The countdown to my very first Comic expo is on! in just 21 hours I'll be on the road to San Francisco for the first ever Image Comic's Expo in Oakland. This particular convention is devoted solely to celebrating Image Comics' 25th anniversary and creator-owned comics, which is awesome! I won't be going just for the comics and entertainment though, this convention, like Comic-Con, Wondercon, etc, actually has editors and publishers attending who will be performing portfolio reviews, and for the last few months I have been MIA working on my comic portfolio. Just like with everything else, i had no idea how much work was put into this type of work. But I plan to attend every convention this year, in hopes of getting some professional work  to put on my resume. This convention runs from this friday, until this sunday, so I don't think I'll be getting into a Batman costume or anything until i get a feel for what these are all about. So much excitement, can't wait to post the experience as it happens!  =D

               It's 11/11/11! seems like a magical day to me for some reason, only comes around about every 100 years, so make a wish! I started working on a possible cover for my new webcomic, Puppet Strings. The guy on the cover is actually one of the villains, but since there are a lot of characters, I thought I would make a couple of different concepts for the cover. I always have fun drawing the dark characters and villains more, I don't know why, my darkside just loves to come out and draw! IThe comic is  actually more of a graphic novel than a webcomic, but since I plan to update it once a week, I thought calling it a webcomic would make more sense. I just posted the first few panels almost a week ago under the "Comic" tab, and I'm in the middle of working on the next set, I should have it done by this weekend. I'm so excited, I have all these storylines in my head, so be sure to check it out, and follow me on Twitter to the right ---->  for updates. Make sure to make a wish today, cause 11/11/11 only comes around once a century! 

This idea just popped into my head out of nowhere today, and I took out my sketchbook(even though i was at work, BAD BAD BAD) and I just started sketching out the first in a series I am going to be working on. I'm going to take classic Disney characters and turn them into puppets. The other factor is that they are going to be controlled by their vice. Some will be a bit obvious, like the genie being controlled by the lamp, but I think as i go through with the series, I will have to think about what would be these awesome disney character's ultimate controlling factor, the thing that runs their whole existence, and that they live and breathe for.... 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! In my opinion, the best holiday EVER!! The thing that scares me most is that Halloween where you stop dressing up...I hope that day never comes....
So This year has been a great one, I've been fueld and motivated into doing more work and although it is EXHAUSTING having all of these ideas and thoughts in my head, it feels great to get them all out.  After many hours, I finally finished a set of panels for the webcomic I will be working on. It's a story about a dystopian future, and its rebellious, sometimes fantasylike, and a lot more. I have so much of the story and characters in my head that i feel like my brain has heartburn or something, like Brainburn! I thought Halloween/the start of a new month would be the perfect time to start off with the comic, so I was working all day yesterday figuring out what would go into this comic.  It's alot more work than I thought! I have major respect for every single webcomic author out there, keeping up with their work. I'll be posting the preview panels from the comic, as well as a backgound/prologue tonight/tomorow morning, so if you like comics, or know anybody that does, let me know what you think! I love feedback. :)

Have a great Halloween and Awesome start to November!

                      Wow...I cannot belioeve that Halloween is this weekend! Time flies by faster and faster! I think this surge of time happened for me last week, when I started working on the concept art for Jonathan Ferrara's Blackwell Family Secret.It's been such a great experience and really fun working on these characters, and I'm almost done with the 7 "princes of hell". I had to read the book first to get a feel for ther personalities, and it was an amazing story, definitaley my type of book: dark, mysterious, and lots of cool cliffhangers and twists. The coolest factor to me wasthe fact that the book centered around the legendary seven deadly sins. If you want a free sample, you can go to JonathanFerrara.com. So after i got a good read on these "princes of hell," I was given permission to throw in my dark style and create these characters. I've already finished 4 of the sins, The envious mermaid, the lazy witch, the greedy leprechaun, and the newest, the wrathful dragon. I cant wait to finish them up and add them to my portfolio! alright, im on my break at work, and I have to get back to work....which is really hard because all of these characters and creatures and stuff keep popping into my head, i cant even think straight...haha.
heres the wrathful dragon though:

     I guess theres no right way to start a blog, so I'm going to jump right into it by telling a little bit about myself, interests, likes, anything and everything. My name is Aaron Ferrara, and i'm an artist and aspiring illustrator living in Orange County, California. please excuse my writing skills, I'm using this blog as an outlet, another way besides my art to get some feelings and ideas out there.
    I'm in my early twenties, and at this stage in life, whenever someone asks me "who are you?" or "what do you do.?"  I think to myself....uhhhhh???  I'm definitely at that place where I'm still figuring things out. Life is changing so much every year and sometimes it just moves too fast. But one thing I do know is that I was born for two reasons: 
1. To help people
2. To create
     The definition of an artist in my opinion is someone who creates. And over the years I've become involved with all kinds of art forms, painting, drawing, clay, wood, design. The time i feel most like myself is when I'm creating a character, giving them a personality. Lately i've had a fascination with puppets, and it's grown on me. I connect a lot with the concept of feeling confined sometimes, and finding ways to cut the strings.
     I would say most of my work comes from a dark place, and it shows, but I don't want people to get the impression that i'm a dark person at all. I love life, and i'm very spiritual and open hearted. On an art style level, most of my inspiration comes from Tim Burton. I feel like his art was very unique for his time and he influenced a lot of the changes in the cartoon industry.
     I would love to inspire someone. That is something I will strive for my whole life. In the mean time, I will be writing my blog, and sketching.

Good night! =)