So I'm kind of a douche because I got into the convention hall as everything was still being set up and forgot my bless'ed camera!
I'm also on a pretty weak-ass 'workstation', so bear with me:
Anyway, to make up for that, I'll show you some semi-time-lapsed photos of artist Mark 'Tex' Texeira painting a cover to a
Planet of the Apes novel. Mark's most recent stuff has been a stint on Ghost Rider and the movie adaptation of te Wolveine Origin flick. Anyway, he sat in our room for nearly 19 hours straight to try and finish this thing, here's his preliminary sketch:
He started the piece beforehe got here and continued working on it at about 4pm Tuesday afternoon:
Then I took this one 8 hours later around midnight (and not much had changed, really):
And then this last one at about 10 am on Wednesday (now you can see more color). Keep in mind Tex neither slept nor showered the whole time:
Then BatDan and I left to get party favors:
And eventually, after a few beers 'n' bowls, I make my way over to the convention. Walking down the street I can see the auto traffic is pretty thick going down the street. The Convention Center is further left of the Marriott there:
On the convention side now and the traffic is piling up both in the street and on foot:
If one was inclined, one culd get one of the many pedi-cabs milling about - but it'll cost ya. Oddly, they mostly seem to be pedalled by guys from Russia
:
This is the intersetion of 1st and Pacific - THE intersection. It is where the most traffic happens outside the convention hall:
And here, too - the entrance to Hall A:
And here are the views down the main lobby and the first set of perpendicular rows. Keep in mind that this is 'Preview night', and there's already this kind of crowd:
I needed to get to the half-booth BatDan had before I could go exploring, so here's BatDan making a sale:
This shot is weird because not only does BatDan have his eyes closed, but it almost looks like he's been 'shopped into the scene:
Anyway, so off I went to see a few things. Here's the guys that do the very funny online strip
Penny Arcade:
Here's letterer-turned-writer Richard Starkings with a nice crowd forming around the table. He writes a book called Elephantmen which is largely about the ordinary lives of war machines made from crossing human and animal traits. This might seem far-fetched, but Bush actually mentions banning Animal-Human Hybridsin his 2006 State of the Union, and just a couple of weeks ago, Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) introduced Anti-Human-Animal Hybrid legislation (I poo thee not) and Richard was very interested when I mentioned it to him:
This one's for cheapy:
And here's a buncha stuff I saw along the way:
Well, well, well and look who's being featured at the Image table
:
And there weren't as many people dressed up as I saw years before, but I did find these three:
But then I decided to leave a bit early to avoid the stampede when they officially close the hall, so here's a night shot:
And I'll try to get some more stuff for Day 2 - SDCC full day #1...
