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| Future animators awaiting the start of the first Counter Con. |
On Friday July 13th, during the week
of the world famous San Diego Comic Con, an audience of kids, teens, and adults
from throughout the greater San Diego area were treated to a panel of
professionals from a variety of areas in the arts and entertainment field at a Tubman/Chavez Multicultural Center in the inner city of Southeast San Diego for the first time ever.
The goal was to expose a couple hundred
underprivileged inner city kids to the possibility of a career in the field of
comic books, animation, game art, or the behind the scenes business involved in
these businesses, from people that are well known for doing that
professionally, at a location in the inner city.
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| Roland Poindexter fields a question. |
As the kids entered the venue, they were greeted
with posters from some of their favorite shows on Disney XD, and Nickelodeon,
provided courtesy of those two major animation studios, as well as our official
Counter Con stickers, courtesy of Vince Alvendia and StickerJunkie.com. The Legend of Korra and Motorcity posters
were in demand, but they loved the posters for all of the series, and we
were honored to have them sponsored by the studios.
I introduced a
highly accomplished and experienced group of panelist who were eager to share
their stories of professional success, what they do, and how they got into
their position as a pro artists, as well as encourage the kids to go forth
and work towards their dreams, no matter where they came from.
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| Panelists David G. Brown, Jerry Brice, Lalo Alcaraz, Brad Constantine, Roland Poindexter |
The speakers present were Denys Cowan, Lalo
Alcaraz, David G. Brown, Roland Poindexter, and Brad Constantine.
Special guest Superior Court Judge Dwayne Moring
started off the speakers by telling an engaging and heartfelt story on how his
childhood love for reading and collecting comic books led him to first be a
journalist like Clark Kent, and now, a Superior Court Judge in San Diego, or,
if I may, a real life crime fighting judge, either way, his motivation was
inspired by what he read as a child in his comic book collection.
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| Judge Dwayne Moring |
As a childhood friend of the judge, I explained to the crowd how Judge Moring’s
childhood passion for comic books inspired him to follow in his foot steps to not
only collect comic books, but to also pursue a career as a comic artist if that
was possible, and to seek more direction from the professional comic book artist
gathered in town annually, at the San Diego Comic Con, starting in the mid-70’s.
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| David G. Brown addresses the audience. From left: Jerry Brice, Brown, Roland Poindexter, Denys Cowan, Brad Constantine |
The next panelist was L.A.Watts Times/LA
Sentinel award winning comic book artist David G. Brown, who spoke to the kids
about his professional animation career and how that led him to discover his passion
for working and teaching art to young people. He imparted to the kids that
creating art is a way to embrace your uniqueness.
David also publishes a series of comic books that teach kids how to resolve their conflicts without using violence, stay away from drugs, anti-bullying and other types of situations that kids may be confronted with growing up. He brought several copies to give away to the kids.
David also publishes a series of comic books that teach kids how to resolve their conflicts without using violence, stay away from drugs, anti-bullying and other types of situations that kids may be confronted with growing up. He brought several copies to give away to the kids.
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| Roland Poindexter and Denys Cowan |
Next up was speaker Roland Poindexter who was
just recently Sr. VP of Animation at Nickelodeon, and has worked at Fox, Warner
Bros. among others producing and developing many hit series. He told the kids that sometimes, what you start off doing is not what you find yourself ending up
doing…and that you never know when your opportunity will come along, you just
have to be prepared to handle it.
Know what you want to do, learn how to do it the
best you can, and work hard at it, and you can do anything you want to do.
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| Denys Cowan, Brad Constantine, Roland Poindexter |
Comic book artist Denys Cowan made jokes about
his legendary status, but he went on to tell us that he started off his professional career as an assistant
at the age of 14!!!...And he went on to get his first professional assignment
as a lead at 17, was one of the founders of DC’s first black comic book company
Milestone Media, creator and producer of Static Shock, producer of The Boondocks,
to becoming a Senior Production Executive at the BET Network… which makes him a
not only a well respected artistic talent in the business, but a leading business man in the entertainment industry. His participation in the Counter Con is significant. Giving back and supporting the enrichment of kids in the inner city is of
utmost importance to Denys.He wanted the kids to know that when you start, some people will be out to discourage you, and when you start showing your work, some people will not like it, and some will, but the main thing is to never give up.
Personally, I could relate to his experiences
and career choices that confront an African American in the art and
entertainment business. I really benefitted from what he had to say, and going
forward, what he said will affect my own decisions, so that was great for all
of us to hear.
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| Brad Constantine sketches for the kids. |
Lead Sony On-Line Animator Brad Constantine, a
native San Diegan and former private animation student of mine, gave a
humorous and rousing accounting of his road from local San Diego kid to becoming
a leading game animator for several years at major international corporate
behemoth Sony games, located in San Diego. So Brad is still a local boy who made it in the animation
world and can still enjoy living in America’s finest city.
Brad’s message for the kids was to work on your skills, be persistent and passionate about what you are doing, and to be kind to the
people you meet and work with.
He also let the kids know that the internet has
opened up new opportunities to access training, as well as to expose and gain
an audience for your own independent work, no matter in what zip code you reside.
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| Lalo Alcaraz talks shop with the next generation. |
The final speaker was popular humorist and syndicated comic artist Lalo Alcaraz,
creator of La Cucaracha first
nationally syndicated, politically themed Latino daily comic strip from the LA Times Syndicate, who is also a
native of Lemon Grove, which is basically San Diego. He got his start
as a political cartoonist at San Diego State in The Daily Aztec, the student
newspaper.
His message was to work on your skills, don’t take criticism
personally, and you will eventually get better. Draw everyday and keep drawing
like your life depended on it.
Lalo also announced that he has a television series in
development that is Latino based, and takes place in San Diego, or a community
inspired by San Diego, which is something for all local San Diegans to be proud
of and to look forward to.
Lalo was not only inspiring, but he was also very funny.
Lalo was not only inspiring, but he was also very funny.
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| Q & A |
The panel wrapped up by fielding a series of questions from
the audience, and Tanya Diggs, a SR Account Executive at Burrell Advertising
gave us all some very up lifting comments and observances to the kids, even
giving them some insight about her position in advertising, and that we should
not limit our dreams and goals in life, as well as our career choices.
The event ended with an in-depth portfolio review, and Brad and some of the panelist did sketches of cartoon characters
for the kids. Brad is gifted at drawing most cartoon characters past or
present, from memory, and he put on quite a demonstration…the kids loved it!
Sony on-line entertainment provided a free version of their
on-line subscription games for all the kids and teens in attendance, which was
a big surprise for them, so the games coupled with the sketches and posters
from Disney XD, Nickelodeon and the stickers from Stickerjunkie.com. Many got
their first experience with swag, which is a big part of the Comic Con
tradition.
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| David G. Brown and Roland Poindexter review portfolios. |
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| A young artist and his take-home swag. |
The children were inspired, and the community's interest was
well served by this first of a kind event in the South East community. We are highly motivated to make next years event
bigger and better, and we welcome all the support we can get to further the
Counter Con’s effort, impact, and reach. Plans are under way to hold
workshops and events throughout the year in-between the annual Counter Con, and
reach the kids in San Diego at their public schools and local venues.
Many
pro artist and entertainment professionals who regularly attend the San Diego
Comic Con were waiting for an opportunity like Counter Con to give to the people that may be underserved. I am committed to
providing them that platform on an annual basis to serve the
needs of the children in our community, and foster the arts education in the
areas of Game art, comic book art, animation and entertainment business.
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| Counter Con host Jerry L. Brice. |
If you would like to help support or plan the Counter Con 2013,
contact me, Jerry Brice, at: chacta@gmail.com. We will also be launching an Indegogo
campaign to raise funds to help us further our goals and community initiatives
born out of the Counter Con, so look for that!
In closing I would like to thank Claudia Spinelli of
Nickelodeon, Jay Francis of Disney XD, all my supporters on Facebook and FLIP, my production partners in my family, Derrick Ragsdale, and all of my
former students from A.I.!...for helping to make the first Counter Con a really
amazing, huge success for the kids and teens in the San Diego inner city!
See you next year, and dream big!