Recent personal art from my drawing board. I’m currently working on three separate publishing projects as well as client work, so squeezing in a few minutes to draw for myself has become both more difficult and more important!
2016 won’t be a big touring year for me, as I’ll be spending most of it with my nose to the grindstone – that is, the drafting table – working hard on my forthcoming middle grade graphic novel, Queen of the Sea. But you can still catch me in person at a few select events!
Emerald City Comicon, April 7-11, Seattle WA. Tickets still available for Thursday.
Floor Location: Booth 1214 (Periscope Studio)
I’ll be selling books, art, stickers, and original art, as well as taking commissions, all four days. Buy a book and get a free sketch inside! I’ll have my convention-exclusive 2016 sketchbook for sale, as well as a sneak preview copy of Family Man Volume 2.
I’ll also be appearing on the following panels:
Behind the Panels: Daily Life in America’s Biggest Comics Studio
Apr 08, 2016, 5:15 PM – 6:15 PM, T305
Two dozen cartoonists. Thousands of pages of comics. One office suite! Find out how the members of the Northwest’s own Periscope Studio produce some of your favorite, award-winning work – from Marvel titles to all-ages webcomics – all while sharing the same fridge. Members will share exclusive behind-the-scenes photos, stories, and free audience giveaways! Moderated by Dylan Meconis (Family Man, Bite Me!), featuring Steve Lieber (Superior Foes of Spider-Man), Jeff Parker (Meteor Men, Justice League United), Leila del Duca (Shutter), Erika Moen (OJST), and Cat Farris (Emily the Strange).
Legally Yours: A Creator’s Guide to Working Within (and Around) the Law
Apr 10, 2016, 10:45 AM – 11:45 AM, W3A
Join cartoonist Dylan Meconis (Family Man, Bite Me!) and attorney Katie Lane (WorkMadeForHire.net) as they tackle the ins, outs, and arounds of working as an independent creator without losing your shirt. They’ll show you how to handle quirky contracts, unpaid invoices, and demanding clients like a pro. Perfect for anyone interested in a creative career.
Alaska Robotics Mini-Con and Artist Camp, April 22-26, Juneau AK. Tickets online soon, or at door!
Floor Location: I’ll be pretty easy to find!
I’ll be in beautiful Juneau, Alaska for just the second time ever, for this first-time ever convention! Organized by local creative dynamos and retailers extraordinaire, Pat Race and Aaron Suring, this show has an insanely great guest list the likes of which has never before been seen North of the 49th parallel!
I’ll also be making some limited classroom/library appearances, then I’ll be joining the rest of the show’s special guests for a limited-space Artist Camp, where attendees will be treated to some exclusive workshops and master classes.
Linework NW, May 21, Portland OR. Free admission.
Floor Location: TBA
I’ll be appearing on Saturday of this fabulous indie convention – then on Sunday I’ll be an attendee, as they swap out their entire exhibitor floor! Organized by local retailers and creators, Linework packs a huge diversity of creators from all over the country into Portland’s own Norse Hall. You can expect food trucks outside, an excellent soundtrack inside, and more art, zines, minicomics, and graphic novels than you can shake a stick at. (Or put a bird on.)
One of my favorite ongoing gigs in the world is providing artwork for the business classes given by my wife, Katie Lane.
Katie is an attorney who specializes in representing independent creators, and she also devotes a sizable chunk of her time to education – introducing current and future creative professionals to useful tools for tackling the uncreative side of the industry.
If you’re going to be talking to artists, you’d better have a compelling presentation! We’re storytellers by nature – you can’t just unload a wall of jargon-y bullet points in Times New Roman interspersed with a few pixelated stock photos and expect to blow us away.
Luckily for all of us, Katie’s a great storyteller too, and her presentations are full of relatable characters who walk (and stumble) through tricky but familiar business scenarios. And luckily for Katie, she’s married to an illustrator who loves envisioning some of these folks…
…(and getting to use her fun black/white/grey/orange color scheme).
So here are some of my favorites from one of her most recent online courses. If you’re a creative pro interested in buffing up your business skills, learning more about how contracts work, or making negotiations a little less stressful, I highly recommend Katie’s blog and Twitter feed!
Another month, another set of daily drawings! Here are some of my favorites from the last thirty days.
Sirin and Negret from Kate Milford’s lovely middle-grade novel Greenglass House.
From the latest edition of Publisher’s Weekly / Children’s Bookshelf, an exciting announcement!
You’ll be hearing and seeing plenty more about this in the months to come, but for now it’s exciting just to say in public that it’s happened! I love this story and the artistic challenge it represents for me, and I really look forward to speaking with a young audience. Thank you to Barry and to Susan for taking me up on it!
I'm Dylan Meconis, a comics artist, writer and illustrator with experience in communications and design. Creator of graphic novels Bite Me!, Family Man and Outfoxed, writer for PvP and member of Helioscope.
