-By Dan dos Santos

Today is the day! Just about every artist I know is currently en route to Kansas City for this year’s Spectrum Live convention. Like most illustrators, convention time means a mad, last-minute scramble to get things in order. There is so much to do! Getting paintings framed and varnished, price tags made, posters printed, crates shipped out, blog posts scheduled… well, let’s just say the cleanliness of one’s studio tends to suffer a bit  (No joke… the above image is the current state of things while I write this).

For those of you who attending SFAL, please be sure to stop by the Muddy Colors booth (#612). We have some cool things in store!

Our tentative schedule is as follows:

Saturday 2:00 – 3:30: Oil Painting demo by Greg Manchess.

Saturday 4:30 – 6:00: Group Portfolio Reviews (Lauren Panepinto, Justin Gerard, Donato Giancola)

Sunday 11:00 – 12:30: Demo by Donato Giancola.

Sunday 11:00 – 12:30: Group Portfolio Reviews (Sam Weber, David Palumbo, Dan dos Santos)

There are of course a lot of Art Directors that will be doing formal reviews over the weekend, but what we are offering is a bit different. Our reviews will be conducted by a group of artists and AD alike. That means, we will be critiquing the work from an artistic standpoint, offering specific suggestions on how to improve your skills, not just your marketability. You will also be getting input from 3 different people simultaneously.

Maybe you think you’re work just isn’t ready to show an AD? Or maybe you are looking for ways to improve your art rather than shop it around? Either way, these reviews should prove really fun and insightful.

Space is extremely limited. Sign-ups for these reviews will go up first thing Saturday morning at the MC booth, and will be conducted on a first-come-first-serve basis… so if you’re interested, I suggest getting there early to sign up .

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8tZO97uhyE]