This past Saturday night at GEEKS Comics I was part of the Cartoonista contingent participating in SALABRATION.
This may have been the event that's had the most Cartoonistas in attendance (9 total). The usual camaraderie and happy hijinx were on full display! Here's the proof:
Jose Cabrera, creator of the CRYING MACHO MAN webcomic, demonstrates the upcoming Olympic sport, power cartooning!
Lounging around and talking shop (or are they planning to break away and form a rival Cartoonista group??) are Mr. Geo Brawn (top left), Luis Escobar (top right), Grasiela Rodriguez (bottom left) and Jose.
From left to right: Michael Aushenker, Jose, me and Jim Lujan. Michael and Jose will be having a two-man art show/book signing at GEEKS in the Fall, to coincide with a revamped CARTOON FLOPHOUSE brand.
Michael and me throwing out some Dr. Fate-style mystic energy. Michael and I were discussing Dr. Fate's recent appearance on SMALLVILLE, and browsed some Dr. Fate comics at the shop.
Grasiela Rodriguez, the Queen of the Cartoonistas, and the equally royal Hortencia Aguirre, wife of Cartoonista Raul Aguirre. Hortencia is an artist in her own right, and she's been nice enough to feed our hungry maws numerous times with her exquisite cooking.
Luis Escobar doodles inside the front window display at GEEKS. Think of Amsterdam's Red Light District, but with cartoonists and sanitized!
And sure to be a valuable artifact one day, Jimmy sparked the idea for a group jam session. Besides a plethora of Cartoonistas, we had some special guests contribute to the drawing, such as Steve Sievers and my ol' pal Lalo Alcaraz (LA CUCARACHA).
A long-time fan of mine happened to be walking past Geeks with his girlfriend when he noticed all the commotion inside. His name's Jason and I first met him back in 1998 when he made a beeline to my table in the Small Press area of the San Diego Comic-Con. He pulled his backpack off his back, pulling out a comic book and told me "I was hoping you'd be here!" and asked me to sign my then-recent EL MUERTO comic book, the photo-copied first edition. That moment had always meant a lot to me as a creator, because as a fan myself I had attended plenty of conventions where I was always hoping that one of my favorite artists would be in attendance.
At the time we met back in 19989, Jason was a teenaged kid, and to think all these years later, he's all grown-up and I'm still making comics! He picked up all my latest books and the DVD, and I even gave him one of the live art pieces I did that night.
He's had his Muerto skull tattoo for about 10 years now! Back in 2006, I had invited Jason and his girlfriend to an early screening of the EL MUERTO movie, and I was glad to be able to do that for them. It's so great to have long-time fans like that!
As the SALABRATION was in fact a little celebratory event to commemorate GEEKS owner Sal's birthday, Raul generously created this wonderful painting as an unexpected but supremely appreciated gift:
To say that Sal was impressed and flabbergasted to accept it would be a corker of an understatement! Raul really put a lot into this, and it really summed up the evening for everyone.
By 12:30am, everyone had left. Sal couldn't have been happier. All of us Cartoonistas had a wonderful time, and so did the folks who stopped by to join in the fun. Over the last several years, either solo or with the Cartoonistas, I have done some truly memorable events with Sal. He hosted the Q&A for the EL MUERTO screening during the Whittier Film Festival, my nephew and I had a two-man art show, I've conducted my "DIY Comics:The Secrets of Self-Publishing" seminar there (and in fact will be doing another one this coming Saturday). It's so nice to be able to have a 'home' store that you can partner with for events like this, and make a good friend in the process.
Thanks Sal, and Happy Birthday!
The great line-up of talent that night: (Top row, left to right) John Narcomey, Geo Brawn, Javier Hernandez, Luis Escobar,(Middle row, left to right) Raul Aguirre, Grasiela Rodriguez, Rene (guest for the evening), Jose Cabrera, (Bottom row, left to right) Michael Aushenker and Jim Lujan.
Yesterday's event, ART & LITERATURE AT THE LAKES in West Covina, was part picnic and part creative endeavor. The focus of the event was the fundraiser for the West Covina library. The Library had several tables set up where they sold books, and Rubio's Mexican Grill donated proceeds from the day's sales to the Library. There was a DJ and several musical acts performing that day, as well as a series of live poetry readings, plus a Lazer Tag was provided for fun and games. We Cartoonistas were there to dazzle people with our Live Art and some of us set up a table with our goods, comics and art prints.
During the set-up that morning, the sky was overcast, but I was glad because outdoor gigs in California can be killer! Luckily the sun never got too bad that day.
We were provided with our own canopy, which made for a cozy little Cartoonista Cabana. Steve Romo and Grasiela hard at work drawing, while I'm prepping my table display to be just right!
Cartoonista co-founder Jim Lujan showed up on his bike early on. He and his wife had an event to attend to later that afternoon so he had to sit this gig out, but he drove over from his home to say 'Hi'. It really was a refreshing blast of sunshine when he showed up. He and myself are usually the ones who have done every single Cartoonista gig, so when one of us doesn't show the other gets down and blue.... :(
Also showing up later that afternoon was Raul Aguirre, the Cartoonista's Ace in The Hole! Raul's wife Hortencia was kind enough to bring us an ice chest full of water and soda pop, and two huge sandwiches of ham and turkey with heavenly cheese and fresh, juicy tomatoes and lettuce! Man, we Cartoonistas know how to eat up a feast!
One of the performers that day was a young man (from my town of Whittier!) called Christopher who recited some poetry. Raul drew him as he performed and later presented the art to the poet. Both poet and artist were happy with the results. These are the type of things that make live appearances so memorable.
The only Live Art piece I made was Terminator. It's funny, at one point after I finished the drawing, the DJ (Donald) and I were talking about the state of the shattered California economy and all the state budget cuts. Located right next to Donald was my drawing of Arnold as Terminator. So weird that the person I drew was also now the Governor of the state with the apocalyptic budget scenario!
Since I didn't draw much, most of my time was spent talking to people about the Cartoonistas and my own comics work. One of my sales was to a lady who hosts a local cable access show, and she asked me to appear on her show for an interview. The old adage proved true once again: One gig sometimes can lead to another opportunity!
There were also some musicians in attendance who had a Conga line available for people to participate in. Among the participants were some folks from a galaxy far, far away!
I attended some of the early meetings with the Chamber of Commerce in organizing this event, along with some of the other organizations involved. And it's interesting how much behind-the-scenes work must get done beforehand. Once you're actually at the event, you realize how awesome it is that something on this scale gets started simply with and idea, then one day becomes reality. I'm glad the focus was on fundraising for the West Covina Library (which actually hosted us Cartoonistas there several months ago).
And once again, I had a really good time just hanging out with my friends in the Cartoonistas. We're all fairly different in terms of personalities and what we want out of our art, but there's a pretty special camaraderie between our group of artists. Sitting out there in the cool weather, surrounded by all that music, all that great food, drawing, talking art. It's no wonder we bust ourselves sometimes lining up these gigs. In the end, we're just having a great time. It's like we get together for an outdoor picnic, but we happen to be drawing and attracting looky loos!
By far, the most rewarding gigs I've been involved in with the Cartoonistas are the library appearances we do. And yesterday's gig at the Whittier Public Library was no exception.
Bonnie Weber, Head Librarian for Children's Services, and her staff were absolutely exemplary in taking care of us. I may have written this before, but library staffs respect and appreciate the talent that performs at their facilities. So right off the top we were already enjoying our appearance there in t he Nixon Room (named after Whittier resident and the former President!). I was joined by Cartoonistas Jim Lujan, Raul Aguirre and Grasiela Rodriguez (although for reasons unknown she sat and enjoyed the show from the audience seats!!).
One thing about the library gigs is that you get the perfect crowd, kids aged from 8-12. They're at that age where they go along for the show (as long as you're entertaining!) and are still open to speaking up and sharing. It's always great to see parents attending with their kids because you know they're spending some quality time together enjoying the performance.
Among the attendees was a young man whose been a fan of my work since he was 16 (he's now 20), when he first joined the Message Board I used to host on my El Muerto website. I actually met him in person last year when I was up in Portland at the Stumptown Comics Fest. This time he happened to be in Los Angeles on vacation with family and was able to make it to this event. There was young kid who was familiar with El Muerto via the local comics shop GEEKS, where my comics and DVD sold. (Maybe now he'll go back and buy them!)
What do we actually do at these gigs? Lots! I started with an intro about how the Cartoonistas formed and talked of my own childhood growing up in Whittier and as a kid using the Library to study the Norse mythology I first discovered in Marvel Comic's THOR. I started with an interactive comic making project. I told the kids we would make a one page, four panel comic book with Lollipop Kid (easy to draw, you see!). I started with the Kid walking down the street and via the suggestions from the audience, the Kid found a shiny penny on the floor, got swallowed by a dragon, and then was spit out because he was orange flavored! I don't think I'm gonna create the next Jack Kirby with these exercises, but it's fun hearing the kids contribute elements to the creation of a simple story.
Jim (above) dazzled the crowd with his trademark 'Doodle Challenge'. He asks a kid to scribble a doodle on a piece of paper, the trickier the better, and then he makes a drawing out of it. He's amazingly good making really clever choices with his drawings, and his rapport with the kids is fantastic. These prove really popular every time.
Raul, in his debut library appearance as a Cartoonista, talked to the kids about his work in animation for such studios such as Disney, and also gave the kids some quick lessons in cartooning.
This guy's not only amazingly talented in his drawing, but he's also a master at communicating with the audience and playing back and forth with the kids. He drew the Hulk eating a burrito, and was bantering with this little kid, David, about the drawing. David told us he was the 'best green colorer', so Raul asked him to color the drawing! That kid was awesome. Probably about 6 or 7, but with a real vocal and expressive way about him.
At the end of our 2 hours (and boy what a workout it is to be 'on' the full time!) we auction off our artwork and doodle for the kids.
One lucky young lady won Raul's Punisher art, and she actually wanted it! One kid won a Wolverine I drew, but traded it for the Muerto drawing another kid has won! That made me feel really good. I also got requests to draw Venom, Cyclops, Black-suit Spider-Man, the Flash and my two favorites: a rabbit (!) and....the Planter's Peanut dude!?!
Raul's debut performance in a library gig was a grand slam. The kids loved it, we loved it, and Mr' Aguirre himself loved it. The fact that his lovely and creative wife was there was icing on the cake. A Cartoonistas salute to the Aguirre's, the Diego and Frida for our times! And thanks to the Whittier Library, the parents and kids who showed up, and my friends in the Cartoonistas for this great day.
It's a double-whammy for me and my hometown of Whittier, CA! I've got two consecutive art gigs coming up the next two weekends. One is with the Cartoonistas and the other is an two-man art show I'm doing with my nephew Christian. The art show will be held at GEEKS comics shop, and we'll both be exhibiting new paintings!
Coming up first is a Live Art event May 16 at the Whittier Public Library. The same library where about 30 years ago I used to spend a couple of saturday's in row reading books on Norse mythology! At the time I was going through a big kick on Thor, the Marvel Comics hero whose based on the Norse god of thunder. I was fascinated by all the mythology presented in the comics and so I wanted to learn more about the Norse legends from the source.
I approached the library some months ago regarding an appearance for myself, but I also mentioned that I was a member of the Cartoonistas and they ended up booking the group as well. The library gigs are my favorite of all the events the Cartoonistas do. The kids are always responsive and the staffs are very attentive. If you're in the area on May 16, pleaese come by and watch us do our magic!
On May 23 GEEKS will be hosting 'Making Believe' the two-man art show for my nephew Christian Silva and myself. Christian will be out of high school a few weeks later, but he's really excited to be doing his debut art show.
I'll write (and show!) more about this exhibit as we get nearer to the date, but mark this one on your calendar as well! I'd love to see any fans at either of these events!
Saturday, April 17 will find me and fellow artists from the CARTOONISTAS doing our thing at the EDGE OF LA COMIC CON in Claremont, California. This is a relatively new comic show that was brought to my attention from pal/artiste/Cartoonista Grasiela Rodriguez. Gras and I will be there, as will Raul Aguirre and Jim Lujan.
I'll be creating my own special brand of Live Art and selling my EL MUERTO comics and DVD. Pretty cool venue, too. A former packing warehouse converted to stores and galleries. The comics stuff is set up down the center of the warehouse. The Live Art will be held outside in the front patio. I'll post pix and words about the event afterwards (well, I sure can't do it before!!)
Monday afternoon I went to GEEKS to talk to Sal, the owner, to find out how the event went overall. Well, to my extreme delight, he told me that on Sunday a guy came into the shop looking for stuff 'from Javier Hernandez' (that's me!) and was directed to the El Muerto comics. He already had them but ended up buying the EL MUERTO DVD, and he also bought my ROM, SpaceKnight and Demolition Dove artwork! (You can see pics of them in the Live Art post below). He bought everything of mine in the store that he didn't already have!
A few weeks ago, I had a discussion on JAVILAND (my roundtable podcast) about 'True Fans'. True Fans are fans that will buy everything you make. The theory being that if you can have at least 1,000 fans, and each spends about $100 on your products, then you can make $100,000 a year! Now believe me, I take that theory with a grain of salt, because there are no guarantees of anything, and there are innumerable variables in every situation. But just having fans that enjoy your work enough to support it with actual purchases, well then, that is something to nurture. As the artist, I have the responsibility to create things from a sincere and honest starting point (in other words, try to avoid a completely, artless, crass attempt at shaking down fans for money), but also I believe, strongly, that I have a responsibility to myself to use all my gifts to make myself a living. That includes a genuine sense of artistic creativity and professionalism, as well as a business ethic and marketing savy.
In my previous post about the Live Art event, I also talked about the young boy who bought my El Muerto comics several months ago, and this last time bought the movie as well. These two situations reinforce for me the theory of the True Fans. Heaven help me, it may just very well be true!
Boy, it's times like these that makes me glad I stick to my stubborn way of thinking! Like I said, this True Fans paradigm only works if I bust my butt and do my part to create, and to create with quality and imaginatively. I can't take anything, or anyone, for granted. Including myself.
Last night's CARTOONISTAS Live Art event at GEEKS was a true celebration of art and liveliness! This is the second time we've performed there and we were glad to have GEEKS ask us back. I was the first Cartoonista to arrive, and there were already folks waiting for the show!
We had arranged to have some press there for the evening. A photographer from a local paper came to get some pix for an interview we did the previous week at our Cartoonistas meeting. And we also had a crew from the local Time Warner cable network come down for a story. I had met the producer when he interviewed me last year at my radio show, PLANET COMIC BOOK RADIO, and kept in touch with him to promote the Cartoonistas.
The photographer from the paper was pressed for time, so he asked some of us to start drawing before we finished setting up! For some reason, I kind of locked-up..I literally could not think of what to draw. Strangely, having to draw 'on t he spot' froze me up for a second. But, I dived into my own stable of characters and drew a quick sketch of Demolition Dove. Afterwards, I was adequately warmed up (I guess!).
Co-founder Jim Lujan and Grasiela Rodriguez quickly moved into Cartoonista mode. Jim took the coveted place in the front window display (which always draws a crowd of curious pedestrians).
Jim even busted out some acrylics later and between his witty banter and dazzling display of art, he packs in a full house!
Ms. Bernyce Talley made it all the way from across town to set up an easel and work her magic:
I'm glad we had some good traffic throughout the night, despite some periodic deluges of rain that evening. I was also very happy with the media coverage we got, because that always guarantees we at least get our name and brand out there. For me, personally, I had a great time. I mean, how can you not like meeting complete strangers for the first time and just connect?
An artist attending the Live Art show read the latest El Muerto comic while in the shop and ended up drawing me a pin-up in the store! Thanks to the very talented Joe Torres for the speedy art:
I actually sold some pieces to kids that evening. I hope a photo turns up, but I drew an octopus character of mine (fancy that!) on a bright pink posterboard, and a little girl had her parents buy it! And her brother commissioned me to draw Blade (from the Wesley Snipes films). BLADE!
That evening must have been Kid's Night for me. Another boy, probably around 9 or 10, came up to me and remembered me from the last time we were at GEEKS in November. He had previously bought my Muerto comics, and this time he picked up the Muerto DVD. I was really happy to see a young El Muerto fan. Not just for the obvious reason of having a 'True Fan', but it told me a couple of important things.
One: I've created some comics that, while I would never label them 'Kid's Comics', appeal to a wide range of ages. I've always thought my comics would appeal to High School and up. Maybe not filled to wall-to-wall action, but a compelling enough hero and story to keep people's interest. And while I don't necessarily pepper the El Muerto stories with profanity, sex and violence, I feel comfortable with PG-13-style visuals. I mean, the main character had his heart ripped out of his chest in the origin story! But the content is what you would find in, say, and Indiana Jones flick. So it's really fullfilling to see a 10 year old read the comics and go along for the ride. The fact that I know he will be able to watch the film, as a fan of the comic, just makes me feel everything I've done has been once again validated.
The other thing I learned, or at least had re-affirmed, is that El Muerto has broad appeal. Not just between men and women, or Latino readers and non-Latino readers, but also young and old. A real connection as a character that people can care about, or at least feel a strong compulsion to follow. The visual elements I've always known have been a strong suit. I unashamedly say that: I know it's an extremely well designed visual, simple in it's execution, heavily based on looks that people adopt for Day of the Dead festivals. But I'm glad I'm the one who took that look and made a comic book character out of it. It helps promote the Day of the Dead culture, and helps me build a character.
I'll expand on this subject of 'Signature Characters' in an upcoming post, but thanks to Aleksi for being such a great El Muerto fan! I even gave him an El Muerto button I was wearing (which he pinned on his jacket later in the evening!). I guess kids ARE reading comics....!
Let me leave off with one last piece I did that night: Rom, SpaceKnight! Yep, that beloved comic book from Marvel Comics back in the early 1980s.
Thanks to everyone who came out and checked out the show. The next Cartoonistas Live Art show is this Valentine's Day at the West Covina Library!
We're back! THE CARTOONISTA'S first Live Art event of 2009 takes us back to GEEKS Comics in Whittier, CA! Our last appearance there was the toast of the town, and our pal Sal has asked us back.
For a good time, come on down to lovely Whittier and check out the swanky store that is GEEKS! And kick back and watch us CARTOONISTAS do what we do best: Make Art, Not War! Oh, and don't forget to bring a couple of bucks to buy some of our art. That's some stimulating bail-out we all wanna see!
Jose Cabrera, creator of the CRYING MACHO MAN webcomic, demonstrates the upcoming Olympic sport, power cartooning!
From left to right: Michael Aushenker, Jose, me and Jim Lujan. Michael and Jose will be having a two-man art show/book signing at GEEKS in the Fall, to coincide with a revamped CARTOON FLOPHOUSE brand.
Michael and me throwing out some Dr. Fate-style mystic energy. Michael and I were discussing Dr. Fate's recent appearance on SMALLVILLE, and browsed some Dr. Fate comics at the shop.
Luis Escobar doodles inside the front window display at GEEKS. Think of Amsterdam's Red Light District, but with cartoonists and sanitized!
And sure to be a valuable artifact one day, Jimmy sparked the idea for a group jam session. Besides a plethora of Cartoonistas, we had some special guests contribute to the drawing, such as Steve Sievers and my ol' pal Lalo Alcaraz (LA CUCARACHA). 
At the time we met back in 19989, Jason was a teenaged kid, and to think all these years later, he's all grown-up and I'm still making comics! He picked up all my latest books and the DVD, and I even gave him one of the live art pieces I did that night.
He's had his Muerto skull tattoo for about 10 years now! Back in 2006, I had invited Jason and his girlfriend to an early screening of the EL MUERTO movie, and I was glad to be able to do that for them. It's so great to have long-time fans like that!
To say that Sal was impressed and flabbergasted to accept it would be a corker of an understatement! Raul really put a lot into this, and it really summed up the evening for everyone.
The great line-up of talent that night: (Top row, left to right) John Narcomey, Geo Brawn, Javier Hernandez, Luis Escobar,(Middle row, left to right) Raul Aguirre, Grasiela Rodriguez, Rene (guest for the evening), Jose Cabrera, (Bottom row, left to right) Michael Aushenker and Jim Lujan.
