Nate and I got to spend one fun-filled day at Dragon*Con Atlanta this year, and I'd like to go over the highlights.The Skeptic Track: This was actually the main reason we decided to go this year. Michael Shermer and The Amazing James Randi were holding panels, and Randi alone was worth the price of admission. He is well into his twilight years, but sharp as a rapier blade and full of pluck. He demonstrated how two napkins could topple our metaphysics, and I got to shake his hand! Shermer was delightful as well, and his lecture was a blast.
The other draw this year was a bunch of wonderful artists I wanted to meet. Now, I am *not* good at approaching people I admire- the latent fangirl in me bursts out in a tirade of babblings, titters, sweat in weird places, an oddly, an inability to focus my eyes on the appropriate part of the speaker's face. So while Nate educated himself in the Battlestar Galactica panel discussion, I took a stroll down Comic Artist Alley. After stalking up and down the rows a few times, I spotted Shane Glines and decided to approach his table with stealth and warm up before attempting to make contact. My eye caught the work of an artist I hadn't heard of before, but his nifty fifties style was delightful...
Derek Art - I don't know his full name- but just go to his page and be wowed. Totally awesome fifties and tiki art thats so much fun to paw through. It turns out he's a local in Atlanta- he's done work for Cartoon Network and even did poster art for Atlanta's premier improv theater Dad's Garage. How did I find all this out you ask? I actually *spoke* to the dude, and only made a minor ass of myself. With the confidence I gained from that conversation, I felt safe enough to sidle up to...
Shane Glines: One of my greatest artistic heroes. I met him briefly years before, and got my picture taken with the back of his head (it was candid). This year I was determined to talk with him, and through an ingenious segueway in which I commented on his makeshift sketchbook and produced my own homemade crapbook, he actually asked to see it. Masking my glee with a nonchalant "ok", he thumbed through my entire crapbook and even said it was good! I could feel my head turning beet red and knew my luck had peaked, so I hastened to make an exit. Upon turning about, I noticed the table of another hero of mine...
Stephanie Gladden: Another Atlanta local, she's an exquisite draftsman and her drawings are exploding with unbridled joyful fun. Even though I had briefly met her several times, and she even sent me a congratulatory email when she saw Juxtaposer on Local Point TV, it was still hard for me to muster up the courage to talk to her. But as soon as I introduced myself, she knew exactly who I was and immediately gave me a complimentary sketchbook for her property "Girls of Monster Paradise" (its so fantastic- I highly recommend snagging a copy). We chatted about "the biz" and after about ten minutes I felt myself getting babblesome so I excused myself to celebrate quietly in a corner.
Nate and I eventually trekked up to the Walk of Fame, where we bumped into my awesome friend Lucas Ryan who was all dressed up in his Mr. Friskett duds, with a zoetrope gun he had made. He had to run off, so then we sought out C. Martin Croker, whom I've worked with at Primal and is always a pleasure to talk to. Of course, it was about a year of fangirlish terror before I could speak to him like a human being, but I'm glad to say we're friends now and I hardly embarass myself at all in his presence anymore.
It was a full day, and after topping it off with a lecture on Dark Matter on the Science Track, I was ready to call it quits for Dragon*Con 2008. We had such a good time, we might even attend for more than one day next year! Start saving up...
