Author: Lorenzo Ross

Chicago based cartoonist Lorenzo Ross spends most of his time trying to bang out new comic books while simultaneously trying to avoid eating too many cookies.
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C2 E2, Chicago Comics & Entertainment Expo

Chicago’s first big comic convention of the season wrapped up yesterday. I attempted to purchase a table to exhibit my work but was turned down. Not because the request was late, but because artist alley exhibit space is not decided on a first come first served basis but rather by some other criteria determined by the folks that run the con. I can only imagine they pick those exhibitors based on popularity. Which makes sense I guess if you’re trying to attract the largest amount of fans you would like to have the creators with the largest fan bases do your show.  Whatever. At least they were kind enough to throw me a bone in the form of a pro pass for Friday. The pro pass used to be for all three days but hey, it’s a free pass so I’m grateful for that. Several of my friends that are artists & writers were also denied a table and they were not even offered the one day pass.

So basically I went last Friday mostly as a fan, but still looking to attend  as many panel discussions that were relevant to things I’m trying to accomplish. Turns out there were only three, two of which were scheduled at the same time in different rooms. In spite of all that I was able to learn a few things, do a little networking and pick up a few books for my silver age collection and some indie books I’ve been looking for.

With so many creators out there space at conventions is going to be hard to come by. That means those of us still building a fan base are going to have to get creative in promoting our work. Stay tuned…

The one guy is a pretty cool Vision, the rest I think are Skrulls.
Harley Quinn and friends.
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Lily’s Here!

Janet and I just added a new member to our family. Her name is Lily. She’s a two year old cocker spaniel adopted from a local rescue. Lily has had a very tough life so far, but she’s going to get nothing but love and attention from now on. She has survived life in a puppy mill as a breeder and then was dumped into the woods by the owner when they received word that an inspection was coming. Only a few dogs survived, Lily was one of the lucky ones. A nice lady named Marlene fostered Lily and nursed her back to health. Right now she is still in shock from the horrors she has endured, so she is very shy around people.

Since mostly men ran the puppy mill she’s especially timid and cautious around them. Jan has been working to socialize her and it’s been good so far. I sneaked a photo of her and Odie on the couch but I’m still being very quiet and not making any sudden moves around her. We’re about to take both dogs on a walk in a few minutes. I’m looking forward to helping her feel at home.

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Fiverr? Really?

Okay, it’s time for me to be that guy again. All over Facebook I’m seeing these ads for Fiverr, the site that encourages people to perform services for the paltry sum of five dollars. They’re trying to get me to like their fan page, check them out and maybe jump on the band wagon. Sorry, it ain’t gonna happen.

The upside of Fiverr is if you’re looking for cheap labor this is your dream. This is the next best thing to opening a warehouse in China. What I’m having trouble understanding is what’s the motivation for the people offering the services. Perhaps they are desperate because of being unemployed and are unable to find income elsewhere which is understandable. Or maybe they just don’t value their work very much.

You have people offering everything from 45 minute financial advice videos, doing personalized original artwork, writing short stories based on your hopes & dreams, you name it. I’m sure someone’s probably going to offer to come to your house and clean your toilet.

I’m not trying to tell people what they should or shouldn’t do, that’s up to them. But you should really be careful when it comes to something like this. One of the worst things that could happen is you become successful, you’re swamped with cheap orders and now you’re trapped in a sweatshop of your own making (this happens on Etsy a lot!). A successful artist once told me,” Don’t sell your work so cheap that you are doing yourself a disservice. Once you’re known as the cheap artist that’s what you’ll always be.”

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More original art ACEOs added to Etsy store

I’ve added four new ACEOs to the Psychic Unicorns Etsy store. All one of a kind original art pieces. Now that Awesome 5! number one is wrapping up soon, I can focus on doing more stand alone works for the store. One of these days I’ll be able to do both. Still working on getting my speed up. Speaking of speed, one of my heroes from the art world passed away this weekend. Jean Giraud also known as Moebius died Sunday in Paris at 73. If you don’t know who he was do yourself a favor and look at some of his work. Also online are some videos of him working. The man could crank out pages like there was no tomorrow.

Hope to have more stuff soon. Maybe someday I’ll be as quick as Moebius.

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Original ACEO works now available!

There are two new additions to our etsy shop. One is an ACEO of Nefertiti, a character from Awesome 5! who is the girlfriend of Ramses, the bad guy in issue #1. Even though the real Nefertiti and Ramses never hooked up, these two decided to adopt those personas for their life of crime. The other is a little odd fellow I’m calling Soup Strainer, because of his prominent moustache he sports.

What makes these cards different from the other ACEOs is these are one of a kind originals. Nefertiti is ink and watercolor on 2 ply bristol board and Soupy is watercolor & ink on Strathmore 500 series illustration board, one of the finest materials made for drawing or illustrating IMHO. Both come titled, signed and dated on the back.

I have been meaning to put these up sooner but I’ve been so busy finishing  Awesome 5! #1 (more on that later) that I haven’t had the time. Like the ACEO prints, the originals come with protective sleeves and top loaders with free shipping in the U.S.

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Mini art, the way of the future

Aceo’s have been around for a while but for some reason I’m just getting into them. In case you don’t know, ACEO stands for Art Cards, Editions & Originals. They are miniature works of art the size of trading or playing cards (2.5 x 3.5) and are a great way to own original art or prints at an affordable price. There are little easels you can buy to display them, or you can use a business card holder to display them on a mantle, bookcase or your desk at work. You can even use them as bookmarks or gift tags!

We’ve just added a bunch of these little gems to our etsy store and more will be coming soon. There are lots of prints, but right now only a couple of originals.  I’ll have to get to work on that! Here’s the link to that page.