So this was my first con since 2011 and I shall call is a success even though I only attended Saturday morning (it was a 2-day event).
There was no way to preorder ticket, you could only get them at the door, 30mn before opening time which was 10am.
My friend and I arrived at 8am and we were 6th and 7th in the line. The atmosphere was very friendly, everyone was chatting with each other to ease the wait, sharing past con experiences. I realized the guys in front of us were hardcore convention-goers as they had already met loads of creators.
The creators I wanted sketches from were Asrar, Shalvey and Pichelli. According to the program, Asrar was doing 8 free sketches from 10 to 12, Pichelli was also free sketching from 10 to 12 with no limits announced. Shalvey would only do 5 sketches in the morning and you had to buy a 10 euros print to get a sketch.
As it turned out, the guys in front of us all wanted Shalvey. That was the 5 sketches gone so my friend and I decided to go to Asrar 1st to secure a spot on the 8 free sketches list and then we would go to Pichelli.
The doors opened at 10am as planned. The venue was the atrium and the courtyard of the City Hall. Courtyard was for Artist Alley (mainly local artists with some having worked for American publishers) and exhibitors, the Atrium was for the guests.
As soon as the doors opened, my friend and I ran to Asrar table. We were suprised to find someone already in line. Turned it was one of the exhibitor who had earlier access. As we were waiting for our turn in the Asrar line, we quickly realized the Pichelli line was filling really fast. We also noticed that right next Asrar, Pere Perez was doing very good sketches. A quick look at the schedule told us he doing free sketches until 12. So we decided he would be our second sketch rather than Pichelli.
Unfortunately, by the time Asrar was sketching for me, Perez had changed his mind : he had done 5 free sketches and the rest would be commissions. At the same time, we saw the organizers were closing Pichelli's line. No one was free sketching anymore.
Asrar was a very nice guy, putting real efforts into the free sketches. My friend got Daredevil and I asked for Logan (no costume). I was quite pleased with the result. He also signed my comics. Then I got to Perez's line to get him to sign my Batman Inc HC. Again, a very nice guy. My friend decided to spend 40€ on a headshot and got a very nice half Peter, half Spidey spider-sense tingling sketch. I was so impressed with the result that I decided to get one as well. I asked him for a Damian Wayne Robin headshot. While it was nice, it is definitely the nicest sketch I ever got though it is the one I paid the most for. I was underwhelmed.
Then I got in line to get a 10€ sketch from Ramon Bachs but the line closed right in front of me. So my friend and I stepped outside to have a look at artist alley. That's when we noticed that Shalvey was still sketching even though the 5 guys from the morning were gone.
We got back inside to have a look at the vendors (there were just 2 including the organizer) and we managed to get comics signed by Sara Pichelli.
It was 12h15 and I was about to leave the show when I noticed that Shalvey was sketching for one guy and there was no after him so I went to get some comics signed. I asked if per chance he would be sketching and was told that as long as I bought the print, I'd definitely get a sketch. Which I gladly did. Shalvey is a very nice fellow but the best was his girlfriend, colorist extraordinaire Jordie Bellaire. I got them to sign comics they had both worked on and chatted a bit with her. I got a sweet Hawkeye sketch.
Then all the creators had left for lunch and I had to get home so that was it.
Sketches :
Logan by Mahmud Asrar (free)
Damian Wayne by Pere Perez (40€)
Hawkeye by Declan Shalvey (10€)
Sigs:
FCBD 2015 All New Avengers by Asrar
Batman Inc HC by Pere Perez
FBCD 2014 Guardians of the Galaxy by Sara Pichelli
The Massive #11 by Shalvey and Bellaire
The Manhattan Projects vol. 2 #1 by Bellaire
Marvel Now What by Bellaire and Shalvey
Thought Bubble Anthology 2011 by Bellaire and Stephen Mooney
I'll try to post pics of the sketchs later.