Open House Report [from the evil slave driving Manning twin]
Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 9:29 pm
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
). 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
. 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...
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
). 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
. 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...
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.
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.