March Art Roundup: MegaCon!

Sorry for the late roundup this month, guys, but I wanted to wait and feature all MegaCon artists! Artist's Alley was massive this year, and even with three days I'm sure I didn't see everything. So let's get right to it!

"Freedom" and "Zelda" by Mark Santos, 11X17 prints, $20 each

Katrina Constantine of Kicking Cones makes the most adorable little Daleks:

Plus she draws the Doctors and various super heroes as penguins:

Head over to her Tumblr for lots more cuteness - much of it animated! - though sadly I don't see any way to purchase her work online. Drat. Sorry, guys; if I'd known I would have picked up few prints for the give-away board!

 I did get one of these, though:

 "Hope" by Margie Forestier - 8 inch square print (on 8.5X11 paper) $15

Margie has the rest of the Star Wars set at her site, plus these great Circus themed prints:

Next, the sublime half-portraits of Marta Wit: 

 

I was delighted to learn that MegaCon was Marta's very first convention - she's just starting out! All of her 8X10 prints are $20, but I grabbed the Sherlock & Watson set in 4X6 - a size you can only get from her in person - for the give-away board. (Check her shop for a great Loki and Thor, too.)

Did you see the "Dogter" Who art that went viral a week back? This one?

"Dogter Who Group"11 X 7.5 print, $15

That's by our very own mermaid friend, Christie Cox, and she had HER first art table at MegaCon, too! Happily she opened an Etsy shop just this last week, so I'm waiting impatiently for her to list the pony ACEOs she had at the con:

 (John bought the original Fluttershy, but I think she still has all the other originals, if you want one - or she has prints in two sizes!)

 And this stunning - STUNNING! - Elsa:

I think Christie is painting an Anna to go with her, too. Fingers crossed!

Keep an eye on Christy's Etsy shop for those, or check out her Facebook page to see lots more of her work.

Epbot reader Shelley of Kawaii Designs surprised me with this AMAZING Lady Vadore Kokeshi doll: 

 I can't believe how detailed it is for something so tiny!

A few years ago Shelley also gave me a Kokeshi of my first steampunk outfit, so now I have a set! 

It looks like her site's shop isn't fully up and running yet, but Shelley does take commissions, and you can see more of her work here on Facebook.

Kate Carleton is another local Orlando artist I've gotten to know and love - you may remember her Labyrinth Worm I featured ages ago. I bought this too-cute-for-words baby Roger Rabbit from her at the con:

Squee!

Roger's staying with me (MINE!), but I bought this original Jack Skellington for the board::

Plus Kate insisted on donating this big Star Wars Doodlez print for the give-away - ain't she the sweetest?

Check out Kate's online store for lots more, or you can keep up with her art on Facebook.


Next up, I think I featured Kellee Riley's Steampunk girl & octopus a while ago, and I just learned she's the original illustrator for Mattel's Monster High. Her artwork really reaches out and grabs you, and her color choices are AMAZEBALLS:

Kellee has a softer - but equally beautiful - style in her traditional/non-digital art:

You can buy any of these 5X7 prints for $10 here at Kellee's Etsy store. Fingers crossed she'll be adding her digital prints there soon, too.

Whew! I still have quite a bit more, but I'm going to end with Mike Maihack's art, which is all impossibly good, but I'm especially partial to his superheros:

Plus a robot fairy, because why not. 

(That Cat Woman print is on the board, if you want to try to win it!)

Mike's prints start at only $5 for an 8X10, so good luck controlling yourself over at his web store.

Oh, and you may have seen Mike's Batgirl & Supergirl comics around online, but just in case, here's my favorite from last Halloween:

"Quickly, Batgirl! TO THE CANDY!"

:D

Well, hope you enjoyed the eye candy, everyone! Now, you know the drill: comment below to be entered in this month's drawing. The randomly selected winner will get his or her choice of art from my Pinterest art give-away board - and I'll ship anywhere, so bring it, internationals! I'll announce the winner by the end of the week, so stay tuned!

MegaCon 2014, Part 2

Saturday at MegaCon was the truly infamous day - a day that will live on in tragic ballads, a day that saw many of the show's own vendors trapped in traffic for hours past the con's opening, a day when the roads for a dozen square miles ground to a halt, as somewhere around 75 THOUSAND people all tried to get into the same building at once. (Those are Dragon Con numbers, you guys. I still can't wrap my brain around it!)

Some attendees averaged over two hours to drive three miles. Most got out and walked for the last mile or so. The "lucky" ones arrived in the pre-dawn hours, so that there was a massive line stretching outside the building by 7:30 AM - and the doors didn't even open until 10.

It was insanity.

And I was so, SO glad I decided to skip the costume that day.

Thanks to my phone's traffic app and arriving a little later (around 11 or 12), John and I missed the worst of it coming in. It still took an extra hour, and we had to park a mile off and walk, but that beats sitting in gridlock!

The true scale of the crowd didn't hit me until we stepped onto the entrance escalators - a new logistical nightmare that requires everyone entering the convention to go DOWN an escalator and funnel through a tiny bottleneck to reach the doors.

This was my view going down, and my first real glimpse of the crowd:

And I was all:

Again, I don't have crowd anxiety; I have "escape" anxiety - but in the face of that wall of people - most of whom were not moving - I felt a heavy rushing in my ears and a split second of panic, thinking I would be crushed at the foot of the escalator. Then I mentally shook myself, focused on the ground in front of me, and pushed through - literally!

Within seconds of making it through the doors my panic was forgotten, as I focused on taking pictures. I'll say it again: after a smartphone, a camera is THE best anxiety distraction.

K, I've already written about John's fantastic experience as Dreamfinder that day, and you've waited long enough - so let's get to the costumes!

My photo just barely shows it, but this Hiccup even had the false foot attachment!

And I love Toothless perched on his head. :)

You always see a lot of Poison Ivys at cons, but this steampunk version was especially lovely:

And the lady on the right used REAL pufferfish for her hat and balloon/bag thing. Which kinda freaks me out. But the goggles & wings on the top one are cool.

 This creepy Hatter had a rather brilliant hat design:

 Recognize the interlocking floor mats? Lots of great details there, too.

Ready for the best pun costume of the con? Ok. Then meet...

DEF BEATER.

Yep, instead of a turn table (or clock), this guy has a giant TIME TURNER.

(Srsly, the genius. It is blinding.)

And speaking of genius: THAT'S NO MOON:

Her hair clip is a LEGO tie fighter!

A snappily-dressed Joker (or Duela Dent?) & Pinkie Pie:

And a stunning Wonder Woman in full battle armor:

We saw some fabulous wheelchair and scooter costumes this year:

I'm pretty sure this guy was the most popular, tho - Wil Wheaton even tweeted his photo from the con!

Not only did he turn his chair into the Iron Throne, he even added false legs so he could cosplay as Tyrion! That is some genius construction, right there. Love it.

And now... DUCKY MOMO!!

But we all know it's *really* Candace Flynn in there, right? 

:D

(I just realized I have no idea how that cosplayer can see anything. Theories?)

Not a great pic, but here's Elizabeth from the first half of BioShock: Infinite:

...plus some Power Puff Girls ('played by guys) flying the Mayor around.

I think I mentioned before there were a LOT of Jack Frosts - but this was the most adorable of the bunch:

A beautiful Rarity:

And female Skeletor? Maybe?

 

[Correction: she's Evil-lyn, Skeletor's second-in-command. Thanks, guys!]

 (Those giant windows you see on the right are the one true advantage of the con's new location in the OC convention center - they almost make up for that awful escalator bottleneck. That much light flooding the whole wing makes for some suh-WEET photos - provided you get the cosplayers to face the light, of course.)

 And finally, a fabulous Guardians of the Galaxy group:

Whew! Ok, I'm going to break here and give you guys another batch of pics next week; looks like I have at least two more post's worth to go, so I have to pace myself. :)

Hope you guys are enjoying your extended virtual visit to MegaCon! And I cannot WAIT to show you the rest!