Watchmen and Ninja Sketchbooks: SPX 2009

SPX came and went, and you know what that means: WATCHMEN SKETCHES! Along with a few new (tanfastic!) additions to the book, I also nabbed a couple fresh sketches for my tiny ninja sketchbook. I didn't grab tooo many just cause there were so damn many new, cool books to grab, so I spent most of my time shopping. Plus, at least 2 people declined to do a sketch, so that slowed me down a bit. In hindsight, I wish I'd gotten more, but HEY: that just leaves more to get in the future.

You can check out previous Watchmen sketches here, here and here and previous ninja sketches here. I really need to get a flickr account for these things like Sean has for his Bowie book, David has for his Calvin and Hobbes book, Sam has for her monster book and Matt has for his Saturday Morning Cartoons book. Maybe later. Here goes:

Lisa Hanawalt was signing at the Buenaventura table in support of her new book I Want You. When I asked her if she was doing sketches, she smirked and said, "Sure." Then i told her I had a Watchmen sketchbook and felt like the biggest dork in the world when she said, "Oh, man. I hate Watchmen." I told her in a rushed apology that she didn't have to do one and that she could maybe draw something in my ninja sketchbook if she'd prefer, but she already had my book in her hands and said, with a smile, "No no, I love drawing things I don't like." Right away, she turned to the final, apocalyptic scene of the book and asked if anybody had drawn the octopus monster. I told her no and was happy to get the following perfect sketch from her. Her art is mesmerizing:

ABOVE:LISA HANAWALT

One of the main reasons I went to SPX was to meet up with Jeffrey Brown and grab a commission I bought from him. He was kind enough to bring it with him on his trip to the show, and since he's been at the top of my "Get List" since I started this book, I went ahead and asked him for a Watchmen sketch. He totally knocked this BEAUTIFUL strip out for me while waiting for the show doors to open on Sunday morning. I was so smitten that I forgot to ask if he wanted any dough for it, and when I went back to ask, he said no (HOW RAD IS HE?!). This is also the first time anyone's incorporated me into the art, which I think is fitting considering Jeffrey's line of books. Lastly please pay close attention to where the sound effect is coming from in panel 2 and the Frank-Quitely-in-Batman-and Robin sound effect/scene incorporation in that same panel.
If I were still in 6th grade and this sketch was the girl in front of me in English class, I'd totally pass it an "I love you" note and save the best X-Men Valentine in the box for it this February:

ABOVE: JEFFREY BROWN

Next! Well, uh... I FINALLY got a sketch from the mad-talented Dustin Harbin, and like the Tom Neely sketch I got at San Diego this year, I just can't post it for fear of ticking off the wrong people. Needless to say, it fulfilled all the dreams I had of getting a Watchmen sketch from Dustin and he was a totally awesome homeboy, so next time you see me with my book, remind me to show you. XOXO, Dustin. All night long.

NINJA TIME!

So, I haven't appropriately displayed my Ninja Sketchbook up to this point, so expect a more full-fledged posting at a later date. In the meantime, here's what I got at the show.

I've wanted to get as many CCS grads as possible in this book, so I broke into that goal with this introspective sketch from James Hindle:

ABOVE: JAMES HINDLE

And you all know I have a crush on JP Coovert's art. Luckily, James passed my book on to JP after he finished and JP knocked out this cartoony beauty:

ABOVE: JP COOVERT

Life is good.