July | 2008 | tracerhank's Xanga Site

For 4 days straight, my diet consisted of a pack of beef jerky and a
big bottle of Vitamin Water (Energy). Such diet lasts about 12 hours
each day. I realized that on the 4th day that I lost about an inch of
waist, as my jeans slid down far enough for my heels to step on the
edges. 5 pounds of my weight were lost over the weekend, a combination
of super low carb diet and minor dehydration.

So… Anime Expo 2008 Artist Alley… was more like a cheap swap
meet, filled with self-doubting artists lowballin’ their own “artwork”,
and thus themselves, in order to make a sale. My neighbor, a talented
young girl, priced her commission price at $1.00 each. ONE DOLLAR! The
paper and pencil for the commission cost more than that. It takes her
thirty-five commissions to match just ONE of my cheapest commission.
35x the work? I told her to have confidence in her own work and don’t
sell herself short the way she does. The artwork itself will attract
people who can truly appreciate the work. Besides, I personally
wouldn’t want some cheapskate to own my artwork, anyway.

And seriously, to those who cried out “Jesus Christ!” upon finding
out my commission rates: Have you even looked at my work and see how
good of a deal it is compared to other industry professionals?!

Then there’s the “artwork”, if you can call them that. Maybe I am
too traditional when it comes to the idea of an artist alley, but I
always believed that it is an opportunity for me to show off the
progression of my skill as an illustrator, and an opportunity for
creative expression. But walking down the aisles of the Artist Alley in
AX, I saw few of that. Most artists just drew different characters in
the same poses, like how a photographer would take photos for a high
school yearbook, totally hiding their weakness in their ability to draw
anatomy instead of facing it. I do understand their mindset. It was the
quickest, painless and brainless method to crank out large variety of
artwork for sale. That, of course, saddens me to see artists whoring
themselves out at customers with quantity instead of quality. The
artists that weren’t cheating themselves outta their integrity made me
question whether they should be considered artists at all. They made
keychains, pins and other nice accessories. But in my opinion, those
are “crafts”. Not art. One may point out that there are indeed artwork
on the accessories. But that those repetitive looking artwork just
further prove my point about these artists losing focus at what
becoming an artist is about.

There’s still a few artists that I am glad to see, pushing
boundaries of creativity and expression differently. It was a pleasure
to have met all of them (again) and I hope to see more of them and
their work in the future.

Again, I wanna thank everyone who came out to see me. I promise I’ll try to stay in touch through out the years.

…The place is big, awright…

My neighbor, Anjii, who had to tie her display on the foot of my table to keep it from tumbling down…

Bing’s artwork is always well painted…

Vivi came all the way from Connecticut…

Jessica, and daughter, Madison, who really enjoyed hanging out with Uncle Henry. Apparently, there’s a rumor going around that I am the father because she liked me so much.

Celine came all the way from Florida to offer her support…

Baby sister Jessica came by to promote my branding…

Crazy rally racer Lisa Klassen again visited and demonstrated her love for cars…

The very talented Dominique!

tracerhank's Xanga Site

Month: July 2008

//Comic-Con International – San Diego

//Introducing Pollie :)

//Anime Expo 2008

tracerhank