Albuquerque Comic Con to bring Comic Creators and Celebrity Guests to New Mexico this January!

Why Let San Diego Have All The Fun – Albuquerque Comic Con 2011

I’m very excited about the Albuquerque Comic Con coming to Albuquerque, NM in January 2011! With a great line-up of celebrity guests and comic book creators. It’s going to be a whole weekend of comic book fun! The con has 4 rooms dedicated to it at the Hilton of Albuquerque! I think I might be most excited to meet Lou Ferrigno (The HULK) and Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca), but there will be a lot of other great comic/sci-fi celebrities there.

There will also be a great representation of comic book creators. From local to national comic artists, writers, and publishers. Like 7000bc, Andy Kuhn, Gene Ha and Brian Pulido.

Where:
Hilton Hotel
1901 University Bl. NE
Albuquerque, NM

When:
Saturday, January 15, 11 am-6 pm
Sunday, January 16, 12 pm-5 pm

Prices range from $5 to 50 to enter the con. You can reserve your spot here.
$50.00: Full Conference – VIP (All-access, Door Prizes, First in line for autographs)
$25.00: Full Event Passes
$15.00: Daily Pass Saturday
$15.00: Daily Pass Sunday
$10.00: Childs All Event Pass
$5.00: Childs Daily Pass Saturday
$5.00: Childs Daily Pass Sunday
Kids under 6 are free with a paying adult
*Police, Fire, and Military all get free admission

Here’s a list of some of the artists appearing:

Gene Ha
Andy Kuhn
David “Brohawk” Williams
Grant Gould
Peter Palmiotti
David “Artassassin” Harrigan
7000 BC
Dwight Sanchez and Quentin Bedwell
Eric Swanson
Jeff Benham
Daniel Campos

Here’s a list of the Celebrity Guests:

Lou Ferrigno – The HULK!
Peter Mayhew – Chewbacca!
Alaina Huffman – Stargate: Universe, Smallville, Painkiller Jane
Daniel Logan – Star Wars (Episode II: Boba Fett)
Gil Gerard – Buck Rogers
Dickey Beer – Star Wars (Return of the Jedi: Boba Fett)
Mike Quinn – Star Wars
Erin Gray – Buck Rogers
Herbert Jefferson Jr. – Battlestar Galactica (original tv series)
Anne Lockhart – Battlestar Galactica (original tv series)
Bokeem Woodbine

VADER’S FIST the 501st Legion will be there too! I’m a huge fan of this group. Last year I drew my own pin-up of Vader’s Fist: The 501 Legion for May the 4th (National Star Wars Day). This was before I knew of this Cosplay group. I got to meet them at the EPCON 2010. You really get the feel of the Imperial presence when they come into the showroom.

The Albuquerque Comic Con will also be holding its First Annual Comics in Film Festival! A place for independent filmmakers to showcase their films. Each movie will be 45 minutes or less. The films will be judged by a panel of critics. One film will be Awarded as the “Best New Original Comic Book Genre Film”.

Schedule of Events

Where: Hilton Hotel, 1901 University Bl. NE, Albuquerque, NM
When: Saturday January 15 11am-6pm, Sunday January 16 12pm-5pm

FRIDAY
Pre-registration Party at Borders: 12pm-6pm
Launch Party at Imbibe: 10pm-2am

SATURDAY
Gaming Saturday
10am: Tournament Registration
11am: Open Gaming (RoomA) Warhammer 40k registration (RoomB)
12pm-5pm: L5R CCG Sealed Deck Tournament, Hero Clix Tournament (RoomA) 40K Tournament (roomB)
5pm: Warhammer Fantasy (roomB)
6pm-12am: Magic The Gathering Tournament Legacy Format (roomA)

Panel Room
10am: Breaking into Comics
11am: Self Publishing 7000 BC
12am: Battlestar Galactica/Buck Rogers
1pm: Star Wars Actors Q&A
2pm: Armor Building with 501st Dewback Brigade
3pm: Boondock Saints
4pm: Taking comics to Film Brian Pulido- Andy Kuhn
5pm: Breaking into Film- Casting Director Darlene Hansen

Film Screening Room
Comics In Film Festival
11am: David Dirks and Chris Harrington Panel Discussion
12am: Film Festival begins
12:30-2:00: Films
2:00-2:30: lunch
2:30-5:30: Films

Saturday late-night event
Uptown Bar and Grill
9pm-2am: Official After Party

SUNDAY
Gaming
10am: Open Gaming (RoomA+B)
11am: Tournament Registration/ Scheduling (roomA+B)
12pm: Magic the Gathering Type 2 (room A) L5R tournament Current Block (roomb)

Panel Room
11am: Walking Dead
12pm: Lou Ferrigno
1pm: Mixed Martial Arts with Herb Dean and Michael Westbrook
2pm: Comic Art by the experts
3pm: 12 Gauge Comics Boondock Saints Cover Contest judging
4pm: Comics in Film Festival Award Ceremony

6pm: Convention hall closes

Official Wrap Party at Exhale Albuquerque
8pm-12am: Karaoke

This is the first time that this con is being held. From the looks of the guest and panels, it’s going to be a big and fun event! I’m ready to meet some talented comic book creators. Get some signatures from stars of some of my favorite movies. And just have fun geeking out with my fellow comic book nerds. If you see me there make sure to say hi. That’s if you can recognize me, I might be dressed up in some comic of sci-fi cosplay……..maybe I’ll be Captain Marvel.
-SHAZAM!

This blog post was originally published on my other website Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Ralph’s Art Blog.

Free Comic Book Day Albuquerque 2010

For the past nine years, the comic industry and comic book shops have joined together on Free Comic Book Day. What the shops and comic companies do is give away free comics, AWESOME! It’s a great way to introduce new readers to the exciting world of comic books. This year I drove down to Albuquerque, NM to hit up a couple of the shops participating.

The first comic shop I went to was Astro Zombies. It’s a very cool comic shop located across from the University of New Mexico. They had comic book artist Aaron Campbell signing comics for free. Campbell is the comic artist for Dynamite Entertainment, Green Hornet Year One, and Sherlock Holmes. It was cool to learn from Cambell that he actually lives in Albuquerque too.

Next, I went down to Lobo Anime & Comics. A great local shop with the largest selection of new comics I’ve seen in a while. By the time I got there they had given away most of this year’s free comics, but I was lucky to score some regular great comics titles for free. SHAZAM!

Lobos was fun because there were a few guys in cosplay costumes. Some Anime characters and a few comic books. I got a photo with a dude in a fun Wolverine costume. 7000 BC a local organization of independent comic book creators from New Mexico was there too. Signing and selling their cool zine-type indy comics.

It was fun to see both these shops filled with people talking and enjoying comics. When I owned my comic shop “Modern Age Comics” and participated in the first Free Comic Book Day, I wasn’t sure this event would last. Seeing the industry, comic shops, creators, and fans enjoying this super cool event, I know Free Comic Book Day is here to stay.

This blog post was originally published on my other website Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Ralph’s Art Blog.

24 Hour Comics Day 2009 – Santa Fe, NM

24 Hour Comics Day 2009 – Santa Fe, NM

This year I participated in the annual 24-Hour Comic. The challenge is to create 24 pages of a comic book within 24 hours. This was the second time I’ve done it. I really had a great time doing it too. At times it felt like I wasn’t going to finish, but I did…..with 3 minutes to spare (WhaZa!). It has been a very popular and fun exercise for both writers and artists. The idea is to come up with no preconceived notions of what you’re going to create, and make a 24-page comic!

So here it is, my 24-Hour Comic entitled “infiltration” written, penciled, and inked by me Ralph Contreras in 24 hours and 57 minutes on October 3rd to 4th, for the 2009 24-Hour Comics Day! I did my pages with widescreen panels, I think it adds a significant element to the storytelling.

This blog post was originally published on my other website Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Ralph’s Art Blog.

24 Hour Comics Day 2009 – Santa Fe, Part 2

Ralph Contreras inking a 24-hour comic page

24 Hour Comics Day 2009 – Santa Fe, Part 2

The Half-Way Point!
Participating in 24-Hour Comics Day. Here I am 12 hours into the challenge. Not as far ahead as I had planned. But still having fun. I originally planned to have the comic done within the 1st 12 hours. I’m actually on pages 6 and 7 at this point. Not even the halfway mark. I honestly didn’t think I would finish, but I knew I wasn’t going to give up. (I did finish the 24-hour comic, at exactly 11:57 am…. with 3 minutes to spare. Shazam!)

As I started to fall back on the pages and the time was moving forward, I thought what can I do to catch up and finish? I decided to work on pages very similar to Marvel Comics’ new format of widescreen comics. That’s where you place your panels stretched out through 2 pages. Like several widescreen shots. Marvel’s title Dark Avengers is very well known for this.

Once I decided to use this technique I was able to catch up. It gave me a great opportunity to create some very dynamic angle shots. Once I gained my confidence that I could finish the comic the story just flowed out of me. It’s full of action and fight scenes. It was really a fun comic to do. The story ends up with soldiers, ninjas, villains, and even a giant monster.

My progress was posted on a few sites during the event. On both the local and national 24 Hour comic blog sites. Here are the links to these sites. 24 hours from New Mexico Blog – Hours 14 through 18 from New Mexico Official Nation 24-Hour Comic Book Blog – Hours 14 through 18 from New Mexico

This blog post was originally published on my other website Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Ralph’s Art Blog.

24 Hour Comics Day 2009 – Santa Fe, Part 1

*Ralph Contreras drawing a 24-hour comic page*

24-Hour Comics Day 2009 – Santa Fe, Part 1

This year I participated in 24-Hour Comics Day again. It was held from October Saturday the 3rd to the 4th. I had such a blast with it last year that there was no question I would do it again. The goal is to create 24 comic pages in 24 hours. It’s a very challenging exercise. You come to the table with no idea of what you are going to write and draw, and from there you create a 24-page story.

Last year there was a place to participate in 24 Hour Comic in Santa Fe NM (that’s where I live right now), but this year the closest place was in Albuquerque, NM. I decided to stay home and work on the 24-hour comic on my drawing table. I was committed to participating no matter where I did it.

The first few hours were tough, the year before I created my 24-hour comic with the help of my girlfriend as my inker. This year I was working completely solo. I was finding it hard to find a fast rhythm. I was really digging what I was coming up with, but I was just a little slower than I originally wanted to be.

My girlfriend helped me out by updating my Twitter, Facebook & Flickr pages. One of the Twitter updates caught the attention of the group in Albuquerque. They were updating their blog dedicated to the 24-Hour comic and told me to send them some photos of my stuff. You can check out the 1st of 2 posts showing my work progress during the event. 24 hours from the New Mexico blog (Hour 13 1/2 from New Mexico). What was cool is the blog post was picked up by the Official Nation 24-Hour Comic Book Blog too. – (Hour 13 1/2 from New Mexico)

This blog post was originally published on my other website Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Ralph’s Art Blog.

24 Hour Comic 2008 – Santa Fe, NM

24 Hour Comic 2008 – Santa Fe, NM

I created this comic book in 23 hours with the help of my girlfriend (she inked the pages) for 24 Hour Comic 2008.

This was the first year I participated in the 24 Comic Book Day. The goal was to create a full 24-page comic book in 24 consecutive hours. It was organized by 7000 BC and True Believers our local comic shop. There were over 20 artists who drew their own comics. We all met at Warehouse 21. A great community center for youth and the arts here in Santa Fe. There was even a small exhibition showcasing the comics we created.

I had a blast doing this and will definitely take part again this year. I can’t wait!

This blog post was originally published on my other website Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Ralph’s Art Blog.

Albuquerque Collectors Con 2009

Albuquerque Collectors Con 2009

This last weekend I drove down to Albuquerque for the Annual Collectors Con. It showcases comic books, anime, and toys. I went last year after moving back to New Mexico from Las Vegas, NV and I had a blast. This year I was excited to see what other cool and fun stuff would be there. The con is sponsored by Lobo comics, a local comic book shop in Albuquerque, NM.

I found a personal treasure this year at one of the booths. The Mighty Avengers issue #242! When I was a kid this was the very first comic book I read. A few years back when I opened my own comic book store, “Modern Age comics” in Las Cruces, NM. I used my personal collection as the starting inventory. I had comics from 17 years of collecting, about 8,500 comics and Avengers 242 was among them. I remember selling my copy during the first few weeks. I was happy it was sold to a kid who was starting to buy comics for the first time. That was actually really cool. So it was very cool for me to find a copy this weekend. This one will stay in my new collection.

There were a good amount of booths this year, with comics ranging from the Silver Age to current issues. Of course, there were those hard-to-find issues like the Amazing Spider-Man with President Obama in it. There were rows and rows of great comics, toys, and models. There was also a good variety of movie merchandise and collectibles. It was really fun to see a Kryptonian crystal from the newest Superman movie and lifesize green Kryptonite. My favorite collectible I saw at the con was a set of Star War Return of the Jedi glasses from Burger King. I remember having the full set when I was a kid until our dishwasher ate them.

There were some booths with super hard-to-find toys from G.I.Joe, Star Wars, Star Trek, Marvel, and Dc Direct. Some of the older figures were out-of-print originals from the ’80s and ’90s. I’ve never been the biggest toy collector, but I was impressed with all the cool toys at this con. The sculptures on the more modern toys were so good, they look like they could be models and statues. I think the McFarlane Toy line that started out in the 90’s really brought up the bar in toy manufacturing. I found myself wanting to buy every figure there, so I could take them out of the packaging to play with…I mean put on display. :p

If I hadn’t given myself a $20 limit I think I could have spent my whole paycheck easily. I think I actually spent around $30 bucks though. I was close to my budget. It’s fun to just browse the cool backstock of comics. You never know when you’ll find that issue you’ve been looking for. It’s even more fun to find comics you’ve never heard about. I was able to find some great comics. The Mighty Avengers 242 was the most exciting for me personally, but I also found a whole set of Superman: the Dark Side (an awesome Elseworlds comic where Kal-El lands on Apokolips instead of Earth, he’s not a nice guy in it), I also bought Ka-Zar #16 for a buck. It’s a fun issue where he fights Klaw.

Comic books and toys weren’t the only things to see at this con, there was an “artist alley” of sorts too. It was really cool to meet people that not only like comics but like them so much they create them too. Andy Kuhn who draws Firebreather from Image comics was there. He lives and works out of Albuquerque, NM. His stuff is fun and very dynamic. Next to him were the guys from 7000 BC, a locally run comic book organization for independent comics in New Mexico. These guys are very cool, Paul Ziomek and his brother Peter Ziomek who were both at the con representing 7,000 BC. The group also teaches classes to kids showing them that anyone can have fun creating comics. Their booth at the Collectors Con showcased the great work of different styles the group puts out.

I had a blast at this year’s Albuquerque Collectors Con. I will be planning on going again next year. Maybe I’ll take some of the comics I still have from my closed shop or maybe I’ll try to get into the “artist alley” with my own comic book. Right on to everyone that was there and to all my fellow comic nerds! SHAZAM!!

This blog post was originally published on my other website Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Ralph’s Art Blog.

24 Hour Comic 2008

Me showing off one of my Comic Pages! Shazam!

24 Hour Comic 2008

This years 24 hour comic was great! I was able to create a 24-page comic in 23 hours. With the help of my wonderful girlfriend Consuelo. The best inker around! It was organized by 7000 BC and True Believers the local comic shop here in Santa Fe, NM. After 23 hours we created a fully inked comic book titled “Aliens and Heroes”. This was truly a great test of creativity. There was a great turnout here in Santa Fe. Over 25 fellow comic artists. I met a lot of cool people. After producing 24 pages in as many hours I feel a higher sense of confidence in my comic-creating ability.

Here’s a link covering 24-Hour Comic here in Santa Fe. I’m even mentioned in one. http://24hcd.blogspot.com/2008/10/santa-fe-just-about-wrapped-up.html

This blog post was originally published on my other website Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Ralph’s Art Blog.