The big shindig took place in Los Angeles' Storyopolis..an absolutely massive store famous for not only for the variety of its book holdings, but it's gallery of original art. You name 'em, Storyopolis has 'em.
This weekend's combined booksigning and gallery show was fantastic. Clive Barker (horror), Michael Hague (who I know from his Tolkien work), John B Marciano (Madeline)...and about 9 other artists and writers all made their appearance.
But Storyopolis went out of their way to make me feel welcome. I was impressed even before I walked in.
But when I got the art gallery, and saw the absolutely beautiful framing they had done on the Sheldon original art...I was floored. These pictures don't do justice to the quality of their frames.
...they triple-matted these puppies with museum-framing backing, and the deep, rich wood that they used was really cool.
But the fun part for me was the book signing. It's always so fun to meet with readers.
Although, I had the original art for "Madeline" up behind me, and all weekend long, I had giddy girls squeeling when they thought that was me.
...but I was parked between some incredible, incredible authors, so I was just stoked to be there.
Since Storyopolis' specialty is in fine children's illustration, they asked if I'd give a talk to the 50 or so kids. It was a BLAST. I would have kids come up and draw a squiggle, and then turn it into something. Like Mr. Chicken, here.
Then for a while I showed them how to turn shapes into faces. Despite the fact that I look vaguely insane here, I gotta tell you...this stuff was fun.
My big hit of the afternoon was "a shark eating pizza". Some of my best work. Funny, funny stuff. Anyway, when I was done with a drawing, I'd pass it out to one of the kids....usually the one who "helped" me the most.
They seemed to dig it.
And then, after I was done, I signed some more for folks and mingled in the gallery. A good time, I've gotta say! And a massive doff of the cap to Storyopolis.com. Check out the site and drop by the store. And look for more Sheldon art in an upcoming gallery show of comics and comic strip art...tentatively planned for Spring/Summer!