Summer Madness Guys!

Mad. Ness! Since coming back to my parents house for the summer, I transferred to a new bookstore that offered to move me up and give me more hours, which means more moneys, but far less free time. My biggest concern this summer has been just not having time to sit down and even sketch. Not to mention it's hard as hell to get any good art supplies out here, as my options are limited to Micheals and Hobby Lobby (Binders! Utrecht! How I miss you!).

The shining ray of awesome in my summer so far has been HeroesCon, which took place last weekend. I have a bunch of video footage still waiting to be converted so I can edit the damn things on my Mac, and I'll post that as soon as I'm able. Here's a quick re-cap of the awesome, mostly for my own posterity.
Flew back to Atlanta (which was like, $50 cheaper than flying straight to Charlotte, go figure) and then drove to the con with Jackie, Brent, Domo, Tommy, and David (All of whom slept, except for Jackie, who graciously drove even though she'd just returned from a cross country road trip, and Brent and I, so we could lend moral support).
When we got to the con there was some confusion with the schedules and such, but it worked out that there was pretty much always at least one Atlanta student sitting at the SCAD Booth, pimping the school. I think we drummed up a lot of interest, though I have to admit I was slightly to overwhelmed and impressed with everything going on around me that I wasn't at the table very often. I chose to spend my time circling the artist alley, mostly just watching the artists in awe, and catching up with people I hadn't seen in a while. It was a fantastic opportunity to meet and chat with artists that have come to inspire me over the past couple of years, such as Bryan Lee O'Malley, Adam Hughes, and Jason Levesque, among many others. I asked questions and got feedback, and generally learned a good deal.
Post-con hours were just as fun, as socializing during school in Atlanta is limited (as I tend to be quiet and reclusive and favor studying in my room to going out). It was great to get to hang out with classmates I dont get to talk to very much, as well as all of the artists and editors (and I can only hope I didn't embarrass myself too much. I think everyone is now aware of how much of a lightweight I am).

But yeah, I went away from the con having learned a good deal, both from panels and casual conversations. I can even admit that in the last few weeks I've been changing my ideas of the super hero genres that I've always shied away from (Damn you Karl Kerchl. You're entirely to blame. And the recent comic-based movies. Dammit.) Lately I've wanted to draw more action and fighting poses than the romantic shojo-esque style that I'm comfortable with. Just another thing I'm going to have to experiment with, to try to find a balance with (I highly recommend reading the manga DOGS for amazing gun fights paired with delicate manga lineart, and lots of heavy spot blacks).

Okay, so wow, this post is getting a lot longer than intended, and I'd actually written up another few paragraphs on some other observations, but I think this is good for now. I've actually got the day off, so I should be drawing.

Actually, that reminds me... if you're even still reading this, props to you. I'm going to try doing something I used to do quite often on my LiveJournal, and have an art meme. Basically, if you guys want, just leave a quick comment to this entry, with a quick drawing prompt, the sort you'd give an artist at a con. I'll draw everything out, then post the images next time.
I'd get hundreds of comments for these on LJ, where I have a long standing reputation now, but lately the prompts I've gotten have all started to be the same, and I'm hoping readers here could challenge me to some new stuff. Even series or genres I've never heard of before. Whatever. Just challenge me to draw something. (...I think I miss having regular school assignments...)
Thanks!