ARTISTS HELP JAPAN: TORONTO Report

April 17th, 2011 - I was down at the ARTISTS HELP JAPAN: TORONTO Fundraiser Event, which took place at Revival Bar (783 College Street).

Here is the info about what the event is, from the press release:

"Toronto’s Illustration and Artistic Community comes together on April 17th in a 12 hour art-event at Revival. The unique event will raise money to aid relief efforts in Japan following the devastating recent earthquake and tsunami there. Spearheaded by a consortium of Toronto illustration studios, the Artists Help Japan: Toronto event is the local iteration of a charity movement begun by Pixar Art Director Dice Tsutsumi. The Toronto edition will feature live art shows, a silent auction, and dozens of artists and illustrators selling commissioned drawings, with all proceeds benefiting the Canadian Red Cross."

I arrived to the venue, just after the event had started. I went to the closest Green P Parking lot (about 2-3 blocks away), only to realize that there was a pay parking lot, right next to Revival (stupid me!). Since I already paid, I left my car, with the intentions on moving it to the closer parking lot, before 6pm, when my parking limit would have expired.

Upon walking it, it was a quiet atmosphere, since the crowd had yet to arrive. I wasn't sure what to expect very early on, since I knew many people that would be arriving later in the day. For me, it was to get sketches, with the proceeds going to the Canadian Red Cross.

First up, I went to see the uber-talented, Michael Cho. I was there, to get Danny a sketch (since he would be arriving later in the day), and figured I'd get one too (the Black Cat piece, above).

I was also looking to get sketches done by Bobby Chiu and Kei Acedera, at this event. I've been a fan of their work, but I've never really seen either of them sketch at cons, and for some reason, I just never inquired about it at shows, like I normally would.

With pretty much every artist attending, sketching for donations, this just seemed like the perfect opportunity for me, to add to the every growing Zatanna collection.

Just going to say this now, the piece done by Kei Acedera (the right one, of the two just slightly above), is my favourite piece of the event (not that the others were bad). It's just really cute, in my opinion.

It appears that I've also got developed a Catwoman theme over the past several shows. I figure I would add to that, at least once, at this event. Ken Lashley turns out some awesome sketches, and I knew a Catwoman by him, would come out pretty cool. I was not disappointed.

About a month ago, I started playing Garage Inc. on the iPod Touch. Quite a fun game, but shorter than I was expecting. Still a great game to purchase and download, if you have an iPod Touch or iPhone.

I bring this up, because Ken Lashley is the Senior Concept Artist for this game.

After the sketch by Ken Lashley, I decided to take a break from spending, as I was waiting for Stuart Immonen to arrive. This was actually before 3pm, and Stuart Immonen was scheduled to arrive for the 6pm-9pm block.

So, these few hours, allowed for me to grab lunch, a coffee, another beer (or two), and move my car. It also allowed me to relax for a little bit (though, I probably should have relaxed on a chair, cause my legs are still killing me...).

The last Zatanna piece for me, from this event, was done by Svetlana Chmakova.

Many people that asked me who am I getting sketches from, did not know who Svetlana is, or what she worked on. And normally, I wouldn't have really know either, because she is manga artist, as opposed to a mainstream floppy comic book artist. However, my time with the Joe Shuster Awards, did help me branch out to other works and creators.

Svetlana was one that I enjoyed, with her work on Dramacon. I've actually been wanting to get a sketch from her, for a while now, so I'm quite happy to have one.

Stuart Immonen arrived just before 6pm. I kid you not, people eventually started hounding around him, ready to pounce at the chance of a sketch (including, yours truly). If you don't know why this is a rare opportunity, read Stuart Immonen's "50 Reasons To Stop Sketching At Conventions."

Once he was seated, he took down names, for his sketch list. I was #4. I was happy! And after receiving the sketch, I was even more happy!

The last piece of the night, I went into today, not even considering getting a sketch by Dale Keown (since I got one last week, at the Toronto ComiCON Fan Appreciation Event. But, the line was short, and I got in.

Eventually, the silent auction ended, and live auction started. Dale got to me, around 8:30pm, and finished just before 10pm. The auctions kept going strong. I had been wanting to bid on a few pieces, but most of the ones I wanted, went for a lot more than I had... or, Danny won them.

After Dale finished my piece, I took off. I just had to leave, or I would have spent a heck of a lot more money, that I shouldn't be spending.

I really wished I had more money, to get more sketches from other artists, because it seemed like many artists were having a great time at this event, sketching for charitable donations.

Thanks to all of those that did sketches for me (Michael Cho, Bobby Chiu, Kei Acedera, Ken Lashley, Svetlana Chmakova, Stuart Immonen, and Dale Keown)!

Thanks to Chris Butcher, Jim Zubkavich, Alvin Lee, Bobby Chiu, and everyone else, that helped put together this wonderful event! I haven't seen any reports on the final figure, raised at this event, but I'm sure it's well over $10,000.