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Open House Report [from the evil slave driving Manning twin]

Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 9:29 pm
by Brian Manning
This is going to be as short as I can possibly keep it and still hit all the major points. But seriously...It's going to be too long to read for most, I imagine. But this Open House was a blast, and it was awesome showing up again after not having it last year.

VIP Thursday:
We show up, walked around a bit and said hi to the few people that showed up a bit early (but not early enough for volunteering :lol: ). Our spot at the table was right next to Mike Mumah, but he was there with a monitor, a stack of prints and huge portfolio of killer original art and his laptop (but he forgot his power cable, so wasn't able to set up the slideshow). We didn't have anything with us that night (left it in the hotel). we were extra loud and rowdy with we were all chatting with Nick Bradshaw, Jason Marker and Jason Richards about how awesome Twitter is (although Richards and I were the only one that seemed to think so...See his twitter feed to find out Mumah's opinion). VIP night was awesome, but those that were there will give a much better review I'm sure. I didn't even know there would be gaming that night. But we definitely made sure to sign up for Kevin's Dead Reign game on Friday night.

Friday:
we weren't there long before busting out the few art pieces we had there (we're bringing prints next year...And buttons...lots of buttons) and sketchbooks to get warmed up. We did a drawing for Levi, but Allen bit off more than he could chew and did some wicked texturing effects with the inks, so it took him 4 hours to finish it :eek: . I felt bad for both Allen and Levi, because it took so long and I was crackin' the whip, since I finished up the pencils for another piece before he was a quarter of the way through. Man it was impressive, though. We talked to a lot of great people, did a few commissions, and ate junk food all day. Apollo showed up later that day, and after a short while I somehow convinced him to draw a zombie monkey weilding a chainsaw (it turned out amazing!). later that night we sat down for Kevin's game where half of the party was loopy, tired and extra punchy freelancers (myself, Allen, Bradshaw, Mumah and Carmen). The game was a lot of fun, and one half of the table was playing well, but our half was just plain rowdy. Thankfully there was an easy going group of players on our side (playing a biker, police officer and a half-dead) that was able to handle our behavior. It ended bad for the group with a good deal of the group dying in an explosion (my reaper and the biker were hit with a house in the back as we made a break for safety and a few others never made it out before Carmen threw the flare that set off the gas from the ruptured gas line). One of the survivors died (Issac from the AFR crew) when Mumah rolled a 100 on his First Aid check, and Allen left the rest to die because they couldn't leap into the back of the truck as they fled like cowards. I loved it, though!

Saturday:
I woke up with a pounding headache and some nausea from eating Burger King at 1:30 and going right to bed, but some coffee, motrin and a bagel brought me back to life. busted out some more commissions, had a ton of fun talking to Palladium fans as well as the other freelancers (I don't know when everyone showed up exactly, but at this point the artist roster was: Nick Bradshaw, Amy Ashbaugh, Apollo, The Manning Brothers, Mike Mumah, Mark Dudley and superstar Chuck Walton. The writer roster rotated a lot, since they were always playing and running games). We basically spent the day making fun of each other, like Nick's diva behavior (not letting anyone take pictures until he was "ready"), Amy's swag zone (buttons?!), Apollo's "love" of drawing robots (not his favorite subject, even though the majority of his prints featured them), Allen's slow inking, I was obviously perfect, Mike's lack of a power cable, Dudley's...well everything Dudley said was funny, and Chuck's ridiculously detailed pencils and his fear (our fear as well) of having to ink them. Allen and I went to dinner with Wayne, Jeff Hansen, Reagren Wright, Lonnie Langston (don't know his forum name), and two fans from Germany (Andreas and Daniel). there was a lot of funny and disgusting conversations, but Wayne's dessert order and Andreas's insane eating ability seemed to be the most prevalent.

Sunday:
finished up the last few commissions, picked up a few that we'll have to send out later (including one that Lucas asked for that's going to be a blast, since it's a battle between me and Allen), and just relaxed. it was quite sad having to make the rounds and say good bye to everyone, though...

Re: Open House Report [from the evil slave driving Manning twin]

Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 9:30 pm
by Brian Manning
Other notes:
I had this guy (CS Soldier Munny) keeping me company at the table, and many people asked how much I wanted for it, but I felt bad because I brought it to give to Kevin, but I had him at the table to compete with Ashbaugh's setup (matted art AND buttons?). I ended up giving it to Kevin sooner, rather than waiting until Sunday night because I felt bad about having to tell people it wasn't for sale. Although a couple of people asked me how much I would charge to make another one. I'll have to consider that. I'm not so good at sculpting and these take a while, but it was fun to do.

Shinitenshi and Ninja Bunny arrived with a friend (who has some serious skills, hopefully he'll have some stuff in some books someday) and brought the goods (baked goods that is). everything I ate was excellent, but I tried to behave, so I didn't get to try everything...I did eat a lot, though.

Mumah and I talked for a while to an awesome GM named Lee Carrol. He's been running RPGs for years and their group introduces many new players to Palladium games, and his group's player ages run from 18 to 78. They also run games for kids under 13, and they've got 30+ regular players. I met him at the first Open House and it was really cool to talk to him again. Mumah grabbed Matthew Daye so he could ask him to come on the Gateway podcast (if Lee does it, that will definitely be a must listen episode).

The costume contest was FULL of awesome costumes. I wish I could cover them all, but the highlights include: Wayne Smith, obviously, MADMANMIKE unleashing Nerf fury as a Tolkeen refugee, "money shot" the reaper ("I'm here to drink beer and kill zombies! and I'm all out of beer!" awesome!), Carl Gleba's fantastic Juicer harness, and a seriously faithful representation of a ley Line walker (she won the "best of show" for her costume).

We did quite a few commissions, but didn't really get any pics of them, so I was hoping anyone here that got a sketch done could possibly scan it (or take a photo) and send it to me (bmann@brian-manning.com), so I can keep them in my convention portfolio.

I know there's a lot of stuff I'm forgetting to talk about, but my brain is still fuzzy. I don't want to leave anyone out, so please feel free to chime in here and call me out for forgetting to mention anything.

Re: Open House Report [from the evil slave driving Manning twin]

Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 9:53 pm
by Augur
Wow, I can't believe you are the only one I've read so far not to mention the snappily-costumed and incredibly sexy (did I also mention brilliant and talented?) woman dressed as Lisa Hayes of Robotech fame!

Re: Open House Report [from the evil slave driving Manning twin]

Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 1:15 am
by Brian Manning
The Game Master wrote:Wow, I can't believe you are the only one I've read so far not to mention the snappily-costumed and incredibly sexy (did I also mention brilliant and talented?) woman dressed as Lisa Hayes of Robotech fame!


LOL, I didn't want her to get a big head or anything... :p Like I said, I knew I would forget something. And you guys were one of the groups that we talked to more than the others. I did enjoy seeing you two with your matching (both from Robotech...that's close enough, right?) costumes during the contest, though.

Re: Open House Report [from the evil slave driving Manning twin]

Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 2:21 am
by Augur
Jaguar Wong wrote:
The Game Master wrote:Wow, I can't believe you are the only one I've read so far not to mention the snappily-costumed and incredibly sexy (did I also mention brilliant and talented?) woman dressed as Lisa Hayes of Robotech fame!


LOL, I didn't want her to get a big head or anything... :p Like I said, I knew I would forget something. And you guys were one of the groups that we talked to more than the others. I did enjoy seeing you two with your matching (both from Robotech...that's close enough, right?) costumes during the contest, though.

LOL J/K mate! Now that your balls are sufficiently busted I have to admit that I got more than a sidelong glance at the commissioned drawings of Zem the Zembahk Cosmo-Knight and Lord of the Night and must say not only did they meet the standard you guys met in your work with the Robotech licensed art, it surpassed it!

Keep being the rock stars of pencil and ink that y'all are and we'll keeping dropping the Benjamins! :D

Re: Open House Report [from the evil slave driving Manning twin]

Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 12:13 pm
by Levi
The skeletal golem was freaking fantastic! Thanks for the hard work on that. It was good to see you guys get into a couple games too. It seems like the artists don’t get to play in games at most cons.

Re: Open House Report [from the evil slave driving Manning twin]

Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 3:20 pm
by Brian Manning
The Game Master,
Benjamins? Everyone was throwing Washingtons. After a while I was getting coin shaped bruising and had to run to the back to cry the pain away. Seriously, though I'm glad you guys liked the artwork. Allen has this OCD-lite issue when it comes to sketching. He doesn't like stopping until he feels it's "done". Just ask Levi to see the piece we did for him ;) Could you possibly get a scan or pic of the Zembak, evil GM avatar, and Nicole's character. I mean no rush or anything, just if you can do so easily.

Levi,
Even though I was on his case the whole time about what he committed himself to, I'm always surprised at how much better the stuff looks when he's done inking it. I generally hand over tight pencils, but for the Open House I was keeping it loose, but he was still finishing them up like we were doing publication pieces. He's got a knack for the brush and pen.

Re: Open House Report [from the evil slave driving Manning twin]

Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 4:02 pm
by Rimdall
You did the evil GM one for me; it's already scanned and I'll get it e-mailed today. Everyone I showed it to loved it, and the wife admits it creeps her out, so WIN!

It was really nice getting to meet you both. You guys do great work. But I'm curious - what did Kevin say to you on Sunday when he took the drawing over to you?

Re: Open House Report [from the evil slave driving Manning twin]

Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 5:05 pm
by Brian Manning
Rimdall wrote:You did the evil GM one for me; it's already scanned and I'll get it e-mailed today. Everyone I showed it to loved it, and the wife admits it creeps her out, so WIN!

It was really nice getting to meet you both. You guys do great work. But I'm curious - what did Kevin say to you on Sunday when he took the drawing over to you?


LOL, he was just ribbin' us and said "Why don't you guys do work this good for my books?!". The funny thing was, later he walked up and said "See, you guys are doing better work here than for us.", but he was talking about the piece we did for the Rifter article about the SCRET teams around the world...We had a good chuckle about that when I called him on it. He's definitely a great guy.

Re: Open House Report [from the evil slave driving Manning twin]

Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 9:43 pm
by Augur
Jaguar Wong wrote:The Game Master,
Benjamins? Everyone was throwing Washingtons. After a while I was getting coin shaped bruising and had to run to the back to cry the pain away. Seriously, though I'm glad you guys liked the artwork. Allen has this OCD-lite issue when it comes to sketching. He doesn't like stopping until he feels it's "done". Just ask Levi to see the piece we did for him ;) Could you possibly get a scan or pic of the Zembak, evil GM avatar, and Nicole's character. I mean no rush or anything, just if you can do so easily.

:lol:
Both Paul (Zembahk pic) and my Wife (Lisa Hayes/the wheelchair heroine pic) are moderators on my PBP site so I'll see about pushing your agenda.

Re: Open House Report [from the evil slave driving Manning twin]

Posted: Wed May 06, 2009 6:50 am
by erc1971
I am the owner of the awesome piece you two drew of my Dead Reign character. If you would like me to scan a copy for you - just let me know, I would be more than happy to email it your way.

Eric

Re: Open House Report [from the evil slave driving Manning twin]

Posted: Wed May 06, 2009 12:32 pm
by Brian Manning
The Game Master wrote:Both Paul (Zembahk pic) and my Wife (Lisa Hayes/the wheelchair heroine pic) are moderators on my PBP site so I'll see about pushing your agenda.


Sweet, thanks! The funny thing is, right when I started the sketch for your wife I was about to look up some wheel chair reference and then Lee Carrol (the awesome GM that runs games to introduce new players to RPGs) just happened to stop by (he's in a wheelchair as well), and Mike and I started chatting him up. I felt weird looking at his chair to get a mental image, so I tried to by sly about it because I didn't want to look like I was staring. I still couldn't get it right, because Allen had to look up some reference when he was cleaning the drawing up later that night.

Eric,
Yeah that would rock. I'm not gonna lie to you man, that was a fun piece to draw. I was showing everyone my awesome background (that line that runs behind her shoulders). I was bragging to Mark Dudley and Mike Mumah that I had the skill to pull off the "Jim Davis" line BG for that one because I'm awesome.

Jason,
If you want, we can squeeze it in our schedule. We're doing a few more commissions before I get started on annoying the crap out of Kevin about doing stuff for Warpath.

Re: Open House Report [from the evil slave driving Manning twin]

Posted: Thu May 07, 2009 11:55 am
by Brian Manning
I was stressing because I didn't have my trusty computer to draw an ellipse for me. I just drew a really scratchy wheel in there and Allen fixed it. Thanks for posting this, though. I'm definitely going to bring straight edges and circle/ellipse templates next year. You've taught us all a valuable lesson here...Come prepared ;)

Re: Open House Report [from the evil slave driving Manning twin]

Posted: Thu May 07, 2009 2:16 pm
by Brian Manning
Yeah, but no reference was inlcuded. Unless you sent an email as well. I haven't been able to check it in a couple of days, because I've been running to work early and leaving late.

Re: Open House Report [from the evil slave driving Manning twin]

Posted: Thu May 07, 2009 4:31 pm
by Brian Manning
dig...I've been waiting for those blueprints for the giant robot. I mean you never know when kaiju are going to show up and cause some serious property damage. We need Tranzor Z (or Mazinger Z to you purists) ASAP.