GEAUX Fund Me: Posts 2 & 3

Friday, May 16th 2014 & Saturday, May 17th 2014

Friday & Saturday were spent gathering more supplies and designing a few things for the party.

Here's a look at the Page template I used to do my caricatures on, followed by my artist signage.

I had the artist signage laminated at Fedex/Kinko's as well as printed out my blank pages there too. Did you know you could self laminate there now? Crazy, I know! Whoa!!! I'll slow down now! ;)

Saturday, I went to the bank to get change for the party since I would be selling the caricature drawings.

Sunday, May 18th 2014
Woke up early with a nervous butterfly excitement, partly because I was going to be going to the party with a friend I hadn't seen since my high school days. It was wonderful catching up with her at the party, and fitting because all the music played was music that was big when we were in school together. It honestly felt like no time had passed between us at all! Time can be magical sometimes...

Thankfully, all my art supplies and such fit into my backpack, which made for nice transport and set up. Tanya, was my wonderful Mia Wallace (of Pulp Fiction) assistant, and did an amazing job working the crowd, wrangling people, and $ while I did the creative stuff. We make a great team, and she said she'd be happy to help me out with other caricature events in the future. I can think of no one better to tag team with! Thanks Tanya!

Tanya as Mia Wallace from Pulp Fiction. Photo by Liz Ohanesian

The crowd was about 20 some people. But once things started picking up, they really picked up!!! I had a pretty consistent line for about 2 hours or so. I was able to do about 4-5 people which is pretty good for that crowd. When things were slow in the beginning, Tanya modeled for me! I know... I'm a lucky duck! Here are a few of my warm-up drawings of her.

Tanya as Mia Wallace! Photo by Tanya Telford

Tanya as Mia Wallace! I love the markers here! Photo by Tanya Telford

My first cosplay caricature was Drew as Vincent Vega (of Pulp Fiction), Tanya's Mia Wallace cosplay counterpart! He was very nice, and even had a great set of props with him! Like a mysterious glowing briefcase, and even a book from the film! He had a great smile, and I asked him if he wanted to be happy in the pic or bad-ass. He said "Bad-Ass!" So I went with that!

  

Happy customer Drew with his Vincent Vega Cosplay Caricature!

Here are the 2 Pulp Fiction Cosplayers w/ their Caricatures!

Here's an action shot of me working on Drew's pic!

So many markers! Photo by Tanya Telford

My next customers were Kalisa as Marla Singer from Fight Club and her boyfriend Dustin, as Kenny Fisher, aka: Special K from Can't Hardly Wait!

Kalisa as Fight Club's Marla Singer w/ her Cosplay Caricature! 

Action shot of me drawing Kalisa as Marla! Photo by Liz Ohanesian

My drawing of Dustin as Special K! 

I used Pink around Dustin as sort of a nod to Kenny's Pink "Love scented candle" in the film! Can't Hardly Wait was one of my favorites!

Dustin striking his best Special K pose with his Cosplay Caricature

I really wish I could've grabbed a photo of Tony's Cornholio Cosplay Caricature I did! It came out really great and hilarious. I guess the best I can do for now, is put this up:

I also didn't think to get a picture of myself in cosplay. I went as John Connor from Terminator 2. Although, someone did think I was Kevin Smith... Has to be the beard. So this image will have to do until I get photographic evidence from Tanya's mom and Shannon, who was doing photos at Matinee too!

Overall, it was a great party. And it might become a monthly event! Thank you Liz and Diana for putting it together and for inviting me to be a part of it! I had a great, fantastic time! Also, special thanks to Tanya for assisting me and keeping me company! I hope it's the first time of many!

Liz thinks I should bring the Cosplay Caricature idea on the road to comic/anime conventions, and that it would be a big hit there as well! I think she's right, and will for sure look into it!
-Jeaux

Wanna go back and read GEAUX Fund Me: Post 1?

GEAUX Fund Me: Post 1

I recently started and closed a successful GOFUNDME Campaign towards art supplies for a very cool Cosplay Dance Party my friends Liz O and Diana M are throwing called Matinée!

Here's the flier/poster for the event:

If you'd like to check it out, here's the Facebook Event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/720103414695064/

Q: "Wait, why do you need art supplies for a Cosplay Dance Party, Jeaux?"

A: Simple! Liz O & Diana invited yours truly to have a caricature booth at Matinee's inaugural event! I am soo excited to see everyone's costumes and to draw them all! Hence, the need for art supplies! I'm sure I'll take a couple dance breaks in between too!

I wanted a place to keep the kind folks who donated towards the campaign updated. A place where they can watch the rest of my GoFundMe campaign unfold and watch the vision of my cosplay caricature booth come to life and stay intact and secure. To nurture that seedling of an idea into a tree of success! And not just the people who donated, but those who helped me by spreading the word, reblogging, tweeting, and sharing the link! So I figured I'd dust off my poor, neglected little blog and put it back to use!

I still can't wrap my head around the generosity I received, especially during these rough, economic times we're in the midst of. I am truly amazed by the kindness and the knowledge that there are people out there who believe in me. Along with the GoFundMe donations, I also received offline donations via paypal, a check from animation great Gene Deitch (all the way from the Czech Republic), and even scored some way cool freelance offers! I am humbled, and truly honored.

So here is the 1st update to my Geaux Fund Me Journey!

Thursday, May 15th 2014

 My friend Bruce Heller and I

My friend Bruce is awesome, and is probably the living embodiment of the Lego Movie song, "Everything is Awesome!". I haven't seen Bruce in over 10 years, but it felt like we were just able to pick up right were we left off. I first met Bruce at Calarts when I was his assistant teaching animation to high school kids for the Calarts Community Arts Program (CAP). He is a great animator, teacher, friend, and a HUGE LEGO fan!!!

So we hit up an In-N-Out burger for lunch, caught up, and checked out the Topanga mall to hunt down a Lego Store he's never been to! I briefly worked at that mall and had no idea we even had a Lego store there while I did my "Disney" time! It was a very cool store! I learned all about bricks, AFOLs ("Adult Fan of Lego"), VIP lego boxes, lego engineer designers, and saw the incredible wall of Legos that had bits and pieces of every lego imaginable! It was eye-opening and very cool!

Bruce & his AWESOME "Busby Berkeley" marker set

Bruce wasn't able to make a monetary donation, but he suggested donating some markers to me, and he did! I love the colors and know they will come in very handy for the show! They even open up in such a beautiful, almost Busby Berkeley film like fashion! I love them! I love Bruce even more, for donating them towards the cause! Thanks Bruce!!!

My Cosplay Consultant: the Fabulous Lisa Fabio & I

After hanging out w/ Bruce, I met up with one of my besties from the Calarts years- Lisa Fabio! Lisa was my suitemate, sometimes more like roommate with how often we'd hang out at one another's room and binge on all sorts of movies instead of going to class. Lisa was at school for costume design, and I remember always loving her work. Her current work is gorgeous and has been seen sported by the likes of stars like Neil Patrick Harris, Jimmy Kimmel, and zillions of cosplay fans all over the world. Check out her AMAZING work at her Etsy site: Little Penny Lane. 

We headed out to wander about the Northridge Mall, Fashion Center, Excuse me... to pick up a few birthday presents for one of Lisa's pals, a couple Disney products (Lisa's a HUGE Disney fan!), and I picked up an integral part of my own cosplay outfit at OLD NAVY of all places!

I know, right? Crazy that Old Navy carries Military Jackets.

I was stoked on finding a military jacket, not only because I've been wanting one forever, but because it was the last one in my size I needed AND it was on sale!!! Normally $60, but I snagged it for $30!!! Way cheaper than if I headed out to an army surplus store or something. Lisa said it looked great on me, and I could not argue with her as she is the queen of cosplay!

Afterwards, we were gonna head out to an art store but it was getting late and we were hungry so we opted for the world famous (and delicious) Brent's Deli for dinner. Which happened to be right next to an Office Depot where I bought a huge bulk of art supplies there for Matinee.

Most notably, the 80s Glam set of Sharpies!

 Lisa dropped me home, and we made plans to go to Disneyland together more often. Thanks for being my "Cosplay Consultant" Lisa! Love ya!

It was so fun seeing old friends and buying art supplies for Matinee! I know it's gonna be a super fun party!

Stay tuned for Geaux Fund Me: Part 2!
-Jeaux

  ***UPDATE***

Richard Elfman, Director of the cult classic Forbidden Zone, has donated towards the cause!

My eyes grew really big, and I almost had a mini-heart attack because one of my heroes, Richard Elfman, director of one of my favorite Cult Classic films of all time, Forbidden Zone (!!!) just donated to my Go Fund Me campaign!!! 

I'm extra appreciative of this because this is so close on the heels of his own big Indiegogo fund raising campaign for the sequel to Forbidden Zone! 

You all saw the Forbidden Zone 2 cartoon promo I made for a cool FZ fan doc by Mikal Watson, that Richard then placed on his personal Youtube page, right?!? I'm really super proud of it! 
  

   

Thanks Richard! So very appreciated!!!
-Jx

Jump ahead and read GEAUX Fund Me: Posts 2 & 3!