Walter Ostlie: SDCC 2011

Finally rested up enough to attempt a blog post about SDCC.

First let me start off with a HUGE thank you to the Red 5 guys. Paul Ens and Scott Chitwood are awesome. Not only did they pick up Cubicles for the Red 5 line, they also got me out to SDCC. I never thought I would make it to that convention. So I can't really thank them enough for making two of my comic dreams come to life.

I suggest you follow them on Twitter and like the Red 5 facebook page.
http://twitter.com/#!/red5comics
http://twitter.com/#!/paulens
http://twitter.com/#!/red5aggie
http://www.facebook.com/red5comics

MONDAY
Alright, so my adventure starts on Monday. I was at home trying to pack for the trip and also put out a fire at my day job. So I was hoping it would be a relaxing day and it was not. I was able to stuff every last copy of Cubicles in my suitcase.

TUESDAY
Get on a plane and fly up to Chicago and then back down to San Diego. Land, get my rental car. Soon as I pull out of the rental place, I am seeing SDCC banners and signage. This is 3 miles away from the convention center. So I decide to drive past the convention center before I go to my sisters. Downtown SD looks great. The weather is too awesome. It was a cool 76 degress at 2pm. For us Florida folks it is like 100.

WEDNESDAY
Didn't need to be to the convention until the afternoon. Had breakfast with my sister and she asked if I wanted to go for a run. I said sure and I don't think I even heard her when she said it was a 5 miles trail. So I think I got to about 1.5 miles before I had enough and turned back.

That is a choice that will haunt me for the rest of the con. So I clean up and head to the con. The place is a madhouse. There is a line that runs the length of the convention center already for the preview night that starts at 6pm.

Walking into the convention center before it opens is like walking into a construction site. There is hammering and power tools. Boxes and large machinery. I think I could have fit like 3 or 4 MegaCons in it...Maybe more.

I meet the Red 5 guys for the first time. They are really nice and tell me not to worry about being stuck to the table the whole show and to enjoy myself. But I still wanted to help out as much as possible. I walked around a little before preview night started. I headed over to artist alley and it was pretty empty. But there was one dude there, already setup. Nathan Fox. This guy is awesome. He wasn't on my list of people to see or buy stuff from, but ended up buying two books from him. 'Flourescent Black' and 'Black and White'. I also gave him a copy of Cubicles and Drawn Blanks flyer.

I don't think I did much else till the convention opened. I did get a little 101 from Scott on how to sell Red5 books. The convention opened and we sold some books, including Cubicles.

I met Kevin Grevioux. The creator of Underworld and also writer of Red 5's Zombies of Mass Destruction. This guy was also one of the wolves in Underworld, his voice is scary as hell. Other Red 5's I got to meet were Kevin Rubio and David Gallaher.

Also the creators of Comixology. How cool is that. These guys are the word on digital comics and I got a chance to talk to them. I even talked to one of them about the price of Invincible still being print price. He said he would look into it. And I just looked and the prices are now lowered. So I bought all the issues as I promised. Thank you very much Comixology!

THURSDAY
First day of the convention. I think I spent most of the morning selling stuff. Around Noon I decided I would try to check out the portfolio reviews. I got there and realized I misunderstood the process. I figured I would just show up and wait in line. But they actually had a pretty good system for reviews.

You put your name on a piece of paper for the company you want to meet with. You could fill out an entry for more then one company. You had to get your name in the hat 30 minutes minutes before that company's time slot started. Then you go back and check that company's area 20 minutes before they start and look at the list. The list is basically a lottery. So I had missed out entering for Oni Press. But I filled out my name for Dark Horse while I was there. I also ran into a cool cat named Dwayne Harris. He has a book called Amnesia which is being released through Arcana. He told me that he had tried last year to see Dark Horse and didn't get a chance. So I was a bit worried.

I went back to Red 5, sold some more comics. Told the guys that they could give away copies of Cubicles to any production companies that came by. Which there were a lot of. Not sure how Cubes would work as a movie, but still cool to think their is some hotshot out there reading my book.

Went back to the portfolio area to check on Dark Horse and I am number 4 on the list. So I sit there patiently waiting my turn. Once it is my turn, I sit down and the guy starts flipping through. He seemed really indifferent to the whole thing. Maybe it just seemed that way because I was totally freaking out on the inside. He said my figures looked good, nice angles. Said to remember the reader doesn't know everything you know and to emphasize elements that have to stick out. I was ready for the brush off just because he seemed so ho-hum about my work. But he closed my book and said great stuff and gave me his card to send him my next batch of pages. I looked at his card and he's like the VP of Publishing. So I was pretty happy after that.

Went to Humberto Ramos' Booth and got FairyQuest. Which I found out he sold out of his entire print run. He made its debut at SDCC. So he must be on cloud9.

Ryan Ottley also sold out of his sketchbook, but I don't think he brought many. I ended ordering it online when I got back in town.

I also talked to Jason Brubaker and Jeremy Dale. If you haven't picked up Brubaker's Remind, do yourself a favor and get it. I also traded Jeremy a copy of Cubes for his book, Skyward. I haven't read it yet, but it looks stellar.

After the show I went to Trickster. Pretty cool, if tight, setup. They had a model posing for some life drawing. So I did that for a bit before I had to go home and get sleep. Remember how I mentioned that run with my sister? Well my legs were super sore. Actually they were sore up until Sunday. Not just a little sore. I am talking almost limping sore.

FRIDAY
Today was my day to put my portfolios in for DC and Marvel. So I mentioned the portfolio process above, Marvel/DC doesn't follow this standard. DC you have to go to a lecture in the morning, get a form, fill it out and drop it off. Marvel you just drop off your portfolio. Then you go back the next day to see if you made their call back list. I got in line for the DC lecture behind Dean Hsieh, follow Zuda contestant. Except he actually won. I talked with him for a bit while waiting. The DC lecture was just a way not to do speech. Number 1 rule? Don't be a douche.

After I dropped off my portfolios, I walked over to Sean 'Cheeks' Galloway and Ryan Benjamin's booth. I got a sketchbook from both of them. Also got a headsketch of Gambit in from both of them. I didn't get much of a chance to talk to Ryan, but I chatted with Sean for a while. Totally awesome dude, uber nice. I gave him a copy of Cubicles also.

Oh yeah, I also dropped off a Drawn Blanks flyer at all the Artist Alley tables.

SATURDAY
First think I run to DC to see if I made their call back list. I didn't. Then I went to check Marvel. Holy COW! I made their call back list. Awesome! I just found out also that it was C.B. Cebulski who looked through the portfolios for the call backs. So I met with the Spider-Man editor and he said he LOVED my stuff. He said I could quote him. So now I am in touch with a Marvel Talent Coordinator and I need to send them some new sample pages using their scripts.

I also meet with Stone Arch, Arch Enemy and Committed Comics. They were all positive and I gave out some xerox portfolios to them. At Arch Enemy I met Tone Rodriguez. He is a really cool cat and had some nice things to say about my art and also gave me some pointers with layout and marker use. He had actually seen my art before hand, so that is pretty cool. I think I hooked them all up with Drawn Blanks flyers.

Also talked to Steve Bryant and he hooked me up with his book Athena Voltaire. He happens to be a member of ComicTwart, so I gave him a Drawn Blanks flyer.

Also chatted with Jeanie L.S. Galster and she gave me her book Reverence.

Also got a copy of Project 26 from Anomaly Comics.

SUNDAY
I was still pretty happy about my Marvel and Dark Horse reviews, so I decided just to sit back today and pat myself on the back. Plus I had about 14 Cubicles left to sell, so I wanted to focus on that. So I was able to sell them all. That's right, SOLD OUT...in the good way. So there are no more left, except the copy of personal copies I have. Unless the Red 5 guys put it out in print.

Went to Boom and picked up Dingo and The Savage Bros. I had read both of these digitally on Comixology, but BOOM was doing 50% off, so I decided to pick them up. The art and stories are great.