There are two things in life that I have never had the pleasure of enjoying. The first is, attending a comic convention. The second is, partaking in the event of the year, Free Comic Book Day.

Well, this year, thanks to , 4 Color Fantasies, a comic book shop in Rancho Cucamonga, California, I finally had my first taste of those two delicacies. Although the event wasn’t billed as an actual comic convention per se, there were loads of talented professional creators on hand signing books and giving away cool free merchandise. I was quite the elated fanboy as I got to meet and mingle with some of my dream artists and writers.

Some of the super-stars who showed up were Mark Waid, Dwayne McDuffie, Whilce Portacio, Danny Miki, Norm Rapmund, and many, many others.

I even had the extreme pleasure of personally meeting a fellow webcomic cartoonist, Jimmy Purcell of Been Better Comic. He and I have had a lot of communication via email and thru each other’s comic sites, but we have never been in the same general area at the same time. It was definitely a treat to finally encounter one another.

I’m not gonna talk ya to death about what went on, but needless to say I had a great time and I’m gonna let these photos do the talking.

Dwayne McDuffie, creator of DC's Milestone Media and writer of TV's Static Shock, Teen Titans, and Ben 10

Jimmy Purcell, creator of the webcomic series Been Better Comic

John Marconey, creator-artist of Ghostface

Dani Dixon, creator/writer of the comic book series 13

Whilce Portacio, co-founder of Image Comics and artist on X-Men

You know I had to get into the mix, sporting an official ADDANAC CITY T-shirt

I didn't like him when he was angry

Amy Wolfram, writer of Teen Titans: Year One

Thomas Zahler, creator of the Harvey Award-nominated Love And Capes

The crowd in need of free comic books was massive

Occasionally, I will submit some artwork to other companies in hopes of making it big or gaining a few extra dividends. Years ago (2006, I believe), The Wayans Brothers created an animated television show called the Thug-A-Boos. To date, there are only two videos out featuring these characters, but at the time, I figured why not try out? Especially since they were looking for artists to do character models and such.

Thug-A-Boo DVD set

I had just gotten my hands on Photoshop and wanted to try new and different things with the program to see what would happen. I sent in the designs below based upon their pre-existing characters.

D-Roc

Lissette

Soo Young

I was pretty proud of these drawings in 2006. Regardless of how much I liked them, I received a form rejection letter from the editors-producers (whomever was in charge).

It was quite disheartening, but I have learned that you’ve gotta dust yourself off and get back to the drawing board. Everyone’s not gonna like what you have to offer, but that doesn’t mean that you’re not a good artist or designer. It just means that, at that given stage, you’re not a right fit for what they have in mind.

Don’t let it vex you; just keep honing your craft, and who knows? You may get your foot in that door quicker than you think.

I just thought I would share a lil’ something with ya. Let me know what you think of this.