Back from the Falls

And back! 

Niagara Falls Comic Con came and went by in a flash, a big thank you to everyone who came by the table and picked up some art or some prints, this weekend would be nothing without you guys. And to my Spent Pencils team as well, you guys made a good weekend incredible. Plenty of sketching, selling and drawing all weekend long, but luckily it wasn't all work, there was plenty of play as well. From late night gaming with Mario Kart Double Dash to actually going to see the Falls this year, we totally missed that last time, I can't complain. And to top it all off, we got an awesome bbq from fellow SP artist and family, Oliver. A big thank you to you man and your family for having all of us there. 

Want to give some shout outs to the people who came by and got a commission or one of my sketch covers (it's one of a kind and it's all yours now). I got to say it's a honour to meet you guys and to have that kind of love given back for me and my art, so a big thank you. To new followers and old followers alike, anything you need from me, you just ask away. Anything you want to see me draw, let me know. I wouldn't be here without you guys, so let the Storm know what he can create. 

And what would a show be without a few pictures. A few amazing cosplayers and memories with friends as well...

Ooooooooooooooooooh!!!

Bow down to the Elves! 

Saga! <3

Zombie commission!

I know a Predator. 

Times change...sometimes. :P

I will post the rest of my pictures on my Tumblr blog, which you can follow over here. I am really looking forward to doing this show next year, lots of love for Niagara, you guys are great! And remember to keep it locked here on Storm Watch for more news and updates and on the next show or event that I will be doing this Spring and Summer. Keep chasing the storm!

GTA Comic Con...

Hey guys, ChileanStorm here with a quick post to let y'all know what's going on this Saturday over at the GTA Comic Con. This is a first time show but it's a great chance to go do the comic convention thing with some breathing room, not to mention not a lot of shows going on during the Winter or Spring time, so it's a great chance to see all the artist and creators and stock up on back issues of She-Hulk and Beta Ray Bill. This weekends show will also be hosting a few of the talented artist from Spent Pencils as well, so bring your sketch covers and commissions, the boys and girls will be ready to blow your minds away. The team for this show will be...

• Briana Chan
• Nicholas Lukic
• Oliver Castaneda
• Rico Valdes
• Vince Sunico

So remember guys, the show starts at 10:00 AM, so be early. It will take place at Sheraton Airport Hotel & Conference Centre, 801 Dixon Road. So be sure to give these guys plenty of love and make this GTA Comic Con the first of many. We thank everyone who come out and support us all the time, we wouldn't be here without you guys.

Spent the love and keep chasing the storm! 

And Here We Go...

The weekend comes and the weekend goes. Welcome everyone, back from the first big show of the season at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre and feeling great and ready for a new year of excitement and adventure and all that good stuff in between. First and foremost a big thank you to everyone who came to the Artist Alley and stopped by at the Spent Pencils table, I appreciate every moment and everyone who stopped by and showed their support, it means the world to me. And a big thank you to all the artist as well who spent the weekend working away as well, a lot and I mean a lot of amazing and creative talents on display this weekend. From new art groups like Breaking Lead, Legion of Beards and From a Hat, this is the power of the GTA art community, glad to have you guys at the shows! And of course a thank you to all my crew and to my friends in the Artist Alley, I can't wait to keep evolving and growing with all of you.

I sold a lot of different prints this weekend and a few sketch covers, so I should let you guys know I sold both the Thunderbolts and the X-Men sketch covers. But I will be doing an X-Men/Adventure Time cross up prints, have those ready for the next shows as well. That being said, let me know what kind of prints you would like to see from me and I can have that done for you. Also got some more blank covers, so give me ideas on those as well. Aside from that I was giving out a few free sketches and some postcards as well, which I will be making more in the near future. And I was lucky enough to get a lot of cool swag this weekend as well, from Apocalypse 4 tee and print, original books and some prints as well. I will be reading a lot of these in the near future and I will let you know what I think, but I highly recommend that you all get Black Hole Hunters Club, Teuton, Omega Zone and Two Mistakes Two Many. Look these books up, these are all original books and you need to give these guys plenty of love and support. 

So I've got to get going now, plenty to clean up and I've got to work later on tonight. But again, thank you all for all the support and keep it coming, follow me on Twitter and Instagram under @ChileanStorm and be sure to follow this blog for all the updates and news and reviews that I can give you. Until then, keep chasing the storm. 

Also, check this blog and video out, a certain lil storm makes an appearance. 

The Storm is Coming...

It's almost here, the first weekend con of the year for me and my team in Spent Pencils. The time is this weekend and the place is the Metro Toronto Convention Centre for the Toronto Comic Con! To say I am not excited would be an understatement, I am really happy to get back to the tables and the shows, this is what I love to do. To be able to draw beside some of the greatest people in my life, to see fellow artist friends in the community, get to meet new fans and reconnect with the first ones, all of it, I can't wait. It's time for me to take what I've learned in the last months since Ottawa and put it to good use, to take my game to the next level. So with that said, if you are going this weekend, come down to Artist Alley and come see all of us in Spent Pencils! We got a big long table, so you can't miss it, we are going to be at A31.

As you can see by the nice bright yellow label, that will be Spent Pencils section! We have a lot of talent at this table this weekend and even guys who will have there own tables as well in the Artist Alley section, so be sure to check them out as well. I am going to try and post on my recommendations on who and what to see at the con this weekend, but if I don't get to post it in time, go see every artist who loves what they do and give them the praise that they all deserve. 

As for me, well I will have plenty of my crazy cartoons and characters available to you. I've got a big selection of original sketch covers with plenty of Adventure Time mash ups and even original pieces as well on blank copies of Swamp Thing and Batman. And I will have more copies of my prints available as well, in case you missed the chance last year to pick some up. Plenty more Loki Lemongrab and Pokemon as well. Also I will be doing quick sketches for free and taking on commissions as well if you are looking for something unique and just for you. As well as with the purchase of any sketch cover (which range from 20-60) I will throw in a free ChileanStorm print of your choice, for this weekend! So deals and steals for you, come on by and get yourself a piece of the storm. 

Thank you again guys for reading this, please tweet this or link it or any kind of way of getting the word out to everyone going to show this weekend. Looking forward to this and I am ready to show you what I am all about. Also guys, new content on YouTube coming out on the Maddsketch channel and on Toby's channel as well, so check it out. I will see you this weekend, keep chasing the storm. 

Beast is Always Hungry...

Mother nature, make up your mind sweetheart. I really don't mind clear skies or snow or even rain. Just next time, pick one for the day. Okay. Thanks.

That said, another event down and for the books. Today we were out in Brampton, drawing for fans of the Brampton Beast. Apparently this is the farm team of the farm team of the Tampa Bay Lighting. So you are 10 degrees separated from playing on the top line with Stamkos or St.Louis. That's pretty cool, when you think about it. But come hell or high snowy winds, we drove out to the Powerade Centre and set up for the night. I would like to thank Maddsketch, Vince and Nich for being good sports and getting into the hockey mood by rocking some of my hockey jerseys. I let Maddsketch rock my Alternative black Chicago Blackhawks jersey (one of my favourite designs of all time), Vince represent in the vintage San Jose Sharks jersey and Nich looked great in the old Buffalo Sabres jersey. Me, I had to rock the old blue and white Toronto Maple Leafs. Although that does remind me, I need to get the Winter Classics jersey soon. I mean we won the game, so we got some good memories with that one. I got to sit right next to the awesome duo behind one of the best independent books currently out there, Ricky Lima and Shane Heron, the talents that create the Black Hole Hunters Club. I can't stress this enough, get this book. Seriously. It's an excellent and incredible look piece of work, a lot of fun to read and with a big cast of crazy characters. I am going to write up a more in depth review later, but when you get a chance, get these books. And tell them, ChileanStorm sent you. But it was a good time for sure, a big thanks to Stadium Comics for having us and to the Brampton Beast. Spent Pencils, we will draw anywhere and any time. It's what we do.

Afterwards we decided to pay a visit to my little brother, Toby. Poor dude had to work today and he was really under the weather, so what better cure then blueberry tea, chips and some Blue Mountain State. This is a football based comedy about jocks from Spike, and let me be the first to say, it is awesome! It's on Netflix right now and you probably turned your nose at it in passing. But I can honestly say it's a lot of fun to watch, it's got the raunchy college comedy thing down. It accomplishes what so many movies and TV shows have tried to do in the past, but have fumbled on. Yes, it's portrayal of both men and women is really sexist and over the top, but you need to watch this with a light heart and mind. It's got some great series running gags, an awesome casts and one of the best openings I've seen in a while. Just makes you want to grab a cold beer and chug. But seriously, check this show out.

Well that was my day, it's been a long day. Be on the look out for the latest episode of Time Well Spent and the Twin Cast. Also we did a photo shoot last night, so I will share those with you guys on my page here and other social media pages like Tumblr and Instagram. Going to be taking part in the day long Comic Book Jam challenge, it's going to be a good test to see if I can get something done in that time frame. I can't wait. Also, I have been tested with the challenge of realism and portraits. So will see how that goes, but I got to give it a try after all. Thank you again guys, be sure to comment and subscribe to the page and be sure to let you friends know all about me and the entire Spent Pencils crew. Keep chasing the storm.

Links:
Maddsketch YouTube channel
Tea Em YouTube channel
Spent Pencils
Spent Pencils Facebook Page
Stadium Comics

Not Down with the Sickness...

Hey Storm Clouds, ChileanStorm here (or Papa Storm, I guess) with a quick update. Long story short though, this past week has had me trained out completely. I am pretty sure I caught some sort of sickness, everyone at work has been ill and a few of my fellow Pencilnecks as well, needless to say I have been out of it for a while now. But nothing a few extra hours of sleep, honey and plenty of Refresh mint tea can't fix. I am actually feeling a lot better today, which is good cause I got to go shoot the latest episode of Time Well Spent. Again guys, three new episodes are already up, so please give them a view or two and spread the word. I am going to be recording another episode of Twin Cast with Toby tonight, episode 4 is just waiting to be uploaded but it should be soon. So you will have plenty of Storm n Tea to watch and hear this weekend. And also be sure to subscribe to both channels as well, plenty of cool content to be seen. 

Also I am doing a late post on a blog I wrote up last week on our trip out in Brampton, for the Brampton Beast night, I have the link here, so give it a read as well. Plenty of good times with the crew and with friends from Stadium Comics. As well this past weekend I took part in the twelve hour comic book challenge! It was a great chance to stretch my creative muscles and see what I can do within that time frame. I worked on a little idea I had, one that came up during a night out with friends from my old work place. It's a pretty dark take on the day to day routine of a part time worker, I don't want to give away much more, but know that I will be posting it up here on Storm Watch and as well on the upcoming SP web comic page that is set to release soon. With short stories by Maddsketch and Toby as well, be sure to keep an eye out for those as well. 

And we are just about a week away from the first big convention of the season, the March Comic Con at Metro Toronto Convention Centre. I am getting hyped up and ready for this show, going to have more prints of the Avengers Time and Loki Lemongrab as well as original sketch covers. I am also going to be having free sketch deals and sketch card give aways, so be sure to come by and spread the word. Also I am always available for commissions, so if you are looking for something cool and unique, drop me an email or a comment below here. Ready to unleash the storm and let the world know what I am all about.

Again thank you for your time guys, please be sure to comment below and spread the word out on ChileanStorm. I will be back later, until then keep chasing the storm.

Also Canada gets gold! Sweet!

Winter blues...

"The cold never bothered me anyway."

A quote, said by no one...wait...what? Elsa? Frozen? What's that? An amazing incredible animated movie you say. Well let's take a look. 

...

Okay so let's go with, "wearing Iron Boots and layers upon layers of clothes is my idea of a good time". Pretty sure no one has said that...yet. And if that's you who is saying that, check your temperature. Seriously the winter can be fun and all, every now and then, in moderation mind you. But I am kind of over freezing my butt off at the bus station late at night waiting for one the buses to take me home. Call me weak if you will, I shall call you a Yeti. Or a Woompa. Whatever you like, you insane creature of the ice age. But I can really do without all of this, this cold and snow business. It's the kind of weather that makes me want to hibernate for the season, lord knows I've got enough games alone to keep me busy for atleast half a lifetime, if not more. And drawing and creating, well that's a no brainier for me. Comics, movies and music; I would be set. But alas, I am not a bear. Lucky bears. No, I've got grab my huge clunkers known as boots and zip up to go to work or to go out and see my friends and family. 

But snow and all, the show must go on. 

As it did this past Saturday at Comic Book Lounge. A good time was had by all of us from Spent Pencils, and it was great to catch up and chat with the other artist from the GTA, an amazing and talented bunch; Mike Rooth, Christoper Yao, Jason Loo, Sean Ward and The Joker Guy. It's an awesome feeling to be able to work in this world with you guys, we inspire one and other to keep pushing out the best and most unique kind of work in the country. Always a pleasure to get to see you gentlemen and catch up. And of course a big thank you to Kevin Boyd and all the staff at CBL for being amazing host. It's always a great time to go down to College street and see all the fantastic original comic book art on the wall, and the great collection of independent comics from all across the city. If you are ever in the area or looking for a new comic book store experience, give these a look for sure. 

That's all the time I've got for now, but I will be back later on today to let you know on two upcoming events this week and possibly drop a comic book review as well, going to be shooting a new episode of Time Well Spent and be recording a new podcast episode for the Twin Cast. If you still have yet to see these, I will place the links below, so please watch and subscribe, likes and comments are awesome as well. Thank you guys for your time, I will be back soon. Keep chasing the storm.

Links:

Maddsketch YouTube Channel

Tea Medeiros YouTube Channel

Spent Pencils Page

SP Facebook Page

...and Cena Swing.

How do I Post...

Hey y'all ChileanStorm here, back like a bat out of hell.

It's been awhile hasn't, not going to lie, I have been all over the place and well, I still am truthfully. These days I have been pretty organized with a lot of things in my life, so it's a little all over the place. I feel like my room or my apartment is a good indication of that; I got a mountain of laundry to do (but no change for the coins, go figure), coffee and beer in the fridge, a lot of books scattered all over the place. I need to get my stuff together, especially considering what's coming up this year, the tons of events that are happening with Spent Pencils and I am trying to change my current living conditions to be with a new room mate. And I've got a lot of debts that I need to clear as well, the money I am making is just enough, but I owe people some funds and that has got to be taken care of as soon as possible. But events and shows are starting, March Comic Con is going to be the first big comic book show of the season, a great way for all us artist to get our work out there and shown. I am really looking forward to it, a big cast of SP members will be on hand to represent, and from there we get the ball moving.

So what do I need to do?

Well plenty, but there's also what you can do as well. Now that I've got a computer here at home, and in my room, I am going to be going on Storm Watch on a daily, maybe twice maybe three times a day here and posting and updating y'all with the news in the Storm life. So let's get to it! I don't want to bore y'all with what I've been up to in the months, but needless to say without any shows or conventions in the winter, things have been pretty dead. That said, we learn how to coup and how to stay busy. I've got plenty of work to do on Glass Prison still, not sure when I am going to be able to give a window on that release. But I've got plenty of sketch covers that I've worked on in the mean time, which you can totally check out on my Instagram account, I try to update that as much as possible, so please go check it out and tell your friends. I am going to try and update my DeviantArt account as well, and try and post my work on here as well. What you guys, readers and followers can do for me, is spread the word of my work to everyone and all, and also please let me know if you are interested in ordering any of my work, prints or original sketch covers. Going to be setting up my shop soon, and I am ready to work and bust out some amazing work just for you guys.

Also thinking of making some cool and original free gifts for followers as well, something we can unite under, so you can represent for the ChileanStorm, cooking up ideas, but when they are ready I will let you guys know. And also a heads up for any fans of the YouTube game, over on the Maddsketch channel we are busting out a lot of new content, including the return of Time Well Spent, with my co-host twin, Toby Medeiros. And we also got a new podcast going on as well on his channel that you can check out, called the Twin Cast. I will be posting up links to these in the next blogs so they can get more direct attention, but please give them a watch and a listen, and let others know about our fantastic silly work.

Going to wrap this one up now, but not before I let you know that we will be on hand at the Comic Book Lounge this Saturday, to celebrate with friends and fans alike, we will be drawing and taking commissions all day, so if you are eager to get to see us and get some awesome artwork from us, don't hesitate to come on by. For more information, click the link right here and check the web page. Hope to see you guys this Saturday! 

Thank you everyone for sticking around with me and sorry again about the delay, will do my best to stay on top of this. Remember to follow me and Spent Pencils on all different media, like Twitter and Instagram, by following @ChileanStorm or by leaving a comment below here on Storm Watch. Always love to hear back from you, my Storm Clouds, so let me know what you want from me and I will see what I can do to deliver. Keep chasing the storm.

Ottawa gets Popped...

It was a cold weekend in Ottawa but luckily it was a warm welcome at the Ottawa Pop Expo this past weekend. A big thank you first of all to everyone who came to the show and stopped by our +Spent Pencils table and everyone at the artist alley. We do the traveling, the drawing and all of it for you, so a big thank you again to all of you. The trip was a blast though, when you are in good company you can go anywhere really, and the drive up was a blast with a stops along the way and even belting out "Wrecking Ball" as we drove, it's a damn catchy tune. We got in to town in the afternoon and decided to crash, apparently artist don't get much sleep, apparently this a thing. But as we watched the World Cup line ups and ordered in some pizza, we got to sketch and work on our different projects. It was also a great opportunity to work with some new pencil necks Nicholas Lukic and Herbert Kwan, not to mention working with my big brothers Joe Osei Bonsu, Maddsketch and Vince Sunico. I think all of us had a hard time getting to sleep out of excitement, but we passed out one by one. After a quick breakfast we made our way down to the Ernst & Young Centre and got unpacked, ready to see what the days ahead had in store. 

What I gathered from this weekend is everyone loves Loki. Even if he is a Lemongrab. I didn't think my print would do so well, but you guys love that Lemongrab Loki, and lots of love for my Pokemon and Adventure Time prints as well, so once again thank you guys! And I got a great response from the X-Men and Adventure Time cover I did, so you can bet you will be seeing a print coming very soon. And be sure to drop me any and all suggestions here or on my Tumblr, Twitter or even on Instagram. I want to do more with all of you here, a back and forth if you will. After all you can't have a storm without any clouds. 


 
But this weekend was a blast as you can tell from the pictures here, I got a chance to get to meet a lot of new faces, work on a few commissions as well and got to pick up a few gifts for friends as well. And every show and every convention gives me more and more experience and I love doing this with my Spent family. So a big thanks for all the support and love this year, 2013 has been a blast! I got to get going but again, keep posted here for all updates, I will see you soon. Keep chasing the storm. 

Water, Wind & Spent...

This past Friday night on the cold night in downtown Toronto, it was a warm and amazing experience with friends, family and everyone in the artist community who came out to support the Spent Pencils organized fundraiser Water & Wind for the Philippines relief funds. What you missed if you didn't get a chance to go was amazing auctioned art from many of SP family and other big names in the artist community, as well as amazing food and drinks, and an awesome after party as well. Granted I may have woken up a little heavy headed and with a lighter wallet, but it was totally worth it. And seeing everyone come together and bring some amazing work for charity is an awesome experience, a big thank you to all the artist who took the time and made some amazing art for charity. A lot of these are posted online, so be sure to check them out and I will be posting links to the pages of all the artist who took place in the show as well. If you see anything you like, be sure to contact your favorite artist and let them know. 

Here a few pictures from the evening as well, if you want to see more be sure to check out the Spent Pencils Facebook page, right here, a lot of our event pictures will be posted here, so be sure to check back often and share your Spent memories as well.

The years end is just around the corner but SP is not slowing down, with Ottawa Pop Expo next weekend and the Sketches for Pledges auction coming up, we still got plenty to do before we put this year to rest. And you can count on us to keep the momentum rolling into 2014, not slowing down anytime soon. Before I sign off, a big thanks to Kevin Briones for making this event happen in the first place, an amazing job for a great cause. You did an amazing job Cap'n Go! Also a big thank you to Celena "Pepper Pots" Ho for being amazing as always with helping us set up! And remember to check out all these amazing artist who took the time to donate and help out, they deserve the attention... 

• Mike Del Mundo
• Francis Manapul
• Pearce Cacalda
• Maddsketch 
• Vince Sunico 
• Paul Limgenco 
• Marvin Mariano 
• Kevin Briones 
• Gerard De La Costa 
• Oliver Castaneda 
• Arnold Trinidad
• Heroes of the World 

This just in as well...

"We would like to extend our gratitude for the artists who contributed their talent, time and effort to Wind & Water: Artist Fundraiser for Haiyan Relief on Friday.

Our combined efforts allowed us to exceed our $3500 fundraising goal including the government match!"

Amazing, thank you to everyone who gave a little to make a bigger difference. Keep tuned here on Storm Watch for more Spent Pencils and ChileanStorm related posts and what not. Keep chasing the storm!

Deadpools for Everyone

So I kind of haven't posted anything comic or art or comic art related for a while now, I was beginning to worry that I would be getting side tracked. I mean complaining and bitching is fine every now and then, especially on a blog, it's practically why they are made in the first place, right? Anyways, a lot of art work to be done in the next few days, we got a few events to be leading to and a convention next month, not to mention that Spent Pencils has got some big projects in store for the new year and I got to get my ass in gear and pump out some amazing work. And yeah, we are rolling up a lot of work and shows in the next months as well, so I got organize myself and keep all of you in the loop and updated. Also I want to connect more with all of you around the world, be it in the States or in Europe, I want to send out some cool art giveaways and maybe prints, and you guys spread the word of ChileanStorm and Spent Pencils. One of these possible giveaways could a postcard, maybe a Deadpool postcard, like this one...

Bam! Wam! Thank you mam! 

So I am going to have this at the Ottawa Pop Expo on December 7th and 8th, these will be postcard sized so it's perfect to mail out to any and all Deadpool friends during the holiday season. They will be on sale for $2 a card, and I've also got some New 52 style Joker and Scarecrow cards as well. And of course a few originals for sale that go for about $10, not a lot for some original art. Also going to try and bust out some more prints and postcards for the show. So anyone going to the show in December, let me know what you would like to see and I can do it up for you. Got a cool idea for a sketch cover, let me know and I can have it ready for you. Drop a comment or shoot me an email, I look forward to meeting and chatting with the lots of you. 

So remember guys, December 7th and 8th at the Ottawa Pop Expo! Be there and tell your friends! Until then keep chasing the storm! 

And also, Rob Ford...ugh.

Drop the Hammer

This past Saturday the Spent Pencils crew made an appearance at the first time show in Hamilton, Hammer Con. A super early morning drive for all of us was pretty rough, but what do you expect when you stay up late finishing up sketch covers. Me and Tea stayed up pretty late watching musicals and Torchwood while we worked away on sketch covers, it was an awesome night for sure and totally worth staying up. And seriously, I need more Torchwood in my life, it's amazing in so many ways. So little sleep and all, we came and set up, not really knowing what to expect from this one day show, but regardless of the circumstances we are always reading to work and show the world what we got.

The Spent Pencils crew was ready for a day of sketching with a great crew of artist; Daniel Wong, Gerard de la Costa, Paul Limgenco, Oliver Castañeda, Joe Bonsu, Nicholas R.Lukic, Rico Valdes, Marvin Mariano, Hugh Rockwood, Vince Sunico, Tea Medeiros and myself, ChileanStorm. The crowds came in early to see the show, meet the celebrity guest and check out the collection of different talent in the artist alley. The Hamilton crowd was really happy to get prints and sketches from all of us at the show, I even ended up selling out on a few of my more popular prints like Pokemon and Adventure Time prints. I did a commission piece as well which was a lot of fun, got to flex my cartoon muscle a little, it was a blast to do both of these.

But a big thank you to all the staff at the show, to everyone who came by our table, I am so grateful to all who came by and got some prints, it's awesome to see the smiles on people through our art. I hope the show did well enough for a weekend expansion next year, looking forward to coming back to Hamilton. The next Spent Pencils shows and events will be New York Comic Con and Pulp Comics anniversary show out in Niagara. Be sure to like us on Facebook to keep track of all our shows and get a chance to see the amazing art from all the artist in Spent Pencils. I will be updating plenty here on my blog and on YouTube, so be to follow all the different sources. That's all the time I got for now, keep chasing the storm.

Spent Does AVRO

This past Saturday, the city of Mississauga held the Doors Open event, in which many of the well known locations and landmarks in the Mississauga area had there doors open to the public. One of these spots was the International Centre out on Airport Road and was also the homecoming for one the greatest inventions in Canadian history, the AVRO Arrow. This fighter jet was way ahead of its time in its creation and was unfortunately shut down before they could ever take flight, yet remains a symbol of Canadian ingenuity and craftsmanship. To celebrate the return of the AVRO Arrow and to help educate the youth of today of this amazing piece of history, the Spent Pencils crew came together to create an amazing and fantastic comic book, The Legend of the AVRO Arrow.

With an amazing collection of artist in Spent Pencils, the best three came together to make this project a reality. With the art handled by Daniel Wong, the writing and the colour handled by Maddsketch and an incredible cover by the great Vince Sunico, SP brought out the best of the best. The book is handled with great care, with an amazing eye on the details from various location in Mississauga, the fighter jet and even the mayor is recreated perfectly in this book. The story follows two kids who are working on a school project and find out everything on the AVRO Arrow and find out the history and the mystery on the jet. You even get to see a small project on the last page as well, which is a great way to sum up all the information for the younger readers.

The event kicked off bright and early on Saturday, with many in attendance to welcome home the AVRO Arrow. After the opening ceremony and words from the mayor and other officials who helped bring the Doors Open event together. The Spent crew was on hand all day and went through 500 copies of the book, for everyone who came by to get a copy of the book, to the very young to the elderly as well, many who had work history on the jet as well. It was great seeing all the different reactions to the book, a lot of great feedback. We may have needed more books though, but that's why it's always good to come early to these kind of events. Truly proud to see this project come to life and seeing these artist get the attention from the city that all artist deserve. It's awesome to see the Spent Pencils family grow and expand into different communities and different mediums. 

If you missed the event but would like a copy of the book, check out Image Collection Comics, as well as Gotham Central Comics may have a few copies as well, not to sure. And also keep tuned for October, because we got a very busy schedule ahead of us this month, from Hamilton to New York city and back, we are going to be spent, but honestly, I wouldn't want it any other way. Keep chasing the storm.  

Tripping Montreal

What a weekend, I don't know where exactly to start this blog off. I guess I personally would like to thank everyone who came to the Spent Pencils table at the Artist Alley at the Montreal Comic Con 2013, to everyone who came to get a print, a drawing or a commission, thank you very much for all the support you give us, we really appreciate it. Another personal thank you to everyone who came to my side of the table, you guys really loved the Avengers Time and Loki Lemongrab prints. I got a lot more of these kind of ideas coming in the near future, so stay tuned and see what will be coming next. And also by all means, feel free to drop a suggestion here or on Twitter, I want to hear more from all of you. I got a chance to meet a lot of new people this weekend, I want to give a special thanks to Vanessa, I was honored to draw your Drogo commission and I am totally stoked you got it signed by Jason Momoa. Truly honored, thank you so much. And I would also like to thank and give mad props to a lot of the amazing cosplayers out this weekend in Montreal, tons and tons of amazing looking costumes to be seen this weekend. But I have to give major props and high fives to these Cosplay pairs; the first one being the Science Bros, I have a huge crush for this pairing, and you guys really represented for Tony and Bruce. And also mad props to the Ariel and Prince Eric cosplayers, you brought The Little Mermaid to life and that means a lot to me, as that is my absolute favourite Disney movie of all time. And a big thanks to everyone who took part in the Alvaro and Paul Con Pictures, be sure to check back on the SP Facebook page for the updated pictures from Montreal.

We also got a chance to go out on Friday and Saturday night to take in the city, culture and food from Montreal. And I must say, it's quite a beautiful city, plenty of unique looking buildings with an night life atmosphere that fuels the city. On Friday night we also got to do a little dinner birthday celebration for Tea, plenty of food and an awesome cake dessert. Glad we could all celebrate with you lil bro. It was also great to finally try the world famous Schwartz sandwiches, and my God, you really do need to try these sandwiches! An understatement if I said this was the best sandwich I've ever had, this is the best sandwich in the world. Prove me wrong, but as it stands Schwartz is number one. A must go to stop for anyone visiting Montreal. And on Saturday night, me and Tea went to explore the night life and get lost in the city. It's a bit confusing at first, but it is definitely a site to see, from the lakeside to the old town, Montreal looks fantastic. But be very careful when crossing the streets, the drivers are pretty harsh to say the least. But all things considered, I was very impressed by Montreal.

  I also want to take this time a give a few shout outs to all my friends in the Artist Alley community, everyone keeps pumping out incredible work every time a new show rolls around and you definitely inspire me to keep working and working the days away. So a shout out to the talented Mike Rooth, Lamin Martin, Christopher Yao, Next Genesis Comics and everyone in the Artist Alley.  A big thanks to Nicole Chartrand for coming by the SP table and saying hi to Tea, it was really awesome of you to stop by and I was glad to share with you a Lemongrab Loki print. Thanks a lot and be sure to check out her web comic here, Fey Winds. Also a big thanks to the Two Best Friends Play guys, I love the shows on YouTube and it was super cool to get a chance to talk with you guys at the show, love the shows and if you haven't seen them, be sure to subscribe to the funniest video game channel on YouTube. And last but not least, a big thank you to the greatest family in the world, Spent Pencils! To Hugh, Marvin, Paul, Gerard, Arnold, Daniel, Oliver, Kevin, Maddsketch, Tea and Vince. There's no one I would rather spend my time with, and it's always on honored to work with the family. Thank you all.

I had an amazing time this weekend, and honestly I can't wait to come back. I am looking forward to the return, thanks again Montreal! 

 Keep chasing the storm.

The Best Two...

It's kind of cool how somethings work out in life. I always felt a little out of place growing up in schools or, well most social places. It's not that I couldn't talk to people or anything, that was always easy for me, meeting new people and making friends, not a problem, I am piratically a modern day hippie. Except you know, I shower and stuff. My thing was trying to find that one friend, that one person who really gets you. And I mean like seriously gets you, they understand the way you watch an anime series with the attention of a modern day peace rally speech or why you would decided to find every single issue with your favourite super villain in it. They get you. To most people you would be considered strange, odd, different, etc. But that's just the way you are, and they accept all of you for it. And sometimes you get lucky and find two amazing people who get it, and they happen to have back to birthdays. So this here is my tribute to them, Dave Edwards and Tea Medeiros! We may have been brought together by art, but it's all the crazy little things that made us really connect; Tea is practically my twin, it's actually kind of weird but with more sass and class. Dave is the kind of friend I wish I grew up with when I was a kid, he loves fighting games and anime and wrestling as much if not even more then I do. But the best part of having Dave and Tea in my life, is being able to work with them in Spent Pencils and grow together, learning and improving on different art techniques and watching one and other grow. We got a long road ahead of us for sure, but it's going to be one hell of a journey that we will share together. In the group of SP, I guess you could say we are the Young Spentvengers! 

We totally need to finish the rest of the team though...that would be awesome! 

But yeah, I wanted to wish the happiest and greatest birthday to both you guys! So much love for both of you, for being some of the best friends, hell best brothers that I guy like me could ask for. I can't wait to grow and evolve with you two and the rest of SP family. 

So if you have anyone special in your life, let them know. And love them with all your heart. Sounds mushy? Sure, but how many times will you find a friend like these. I am lucky enough to find these two. 

The Storm at the Expo...

A whole year has passed. It's crazy but when I wanted to start plugging this blog more and more, it was this time last year, after paying for my Fan Expo table and trying to imagine, me at the biggest show of the year here in Toronto, Canada, simply trying to make a name for myself. I couldn't even imagine it at all, I was scared and nervous, but I was also too hyped and giddy to let that show. And honestly, it's crazy to think back and realize that it just came and went, and I honestly couldn't be happier. But really I think back as well and I can't wait for next year as well, I can't wait for the next shows and all the different events that are coming up in the near future. So how exactly did my weekend go? With four days and three nights to cover, I will do my best to keep this as short as possible, but I can't make any promises, so grab a coffee...this may take awhile.

Day 1:

Set up day, man I was so happy to be there. Artist Alley, you know the guy who was jumping up and down, doing the Daniel Bryan "Yes Yes Yes" chant...yeah, that was me. I was so happy though, I couldn't believe it, me at Fan Expo. And seeing all my fellow Spent Pencils members, not to mention the new additions to the crew, the talented comic book artists and writer friends as well, not to mention everyone who was setting up, it was hard not to be excited. When the show started I decided to do a free warm up sketch, got to get working as soon as possible. It's a good way to get to meet new people as well, and I really do want to interact with as many people at these shows as possible. And before the night was up, I got my first commission of the show as well. 

After the show we decided to go out for dinner, which you know we did every single night, crazy but true. Afterwards a few us shared a few rounds of rum and drinks, which apparently I can't hold too well. Thanks Tea and Carly for letting me crash in the room.

Day 2:

Like any good day, I started this one by crashing to the ground. That will wake you up. Anyways, I had quite a few errands to run all over town, so I didn't get to the show until later in the afternoon. However, I did get to go and pick up the prints that I had ordered from Guerrilla Printing, and a big thanks to those guys on the amazing work as well. So as soon as I got to the show I set up all my prints in the my book and had them ready for everyone to take a look. I did pretty well during the day as well, sold a few of the Pokemon prints and got more commission homework to take home and work on.

But I didn't go home, after the show we went to get some dinner and afterwards it was on towards the Revival club for the Rue Morgue after show party with The Birthday Massacre! Man that show was awesome, I started watching the show at the back enjoying a few drinks, by the end of the night I was right at the very front. An amazing show, love the energy and the feedback with the crowd. I would love to go see them again and you should too, check out there work at this link, here: The Birthday Massacre.

Day 3:

Not much sleep was had, I was up and early to get ready for the biggest day of the weekend. I had to add some finishing touches to one of my commissions, an Adventure Time sketch cover with Marceline beating the crap out of Lemongrab. I loved how it turned out and it was a blast to work on as well, check it out as well and see what you think. After finishing one it's onto the next project, all the while selling a lot of my Pokemon prints and helping out to sell a lot of cap'n Sunico's prints, and any chance I get to help out anyone in my Spent family, I will do so! A lot of friends, old and new came by the table as well and it was great to feel all the love from everyone who has been with me along the way, thank you so much guys! And also a few of the band members from The Birthday Massacre came by our table, which was amazing! I had to hook them up with a few prints, totally blown away on how totally cool they were! Seriously, check these guys out!

The night we went out to Denny's for our traditional Spent Pencil eating joint, with a few of the new members as well! I was starving, I had three orders of food including a couple of pancakes, a burger and a wrap. Let me tell you, no sleep is better then deep sleep. Needless to say I passed out as soon as I got to cap'n Go's place, still ready for one more day.

Day 4: 

At last, the final day of the show, really bitter sweet kind of feeling for sure. I mean it's great to get back to a normal sleep pattern, but I had a blast all four of these days and could keep going on and on. But all things must come to an end at some point. I had all my commissions finished and picked up on this day and surprisingly as well I was able to sell a few of my blank covers that I've done, including a last minute purchase as well, which is always an awesome feeling.  But it was great show and a great experience, I had a blast spending my weekend with the people I care most about in this world, there's nothing I wouldn't do for anyone from the Spent Pencils family. 

And of course any day wouldn't be complete without Denny's.

But I just wanted to say a really big, huge thank you to everyone who came by the Spent Pencils table, we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you and all the support we get along the way, so thank you for the support and be sure to spread the word, tell friends and family and everyone you can, so we can make this Spent world bigger and bigger. And how it has grown, I am looking forward to meeting and working with all of the new pencils that have been added to the family, welcome guys to the crew and if there's anything I can do for any of you guys and girls, let me know. 

It's a brave and exciting world, and you know what...I can't wait for what comes next. Are you ready? 

Some YouTube Storm Vlog as well...