Comic-Con 2005 - Marshall Vandruff

Of the three years I have been to Comic-Con, this was the first year I made an effort to aggressively attend the show's craft and information panels, for to educate my self, and I was not disappointed. I jotted notes throughout, flashing back to School Days, and have now a substantial reservoir of good information on a variety of subjects that I mean to return to again and again and again until the pages are yellowed from my sweat-soaked hands and the ink there blurred from my tears of frustration and despair. Yes, as entertaining as the star-driven, blockbuster preview panels are, I will concentrate on attending these smaller fact-filled discussions at future conventions and conferences whether they be Comic-Con or else other ones that are not Comic-Con.

On last Saturday afternoon, illustrator Marshall Vandruff's promo chat of his new published sketchbook, "Forsaking The Bakery", turned out to be a full-on seminar, based on Marshall's personal experience, of how and why to keep a sketchbook, with practical examples of how his work evolved through using his own sketchbook. You hear over and over again that if you want to improve your drawing you must practice, practice, practice--but it's good to get tips, based on another artist's experience, on exactly what to practice, and how. Marshall Vandruff teaches in the Southern California area and I intend to seek out his workshops. At the beginning of August he will be conducting an "Animal Drawing Crash Course" that I badly need. Marshall's sketchbook presentation show-cased his skill as an artist, but also revealed him to be a superior teacher.

And so, in conclusion, I would like to restate that I enjoyed Comic-Con 2005 a log...I meant to write "a lot" there, but I feel that "a log" describes how much I enjoyed Comic-Con 2005 even better. So yes, yes, I enjoyed Comic-Con 2005 a log. And, I suspect, if you yourself attend the Con next year, you too may find that you too enjoy it a log. Perhaps even quite a log. Perhaps a whole great big log.