Comic Con Commissions
A look at what I drew at Heroes Comic Con Belgium
Hello from Castrum Lusitania, my fortress in northern Portugal. Welcome to another edition of our weekly newsletter.
Last week, I spent four days in Brussels with my wife, attending the Heroes Comic Con Belgium (Saturday and Sunday) and it all went splendidly well. Unlike most conventions I attend, I had a table on this one where I sold prints and worked on commissions taken on the spot (I was part of a great group of seven international artists all grouped together at the show).
As it happens, lots of people wanted drawings, so I accepted as many requests as I could handle to draw during the two days I was at the show and to work we went.
The Show
The show, called Heroes Comic Con Belgium, was a pretty big convention. Well organized and put together, it only suffered from lack of comics for sale. Of the authors there (me included) there was very little on sale, which frustrated some attendees that had hopes of buying something to get it signed at the show.
Other than that, we got plenty of people on our tables. And by ours, I mean the international section, because I barely got a chance to look around and see anything else from the show.
Our section was put together by David Macho Gomez, a man of experience in the field and that took great care of us. Besides yours truly, there was Jill Thompson, George Pratt, Cian Tormey, Ivan Reis, Ramon Bachs and Paul Kaminski. So I was in great company. David got all of us in the same hotel, having dinner and lunch together in various places, which always ends up creating a nice feeling of camaraderie. Particularly memorable was Cian’s hilarious rant on Mandalorian, that almost killed both me and George Pratt from laughing Saturday’s night.
The Commissions
People came with books to sign and commission requests the moment we arrived, which led me to pretty much fill my first day and half of the second day in the first hour. I was only doing A4 full figures that took around an hour to draw. My idea was to create something good enough that looked comparable to a finished comic book panel, but with minimal background and quick penciling so that it didn’t take that long and was affordable.
So the posing, composition and even rendering techniques were chosen with that in mind and circumstantial to something started and finished within the convention hours.
Here are some photos of the artwork produced:
I ended up drawing backgrounds in most of them to better frame the figures since I don’t like characters just floating in the air. I might have overdone in some cases, but the costumers certainly appreciated it and I’m proud of what I left in their hands.
Apart from the commission work, I was also selling prints (with covers from Phenomena and Righteous Thirst) and participated in a few panels.
Brussels
We had limited time to visit but managed to see some bits of the city on Friday and Monday. Highlights included the Grand Place and going to Le Depot, a comic book shop that friends told me I had to go to. Thankfully, I listened to them. Apart from carrying a bit of everything, the store also has an impressive collection of old books, many from my childhood. I managed to bring a few gems with me, including a Paul Gillon masterpiece. And thanks to David, on our first day there we all got a guided tour to the The Belgian Comic Strip Center, a beautiful museum dedicated to Bande Dessinée, a truly unforgettable place.
All and all it was a very satisfying trip and convention that I hope to one day repeat.
Since coming back, I went straight back to Phenomena, doing thumbnails, pencils and even some inking on a small batch of six pages. More on these on the next week ;)
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See you all soon!
André
I'm sure your comissioners were thrilled with these! Awesome con pieces.