So first of all, wow; I had no idea this convention was so huge. The place was literally packed both days I was there, and it wasn't easy carrying around a big portfolio in front of me the entire time,
lol.
Also nerds, I was surpassed; which surprised me.
Well I drove the entire night to get there, from 11:30pm ish to about 9am EST when I arrived. Got inside, had to fumble my way around half dead from exhaustion and having no idea where I was going to find the place where you got your badge, which was thankfully on the absolute other side of the convention center from where I parked
Once I had my badge, I got to sit outside of the exhibition hall doors for about an hour, eating only a tiny little muffin (and wow are the convention food prices gouge-y).
Finally the time was at hand! I went in and managed to find the
FFG booth right away, met Mike Linneman (an
FFG art director) who pointed me in the direction of the
FFG AD who was doing portfolio reviews. After wandering for about 15 minutes trying to figure out where he meant for me to go, I finally found the
FFG AD hiding in tiny review booths at the back.
FFG portfolio review went great, looks like I'll be working in
40k, tech... and something else that she said that I can't remember. But the main thing was
40k, SO AWESOME! Also got some nice direction on things I should focus on in the future, which is always wonderful to get.
After that it was off to hunt down more ADs.
Catalyst was next, and they make Shadowrun and Battletech. I tracked down their
AD, whom I'd talked to before, and it looks like that is also a go to work on. So, that's pretty amazing, as I'm actually a big Mechwarrior fan, so drawing Mechs would be great! Also, I used to play Shadowrun forever ago; and their art is stellar.
After that I bounced over to the Warmachine/Hordes/Privateer Press area and quickly met up with their creative director, who is an awesome guy.
PP has a lot of AMAZING artists, and I actually have some work to do to be on their level; but I might get to do some equipment for the upcoming
RPG they are doing(guns, swords, armor, etc), which is fine by me. Maybe next year I can be doing some of their main-line illustrations in their books.
After that things for the first day are a little fuzzy, as I was probably almost sleep walking and my back was destroying my will to live. I pushed through onto the
DP9 booth, and while the
AD wasn't there, I did get to talk to the
DP9 president for a while. An interesting conversation, but I'll skip ahead to Sunday when I actually talked to their
AD, who really loved everything I had. So looks like I'll be drawing Gears soon! I used to play the computer game forever ago, and I'm sure I'd like the skirmish tabletop battle as well.
After that I got over to Paizo at the time where their ADs were reviewing portfolios. I talked with another couple artists in line, and one of them had Spehss Marinezz in his portfolio as well! He had already done some work for
FFG, and he really loved my art, so that was awesome. Sitting down with the Paizo
AD was great, she seemed to love everything, especially the fact that I had illustrations, concept art, and environmental art; I knew that was a good idea
We talked some shop about half-page illustrations/time it'd take me to do them; and after that I got a test-postcard for some art she wanted me to do. She could tell I love awesome armor, so she suggested I draw Seelah, which is a Pathfinder Paladin... so I did!
http://galefire.com/2012/08/paizo-iconic-character-seelah/ So I imagine some Pathfinder/Paizo art is in the future
I'm having a hard time remember exactly who I talked to on the first and second day, so I'll just mix them together. Needless to say somewhere in here I went to my hotel and basically collapsed for the entire night before going back early the next morning.
I found Wyrd games for Malifaux; their creative director was an awesome guy, and looks like they'd definitely be into me doing some of their art for them. Will have to check out some of the Malifaux stuff at my
FLGS for sure.
Cool mini or not was there, and they have something like 4 different lines/game systems with all their own miniatures; which all look like awesome monsters (and I love drawing monsters). I talked with their
AD of few words, and was instructed to get in touch with him and we will do some work; so that was great. One of the guys working the booth took a few business cards and asked me if I did commissions because he has some Dark Heresy art he wants done; so I told him of course and he would get in touch with me.
I sat down with creative director/
AD for Infinity, and while my work doesn't really match up with theirs, he gave me a lot of great pointers, and basically walked me through their entire concept portfolio for all of their minis, pure awesome. He said I have a great future ahead of me, and all in his lustrous French accent.
So those were the big ones, I also met with several ADs from smaller studios or groups doing online/tablet card games/character builders. --
Paradigm concepts, met the president and
AD; will be doing monsters and more for them.
Mage Wars, board game with badass art and custom decks of spells (all with art on them!), talked to their Creative Director, will probably be doing work for them as well.
Plaid hat games had tablet and card/board games there; while the guy running the booth was a little distracted, I think I impressed him with my portfolio. So we'll see about that one.
Lone Wolf
Dev, who were showcasing their character creator and dungeon builder, got to talk to their
VP of biz, who really seemed to like my stuff. Might get to do equipment for them, maybe environments.
Inkarnate, which is another character builder/world builder; they have a pretty stellar artist already, but he might need help with the multitudes of equipment/portrait drawings for everything you can give characters.
Triple-ace games, which apparently do a lot of fantasy
RPG stuff; the guy at the booth told me to get in touch with them; so maybe will do some stuff for their game books soon.
Moon design publications,
rpg books; Cubicle Seven, book covers.
So yea, that's about it. It was a crazy two days. I can't wait to go back next year!
TLDR I met a lot of ADs, and got a lot of potential work; my foot is firmly in the door of the tabletop/
rpg/boardgame/cardgame art industry.
