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Phil Holland was always fascinated in the world of movie making. Since 1999 while at R&H he has contributed in some way on over 60 feature films. He also freelances as a conceptual illustrator and commercial photographer in his spare time. Phil is a featured artist at ConceptArt.org and enjoys contributing to the growing creative community through teaching and mentoring. He is currently working on getting his own projects into production while exploring his interests in directing and other creative fields.

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I used to buy comics years ago. I used to be the weekly guy. Go to the local comic shop and grab a handful of comics from my pull list then race home and read them. For whatever reason this activity seemed to stop. Why? Mostly because my favorite creators were either leaving the industry or just finishing up series and didn’t look like they would be on anything for a while. I did notice a lack of quality books coming out as well. Eventually purchasing comic books just seemed to fade away.

So then why on earth do you still go to the Comic Con? There’s three simple answers to that question.

1. Work

I am an illustrator and like many other artists my main reason to go to the Comic Con is to extend my feelers and see who is hiring. Oddly enough Comic Con seems to make this easy by setting up a portfolio review area for aspiring artists (E3 does not have this). Besides several comic power houses and card companies other reviewers on hand this year consisted of names like Midway, Sony, and Lucas Arts.

Wait a second! Those guys don’t make comic books. Or at least not it’s not their primary business. What’s the deal?

These game companies are recruiting for talent. They need artists. I didn’t spend a large amount of time in the portfolio review area, but the majority of artists up there did not have a “design” portfolio. Most had comic sequentials and most seemed to just be looking for advice on how to improve their work. Not a bad thing at all, but something worth noting. There were professionals who had full blown portfolios and did indeed want to grab some work and they were certainly in the right place.

The other way to land a gig at the con (and really the only way I’ve had success with in the last 6 years) is by networking.

Going out on to the show floor and actually (gasp) talking to other people. Showing your work, dropping business cards, making new business buddies. I don’t do sequential work (or I should say it’s not my primary interest) so I target people who need illustrations. Card work, covers, design work. There’s smaller gigs you can get out of it as well. Colorists seem to always be in demand and if you are a web designer there’s always somebody at the con who wants one.

Looking around you can see the potential. I talked to people from Blur, Weta, Fox, IDW, Midway, Sony, Lucas Arts, DC, Marvel, Wizards of the Coast, and more. All of these people needed artists, writers, modelers, animators. It’s just a matter of talking to them and seeing what they are looking for. If there ever was something that seemed to interest me I’d give them my card or show them some work.

Talking to companies and professionals in a casual way could certainly be considered a talent.

There is this one “thing” that is never really taught in school that is really needed in these situations. People skills. I see a lot of cold portfolio drops and extremely eager people (Like OMG! Lucas Arts!) who seem to puzzle me. An unprofessional attitude and unprepared mental state could cost you the job no matter how good you are. Just approach people the right way. Get to know them and what they do. Do you think you’d want to work with these people? Do you think you are the right man/women/alien for this job? They are there looking for help and you might be able to provide that. It’s up to you to inform them.

2. Artists and Friends

Bah! Enough business talk. I’m here to look at pretty pictures and hang out with some buddies too. I usually find myself running about Artist’s Alley and other small press booths looking for something that catches my eye. Ton’s of individual sketchbooks were available this year from bigger names like Jeff Scott Campbell, Ashley Wood, and Adam Hughes to smaller lesser known names like the Sketchbook Sessions Group and Celia Calle.

There’s a few artists that I’ve met a few times or worked with that I always enjoy seeing. Also a lot my friends seem to be artists (go figure). Jon Foster’s work inspires me still to this day and he’s one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met. I’ve been running into Brandon Peterson and Frank Cho more and more often these days and they are both hilarious dudes. Eating lunch, sketching, and just hanging out with Mike May and The Internest’s Alan Tew was also a real treat. Never really met those guys before, but they all have been around in the same circles more or less and it’s nice to meet them. Yeah, I know. Sounds like I’m name dropping or something. These are the personal experiences that I take with me after the event.

Besides the actual con artists flocked to the lobby of the Marriot Hotel on Friday. I’d say there were around 85 artists that night sketching until the early hours. Lot’s of fun. Lot’s of bad humor. Lot’s of strange artwork.

3. The Surprises!

The last thing that I go to the con for is difficult to explain. There’s just always these things that you really didn’t expect to see or do while at the con.

This year a couple of artist seminars stood out to me. There’s always a ton of seminars or just meetings upstairs that cover topics from “breaking into writing for television” to strange screenings of bizarre anime films. Even Tenacious D played show this year.

I was more interested artist demos and workshops. I attended Ron Lemen’s and Jeff Watt’s head portrait painting demo. Although I’ve seen a lot of this before from Ron’s teaching it’s nice to have a refresher. Another pleasant surprise was Marshall Vandruff’s presentation on the artist’s sketchbook. He talked a lot about emotions and how life influences your work. He showed some fantastic samples from his sketchbooks.

Aside from all that fun I really enjoyed some random encounters. Bumping into people like Mike Mignola and Stan Lee away from the con and having the ability to sit and talk with them about life, creativity, and success is something I imagine you can only do at the Comic Con.

These were just my experiences. There’s a million other things to do and see at the con that I just didn’t do because of a lack of time. The Masquerade Ball, signings, movie panels, waiting in line for exclusive toys, etc. There’s a lot to accomplish in a very short time. And with over 100,000 people this year there were certainly a lot of lines that made that time much shorter than in should be.

The San Diego Comic Convention is the biggest comic convention in the country. Whether you read comics or not I feel that there is something there for everybody. Give it a chance and you’ll be astounded by the talent and the fun things you’ll be able to find.