TOONFEST 2002
TOONFEST TRAVELS

2007
(coming soon)

2006

2005

2002

SKETCHES		 This is the long-lost journal entry made after Toonfest 2002. I have updated and edited it for this site. Enjoy.
And I'm back from Marceline, seeing my dad, and seeing the cartoon festival there. The highlight of the weekend was meeting Mike Peters, the cartoonist of Mother Goose and Grimm, and getting a sketch and autograph from him. Woo hoo! Grimmy is one of my favorite comics and I read it every day, along with several others. This makes the 3rd cartoonist that I have an autograph from. First, I got the autograph from Dan DeCarlo several years back(one of the artists for Archie comics). Then I got an original Mudpie comic a few years later. Mudpie is in over 100 papers nationwide and is by Guy Gilchrist(update from 2007: the strip ended a few years after I typed that). Now, I have a sketch of Grimmy from the artist who draws him for a living.
CLICK HERE TO SEE MY NEWEST THING TO FRAME!
Mike had a very interesting presentation or whatever it was, filled with very funny stories from his early years. Mike looks very much like Rob Paulson(Yakko of Animaniacs, and many other cartoon voices), especially with that jean jacket, white shirt, and jeans. Only slightly sounds like Rob. I really wish I took my tape recorder to that presentation. Even my camera would have made it better. Alas, both were back at my dad's house several blocks away. He had some very interesting stories, so I really wish I had a recording of that so I could let you all in on them. He also used to stutter a lot in his childhood, according to him. He did very well Saturday. I'm glad I went! SKETCH!!!
After the presentation/speech/whatever, I met up with him, along with some other guy. The other guy(in his 30's/40's) asked some questions, including how to get in the comic business. Man, Mike had a lot to say, and it might help me out some, although I'm looking more toward the comic BOOK business, but I listened in anyway(edit from 2007: webcomics are my desire now). Eventually, there was a larger crowd and he finally gave autographs and sketches to anybody who had something for him to write on. One person asked how much it would cost, heh. He had already given three free sketches by that time. He drew Grimm's head for each person, but oddly, he drew Grimm's entire BODY for me! I feel special. It was possibly due to my crazy bright shirt and my copper-colored beach hat, plus my happy goatee, but I think mainly because I offered a large sketch pad for him to draw on, one with high-quality bristol paper, at that. Only the best for something to show off for years upon years. I actually had that paper pad with me so I could draw stuff from the festival, which I didn't do. I'm glad my dad suggested I take that, because I didn't know ahead of time that Mike was going to be there. I wish I looked closer at the schedule, but I didn't expect to see any names I'd recognize. He continued talking as he was drawing my picture. That was cool.