ICON6 is quickly approaching, and while I’ve been meaning to post about this since I signed up back in April, I just haven’t had the time. Two years ago I decided to check out ICON5 in NYC. I signed up largely because James Jean was giving a 3hr workshop on digital painting, as I had previously posted here. While I’d promised to write more about my ICON5 experience, it seems I let that slide off my plate as well (the only other post on the subject being this one). So maybe before I get to talking about ICON6, I should write about ICON5 and why the experience has prompted me to travel across the continent to a city that may or may not sink into the Atlantic at any given moment (or 2012, if Jon Cusack is to be believed).
ICON5 was incredible. As a professional designer and animator, and someone who’s spent a lifetime drawing and eager to get back into the freelance world… it was an eye-opening and informative weekend of talks and panels discussion a range of topics. Everything was covered; from children’s books, through art galleries, all the way to editorial works. I signed up on the strength of ONE workshop, but in the end James Jean’s instruction was just one part of the myriad of awesomeness. But the best things about ICON5 was meeting other artists and illustrators; Sketch Motel’s Huan Tran & Geneviève Cote, Rosemary Travale, and Craig Arndt - just to name a few.
So when ICON6 was announced I was eager to check it out. I had a short conversation with fellow Torontonian Michael Cho about the conference, and am glad to hear that he’s accepted the invitation to speak in LA (I finally got to meet Michael in person at TCAF, but that’s another story). There’s also been discussion amongst the Styl.us artists who’re going to the con (or live in LA) about a possible Styl.us invasion of the city! This is something I both dread and look forward too (well, my liver dreads it).
The plan is to tweet the whole thing - from the less-than-touristy touristic stuff Kim and I will be doing (galleries, restaurants, beaches), to the conference itself. so if you want to follow along in real time, follow me on twitter. But if that’s not your thing, I’ll make sure to post a lengthy trip review on the blog once we’re back safe and sound in Toronto.
