FAN EXPO CANADA 2010–Saturday August 28

So, Ty’s still tired, and I have more photos!

Saturday–

Saturday is often my favourite day of a con–I get to go (unless it’s a boring-ass con, then I stay home.  Luckily, this wasn’t one of the boring-ass ones). My sister took my kids and Ty and I headed in (very slowly thanks to Toronto traffic) to the con. The drive took two hours instead of the usual thirty minutes, so I dropped Ty off while I went to park. By the time I got in, and found him over in Artists’ Alley, he had to go off to the Toronto Cartoonists Workshop booth to do a signing with Gibson Quarter.

Gibson Quarter and Ty Templeton at the TCW booth

I got to hang out with Gibson’s daughter, and David Cutler. David and I have been known to get caught up in an argument or two on Facebook, so it was fun to

David Cutler sketching

hang out in person (more than a few people pointed out that they’d never actually been in a room with me before, or for mere minutes years ago. Facebook is amazing for someone like me who gets stuck at home all the time–an actual social network!). I got to buy one of his Bucky O’Hare prints (allegedly for my eldest son), and when he would wander off on breaks, I managed to sell a few more for him ( he was doing pretty well for himself between his prints and commissions).

Artists’ Alley was pretty busy, so long in-depth conversations weren’t possible.  Sometimes, it wasn’t possible to manage much more than a wave–I’m not sure that I said more than two words to Dave Ross or Dan Parent who were just down from Ty. I snuck away for a couple of minutes to get some quick photos of Ty and Gibson (Ty hates having photos taken. I explained, “The blog is visual! Get over it!” ).

Things picked up when Ty returned…he’s pretty easy to spot and he has regulars who come to get a sketch from him at all the Toronto cons.  There were some who would look hesitantly at the name signs trying to figure out which one of the guys would be Ty–which is why he puts out big piles of his work to aid in the identification program.

Ty's space in Artists' Alley--note the big pile of books

When I’d been all on my lonesome minding his work, parents had come by with their three small boys, all dressed in Marvel costumes. The boys had flipped through Ty’s art work ooh-ing and ahh-ing and identifying–correctly–every single character I pointed at. Even in this piece,

and then this,

So I explained to the boys that if they came back after 4pm, that Ty would be able to do sketches for them. They returned later, Mom and Dad in tow who were very excited because they’d waited in line to see Stan Lee. Mom explained that, normally, the boys are bigger fans of DC Comics characters but that they had worn Marvel costumes in Stan’s honour!

A mini-debate raged as to which character each boy should get and Ty (father of three boys himself and no stranger to how long these debates can go) announced that he was doing each a picture of the character they were dressed as. Hulk was first and he was just big-eyed the entire time. When Spidey was next, Ty finished the quickie sketch with grey marker squiggles around the head.  The boys aahed in unison and quietly announced, “Spidey sense!” I think they were the highlight of the afternoon for me.

The son at work

I left to get my kids to their next babysitting relative. Ran into my eldest child on the way out at work at The Silver Snail booth.

Ty stayed for three more hours (the show time was extended as the waiting time outside was soooooooooooooooooooooo long for sooooooooooooooooooooo many. As I left, the story going around was that 1000 people had to leave in order for any to be admitted. Don’t know if that was true, but the staff member at the exit had a clicker in her hand).

I met up with Ty later, and we went out to dinner with a bunch from the Toronto Cartoonists Workshop. That was a lovely end to a busy, hectic day.