Gradients Halloween Party

Posted on November 15, 2018 by luxshine

As I go back to the daily color sketch, I decided it would be fun to see what the characters in Gradients would dress as for a Halloween party, since well, that way you can get to know them better. It was really, really fun to draw and choose every costume, even if some required a bit more research than others.

Romeo went as Dorian Grey (the Penny Dreadful Version), Rene went as Elizabeth Bennet (From Pride and Prejudice AND Zombies), Xolotl as Steve Harrington and Izqui as the Demogorgon (from Stranger Things), Luisa as Jeannie II pretending to be Jeannie (from I dream with Jeannie), Honesty as an Axolotl, Henry and Aria as Waldo and Carmen San Diego, and Noemi as Luna Lovegood (From Harry Potter).

Writer’s Block Kids Cosplay

Posted on August 16, 2018August 26, 2018 by luxshine

The Writer’s Block Kids love to cosplay (Well, let’s be absolutely honest… the whole Cosmic Family except maybe for Grandpa ‘Thulu love Cosplay) and at the beginning of July, I decided to do a short run of them dressed up as some very epic sci-fi characters. Can you name them all?

Comic-Con International 2018

Posted on July 31, 2018August 14, 2018 by luxshine

So, Comic-Con International, also known as San Diego Comic-Con. Which is, as you may remember, my favorite convention of all times. And well, I say that every year, and every year it gets so much better.

What I adore about the convention is that it has experiences for everyone: For the professional, the fan, the collector, the struggling artist, the one who is starting to figure out what they want to do with their career, the autograph hunter. In my case, the very first time I went there was In 2004, as press and was tasked by the magazine I worked for back then to cover the WHOLE convention. Deer in the headlights doesn’t start describing how I felt back then.

Of course, things have changed. Since that first convention, I learned how to get my professional badge, how to get a table in the Artist Alley (No, I haven’t personally had a table yet, but I have done the paperwork for at least four authors to get theirs), organize a panel, participate in the Souvenir Book with my art, sat at portfolios reviews, was part of the Friends of Lulu Board for a while, gotten two actual jobs that I adore, and talk at three panels now (the third one a surprise, as I was invited by the panelists literally two seconds before the panel started). In many ways, the Comic-Con International helps me focus, re-plan my goals, and gives me the strength and the confidence to actually fight for said goals. That is not counting the amazing and wonderful people I meet every year, who are now great friends (Especial shot out to Anthony, Mark, Felipe, Alessandro and Jessica at the Asti’s and everyone at Chocolat Cremerie and the USA Hostels).

I’ve met my heroes, like Todd Nauck, Terry Moore, Chris Sanders, Baton Lash, Gail Simone, Adam Warren, Phil Jimenez, the always wonderful Lea Hernandez, Max Brooks and Art Adams, all of whom have given me advice on how to keep on going.

And of course, have seen amazing cosplayers, of all characters, and body shapes that have helped me see how body positive IS a good thing that is not at odds with wanting to be healthy or fit. Despite it’s issues, Comic-Con still is the place where you can get ALL the positivity of fandom, where you can forget for a little bit that every fandom has their bad seeds and controversies because we’re all friends, we’re all geeks, and we’re all standing on a line that we’re not quite sure it’s going to where we want to go but we’ve already spend so much time on it that we might as well see where it ends.

I can assure you that when I was 17 and made the Image on the left, I never dreamed that it would end up as part of a panel that I would give in San Diego Comic-Con about… 23 years later!

I can’t deny I’ve had some of the best experiences in San Diego every year, and to be honest, I want to share it with more and more people. I have already done so a bit in Mexico, opening Ada tours to help people get to San Diego (Visas, passports paperwork, and getting three computers to participate in the lottery when it happens at work hours for them) but today I am opening it to everyone in the world with a monthly FREE newsletter where you will get tips, important dates and everything I can think of to help you have the best Comic-Con every year… just as I have.

So, Sign up for Ada Tours right here!

And now, some Cosplay:

Spooky Empire Experience

Posted on November 14, 2017December 14, 2017 by luxshine

The Cosmic Family 2017 Halloween picture. Grandpa is still confused about all the proceedings.

On October 27 to 29 I had the chance to be with Mandi Gordon (my writer on Writer’s Block and editor for Dragon Run as well as my dear friend) in our very first american convention as sellers, Spooky Empire at the Hyatt Regency in Orlando.

We went as Kaliko Dragon, our joint effort (As hers alone is Dragon Crest, and mine… well, you’re here in Calico Chimera) and had a blast. We had Dream Keeper Robin 1 and 2, Dragon Run and the very first Writer’s Block compilation for sale, as well as a ton of brand new prints (seriously, the only “old” one was the Sugar Skull Horsemen, that is still available in Mexico through my Calico Chimera store and will be available for everywhere else soon at the Kaliko Dragon store)

Isn’t he adorable? His hoard consists of books, movies, and coffee. Lots of coffee.

Now, Spooky Empire is a convention specialized in horror. So I wasn’t quite sure of how things would work and a bit nervous. Still, Mandi didn’t need to pull me out from under the table at any time and I even go to the Celebrity autograph hall on Sunday without being poked too hard by her so that was a win against my usual anxiety. But people did like our stuff, and they were all very nice when talking to us. I saw a Ton of great cosplay, some of which I had never seen before -ok, so there was an overflow of Pennywises. That was to be expected. But they were great Pennywises. Funny thing about the Pennywises… at some point, they started to lose their balloons. So the roof of the Hyatt was filled with floating red balloons. Between that and the Freddy Krueger mannequin that I swore was moving on it’s own as every time I lifted my head was in a different position, the atmosphere was amazing (Later I found out that Mand asked the people with the mannequin to move it, just to freak me a bit. I loved that because it proved that I was right: it WAS moving)

We were joined by the amazing Amelia Poole, Harlequinarts (https://www.facebook.com/harlequinartscosplay ) as our official Janna, Horsewoman of War. And she was perfect! I am almost 90% sure she didn’t kill anyone or started some conflict at the times she didn’t have coffee, but trust me, Mandi and I could have a full spinoff Janna strip with all the hijinks going around. You can check her page for more pictures, but at the end of the post you can see some (she still won’t tell me how she got those red balloons).

I could only see Richard Dreyfuss from afar (he had a TON of people all the time), and didn’t have the chance to see John Cusack, Molly Ringwald or Anthony Michael Hall. Fairuza Balk looks JUST as she did in The Craft, I swear (I also saw her from a distance). On the other hand, Eileen Dietz is a great lady, really funny, and Ken Foree already had me as a fan for life, now even more so. John Kassir was really fun, and, to my eternal glee, Jamison Newlander bought Writer’s Block! That made my day. I also had the chance to say hi to Jaeden Lieberher, Wyatt Oleff, Jeremy Ray Taylor and Sophia Lillis. All of them were amazingly professional -still staying long past the time they were supposed to sign autographs in order to accommodate everyone-, and really nice.

All in all, I loved the experience and can’t wait to go back to Orlando again. Florida man stories aside, everyone was really nice and welcoming! So if you’re a fan of horror, definitively hit the May edition of Spooky. Can’t promise Kaliko Dragon and Calico Chimera will be there -as we’re totally doing Conque in Mexico- but I can assure you you will have fun.

(BTW, all the pictures taken with an obviously better camera and an obviously better photographer were taken by Mandi Gordon)

The Pennywise Parade…

And now… some fun with Janna

Wonder Anna

Posted on August 18, 2017September 13, 2017 by luxshine

I am going to admit that Frozen is not one of my favorite Disney movies. It has its charm (And well, as a proud aunt of a 5 year old I have watched it and learned by heart Let it Go), but it’s not one of my favorites… not even a top ten. Still, Anna and Elsa have their charm (More about Elsa later when it’s her turn).

So after a lot of thought, I choose to give Anna the infamous 90’s black suit, the one that Diana wears when she is forbidden to use the name Wonder Woman because her mom had a vision and refused to share with Diana what was going on. Pretty much like Elsa did to Anna (because let’s be honest, half the plot problems would’ve solved themselves in five seconds if Elsa had told Anna “Oh, btw, I have ice powers and they manifest when I am anxious and nervous so please don’t startle me with a surprise engagement on the day I am already anxious and nervous!”)

Done with Copics, glitter pens and in a Copic Sketchbook.

Since I was a doofus and forgot to take pics of the process, here are some details I liked (Particularly, I love how her freckles came out)

Wonder Cinderella

Posted on August 11, 2017August 29, 2017 by luxshine

Cinderella was one of my favorite princess when I was a child. Sure, it had a lot to do with the fact that my choices were her, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty (more on her when we reach her turn), but of the three? She was my favorite. Later on, she was replaced by Ariel, then Belle, and so on -and by then, let’s be honest, I was no longer a child- but I still had a lot of love for the girl who instead of telling her Stepmother and step sisters to fuck off, would keep doing the house chores with a smile and a song. (Yes, I know that’s Snow White’s song, sue me)

Choosing which Wonder Woman uniform she’d wear was really easy. After all, there was only one time in Diana’s career where she didn’t wear boots (Boots that were, by their own nature, impossible to loose in a hurry), and it was pretty short. I don’t blame the editors, let’s be honest, the only thing that looks sillier than fighting crime in heels is fighting crime in what looks like ballet shoes, but at the time? It was the closest to Greek aesthetics that Diana’s uniform had back in the Silver Age.

I didn’t take that many photos of the progress, but here you go for the ones I did take. Special shout out to Hei Hei-Dakota, who decided to come and watch mommy color.

Comic-Con International: San Diego

Posted on July 28, 2017August 22, 2017 by luxshine

This is, by far, my favorite convention. Sure, it’s the only one I’ve gone to in the USA and I have never been there as a seller, but there’s some special kind of magic to Line-con (as some people call it… with good reason. This year I witnessed a Line-inception: A line to get into a line to get into a raffle to get a ticket to get into a line… to get into a line) that so far I haven’t seen anywhere else.

Sure, it has it’s bad sides (you can find those complains somewhere else in the net) but for me, the good sides overcome all. Sure, I still have to manage to get to any offsite besides the one that is on front of the Tin-fish (This year it was Midnight Texas, with an amazing haunted house set up that made me want to see the show despite not having been a big fan of True Blood), and the line to the Netflix experience makes sure I will never get that swag (I have a rule: No line longer than 15 minutes will see my feet unless the other end has Muppets), but at the same time people in San Diego are AMAZING (Shout out to the staff at Asti’s and Chocolate, as well as the USA Hostel’s great people both staff and guests) and what I could go to in the con was… well, magical.

Every year since, I think, 2011, I’ve sent a pic to the Souvenir Book. Except for 2013 where my Turtles homage didn’t get in, I’ve always been lucky to be chosen. This year was Batgirl… one day I’ll tell you about the creation of this image:

Last year I was a translator at the Conque: Walls or Bridges conference. That was great as holy shit, we had a surprise appearance by none other than Stan “The man” Lee, but I was still not really part of that panel. I was just there to parrot back words in a language everyone understood. THIS year I was the organizer and part of the conference team in the Small Press beyond the Border panel, together with Fers from Fixia Studio (Soulkeepers), Gina Chacon, Adriana de la Torre and Alejandra Zuñiga (from Studio XIII), and moderated by Martin Arceo (Santos Comics), and it was INCREDIBLE. People were very interested to hear about the challenges and problems to publish comics in Mexico, under the shadow of the huge american industry, as well as the whole way in which our industry has evolved. We started with about half the room full, finished to a full house. I still CAN’T believe it, but can’t wait to organize more round tables like this. Maybe one with an american small press publisher to compare experiences!

(I am also wearing a dress. It’s the first dress I’ve worn in about… 20 years or so)

Cosplay was great too. I love hunting Doctors (I started with Doctor Who, then expanded. If you are wearing a character with a doctorate Cosplay, I want a picture of you!), but this year I also loved getting shots of Moanas, Mauis and Ruffios (I will update the pictures as soon as I get my Ipad to cooperate!)

All in all, I can’t wait to go back… maybe this time as an exhibitor and not just as attendee!

The CONQUE Experience, 2017

Posted on May 11, 2017July 28, 2017 by luxshine

This weekend (May 4 to 7) and coinciding with the start of my site, I had the amazing opportunity to attend the Conque in the beautiful city of Queretaro. As I was part of the organizing team (not a huge part, to be honest, mostly some pr with the Cosplay area), I had the chance to arrive with the Mexico City guests from Thursday the 4th to the preview Star Wars night (CONQUE is the first Mexican convention to hold a preview night). We were so tired, however, that to be honest I barely saw anything. And from Friday to Sunday? It was madness. I was sitting at the cosplay area, so I had the chance to interact with them the most. Twin Cosplay ( I didn’t take many pictures with them and I am beating myself over it); Cesar Greenhouse and Hedelex (Mitica Studio); Rosy Duran, who does an INCREDIBLE Granny Webster cosplay (seriously, I was half tempted to offer her Indiana to play Silvester for a few photos) and an even greater Stan Lee; Eva 017 Cosplay who was the queen of all the area; Edom Elohim, with his great crafts; Alex Stark and Lady Synai; Puchys love, who was an amazing sport after a small typo that identified her as “punchis”; Shirahime cosplay and Ryuta; the always wonderful Lizz Sakura and Yagosha Cosplay; Killian and Daireth –who I had not much chance to talk to- and others that right now escape my swiss cheese memory. They all made the weekend amazing. And also, my dearest Roberto Martinez, who completely made my day on Sunday by helping me at the table and with his great Palpatine.

Sales wise I didn’t have as many sales as the people in Artist Alley, but I have to admit that that was mostly on me. I was so entranced by the great cosplayers around me that I kept forgetting to do my sales speech! Even so, I am very grateful to all the people who went looking for me and helped make Dream Keeper Robin’s launch a success! I almost ran out of bookmarks, which is always a good sign! (Seriously, I have 2 Janna’s left. And am considering keeping one :P)

And of course, there was the amazing experience of meeting new people, and reconnecting with old friends. I had the chance to talk to Jorge Gutierrez, writer and director of the Book of Life; to meet Kirk R. Tatcher, creator of Dinosaurs and a big part of my childhood, and to have an amazing dinner sitting next to Agnes Garbowska from MLP and Grumpy Cat’s fame. I heard Stefan Kapicic sing Cielito Lindo, and saw Sergio Aragones again, as well as one of my personal heroes, Arthur Adams. The guys from Touch markers who were so kind and gave me a great gift, as well as promised to check why my local art store keeps not getting the full color list. And of course, all my great friends in Mexican comics such as Gnomo del Bosque, Palmira Campaña, Juanele, the always sexy Quetzal Cardenas and Fers from Soulkeepers, El Hino, Edgar Clement, Oscar Pinto, Leonardo Olea, the always incredible Humberto Ramos, Mauricio Herrera, Aurea Freniere, Ariel Orea, Lobo Cuevas, Luis Fernando –who shared the bus ride to Queretaro with me and Alfonso Norman, Guto, Alejandra Gamez, and Axur Eneas, Augusto Mora, Tania Camacho and Esteban from Jours de Papier, and so many other people that I love and I hate that right now I am forgetting.

Of course, I can’t stop thanking the REAL organizers of the Conque: Luis Gantus, Rene Franco, Hector Hernandez, Melina Gatto, and again, Humberto Ramos, as well as the great staff like Monica Valencia, Daniel Garcia, Rodrigo LeVinson, Maria Fernanda Gantus, and Salvador Canez Garza –as well as the amazing volunteers whose names I didn’t get for my eternal shame. Oh, and to the great staff at the Serafin Boutique Hotel in downtown Queretaro that made me feel as if I was home every night.

So, here are the pictures of all the event. It left me dead tired.

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