Dragon Con

-By Dan dos Santos

AUGUST 31 -  SEPTEMBER 3,  2012

Dragon Con starts this Friday, and I am super honored to be this year's Artist Guest of Honor.



Some of the AGoH's responsibilities include creating a custom piece of art for the program guide (which I will share with you all in a few days), giving various lectures and demos, and putting on an exhibit in the art show.



Normally when I exhibit for a convention like Spectrum Live or IlluXcon, I rarely bring more than 5 or 6 large paintings. You really can't fit much more than that in a 10' x 10' booth. But being the Guest of Honor at Dragon Con means I have to fill the space of 3 regular booths. That's a LOT of wall to cover!



For those of you who have never exhibited at a large convention, you may not realize how much work goes into actually prepping for just a few days of exhibition. From business cards to lighting... there are a LOT of things to do. I have spent the past week touching up more than a dozen paintings, varnishing, matting, framing, printing, crating, and finally... shipping!



A week's worth of work quite literally came down to me driving 2 crates down the highway at 75 miles per hour, and making the Fed-Ex cut off today with no more than 4 minutes to spare! A feat, I should acknowledge, which would have been impossible without the help of my stellar assistant, Lindsey.



So what was in all those crates? Quite a lot, actually! In addition to the typical prints, books, and DVDs, I will also have with me more than a dozen original works. Here is a sampling of just some of the pieces I will be bringing:

I will also have with me 2, as of yet, unseen paintings... and a limited edition print.



Dragon Con is a pretty large show, and as such, a lot of really talented actors, writers, and artists show up for it. This year's artist list includes:



Justin Gerard

Todd Lockwood

Bill Sienkiewicz

David Mack

Tim Sale

Neal Adams

Larry Elmore

Bernie Wrightson

William Stout

Mark Zug

and....

Stan Lee



But why else is Dragon Con worth visiting? One word... COSPLAY. Dragon Con has one of the most active cosplay communities of any convention, even San Diego Comic Con doesn't compare. It's so big, they literally have a parade. These aren't just your average Halloween costumes. Some of these things are movie quality works of art! Don't believe me? Just watch the video below, it'll blow you away.

I hope to see some of our readers there! If you think you're going to make it, let us know in the comments section.