Fourth of July weekend!

I added some new events to my calendar. First off is the Northside Rock n Roll Carnival held this Saturday & Sunday in Cincinnati. A great time with good music, good food and good beer. I hear rumors that the Pickled Brothers Sideshow will be there Sunday. The booth will be manned...er, or womanned, perhaps, by my wonderful wife but I won't be there until Sunday evening. Why not? Because I will be in Olive Hill participating in an art show honoring my high school art teacher, Larry Carroll.

We added Dragon*con to our schedule as well as the Nashville Comic and Horror Fest.

A big thanks to Dave and the Con-tamination crew for a great show in St. Louis last weekend. Thanks to everyone that stopped by.

Origins and Con-tamination and free shit!

Just wanted to put out a couple things going on this weekend. First off I'll be at Origins Game Fair in Columbus this Thursday only! I won't have a booth but I will be at the Charcon booth helping promote their event coming up in October. Since I won't be selling stuff there I wanted to do something so I think I will be giving away a limited number of hand drawn sketch cards. The exact number is unknown because I'll just give 'em away until my pack runs out. Also, you have to actually stop by the booth. I won't be handing them out to any old Joe Schmoe. As for the booth; we believe that the booth will not be in the vendor area but will be out in the main hall. So stop by the Charcon booth and get some free shit!

We'll be leavin' early Friday morn for St. Louis for the always fun and entertaining Con-Tamination. The Fantastic Four will be there along with a Jason, a Leatherface, a Candy Man, a couple a barbarians, some zombies, a porn star and a jack-ass. Artists include myself, Johnny Bopp, Dick Starr and Joel Robinson. There's also some cool vendors like World of Strange. Come get screwy in St. Louie with us!

Contagion, Contagion, Contagion!

I know it's been a while but things have been pretty crazy but we just got back from Contagion in Omaha Nebraska and had such a great time that I had to dust off the old blog and write about it...I am also bringing back the Top 10 List of Things That Will Not Be Elaborated Upon.

First off I wanted to thank everyone involved for making out trip simply phenomenal. First year shows can have bumps and stops but from our perspective everything was pitch perfect. So kudos to the staff of Contagion!

Secondly, big thanks to the folks of the Omaha Chapter of the Zombie Research Society who were instrumental in getting us out there and took care of us. We owe you! Special thanks to Pat for taking the time to shuttle us around and show us the great city of Omaha.

Lastly, the attendees and fans we met were super nice and welcoming. Omaha has a great fandom community in place that really seems to be on the same page and works together to make things happen. Omaha could be a great destination to get your convention fix in the very near future...

We had a great time hanging out with the head of Zombie Research Society, Matt Mogk, and all the Omaha Zombie Research Society. On Saturday the ZRS presented Matt and me with some special art, caricatures by local artists. Mine was a zombification by Eric White who you can find at www.geekywhiteguy.com

Eric giving presenting me his zombification of the zombificator

Me & Matt Mogk of the ZRS

We also got to hang out with a couple of the Walking Dead zombies, Sonya Thompson and Melissa Cowan...and while I'm writing this I realize that we didn't get ANY pictures of the extra-curricular activities so you'll just have to take my word for it. I mean we spent half the day Monday hanging out with them and our unofficial tour guide Logan and have nothing to show for it...except this photo of me and my new hat...

Out with tha old and in with tha new!

But we did get the self-shot...

And this shot at the con...

And this one...

Heather & Sonya @ the airport

And these from my panel on the popularity of zombies...

On my left was Sonya Thompson (Walking Dead), Matt Mogk and Pat (both from the ZRS)

...on my right was Joe Schrieber (author Star Wars: Death Troopers), Melissa Cowan & Joe Giles (both from the Walking Dead), and Mike of the ZRS just to name a few...

This was quite possibly the largest gathering of zombie insiders I have been a part of. A great panel...(not pictured are Tim and The Spider & The Fly...I think...)

Now for the Top 10 List of Things That Will Not Be Elaborated Upon....

10. The Walking Dead don't smell nearly as bad as one would think.

9. Hop Bomb!

8. Waitresses with math skills are a must.

7. Cripple Pimpin' is an idea whose time has come!

6. Decepticons are rude and don't mind stealing your limelight. 

5. We met a one legged man on his way to an ass kicking contest.

4. That smell you're smelling isn't chocolate, it's mulch!

3. It's a nice day, we'll walk. No, seriously, we don't mind. Really. We kind of prefer to walk. Seriously, it's OK. We'll walk. Really.

2. In Omaha you have to finger bang the street lights to get "walk" signals to work...

1. I'm replacing Ron Jeremy!

Witch's Ball Battle of the Bands!

We'll be settin' up Saturday evening to support our buds Pagan Holiday at the Second Annual Witch's Ball Battle of the Bands and Bobby Mackey's Music World in Wilder
The contestants are:
Curse Icon
Second Chance at Eden
Spires of Altum
Der Meister
Pagan Holiday
(they will appear onstage in that order)

If you aren't familiar with Bobby Mackey's Music World it is considered the most haunted night club in America. They offer tours of the basement which is pretty creepy cool
http://bobbymackey.com/

We'll be there from 4-9pm. See you there!

Free Comic Book Day 2011

I'll be at Heroes Realm 1624 Old Paris Rd. Lexington, KY all day tomorrow. Just puttin' that out there...

Fandom Fest Cincy...& new art!!

Here's a big announcement to all my zombie lovin' friends in the Cincinnati area: You CANNOT afford to miss Fandom Fest Cincinnati this weekend, April 16 & 17! At the Radisson in Covington KY, $5 admission and and ass load of zombie related guests!! Including myself guests include two Walking Dead zombies, Walking Dead artist Tony Moore, '68 artist and Bump Creator Mark Kidwell, '68 and Heroes writer RD Hall. Not into zombies you say? How about Freddy vs. Jason artist Jason Craig? Horror not your thing? How about Kabuki and Daredevil artist and Eisner award winner David Mack? Not into comics? How about Jackass' Mike Holman? Not into Mike Holman? Playboy's Megan Mooney will be there. If you're not into drop dead gorgeous ladies I can't help you...

In related news; I just completed a Walking Dead piece for the show.

In related related news; I just finished a piece for Ari Lehman. Ari played Lil' Jason Voorhees in the first Friday the 13th movie and fronts the rockin' metal band First Jason. He'll be offering prints at his concerts and appearances.

In related related related news; I just completed a new set for my Dead White & Blue series. You might recognize these zombies...

I don't get it...

Maybe someone can explain this to me in a way that actually makes sense;

Independent musicians- Many musicians and bands go out and pound the pavement, playing gigs, making fans, and producing & releasing their own music in the hopes to getting a recording contract with a major label. And some actually become successful with any ties to a major recording label. There are even radio stations dedicated to indie and unsigned musicians. Indie music is accepted.

Independent movies- Many filmmakers shoot their own flicks on shoestring budgets in the hopes of getting a shot at making a big budget movie. And some indie become blockbusters themselves.Why, indie films have their own film fests and awards ceremonies. Indie music is accepted.

Independent comic books- Many comic book creators toil at their craft in the hopes of getting some attention from fans and/or major publishers. Some creators leave major publishers to start up their own publishing ventures. Indie comics are accepted.

Independent artists- Many artists and illustrators are not attached to a single company but depend on freelance work. We are constantly looking for new markets and clients. Many of us go on to work for companies full time and many of us leave companies to freelance. Some of the most influential artists and illustrators were freelancers. Indie artists are accepted.

Independent authors- Considered by many the bottom of the barrel. The only reason an author self-publishes is because said author sucks and cannot get a "legitimate" contract with a "legitimate" publishing house. An author that has self published is tainted and can no longer be considered a candidate for "actual" publishing through a "real" publisher. Self published authors are dirtying up the waters and must be stopped by any means, preferably through humiliation or bullying. Indie authors are NOT accepted.

Why?

Horrorhound Weekend and new stuff!!

Hey fellow travelers! I know my posts have been few and far between but I'm an artist, not a writer. Having said that I want to see each and every one of you at Horrorhound Weekend in Indianapolis IN this weekend!

We'll be joined by our friends Johnny Bopp, Dick Starr, Sam Flegal, Nathan Thomas Millner, Scottra, Joel Robinson, Dave Conover and Daniel Horne.  Stop by our booth and take a gander at all of our new art and t-shirts!

Show TONIGHT!!

I've been a little slack but I wanted to give a heads up. We're setting up a merch table at the 13 Pagan Holiday 13 / Quiet Riot concert tonight at WALHILL FARMS IN BATESVILLE INDIANA! Be there or be square!

Stan Lee Foundation's Create A Superhero contest & me!

So I entered a contest to create a new superhero. The contest is sponsored by the Stan Lee Foundation, Todd McFarlane & Prismacolor. I know a lot of folks bitch and moan about comic books today so here's your opportunity to do something about it! Vote for me! All you gotta do is go here:

http://www.talenthouse.com/creativeinvites/preview/a20424afbff0e1a5bdc5c2afc9099d87/154

and click the blue "Vote with Facebook" button on the right or the green "Vote with SMS" button. Feel free to leave a comment and to share. All the links are there. Easy peasy!

Here's the really cool part: When you vote for me you are also voting for Rockstar Roni Jonah! Roni was kind enough to be the model for ZRU:7083 and she is perfect!

When you vote for me, Roni and ZRU:7083 this is what you'll get:

"During the Corpse Wars Marine Corporal Jonah was nearly torn apart by the living dead. Her near dead body became and experiment for the military, a cyborg zombie killin' machine! The only one as a matter of fact! After the government's collapse she decided the death and destruction was too much so she searches for peace and her humanity. But the dead keep coming and she is the only one that can stop them!"

VooDoo Carnival this Saturday

VooDoo Carnival is taking place at the historic Southgate House in Newport KY Saturday starting at 8 pm. Switchblade Syndicate, Pickled Brothers Sideshow and others will put on a show that won't be soon forgotten! We'll be set up along with other vendors and we'll have some brand spankin' new stuff to peddle. Any night spent at Southgate House is a good night. VooDoo Carnival will push it over the top!

In other news: We had a great time with the Lexington KY Comic Creators Group. Did some life drawing with a Silent Hill nurse. After that they forced me to sing for our supper and Heather and I gave a talk about art as a business. The postmortem report can be read here: http://lexkyccg.blogspot.com/2011/02/2011-february-01-postmortem-report-on.html Dinner afterwards with Jonathan and Justin Stewart was a great wrap up. Lexington is my place of birth and I really enjoy taking part in the arts and fandom culture there.

News of the self indulgent kind: I haven't added it to the calendar on my site yet but as some of you know we have been invited to Omaha Nebraska's Contagion: Outbreak Pop Culture Expo in June. Our trip will be sponsored by the good folks at the Omaha Chapter of the Zombie Research Society. We had the opportunity to meet a lot of these folks on our trip to ZomBcon in Seattle and I gotta say I'm really looking forward to this trip.

Speaking of...One of those good folks I mentioned, Lisa Bolton, did a super nice write up about my zombification art. You can read it and some of her other zombie related articles here http://www.examiner.com/zombie-culture-in-national/billy-tackett-zombie-artist

One more: Jessica over at Zombieslam did a little feature on my art and asked me to explain my process a little. You can read that here: http://zombieslam.com/?p=318

For all those that pre-ordered For The Love Of Monsters, those are being sent out! First round went out today and the last round will go out tomorrow. Thanks to everyone that had enough faith in me to spend their hard earned bucks on my project sight-unseen! I know they're a little late but there was a problem with the printer. Not sure what that problem was but books are here now. I couldn't be happier with the quality and I hope you guys are too.

Lastly, not leastly but a little beastly: I completed the art for Nashville's Full Moon Tattoo & Horror Fest where we'll be guests in May. I'm going to add some text for the official poster but in the meantime you can gander a bit at Famous Zombies Wolfman!

Lexington KY Comic Creators Group

That's where I'll be tomorrow and I'll be talking about stuff. Y'know, stuff like the business end of art. And I'll probably talk about zombies and other stuff. Silent Hill nurses will be there too. We'll be doing some life undeath drawing too! All the info is here: http://lexkyccg.blogspot.com/p/jan-30th-2010-meeting.html Hope you can make it out. 1:30 to 4:30 at the Lexington Public Library's Beaumont Branch.

Gallows Pole

Haven't done an evolution of music post for a long while so I thought I would remedy that right quick. How's about some Gallows Pole?

Bella


John Jacob Niles - The Maid Freed From The Gallows


Raymond Crooke - Hangman, Slack on the Line


Leadbelly


Peter, Paul & Mary - Hangman


Kingston Trio


Odetta


Led Zeppelin


Alvin Youngblood Heart


Rootdogs


Great Big Sea


From the film Mr. Lonely


Unnamed band - The Maid Freed From The Gallows

Re-caps - Toronto & Seattle

Catching up a little here. I realized I hadn't done my little re-cap for SFContario so I'll take a moment to do that. SFContario was our first time out of the country and it went surprisingly well. I was a little nervous with a van load of merchandise but everything was OK. Toronto is a beautiful city. 

Every evening we stood in front of the hotel and chose a direction we would walk and pick a restaurant at random. This plan worked extremely well because I think we had one of the best food trips ever. Every place we ate was phenomenal! I do have to give a shout out to the best one, Papa Pasta on 76 Gerrard St. East. A small hole-in-the-wall in the basement of a town house. The food was truly Italian and made right in front of you. The guys behind the counter were great! If you're in Toronto drop by Pasta Papa.

We had a great time at the con. It was well ran. It was a first year event and if you're into fandom I think this event will be one to watch. Thanks to Paul and the staff for taking care of us and making us feel welcome. I have waited so long to post this that I forgot what I had wanted to say about the con so I'll just leave it at thanks.

Me, AD Paul and the sketch I did at one of my panels

On the way home we took a minor detour and stopped by Niagara Falls. It was off season so we pretty much had run of the joint.

On to Rustycon. Our second time in Seattle. Unfortunately this time the event was held at a place that didn't allow us to go exploring like we did at ZomBcon which was held in an artsy district of Seattle. But that's OK because this hotel was amazing!

They really filled up my dance card with panels but most were well attended and those that weren't were still interesting and informative. I guess that speaks well of my co-panelists who were awesome. Did I mention that on some of these one of my co -panelists was NY Times bestselling author and the Author Guest of Honor Patricia Briggs?

 With our new friends and booth neighbors Lisa & Daniel

Closing ceremonies with Patricia Briggs

Thanks to all that made us feel welcome and supported us. I have to say that if anyone says anything bad about the staff at SFContario or Rustycon they haven't been there!

The downside to our trip was the flights. On the way there and back they were bumpy. But the real kicker was the airline lost a piece of our luggage on Monday...Which ended up in Amsterdam! But I have to say the airline was really accommodating and we had our luggage by Wednesday sage and sound.

2011 is off to a great start! Next stop is a talk with the Lexington KY Comic Creator's Group on Jan 30. And breaking news is that we just sealed a deal which will have us as Artist Guest of Honor at Contagion: Outbreak in Omaha Nebraska in June. Never been to Nebraska and we are really lookin' forward to it.

B

China is the new Nigeria

I just got an email today and I wanted to give anyone that owns a domain to take note.  This one is obviously a scam but the first one I received a couple months back sounded legit enough to fool me...I checked into it anyway. I don't remember the details on how they scam you but all you need to know is that they scam you.

Here is the email:

(This is very urgent, Please forward this to your CEO.)
Dear CEO,
We are the department of Asian Domain registration service in china, have something to confirm with you. We formally received an application on January 18, 2011. one company which self-styled "Gasty Investment Co. Ltd " were applying to register "billytackett" as Brand Name and following domain names:

 billytackett.asia
 billytackett.cn
 billytackett.com.cn
 billytackett.com.hk
 billytackett.com.tw
 billytackett.hk
 billytackett.in
 billytackett.net.cn
 billytackett.org.cn
 billytackett.tw
After our initial checking, we found the brand name were similar to your company's, so we need to check with you whether your company has authorized that company to register these names. If you authorized this, we will finish the registration at once. If you did not authorize, please let us know within 7 workdays, so that we will handle this issue better. Out of the time limit we will unconditionally finish the registration for "Gasty Investment Co. Ltd".

Best Regards,

 

Andy

Senior Consultant 

Been a long time

Yep, been kinda quiet around here. Nothing to report really. I have been working on the Dead White & Blue Comics graphic novel. I'm happy to report that it WILL be out this year! Yay!

We are working on filling up our event schedule for 2011. So far it's pretty bare but I do have two dates to post ans we're working on another that will get us out west again! Speaking of going out west...

This weekend we're headed back to beautiful Seattle where we'll be guests of Rustycon! We hope to see some our friends from ZomBcon while we're there.

Short but sweet! We're flying out tomorrow morning and I still have to pack AND finish up a commission piece!

Looking back @ 2010

Yeah, it's been a while since my last post. We've been a bit busy. I'm going to do a post about our trip to Canada for SFContario but I know there is a lot of folks wondering how the Who ARTED? 2010 event went. It was a huge success! I'll be putting together a post with all the numbers and stuff so stay tuned!

But for now a bit of end-of-year stuff: First off we want to thank all of you for supporting Billy Tackett Studios. It is a great warm and fuzzy like feeling when one can do what one loves to do and the public approves. And that's what happens every time one of you orders a print online or at a con, commissions me for a portrait of book cover or just stops by and looks through the portfolio and gives me some sort of "thumbs up".

Secondly, thanks to all the event promoters and gallery curators that invited to their events and establishments. Again, you gave us that warm and fuzzy feeling by rolling out the red carpet!

During 2010 we had the opportunity to:

Climb the Sears Towers

Visit Graceland

Climb the St. Louis Arch

See Niagara Falls

Climb the Seattle Space Needle

Visit Sun Records

Climb the Toronto CN Tower

See the Pacific Ocean for the first time

Leave the U.S. for the first time

Publish my first book

Met some wonderfully awesome folks!

Without your support we wouldn't have the opportunity to travel to travel country...scratch that! ...travel the continent! And your support to me is important...to me! But just as important is your support of the zombie/horror genre. For so many years we have been on the outside looking in at mainstream but now we are mainstream so let's keep it up and look out for each other!

And just as important if not more so is your support of the arts including art, literature, film, music and especially the independent arts. The arts are being cut from our school systems so it's up to you parents, siblings, family, friends and neighbors to educate the younger ones and to expose them to the things that you loved when you were young...and still love today!

So what will 2011 have in store for Billy Tackett Studios? The Dead White & Blue graphic novel will be completed and you can be damned sure there will be an ass load of Dead White & Blue art! I'm looking into some really cool merchandise to tie in with the graphic novel but that's all in the R&D stages right now. There could possibly be some new publications from Billy Tackett Studios as well. We are also planning on bringin' our ooey gooey zombie goodness to some new cities around the US! We may be invading to new countries as well...you have been warned!

Thanks to all and Happy 2011!!

Billy & Heather

Who ARTED?

One more big promo! Who ARTED? is almost here and I wanted to share a video from our friend Phil Hepfinger that he shot at last year's event.



This Saturday, 6 to 10, Art on the Levee at Newport on the Levee. Wine tastings, refreshments, art, art, art!

go to whoarted.billytackett.com for more details

Who ARTED? is almost here!!!

Yes, our charity event is this Saturday! For those that don't know Who ARTED? is our way of accomplishing a few things: 

First, it's a way for us to get those that may not feel artsy to get creative and art for a good cause.
Second, we take vinyl records that will probably find their way into a landfill and give them a new lease on life.
Third, by keeping the prices at a minimum it's possible to get original art into the hands of art lovers that don't necessarily have a ton of cash to shell out for art.
And lastly, we are raising money for a worthy cause and having a blast doin' it!

The charity this year is the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the money raised will be donated in memory of Heather's mother Connie Perry.

The event will take place at Art on the Levee which is located at Newport on the Levee in Newport KY 6 until 10 pm. Stonebrook Winery will be offering wine tastings for a small fee. Other refreshments will be available free of charge.

We have some great artists lined up this year. Some of the talented folks that have donated their time and creative juices this year include:
Survivor's Rupert
Jim O'Rear
Mark Kidwell
Sam Flegal
Travis Fessler
Dick Starr
Daniel Emery Taylor
Rob Meyer
Bobby Nash
Black-N-Bluegrass Roller Girls
...and tons more! Will give a full list of contributing artists with links as well as photos next week.

Zombies of the Universe Christmas sale!!

For a limited time I'm making the Zombies of the Universe print available online! Nov. 26 through Dec. 3!

http://billytackett.bigcartel.com/product/zombies-of-the-universe