Lucca 2012 Recap: Pt 2

Here are more photos from last fall's trip to Lucca for The Ayers Zoo exhibition and Lucca Comics & Games. If you missed it, you can check out Part 1 of the recap here.

  

Over the four days of the festival, I had a great time meeting folks, signing books, and sketching their favorite animals. (My very limited Italian vocabulary consists mainly of food and animals.) 

  

I know it's cliche, but when signing copies of The Daily Zoo Goes to Paris a beret usually makes an appearance.

  

  

Another "French-themed" sketch for crewmember's copy 

of DZ Goes to Paris.

  

Sometimes I will get some rather unusual requests. This woman wanted a dolphin-elephant hybrid.

  

Each year, the festival has a Live Performance Area where artists are invited to draw and paint in front of anyone who cares to watch. On the last day of the festival, all of the works are auctioned off to benefit the local children's hospital. Here, the amazing Lucio Parillo makes it look so easy.

  

Michael Monte Moore at work on another of his fierce creations.

  

And, alas, I picked up some brushes too. It had been quite a while since I had used acrylics, but I gave it a go.

  

Here's the finished Croc-Ninja.

  

The live auction to find good homes for all of the Live Performance Area works created during the festival (and to benefit the local children's hospital of course!). Here, MCs Cosimo and Emanuele lead the bidding on a stunning Batman piece created by Greg Staples. 

  

I also had the pleasure of meeting the talented Paolo Barbieri.

  

My publisher, Design Studio Press, had two booths at the show this year, one each in the Comics and the Games areas. Fellow DSP artist/author Luca Zampriolo (a.k.a. Kallimity, creator of ABAKAN 2288) oversaw the booth in the Comics Pavilion.

Anthinea from Sicily; without her help the DSP booth would simply not function. Her competency is only exceeded by her charming nature.

  

Posing with fan Anna. 

Lucca crew member Gabriele does his best Moby Dick impersonation.

I also did a short workshop and demonstration with a group of kids in the Lucca Junior area of the show.

  

  

Even though art is a pretty universal language, I was still grateful that Anna volunteered her translation services. It's always fun to see kids get excited about drawing.

  

And that's a wrap!

From Lucca, I went on to do a few workshops with students in the mountain-top town of Zug, Switzerland, but that's for another time...