Tag: sam hice

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Art Conventions

Philly Wizard World 2015: Entering the Marvel Talent Contest

Marvel Standard Talent Incentive Enrollment Form
by Sam Hice

I’m not going to lie, I procrastinate. Not on a very frequent level, mind you, but just enough to make me not type as many of these as I want to. I have a thousand and one different subjects in my head, and not nearly enough time to cover them all. So, I think I’m going to just start by covering one that my lovely Emma has wanted me to do, the Philadelphia Wizard World Comic Con art contest. As many of you who frequent the site probably know, the two of us stopped over in Philadelphia for a couple of days to enjoy the magic that is the Wizard World Comic Con. There were so many amazing things there, the food, the community, the artwork. I can go on forever.

But, speaking of artwork, yours truly is a bit of an amateur artist. I mainly work on pencil sketches, but I love to draw. I’ve loved drawing since I was in kindergarten. Crayons and markers are always fun, but I will always enjoy the precision of pencils and the permanency of pens. Moving on, the two of us scavenged through some of my artwork and put together a small portfolio for me to enter into the contest along with a Marvel Standard Talent Incentive Enrollment Form. Believe it or not, not a lot of people really entered this little showing. I didn’t win, because I can only imagine the pure skills everyone else had in front of me. But, to be honest, I didn’t mind.

by Sam Hice

I was told that I was in the top ten candidates, but that only a couple of people would have a personal interview with the talent agent who was looking through all of our paperwork. Now, on my end, I don’t really know exactly how many people signed up altogether. I was told that day it was between 50 and 60. So, ending up in the top ten kinda felt pretty good, considering. What that did for me was fuel my passion even more for drawing, sketching, and just plain doodling. Now I’m going to shamelessly add the artwork to this blog.

I’ve included some of the ones I submitted (above), along with some more recent drawings, and others I thought about putting in (below). If you think I should have added these pictures, taken some out, or quit art altogether, and gotten a normal job like flipping burgers for minimum wage, I am open to criticism.

by Sam Hice

In the meantime, I’m going to read an incredible art book from my local book store called DragonArt Collector’s Edition. This book is filled with incredible how-tos for sketching out and creating these incredible works of beauty. This book is worth every penny you spend, believe me. I recommend buying it. 

In the meantime, I’m going to go grab 3 cans of Red Bull and a nice piece of paper, and then crumble it up after 2 hours of work. Then, grab another piece of paper and break down into tears. Until, I grab a third piece of paper, and go fuck it, good enough. Because that’s how I roll.

You can check out more of Sam Hice’s work on Readymag.

Thanks to Wizard World for providing Sam Hice and me with a complimentary weekend press pass to the 2015 Wizard World Philadelphia Comic Con.

by Sam Hice
by Sam Hice

Categories
Conventions Film/TV

Meeting Matthew Mercer

Matthew Mercer by Steve Cranston at Animate Miami 2014 (Wikimedia Commons)

Matthew Miller, also known as Mathew Motherfucking Mercer, is a voice acting icon and legend, lending his voice to many television shows and video games, Oh god, so many video games. He’s worthy of gushing over as one of my favorite voice actors, right up there with Tara Strong, the sexy vixen of a thousand voices.

Now, I’m a rather big fan of animated television shows. One is a show called Attack on Titan, a post-apocalyptic anime about the life of an emotionally unstable teenager, bent on vengeance against an army of naked, man-eating giants. Sound fun? Well, it should be, especially when introducing the most bad-ass, titan-killing motherfucker this side of the wall.

Now, this time around, I’m not going to talk about every show he’s been in. I’ll save you the list, believe me. Instead, I’m going to tell you about my personal experience with meeting this man. 

My lovely partner Mary and I were in Philadelphia, enjoying the delights of Wizard World Comic Con. It was day two and dear god, I was tired as hell. I had just been walking around in a jester costume, posing for pictures, and running from panel to panel to see all of the famous actors, answering scripted questions asked by the panel’s moderator. The only reason why I’m so perturbed is mainly that I didn’t get to ask my obviously important question involving a drinking game for Arrow. 

Anywho, I was a little more than tired. We were in a line to meet Cary Elwes for a picture. Now, I kinda knew who he was at the time and she was super excited to meet him. I was half in and out before she had mentioned there was going to be a meet and greet for a man who plays on Attack on Titan. So, we parted ways, and I started my little adventure of maneuvering through all of the Doctor Who posters and tattoo artists.

He was in a room in the building, but it was so far from the actual convention that there was no music playing. Only a few people knew he was there, so the conversations were a lot more personal. After a small chat with everyone, a fitness/combat training instructor walked into the room, and it turned from a meet and greet into a self-defense class. 

It was fucking incredible, but I was sore from the day, so I only made it about halfway through the class. I decided to call it quits and stepped out. Matt was just right outside of the room texting on his phone. I thought it was probably the closest thing to an interview I was going to get, except it wasn’t an interview. Plus, I had absolutely no questions whatsoever, as I was distracted by the fact that I was talking to Levi from Attack on Titan. We stood there for a good part of 10-15 minutes just bullshitting. The guy is seriously down to earth. Most voice actors are. They are a severely underrated class of actors, but what are you gonna do, right?

Sam Hice with Matthew Mercer, via Sam Hice

In the end, I got a good couple of pictures with him, none of which had my face. I gotta say, I kinda regret not getting one. However, before the picture was taken, he made the suggestion that I wear the mask because it was both creepy and awesome. I obliged. When an actor tells you to do something, you do it. Especially, when it is followed after a compliment.

After I went back to the main part of the convention, I told my story to Mary, like an excited 10-year-old who just saw his favorite cartoon character live!!! Except, I was a 23-year-old man, who saw his favorite cartoon character live. So, all in all, it was a pretty good day.

Thanks to Wizard World for providing Mary and me with a complimentary weekend press pass to the 2015 Wizard World Philadelphia Comic Con.