Cincinnati show this weekend

I don't get get to do a lot of local appearances but now the Northern KY & Cincy areas gets a two-fer!! Here's the write up:

The zombification of America comes to the NKY/Cinci area. Internationally known horror artist and Florence KY resident Billy Tackett(which is me!) sets up shop at Rockin' Rooster Comics this weekend, 5000 Glenway Ave, Cincinnati OH. I will be joined by superstar comic artist David Michael Beck, local artists Dustin Schliebaum & Brian Baums, Horrorhound president Aaron Crowell, Ghost Walk Productions Rocky Karlage, writers Ric Connely & JD Fiegelson and Night of the Living Podcast. Oh, and it's Free Comic Book Day so you can get a free comic. You can't lose!

The zombie take over continues the following weekend when I attend the 7th Street Gifts Annual Faerie Fest at 114 E. 7th Street, Newport KY. Dozens of local and regional artists, live music, costume contests.

Full Moon Tattoo & Horror Fest recap

Finally recovering from the Full Moon show. This was my first tattoo show and let me tell you it was an entirely different experience! And I mean that in a good way. First off I'd like to thank Ben, Marc, Jim and everyone that helped get me in and that made the show an unforgettable experience. Full Moon is definitely a show I'll be attending again.

So when we get there our table was set up in front of the main stage so we had front row seats to Sideshow Bennie's on stage "antics". Beds of nails, swinging irons from nipples, stapling money to foreheads & asses. Yes, he does it all! And he's a swell guy. The Friday show was the best because his opener is fire eating. I've seen fire eating before but this time the fire alarms were triggered so we had flashing lights, fire trucks etc. Coolness. 

Another great thing was I discovered my neighbor was my DeviantArt buddy Chops from Monster Ink 

Along with Chops I got to hang out with some old friends, Jim O'Rear, Daniel & Ami Taylor, John Dugan, Scott Blair and Donkey Punch. I finally had the opportunity to talk with fellow horror artist Joel Robinson. We've been to several of the same events but never got the chance to chat.

We also met the wonderful folks at Coon Tattoo. These guys are great! And then there were the all the awesome people that stopped by the booth. Hundreds? Thousands? I dunno but Heather and I were both hoarse afterwards!

We were also privy to front row seats of Jim doing interviews for Macabre Mansion with Kane Hodder and Jason Mewes.

Here's my list of top 10 random events from the event:

1. Scrotal piercings

2. A tongue fetish model

3. A mildly disturbing horror celebrity fart

4. Dinner with an exotic dancer

5. FOON!!

6. My irritation at the fact that my wife gets Gunnar Hansen's autograph before me! I mean, really, she didn't even know who he was before she met me! I don't think she even likes TCM! That is noway close to being fair!

7. A close call with a race war

8. An ass rat

9. Finding out that Elvira's twin doesn't shave his legs

10. Caney Fork Fish Camp

New art & costme contest reminder

Show the world that the American Spirit ain't dead, it's UNDEAD, by entering my GOD, 

GUNS & BRAAINSSS costume contest at Nashville Full Moon Tattoo and Horror Fest April 24 - 26.

3rd place: Art print of yer choice.

2nd place: T-shirt of yer choice.

1st place: An original, custom portrait of you all

zombified up done by Billy himself!

Just go to http://contest.billytackett.com for all the gory details!

Here's a new piece that I'll be peddlin' prints of at the show. 

 

Guest blog & interview

Apex Books, for whom I did the Mama's Boy and Harlan County Horrors  book covers, asked me to be their weekly guest blogger. You can check it out here: http://www.apexbookcompany.com/blog

--------------------------
After years of beating my head against the wall trying to get some local exposure I finally did it. http://communitypress.oh.newsmemory.com/?pSetup=communitypress_florencerecorder
In the first drop down menu select "Page B1", the page should appear in the left window. Click the article and it will show up on the right hand side.

Also here's a small article on a show I'm doing at the local comic book shop Rockin' Rooster on Free Comic Book Day. http://communitypress.cincinnati.com/article/20090415/NEWS05/904150396/1001/NEWS

Costume Contest for Nashville Tat & Horror Fest

Show the world that the American Spirit ain't dead, it's UNDEAD, by entering my GOD, GUNS & BRAAINSSS costume contest at Nashville Full Moon Tattoo and Horror Fest. 

3rd place: Art print of yer choice.

2nd place: T-shirt of yer choice.

1st place: An original, custom portrait of you all zombified up done by Billy himself!

Just go to http://contest.billytackett.com for all the gory details!

---

And don't fergit that I have t-shirts starting @ $20, prints fer $12 and original art starting at $30!!

http://store.billytackett.com 

 

New event dates added to my schedule!

Apr. 24 - 26, '09 - Full Moon Tattoo & Horror Fest, Nashville TN 
May 2, '09 - Rockin' Rooster Comics, Cincinnati OH 
May 10, '09 - 7th St. Gifts Faerie Fest, Newport KY (Guest) 
May 15 - 17, '09 - World Independent Film Fest, Richmond KY 
Sep. 11-13, '09 - Scarefest, Lexington KY (Guest of Honor) 
Sep. 18-20, '09 - Horror Realm, Pittsburgh PA (Guest) 
Oct. 3-4, '09 - Dark Carnival Film Fest, Bloomington IN 
Oct. 23-35, '09 - CharCon, Charleston WV (Guest of Honor) 
May 28-30, '10 - MarCon, Columbus OH (Guest of Honor)

Feature in ImagineFX Magazine

Just wanted to do some horn tootin'! The digital art magazine ImagineFX does a feature on a couple of "traditional" artists each issue. I was asked to be one of those artists! I am in the current issue, which is out in the UK now and will be out in the US around the middle of the month. 
I wasn't familiar with the mag but after looking at a couple of issues I am very honored in being asked to contribute. 
www.imaginefx.com

Imagicon!

I'm back from Birmingham AL, getting settled in a ready to roll. For me ImagiCon was like a big reunion for a couple of reasons. First of all I am friends with a lot of the department heads . Traveled to other cons, shared hotel rooms, painted on their half naked bodies. So some of these guys are like family. Another reason is that I displayed at another con in Birmingham last year and met what seems like all the other staff then as well as met and became friends with tons of people. So when I was asked to do the art and attend as the artist Guest of Honor there was no way I could possibly turn them down even if I had wanted to. I knew ImagiCon was to be full of very, very familiar and friendly faces and looked forward to seeing them again.
ImagiCon was a first time event and despite some bumps coming out of the gate I felt the con went extremely well. Kelly, the Art Director and old friend, and her minions did a phenomenal job. And the number of fans that stopped by the table was astronomical! The reception I got was warm and very, very fuzzy.

Friday between setting up and talking to fans & friends I did a couple of panels. My co-panelists included fellow Abyss Walker artist James Hill and Neo-Earth creator Bryan King. I hadn't seen either of these guys since my last visit to Birmingham. Other artists that participitated were Nigel Sade and Ash Evans.

After closing down Friday my wife heather and I grabbed a bite to eat and turned in early. Friday was so busy that we were both exhausted and we knew that Saturday, day and night, would be chock full of activities.

Saturday was great also. Very busy but very gratifying. During the afternoon the fire alrm went off and the entire convention was evacuated. As we stood outside with hundreds of people I look in the distance and seesome people looking at me and laughing. This is what they were doing:

Also while hanging out I see these guys off in the distance and Heather rushes over to drag them back:

Later I had another contestant stop by the booth:

Saturday night we sat down to dinner with some friends, Sean Taylor (Gene Simmnos' Dominatrix), Bobby Nash (Fuzzy Bunnies from Hell) and Patricia Albrecht & Samantha Newark (Jem). Our peaceful dinner was soon disrupted when our tables were descended upon by some other guests of ill repute. Daniel Emery Taylor (Swamp Thing) and his wife Ami, Jim O'Rear (It Came From Trafalgar), John Dugan (Texas Chainsaw Massacre) and George Bonilla (ZP International Films) & his wife Tammy. Highlights from the evening are as follows (in no particular order):
1. A suitcase full of hooch
2. An anonymous call to security
3. Beer
4. Interviews with a werewolf named Mittens, a minor demon and a maked man
5. In-depth discussions about Jim's ass
6. Pictures with security
7. Beer
8. Drunken Stormtroopers
9. Beer
10. A drunken, in-depth discussion about Looney Tunes cartoons with John that made way more sense than it should
11. Beer
12. My wife taking part in actions that disrupted interviews with a werewolf named Mittens, a monir demon and a masked man
13. George having his picture taken
(Just to clarify: Patricia and Samantha had too much class to be part of our unruliness and excused themselves early!)

Sunday was a little slower so I had the opportunity to get some photos with some friends.

James Hill

Ami & George

Daniel

Mr. Terrific Tim Lawler

Kelly

Ami & Daniel Taylor, John Dugan, Heather & me

Heather & me

ImagiCon rocked. Thanks to Tom, Joe, Kelly and everyone involved for making this one of the best cons I've been to.
Billy

Intro

Award winning artist Billy Tackett hasn’t always been referred to as “The Creepiest Artist In America”. With humble beginnings in rural KY, the darkness came a-callin’ early on. His fondness for Famous Monsters of Filmland over Little Golden Books hinted at a dark future to come.

Eventually his mastery of the macabre arts drew him to the big city in search of more enthusiastic victims. With his boo-tiful wife Heather, he settled in the Greater Cincinnati area and began to put in motion his evil plan to zombify America.

After publishing over 200 book cover and illustrations he created his signature piece, Zombie Sam, giving birth to his Dead White & Blue series. Those paintings then became the inspiration for the Dead White & Blue Comics graphic novel, scheduled for release early 2009 from Abyss Walker Comics.

Billy’s ability to bring characters to life on canvas and paper caught the attention of best-selling author Shane Moore who dubbed him “Duco-Letum” (Painter of Death) and named him Official Artist of his Abyss Walker Series.

Utilizing his talents in both graphic design and traditional art, Billy has unearthed a line of graphic Ts emblazoned with the denizens of the vast and forbidding wasteland known as his Imagination.

Avoid visiting www.BillyTackett.com if you suffer from heart problems, weak stomach or fear of the dark.

Dead White & Blue Comics update

As some of you are aware Wandering Sage Press has given me the green light to proceed with a graphic novel based on my popular "Dead White & Blue" series of paintings. Which is greater than great. The downside: Now I gotta learn to write!

I now have the Dead White & Blue MySpace page up: www.myspace.com/deadwhiteandblue. This is where I'll be posted the bulk of update materials, promo art and cool stuff.

Speaking of art, I have found an extraordinary artist that just happens to live down the road from me to do the pencils and inks, Russell Runion. (www.myspace.com/freakelite). Now some of you may ask "But Billy, you are the greatest artist to walk the mortal Earth. Why would you have another artist do what you do best?".

Her are the top 3 reasons:
3. I don't have time. I've several projects going on and writing AND drawing a graphic novel is just not in the cards. Too much stress.
2. I'm not really into doing sequential or storyboard art. I've tried it and I've found I prefer not to do it.
1. My artistic style isn't what I envisioned for this project. When I first began to work on this in earnest I knew from the get go that my biggest obstacle, other than writing an entertaining story, would be to find an artist that actually got what I am trying to accomplish. I had a general idea of what I wanted this to look like and I coudn't pull that out of my ass. Luckily I crossed paths with Russell. Even luckier still he lives near me. Thank God for MySpace.

Keep in mind that I didn't want this to just be a vehicle to showcase my art. I've seen excellent artists take on such endeavors, i.e. graphic novels, movies, etc, just as another way to force their art onto the buying public. I've also seen very few pull this off successfully. For me, the project itself is the art as I think you will see when it's completed. But do not fear, citizens. I will be doing the cover and I have a few surprises in store for the interior.

I also didn't want this to be a way to force my political beliefs down your throats. Even though the subject would be the perfect vehicle for that it isn't what my art is about. I feel art should be an escape from reality. Not a reflection of it. When you read Dead White & Blue Comics I want you to forget about all the real life horrors going on just outside your windows and be transfixed by the horrors transpiring in the pages you're holding in your sweaty little mitts.

This project will be an entire package that encompasses several genres. You like zombies? Got 'em. You like superheroes? Got 'em. How about action heroes? Got 'em. Mad scientists? Got 'em. Aliens? Got 'em. Got a thing for hot German chicks dressed in leather and high heeled knee boots? Got them too.

Having a lifelong love for B-horror movies, cutting my teeth on 70s comic books and having a generally disfunctional and at times erratic outlook on life should give me all the inspiration I need to create the second greatest story ever told.

Stay tuned for more updates.

Billy

...when they pry it from my cold, dead hands.

Physicians-
(A) The number of physicians in the U.S. is 700,000.
(B) Accidental deaths caused by Physicians per year
are 120,000.
(C) Accidental deaths per physician is 0.171.
(Statistics courtesy of U.S. Dept. of Health Human
Services)

Guns-
(A) The number of gun owners in the U.S. is
80,000,000.
Yes, that is 80 million.
(B) The number of accidental gun deaths per year, all
age groups, is 1,500.
(C) The number of accidental deaths per gun owner is
0.000188.

Statistically, doctors are approximately 9,000 times
more dangerous than gun owners.

Remember, "Guns don't kill people, doctors do."

FACT: NOT EVERYONE HAS A GUN, BUT ALMOST EVERYONE HAS
AT LEAST ONE DOCTOR.
Please alert your friends to this alarming threat. We
must ban doctors before this gets completely out of
hand!

Out of concern for the public at large, I have
withheld the statistics on lawyers for fear the shock
would cause people to panic and seek medical
attention.

Author unknown