walk around artist alley Artist Alley is always my favorite place to visit. I never purchase any art, but I love to speak to the creators and learn about their processes, their inspirations, or simply what’s on their minds. —Luis
paintings on the show floor In a world of digital everything, Madeline finds something real Valentine DeLandro catching up on some sequential work.
A Batgirl helmet holds Babs Tarr’s place while she is away from her station. She was easily one of the stars of the con.
When you start to walk around the Show Floor, it can be inspiring to see that people are working as artists in realms besides pencils or color for comic books. One such artist I stopped to speak with was Kevin Eslinger who brought a pop-up version of his gallery filled with abstract and minimalist takes on characters that abounded at NYCC. Eslinger has always operated in pop culture, but it wasn’t until he felt like his job as a creative director had left him with too little hands-on work that he decided to quit and become an artist. That was, unfortunately, right before the economy tanked. As Eslinger said, he learned to live the artist lifestyle quickly.
All of the work on display in the Eslinger Art Gallery originated in water color, acrylic, and oil paint. While reprints were available, potential customers clamored to get a closer look at the original canvas for “Street Gang,” his painting of Sesame Street characters. Eslinger studied art in Pasadena before going to work in toy design and creating replicas. The subjects of his paintings are the characters who left a lasting impression on him or have currently captured his imagination. While Eslinger does have a gallery in Denver, he said he had taken his art to a lot of outdoor festivals. You can find his newest work at kevineslinger.com.
New art for new costumes Cameron Stewart recognized ChuBear and Stella Chuu on their way back into the convention after posing for pictures under the overpass. They were dressed as Yuri and Yuki, the Jawbreakers, Batgirl’s new villains, that Stewart drew for Babs Tarr’s Batgirl.
Rafael Albuquerque chatted with us about his amazing work on American Vampire and his upcoming project EI8HT.
The Jawbreakers are “the annoying cosplaying otaku twins. That’s right, Chubear Cosplay and I cosplayed some cosplayers,” writes Stella Chuu in her Facebook caption to this piece of art Stewart sent them afterward. The real life cosplayers received breakdowns from Tarr ahead of the convention and the Jawbreakers’ debut so they could be the first to do the costumes, according to Chuu, and shoot pictures with a third cosplayer in a new Batgirl costume.