Phoenix Comicon 2012

Happy Memorial Day to all seven of you. I hope everyone will be enjoying the unofficial start of Summer today. I’ll probably start up the grill later this afternoon. First, though, I wanted to share my family’s adventure from this weekend.

Where can you see realistic Star Wars scenery, Predator costumes, cool Steampunk  gear and massive Lego creations all under one roof? What do you mean you don’t know? Can’t you read the title of this post? Seriously. We’re obviously talking about Phoenix Comicon, the “signature pop-culture event of the southwest.” Not a bad way to spend your Memorial Day weekend.

Phoenix Comicon is a great show. A wide variety of things to see and do, for all ages. You can meet celebrities, learn how to build your own astromech droid, see amazing costumes, and speak to comic book authors and artists all in one weekend. Plenty of kid friendly events.  (Best of all, the people-watching is fantastic.)

We attended mainly because we wanted my daughter to have the chance to meet some artists. She has a bent towards art, and we’re encouraging her to develop that. Shows like Comicon are awesome for that. It’s also great for taking pictures with people in costumes, so she made time for both.

This year we made sure that she had a sketchbook with her, and she collected about twenty beautiful sketches from some very talented people. Everyone was very gracious and patient. She loved every minute of it.

The best story from the convention for us was when we went to a How To panel on Watercoloring. I figured it would be a great place for me to learn a little more about the supplies my daughter needs, and she’d get some inspiration. Well, it went a little further than that. The panelists were Chris Herndon and Jean Arrow, and both were excellent. Less than ten minutes in, my daughter raises her hand and asks if the audience (read: she) would be able to do any watercoloring during the panel. To their credit, the panelists didn’t even blink, and immediately invited her and another girl up on stage to get some hands-on training while they conducted the panel.

We had a great weekend, and we’ll be sure to head back up to Phoenix again next year. Thanks again to all of the volunteers that make it happen. Special thanks to the following artists for taking time with my kids:

Jean Arrow

Spike – Templar, AZ

Chris Herndon

Lar deSouza – Looking for Group (and more)