Animated Events: Artwork at Gen Con 2026

 Was on the fence about going to Gen Con this year. I skipped last year's event because I wanted to save money for a new car. But I found that I enjoyed doing my own 'Gen Con' week of solo gaming a lot more than expected. Started looking forward to a quiet week of cooking and gaming as well as saving all that money on gas, lodging, and food. And it almost stopped there. The issue was, there were a number of friends going this year. So I shared my thoughts with Mom. Ever the fount of wisdom, she mentioned how my Aunt unexpectedly passed away in March and we never know how much time we will have with our family and friends. So, I might want to think twice before skipping out on those chances to spend time with loved ones. Point taken. Badge, hotel, and parking pass bought and paid for. It was worth the time spent. Above and beyond the time I took to reconnect with friends, Gen Con is always a haven of incredible artwork. When I wasn't with friends or walking between sessions, I was looking at all the art like I was at this wonderful museum of gaming.

I don't play this game, but it looks really cool.

Love the annual mini painting contest

I'm not a puzzle person, but this is pretty cool!

League had a much larger presence than I realized.

Battletech, always good for some awesome art.

Wow... that is new!

I miss you Henry Cavill...

I'm not a 40K fan, but this is really cool!

I don't play Pathfinder, but Paizo's artwork and sculptures are always top notch!

Always worth the walk over to the Lucas Oil Stadium to see Genevieve, the Gen Con mascot.

Genevieve

Again, lots of League of Legends artwork, this time from a third-party reseller of the Riftbound card game. I couldn't help but wonder what Riftbound sales would be like if they had released the upcoming K/DA albums and had a K/DA Riftbound pack release...

Cause it's all about the Vastayan foxgirls!

Not much a drinker, but I like how they went all out on this display.

There were a lot of great games to play and purchase at the con, but my favorite was free. Luke Gygax, the son of Dungeons and Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax, autographed a copy of the book he wrote: Luke Gygax's World of Okkorïm. 

Next year is a big anniversary for Gen Con. I'm planning on attending with my college roommate. And it'll likely be my last for a while. I've only missed three since 2002. After a while, as enjoyable as it has been, you start to feel like you've seen and done everything there is to do. And then you start to wonder about what else is out there and what else you could do with your vacation time... like visiting all the great art museums in the world. Hrm...

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Animated Thoughts: HerStory

A rather unique exhibit opened on June 6th at the Muskegon Museum of Art. Titled "HerStory of Animation", this exhibit covers the oft neglected history of women who work (or have worked) in the field of animation. Curated by filmmaker, author, and animation historian Mindy Johnson, the women on display ranged from animators (both independant and corporate), ink-and-paint girls, concept artists, inbetweeners, directors, and producers, among others.

The exhibit itself had a really nice flow to it as we were introduced to some of the earliest animation devices, like the mutoscope and the motion picture camera, which seguewayed into some of the earliest animators, like Helena Smith-Dayton, a woman who--as far as we know--is the first woman animator. 

Being someone who collects her artwork, I loved seeing these surviving 'mud people' statues made by Helena early on in her career when she was using them as photo-illustrations for her stories that were published in magazines like Puck.

Was fun to see this particular painting of Helena's from the Mindy Johnson collection. We had actually been bidding on this at the same time when it went to auction. Had I known at the time that she was the person I was going up against, I would've bowed out earlier and saved her a little money--professional courtesy and all that. After all, I do have a number of Helena's paintings in my personal collection already (though this one would've looked beautiful hanging on my wall).

One of the things that I really liked is how the exhibit mixed the current day with the historical. There was a really nice section covering Lotte Reiniger that had a basic model of a silhouette film set-up--which also displayed how her proto-multi-plane system worked. 

But the exhibit also had this nice montage near the end showing current day animators and directors like Brenda Chapman, Lorna Cook, Vicky Jenson, Candy Kugel, Jennifer Lee, and more. It was a really nice look at the women of today and the work that they're producing.

But one of my favorite sections was the concept art section. Mary Blair's work was simply breathtaking--like this painting from her work on Alice in Wonderland.

Or this one from Sylvia Holland on Fantasia.

I really only have two quibbles about the exhibit, and they're really more theoretical than practical: first, I wish that Mindy Johnson's next book, "The Only Woman Animator" (which covers the works of Bessie Mae Kelley), had been available at the time. I've found Mindy's work to be very well researched and approachable. Would've liked to walk out of the Museum with a copy tucked under my arm, but excellence takes time and based on Mindy's prior work, I'm confident it will be well worth the wait.

The second is that I would really have liked to see some footnotes on the placards. There were a fair number of women whom I had either not heard of before or had only seen a little information on over the years--like fellow Michigander Faith Rookus. 

I know that most museums don't do this, but I would love it if the placards had this QR code that could take a person to something like a bibliography webpage or a 'want to know more' webpage. Would be so awesome for people like me who saw the information in this exhibit as just the appetizer! Needless to say, I took lots of notes on the women in this exhibit for future research. Heh, augmented reality can't show up fast enough! Put on those AR glasses and take a stroll through the museum, learning more about the subjects only limited by the speed of your internet connection.

This is a rare exhibit that covers an understudied facet of the history of animation, and I really hope that a lot of people will take the time to see it before it leaves the museum. I personally made a 180 minute round trip drive to Muskegeon just to see this exhibit and it was well worth the time spent.

'HerStory of Animation' will be on display at the Muskegeon Museum of Art until September 27, 2026.

Thanks to Mindy Johnson and the Muskegeon Museum of Art for bringing this exhibit to Michigan.

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Animated Thoughts: No Dungeons, just Dragons!

Well the Sloan Museum of Discovery over in Flint had an exhibit that I just couldn't miss: "The Lost World of Dragons!" As I walked from display to display, I quickly realized that twelve year-old me would've been jumping out of his skin with excitement at seeing dragons and learning about them.

Fifty(ish) me was initially geeked about the animatronics. And then I saw how much the curators wanted the public to engage with this exhibit. The displays were very well constructed and geared for interactivity--lots of buttons and levers and video screens and hidden lights and sounds. But they also had taken a couple pages right out of Lotte Reiniger's book "Shadow Theaters and Shadow Films". Stationed within the displays was a station where you could film your own stop-motion video with dragons in Lotte's silhouette animation style.

Two animation workstations, one on each side

Multi-jointed winged dragon model

Additionally, there was a backlit stage with simple dragon puppets where you could put on a traditional shadow theater play.

There were also some other highly interactive displays, like a puppet show stage complete with simple sound-effects and puppets as well as a virtual-reality headset with this dragon rider game. There was also a station at the entrance where you could pick up a card and watch a video explaining the exhibit and the "Dragon Challenge" game. At various displays, there were symbols to find and copy to your card. At the end, you'd enter them into a display and receive a prize after watching a closing video.

The Dragon Challenge game

They did a really good job on the historical/educational information, not just with the info presented, but how they organized it regionally with dragons from Asia, the Mediterranean, Mesoamerica, and various parts of Europe.

Rating all the museum exhibits I've ever been to, this is definitely number two on that list.(1) It's highly interactive and each station has a lot of documentation with tons of historical information. There are puzzles to solve, artwork to enjoy, and lots and lots of giant dragons! 

It'll be around until September 13th, if you have a kid, or are a kid at heart yourself, I cannot recommend this exhibit highly enough.

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(1) Number one: the Musee d'Orsay's impressionist art collection, Number three: the 'Watch Me Move' animation exhibit at the Detroit Institute of Art.

Animated People: Erik Timmerman

There are certain moments where, when you call them up from your memory, they arrive with such a measure of clarity it's as if you were right back there in that moment. The first meeting we had with Erik on our first day of grad school at R.I.T. was one such moment. I vividly remember him as he stood there at the front of the classroom while all seven of us sat at attention, taking in every word.

During his lecture about what the program entailed, Erik cleared his throat and stated matter-of-factly:

"Graduate school is not about how little you can do, it's about how much you can do."

Of all the wisdom Erik imparted upon me over the next three years, this is the statement that I still think about the most--the statement that meant the most to me if I'm being completely honest. During that first quarter at R.I.T., I had difficulty getting traction as I was thrust into such a new environment. I fell down far more than I ran. But by second quarter, I was learning how to apply his advice towards our classes, and specifically the Photo Core II class is where it really clicked. As Erik was teaching us about the principles of animation, and we were required to animate examples in order to illustrate our understanding, I started pushing the assignments further. Starting with simple animations that just showed the principle, I soon branched out into creating gag films and adding more complex stories and editing. By the end of my third year, I had translated Erik's advice into a five minute hybrid hand-drawn/CGI film that pushed my skills beyond their limits.

Life being what it is, it is not always easy to maintain that level of dedication and focus on projects and on life. But when I find myself lagging behind, Erik's words are still there encouraging me to do more and be more.

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Animated Thoughts: Pow! The Art of Comics

It's shaping up to be a good year for animation and animation-adjacent arts here in Michigan. Over in Muskegon, they had a special exhibit highlighting comic book art at the Muskegon Museum of Arts.

Titled "Pow! The Art of Comics", this exhibit was a good look at the experience running from comic strips to comic books, the memorabilia and props as well as their impact on popular culture.

Above and beyond the animation cels and model sheets, what I enjoyed the most was the frames upon frames of concept art and storyboards for feature films. They definitely hit some of my favorites including the Matrix films, the live-action Speed Racer, and a couple of the Marvel films.

'Nebuchadnezzer'
The Matrix, 1999

'Mach 5 and Racer X Trading Paint' by Warren Manser
Speed Racer, 2008

A classic painting by artist Julie Bell shows the far reaching nature of comic book art as inspirations stretch into the realm of fantasy.

Pegasus Befriends the Muses
2018, Julie Bell

And it wouldn't be a comic book exhibit without Batman!

The Batcave, complete with the Batmobile, circa 2015

The Super Friends cartoon from back in the 1970's. Boy does that take me back. Hal Jordan as Green Lantern, who remembers? I love looking at model sheets from animated films. Really shows the thought that went into developing the characters and ensuring consistency across a series.

Ah, Red Sonja, the 'She Devil with a Sword'. I'm only three issues from completing the 1977-1979 Marvel series and two issues away from having their 1983-1986 series completed in my collection. Below is a classic John Buscema panel from the first Marvel series, circa 1979.

Red Sonja Vol.1 #15 Page 7, 1979

Loved perusing their section on Vintage comic strips, especially the section on Terry and the Pirates. The skill that is displayed in the rendering of these images still leaves me breathless. I'm consistently in awe of the drafting skills that these men and women developed back in the days before computers.

Terry and the Pirates, George Wunder, 1951

For years, I've looked to the larger more well known museums for special exhibitions and rare film screenings. As of late, I have been learning to appreciate the smaller regional museums and keep their calendars on my radar for those exhibits that are closer to my interests.

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Animated Thoughts: Realms of Wonder

After a quick lunch and a nice walk at Meijer Gardens, I drove over to the John Ball Zoo. It was time for the annual lantern festival. This year was... interesting. They didn't have the Chinese acrobat show when I was there last year. It didn't feel like they had as many of the sensor-activated animatronic statues. But what they had was enjoyable.

The "Realms of Wonder" had three sections this time around: Underwater, Cultural and Fantasy. Obviously, my favorite was the fantasy realm.

I made my usual two passes through the Zoo, once in daylight and again in darkness with all the lanterns lit up. 

The best animatronic statue there was the ice dragon--though the sensor to activate it was a little frustrating. They had this "gravity sensor" in front of the dragon but it was a little difficult to get the timing right--activating it once it stopped moving. I kept asking little kids to step on the sensor so I could get pictures and video. Fun for them once it started roaring and breathing smoke at least.

The gravity sensor was new. I'm used to those pressure plates that are hidden under mats. This one was a circle that would light up when stepped upon. 

Haven't decided yet, but am debating the merits of going back in June before the event closes. Would really like to take a closer look at the sensor arrays and compare them to the Detroit Zoo's "Dinosauria" animtronics. Sometimes the "how it works" is just as interesting as the end product itself.

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Animated Thoughts: Unexpected Finds in Unexpected Places

"Follow your nose!"

Every so often you find an unexpected find at an unexpected place. Every couple of months, the Lansing Collectable Toy, Comic and Record Show is held at the Okemos Conference Center. It's one of those fun events to wander around and look at the nostalgia. People are there selling records, comicbooks, old G.I. Joe, Micronauts, Shogun Warriors toys and much, much more. There's no admission fee, just come in and browse. I'm usually on the look for the old Marvel Red Sonja comics from the 70's and 80's at a reasonable price. My plan is to donate my comic book collection to the Wallace Library at R.I.T. when I die, so I'm looking to complete the full run of those two series along with a couple others.

Well this time, there was a guy who had included a box of animation cels with his toy selection. Lots of Filmation stuff: He-Man, She-Ra, Conan, Ewoks, and My Little Pony. But stuffed in there was a single bag with about forty production drawings from a couple of Kellogg's cereal commercials.

Now animation cels are wonderful for framing and hanging on the walls, I'm in total agreement with everyone on that score. But I still love production drawings more. Mainly because you can really see the mind of the animator at work in the different shades of pencil that make up the drawings, the areas that have been erased and redrawn, and the notes that they leave behind--in the above and below cases: a timing chart written in the margins.

You can also see scene instructions like "Reg BG4". This one puzzles me. Could be a notation on what background cel to use. Could be something else. Would really love to see the X-Sheets for this commercial.

I'm slowly working on an assignment for my animation history class that deals with how animation was used in advertising. These drawings will make for some great examples to show my students, even moreso if I can track down the commercial that utilized these drawings. There are a fair number of 'how we made it' videos on YouTube from feature film and short film productions; not so many videos on 'how we made that cereal commercial'--which makes production drawings like these all the more valuable to people like me.

A most excellent find, if I do say so myself.

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