The Synformers Universe
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Textcast: Kotoricon Wrap-Up Edition
IT’S A WRAP!
Kotoricon came and went and I left more motivated than ever before.
Lets recap this shindig shall we?
I wanted to get there in time to catch the Arcana Comics panel since Arcana is a real comic book company that I have seen with big booths at cons and I wanted to get any and all advice they could give me. I wasn’t disappointed that’s for sure. VP of Arcana Mark Poulton, Dexter Weeks and Steve Sistelli who held the Arcana panel were telling me their story from where I am now to how they got to where they are and it provided infinite amounts of insight. They gave me tips about copyrighting, anatomy, inking, and how to submit work to the publisher and much more. They told me all about how their book Koni Waves is being optioned in Hollywood and all about the experience of San Diego Comic-Con. These guys are doing exactly what I want to be doing and any advice they could give me was priceless. I mean these guys created the AND1 logo!
After the panel I got to talk to them one on one and told them all about Synergy and gave them the new postcards to which they replied “Now THATS a card!” They also told me to go get my pencilled Synergy pages and my portfolio so they could check it out.
This is where in my head I freaked out a little. A publisher/studio wants to see my work, I know my work isn’t worthy of their time and could be 10 times better but I knew they would help me out and offer some insight.
I brought my pages over to the Arcana booth and the checked em out…these pros actually seemed to like it! They commented on how nice my costume designs were and gave me some inking tips. Steve, Mark, and Dex didn’t have to give me a minute of their time and instead they gave me all the time in the world and I can’t thank them enough. Making this connection and going home would have made my day a great success all by itself but alas…I still had to do a panel after this!
I think if it wasn’t for the events that transpired earlier in the day I would have been nervous but I actually went in pretty confident.
I started off the Panel and noticed most of my crowd had been wearing hats with animal ears which of course I found pretty funny. So I had to bust on them…they took it good and I think it started off the panel on a good lighthearted note fo sho.
So I started talking about what got me into comics and art and just told them everything that got me into it and some of my first comics. I even brought some of my first art books…yikes.
Oh and half way through my panel Dexter from the Arcana booth came over and watched with another artist Brielle. I was pretty much in full on HOLY CRAP mode at this point…but I had to keepgoing for all those girls in the animal hats dang it!
So I told them to come up and draw their own characters on the dry erase board…so everyone (for the most part) came up…
Here are the final results…(I did the quickie Synergy of course)
I then told them to come up with stories for some of the characters and emphasized the importance of story and how one picture can tell a whole story…the sad girl drawing was a perfect example of this and the girl who did it just happened to hve a whole story behind it already. The group (including Dexter) also helped come up with a story for the pikachu-ish drawing and we all cameup with pepe the churro thrower which was definitely original thats for sure.
From there I went into the site and who Synergy is and what I hope happens with him in the future…
I also showed off the Vega Valley Forum and how it works and everything on the SmartBoard.
Overall Kotoricon was amazing…I made a ton of new friends, met an amazing group of professionals, and had a lot of fun…I cant even begin to say how motivated the whole experience has made me…Lets just say I was off for MLK day and I spent it finishing off another page in the book!
I want to thank everyone who came out to my panel you guys fuel this engine…and a big thanks to Steve, Mark and Dexter…you guys are awesome.
Check out their site at koniwaves.com!
Until Next Time…
~John
Textcast: Post Christmas Break Edition
Hi there my friends it has been FAR too long!
I hope everyone had a great Holiday and got lots of good stuff and ate some good grub…I know I got a ton of awesome things and I can’t thank my friends and family enough for them.
So lets get right to the big news, I have a gig coming up!
I will be appearing at Kotoricon in New Jersey on January 15th! It will be my first ever convention panel, for those who have never been to a con, a Panel is usually an open-ended discussion or seminar on a topic which is somehow related to the theme of the con.
Basically I will be up in front of a gaggle of people and telling them about this Wonderful World of Synergy we have here!
I will basically run through what Synergy is all about how I got here, what inspires me, and how to go about getting a comic from idea to paper.
It should be a great show! It is at Gloucester County College and starts on January 14th with an evening Smash Bros. tournament and will open bright and early January 15th.
All the info can be found at anime.gccnj.edu
My Panel “John Still Synergetic Comic” starts at 4:30PM on the 15th and will be in the College Center, Room 210.
I have started to work on some new Postcards for the event as well…I wanted something single sided so I could do sketches for people on the back but I wanted to showcase some of my favorite pieces as well so I came up with this one…
I made it look like flat images laid out on a table or something I think it turned out pretty nice…we’ll see!
Anyway thats it for me for now I dont have much time to hype up this Panel so expect a huge hype entry next week and in the mean time I will turn into Sir Spam-a-Lot on facebook!
~John
Textcast: Post Turkey Day Edition
I have been insanely busy since my last update…but not in a good way…bah!
I have been doing yard work, taking down and putting up decorations and shopping, the typical post Turkey Day activities so therefore I don’t have too much of an update I did however start roughing out Page 5 so yes I do actually have somewhat of a preview. I started laying it out last week and now you can actually see some of what will be in the empty boxes!
Although I must admit our tree does look pretty awesometastic.
And the dog sure does love it.
But that is beside the point and I will also be doing a full on Christmas Textcast chock full of Holiday goodness so stay tuned for that.
Page 5 SO FAR…
This page is when Chase gets a phone call from his Mom while he is at School and she informs him of some bad news.
When I did get a chance I have been in full on Holiday music mode as well…so in closing I leave you with one of my favorite Holiday cover songs…ENJOY!
Jimmy Eat World – Last Christmas
~John
Textcast: When Worlds Collide Wrap Up Edition
This past Friday the art show to end all art shows opened in Old City, Philadelphia.
My gang of friends The Xion Group brought the house down with a packed house and blew some minds (at least I think we did)
So in case you didn’t make it to the show opening party I shall take you inside!
Come on in…
Brave New Worlds on 2nd has a gigantic Hulk out front waiting to say Howdy to any and all customers and they get a ton of customers on First Friday.
If you have never been to a First Friday event you should definitely check it out. It is the first Friday of every month and on 2nd street and it’s surrounding areas it is a giant party where people showcase their talents in art, crafts, music and more. People set up tables on the curb and sidewalk and display their goods and tell you some info on them as you walk by. For instance one seller sold shirts with various designs that displayed the word “Love” in all different languages. So if you are ever in the area at the beginning of a month go check it out!
Anyway back to the show…
When you first walk in you got to hear the sweet sounds of local DJ Dave Proch to your left and the art to your right…
Xion founder Shawn Alleyne had the center of the show and his Batman piece drew everyones attention. People were blown away by it and I had to agree it was pretty awesome…
People either laughed, were shocked or thought it was awesome…either way it got a reaction and that is what Art is all about.
My piece received mostly laughter but thats exactly what I wanted. One girl however said she didn’t like Mario having belly…hmmm..
Some other great noteworthy pieces…
Bucky O’ Hare Meets Starfox…Amazing detail and overall fantastic representation of the characters and their personalities.
Lego Batman and the real deal was great. It had everything and managed to make Lego Batman look just as badass as the real Batman.
The turnout was phenomenal, the place was packed pretty much from beginning to end leaving me only a few short minutes to snag an awful picture of me with my art I mean look at this crowd…
Overall the show opening was a tremendous success and I hope more and more people check it out as it continues on all month long at Brave New Worlds in Philadelphia. Every piece is for sale so grab one fora friend for christmas, or someone who loves Starfox and Bucky O’ Hare!
Anyhoo…back to work on the main focus…Synergy!
Thanks for everything guys I couldnt be here without you.
~John
Textcast: Berserker Barrage Edition
So going into todays edition I wanted nothing more than to vent about my possible newest purchase but I must digress and hold off until the end because I am giddy.
But first must come some Synergy news…
I started working on postcard/promo material art and I am really enjoying how it is looking so far…here’s the progression…
Here is the original Synergy postcard (of which I have none left)
I am most likely leaving the front of the postcard the same but with facebook, twitter and possibly wordpress logos underneath the main site logo…
But for the back I figured I should put our hero front and center and maybe put some supporting characters or a villain looking menacing on there as well so we get all aspects…
That is where we are right now. Nat, Synergy and Howard Grant looking insane…I like it so much I think this would be an excellent cover for issue #4. I am going to finish up inks and I already am discussing colors with some of y colorist friends in the biz…I want this baby to pop. Unfortunately a lot of my friends in the industry just added a bunch of new commissions/projects to their daily grind thanks in part to New York Comic-Con networking. I can’t wait to get a table next year, a friend of mine went and said it was packed to the gills. Hopefully some of those people check out Synergy and get some sketches from me. I am hoping to get the postcards done and printed up by the beginning of November for the Xion show, so cross your fingers.
Speaking of the Xion show I am still driving myself nuts about which route I am going to go in this…Now I could do like I did with my 80’s Cartoon piece and do heroes and villains or game characters and comic book characters side by side like this…
Maybe I could do an homage to Marvel VS Capcom in a similar style too, I feel like that has been done before though…hmmm.
I am still also kicking around the idea of a Halo VS Iron Man piece with Master Chief in the foreground holding an assault rifle running from Iron Man who is flying behind him riddled with bullet holes and a sticky grenade hanging off of him. I am going to work on some thumbnails tonight and make my final decision, I am running out of time!
In any case you guys should come out and support us at the show it is going to be a kick-ass time I promise.
Speaking of games and comics, in my search for an idea for the show I stumbled upon an ad for Arcade Cabinets for sale, now my entire life I have always wanted my very own arcade cabinet for my house in fact it’s something me and my brother both have wanted. Well I found an X-Men VS Street Fighter unit for sale pretty close to my house and went over yesterday to check it out and make sure it was all good and worked and whatnot…I took some pics too…
That’s the one…it needs a bath and some minor stuff but it’s price is unbelievable…I think this may be moving in soon! I can already hear the echoes of BERSERKER BARRAGE pouring through my home.
Anyway if anyone has any video game comic art ideas leave me a comment and I will gladly see what I can do!
Until next time!
~John
PS: I am also looking into new WordPress templates so a new Textcast page may be up in time for next week…stay tuned.
How I Spent my 2 Month Vacation (from the site)
It has been far too long site o’ mine and I am here to announce that I am back!
I went away the shore, enjoyed some Heroclix, cleaned up my office, watched the Phils, and somehow acquired an addiction to ging to the Gym…WHAT WHAT WHAT?!
I am also here to let you peeps know I will be updating the site every Tuesday from this moment forth…even if I just put down a sentence you will see an update!
I have been uber busy and can’t wait to show you whats been going on so lets start off with some news!
Synergycomic will be representing at an Art Show at South Philly Comics with some new art…the original theme and date of the showr has been changed as it was originally going to be a September show but it has been moved to open on October 9th. The theme was Old Cartoons but it is now just a showcase of the talents of Xion the group I work with. I am just about finished my dual piece for the show and started it before the theme changed but here is what it looks like thus far…
I still have to finish penciling Prime’s neck wires and ink him but I think they both turned out great. I have never sketched out Skeletor before and I havent done Shredder since I was in Elementary School. I think He-Man could be better but everyone else turned out awesome. Come see both pieces at South Philly Comics next month. You can find them on Facebook just search them out.
I will also be involved in a show at Brave New Worlds comics in Old City in November, the theme being When Comics meets Video Games. I have some interesting ideas and have been thinking a lot about Zelda Ocarina of Time lately because I use it as drawing music…Which leads me to a new segment.
Art Soundtracks
Most people use some kind of music to help them get through a job or inspire them to do things like for example I listen to the Rocky IV soundtrack when I am at the gym…come on its classic. But I have friends that listen to Sirius radio while they work or listen to playlists when they build stuff for the house etc. I have a bunch of songs that inspire me to draw I figure whenever I draw a new piece and upload it I can also upload the soundtrack to said piece. So since I just posted the 80’s cartoon piece here is the soundtrack I used…
These 2 inspired me to draw Transformers and crack out Megatron and Prime while thinking about the original movie.
I find that video game music can be pretty awesome background music when doing art…shoutout to Phil from Shamoozal.com for the tip. So that’s the recipe for my last piece…I listened to basically the entire soundtracks of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Transformers: The Movie and mixed in a few gems in the middle.
Currently I am also still working on the book here’s the current page and where I am at on it…
So far I have been listening to the new Avenged Sevenfold CD, The Kick-Ass Score, and the Inception soundtrack while working on it…it’s not too bad actually.
This track is incredible…
as well is this…
I would have to say those are my 2 favorite movies of 2010 fo sho.
Well that is it for me…Unless something crazy happens you will be hearing from me again on Tuesday!
Thanks for stopping by…
John
PS. My birthday is the 26th…put it on your Calendars!
Textcast: Wizard World Edition
This past weekend in Philadelphia was Wizard World Philadelphia AKA Philadelphia Comic-Con or whatever they are calling it now. I have been going to Wizard World since the convention started 10 years ago and I did the same this year…So for those of you who have never been to a convention sit back and enjoy because I am going to take you there…
At Wizard World you can pretty much find anything you ever wanted, from Super Mario plushies…
To awesome celebs…
To people dressed in crazy costumes…
Put it all together it makes for one heck of a time. This year was my first year going all three days which was pretty cool. Let’s go day by day and go through it in its entirety…
FRIDAY
I arrived at the con around 4pm ready to see a few friends in Artist Alley and see how things were going, I first checked in with the head of the Xion group I work with, Shawn Alleyne.
Shawn is a crazy detailed artist who was there showing off his crazy talents and promoting the Xion group. Check his stuff out by clicking in the contacts section on the main page.
From there I headed over to the Xion table where the creators of this sweet book called Dinoman, Jeff and Ben Cohen were there representing.
The book is hilarious and they are awesome guys you can check them out at their Myspace here: http://www.myspace.com/dinomancomics and you can buy the book at Brave New Worlds Comics in Philly.
I also had a chance to catch up with my friend Bryan G. Brown writer and artist of his autobiographical tale, First Fight.
If you guys want to read a great personal story about a guys life, his times with MMA, and his journey to becoming an Artist then pick this up ASAP…you can see him here: www.bryangbrown.com
From there I made some new friends in Artist Alley, Matt Spradlin and Barry Wernick, the creators of a book called Bad Kids Go to Hell. The book is a horror comedy about a group of prep school kids locked in detention that eventually turns into hell. Cool guys with a cool story, think Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan being hunted down and brutally murdered in a detention type setting…awesome.
You can find out more at www.badkidsgotohell.com
After I met all those peeps I wanted to go get a sketch from my favorite Green Lantern artist Ethan Van Sciver. I have been checking out his art since his New X-Men days and he was always one of my all time favorites. After waiting about a half hour Ethan said he had to go so I figured I will just catch him tomorrow (another advantage of going all 3 days…) and get a sketch.
So after that I picked up some Heroclix and made the journey home.
I get home to find that my Cousin Shawn had sent me a Facebook message asking if I was going to Wizard World and telling me that if I was I should text his wife Michelle, she is friends with Ethan Van Sciver artist at DC Comics.
My brain immediately exploded.
Apparently all this time I had a link to Ethan Van Sciver…what a small freakin’ world!
Needless to say I was pumped.
SATURDAY
I texted Michelle IMMEDIATELY! She told me she was in Artist Alley now and to come on over. I walk over and she is sitting RIGHT NEXT TO HIM.
My brain exploded again.
I got in line and finally got to the front, Michelle introduced us and I just immediately started telling him how cool he was. We got to joke back and forth talk about tradition vs digital art, movies, his upcoming projects and more. Then he asked me what I wanted him to sketch, I didn’t want to hassle the guy because he was so cool so I told him you can just do a Green Lantern (I’m sure he can draw Hal Jordan with his eyes closed at this point). About 10 minutes later he draws this awesome sketch of GL and tells me “You can have this…but from now on you have to call Michelle your personal savior.” Well Michelle, my Personal Savior…
THANK YOU!
Can’t wait to frame this and hang it in the office!
From there me and my wife walked around and shopped and checked out a few things like:
The giant T-Shirt stand that Stylin’ Online has every year…
And the DeLorean that Michael J Fox’ charity had for donations…you could sit in it and take pictures with it and 100% of the proceeds went towards Parkinson’s research so we did it.
My wife really loved the Hover Board too
Nice touch.
We also walked past the Sexy Superhero Massage booth and had a good chuckle as desperate nerds got massages by chicks dressed as Slave Leia
Yeesh.
After eating an awesome Roast Pork sandwich from Reading Terminal Market we headed back in…My wife handed out the rest of the Synergycomic.com postcards and I met with my friends again. While I was there I also talked to Jamie Fay an awesome artist I knew from Deviantart and asked him if he would do a sketch of Synergy for me. I was dying to see what he would do with it and he told me he would and I could pick it up tomorrow.
So after buying a few MORE Heroclix and some old Spideys I headed home.
SUNDAY!
Headed to Wizard World for the last day this year with a bunch of friends and showed them where the good stuff was and where to avoid, another advantage of being there all 3 days.
First thing I did was pick up the Jamie Fay sketch, and he didn’t disappoint.
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