Mighty Nomad Gallery Pics!

The gallery was literally right next door to the Sony studios in L.A. so before we went in, we were standing in awe of the gigantic lot. The movie posters on the sides of the buildings were so huge and Genevieve commented that their size and epic-ness could make an "Ernest Goes to..." movie look good.

It was pretty quiet in the first hour or so, with just a few people coming in and quietly appreciating the works...but as the night went on, we got a pretty good crowd in. A lot of really talented animated film industry people, friends and family, and some game developers too. Though I'm not in the industry, it was very inspiring to talk to some of these Dreamworks veterans who were so nice and gave us such great insight into their work and companies. I'll let Genevieve share her own thoughts and feelings but I think it's fair to say that she was fairly starstruck by some of the talent in attendance. =)

The pieces on the display were a great mix of styles. Since so many of those showing at the gallery were animators, there was A LOT of character stuff and all of it was great. There were also some memorable scenery pieces that looked like they were plucked right out of a classic 2D feature. Genevieve was humbled to be in the presence of so many talented artists but I was proud that her piece was able to stand up with the best of them.

I didn't mingle as much as Genevieve but her gallery piece was right next to the snack table so I gorged myself with junk food in order to surreptitiously overhear the candid comments of people viewing her "Snowball War". Here are some of the anonymous comments:

• "There are so many little stories in it..."
• "It's really fun and festive!"
• "It's sooo funny!"
• "Who is this creepy Asian guy standing next to us?"
• "Is he even going to wipe his mouth after that handful of Chex Mix? Gross."

Special thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Craig and Meredith Harris for being such wonderful hosts and for inviting Genevieve to show at the gallery in the first place. We had a great time!

...oh and here are the pics!

Artists and attendees mingle as a young girl Twitters:
"It's SUCH a drag..." Just kidding. =)

See that dude in the back to the right of the guy with the hat?
That's Genevieve's head right above his shoulder.

Some girls trying to avoid eye contact me. Apparently,
"Hey, baby...I'm a comic book writer," does NOT get you chicks.

Marcelo Vignali (2nd from left) with his family and
Tang Heng (5th) with his fiancee' Noelle Triaureau (4th).

Genevieve and Craig Harris strike poses in front of "Snowball War".

Genevieve with my brother this time in front of her gallery piece.
He got the good looks and I got...hmmm, well...he got the good looks.

The table where people could purchase smaller sized prints.
The contest prize is the larger version you see on the right there.

Genevieve mingling with animators Corey and Jesse from Insomniac.

Tuna Bora with Genevieve in front of Tuna's gallery work.
Tuna awesomely gave her gallery piece to Genevieve!

Here's Genevieve and Craig holding each others prints.

Finally, here's the two of us with Craig and his wife Meredith
after the show was almost packed up. Thanks, guys!

P.S. The contest details will be posted on the blog in a day or two so if you want a chance to win that print, check back later this week!

- Joseph

Win a "Snowball War" Print!

Hey IITS Readers,

As soon as Genevieve sends me the pictures from the Mighty Nomad Gallery, I'm going to post them here but...medium story short, we had a great time and met lots of cool people! However, I also wanted to let our readers know that we're going to hold a contest sometime this week and the winner will receive a free 19"x13" print of the IITS Snowball War signed by Genevieve...so keep watching this space for the contest! Hint: Your creativity and knowledge of IITS will be challenged! Be prepared!

- Joseph

Mighty Nomad Gallery is this Saturday!

If you're in the L.A. area and want to check out the art of Genevieve and a lot of great artists, consider attending the Mighty Nomad Gallery this Saturday! Here's a list of those showing and here are the gallery details:

When:
Saturday, December 5th, 5pm - 9pm

Where:
Los Angeles Meeting and Event Center
10601 W. Washington Blvd,
Los Angeles, CA 90232

In addition to the originals, all artists will have affordable prints for sale (including the snowball war print we previewed in the last post) for all their pieces. If you're in the area, drop on by! =)

- Joseph

Mighty Nomad Gallery Preview

Hello IITS Readers!

As a Thanksgiving surprise, I've shared images from Genevieve's Islands in the Sky themed gallery piece which she generously allowed me to preview here on the site. Back in July, when she was invited to show at the Mighty Nomad Gallery, I was proud and rather pleased that without my urging, she chose to use IITS characters as the subject for her piece. Going with the gallery's seasonal theme of "Snowball Fight", Genevieve and I brainstormed on some ideas together and the end result is a fun look at what the holidays are like when Kayli and Gordo are around.

If you're in the Los Angeles area and would like to see the the piece in person, as well as the works of many other talented artists, here is a link to the gallery details. The piece itself is a 25x30 framed Giclee print on Hahnmuhle Museum Etching paper and while the following tiny images don't really do the actual piece justice, we still wanted to share them with our IITS Readers. Enjoy!

(Click the images to see the larger version!)

Kayli is ambushed on her way to deliver some treats to her forest friends. Her enemies? Gordo, Manty, and...inexplicably, a trained baby arctic seal.

You can almost see a cross-section of Kayli's head,
revealing cob web covered gears...slooowly turning.

(thick Brooklyn accent)
"Yer killin' me here, lady!"

Hardworking patriots doing their part or opportunistic squirrels profiting from the bravery of the field mice? You decide.

The resistance is, in fact, futile.

Babs & Buster: The Final Chapter

Genevieve and I would like to wish all our readers a Happy Thanksgiving...whether or not all of them actually take part in the yearly gorging on turkey flesh. Have a great weekend, everyone!

P.S. If you're interested, yes...the framed print is available for purchase. Please contact myself or Genevieve for further details after December 5th. At some point in the future, Genevieve may opt to make smaller size, high quality prints available in a limited print run. We'll post more information here as it becomes available.

- Joseph

We'd Still Love to Do This Someday

Way back before we even started work in earnest on the first issue, Genevieve and I wanted to create character designs for each of the three layers, basically...main characters in the Islands in the Sky storyline that we'd introduce as the comic developed. The idea was to give a male and female pair from each layer their own promotional poster. Each pair would exemplify the design aesthetics of their layer and be positioned on or around an airship or glider...also from their layer.

Each poster would be strong enough to stand on its own, however, by making each poster wide and short, you could "stack" the posters...putting Overworld on top, Central in the middle, and Coreworld on the bottom. Naturally, Kayli and Gordo would represent Central but we never got around to fleshing out the designs for the other two layers and it may be some time before the story even reaches the other layers or has a chance to introduce those characters.

Still, it's one of the promotional items that Genevieve and I still want to do so if ever the stars align so that we can commit more time to this project, well...we can hope. =)

- Joseph

Still working...

Hello IITS Readers,

Genevieve is wrapping up work on her gallery submission for The Mighty Nomad and I've been busy with my hobby of working on a game design doc for an IITS video game. The current plan is for Genevieve to take a break on IITS work till the end of the year but during that time, we'll be doing pre-production planning for our comic work, then go into full production in the new year, and ideally...hit all our goals for WonderCon 2010.

Hopefully, Genevieve can unveil her IITS themed gallery piece next week on our site. Keep an eye out for it! =)

- Joseph

Still plodding along...

I almost forgot to post an update this week...but that's actually good news, in a way. Genevieve and I have been both really busy working on things related to the IITS property. I've been talking to different people about how to grow the franchise and one of the things we really want to get done is to have a real website...but not enough things have fallen into place just yet. We'll have to plan what sort of content the launch of the site will have and make sure it doesn't conflict too much with work on the comic. Anyway, hopefully I'll have more to share sometime next week...

- Joseph