Imaginism Studios Blog: Comic Con 07 Rocked!

Kei: Thank You to everyone who came down to our booth at the con! It just gets bigger and bigger every year, I can't wait till the next. We're glad to say we had a successful con-- we sold out of almost all our books and prints! And what a great time we had hanging out with old and new friends.

We had dinner one night with 30 of our friends at this churrascaria called Rei do Gado, one of the best resturants in San Diego! As you can see from the bill we ate very well! If you ever swing by San Diego, you have to try this resturant, they have the best brasillian steaks in town!

Bobby: Honestly I had so much fun hanging out with everyone, it almost made me want to move to California!

For me, fondest memories were always at dinner. On Tuesday Kei and I arrived in San Diego and rented my favorite car (Mustang) and peeled down to the Hilton, checked in and went to Denny's. Had a nice quiet dinner and conversation and decided to go to Sea World! Animals always amaze me so the trip was off to a good start. I haven't been to see world for over 20 yrs!

Wednesday we met up with our ImagineFX friends that came all the way down from the UK and enjoyed a nice little meal at a swanky Chinese restaurant called "Red Pearl" I believe...

Then came Thursday night - Brazilian BBQ. How the heck did a little party of 10 grow so fast??
Here's a list of some of the lovely company we were lucky enough to dinner with that night:

Freedom fighter Alberto Ruiz and his lovely daughter Megan

Our good friend Dan Merisanu - great supporter of all independent art book publishers and all around nice guy

Octavio Rodriguez - Imagine Vin Disel meets Robin Mitchell... and then put a sketchbook in his hands.. hehehe. jk.

Sean "Cheeks" Galloway - My half-Taiwanese brother! First time I met him, he completely surprised me by speaking Chinese to me! Multi-talented indeed

Kandrix and Laurie - a couple of our fellow Canadians!

Matt Stewart - another awesome artist from Canada!

Francisco Herrera and his lovely bride to be

Our good friend Stephen Silver of course

Deanna Marsigliese - another awesome artist from Canada!

Martin Hsu - fantastic artist and designer!

Vin Teng - INCREDIBLE sculpter

Pascal Campion - Flash animating GENIUS!

Our buddy Patrick Morgan!

Our friend John Giang from ILM

Our friend from wayyy back Robin Mitchell and many many more.... my head is spinning just trying to remember everyone. Better stop before I throw up. I think I'm still full from all the steak. Anyhow it was wonderful to share a meal with such a talented group of people.

The next day our little crew (Dan, Robin, Deanna, Silver, Cook) ended up going out to Bella Luna with our new friends Donnachada, Scott Wright, Jeremy Bernstein and Morgan Kelly. They are part of the wildly talented animation team at Dreamworks. Can't wait to see Kungfu Panda! Later on that night we had the pleasure of even more company from Dreamworks Maggie Kang and Griselda Sastrawinata and their friends. Unfortunately Kei and I had to call it a night at 1:00am... we were exhausted that night.

Saturday was a very long day at the con. By the end of the day my throat was getting a bit sore from talking so much. It was nice to share a meal with a nice dinner with Justin Ridge and his crew, Alberto, Matt Stewart, Silver and Heidi, Kandrix and Laurie. Afterwards, it became party time at the Marriott. I don't drink very often at all but the vibe was great that night so Kei and I decided to party it up a bit! Good times indeed.

Sunday we had dinner with our buddies Dan Merisanu and Robin Mitchell and our new friends Pascal Campion's crew. Afterwards, it has become a bit of a tradition to get together with Robin and reminisced about old times and new times and took a few minutes to just sit around and be thankful for all that is good in our lives. A very nice ending to a great trip.

The collection..
There were so many beautiful books this year. Too bad we couldn't take even more with us!
Out of alllll the books we received, here's my top ten list:

Chris Sanders - this one was only $10! I couldn't believe the amount of amazing sketches in this book. It is a MUST HAVE.

Bill Presing - let me put it to you this way... we bought 3 copies because it's THAT good. If anyone is wondering who got his number 1 of 100 limited edition verisons... it was me hehehe... Kei got number 21 of 100.

Jakob Jensen - Love love loved the humor in this one! Beautifully drawn and superb sense of humor. Genius!

The Ancient Book of Myth and War - I got the limited edition. It's wonderful to have an original piece from Scott Morse, but not only that... the book is signed by all four contributing artists - Morse, Romano, Shank and Wragg. Beautiful illustrations!

Dean Yeagle - Mandy's Shorts. Always loved Dean's Mandy drawings. Incredible poses! But this one is his best one yet! Hardcover and in full color this time!

Donnachada Daly's Crush - Here's a real gem! There's true genius in his simplicity.

Pascal Campion - There's so much beautiful artwork in there that you really have to slow it down and stare at every image to really appreciate it.

Gabriele Pennacchioli - AMAZING storytelling!

Robin Mitchell was nice enough to give me a book even though he knew he didn't bring enough. Wonderful drawings!

Louie del Carmen - is in my top ten list as well but his Steel Noodles book got me too interested and ended too fast. What a tease!! So now I'm going to have to bug him to get the next issue done.

Martin Hsu - Wonderful illustration and style!

Humberto Ramos - Awesome style, awesome artist and all around nice guy!

Francisco Herrera - Amazing comic book sketchbook!

Patrick Morgan - Loved the robots!

Kevin Dart - his first book! A must have.

Alberto Ruiz - These are always automatic purchases for me. Love this man's art!