Unfortunately I won't be tabling this year at NYCC, but I'll be making a handful of appearances on Friday and Saturday!  Hope you can make it, and have a great convention!

Friday, October 12th

11 am-12 pm -- Big City Dare2Draw event on the Variant Stage - INFO
2 pm-3 pm --  Signing at the Dark Horse booth with Jane Espensen (!!!!)
7 pm-?? -- Live art-ing at Rock ComicCon 4 at Rebel NYC -INFO & TICKETS

Saturday, October 13th

11:15-12:15 pm  -- Buffy Panel - Once More with Feeling: 15 Years of Buffy the Vampire Slayer


PS -- Rock ComicCon holds a special place in my heart, as it is organized by H2Awesome, which consists of my fiance and some of my dearest and raddest friends, and it is always an amazing experience.  And even more awesome-er, this year it benefits the CBLDF!  I'll be just one of many artists doing live art there, as in past years.  Hope to see you there!

Checking in from my hotel room overlooking the Denver Convention Center!  Denver ComicCon will be starting in just over 5 hours.  So far I'm in love with this city -- the people are wonderful, food is great, and the weather is perfect.  Can't wait for the con!

For those of you in the Chicago area, I hope you'll be able to join me next Friday, June 22nd, for the opening reception of my gallery exhibit at the Rogue's Gallery, part of Challenger's Comics.  There will be 50 pieces of original art from Angel & Faith #1-6 on display and for sale, and about 25 from DV8 #1-8.  Oh, and beer and wine!  There will also be an exclusive print for sale, featuring original artwork incorporating two of my favorite things: high fantasy and black cats!  The exhibit will run through July 23, so even if you can't make it to the opening there's still plenty of time to drop in and browse the pieces.

Have a great weekend!

Next weekend is Denver ComicCon!  I'm particularly excited for this one because it's in a city I've never been to, there's a comics literary conference attached to it, my awesome friend Charlie LaGreca is one of the organizers, and H2Awesome is putting on another RockComicCon at the Hard Rock Cafe on Saturday night!  It's going to be a blast.  I hope to see lots of you there from near and far.

I'll be doing my usual $60 9x12 inked commissions.  One character per commission, please.  I'll still be taking a separate list for Friday and Saturday to make it easier for those of you who can't get Friday off work.  

Also, you can get a free headsketch with purchase of a Magus issue!  We have very limited copies of #1 available, though, so if you're new to the series you might want to stop by early for your sketch.

Safe travels!

March 16-18 - Anaheim, CA - Updated 3/12/12

       Panels & Signings:
        
       Friday 3/16  
             * 3:30-4:30 PM - Spotlight on Rebekah Isaacs - Room 211AB
       Saturday 3/17
              * 12:30-2:00 PM - CBLDF Live Art Jam - Room 203
               * 6:00-7:00 PM - Horror Comics - Room 213ABCD
Sunday 3/18
* 1:00-2:00 PM - Sketching at the CBLDF booth - Booth 417


All other times I'll be hanging out at Artist Alley table AA28.  It's gonna be suh-weeeeet!  Can't wait to see some familiar faces and meet lots of new ones!

I'll be selling these prints of Angel & Faith for $10.  They're 11x17 on this really beautiful matte poster paper.  It almost looks like the material that banners are made of, which is appropriate since the image is the pin-up I drew and colored for my con banner!  So now we can all match and be banner buddies.

Just a reminder I'll mostly be doing free sketches this con -- if you want a commission please come by early.  Thanks!

Unfortunately I will not be able to attend Boston Comic Con this year after all.  I hope to make it back the Northeast very soon, though!


March 16-18 - WonderCon - Anaheim, CA

May 5 - Free Comic Book Day @ Famous Faces & Funnies -- Melbourne, FL

Jun 15-17 - Denver ComicCon - Denver, CO

Jun 22 - Rogues Gallery @ Challengers Comics - Angel & Faith Original Art Show Reception - Chicago, IL


Check back for updates on the Fall season!

MegaCon - February 17-19 - Artist Alley  table Lime Green 25

$60 for inked, 9"x12" single character waist-up on bristol or your sketchbook.  I'll probably do 12-15.  Come by early Friday or Saturday if you want a spot (as always, I will save some spots on Saturday for those who can't get Friday off work).  Free sketch if you buy a copy of MAGUS 1-5 or bring me your copy (or copies) to sign!

WonderCon - March 16-18

I'll be doing just a few $60 commisions (same specs as MegaCon) -- probably 4-5 -- and spending the rest of the time doing free sketches.  Because the con has so graciously invited me out, I want to be able to spend more time meeting and chatting with the con-goers.  Doing the usual load of commissions is fun, but I sometimes feel like I have to close myself off socially to concentrate on them, and sketching is a much more relaxed and personal way for me to interact with readers.  I'm super excited!  (Limit of one per person to make things fair and all).  Same with MegaCon, for those seeking commissions, please come by as early as possible on Friday or Saturday.

Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you all at a con very soon!  


2012 Convention Schedule (so far -- check back for updates and @ twitter.com/rebekahisaacs)

Feb 17-19 - MegaCon - Orlando, FL

March 16-18 - WonderCon - Anaheim, CA

April 21-22 - Boston ComicCon - Boston, MA

Jun 15-17 - Denver ComicCon - Denver, CO

New York Comic Con is approaching at ungodly speed... prepared or not, I'll be there!  And this year I have a table, so no more scavenger hunts and obstacle courses to find me!  I'll be sharing a table with Brent Schoonover at the Cadence Comic Art booth 3151.  It's not technically in Artists' Alley, but it's smack-dab on the corner of the Small Press section that's nestled into AA.  (If you go HERE and click on the booth number, you can see the location on a handy-dandy interactive map!)  Just look for the small ocean of fans surrounding neighboring rockstar Sean Murphy.

I'll be doing $60 9x12 commissions again.  No time for pre-orders, sorry.  Space is going to be limited this year so get there as early as you can.  Good news is I'm keeping a few spaces open for each day instead of filling up all 3 days on Friday morning, so if you can't make it early on Friday, come by early on Saturday or Sunday.  I will not be attending Thursday, sorry.  

I'll also have copies of Magus 1-5 for sale.  If you're missing one or two in the set, stop on by!  

You can also catch me at the following signings and panels (all along with Angel & Faith writer Christos Gage!):

Friday 5-6 PM - Midtown Comics booth #1638

Saturday 11 AM - Buffy & Angel Present: Dark Horse Does Vampires Right! Panel Room 1A15

Saturday 3:30-4:30 PM - Dark Horse Comics booth # 1238

(Very excited about the panel... especially if rumors of our special guest prove true!)

Looking forward to seeing you all there!

I'm very excited to announce my first international appearance (I love that word, it makes it sound like the person is going to be put in a Popemobile and driven in a circle) on Saturday, September 24th in London, UK!  Orbital Comics has graciously allowed me to set up shop and sign & sketch away for an hour or two.  Yes, FREE sketches (purchasing something from the fine folks at Orbital is all I ask in exchange).  Hope you can make it!  Here are all the deets:

Saturday, September 24, 2011
3-4 PM (will probably run over but arrive in the first hour to guarantee a sketch)
Orbital Comics
8 Great Newport Street
London WC2H 7JA

FYI, Orbital still has copies of Angel & Faith #1 remaining if you haven't picked it up yet!

**UPDATE 8/27/11**

Because of family obligations, Larry's Comics had to pull out of the tour schedule, although they are still a financial sponsor of the tour and will have copies of the exclusive NECRA variant of issue #1.  I'll be signing those copies as well, so if Larry's is your local store and you can't make it out to the others, you'll still be able to get a signed copy after the tour!

The dates and times changed accordingly.  Updated schedule is below.

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The ANGEL & FAITH #1 release is coming up fast (August 31!!) and I'm getting geared up for a New England signing tour the following Labor Day weekend!  Sadly it'll just be me; Christos won't be able to make it after recently having to relocate to the West Coast.  Here's the schedule:


SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2011

Double Midnight Comics, Manchester, NH - 11-1
Jetpack Comics Rochester, NH - 2-4


SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2011

Chris' Comics, Seabrook, NH - 12-2
Friendly Neighborhood Comics, Bellingham, MA - 3-5

Dark Horse has compiled the schedule, addresses for the stores, and links to the respective facebook event pages here!


I did a variant cover for the signing which will be available at all 5 stores that weekend.  Copies are limited, so come early!

I really did not want to comment on this whole DC v. women fracas.  To be honest, I cringe a little when I'm referred to as a "female artist", although I understand the source almost always means well, so the last thing I wanted was to get involved in a debate ABOUT that very prickly phrase.  But today, I received an email notifying me that I'd been tagged on Google+ in a list of female creators, aimed to answer Didio's question "Who should we be hiring?".  I don't know the author of the post well but he's always seemed like a very nice, thoughtful guy and I fully understand that his intentions were good.  As were the intentions of the countless others who made similar lists upon hearing about Didio's comments.  But getting the list in my inbox made something snap in me, and I finally had to say something.  It made me feel like I (and possibly other creators on the lists) are being painted as victims of a conspiracy that I personally feel very strongly does not exist.  So I made the following response:

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I appreciate being added to the list, but I'd like to state for the record that I received several interesting offers from DC before I ultimately followed my Whedonite heart to Dark Horse. It's unfortunate that the percentage of female creators dropped so steeply, and I can't speak for everyone here obviously, but in my case it has more to do with timing and personal choice than any sort of gender discrimination. I can honestly say that I never felt anything but incredibly welcomed and valued by the editors I worked with at DC. I'll admit that I cringed at some of the answers that were given in the panel, though.

Edit: Had only read transcripts of the panel before, just listened to the actual clip. Dang, the tone WAS really aggressive and it disappoints me a lot. But I stand by my statement that there may be far more to the question itself than meets the eye.

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The author followed up by acknowledging that he did not actually believe there was a conspiracy afoot, but had merely been surprised by the vitriol of Didio's response to a fairly simple question.  And I 100% agree that the response was inappropriately handled and could have been dealt with in so many better ways.  But the reason I felt compelled to say something is because there are HOARDS of people online reading these transcripts and posts and lists and only seeing one side of the story.  I've seen countless comments of "DC hates women!" or "DC won't hire women".  I've even seen female sequential art students lament that they'll never be able to work for DC because of what's being painted as an official embargo against female talent.  Compound that with years of hearing that the comics industry in general discriminates against women, and I gotta finally say my piece:

THERE HAS NEVER BEEN A BETTER TIME TO BE A WOMAN IN COMICS.

Yep, you read that right.  Companies WANT to work with women.  We offer a different perspective than the norm, a breath of fresh air, and let's face it, we stand out from the usual crowd.  We pique the interest of that elusive female demographic.  I know editors at both the Big Two who expressly seek out emerging female talent.  Which brings us back to the topic at hand: Not surprisingly, Marvel and DC aren't the only companies who want to work with these creators!  What many of the people who are up in arms over the 12-1% shift in female talent at DC aren't considering is that much of the talent they're looking for are gainfully employed elsewhere.  It could be timing, it could be personal preference on the creator's part, or it could be that the titles remaining to be filled weren't quite right for the style of any of the female creators on these lists.  I certainly wouldn't want to see any company fill a position with a token female just to fill a perceived quota if they weren't the best person for that project.  How would that make that person feel, in turn?  Pretty damned crappy, I'd suspect.  

The fact of the matter is that there just aren't that many of us yet, and the odds of a certain number of us being available to work on a certain event with a certain company at the same time are not so good.  I know the numbers will keep growing as it becomes more acceptable and celebrated for girls and women to enjoy comics.  For that next generation, here's what I've learned:

- Don't be ashamed of who you are.  Just because there are more boys than you doesn't mean you're in a boys' club.  Be yourself and people will love you for it.

- At the same time, if you want to work in mainstream comics, style matters.  I've reviewed hundreds of portfolios and I've been surprised to meet many women who draw in a very manga-influenced, storybook, or cartoon style, but have ambitions of breaking into Marvel and DC.  While occasionally opportunities arise for non-mainstream artists to do work for the Big Two, it's rare and they usually go to well-established artists.  Know your audience.  There are tons of opportunities in indie comics and webcomics for artists who want to tell their own stories in unique styles.  Marvel and DC have to run a business around a franchise of instantly-recognizable characters, so it makes sense that they mostly hire artists who draw in a "superhero" style for consistency.  It's possible to change your style -- I did quite a lot in college -- but there's nothing more heartbreaking than seeing an artist change they unique personal vision just to try to get a job.  If you find yourself having to do this to get closer to a "house style", then you might want to reconsider how passionate you'd really be about the job if you did get it.

-EVERYBODY struggles to get into or stay in the Big Two.  Even dudes!  Just because I got several offers from DC in a row doesn't mean they were always there when I was available for work.  Though the mainstream industry seems large to fans, it's actually quite small and there are WAY more creators than there are projects.  Luckily there are TONS of opportunities in comics outside that sphere.  Dark Horse, IDW, Image, 12 Gauge Comics, Oni, Top Shelf just to name a few!  And don't forget webcomics and other avenues of self-publishing!  



Welp, that's my two cents.  I'm sure it'll ruffle a few feathers, maybe I'll even be labeled a mainstream apologist.  But maybe I'm just an artist who loves her job and loves the community around it and hates to see others perceive it as a frightening, hostile place.  It's an exciting time to be working in this industry and there's a place for everyone who's willing to bust their ass at the drawing table to get their story out there.


EDIT:  Please do not call out individual artists as an example of what you think sucks, or insult an artists' work here.  That goes for both sides.  I don't want to start hiding comments because the offending comments still contain some constructive input, but from now on you've had fair warning.  Insult an individual and your comment will be hidden.

*Heroes Con: AWESOME.  How could it not be?  I've resolved to never miss a year of this Con no matter what may stand in my way.

*Angel & Faith is keeping me very busy but I'm absolutely loving it.  #1 is totally completed and it looks fantastic.  I can't wait for you guys to see it.  I'm currently about to finish penciling #3 and then it's on to 2.5 weeks of inks on that.  

*Iron Age: Alpha is on stands now, written by Rob Williams with art by me and colors by Andres Mossa.  Despite the "One-Shot" label on the cover, it's actually the first of a five-issue miniseries, of which I'm also doing the final issue, Iron Age: Omega.  FYI, the second issue just happens to be written by Angel & Faith writer Christos Gage with pencils by the legendary Lee Weeks.

*I won't be doing another actual convention until New York Comic Con but I'll have a decent number of in-store signings in the Northeast between now and then.  Schedules are still being finalized but I'll get them up here as soon as they come my way.

Thanks for reading!

-RI

Late notice once again, but I WILL be at Heroes Con after all next weekend!  Some wonderful, generous friends have offered to help me out with transportation and a place to crash.  And I've got my own table this year!  Come find me at Artist Alley table #641.

I will be doing my usual 9x12 inked commissions, but starting at this con I will be raising the price to $60.  I want to spend more time on the commissions and make each piece really special, but I also have to make enough at the end of the weekend to afford to keep coming back, so the increased price will help balance it all out.  I apologize for any inconvenience.  I'll also have issues and original art for sale.  

I'm really excited to be able to return to Charlotte because I had such a blast last year.  It's a fantastic con, and I hope to see some of you there!

Next on this year's convention circuit is Big Apple Con -- mercifully only a 20 minute subway ride from my apartment!  I'll be doing my usual $40 9x12 single character upper-body inked sketches, and selling originals.  I wish I'd had the time and money to put some prints together but looks like that will have to wait for NYCC.  :-/  Hope you'll stop by and say hello!  I'll be at booth #903.

Big Apple Con website

A few weeks ago, Marvel artist extraordinaire Mike Choi put out a call for art donations for an auction to aid Red Cross efforts in Japan's tsunami disaster zone.  He got some spectacular work from Humberto Ramos, Eric Canete, Jo Chen, and was kind enough to let me join in as well.  The auction has been live for 3 days so there are still 4 days left for you to put your bids in for some really sweet stuff for a great cause.

The auction's eBay page

For DV8 fans, there are complete layouts from issue 8, 2 rounds of character designs, and the pencils for the 2 page spread of all 8 characters that I did for the SDCC '09 This Is WildStorm #00 promo.

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CGS Super Show THIS WEEKEND!

I'll be there sketching and selling originals!  If you're in the Reading, PA area, please stop by and say hi!

I'll be a guest at Comic Geek Speak's SUPER SHOW in Reading, PA, on May 30 & April 1!

Sorry it's totally last minute -- I wanted to make sure I got all the confirmations and reservations and arrangements finished before making many announcements.  I'll have my table near the rest of the attending artists from Cadence Comic Art, including Sean Murphy, Tom Feister, and Chris Burnham!  I know it'll be tough, but try to save a few bills for widdle ole me, as I'll be doing my regular $40 skomissions (on-site only, sorry, no pre-orders -- just too busy this time!).  

This will be my first time at Super Show but I've heard from so many people that it's a blast!  And the CGS guys are some of the nicest, coolest dudes in comics.  So I'm anticipating a great time, and hope to see some of you there!

Yerp, after what feels like ages of having to keep my big mouth shut, I can finally talk about my next project!  It was announced last weekend at WonderCon that Dark Horse would be continuing the newly acquired "Angel" comics as "Angel & Faith" with the wonderful Christos Gage writing and me drawing.  This interview with Chris and the video of the WonderCon panel is a good starting place for information on the series.  

I am so, so excited to be working on this series.  Even though I watched and loved Firefly and Dollhouse from their beginnings, I only started watching Buffy about a year ago at the insistent prodding of Jon, who is about as big a Whedonite as they come.  But I was still pretty familiar with the characters and the storylines when I got the job.  My love for the Buffverse has only gotten stronger since then so it really feels like I'm getting paid to draw official fanart sometimes, which is just mind-blowing-ly AWESOME.  Take that, middle school art teacher!

Right now all I can show is my variant cover for #2, which is the first image in my gallery to the left.  Hopefully I'll be able to post more soon.  But the first issue comes out in August, so we wanna keep some surprises up our sleeves!

ECCC was SO. FREAKIN. GREAT.  Thanks so much to everyone who stopped by the 12 Gauge booth and got a commission, bought Magus issues, or just chatted.  Can't wait to be back next year!

In other news, I have signed on with an art dealer, the fantastic Paolo Belfiore of Cadence Comic Art, to sell my original art!

Cadence Comic Art

(He also reps Sean Murphy, Skottie Young, Rafael Albuquerque, Tim Seeley, and a slew of other huge names, next to whom mine looks laughably puny!)

Nearly all my pages are up there, including Hack/Slash, Ms. Marvel, DV8, DMZ, and my recent Captain American & Falcon #1 work.  Enjoy!

My Original Art Gallery

Pretty much the greatest week of my life, art-wise.  Hung out all day Wednesday with Phil Jiminez and Rodney Greenblat at the Scholastic HQ judging AMAZING h.s. student comic art for the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards (I didn't know how important these were - tons of national recognition and scholarship money for winners -- Andy Warhol won when he was a student!).  Phil and Rodney are both such nice, down-to-earth guys; you'd never guess they were both practically art legends.  We exchanged dumpster-diving triumphs and convention anecdotes over lunch, but it was very serious business during the judging and we had some truly incredible winners by the end.  I can't even grasp *imagining* the kind of work these students were producing when I was their age.. much less actually getting it on paper!  

Thursday it was off to the SCAD Savannah campus for my first time as a guest at the Comic Arts Forum.  I've done workshops and Q&As at other SCAD events before, but the CAF is the Big Deal and I was so honored to be a part of it.  It's one of those things that seems like it could only be a pipe dream as a student, when you're in the audience watching the panel discussion.  I know, because I used to be in that same spot, listening to the advice on how to break in, wondering if I'd ever have the stuff to "make it" -- still not sure if I really do but at the very least I'm good at tricking people into believing it now.   

The other guests were Robert Atkins, Phil Craven, Kristian Donaldson, Merrill Hagan, Shawn Martinbrough, and David Silva.  If you don't know these guys' work, google them and weep -- I certainly wanted to!  We each did two workshops and two group portfolio reviews, and then split up into two groups for panel discussions on Friday and Saturday evenings.  I think my workshops went well in the end.  I really just hope students walked away with *something* they hadn't thought of before to use in their own work, but I'm not the best public speaker and can get a bit flustered.  It also made me very aware of the fact that I don't really think about what I do or why I do it... I just... do it and hope for the best.  Which can be good and bad.  Some of the other artists have such brilliant reasoning and logic behind what they do, which is exactly how I want to be.  So I also walked away with a lot of inspiration and new ideas.  

I saw some truly amazing art in student portfolios.  There were more than a few that were capable of getting good work right now.  On another note, SCAD Savannah has recently acquired Don Bluth Films' ENTIRE warehouse of concept art, cels, backgrounds, you name it, donated by the man himself.  It's in the Special Collections in Jen Library and the students are able to go over and see it whenever they want as long as the professors make an appt. in advance.  The guest artists were able to go see it and actually touch and hold the pieces.  I never wanted to leave the archives.  To be surrounded by the life's work of so many brilliant animators is both moving and overwhelming.  And we got to take home some flipbooks from Space Ace and Dragon's Lair!

I titled this journal "Humbled" but the reality is I don't need much humbling, as 99.9% of the time I'm convinced I suck.  But there is a big difference between thinking you suck and thinking you suck but seeing the footsteps ahead left by artists greater than you and realizing you can get There too.  It's weeks like this that push me back from the edge of the former and safely into the latter, and I'm very grateful for them.  

And... we're leaving for Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle this week!  Hope to see some of you guys at the 12 Gauge booth.

In honor of today's release of MAGUS #2 in stores, 12 Gauge has teamed with Graphic.ly (our exclusive digital provider) to offer MAGUS #1 free (FREE!!) for a limited time only.  Here's the direct link: [link]

Downloading the Graphic.ly reader to your desktop or mobile device is fast and also free!

Enjoy, and I'd love to hear where you guys find MAGUS #2, so we can thank those stores directly.  They are the heroes of the down-trodden masses of creator-owned and independent comics!

Still on the fence?  Preview the first 5 pages of MAGUS #2 on Newsarama: [link]

I'll be in Savannah Friday, Feb 25 & Saturday, Feb 26 for the Comic Arts Forum. Haven't gotten all the details on programming yet, but I'm guessing I'll be in the panel discussion and possibly in a workshop or two. I wanna see some awesome new work in those portfolios, so get crackin'!

The very next weekend I'll be flying to Seattle for Emerald City Comic Con.  Jon, Dave, and I will be at the 12 Gauge booth promoting MAGUS, and I'll be doing my usual $40 9x12 inked single-character upper-body skomissions.  Then Saturday night, March 5, you can join us at Kracklefest, where Kirby Krackle, Adam Warrock and Jon's band H2Awesome will be rocking your elf ears off!  Here's the official info via the ECCC official site:

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JAMES MARSTERS and KRACKLEFEST

Saturday night of Emerald City Comicon, singer/songwriter/actor James Marsters will be performing a rare solo show at the Hard Rock Cafe, Seattle (located three blocks south of the convention center) at 7:30PM (doors at 7:00PM)! Tickets are $30.00 in advance or $40.00 at the door!

Tickets are on sale now at TicketWeb

Purchasing a ticket to the James Marsters solo performance also grants you free access to Kracklefest, a night of nerd rock featuring Seattle favorites Kirby Krackle, nerdcore rapper Adam WarRock and nerd rockers H2Awesome!

Individual tickets for Kracklefest are just $7.00 in advance and $10.00 at the door! Both shows are 21+

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