St. Lucie Mets Comic Con Night!

Come see me throw out the first pitch!

Special Guest Artist At Wizard World Comic Con Philadelphia and St. Louis!

I just added two more Special Guest Appearances at Wizard World Comic Cons!

First in Philly from May 7 - 10, 2015, followed by St. Louis May 22 - 24, 2015.
The guest list is amazing!

Some of the guests coming to Philly are: Ben McKenzie and Robin Lord Taylor from Gotham, Nathan Fillion from Firefly and Castle, Haley Atwell from Agent Carter, Michael Rooker from Guardians of the Galaxy, Rob Liefeld creator of Deadpool, Karl Urban from Star Trek, Burt Reynolds, Neal Adams, Mike Zeck, and Cary Elwes.

Wizard World Philadelphia

 Some of the guests coming to St. Louis include:  George Romero - Director of Night of the Living Dead, Robin Lord Taylor from Gotham, Jason Mewes from Kevin Smith films, Haley Atwell from Agent Carter, Dave Bautista and Michael Rooker from Guardians of the Galaxy.

 

Wizard World St. Louis

Painting Workshop This Fri and Sat March 20 - 21, 2015 in Hobe Sound, FL

Disney Fine Art Show - Sottil Gallery at The Dolphin Resort, Disney World Florida This Weekend

 

 I am really pleased and excited to be part of a double group show this weekend, Friday and Saturday, at the Sottil Gallery at Disney's Dolphin Resort at Disney World and at Wyland Galleries at Disney's Boardwalk Resort.
I will be at Gallery Sottil both nights from 5pm - 6pm for the VIP Reception and then from 6pm to 10pm.

Two of my originals have already sold so this will most likely be the last chance to see them at a show before they find a home!

 For more information visit: http://wylandflorida.com

Cleveland Comic Con Recap

I just got back home after nearly three weeks of traveling, and I'm not finished yet. From Feb 20 - 22, I was a special guest at Cleveland Comic Con, and I have to say it was one of the best things I have ever been a part of. I had a blast! Well, I had a blast once I got there, getting there was not as much fun as I would have liked.

I decided to drive because I thought bringing paintings and the Tangled Tower would make for a great presentation. I left on Wednesday Feb 18, in the morning. Cleveland is about sixteen hours from where I am in Florida so I was hoping to be there by late Wed night and then head over to set up at the convention center on Thurs morning. In North Carolina I started seeing snow, but the roads were clear so I didn't think much of it. It was cold though. I was in West Virgina by about eight pm when it started to snow. I thought, there is no use in getting killed, I'll spend the night at a hotel, and get there early tomorrow. I tell my story to the woman at the front desk of the hotel, and she tells me that it's supposed to freeze below -15 and they aren't ready for it. If I spend the night there, I might miss the whole convention. She suggests I keep going, so I do. I drive for a bit with no issues, then all of a sudden I am going up, and up and up, and there are no street lights, and I am on this mountain... and it starts to snow. Heavy snow. So much that I can't see and I am alone on this road, in the mountains, and I can barely see in front of me. This lasts for about the longest twenty minutes of my life. I am going one mile an hour, in the left lane because i am using the guard rail as a guide. Then I see truck lights in front of me so I get behind them. Then more truck lights and suddenly there is traffic and no one is moving. We are at the top of a mountain, its snowing like crazy and I am stuck in traffic. Wonderful, this is now about nine thirty I guess, it's hard to remember details when you are terrified. After a few hours, yep, hours, the traffic starts to move, however by now the snow has frozen because the temperature dropped and now the road is solid ice.
In talking to other drivers I heard that two trucks had slid into each other causing the delay. Now we are moving so slowly that my speedometer reads 0. Everyone is sliding, tires are spinning, and there are no plows, no salt. Apparently West Virginia's snow preparation is to have one plow, and one round thing of Morton's table salt, and that's it. I won't bore everyone with the rest of the details but I arrived at Marietta Ohio, at 4am, still three hours from Cleveland, but off of the darn mountains. I can honestly say it was the most terrifying night of my life so far. To my credit, I kept my cool, drove slow and smart, my father taught me how to drive in snow and ice, and that honestly may have saved my life. I saw the sign below at about noon, never thought I would be so happy to be in Cleveland in Feb!!

So now I am there. I go to the convention center to unload, and set up. Wizard had rented the room next to the main room and we could drive in and unload from there, It was -8° outside so this was an amazing gift already!

A shot of my booth. I'm next to John Russo who wrote Night Of The Living Dead, with George A. Romero. Once I'm set up it's off to the hotel.

We were staying at the Hyatt Regency Cleveland at the Arcade. This is one of the most incredible buildings I have ever been in. It was built in 1890, and it really looked like it. Just a stunning place to stay.

Not the most amazing view from the window but look at that snow coming down...again.

On Friday, I went down early, the show didn't start until three pm. I chatted with John for a while, mostly chit chat when a person over a loud speaker said "Comic Con will begin momentarily." I looked at John, and said I hope it doesn't begin momentarily, I hope it begins presently. I figured that as a writer he would find that funny and he did. Having him in the booth next to me was definitely one of the best parts of the show. Not everyone is so easy to get along with.

On the subject of getting along with people, I was shocked at how nice everyone was. Guys I would have thought to have huge egos, Joel and Neil Adams, Rob Leifeld, all of the artist's and creators, and the entire Wizard staff were extremely quick to say hello. If they saw you in the hotel lounge it was "hey, pull up a chair, come on over". It was a nice and welcome change from some of my experiences in the fine art world.

It snowed a lot on Friday and many people didn't show up because of it. On Saturday the house was packed! I could not believe the amount of people there! To the right is a shot of the convention center with all of the snow.

One of the coolest things to happen was that I was part of the Wizard VIP package which meant that Wizard VIP guests got a trading card that I could sign for them. I have my own trading card!! I'm still not quite used to getting asked for my autograph, but I doubt I will ever get sick of

 it.
On Sunday, things were busy at first but then slowed down a bit. Although there were many actors and actresses there, William Shatner, Lou Ferrigno, Joey Lauren Adams, to name a few, I barely met any of them because I couldn't leave my table. Right now I have no people. I working on getting people, but as of now, no people. Someday, when I have people, I'll be able to walk around and shake some hands...

 A parting shot of my booth below.

After the convention I spent a few days in NJ visiting family, then back to Florida for a charity event. I have to finish a painting by Friday because I am part of a show at Disney World this coming weekend! Busy, busy, busy, and loving every second of it!

A Few Photos From Ultracon Of South Florida

This past weekend I was a special guest artist at Ultracon of South Florida. It was my first time at a Comic Con, even though technically I was invited to the Cleveland con first, but that doesn't happen until Feb.

 

Below is a shot of my friend Matt who plays an incredible Jack Sparrow standing next to comic book writer and creator Larry Hama. The first comic book I ever purchased as a young kid was an issue of G.I. Joe, which was written by none other than Larry Hama. Comic books got me started on both reading and drawing. It lead to me reading novels, literature, Shakespeare, etc. Copying drawings out of comic books as a kid directly led me to oil painting. It was interesting that the first Comic Con I go to I am signing just two tables away from the guy that in some ways put me there. Had that issue of GI Joe been a terrible story, and I never read another comic book, my whole life may have been different.

Although Larry Hama didn't actually create GI Joe, he did create many of the characters form the smaller action figures including Cobra Commander. Pretty Cool!

Next to Larry Hama was Brian Muir, who did the original sculpture of Darth Vader and other characters for the original trilogy. That's him to the left of Darth Vader. He has also worked on Indiana Jones, and most recently Guardians Of The Galaxy. His work is amazing. He and his wife were delightful in conversation and very friendly. It was a pleasure getting to know them.

 Batman was drinking a lemonade but I unfortunately didn't get the shot - would have been priceless.

At the table directly next to me was Callie Cosplay. On Saturday she was Wonder Woman, Sunday, The Baroness from GI Joe. Her costumes were extremely well done as you can see. There is Matt again in his Captain Jack costume.  He put an incredible amount of work into the details of the costume and it's amazing how authentic he looks in person. He told me it takes him two hours just to get into it! His business cards are even in a little treasure chest.

I have recently learned that there are mixed feelings in regards to the Cosplayers. Some comic book writers are upset that the conventions are more about the people wearing costumes than the writers, creators, and artists. I liked the cosplay part of it. Callie is very cool, and fun to have sitting next to me. She loved the characters she played and had respect for them. But not everyone did. I was in shock when one girl dressed as Elsa from Frozen was standing in front of my table, and said nothing to me, not even hello. She was so wrapped up in who she was, who was looking at her, that she had a Disney Artist in front of her and she could not have cared less.  When someone finally did introduce us, it seemed a chore for her to be cordial. I told her she should hire a midget and dress him up as Olaf to add authenticity to the costume. Shockingly she wasn't amused.  If you are going to dress as a Disney princess as an adult, when people are looking at you smile! Smile at everyone, especially the kids, and not to ask too much, but when you smile, try and actually be convincing about it. Another girl dressed as "Brave" also walked by and didn't even look. I find that a bit odd. I will add that these were not young kids which I might say didn't know better. You should dress up as a character you know well, love and respect, or at least research. If your dressing up in a costume that makes you "look good" or will get you more "likes" on Facebook, you are doing it for the wrong reasons. I like the costumes, but no convention should put the costumes ahead of the people who created or contributed to them.
 

 

A shot of me at my table. I'm really looking forward to my next Comic Con appearance, I met a lot of great and interesting people. It was a blast!

 Come see me this Feb in Cleveland:
http://www.wizardworld.com/home-cleveland.html

To like Callie on FB: Callie Cosplay
To like me on FB: Clinton T. Hobart Fine Art

Wave Demo In Palm City Process Shots

Hello Folks!

Last Wednesday I did a one hour Demo for the Palm City Art Associates in Palm City, Florida.
I love doing demos, and I think this one went particularly well. Seemed like everyone had a great time including me! Here are a few process shots and the demo below.

 I brought a finished painting with me and just demonstrated how I begin them.

 The size is 30 x 20 making it the largest demo I have ever painted.

  I was actually impressed with how far I took it in one hour. Doing a large wave in that much time is not easy.

  

A shot of the crowd. I'm told there were around seventy five people present.

Above is a shot of the Demo (to the left) and the finished Wave painting (to the right).

 

30 x 20 Oil on Canvas

Click Here To Bid

Although the finished Demo is not complete enough to send to one of the galleries, I liked it to much to wipe it away. I will be putting it up for auction on Ebay at 10pm tonight starting at $100.00
The finished one will be going to one of the galleries and will retail for $6,500.00.

Click Here To Bid

Painting Demo at Barker Animation of Disney's Goofy!

 On Friday Barker Animation Had it's Grand Opening Celebration at their new location in Coconut Creek, FL.

As a special guest, I was doing an eight hour painting demonstration of  Disney's Goofy.

It was actually a still-life demonstration since I was working from an actual statue of Goofy. I started with a blank panel, pictured above.

Whenever I do a demo, I always show up with a blank panel and start from scratch. I think showing the first stages is very important in a demo.

Below is a shot of the finished drawing.

Above - The end of the first day, eight hours.

 
I worked on him for a couple of more hours on Saturday. I didn't do a lot, just darkened the darks in the head, and added a quick background for atmosphere. Below is the finished painting. It's available for purchase at Barker Animation Art Gallery, Coconut Creek, FL.

 One last shot of the painting and the set up.