Technically, since moving to Cincinnati, Chicago is no longer my hometown show. But despite the distance, it still feels like it. I left Thursday morning, making my way diagonally across one of the least interesting states in the Union in which to travel. Arriving in the afternoon to the convention center in Rosemont, just outside the city by O’Hare Airport,  I drove into the back of the con center, unloaded, and made my way across the street to the Crowne Plaza. There, 2 of my roommates, the fabulous Kramers, were already waiting. It was great to see them. Sarah had some room cookies ready, which were much appreciated. Pat Loika, Andy Jewett and myself were set up together along the back wall of the Artist Alley. Adam Witt was going to be with us too, but circumstances prevented that, so he consigned his space to his girlfriend Anne, who used the space well. You can see all my pics from the show on my flickr account.

According to sales, Preview night was pretty slow. Many of the tables in our area of the show were still empty and that affects those of us who are there(something no-shows or late-shows don’t seem to consider). But that gave me an opportunity to see friends who stopped by the table and use the time to catch up. As our roommates kept to their own dinner plans each night, Andy and I struck out on our own. Since it was a later night on Thursday, we just headed to the Hyatt lobby bar, where we met Tom Kelly and a couple of his friends, and enjoyed some tasty but remarkably overpriced appetizers.

Friday was my busiest day at the table. I quickly filled that day’s sketch list and much of Saturday’s. I took fewer requests per day so that I could get a little time on the show floor. I think I’ve finally figured out my time management at these things in regards to sketches. The books sold pretty well, too. I wasn’t overly pleased by our table placement this year. The four prior years we had been pretty close to dead center. This year we were in more of a dead corner. I could see a lot of people who just didn’t venture that far. Business was by no means bad, mind you. Especially on Friday, it was fairly brisk, but I wasn’t as swamped as I often have been. Also, it was the second year at the show with the Guns preview book, so that may be a reason it didn’t fly off the table quite as quickly as previous shows or the year before. But business was still pretty decent and I was able to use some of the down time to peruse the rest of the show, and there was lots to see. Artist Alley is my favorite zone of any convention. Chicago always has the largest Alley I’ve seen and this year was significantly larger than last year. Thank you Marvel and DC for not showing with your giant booths and loud obnoxious promotions, the rest of us really enjoyed filling up the extra space!

Our final roommate, the lovely and charming Vince B of 11 O’Clock Comics showed up on Friday. Well, most of him did. About 40 pounds of him was left back in Pennsylvania somewhere!

Here are some pics, you can see the rest at my flickr account.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 at 12:17 pm and is filed under Artwork, Conventions, Old News.