Every year my husband and I spend most of my San Diego Comic-Con browsing the booths of artists on the show floor. Without fail, we purchase more art than we have room for—yet we always manage to fit on a wall somehow—and I find a new set of artists to add to my list of favorites. Joining the list with all the wonderful people I showcased last year are the artists I’ve discovered at SDCC this year. Here they are, in no particular order:
Otis Frampton
Otis has a long list of projects he’s worked on, but I’m here to tell you about ABCDEFGeek. They are a series of hilariously clever, ultra-geeky alphabet picture books that won’t fail to make you chuckle. My favorites are “C is for Canceled” with an image of Jayne, or “I is for Indispensable (Also Irony)” picturing a Redshirt.
Sara Richard
Here’s a fresh take on some old favorites! On Sara’s website you’ll find just about every geek fandom represented—with a unique twist—like Back to the Future, Dragon Ball Z, Doctor Who, and many more.
Chrissie Zullo
Chrissie has a lot of comic-based art, and rightfully so, since she has worked as an illustrator for DC, Dark Horse, IDW, and more. However, I was especially fond of her Kiki and Nausicaa prints pictured here.
Alina Chau
Alina has some whimsical watercolor art for both adult and children. She has worked in the animation industry on small little projects you probably haven’t heard of like, oh, Star Wars: The Clone Wars. (Yes, that was sarcasm.) She now works on her own projects, and I’m glad because she has a big variety of prints and other items in her shop to show for it.
Travis Hanson
Travis has some really great kid books, and he should know seeing as he has five kids of his own. My husband and I purchased Adventures for a Lazy Afternoon, a compilation art book with an inspiring text flowing through it about the power of inspiration, creativity, and good ol’ determination. He offered to make us a drawing on the first page and we described our two girls. Travis got them pretty dead on, all while holding a conversation with us and quite surprisingly not looking down at the paper all that often—how does he do that?! Be sure to check out his picture book about teddy bear pirates too, because teddy bear pirates.
Patrick Ballesteros
Patrick can turn any geeky fandom into a scene of boisterous kids. He’s all about bringing fun into art, evoking nostalgia, and embracing your inner child. He has a huge series of “25 Cent Wonders” featuring our favorite geek icons on themed kiddie rides. Fun? Check!
Finni Chang
I didn’t get to meet Finni first hand because I decided to take a break while my husband went to visit the Artists’ Alley one last time. He bought one print from her during that time and spent the rest of the day browsing her website, umming and ahhing about which print he’d buy next. Finni is especially fond of Zelda, and we love her “Zeldamon” series—that would be Zelda and Pokemon merged together. Win.
Patara
If you can say no to your impulse for buying these super cute prints to decorate your child’s bedroom, you’re a stronger person than me. Patara is an artist at the studio Vuduberi, who specializes in the adorable and whimsical from prints to games and toys. I especially liked the print pictured here with the little girl stuffing pandas in her closet. I can’t look at it without thinking too many pandas is a good problem to have.
Kei Acedera
If you’re into Alice in Wonderland, look no further than Kei. Her illustrations cover other subjects too, and all of it is intricate and delightfully strange. She is the art director at the Imaginism Studios, home of many other very talented artists worth checking out.
This is it for my list this year. There’s always more talented and ingenious artists than I can actually see while at SDCC, but these were the ones that caught my eye. Did you also attend? Please share your favorite finds and experiences in the comment section, I’d love to hear them!
