Durkin's Dragons: Parodies and Tributes- Available for purchase!

Durkin's Dragons: Parodies and Tributes is now available for you to purchase from IndyPlanet. 

 The book is chock-full of dragons paying homage to some of the most well-known and beloved characters in pop culture. Last year, I compiled a book, and sold out of it at MegaCon. This year, I've added to the book, more than doubling the amount of dragons I had in the previous edition. To order, click here, or click the book on the right-hand column on this blog.

Ghostbusters Dragon

I'm currently finalizing the listings for Durkin's Dragons: Parodies and Tributes and SCRAPS on Indyplanet, so they will be available for purchase online. I was given a lot of new Parodies and Tributes ideas at MegaCon, so I guess it's inevitable that a new edition needs to be made. Here's a sneak peek at the first entry: The Ghostbusters Dragon.

Pictured here is the line art. When I get it colored, I'll post it here. Stay tuned!

The Frog King

I was drawing caricatures at Disney's Wilderness Lodge last night. This was one of my favorites. He loves frogs.

I originally planned on drawing three frogs, but you see what happened. Also, any chance I get to draw a Muppet, I take it.

MegaCon 2011: Wrapup

MegaCon 2011 is OVER! I don't know whether it's the fact that I'm getting older, that I'm desperately out of shape or that the convention was, in fact, incredibly demanding in every way, but I'm EXHAUSTED. I had fun though! I did manage to snap some pics on the last day.

Here's a partial view of the convention from the walkway overlooking the hall. The bottom right-hand corner has cots set up for a blood drive. Above that is the LEGO area. The area with the large black partitions is the celebrity area. The middle of the con is all of the vendors. Artist alley is in the opposite end. I was set up in the upper right-hand corner.

This is D'Shay, one of my new friends and easily my favorite vampire.

Tie Fighter head. How he makes it into a bathroom stall, I"ll never know.

One of my favorite games, Plants vs. Zombies!

"Wish", did somebody say "wish"? It's Jambi!

A study in contrasts.

Alex wore his DinoBoy shirt (designed by himself). He managed to accumulate all kinds of stickers, pins and badges, some of which you see here.

After the con. That's Michael McElroy, Alex, Cary Bivins and Big-Head Kenny.I do happen to have some books left over. As always, you can order all of my books by clicking the links to the right. I'll get the new ones up there asap.

Megacon 2011: Day 3...tomorrow

MegaCon is over, and I am WIPED OUT!

I had a great time, but I'm exhausted. So come back tomorrow for the MegaCon wrapup. See you then!

Megacon 2011: Day 2

For the second day of Megacon, I was joined by Alex, (who will be with me tomorrow as well). Apparently, it was "Bring your kid to the convention day" (otherwise known as "Saturday"), because all my fellow artist friends brought their kids as well. They even dressed up!

 That's Mike "Locoduck" Duron's daughters Hailey, as Hitgirl and Maya as Poison Ivy with Alex as Voolvif Monn, the wolfman Jedi.

 

Later Alex met up with Barry and Jenny Gregory's kids, Fox as Cap'n America, Molly as Wonder Woman and Chloe as a mummy.

 Alex's friends from school stopped by too!

I sold a bunch more books, and did some sketches in a few people's sketchbooks. A lot of people have "themed" sketchbooks in which select artists are asked to draw whatever they wish within the confines of a particular theme. The theme is usually of a certain specific interest to the customer.

In this case, the sketchbook's theme was "Fat Animals". I drew a fat cat on the beach. He looks like a distant cousin of Kit's dad in Black Cat Bone. (If you haven't read the book, BUY IT NOW! Just click the link to the right).

 This person's sketchbook was themed "Priests and Nuns" The rest was open to interpretation, so I went with a rocking nun (with a ruler fretboard). Unbeknown to me, the customer was a huge Sister Act fan, and loved the drawing I did.

 It's not a party until Gonk shows up.

 He's alive, and in perfect hibernation.

 

This guy looked just like a young Christopher Reeve.

 End of day exhaustion. Could I have bigger bags under my eyes? Time to go rest up, I have one more day of the con to go!

Megacon 2011: Day 1

 Day one of Megacon was tons of fun. I sold some books, caught up with some old friends and met some new ones. My day started out rough, I had some strange stomach complaint going on. I was shaky, sweaty and dizzy. I couldn't keep down Pepto Bismol, or even water. It took me a while to get out of the house. As far as I can tell, I think it was a prepackaged Boars Head Turkey and Swiss sandwich that I ate from the grocery store the night before. Eventually I was able to drive my way over to the Ka-Blam office and pick up my books. Then I went to the convention center and set up.

 This is one of the signs at the entrance to MegaCon.

There I am in the Burgundy section. I love the sight of having my name shown for all the world to see. Right up there with Stan Lee!

 This is my booth setup.This year I've added the shelving units and the banners. I have a 4 foot banner on the front and a 3 foot banner on the top. Next year I'm going to get displays to go behind the booth, and possibly expand to an 8 foot table.

I spent most of my time at the booth today, so the only other pics I was able to take were of the costumed attendees walking by. I love seeing fans dress up, and so many of the costumes and makeup are incredibly authentic and professional.

Here's HellGal.

Tygra.

Does it matter?

Okay, I'll throw a guy in there. Asian Marty McFly.

I'll have assistant photographer Alex with me the next few days, so I'll have better pics of the remainder of the con. In the meantime, I've got to get some SLEEP! Stay tuned!

I'm (slightly) frantic.

Between two Jett appointments today and work tonight, I am frantically trying to get ready for Megacon tomorrow. I'm about 92% prepared, I just have some last-minute odds and ends to take care of. I'll have tons of up-to-the-minute pics and stories on this blog throughout the Megacon weekend, but in the meantime, here's a picture of Batman on an elephant.

Jett and Dr. Loi

Another jam-packed day yesterday which started with one of Jett's favorites, a visit with Dr. Kimberly Loi. We are open to all forms of treatment, and Dr. Loi's expertise is in Eastern medicine and acupuncture has definitely helped Jett.

 Jett's been seeing her for a while, but yesterday was the first appointment with her that I attended. Dr. Loi has a very quiet, gentle way about her, but she knows her stuff. She's one of the most perceptive people I've ever met. She was able to help Jett with his eye, which was puffy and red. She diagnosed the problem and treated it quickly. We saw results instantly.

Before she left, she glanced over at me and although she never met me before, mentioned how I needed water, and that although I like bland food, I sometimes crave sweets. She hit the nail right on the head. I ALWAYS have water nearby, I think ketchup is too spicy, and my favorite comfort foods are chocolate chip cookies, ice cream and peanut butter cups. How did she know that? Kinda scary....

Jett's next problem, and the one we're dealing with on a grand scale right now is his teething. The poor little guy is in major pain, so we're trying to take it easy on him with all of the running around and spread it out a bit. But he's already dealt with a lot in his life, and I'm positive he'll handle this too.

A few pics from yesterday.

 This is Jett at his Kindermusik class. He loved it!

Singing and dancing, playing instruments and tactile stimulation helps promote brain growth. Playing hide and seek is fun too

That evening, Andi and I volunteered at an event at the Hard Rock Cafe to promote World Down Syndrome Day. Our job was to facilitate the 50/50 raffle by selling raffle tickets.

 Kim Kardashian (whoever that is) was in attendance and Tommy Davidson did his stand up routine

 (note to Tommy: when telling jokes to a predominantly white crowd, it's likely your 20 minute comedy hunk about how bad white people dance isn't going to go over very well [it didn't]. Plus it's an easy, EASY joke. Try harder Tommy.)
We sold a lot of tickets. Most of the attendees were guys, so Andi fared way better than me. Later the headline act came out, Bret Michaels (from Poison and winner of the most recent Celebrity Apprentice).

The raffle was winding down, and our work was finished.

It felt good to give back to the DSFF, who have done so much for us. We plan on volunteering every chance that we can for them.

.Long day. Whew!

No time! NO TIME!!

There are busy days. Then there are very busy days. Occasionally there is the excruciatingly busy day. Today is that day.
We started this morning with Jett's Kindermusik class (pics coming soon) then to my bank then to lunch. We continued with my optometry appointment (going to get glasses and will need reading glasses in top of my contact lenses for close reading), then to the lab to get the first half of Jett's blood work done. Then it was back to Clermont to change and "re-stock" (and quickly enter this blog post) then down to grandma's place so she can watch Jett while we volunteer at a DS awareness event at the Hard Rock Universal. It should end around 11pm, which, after we pick up Jett, puts us home well after midnight. I'm not complaining, because tomorrow is going to be even busier. YIKES!


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Jett mows the lawn

Hey Jett, isn't it nice out today? Why don't we play on the lawn?

What's that in your hand, a stick? Don't put it in your mouth, it's icky.

Sigh...see, I TOLD you!

Tampa Bay Brewing Company

Took the M.I.L (Mother-in-Law), to historic Ybor City near Tampa for her birthday today.

We ate at the Tampa Bay Brewing Company.

Their on-site brewery is equipped to produce up to twelve tap beers (they generally have nine on tap, more than twice as many as most microbreweries) and several cask-conditioned ales on a 10bbl step-infusion brewing system.

I started with one of their seasonal beers, the Bone's Brown Ale: an American brown ale made using six different malts, Pale, Munich, Chocolate, Crystal, Dextrin and Special B.

I moved on to their regular beer menu, and had an Old Elephant Foot IPA: a traditional pale ale with Northern Brewer, Centennial and Cascade hops (whatever that means). They brew their own root beer as well, and Andi had to partake.

Jett entertained our party while we waited for our food. I ordered the Shepherd's Pie.

 The Shepherd's Pie is oven-baked chopped sirloin, carrots, peas and sweet white onions in a rich savory stout demi, topped with garlic mashed potatoes, and cheddar jack cheese. With my entree, I decided to go with the Iron Rat Stout: an Imperial Stout brewed with seven types of  grains, flaked barley and Northern brewer's hops.

I loved this place, and can't wait to go back. If anyone plans on visiting the Tampa Bay Brewing Company, let me know, and I'll be happy to tag along!

MEGACON in one week!

Megacon will be in Orlando next weekend, and I'm going to be an attending artist. I'm just going down my checklist of things that I need so that I'm fully prepared.

 

Get banner printed: Check

Get new Scraps book printed: Check

 

Print updated version of Durkin's Dragons: Parodies and Tributes: Check

   Order more Durkin's Dragons books since I sold out of them last year: Check

 Make sure I have enough copies of Black Cat Bone: The Blues is Born: Check

Order more copies of Black Cat Bone: Flood Water Rising: Check

Okay. So I wasn't able to finish the third chapter of Black Cat Bone in time for Megacon this year. But I still have a lot of  merchandise to sell. I still have to design my table space and get some shelving and fixtures to make my area look cool. I have to say, this is the most prepared I've been for a convention yet!