September 2006
We met at Heroes Aren't Hard to Find on a beautiful, sunny Monday morning in September. We had a good crowd this time. I suppose the guilt finally caught up with everybody. Joining us were Marcus Hamilton, Dave McDonald, Al Bigley and newcomer Diego Jourdan. Diego drove all the way from Santiago, Chile to attend our meeting. What a guy!
Actually, Diego is an excellent illustrator and cartoonist who has been traipsing around the country and finally wound up in what he calls "La Ciudad de la Reina" .... or "La Ciudad de las Reinas" after he visited East Boulevard.
We hopped (literally) over to the Corner Place Delicatessen for lunch. The food was good but the service was s-l-o-w. There was only one guy taking orders and cooking when we arrived.
But that gave us time for one of the most interesting discussions we've ever had. Everyone was a cartoonist and seemed to know all new the same people in the business. Marcus talked about how he got started going from publisher to publisher in New York City without an appointment. Al talked about having to deal with a committee of bosses and how to find work. Diego showed us some samples of his diverse talents and told us how easy it is for someone from South America to line up jobs in the North American and European markets.
Dave told us about a foster child who is a budding cartoonist and wants to learn more about the industry. We'll probably set up the next meeting around a time he can come visit us. Over lunch, we can review his art and answer questions and give him some samples of our own work. Dave will tell us more about that later. Hopefully, everybody can participate.
Afterward, we walked back to Heroes where Jason took our photo.
Pictured above are Greg Russell, Marcus Hamilton, Dave McDonald, Diego Jourdan and Al Bigley.
Stay tuned for news on the next meeting.