2012 online Art Gallery

Well, at least a small sample of the artwork I've produced this year. 

If you follow my blog regularly, or we're connected via a social network or two, you may have seen some of these. But I thought it'd be nice to share the variety of work I did, and the various reasons for creating them.

Some of these are commissions, either sketch cards or larger pieces. There are several fliers I created this past year for various events, as well as a random sample of sketches and doodles. The rest were created for other purposes, sometimes on a whim, sometimes for publication or an art show.

Regardless the reason, what I see in the work is a desire to express something, an idea or a memory or a feeling....

 

I'm already looking ahead and trying to coordinate the various print projects I want to produce, balancing that with my increased teaching schedule and other events on the horizon for 2013.

Thanks for following along with me this past year. To those of you who supported through purchasing my work, I very much appreciate that. And to my fellow artists, your enthusiasm, encouragement and inspiration has been a tremendous help, thanks!

A LOS COMEX Season's Greetings!

Jacob & Joaquin, the Wandering Jew and Catholic Boy © & ™ Javier Hernandez 2012. All Rights Reserved.

DEAD DINOSAURIO Sketch Covers with FREE SHIPPING!

I'm currently running a THANKSGIVING WEEKEND SALE over at my LOS COMEX WEBSHOP, with comics discounted between 25%-50%. And lower shipping rates for the duration of the sale.

Adding to that sale, I'm now offering 9 DEAD DINOSAURIO Sketch Covers in the DINO MART. And until the end of Cyber Monday (November 26), they're available with FREE SHIPPING!

  
As you can see, some of these feature other characters from movies, animation, toys, etc. Basically an assortment of my favorite things! King Ghidorah from the Godzilla series, Biotron from the Micronauts toy line, even an early inspiration for Dead Dinosaurio: Devil Dinosaur (from the Marvel Comic book by Jack Kirby!).

 
Check out the DINO MART for the full set. And remember, the FREE SHIPPING runs until the end of Cyber Monday.
(Due to the check-out system, I have to charge a minimum of 1¢, so I'm pricing the books at either $14.99 or $19.99, depending on the piece). FYI: These images wrap around the front and back covers. The line in the middle of some of the images is where the covers fold.

These books are the exact same content as the regular edition of DEAD DINOSAURIO: 28 pages, b&w interiors. Only the cover is different. In this case featuring a hand-drawn color sketches, signed. 

If your looking to get someone you know a unique gift, or perhaps you'd like to collect one of these yourself, take advantage of this special now...before it's extinct!

 

THANKSGIVING WEEKEND SALE in my Webshop!

I'm running a THANKSGIVING WEEKEND SALE in my LOS COMEX WEBSHOP! All books are at least $1 off, with a couple discounted even more (25%-50% off the cover prices). 

Thinking of getting someone you know a few of my comics that you've enjoyed? Want to give unique gifts this Holiday Season? Maybe you've been meaning to pick up some of my books? Well, take advantage of this great sale!



Besides lowering prices on all my books, I've also discounted my postage rates a bit, especially if you buy multiple items.

 

I'm including a sketch card with every order shipped during the sale. A hand-drawn, color sketch featuring one of my many characters. My thanks to you for your support!

Besides being a sales event, this will also work as an inventory reduction sale. With the recent amount of events I've had this last couple of months, most of my books have almost sold out. Some of the titles in the sale are down to low single digit numbers, so please get your orders in quick to make sure you get the books you want! By the end of the year, I anticipate being out-of-stock of about half my titles, and with 2013 coming around the corner, I'll be deciding which titles to re-order and which to keep out of print (at least one, maybe a few more).

I'll be adding some of the DEAD DINOSAURIO Sketch Cover Editions to the sale in the next day or so. But in the meantime, there's plenty of cool comics to gobble up!

Thanks in advance for picking up some of my comics, and thanks if you've ordered in the past. Hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving. Now make your pilgrimage over to the LOS COMEX WEBSHOP!   

Last night's WHAM! BANG! POW! show HIT the mark!

I had a great time at last night's inaugural WHAM! BANG! POW! event in Echo Park. Held at ECHOES UNDER SUNSET, the event drew folks who, despite the rain, came to hear music, see artwork, and buy stuff!

  

In addition to having a vendor table, I also had some artwork on display in the exhibit.

There was a really nice collection of superhero and fantasy artwork in the show:

This pair of paintings just totally gets me everytime I see it. Weird on several levels... They're awesome!

  
I actually traded another artist for one of this piece:

Anarchy Boy  is created by artist Hannibal Garcia, who along with his girlfriend Jacqueline Ortiz produce their art under their brand, NINOSKA ARTE. I love this piece... Anarchy Boy is dead, but he's not out! There's a positivity to this piece that really speaks to me. I hooked Hannibal up with some comics and the EL MUERTO DVD and spent time talking to him about 1980s cartoons and World Wrestling Federation wrestlers!

This piece was hanging over the sink by the bathroom. It's baffling and surreal and features one of my favorite science fiction characters ever, along with Mr. Spock!

The show started at 7pm, but really started to pick up about 9 or so. I was happily surprised by the amount of people, and particularly by the amount of business I had all evening.

   
For me, having been publishing for about 15 years now, and considering this is Los Angeles, I had the usual mixture of new buyers as well as folks who had either seen me before or bought my books at other events. It was a real good crowd, with interesting conversations about my work, and people willing to try something new. Even though this was a comic book themed event, a lot of the people who attended weren't diehard comic fans, but had a general interest in the pop cultural aspect of superheroes and comics. And because of the particular part of Los Angeles I was in, I attracted a good portion of people interested in the cultural aspects of some of my comics. Not unlike our recent Presidential Election, the Latino 'vote' often put me in the 'win' column as far as sales went. I'm always appreciative of that fact, especially in venues/locations like this event.

I told the organizers of the event that I would definitely like to return to WHAM! BANG! POW!, and in fact they've already announced the next event for Spring of 2013.

I am so there!  

WHAM! BANG! POW! show this Saturday

I've been invited to exhibit at the WHAM! BANG! POW! show this weekend. This is a new event featuring art, music and vendors, with the theme of Comic Books and Sci-Fi.

The event happens on Saturday from 7pm thru 1am. I'll have my new book, DEAD DINOSAURIO, as well as an assortment of my other comics, prints and DVD. I'll also have 5 pieces of art in their Art Exhibit, including this pair of drawings I can only call "THEY LIVE in Gotham and Metropolis":

Inspired by one of my favorite movies, and playing with the idea of our superheroes being crazed vigilantes obsessed with control...

The event will be held at ECHOES UNDER SUNSET, a gallery and music venue in Echo Park.

Echoes Under Sunset
1310 Glendale, Blvd.

Los Angeles, Ca. 90026

Looking back at Long Beach Comic Con 2012

This past weekend was my first time exhibiting at the Long Beach Comic Con:

 (Photo by Stephen Yan)

After the previous weekend spent attending dual Dia de Los Muertos shows, I was looking forward to getting back to the comic book crowd. Different audiences attending for different reasons. 
Saturday, to be honest, was the slower of the two days, in terms of how much business I had. While I had a new book, and plenty of other product, the passerbyers seemed to always be in a rush, moving quickly through the aisles. I was surrounded on all three sides by illustrators who specialized in selling artwork based on popular characters from movies, cartoons, comics and toys: Batman, X-Men, Star Wars, Transfomers, etc.

I say this not to disparage any of the artists or even the customers. It's just my opinion that folks who came to the show that day were looking for the famous pop cultural characters, (icons, really). I've been doing these comic book shows for some 15 years, and every time you have different crowds of people looking for different things. Sometimes the fans are shopping for independent works, and sometimes not so much...  

I also taught a 45 minute comic book workshop for kids, where I guided them to create their own one-page comic book story. It was nice seeing lots of the parents sitting with their kids drawing alongside them. Most kids even wore their Halloween costumes, so I had Batgirl, Hawkeye, Wolverine and others making a comic. Afterwards, one of the parents approached me and told me that he and his son saw me some years before at a signing. He said his son was only 5 at the time, and the boy looked to be must about 11. It's a trip to hear things like that, only because it really speaks to the years I've put into this whole comic creator career.

Lots of costumed fans walking around, which is one of the cool things about a comic book convention. I asked this kid's father if I could take a pic of the boy and the dad said "Yeah, 2 bucks"! Then he laughed... 

 Great MARS ATTACKS mask. 

And of course, there's no shortage of friends you run into during a weekend at a show. Here's me with Mary Bellamy, fellow cartoonist and DIY publisher:

  

Lady Raincorn!

 

 

Sunday turned out to be a busier time for me, as far as moving 'product'. (Hey, I'm all for hanging out with friends and meeting neat people, but I'm here to sell books, folks!) For some reason, at this particular show, I sold more DVDs of the EL MUERTO movie than I usually do. Maybe there's nothing good out on cable or the video rental stores...

I split the table with my friend Ted Seko. Here we are exchanging our newest books:

Ted's comic, NO-BRAINER THE LIVING CADAVER, is an off-beat tale of mortality and the Great Beyond! Always glad to see his newest works. Here's a drawing he made for me, featuring DEAD DINOSAURIO in combat with MECHA-KONG:

  
Business picked up in the later part of the day. Perhaps folks saw all they had come to see, then decided to take more casual strolls through the Artist Alley sections? Usually when I'm talking to a customer, we end up having interesting conversations, so it's not just about making a sales transactions. Although, there are times that someone will pick up a book or a button, hand me the money, and be on their way. What I like about that is there wasn't any need for me to explain the book, they just liked what they say and took it.

I spend more time on Sunday walking around and visiting other artists when I could. Like Jamie Gambell, a writer and publisher of books he releases under his imprint Monkey Pipe Studios. Jamie also busts out his art supplies and draws a mini-comic from time to time. This time he was working on a Marvel Comic sketch cover:  

Splitting a table with him was another local artist, Jules Rivera, the talent behind VALKYRIE SQUADRON and the upcoming MISFORTUNE HIGH:

Jules had a really nice page of original art on display, with some strong expressive brushwork. She balances that with some great digital coloring on her books. And she's also got a lot of moxie to go with her talent! 

I was glad to run into the Cossin Brothers, Matt (left) and Mikey (on my right):

  
I became aware of their work online, then had a chance to meet them briefly at the Chula Vista Library a month or so back. In fact, I had asked Mikey to contribute a pinup to DEAD DINOSAURIO months ago when I was finishing up the book.

Matt and Mikey work on their individual comics, as well as collaborating on projects. Sharp guys, very friendly and interesting to talk to. And very good cartoonists! 

All in all, the show just balanced out for to be profitable (after deducting the cost of the table). I had a great time with the workshops (actually did another one on Sunday), had some really nice encounters with the folks who bought my work, and had great fun talking to my friends and fellow artists. I was initially a little down the first half of Saturday, what with the seeming lack of interest in independent comics work. For a moment I even thought that I should try expanding my appeal by making prints of popular characters like Spider-Man, X-men and the rest. But I quickly realized that just wouldn't feel right for me. And I'm not even referring to the legal question of using copyrighted characters. 

I'd rather use my talents to create my own works as much as possible. I grew up loving those old comics, and still enjoy looking through them. But creating my own characters and standing up for my own work, that's what I want to do, and why I continue to work hard at finding new audiences all the time.

Long Beach was fun, and I'm glad I did it. But mostly it was a reminder to me as to what I love doing, and why.