Our meeting at Frank's Roman Pizza last night (Tuesday, February 5, 2008) was smaller than usual, but it gave those in attendance a chance to do sme networking and talk a bit more about technique, etc.

In attendance yesterday evening were, Phil Hawkins, Kaysha Siemens, Michael Cole, Shane Harris, Clay Elliott, and James E. Lyle.

Some topics of discussion were: the fall meeting and the upcoming NCS division awards, as well as the usual passing around of portfolio items.

Concerning the fall meeting, Steve Haynie (who couldn't make it this month) sent some brief notes on the event as it's shaping up. The dates of October 17, 18 & 19 have been settled on, and while the city of Chattanooga is definitely the place, Michael Cartwright is still trying to lock down the hotel for the event. At any rate it looks as if most all the planned events will be within walking distance of the host hotel if Michael gets the hotel he wants. The Aquarium is also within walking distance of this hotel! (I just heard about the tornadoes near Chattanooga last night, so if anyone has any info on Michael let me know).

As for the division awards, I passed around the official notices from NCS so everyone could see them. If you have any work published between the dates of December 1, 2006 and December 31, 2007 that you feel would be eligible in the following categories: Gag Cartoons, Newspaper Panel Cartoons, Advertising Illustration, Greeting Cards, Magazine Feature/Magazine Illustration, Book Illustration, Editorial Cartoons, Television Animation, Feature Animation, Comic Books, Newspaper Comic Strips, or Newspaper Illustration, let me know. I can submit these to the appropriate juries on your behalf, but I have to do so before February 23. (Also, these categories are somewhat flexible. There are a couple of NCS people that are submitting CD cover art in the Advertising Illustration category, so bear this in mind).

Passing around portfolio items is always fun. Phil has, at long last, the deluxe Sherlock Holmes book that he illustrated. It's a really nice collector's edition; leather bound with an illustrated slip case, gold edging, and bookmark ribbon! At present it's only available online (I forgot to get that URL so anyone interested can contact Phil, that's hawkpj@main.nc.us). Phil also had free copies of the latest Rapid River magazine with his new Corgi Tales comic strip therein.

Kaysha Siemens brought along more of her Manga inspired illustration work, and brought along her laptop computer ready to demonstrate some of her techniques in Photoshop. But since many were abscent and she had to leave early we left that for a later date.

Shane Harris had samples of his fan created GI Joe cards. Shane has been working on this project since the GI Joe collectable trading card game stopped production. He and various other artists from all over North America have been creating expansion cards for the set and posting them online for other players to download and use. Shane's been soliciting other interested artists to contribute. There's no pay involved, but there is exposure. So anyone interested in that should contact Shane (shane_hai@yahoo.com).

Michael Cole brought some of his most recent comic strip work. He's been polishing his Dragin strip, as well as working on a more topical comic strip about living in Asheville. Michael says he's waiting on his muse, so if anyone has seen her, let Michael know.

James E. Lyle (me) had some new pieces to show around too. A few new comic cover parodies, and two new CD covers. One for the band, Slough Feg and one for Rap Musician, Shaun Friedman.

Also, the Uni Keep company is running a Design Awards contest. They're looking for art that they can share with people via their website, and offering thousands of prizes (some are CA$H prises). It might be fun to deluge the company with cartoon work from the WNC group. Anyone interested should check out the contest at:

http://artdesigncontest.com/submissions/submit

Also, there was some talk of both Heroes Convention in Charlotte (June 20-22) as a possible outlet for work, and networking. If anyone's thinking of getting table space there:

www.heroesonline.com

And there was also talk of Adventure Con in Knoxville (June 13-15) for the same.

http://www.adventurecon.com/

Anyway, if you couldn't make it, you were certainly missed. We'll be looking for you in March.