How to use this Page

Thanks to my friend Therese Walsh for the great caption! You can find out more about Therese at ThereseWalsh.com and on Twitter at @ThereseWalsh.

Commission Sketch of Chris Hemsworth.

After a whirlwind tour of the southwest, I am finally home and ready to take a nap. Yet there is no rest for the wicked, new art to do, a book to illustrate, shows to prepare for, and generally going crazy… in a good way. So where to begin? Let’s start with a short recap of the shows I attended.

First up was there was the Long Beach Comic Expo which this year expanded to two days this year. This turned out to be a great move as attendance was great this year and everyone had a great time. We had an odd placement for our table that had me a bit worried, but it all worked out quite well. Lots of great costumes, fun panels for all ages, plus perfect Long Beach weather, what more could one ask for? Next year they are holding it earlier in the year on February 28th and March 1st, plus they are moving into the larger halls, roughly about five times of the space they had this year. So they are going bigger and better, hopefully they are not expanding too big, too fast as I love this convention and want to see it continue for years to come.

Maleficent and Evil Queen looking good… I mean evil.

Then it was off to the surface of the sun… I mean Arizona for the Phoenix Comicon, which was a fantastic show. There were over 77,000 fans in attendance that kept me and Shawn busy through the weekend. I was amazed at the cosplayers that braved the heat in full costume, brave dedicated fans they are. On a note about Phoenix, I love this show so much that next year is a big thing is happening. Drum roll please… I am moving out of the artist alley into a booth for the show next year. It is amazing and nerve wracking at the same time, but the correct move as my business moves forward and grows.

The minion of Mystical Apothecary

Shawn and I stayed in Phoenix for the week (thank you Keith), as we had a show the following weekend, Mad Monster Party. This was a small horror convention that took place in downtown Phoenix. It was a fun little show (lots of fun because we were next to our friends from The Mystical Apothecary) that has promise if they bring it back next year, lots of cool fans of horror showed up and there were some great celebrity guests to meet. One of the problems was that since it was the week after the comic con and there might have been some fans that were too worn out to come to this event. There were also some people that seem to find out about the event by happenstance and were unaware of the Mad Monster Party before hand. Their main show is in Charlotte, NC and that one has a great turnout; so maybe with some patience and love, the Phoenix show will grow to attract more attendees.

Taking Bumblebee down… plus Justin and Hilary Orr photo bombing.

Finally we headed north to the Amazing Las Vegas Comic Con, a show I vended at last year on their inaugural show. Taking place at the South Point Casino (which is quickly becoming one of my favorite casinos), this year it was bigger and better organized in the placement of tables and booths. Attendance was up this year, but sales were down slightly, but overall a successful show. Thanks to our booth neighbors of Abe Lopez and Stuart Smithee; also thanks to the photo bombers supreme of Justin and Hilary Orr from across the aisle.

With Abraham Lopez… and Nic Cage?!?

I have a few weeks off before San Diego Comic Con (sadly still no booth, but I will have art up in the Sails Pavilion gallery there), so I must go work on some new art pieces for the upcoming shows.

Have fun and keep creating…

–Diana

The post Home once again, at least for a moment… appeared first on Diana Levin Art.

When I see this video I think 3 things:
1. Books really ARE magical!
2. Is this what it's like at Prairie Lights when everyone leaves?
3. Mr. Jones could do this!

I am so proud to present the work of Marvin, one of my very, very favorite 4th graders. He has read every single Diary of a Wimpy Kid from front to back (multiple times), he loves Daniel Boom, Origami Yoda and Lunch Lady. The influence of these books is apparent in his work. You have to know Marvin as well as I do to know why this work is spectacular, beautiful and inspirational. Please enjoy his work! (click on a page to view them all enlarged!)

Have you ever heard of Augmented Reality?  If not, Augmented Reality is a computer based software that uses 3-D tracking.   To simplfy that even more, by using a sheet of paper with a desired icon, the camera can spot the icon, and replace it with a 3-D computer made icon.  Some people even animate the icon, so that when you move the paper to it’s side, the icon will respond with some sort of action.

You may still be confused about what Augmented Reality is, so I will continue to explain what it is through out this article.  Currently, there is a museum that uses Augmented Reality to show everything.  Augmented Reality is currently being geared towards kids, so throughout the tour, kids can put on the special glasses and see the books come to life.  How?  Just like the computer, the glasses spot the icon, and then replay what is in it’s memory.  Say for instance a child is reading a fairy tale, once they turn the page, that page’s story begins to play out before the child. 

If you do a search on the internet and type in ‘Augmented Reality’ you can find many downloads where you can try it out.  Many car dealerships have started using Augmented Reality as a marketing tool.  They definetly got me hooked.  If you are into 3-D modeling and animation, you can download the free trial of Augmented Reality to test it out. 

Over all, Augmented Reality will be part of your future.  This is not something you will want to miss out on.  Check it out today!

While watching a taped concert of John Denver for the third time on WXXI, I was feeling rather nostalgic. I loved his music. I have several of his albums.I play them in the car and in my writing den. So I was wondering about his plane crash. I did a little research on the Internet. [...]