{"id":128,"date":"2007-12-03T10:00:33","date_gmt":"2007-12-03T16:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chriswisniaarts.com\/blog\/?p=128"},"modified":"2013-07-04T21:48:34","modified_gmt":"2013-07-05T03:48:34","slug":"118-more-artist-adventures-san-diego-2006","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chriswisniaarts.com\/blog\/archives\/128","title":{"rendered":"118.  MORE ARTIST ADVENTURES, San Diego 2006"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chriswisniaarts.com\/images\/blogimage.jpg?resize=144%2C216\" onmouseout=\"undefined\" onmouseover=\"undefined\" title=\"undefined\" align=\"left\" height=\"216\" width=\"144\" \/>LOOKING FOR ONE ARTIST, AND FINDING ANOTHER<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.3em\">A couple years before, I\u2019d stumbled onto Alex Maleev, doing sketches at the booth of the art dealer who represents him.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.3em\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.3em\">Alex had told me to speak with his rep about a pin-up, and so I did at the convention, and then I emailed later, and never received a reply.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.3em\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.3em\">The following year, I found the art dealer again, and was told Alex would not be attending the con.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.3em\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.3em\">I poked over yet again this year, and his rep told me that Alex was supposed to come, but that his wife was pregnant, and he didn\u2019t make it after all.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.3em\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.3em\">That will be a nice ice-breaker, if he comes back next year, because we\u2019ll both have become dads within a few weeks of each other, and both our kids will be a year old.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\"><!-- google_ad_client = \"ca-pub-5034466104138562\"; \/* 336x280 Large Rectangle *\/ google_ad_slot = \"3084999835\"; google_ad_width = 336; google_ad_height = 280; \/\/--> <\/script><br \/>\n<script src=\"http:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/show_ads.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\"> <\/script><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">So when I was getting this info from the rep, he said, \u201cbut Esad Ribic is doing sketches this week.\u201d<span>\u00a0 <\/span>I didn\u2019t know who he was, but when he pointed at some of his work and said, \u201cMarvel cover artist, and artist on Loki,\u201d then I knew.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>I thought he would be pretty expensive, but I came back looking for him.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>He had just left for a cigarette break, so I waited.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>When he came back, it turns out he hadn\u2019t left for a cigarette break yet, and he had come back to get his cigarettes, so I asked if I could walk out with him.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>We stood outside the convention, and I told him what I wanted, and he agreed to do it.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>He said his schedule was full, until the last day of the con.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>He said to check back at five pm on that day.<span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">The next day, when I realized that the convention closed at five, I went and told him.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>He said, \u201cWell\u2026then come back at 4:30.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>Since it was the last day, I was scrambling around and running late, and a little nervous about getting the pin-up.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>But when I got there, he was still working, and had actually finished mine.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>He charged me very reasonably for a convention-style sketch.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>I thought he drew one of the most sinister monsters anyone has given me so far.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>He was so friendly, too.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>When I asked him to take a photo with me, I loved how he put his arm around my neck and stuck his chest out.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h1>MORE ADVENTURES WITH THE TIE HATER<\/h1>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">When Jim Steranko saw us, he mentioned to Elizabeth that I\u2019m the guy who emails him every six months to ask about a commission.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>He did his usual round of insults about my tie, but significantly toned down.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>I felt like either I was growing on him, or else I was just getting used to his personality and better understood that he\u2019s just kidding around.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>I wasn\u2019t nearly as stressed as I\u2019ve been around him in the past.<\/p>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\"><!-- google_ad_client = \"ca-pub-5034466104138562\"; \/* 336x280 Large Rectangle *\/ google_ad_slot = \"3084999835\"; google_ad_width = 336; google_ad_height = 280; \/\/--> <\/script><br \/>\n<script src=\"http:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/show_ads.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\"> <\/script><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">I asked if I could take my picture with him, and he wouldn\u2019t let me.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>The next day, I saw him take a picture with some bombshell-looking woman in a fancy dress and high heels.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>Elizabeth called him on it, and teased him, \u201cJim, what gives?<span>\u00a0 <\/span>You said you don\u2019t let anyone take pictures with you, but we saw you with that woman.\u201d<span>\u00a0 <\/span>He knew he was caught, but just kind of shrugged the comment aside.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">That night, after the convention had closed, I was just walking by his booth on my way back to mine.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>I waved hello, and he pulled me aside and asked if I had a cell phone.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>He got on the phone with I assume his wife or girlfriend, talked for a few minutes, and finally handed my phone back, told me he was eternally grateful, and bustled on to his next engagement, of which was clearly not invited to participate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">I went over to bug him some more the next day, and I watched someone ask if Jim would sign his book.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>Jim said, \u201cYeah, okay,\u201d then realized he wanted to conditionalize it.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cWell,\u201d he said, \u201cit depends on the book.\u201d<span>\u00a0 <\/span>The kid showed him the book he\u2019d brought, and I think it was some kind of compilation or listing of great artists, which I assume mentioned Jim.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>Jim kind of looked at the book to figure out what it was, and then he just told the kid he wouldn\u2019t sign it, and then he ignored the kid, who kind of stood there for a minute, confused.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>Like, is this a joke?<span>\u00a0 <\/span>And he finally wandered off.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>I guess Jim didn\u2019t want to sign that book!<\/p>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\"><!-- google_ad_client = \"ca-pub-5034466104138562\"; \/* 336x280 Large Rectangle *\/ google_ad_slot = \"3084999835\"; google_ad_width = 336; google_ad_height = 280; \/\/--> <\/script><br \/>\n<script src=\"http:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/show_ads.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\"> <\/script><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Jim and Elizabeth and I spoke a fair amount, here and there.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>I think he\u2019s finally warming to us.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>We talked about how we live on the West Coast, and he mentioned he flies into San Francisco quite a bit.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>He talked about meeting with Francis every now and then.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>I can only assume he\u2019s talking about the esteemed Mr. Coppola.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>We told him that if he were ever in San Francisco, it\u2019s only an hour or so away, and we would make the drive if he would meet us for dinner.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>At the end of the con, Elizabeth asked if he was serious about letting us have dinner with him next time he\u2019s in San Francisco, and he leaned up close to her and said, Yes!<span>\u00a0 <\/span>That would be a hell of a night to have dinner with Steranko some time!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LOOKING FOR ONE ARTIST, AND FINDING ANOTHER A couple years before, I\u2019d stumbled onto Alex Maleev, doing sketches at the booth of the art dealer who represents him.\u00a0 Alex had told me to speak with his rep about a pin-up, and so I did at the convention, and then I emailed later, and never received [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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at the booth of the art dealer who represents him.\u00a0 Alex had told me to speak with his rep about a pin-up, and so I did at the convention, and then I emailed later, and never received&hellip;","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chriswisniaarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chriswisniaarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chriswisniaarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chriswisniaarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chriswisniaarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chriswisniaarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chriswisniaarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chriswisniaarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chriswisniaarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}