Guardians.
I am nearly at a loss for words. Or maybe I just used most of them up at the convention and the DCP meetup.
I'm relaxing with family in Florida for another day, then driving back home to finish up with the work from the convention- mailing out the Ace of Spades to the raffle winner and working on a new setup for doing live painting. For the next day though, there are tiny children running around and family gossiping and sharing stories on the couch.
The convention was amazing. I met so many wonderful Guardians. So many people stopped by the booth to talk about my art and I got to talk with folks all about their favorite weapons and moments in both D1 and D2. And everyone has already been connecting over Twitter and Insta. It's so wonderful.
The raffle was won by a wonderful dude named Frederick, and I need to crate it up and send it to him. From the raffle tix, we were able to put together $535 total ($460 in cash) for St. Jude. So, so stoked, and they were so happy. And the winners of the painting and the runner-up prizes (a Colonel plush each, made by my sister @phoenixrisingcreations).
The kind folks at St. Jude also took some photos and we chatted for a bit- they were so appreciative. And GuardianCon raised over $2.7m in the lead up to the convention. Can't wait to see what the total was, including the convention. I wonder if DCP put in another pile of cash... I know they're the reason I was inspired to do the same...
It looks like a floating $20 bill, but it's a stack of mostly $5's.
I already can't wait until next year. I've got so many ideas. And I have heard from some folks about commission and design jobs, and new networking opportunities. In the end, it was so rewarding just to see people expressing joy at seeing my work. And the cherry on top was being able to donate even more than I would have sold the painting for to St. Jude AND someone got the piece for only $5.
GuardianCon was amazing. The people made it that way. Broman, DCP, Omni, Gamma, Dr. Jones, Kob, Nerd & Needle, Jake the Watermelon Exo, Reanna, Blue, Belle Bunny, Kahn, Ian and so, so so many others.
More soon. More Destiny art soon, too.