, Rastafarian, and Spanish, telling us to drink plenty of water. Between bouts of sickness, I took a picture of an interesting sign that showed the distances to various places of interest, including my friends in Orlando.

Not in Kansas City anymore...

By the second 11pm (we passed into the Central Timezone) the roads became straight, dull, and hypnotizing. Kaitlin had long since passed out so I couldn't play my usual loud and jarring music. Slowly the tunes from Diablo 2, Arcanum, Demon's Souls, and the Symphonic Suite to Actraiser began to tug at my consciousness and I found myself right in the middle of a nightmare I frequently have... The one where I'm driving and falling asleep at the wheel. It's a strange nightmare to have for sure but I fought through it and passed the state line to Alabama. We ended the drive at around 1AM CT at the house of family.

The Stuff of Nightmares

Day 2 - Wednesday May 15th, 2013

The Road to Enterprise, AL

Today was a fairly quick day. I woke up fairly late and did some work on my laptop while having breakfast. When we departed around noon found ourselves in a traditional Alabama neighborhood. We passed a few local landmarks, a giant mural of The Boll Weevil Monument, a water tower, a few fighter jets (inactive), a rocket that's been to space, and countless fields of yellow and purple flowers. We also passed something that resembled a wombat standing proudly on top of a rock, various armadillo, vultures, chipmunks, countless cows, and wild onions.

To The Moon?

We stopped briefly at around 3pm for a picnic at a rest stop. Some of our provisions had gone bad so we tossed them to some birds who didn't seem to mind that the food was bad for human consumption. We kept driving until around 7:30pm, stopping at a clean hotel in Clarkesville, Tennessee.

Picture Unrelated: The Pirate Festival from the weekend before... Kind of like the Child Thief?

Day 3 - Thursday May 16th, 2013

Our Friend in IL had fun glasses...

Not much to talk about. Drove pretty much all day. The day started with a complementary breakfast at the hotel, we coasted to O'Fallon, IL, and stayed at a friend's home. Did you know that you can advertise on any number of the dozens of empty billboards between Alabama and Illinois? We sure do after this drive. Highlights of the day included seeing the new Star Trek film and a particularly poor game of Scrabble. I don't think we collectively broke 100 but there might have been drinking involved... Then again I could be lying to cover up how bad I am at scrabble.

Pretty much the coolest glasses ever...

Day 4 - Friday May 17th, 2013: The First Day of Spectrum

Sunrise in O'Fallon, IL

We woke up to a pretty sunrise, got in the car, and drove the last leg of the journey to Kansas City, MO. Surprisingly, the last few hours of driving were accented by some rather interesting buildings between stretches of farmland. I've driven through America a few times and it only just struck me how much of the country seems to be covered in farmland. I expected more trees.

Just like a scene from Dishonored

I think we took the wrong exit for Kansas City because we found ourselves in a very bleak neighborhood with overgrown lawns that were taller than most children. Between the two and a half lane road (seriously, what's with having a lane that a compact car can't fit on that's clearly for cars?!), the barred windows on every home, and the neon Budweiser lights clearly active before noon on a Friday, it was clear that we probably shouldn't stop to let the homeless man wash our car.

This place is pretty awesome

A few miles later, now in Kansas City, we found ourselves at a nice Vegan diner called Cafe Gratitude and caught an early lunch. The place was fairly packed but there was room at their bar, which we were told gave out free samples. I'm not Vegan or in any way "wholistic" but the food was good and the service staff was both timely and friendly. I honestly regret not living closer to this place. So it was with full stomachs that we arrived at the hotel, checked in, and walked across the street to Spectrum!... Only we couldn't find it...
In a moment of genius I'd neglected to write down the address provided in the Spectrum: Live emails I'd gotten almost every week the month before because i'd assumed that it would be impossible to miss. Much to my dismay we were having a rather difficult time locating the correct part of the massive convention center where Spectrum was happening and it wasn't until we bumped into a friendly woman who identified herself as an art collector that we were pushed in the right direction. The collector (who was dressed very sharply and had a distinctly East-Coast US big city look, despite having no accent) had apparently come from Virginia for the sole purpose of purchasing as much original art as suited her interests. Her intent was mostly to support a few of her favorite artists but she also intended to see if anyone new caught her eye. They do exist! 

A Seemingly Friendly Photo Opportunity

The collector helped us find our way to Spectrum: Live and after checking in we moved towards the opening ceremonies. On our way to opening ceremonies we saw what I thought was a good photo opportunity and briefly stepped outside to take a picture of the above building... Only we suddenly found ourselves locked outside the convention center. A few minutes of knocking on a door someone let us back inside and we returned to the main room just in time for the opening ceremonies.

Spectrum Live 2 Entrance Hall

At the opening ceremonies Cathy and Arnie Fenner made a few announcements, the largest of which that they'd be stepping down as Spectrum's editors to usher in the next generation. They've seen us through 20 Spectrum volumes [books] over 20 years and were solely responsible for every person's attendance at Spectrum Live so this is really big news. For those without a point of comparison it's something akin to George Lucas saying that he's stepping down from Star Wars... After the release of Episode VI. Or Steve Jobs perhaps.

The Main Room

After opening ceremonies Kaitlin and I made use of our press-badges to walk around a bit and set up times to interview the various people on our list. At one point we probably looked exceedingly lost, holding the event map (perhaps upside down?), pointing at it and speaking in hushed German, when Cathy Fenner walked over to us and asked if she could help us find what we were looking for. For reference to non-convention/festival goers, it's insanely rare that an event is running so well that the person in charge of it has time to talk to its attendees or move at any pace slower than a jog while putting out multiple proverbial fires simultaneously. Spectrum: Live 2 was one such well-run event and this interaction was only the beginning of the overwhelming kindness and exceedingly friendly attitudes we experienced that weekend.

Tom Babbey creates fantasy wildlife portraits and concepts

While walking the aisles we met countless artists. We met a talented digital artist named Steve Argyle, an illustrator who creates magnificent scenes of nature named Cory Godbey, a cross medium artist whose works I immediately recognized with admiration with named John Stanko, an artist whose work I couldn't take my eyes off named Tohru Patrick Awa, and a young man who specializes in cross-hatching and pointillism (you know, the insane art of drawing millions of dots to create an image?) named Jeremy Bastian, who makes single images that tell the original story of the Cursed Pirate Girl (his creation)!

Justin Sweet and Vance Kovacs

We saw paintings so detailed it looked like they were pictures of sculpts, sculpts so real they looked ready to move, and images that looked like photos of beasts that couldn't possibly exist! We saw a Face Off finalist, a few Games Workshop artists, Magic: The Gathering artists, and people working on paintings as we walked by!

Steven Belledin

After awhile of walking we finally reached a booth I recognized all too well that contained the covers to two BADASS books, some familiar Magic (The Gathering) Cards, as well as a picture I knew all too well for my upcoming Careless Juja album. So it was that we finally met Steven Belledin (and his wife) in person. Once the booth was a little less busy I got a chance to interview Belledin in the main hall. Belledin has become something of a friend over the last few months and it was really neat to finally meet him in person. It's funny how many friends in life we only interact with online. The interview (my first official interview on behalf of MF) felt fairly natural, almost more like a casual conversation than a real interview because many of the questions from the interview were things I'd wanted to ask him without the need for a press badge. I'll be posting the interview (along with all the others) once Mir Fantastiki gives me the green light. It's worth noting that midway through the interview we were interrupted by a mysteriousloud singing over the PA system, followed by someone apologizing and saying they had no idea what just happened. Perhaps Columbia had finally returned?

Dan Dos Santos

Immediately after interviewing Belledin, we caught up with fellow Firefly enthusiast and super-talented painter Dan Dos Santos! For those not familiar with him check out his website or the regularly updated Muddy Colors Blog! The interview was just as enjoyable as Belledin's, despite my nervousness and despite having some really tough questions to ask him in a non-offensive way. Dos Santos's answers, especially to the tough questions, made me smile and I think he gave a fantastic defense to the future of physical medium art (which I'm clearly a pretty big fan of). My favorite quote from the interview, admittedly borrowed, was his definition of Fantasy as being "the place where nature ends..."

Arnie and Cathy Fenner

Later we caught up on the evening’s festivities on the 16th floor of the Aladdin Hotel. There was a live model drawing and countless artists were involved. Lacking the proper materials to take part in the drawing festivities we socialized and met with (of all people) some Ringling Graduates from Sarasota, the place we’d just left to come to Spectrum Live. We casually chatted while enjoying the free food. It was a pretty fantastic way to end a long day.

Day 5 - Saturday May 18th, 2013: The Second Day of Spectrum

Brom

The next morning we had a quick breakfast and bumped into Brom, who immediately made time for an interview. Brom was much taller (in height) than expected and was extremely animated and friendly. He spoke to us with a manner of familiarity, as if we were longtime friends, kind of like those who share my condition interact with the world. I felt fairly confident in my journalistic abilities by this interview and after the formal discussions were concluded he politely signed the aforementioned Elric poster and Kaitlin's copy of The Child Thief. Strange oddity: he drew a stylistic skull in the book next to his name. Previously (but taken out before bringing it down from the hotel) the book had a paper bookmark of a skull Kaitlin had drawn some years back when she first picked up the book. If it were anyone else I'd call it coincidence...

Charles Vess

Next we interviewed Charles Vess. There was an instant familiarity with him as well and it was like I’d known him for years though I was certainly meeting him for the first time. We talked about many things in the interview (or just during the course of the weekend) and at one point he started mentioning that he was interested in some of my favorite artists and Russian folk stories like Baba Yaga, artists Ivan Bilibin, and Yoshitaka Amano. I was impressed with his knowledge of fantasy art, but it all soon made sense as shortly after the interview he gave a presentation on the evolution of Fantasy Art. It's easy to see that he breathes this stuff and even if he wasn't an artist I strongly suspect that he’d still have the same passion.

Jon Foster

The rest of the day was kicked into overdrive and before I knew it the day was done. I interviewed David Petersen, Jon Foster, and W.A.R.. Petersen is a fellow gaming/comic guy who followed his dreams and created one of my favorite worlds: Mouseguard! Foster is a friendly and soft spoken artist who has created fantastic pieces for some titanic projects (like Buffy & Star Wars)! Wayne Reynolds is quick-tongued and a fellow pen and paper gamer who more or less created the standard for the visual art of Pathfinder & the D&D 4th Edition! It was really cool to shake the hands that made the artwork for most of the books I own...

David Petersen

Kaitlin and I made our rounds through the rest of Spectrum Live, meeting John Picacio, a man who's worked on two Elric books and A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones). We passed an art panel where someone was creating an image of Mr. Spock and also met a fantastic painter named Eirich Olson who was returning to his calling after taking a few years off to become a parent.

Art Panel by Greg Manchess you can see here

After stopping by the last of the booths we changed into more formal clothes and headed to the award ceremony, which was located at the absolutely stunning Midland Theater. All questions as to why the award ceremony wasn't just held in the convention hall immediately vanished as we entered the ornate main hall. Bronze cherubs, glass murals, carved wood, and fantastic fabrics gave the immediate sense that we were truly at the exclusive award ceremony to honor the best fantasy artists in the world.

Photos were effectively impossible to take with my camera

The ceremony opened with a dance troupe that incorporated video, lights, costumes, and music to create an amazing display. My favorite part of the dance involved a single dancer moving in tandem with her "spirit", a larger than life version of herself projected via video display that was both in front of her and behind her. It's difficult to describe and if a video ever pops up online I'll link it here. After the dance was the actual award giving part of the ceremony where we watched as many of the people we interviewed or spoke with walked up, one by one, getting either a gold or silver award. The best speech without a doubt was Vess walking up, saying “Thank you” and walking off without blinking to near-deafening applause. The evening was in full attendance, half of which were in professional attire, and it was nice to see Arnie and Cathy (now the "former" Editors of Spectrum) give out awards one last time as Brom won the Grand Master award. Then, just like that, the evening was over and the final day of Spectrum had begun.

Day 6 - Sunday May 19th, 2013: The Final Day of Spectrum

Krampus by Thomas Kuebler

The last day went by far too quickly. We did our last rounds, talked to a few more artists we’d missed on the prior days, and got a last minute photo with a Krampus sculpture (made by Thomas Kuebler) before it was already time to depart and take the long road back to Sarasota. The road home went by a lot faster with the book on tape and we stopped somewhere near Alabama.

Day 7 - Monday May 20th, 2013

The Bradenton River

The ride back was quick and we somehow dodged all the bad weather in our path until we hit Florida. We finished The Child Thief and crossed the familiar landmarks back home. Spectrum: Live 2 was a fantastic experience and I sincerely hope to be back for their next event.

The Batman