Category: Events

The Spectrum 20 jury convened in Kansas City on Saturday, March 2. I was there to help out and took some pictures throughout the day.

Each artwork entry is set out on a table and is accompanied by a cup with a small hole at its base. If a judge likes the piece, he or she drops in a unique colored bean that is identified with that person. In this way duplication by one judge is avoided. The bean also remains hidden from view by the other judges. A majority vote of three or more beans marks the art for inclusion into Spectrum 20. The judges are discouraged from talking to one another to allow them to make a genuine anonymous vote without any outside influence or encouragement. This keeps things honest and fair.

Here’s the sculptor, Tim Bruckner, who stayed enthused throughout the day.

Here are Tim Kirk (right) and Michael Whelan (left) viewing entries.

Mark Nelson sees something he likes.

From left to right: Irene Gallo, Mark Nelson, Michael Whelan, Tim Bruckner and Tim Kirk discuss the works considered for the silver and gold awards for each category.

The Spectrum 20 judging is complete. This group got along exceptionally well. From left to right: Tim Bruckner, Mark Nelson, Irene Gallo, Michael Whelan, Cathy Fenner, Tim Kirk and Arnie Fenner.

There are more pictures, and a few videos, plus details about the day that can be found at the Spectrum Fantastic Art website and Facebook page. Also, they have a listing of who is being considered for the awards. (See the links below.)

I’m anxious to see who won the awards at Spectrum Fantastic Art Live 2 and the works that make it into the book this fall!

Enjoy,

John

John Fleskes
Flesk Publications
Text and photograph copyright © 2013 John Fleskes. All rights reserved.

Links:
Spectrum Fantastic Art
Spectrum Fantastic Art on Facebook
Spectrum Fantastic Art Live

Flesk Publications will be at the Emerald City ComicCon this weekend. Our booth number is 105. This will be our first time set up at this show. I visited the event last year and enjoyed myself enough to decide to sign up for this year. I like the strong focus on the artists, good vibe of the show and the beautiful city of Seattle. If it goes well you can expect to see us there more often.

I won’t be making the trip, however Jonathan Leveck will be running our space. I already know he will make me proud and represent the Flesk name and the artists we publish well. He can fill you in on the latest titles and what’s coming out in the near future. There will be a wide assortment of Flesk books, including some copies of the original large format of Bruce Timm’s Naughty and Nice as well as the signed 2012 Teaser and Big Pocket editions. Bruce Timm can be found at his table J-16, which is not too far from us.

We’ll have some freebie flyers and catalogs too. Stop on by and make sure Jonathan is working. Send me a picture of him sleeping and I’ll ship you a free book worth up to $50.00!

There will be some more artist friends of ours at the show that I would like to point out. We are all grouped in the same location. (The hip place to be, obviously.)

Brom will be at booth #203, which is just a short walk away. He can fill you in on his The Art of Brom book and share the good news about it going to the printer this week.

Terry and Rachel Dodson can be found at table J-14. They will have original art and the Bombshells 1, 5 and 6 sketchbooks available.

Richard and Wendy Pini have a table at E-09. The secret is just coming to light that I am working with Richard and Wendy on two new books, The Art of Elfquest and Wendy Pini: The Line of Beauty. Free flyers will be provided at both of our booths. These books are in the early stages of development and I am very excited to share more details in the months to come.

One of my all-time favorites, Mike Mignola, will be there. His space is L-11, all the way on the other side of the convention center.

Also, another fun guy and excellent artist, Aaron Lopresti will be close by at J-15.

I hope you all have a good time. I’ll miss being there, but by not going it lets me focus on getting “The Art of Brom off to the printer and keep it on schedule for our June release date.

Enjoy,

John

John Fleskes
Flesk Publications
Text and photographs copyright © 2013 John Fleskes. Artwork © 2013 their respective artist. All rights reserved.

Links:
Emerald City ComicCon

It seems like my mind is always on books and events six months to one year in the future. It’s not unusual to plan this far in advance when working out the timing for a book release or the advance travel plans and artist commitments for a show. Here is my update on the shows where Flesk will be exhibiting this year.

Emerald City Comic-Con, March 1-3, 2013. There will be a Flesk booth, but unfortunately I will not be making the show. I have a prior commitment going on that same weekend. Jonathan Leveck will be manning the booth. I’ll make sure there will be some good books available and free goodies for you to pick up. Seattle is a terrific destination city and the guest list for the show is solid. I’ll miss being there. Terry and Rachel Dodson, Mike Mignola, Richard and Wendy Pini, and Brom will be at the show.

WonderCon, March 29-31, 2013. I had to cancel a Flesk booth for this show due to a prior engagement during that same week. I’ve been going to WonderCon since 1994 and will miss being there.

Spectrum Fantastic Art Live, May 17-19, 2013. I am not missing this show! I have our Flesk island booth arranged again. Confirmed artists that will be at the Flesk space are Brom (Friday and Saturday only), Bill Carman, Craig Elliott, Gary Gianni, Mike Mignola and Mark Schultz. If you can only make one show this year, this is it. It is all about the artists.

Big Wow ComicFest, May 18-19, 2013. This show overlaps with the Spectrum show. I’ll be in Kansas City this weekend. I will have a second Flesk crew running this booth in San Jose.

Comic-Con International, July 18-21, 2013. I’ll have our usual spot in San Diego. Brom will be making an appearance at our booth, along with the new Art of Brom book. Also, Mark Schultz and his new art book collection will be at our spot. More goodies to be announced closer to the show date.

Rose City Comic-Con, September 21-22, 2013, Portland, OR. This is put on by the same organization as the Emerald City Comic-Con. We enjoyed ECCC so much we decided to try this show out. It’s a good excuse to visit one of my favorite cities, Portland!

Alternative Press Expo, October 12-13, 2013 in San Francisco, CA. Always a fun show!

Strip Festival Breda, October 26-27, 2013, The Netherlands. This will be our third trip to Breda. This show, the organizers and our friends there, and the country are amazing. I can’t wait to go back. So far, thanks to the Breda organization, those traveling to the show and will be signing at the Flesk stand are Terry and Rachel Dodson, Mark Schultz, Jim Silke and Thomas Yeates. We should also get an opportunity to spend plenty of time with Petar Meseldzija. More news as we get closer to the date.

I’ve been asked if we will add more shows to our schedule. The answer is that while I wish we could, the time and expense of being away from the office does not make it possible to add more appearances. Even a two day show eats up a week of preparation time in advance, and a few days of catch up when I return. A show like Comic-Con can easily take two weeks of time. I have to carefully gauge how much time a show is taking away from book production. At the moment I have a queue of books ready to get done and my focus will be on them until I go to the Spectrum show.

I hope to see you at one of these shows.

Enjoy,

John

John Fleskes
Flesk Publications
Text copyright © 2013 John Fleskes. All rights reserved.

Links:
Big Wow ComicFest
Rose City Comic-Con
Alternate Press Expo
Emerald City Comic-Con
Spectrum Fantastic Art Live
Comic-Con International
Strip Festival Breda

The opening reception for “Illustrating Modern Life: The Golden Age of American Illustration from the Kelly Collection” is this Saturday, January 12 from 5-7:00pm. This exhibit culls the best works from Richard Kelly’s collection for public view. The event runs through March 31, 2013 and is located at the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art located on the Pepperdine University campus in Malibu, California.

Kelly’s collection focuses on American illustration from the 1890s through the 1930s. Premium examples from Dean Cornwell, J.C. Leyendecker, Howard Pyle, Norman Rockwell, N.C. Wyeth and a wide assortment of other legendary artists will be on view.

Richard’s generosity in sharing his private collection and tireless work to enrich, preserve and promote the field of illustration is inspiring.

The museum will have on offer a 112-page hardbound exhibit catalog with the same title available for $40.00. I worked with the museum director, Michael Zakian, to package the book. All of the works hung in the museum are inside, plus a handful of extra pieces. It also contains an excellent essay written by Michael, and an interview with Richard Kelly conducted by David Apatoff. I’m proud of my involvement with the book, along with book designer Randall Dahlk and copy editor Martin Timins.

I hope to see you at the grand opening.

Enjoy,

John

John Fleskes
Flesk Publications
Text copyright © 2013 John Fleskes. All rights reserved.

Link:
Weisman Museum of Art website

Craig Elliott demonstrated a live portrait painting utilizing a live model at the Alternative Press Expo on Sunday, October 14, 2012. This was done at my Flesk Publications booth and ran from 1:00 to 5:00 pm. I took a series of pictures, a few of which I would like to share.

Enjoy,

John

John Fleskes
Flesk Publications
text copyright © 2012 Flesk Publications. All rights reserved.

Link:
“The Art of Craig Elliott” from Flesk Publications
Craig Elliott website

 

Warren Chang gave a free portrait painting demonstration yesterday at the Pacific Grove Art Center in Pacific Grove, CA. Warren took questions during the session providing the viewers with an intimate experience of his approach to painting.

I took pictures throughout the process, which I am sharing here. Jonathan Leveck came with me and we also filmed and recorded sound of his demonstration for a future time-lapse video that we will post on the Flesk Publications website once we get a chance to put it together.

Warren will be giving a  3 day workshop on January 6-8, 2013 at the Pacific Grove Art Center. Those interested can visit Warren Chang’s website for more information.

Enjoy,

John

John Fleskes
Flesk Publications
text copyright © 2012 Flesk Publications. All rights reserved.

Link:
Warren Chang website
“Warren Chang: Narrative Paintings” book from Flesk Publications

We had a terrific time at the Alternative Press Expo (APE) in San Francisco last weekend. We doubled our space to three tables this year. The show organizers were kind enough to accommodate my request to expand and keep me in the same spot, which is a great area right near the front as people walk in.

Mark Schultz, William Stout and Craig Elliott joined us, and Warren Chang made a surprise visit on Saturday. Between all of the artists, Flesk crew and books we were packed tightly into our space.

William Stout flew in for the day on Saturday. Besides talking with fans and signing autographs, we managed to squeeze in some time to map out a schedule for his next book that we hope to have available in the summer or fall of 2013. This collection will encompass his above-ground comics work. (We will be skipping his underground comics work in this book.) More news on this project will be shared later this year.

I had a few people ask me if I was disappointed about the APE show and New York Comic-Con running on the same weekend, which would prevent me from doing both shows. Without hesitation I would much prefer to exhibit at APE. We continue to do very well at APE and the people visiting our booth are hip and sophisticated. Another reason is how friendly the staff at APE is and the amount of care they put into the show to make it all about the artists and creators. The APE show is a perfect venue for new or aspiring artists to have an opportunity to place himself/herself into a show setting and learn the ropes of self-promotion. The amount of creativity and good energy in the air is something I am pleased to be a part of.

Our top selling book at the show was Naughty and Nice: The Good Girl Art of Bruce Timm, followed by The Art of Craig Elliott. Thanks to everyone who stopped by and supported us!

Enjoy,

John

John Fleskes
Flesk Publications
text copyright © 2012 Flesk Publications. All rights reserved.

Hi Everyone,

We’re back from the Alternative Press Expo in San Francisco. I’ll have a full write-up with plenty of photos posted here very soon. For now you can wage your bets on who won the heavy-hitters title fight between Craig Elliott (left) and William Stout (right). Did the Flesk booth withstand their fury?

Enjoy,

John

John Fleskes
Flesk Publications
text copyright © 2012 Flesk Publications. All rights reserved.

 

I wrote a Flesk newsletter that was sent out yesterday. It covers a pair of Flesk updates. The first is about our The Art of Brom Kickstarter campaign ending this Friday at noon PST. The second is about our exhibiting at APE with Craig Elliott, Mark Schultz and William Stout.

The Art of Brom on Kickstarter

I would like express my most sincere thanks to all of those who have supported us with our The Art of Brom Kickstarter campaign. Brom and I are thrilled with how well it has been received. The passion on display by those who have made a pledge is infectious. For instance, Brom is currently working on new paintings for the book, while I am reviewing various paper stocks and materials to make sure this book will be extra special.

As a reminder, the campaign ends this Friday at noon PST. If you are interested in pledging your support, you have just a couple of days left. Everyone who orders a Brom book through Kickstarter will receive the exclusive Brom bonus portfolio which includes five signed prints, along with being included in the acknowledgments, and will be among the first to receive the book. And thanks to the success of the campaign, we’ve upgraded the binding on the Publisher and Deluxe editions. Both of these versions will only be available direct from Flesk and Brom. There will be a trade edition available in August 2013.

Here is the link to see the details: The Art of Brom on Kickstarter

Flesk Exhibiting at the Alternate Press Expo (APE) in San Francisco, October 13th and 14th.

APE is a terrific show that does an excellent job of focusing on artists and creators. Since this show always does well for us, and with how well the organizers treat us, I have expanded our Flesk area to three tables this year. We have an excellent location near the front entrance again (Table #212, 213 and 214).

Mark Schultz (Xenozoic and Various Drawings series), William Stout (Hallucinations, Inspirations and Dinosaur Discoveries) and Craig Elliott (The Art of Craig Elliott) will be joining us. Each creator will be happy to sign your goodies and chat with you. They will have originals, prints and other unique items with them as well. We will have all of our Flesk books that are in print for you to look at. I will be bringing along more of our 10th Anniversary postcard sets to give away to all of our customers and will have other free promotional material on hand. I will also have a few boxes of dinged books at ridiculously low prices. We look forward to seeing you!

You can learn all you need to know about APE here: The Alternative Press Expo (APE)

Thanks again to you all.

Best,

John

John Fleskes
Flesk Publications
text copyright © 2012 Flesk Publications. All rights reserved.

Link:
“The Art of Brom” on Kickstarter