Georges Jeanty: Encounter and sketchbook review (Auckland Armageddon 2010, Day 3)

Okay, this got ridiculously long, and I have to close up the libary now, so I'm just posting the Georges Jeanty part. Because it was my favourite part of the day and I ended up writing a ton of words :D (heavy writing >.>). Quick intro: Georges Jeanty is the artist who draws the season eight Buffy the Vampire Slayer comics. I didn't know this until this week.

I was browsing through the leaflet of Stuff That Happens At Armageddon on Sunday afternoon and I noticed that some guy who draws the Buffy comics (the recent season eight stuff, which is mostly so very much better drawn it's ridiculous, which I already knew, plus I am an ever-increasing Buffy/Whedon fan XD ) was actually here, and signing and stuff. It started of as a minor 'cool, some person related to a fandom that I'm actually interested PLUS ART' but became a highlight of Armageddon for me - and the more I look him up, the more impressed I am.

If he had a panel, I missed it, but because I knew he was at the con, when wandering out to get breakfast around midday on Monday (...don't ask. I ended up getting chips for me & the Plan Pony & Arkillian) I noticed a poster that looked Buffy-ish on a stall near the front, squashed in next to ... I think it was Marvel stuff. I looked, I flipped through the folder  because I really wanted to know for sure, found it actually really was Buffy graphic novel art, and then noticed the little sketchbooks along the side (and my sympathies for the people who came to MY stall are increased ten-fold. His stall was actually fairly cleanly laid out!)

Anyway, he spoke up then and said they were twenty dollars (me: urk, my sales! [...lack of]) ...with a  free sketch (me...oooh. Oh dammit, I want one anyway), then I think I wandered off... back to my stall to grab money from my float (pushing my earnings well into the negatives for the morning!). I also picked out two of my BtVS fan arts to ask him to sign - the Buffy and Willow ones that were the most awesome (well, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Alyson Hannigan). (Again, no Tara in season 8, or I might have picked her; that left my favourite, Willow, and Buffy who was the main character). Anyway, I asked for Willow for my sketch, because she's my favourite (well, it was her or Giles or Tara, or maybe Buffy, but Buffy's everywhere and Tara isn't even in Season Eight, so probably would have been unfair to ask for and Willow just beat out Giles. Cause, pretty! *is shallow*... yes, I way over-analysed all this).

I couldn't pick between the fan arts but he was awesome and signed both. Even more awesome? The bit that made my whole entire week? He asked me why I didn't get the original artist to sign it, and didn't want to spoil the pictures *does foolish dance of crazed artist*

One of the few things I actually bought - a sketchbook from Georges Jeanty, about drawing some of season eight of Buffy, with a sketch of Willow, and my signed prints of Willow and Buffy.

The sketchbook I picked was number 3, which covered one I'd actually read in the library - issues #11-15 (*cough Satsu/Buffy lesbian sex scene cough* ) ... more seriously, I liked what I saw of the discussion about it, and the rest of the book, which contained a whole bunch of sketches and discussion and some actual full 'pages' (sketched, of course, I don't think he had any hand in colouring them). Each of the covers (below) had a page, and an explanation about the references and what he was trying to do (and if he was happy with it!)

 Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, issues 11-15

 Anyway, I was more happy than I expected to be with the drawing (...yes. I am REALLY picky, art-wise. This means if I liked it? It was probably good :D I hope >.>) and I took the book and went back and read through it (YES. Entertainment! I as getting quite bored towards the end. I knew I should have bought a book or six!) and was made even more pleased (in an 'artist figuring out this whole traditional/commission thing' way) to see the pencil marks behind the ink proving that artists are allowed to be human XD )

Speaking of books... If I had brought one, I'd probably have grabbed a Discworld book, and to my sorrow and grief only one single (and therefore super-awesome) Discworld fan spoke up about my Vetinari picture that I drew for Wear the Lilac Day, also later that day. And bought two, so is even more awesome.

I'm not a huge fan of artbooks, partly because most of them seem to want to include tutorials and I don't follow those well (or at all) so just skip them. Georges mostly wrote about what he was trying to do and what it was referencing and what influenced the elements of the pictures, which was much more interesting. There are a lot of pictures to look at, and a nearly equal amount of text.

The book's small - A5 sized - and I'm worried about damaging it, bending it open. Unfortunately, the text runs way to close to the edge of the paper and the ends of sentences are tucked right down into the spine (no bleed allowed for) - there are also quite a few typos, and signs that there probably wasn't an editor, but what he talks about is both interesting, and useful. Plus, Buffy.

Photo of one of my favourite pages (it just had a lot of faces I particularly liked...) from the Buffy sketchbook.

A closer up photograph of the sketchbook, and the talking. Quite interesting to read, especially the mind-blowing concept that professional comic artists worry about getting likenesses right too! Also, many typos, but not many in this section XD

(I now want, even more, all the BtVS graphic novels. All of them. To own and have in a row on my shelf. I've even *horrors* started eyeing up the many fascinating BtVS figures available.)

More from the rest of Day 3 to come! (Edit: here )
Day one and day two of Armageddon are already posted.