Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Zombies invade Pittsburgh...

...Oh, dang it! They're already there!


Anyway, we'll be bringin' Dead White & Blue to Horror Realm this weekend and this time we got goodies!

I will be taking part in Horror Realm's Hockey Painting Contest and will be donating my mask to charity. Not sure if they will raffle or auction it off but someone will take it home.

Secondly, I am re-animating my God, Guns & BRAAINSSS!! Costume Contest. For those of you unfamiliar with it you come to Horror Realm dressed as one of my Dead White & Blue zombies: Zombie Sam, Fannie the Flesheater or Sgt. Rot., get your pic taken and I'll announce the contest winner later in the week. Prizes are a print of your choice, t-shirt of your choice and grand prize is an original pencil portrait of you all zombified up! You can go here http://contest.billytackett.com for all the details.

See you there!

Monday, September 14, 2009

Scarefest re-cap

So, back from Scarefest. Always love being in Lexington. I was born there, lived 1 hour's drive east of there and now reside 1 hour's drive north of there. Scarefest has become a bit of a homecoming for me and it amazes me how many people come to see me. KY folks love KY talent and the success of Scarefest and and some of the other KY shows like W.I.F.E. are going a long way in proving this.

This show was a struggle from the get-go but in the end all was well.


Upside: We were set up beside George Bonilla & company of ZP International, down the aisle from old friends like Jason, T.J, Roni & Avri of Feathered Italian Films, the ever entertaining Eric & Jerry from Goat Boy Films, B-Movie Man Nic Brown and Mark Kidwell & R.D. Hall at the ComicMonsters.com table. The company could have been worse!

We also got to hang out with our old friend Jim O'Rear and chat with some others like Kayla Perkins, Billy Blackwell & his wife, Cherokee Hall, David Rupp from Infernal Dreams, Lance Crank, Lizayne Whitaker & Adam Campbell, Jason from Apex Books, the guys from Horrorhound, author Michael West and some guys I went to high school with not to mention tons of people I had met and chatted with last year...and I know there's more that I'm forgetting...

Some new folks i met everyone should check out: The awesomely gruesome Dick Starr, the classicly awesome Scott Ra, and the ass-kickingly kick ass Juggulator who I'll be doing some art for in the very near future. We finally got to meet Morgan, the director of My Bloody Wedding which you'll be seeing my movie poster for very soon, and we also confirmed a spot at next year's Dark Woods Con in Pikeville KY. Whew! Now on to the top 9 events at the show!

9. Todd's magician like "mis-direction"...thanks Todd!
8. What would Scarefest be without being serenaded by Jerry Williams?
7. If one does not eat regularly one gets cranky...
6. It's OK if small girls covered in blood and carrying large axes are scared of zombies...I guess
5. Urination loves company.
4. Apparently a bird in the tree is worth a bird turd on the arm in Lexington
3. Lot's of folks will be arting this winter...
2. Chattin' with Leatherface
1. Kane Hodder's Official Grab Ass Game

Tomorrow: Horror Realm re-cap

Wednesday, September 09, 2009

Scarefest and the Halloween event schedule!

Greetin's! Just an update on what's going on for the Halloween schedule. This weekend, Sep. 11-13 we'll be in Lexington KY for the awesomely awesome Scarefest. Tons of horror guests like Pinhead, Leatherface, Jason as well as some of friends such as these names I'm dropping: Jim O'Rear & Horrorhound mag & R.D Hall & Mark Kidwell & George Bonilla &...well, just be there!


Then on the 18th we're headed to Pittsburgh for Horror Realm, formerly known as the Zombie Fest, with Bill Mosely, Tony Todd, Ken Foree and so on and so forth...

In October we'll be attending the Cincinnati premiere of the flick Zombieland (details coming soon), Dark Carnival Film Fest in Bloomington IN, ZombieConX in Milwaukee, Nashville Comics & Horror Show in, well, Nashville, Charcon in Charleston WV, and then there is the just announced Covington KY Zombie Crawl on Halloween Night which I'll be writing about in the near future but you can hit them up on Facebook in the meantime.

Oh, and there's this little show coming to Cincinnati in November called HorrorHound Weekend featuring some wannabes named Elvira and Tom Savini or something. I dunno...check it out...

Billy

Wednesday, September 02, 2009

Artists as art thieves

Back in June I posted a blog about image thieves (which you can read here). I talked about the fact that most image thieves are non-artists, most are making no money off the theft and that most are ignorant of copyrights and the impact their theft has on the livelihood of artists.


But there is an increasingly alarming trend happening and that is artists stealing the works of others. Those people I will refer to as cannibals from here on out.

Before I continue I just want to say that I'm not judging or trying to call anyone out. I'm trying to educate. It became painfully obvious that education is needed after a recent issue with a Facebook app designer using art without permission or compensation. Some of the comments left on a forum during the debate showed me that most people don't understand copyrights.

On to the cannibals: The theft I'm referring to is the highly unethical practice of taking the work of another, be it a photograph, painting or drawing, and painting over top of it and calling it your own. With the growing popularity of digital painting this technique is becoming a big problem and I think a lot of that comes from ignorance of copyrights or more specifically a widely circulated copyright myth which is if you change X% of the picture it becomes an original. Wrong! This misconception is shared by laymen and amateurs alike and it is 110% FALSE!

Again I don't think most of the guilty cannibals out there are committing this act maliciously. Although there are a few unscrupulous artists running around I'll give the benefit of the doubt and say most mean well.

The "paint over" technique has become a very popular tool with art directors and instructors but has become a crutch for others. Using references, photos or otherwise, is perfectly acceptable. Even painting over your own work or photographs is OK (Tim Bradstreet, best known as a Punisher cover artist, has this technique down to an art...no pun intended!). It's the act of lifting someone elses hard work that makes it cannibalism. It's hard enough as an artist to make eke out a living. That's why it is such a No-No when another artist commits such a grievous act regardless of intent.

And if you are an artist trying to make a name for yourself cannibalizing others works tells potential clients some very important information about you, none of which are good:
1. You are lazy
2. You lack creativity
3. You lack ethics
4. You are a cease & desist letter waiting to happen!

Again, not passing judgement. Just putting things out there the way they are. And please note that I am not referring to collage art, digital or otherwise. That is an entirely different thing and one that I know nothing about.

Think before you art!
Billy