One of the biggest things we’re changing at conventions this year is how we do sketches.  For the first time, we are charging for them, but we’re also doing them a bit differently.  We now do fully inked sketches on colored paper and then add some highlights with a white poster paint Sharpie.  Above you can see some examples that Matt and I did before the con, and below some actual sketches that customers requested.  Everyone really seemed to enjoy the new format!

Hopefully we can do one for you someday!  (If you’re interested in commissioning a sketch, email me for details.)

Well, yet another HurleyCon has come and gone here in Joplin.  This year felt like a real step up for us in several respects.  It was the first time we were all four there all day (promoting books that we all four did big chunks of).  We needed two tables to contain it all. We had 18 different prints for sale this time (as opposed to 4 last year) and sold quite a few more.  We were approached by a promoter to be special guests at another con (more details on that soon!), and did about double the business of the year before!

We got to hang out with the usual great local artists (Jeremy Haun, Amber Stone, and Randy Rustin), swap books with the super-talented Kyle Strahm, and get to know Brian Koschak, a Springfield artist who has worked with Jeremy and currently draws the Star Wars: Clone Wars comic.  All good people.

As always, getting to meet current readers (and make new ones) is the best part of the show.  Several of you commented that you read this blog or recognized Evil Ain’t Easy, which was pretty dang cool to hear.  These shows are pretty much the highlight of our year, and we’re glad that turnout was once again good!

I just wanted to remind all of you who live anywhere near southwest Missouri that our local comic book convention is happening once again on Saturday, March 6.  As you can see on the flyer, the usual suspects of great artists will be there and, as usual… free admission!

We will have not one, but TWO tables of stuff for you at this con.  As mentioned before, we’ll be premiering Random Ink #3 and Sketchings #3 there.  In addition to our nine books that are in print (6 comics, 3 sketchbooks), we will also have large prints for sale and free bookmarks!  We’ll definitely be doing sketches again.  Doing those and meeting some of you face-to-face is always the highlight of the show for us.

It really is a great con that keeps getting bigger and better every year.  So if you live anywhere within driving distance, you should definitely try to make it.  (You can find directions here.)  Hope to see you there!

Whew… another great con. “We’ll never forget this one.” That’s what I said many times this weekend. Matt, Laura, and I drove up in the rain Saturday morning, despite the predictions that KC was in for a snowstorm later that day. We got setup, and things were pretty slow for the first hour. But after that we were plenty busy talking to people, selling books and prints, giving away bookmarks, and doing sketches for everyone who bought something. Everyone was worried about the turnout, but the con was pretty full most of the day, even as the snow started to fall outside.

We were lucky enough to get to sit by Matt Hawkins and Kyle Strahm, two local comics guys I knew from the Comic Creators Network. Below you can see Matt, along with a sketch of him that someone requested I draw when they bought a book.


Matt was there selling a new book collection of paper toys that he and others designed called Urban Paper. You should give it a look. Check out the awesomeness below (the close-up shows the one he designed)!


Kyle Strahm was cool enough to do a Rebuker sketch for me in his style. Definitely the freakiest version of any of my characters anyone has done. I love it!

And our buddy (and fellow Joplin Sketcher) Randy Rustin was there kickin’ out some crazy watercolors…

Of course, there were a ton of great costumes there. I think Laura’s favorite part of the con is getting pictures of all of them.




The snow starting falling really hard. Apparently even Cobra Commander had to call and get a ride…

The craziest part of the trip for us was leaving the con and trying to find a gas station, some food, and our hotel. Even though we were on a main road, the snow was still piled up about 6-8 inches. We eventually got to our hotel, only to be thwarted by the tiny hill of the parking lot. Much pushing and shoveling ensued, and we were rescued by a well-timed snowplow. We collapsed and dried out in our hotel room, and Matt and I finished up some sketches that people were coming back for the next day.
Sunday was warmer and sunny… the roads were no problem. We arrived back at the con well rested, only to find it was even busier! This was weird since usually Sunday is dead compared to Saturday. A very good kind of weird.

I think our favorite part of the whole con was meeting so many of you there. The response to our books was really great… everyone seemed to find something that appealed to them. Here’s some of the awesome people who bought our stuff…

This lady teaches teaches middle school Social Studies, and her favorite character is Wonder Woman. So of course she requested a sketch of Wonder Woman teaching Social Studies. I think she liked it.





And hey, even Ash likes our books! How cool is that?

Here’s a closer of view of some sketches we did…

By Seth:

By Matt:

So, once again this was a great con. We sold way more books than we had at any other event. We took 300 bookmarks with us and came back with none. This will definitely be a yearly tradition for us.

If you were there and stopped by… we really appreciate your support and encouragement. And we hope you stick around!

P.S. A few of you never came back for your requested sketch. If you can email me your name and what you requested, I’ll snail mail those to you.

Well, we will be at Planet Comicon in Kansas City tomorrow and Sunday. If you’re anywhere near there, we hope you brave the snow and make it out to it. It’s a dang fun show, and we’d love to see you there!

Check back here for con photos in a few days…

Yesterday’s Hurley Con was even more fun than last year. And last year was pretty dang fun. This year there was twice as much floor space and more than double the attendees. It’s turning into a really great con, especially considering the size of Joplin. All four of us were there. Above you can see (left to right) Matt Meyers, Elton Gahr, Dusty Roberts (in the back), and me.

This was Matt’s first ever time selling his stuff at a con, and he did great! His book, Decaying Death, was our best-selling book of the day. Not bad for your first book, huh?

In total, we had three new books to show off. Matt had his Sketchings #2, as well as the previously mentioned book. And all four of us worked on the new Random Ink #2, which was also our very first full-color comic. It sold well, and people really seemed to dig the cover.

We also had four posters to sell and ton of bookmarks that we gave away. Traffic was steady pretty much all day. A big “thank you” to all of you that stopped by! Some of you even mentioned this blog.

We did a ton of sketches all day long, since they were free with any purchase. Below you can see Matt sketching the villain from the upcoming Decaying Death #2. This is one of the best parts of the convention… getting these quick little assignments from people. Everything from our characters to Iron Man to an eyeball to a robotic elephant trapped in a water bottle. One of my students challenged me with that last one, believe it or not.
Overall, it felt like we took some big steps forward this year. More books, more stuff, better presentation, and more creators. We had a blast and the day seemed to fly by. Afterward, we got to hang out with some of the other local comics guys, and we talked about trying to do some more stuff together.

Don’t worry… online previews of all these new books I mentioned are on their way. Stay tuned.

Next up… Kansas City Planet Comicon!

We are barely a week away from our first convention of the year… Joplin’s own HURLEYCON. We’re getting everything together for our table there. Elton, Matt, Dusty, and I will all be there this time, along with seven total comics for you to check out. If you’re within driving distance, you should definitely try to make it. It’s free admission, and it has literally doubled in size from last year. Come by and say hi! If you mention this blog, you can even get a free sketch…

Speaking of that con, I wanted to thank Jason Hurley for mentioning me and my Cartoon Studio at the high school when he was interviewed recently on a podcast (at about the 3/4 mark). That was cool of him.

We also wanted to let you know that we’ll be attending Planet Comicon in Kansas City once again this year (March 28-29). This is the biggest show in the area, and a ton of great artists will be there. We’re looking forward to having a great time up there!

Last year’s con was very good… this year should be even better! Elton, Dusty, Matt, and I will definitely be there. We’ll have seven books to sell (four more than last year) and some other goodies. Our fellow Joplin sketcher Amber will be there, as well. More info on the convention can be found here at the Hurley’s Heroes site. If you’re anywhere near Joplin on March 7th, you should come. I mean, c’mon… it’s free!

I usually don’t like talking about stuff we’re working on until it’s actually done, but I wanted to let you all know that we’re really on the verge of some exciting things here. We’re about to release three new books in print (which include work from Dusty and Matt for the first time). Our website is about to get a drastic overhaul and streamlining. We’re going to put much, much more content up for you to enjoy for free. I’m working on one submission for Zuda Comics right now, and Elton and I are already planning another one, too.

Stick around… 2009 is going to be pretty dang cool!

Here are some more sketches I did for some of my students that bought some of our books. It’s always fun to take a crack at established characters. I slapped some color on the Iron Man. I was feeling inspired after watching the movie (which I highly recommend to all of you)!

These two were requested by a student who really likes cheese and tacos. A boy after my own heart.

For those of you that don’t know, Saturday May 3 is Free Comic Book Day across the country. The day you can walk into any comic book store and demand “Give me my free comics!” Well, as part of the event this year, we will be setup with a table at our local VINTAGE STOCK here in Joplin. We’ll be there (along with some other local comics people) selling comics, doing sketches, and giving away some mini-comics. So if you’re local… come by and see us!

And now for some new sketches:
This one was for a Beatles sketch challenge. It was inspired by the line “wearing the face that she keeps in the jar by the door… who is it for?” Sorry if it depresses you.

These two I did during Planet Comicon. I like how they turned out… drawin’ zombies is dang fun.