In short, I'm done with Anime conventions. I love the friends I've made there and very much appreciate the support, but here's the thing:

1. I'm an American artist. I'm in no way ashamed of it, and rather tired of people asking or expecting I'll change somehow because others think it should look differently.

2. Most of my friends at said cons are still people I keep fairly regular contact with outside of con circuit, and my going for the past couple year has largely depended on that. And networking outside of that is rather largely limited.

3. I do enjoy manga and anime but have never been particularly obsessed with it. Never. Much of what's popular in anime cons mean damn little to me and if I'm not in artist alley and not hanging with friends I'm still pretty much a fish out of water. It's simply gotten old.

As a result of all these things, I will be pursuing a lot more sci fi, fantasy, and comic conventions starting with next weekend. Gonna just jump into the swing of things and see how it feels. It'll be nice to chat with more people that get what I'm saying without it turning into a chat about Naruto, or effing DBZ.

This is in no way aimed at my friends, who should certainly know who they are. But if I truly wish to push this as hard as I can creatively I need to find an audience that is receptive to my style and my work. Anime fans have not proven to be that crowd.

Any commissions owed have not been forgotten and will be honored, even if I have to mail them to people. So those that have them don't hesitate to give me mailing info if I don't have it already.

And of course my sites are still available to those who wish to contact me. For now my focus has to be my work, and seriously pushing it. Anime cons have honestly proven to be more of a distraction in that regard.

That's it for now.

Later.

Joe