With so much going on, I’ve been behind on posts, so it is time to play a little catch up. Thanks for bearing with me as I take this walk down RECENT memory lane.

This one goes all the way back to April, when I once again appeared at the C2E2 Convention (Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo) at McCormick Place where I spent 30 hours on the floor creating a chalk mural for shiftylook.com, a website with ties to the Namco Bandai Group. To quote the Shiftylook website:

“Shiftylook exists to excavate the buried treasures of Namco Bandai Group, bringing back to life characters once thought consigned to a lonely oblivion.”

This was a unique challenge, as the site consists of a number of webcomics, all with different artists, which leads to a wide variety of styles. It was my job to come up with a single illustration that brought these different styles together into one cohesive mural artwork. This was one of the few murals where I create the original artwork first, and then recreated it live at a show at an enormous chalk mural.

As always, I am working before the show even begins. It is a long trek ahead with 30 hours of work staring back at me. But with different characters to work on all across the mural, I find the variety to be a welcome change as compared to working on just one large figure. I first tackle the Shiftylook logo, and move on to Dirk Davies with art by Dean Haspiel and written by Ben McCool.

I move quickly across the piece as the hours pass. Soon I am working on Bravoman written by Matt Moylan, with crisp artwork by Dax “D-Gee” Gordine. The it is on to Xevious, a game I hated when I was young as I would always be killed within a minute or two of plunking down my quarter. I also have Mary take some time to grab some costume photos for me, including Elf and the Green Goblin.

I continue onward through day two completing the unique extra-terrestrials from Alien Confidential and the heroic lead character from Skykid. At the end of day two, there is still a lot to go. Sunday morning I come in at 6 AM, long before the show opens, to continue my lonely art vigil on the empty show floor. It is during these hours that I complete Scar by writer Edmund Sherin, with art by Studio Hive. With a few old fashioned video game cabinets along either side, the mural is done, and I can finally relax.

I hope everyone enjoyed the art. And please check out my video: The Shiftylook Chalk Mural Time Lapse to see all 3+ hours of work in just a few moments of time.