CCD Interviews: Live From The Show Floor Of The 2014 NY Comic Con - Ray Arcadio, Artist Supreme!

We meet lots of people on our adventures with the CCD press pass, but none as cool and as down to Earth as our good friend Ray Arcadio. Ray is an extremely talented artist that we met & interviewed at the 2013 NY Comic Con and stayed in touch with. His work is very unique, specifically his awesome takes on the traditional "happy face" pieces in which he re-designs tons of pop culture characters into the circular happy faces we have seen so often. What he ends up with is often way cooler than any smiley face you have ever seen, that is for sure. Ray has jumped into more complex pieces since we encountered him last year, and his new works for the 14 NYCC are unreal... or should I say, TOO REAL!!!! They feature many pop culture staples (The Walking Dead, Star Wars, Groot, etc) but with a realistic twist... specifically in the teeth. This guy can draw some detailed mouths & teeth. Wow. My favorite of his new pieces has to be his Michonne with her companions, which we find out is not one large canvas but actually three individual canvases assembled into a larger frame. The Michonne is raised higher than the two Walkers, giving it the 3-D feeling that she is actually "LEADING" them out of the frame! Totally rad idea, from a truly creative force (this dude makes his own fucking frames? C'mon man!). Check out more of Ray Arcadio's work by clicking over here and heading to his website. After that, watch Tommy get in there with another one of his patented CCD Interviews after the jump....

CCD Interviews: Live From The Show Floor Of The 2014 NY Comic Con - Sal Lo Medico

Real recognizes real... that is just the truth. We met Sal Lo Medico back last year at a smaller comic con held at a NYC hotel and I immediately knew that this dude was just like us. Sal is just a Brooklyn based artist that does awesome work featuring pop culture/horror/comic book icons that we all know and love so much. So it is not a surprise that we actually hit it off. Oh, and did I mention that his specialty is designing posters that are in spectacular 3-D? These things look phenomenal to the regular eye, but slide on a pair of vintage 3-D glasses (which Sal provides if you buy a print!) and the magic happens!!! Such great pieces, and the craziest part about the whole thing is that our buddy Sal sold out his whole NY Comic Con stock in just THREE DAYS!!!! Wow, a successful show for a successful artist. We are looking forward to working with Sal at one of our future art shows... sooner, rather than later. Check out his facebook page, his website, his red bubble page, and after the jump you find his interview conducted by the one and only CCD interviewer extraordinaire Tommy Lombardozzi....

CCD Interviews: Live From The 2014 NY Comic Con Show Floor - Artist Ken Knudtsen

So this year, like every year, we hope to find some new fantastic artistic talent down in Artist Alley. We send our intrepid reporter Tommy Lombardozzi out among the artists to find the best and brightest of up and comers... no need to stop by the established artists tables, we are looking for the ones that people don't quite know yet... but will very soon! Ken Knudtsen is that kind of guy. With an awesome comic of his own (My Monkey's Name is Jennifer), and some fantastic commission work done at the show (courtesy of his own blog), Mr. Knudtsen shows exactly why we chose to feature the guy here on CCD. Oh, it doesn't hurt that my man Ken is also a fellow contributor to the Sketch Lottery... which Tommy & I happen to be memebers and contributors of!!!! Lot's of fun, hope you guys enjoy the interview and pics of Ken's commissions from this years show after the jump....

CCD Presents: Ray Arcadio Live From Artists Alley at the 2013 NY Comic Con

On the first day of set up for our booth we were quite early. Joe Fletch, Tommy and I arrived at the Javits and began setting up our booth. There were not that many artists setting up in Artists Alley, but there was one a few rows away that instantly caught our attention. Ray Arcadio had canvas art for sale, and his style jumped out at me because it reminded me of one of my favorite artists, Sam Keith. His faces were not exactly like Keith's drawings, but the mouths reminded me of The Maxx. That was enough to get me over to the table. Once I did, I started chatting up Ray and he was a really cool dude. His work was really fantastic, and once we began talking on camera it became apparent that I was speaking to one of the most down to earth artists at the con. You can check out more of his work by jumping on his website, and you can see the interview we conducted after the jump...

CCD Interviews: Artist Sean Hamilton At His Booth In Artist Alley at the 2013 NY Comic Con

My man Sean Hamilton and I go way back... last year at the NY Comic Con to be exact! We met Sean last year in Artist Alley and have seen him at a few other cons, and considering we have so much in common we always chop it up a bit when we see each other. See, Sean is a comic & pop culture nerd... but he is also a sneaker head. These are two of my favorite things as well, and so we have similar sensibilities in terms of the things we personally like. This tends to skew me towards the work he does, which pairs a popular pop culture character (Superman, Spidey, Michonne, etc) with a fresh pair of kicks. Some are obvious, like Catwoman paired with the Tiffany Dunks, or Hulk paired with the Hulk Dunks. Some are based on color ways, like Superman in the Fire Red 4s or Batman in the Thunder 4s. And some are just conceptual, such as Teen Wolf dunking a basketball in the Nike Air Mags (aka Marty McFly's from Back to the Future fame). Truly great and creative stuff... and I love seeing what he comes up with next. The best part is that Sean usually does very limited runs of each print... and once he sells out, they are gone forever! I copped his Batman piece and he threw in the Superman for free (thanks brother!). Make sure you check out Sean's cool ass website by clicking here, and check out some of the pics I took of his booth and the interview we conducted after the jump. Also, make sure you follow him on Instagram (CreateInkStudios)... his timeline is poppin! Enjoy the goodies after the jump...

CCD Presents: Artist Ali Solomon Live From Artists Alley at the 2013 NY Comic Con

There were over 300 artists who displayed and sold their work in Artists Alley at the 2013 NY Comic Con. They are all very talented and unique in their own way. But when I walked down the aisle that Ali Solomon's booth was occupying, I was stopped in my tracks. The work that he had displayed was absolutely awesome... it looked as if I was looking at a HDTV set tuned to the Cartoon Network. The colors are so vibrant and jump off the page. It was a style that is so unique, that there was nobody displaying art like that for sale. Ali was a really cool dude and was willing to chat with us live from his booth about his process and what goes into his art. He was very forthcoming and provide excellent insight into his whole artistic process. Check out more of his work over at Wheelz In Motion, and you can see his Deviant Art page by clicking here. You can also email Ali (kudoze@msn.com) and request print prices... and all of you should do so, cause his work is just fantastic. I personally picked up his Flash/Road Runner piece, and I can't wait to get it framed! After the jump you can see a few of his pieces that are my favorite as well as the full video interview.

It's Official - CCD Blog Presents: Tommy Lombardozzi & The Hartter Family at The 2013 New York Comic Con!!!!

So any followers of our little blog know that over the past three years we have been given the honor of covering the New York Comic Con via press passes. These passes give us access to the show and allow us to do some really cool interviews (like this, this and this). We are gearing up for year 4 of Comic Con coverage, and this year looks to be the biggest one yet! But this year we are foraying into another venture at the show... and boy is it exciting. We are teaming up with fellow CCD contributor and artist extraordinaire Tommy Lombardozzi and the son of late artistic genius Sean Hartter (R.I.P. Brother) Griffin to have our own table in Artists Alley!!! Yup, pass by booth # Z - 18 and come enjoy the artistic stylings of Tommy, Sean and Griff... and who knows, maybe you will even take home something for your own collection that the boys have for sale. This is a new and exciting experience for us, so please come through and support the fellas if you happen to be in the building for the show. Check out a few things that will be for sale after the jump, especially the insane Jack Kirby inspired monster print of 'Goom' that was drawn by Tommy Lombardozzi and colored by Sean Hartter!