Continuing my coverage of the San Diego Comic-Con exhibit floor I’ll next be looking at some of the Artists and Art Galleries on the Comic-Con floor. Many of the regular movie poster companies and artists were back to exhibiting on Comic-Con show floor. There is a artist alley section at SDCC but as normal I will be focusing a bit more heavily on poster artists and some traditional painters that have mainstream appeal in the space. This year was especially exciting as there were two new screenprint companies to make their debut this year. Let’s see them below.
Also look out for some of my other coverage including Collectibles, Hasbro, Toys, and Offsites and After Hour Events.
ACME Archives
https://www.acmearchivesdirect.com
ACME Archives is a leader in the in the officially licensed art scene working on products from licenses including The Simpsons, Disney, Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Marvel, DC Comics, Warner Brothers, Twentieth Century Fox, Halo, DreamWorks, Blizzard, and many more. If you collect posters from many of the screenprint poster galleries you will often see their name listed as posters being co-released with ACME Archives. ACME is often seen at many conventions and art shows throughout the year but especially at San Diego Comic-Con and Star Wars Celebration.
CODA Curates – Spoke Art
https://www.codacurates.com/
https://spoke-art.com/
Spoke Art was again at Comic-Con with a range of posters from today’s top artists including Isabella Addison, Izzy Burton, Tracie Ching, Rose Couch, Doaly, Andrew Kolb, Dakota Randall, Matt Taylor, Steve Thomas, and Aleksander Walijewski.
The other big news was the emergence of a new collaborative venture in the screenprint art scene between Spoke Art founder Ken Harman and Mondo co-founder Rob Jones called CODA. Whereas Spoke Art tends to allow more creative freedom for their artists CODA’s focus will focus on more officially licensed properties, thus differentiating the two. For their debut show CODA brought out some heavey hitters including Jason Edmiston, Eric Powell, Bill Sienkiewicz, Becky Cloonan, Akiko Stehrenberger,
Standouts for me included the Rose Couch Fifth Element Leeloo and of course the ODB Return to the 36 Chambers by Tyler Stout. I will be keeping my eyes out for what Spoke and Coda bring to NYCC later this year.
Made By Mutant
https://www.madebymutant.com/
Another new but not unfamiliar company made a splash by exhibiting at Comic-Con. Working with Elijah Wood and directors Daniel Noah and Josh C. Waller production company SpectreVision the creative team behind Mondo (Mitch, Eric, Spence, Mo, and Jenny) set out to create a new collaborative effort which took the form of Made by Mutant. Their mission is to make posters, records, toys, and more.
For their debut show Mutant had two very limited vinyl releases including a Sand filled Dune Part Two and a Candy filled Wonka soundtrack. Poster releases included Murugiah’s print for the Dune, Greg Smallwood’s EC Cruel Universe, Matthew Woodson’s The Shinning, Deb JJ Lee’s Dune, Ken Taylor’s Saltburn, and Daniel Danger’s Fallout.
Kevin Tong
https://tragic-sunshine.myshopify.com/
This Austin based artists work has worked with many of the galleries in the poster scene including Mondo, Acid-Free Gallery, Sideshow, and Black Dragon Press. Kevin has also worked with studios such as Netflix for various show and movie releases. Standouts include a Vertigo, Amadeus, and Fallout posters.
Alex Pardee
https://shop.alexpardee.com/
Alex Pardee is an American freelance artist, apparel designer, and comics creator writer. He had some unique horror pieces including a Hell H Sculpture and a Necro Comiccon card.
Dave Correia
https://davecorreiaart.com/
Dave’s booth featured many different forms of art from illustration, pins, and sculpture often with a horror theme. His art has appeared in commercials, magazines, print ads, and posters.
Russell Walks Illustration
http://russellwalks.com/
Russel is a highly skilled traditional and digital illustrator. Highly popular amongst collectors around the world Russell has worked with a variety of clients, including Lucasfilm, Paramount, Twentieth-Century Fox, Random House and many others. In 2022 he was tasked with creating the Badge Art for Star Wars Celebration, at Comic-Con there was a continued display of Star Wars art often presented in a propaganda style poster.
Brian Rood Art – Jerry Vanderstelt – Cliff Cramp Illustration
The team up of Brian Rood, Jerry Vanderstelt, and Cliff Cramp continued sharing a larger booth space on the show floor. Each traditional artist offers original pieces along with prints of many top properties including Star Wars, Walking Dead, Marvel, DC, Aliens, Lord of the Rings, Aliens, Indiana Jones and many more. I’ve covered these three for a few years but their artwork continues to hold-up.
Brian Rood Art
https://brianrood.com/
Brian is a professional illustrator working in the entertainment, comic and commercial art fields and is best known for his photo-realistic style. Brian routinely works on licensed pieces with some of the hottest IPs out there. Brian’s display included dozens of original paintings across his portfolio and spanning numerous franchises he has worked on including Star Wars, Marvel, DC, and The Walking Dead.
Jerry Vanderstelt
https://vandersteltstudio.com/
Another artist whose career has spanned nearly three decades is Jerry Vanderstelt who has worked closely with Weta Workshop, Sideshow Collectibles, the Franklin Mint, Hasbro toys, Acme Archives, Topps Trading Cards, and Lucasfilm Ltd. VanderStelt Studio was on hand with several Licensed Star Wars pieces as well as his work on other properties including Indiana Jones, and Lord of the Rings pieces.
Cliff Cramp Illustration
https://www.cliffcramp.com/
Another veteran illustrator with more a professional career spanning over twenty-years, Cliff Cramp also has worked with some very large companies including LucasFilms, 20th Century Fox, MGM Studios, Shout Factory, Nickelodeon, Disney Entertainment, Warner bros, DC Comics, Acme Archives, and Penguin Books contributing to a wide range of media from animation and comics to music, games, and books. Cliff Cramp had a host of originals and prints on display mainly focused on Star Wars but other fantasy series including Lord of the Rings, Aliens, Indiana Jones, and many more.
The Art of Sketch
https://theartofsketch.bigcartel.com/
Artist and woodworker Oscar “Sketch” Navarro had some very unique pieces that caught my eye while strolling the exhibit floor. His sculptures and designs have a spooky theme!
