Universal Leave Behind: Harry Potter

I won’t confine myself to jet the Disney Parks. I wanted to do a leave behind for Universal, and the Marvel characters seemed too easy. I haven’t really had the chance to draw Harry Potter characters, so I thought one of The Boy Who Lived would be fun. This one I put in Hagrid's motorcycle in Diagon Alley. I actually saw someone find it and snapped a picture of it.

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[image src="http://thomz.com/blogall/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/harrypotter.jpg" align="left" border="image_border" link="#" alt="" title="" lightbox="false" ]

Disney Leave Behind: FIGMENT

I can’t explain why the purple dragon of imagination resonates with me so much. I was on the original Journey to Imagination not long after EPCOT opened. I’ve actually got a Figment statue in my studio, courtesy of my friend Roger Price. There won’t be a lot of mystery where I’ll leave this one to be found, is there? I left this on Wednesday at EPCOT.

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New York Comic-Con Wrap-up

New York Comic-Con was last weekend and it remains one of my favorite shows. The separate artist alley works really well for me (your mileage may vary, of course) so sales were good and I got to meet a lot of fans old and new. I think NYC might be my biggest sketching/original art show. Of course, at four days long, that may skew some results. I think I also did the most "networking", for lack of a better term. I had more discussions that could result in actual work than I've had in a while. Not that any of them will materialize, it's very much throwing stones in a pond and watching the ripples. But not every show has such a pond.

I did a kids' drawing panel on Saturday that went really well. I like that NYCC remembers to have stuff for the younger set. I didn't see any panels and barely got onto the main floor. Things were really rocking in the Artist Alley.

The best part, as usual, is hanging out with friends. In particular, I got to spend a ton of time chatting with Andy Price, Pony artist, Trek fan and fellow Kubie. After four days, we didn't kill each other, so I consider that a friendship made.

Plus, I just love New York. There's so much to the city and you can have exactly the experience you'd like. It scales to your expectations. I really have to go visit one of these non-con times.

I have to shout out to Mike Negin and his con crew. They're aces, and take really good care of us artists.

If you'd like to hear more about this, New York Comic-Con was the subject of the latest episode of Comics, Assembled! as well.

Disney Leave Behind: UNCLE SCROOGE

Uncle Scrooge is my favorite of the classic Disney characters. Even when I was a straight superhero reader, I still read Scrooge. The Barks stuff is just brilliant, and yes I’m totally getting the IDW Artist Edition of his work. And Don Rosa, too. He picked up the baton in the most impressive way. Scrooge was quite the explorer, so I left this one in Animal Kingdom. It was at the Shamba-La stand, tucked in the straps on a bicycle. Hope someone found it!

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Disney Art Leave Behind

I have seen more than a few artists go to the Disney Parks and leave some behind. Under the sage advice of Amy, I have decided to do the same. I'll tweet about them when I leave them behind with some hints. It'll start on Wednesday, so be ready.

Backlog: The Cincinnati Comic Expo

I've got a brief break between conventions where I can catch up on my adventures at other conventions. A few weeks back, I was at the Cincinnati Comic Expo. I've been lucky enough to have been a guest of this show from the start, and it's great to see a show grow so well and so right. From a one day show to a three day event, it built slowly rather than having it's reach exceed its grasp. I got the chance to spend lots of time with my good friend Paul Storrie, have a fantastic dinner with Marv Wolfman, and hang out with friends old and new. Sales were good, which always makes things better, and the show took great care of me.

HYDRA style guides

How can you have an ultra-secret organization without a proper logo? I mean, how would people know who you are? Obviously, HYDRA understands this on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.  And I can tell, because I've found the HYDRA style guides.

[image src="http://thomz.com/blogall/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/hydra_styleguide.jpg" align="left" border="image_border" link="http://thomz.com/blogall/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/hydra_styleguide.pdf" alt="HAIL HYDRA!" title="" lightbox="false" ]

New York Comic-Con 2014 sketch roundup

I had an absolutely amazing time at New York Comic-Con this past weekend. Big thanks to Mike Negin and his incredible staff of volunteers. I'll write more later, of course, but I wanted to share my commissions from the show. Enjoy!

That NY/NJ State of Mind

So, this is too long for a tweet and I had to share. I drove to New York for New York Comic Con today, because, you know, I'm a man of the people. And, as I'm waiting in the line of cars to enter the Lincoln Tunnel, I see some guy on a motorcycle clearly angry at a van he's next to. Maybe the van didn't let him merge in. I can tell you having just gone through that gauntlet, the zipper concept of "one side goes and then the other" is lost on these commuters.

Anyway, the motorcyclist pounds the van a couple of times. And then the van driver gets out, smacks the guy in the helmet, and drags him and his motorcycle into the median and waves down a cop.

What happened after that, I don't know. The traffic opened up and I went through the tunnel. But out of all the New York things I've seen, that may have been the New Yorkiest.

My Disney-Marvel Team-Ups, Infinity Style

I've been fascinated by the Disney Infinity figures, not because I play the game but because those designs are just so freakin' cool. (Please, Disney, put out an art book of these designs!) They do a remarkable job of scaling every character to a similar shape and style so that they can all work in the same universe. So, I got it in my head that I wanted to draw some in that style, with a little bit of a my style thrown in. Along the same time, I started thinking of Disney/Marvel pairings that were just too good not to draw. And hence we have these drawings.

I'll be selling the originals of these along with one digital color print. I'll have them at New York Comic-Con, and then they'll be available on my site and at other shows (like Wizard Columbus and Akron Comicon).

I don't think I'm done with these, either. I have some other ideas for pairings that are in my head.