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MBrazee

Matt Brazee
24 Watchers112 Deviations
14.5K
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MSB:3000

1 min read
Hey gang,

Doing an inner happy dance after just passing the milestone of 3000 page views. I know that's a drop in the bucket, but when your buckets as small as mine, you take what you can get.

To celebrate, I'm offering three free POP! sketches to the first three people to respond. Any character of your choice, 8.5"x5.5" watercolor. You know the drill. Let me know if you want one, first come, first served.

-Matt
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Jet City Re-Cap

5 min read
So I figured I'd share some quick thoughts on Jet City while they're still fresh in my mind. These are somewhat random thoughts, and I may start to babble on a bit, so bare with me.

I'll start by saying that I did, in fact, enjoy the show. Talked to some creators I admire, the kids found some toys they were looking for, and I got to sit around with good company and doodle all while making money. If anyone complained about something like that they should be tarred and feathered.

Sadly I've never been able to delve too deeply into independent comics, it takes a lot of time and/or connections to dig deep enough to find good stuff in my opinion. Luckily there's big comic companies that spend millions of dollars to beat me over the head and tell me what I should read. For this reason I was most excited to meet Chris Roberson (iZombie, Edison Rex) and Gabriel Hardman (Secret Avengers, Planet of the Apes). They were both amazingly nice gents whom I had nice chats with, which is weird because I never know what to say to creators other than "Uhhhh...can you sign this?"

The flip side of that coin is that there were a bunch of amazing independent creators that I either couldn't find, or was too afraid to approach because I would have nothing of interest to say to them. Colleen Coover and Paul Tobin are the two biggest that come to mind. Not sure if they're really considered "independent" by everyone, but I only really know them from Bandette, which I hear nothing but good things about, but for some reason can't fork over the measly $.99 to find out for myself. Maybe I was just too subconsciously ashamed of myself to approach them.

My only really gripe about the convention was the cash-flow, or lack thereof. It's pretty sad that the show is only three years old yet it already has a bad reputation as a low-sales affair. I had to change my entire pricing structure about a half hour in and start giving away trading cards just to get people to stop. Of course the trading cards didn't have any contact info or even my name on them. Whoops. Personally, this didn't bother me. I managed to clear $65 in sales and was more than pleased. Did I break even on the table and printing costs? No. Do I really care? Nerp. I wasn't looking at the con as a revenue source. It was purely a fun, learning experience and vacation for the family.

The problem is that my main focus for the show was to start doing more charitable work and raise money for good causes. I did a limited edition print that I was selling for the Sacred Heart Children's Hospital, and the guild banged out two great looking sketch covers to raffle off. The print run was 30 and I sold four. We sold nine raffle tickets. Actually we only sold eight but Jim Demonakos stopped by and threw a dollar in just cause he's a good guy. So a whopping $29 (which I padded to $35) for the sick children of Spokane. Thanks a lot Seattle. The saving grace is that a really nice couple who bought prints from both Jeremy and I, and bought five raffle tickets won the X-Men cover. He did have a three out of five chance to begin with, but still glad for him.

Other plus notes I should point out; the show seemed very well planned and under control, the space it was held in was very open and quite nice, and for every forty penny-pinching looky-lous there was one or two really cool people who seemed genuinely excited to purchase a cool piece of art. Had a few neat kids buy Avenger Time Prints. Had a few neat adults buy Avenger Time prints. One guy bought my Starman and Orphan/Mister Sensitive Pop Heroes which cemented him as the guy with the best tastes at the convention.

I'd be a fool not to mention the coolness and kindness of Matthew Youngmark, creator of Choose-a-Matic books. He and his wife were lucky enough to sit next to us and even let me sublet out a few inches of table for all of my crap. He was a super nice guy and swung a deal with my wife to give us both of his books in trade for some of my stuff. Also, at the suggestion of Jesse Acosta I picked up some books from Dave Roman, creator of Astronaut Academy an TeenBoat! He was a cool feller, gave me a good deal on books and even drew a Luchadore Bunny for Jesse.

Like I said, I'm rambling, but that's pretty much everything I can remember right now. I probably looked kinda grouchy for a while because I had a lack-of-food induced headache, but that was my own dumb fault. But otherwise most everything else was peachy keen. Later!
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Hey gang! As most of you probably know I am now officially part of Artist's Alley at the Jet City Comic Show in Seattle. I will be sharing a table with my buddy, the incredibly talented :iconjeremywhittington:, and he and I are cooking up some incredible Con exclusives that you'll want to get your hands on. More on that to come, but be sure to check out www.jetcitycomicshow.com for more info.

Also, I just passed 1,800 page views. A small milestone, but a cool one nonetheless.

Later!

-Matt
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Con Fever

1 min read
Hey gang. I had an amazingly cool time at the Spokane Comicon this year. Sold some books, sold some sketches, shared a few laughs.

Now that I've gotten over my fear of Conventioning (Convening?) I'm hoping to snag a table for The Jet City Comic Show in Seattle this fall. Armed with my knowledge of most requested sketches, I'll be doing some super keen prints to trade for money and/or chocolate.

Hey look, 1,600 page views. Huzah!

Later,

Matt!
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Up and Comings

2 min read
It's been since October when last I wrote one of these things. I guess you kind of have to do something of interest first.

Just thought I'd let anyone interested know when and where I'll be arting in the imidiate future (as if the only people reading this won't be with me anyways.)

First off, I will be spending my Free Comic Book Day at Lightning comics in Couer d' Alene. I'll be doing free sketches with fellow deviants and guildsmen :iconpiotrov:, :iconmontreuil: and :iconjoshuacovey:.

Second off, I will be making my very first convention appearance this year @ :iconnathanobrien:'s magnificent Spokane Comicon! This is a big step for me, and hopefully my introvert side doesn't get the best if me. I'll be sitting at the Comicsmiths' guild table with :iconlarsony:, selling our new Guild Double-Shot I did with :iconchainsawcomics:. Anyone who buys the book will also get a free sketch! Hooray!

Hope to see everyone soon! Later.

-Matt
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Featured

MSB:3000 by MBrazee, journal

Jet City Re-Cap by MBrazee, journal

Goin' to Jet City...Jet City Here I come. by MBrazee, journal

Con Fever by MBrazee, journal

Up and Comings by MBrazee, journal