While it’s true that I’ve only got a few more skills than a professionally trained monkey (hey, I’m a self-trained monkey!), you know you’ve hit the big time when you’re invited to perform in Vegas!
Those wonderfully shortsighted folks at Wacom could have chosen to file a restraining order, but instead they invited me to present at their Expo booth at Photoshop World in Las Vegas next month. Anybody who’s read anything on this site knows that I really enjoy working with these people, so all kidding aside, it’s an honour to be included with the other names in their guest roster.
That’s me with Wacom’s Joe Sliger at the booth last year. Seriously, what’s with all the guys in glasses and beards?
I’ve been presenting to schools and other small groups for years, have done a number of painting demos at a few different galleries, and have had a couple of occasions to be a guest presenter for Wacom webinars over the past year. I’ve even run a small demonstration booth for Wacom on my own about a year ago during Scott Kelby’s ‘Light it, Shoot it, Retouch it’ tour when it stopped in Calgary. This will be the first time I’ve been invited to present live at their booth at Photoshop World, however, and I’m really looking forward to it. I’m actually quite comfortable talking to people, especially when it comes to digital painting, as I enjoy this work a great deal. In fact, the real trick is getting to me to shut up, which is probably why the session is only 45 minutes long. I fully expect someone to be standing in the wings with a big hook, right around the 43 min. mark, ready to pull me away from the podium. (Yeah, I see you, Wes!).
The great thing about this opportunity is that it gives me a reason to paint something brand new, something I can show during the demo in different stages, painting a little at each stage and talking about the different ways a Wacom tablet allows me to create the work I love so much. The bad news, however, is that I have only two weeks to complete it, which means I need to stop typing, and start painting.
For those of you who will be attending Photoshop World in Las Vegas this year, stop by the Wacom booth whenever the Expo is open. Check the schedule on the Photoshop World site for the Expo Floor hours. They’ll have a number of different tablets on hand that you can try and a great group of pros eager to show you the tablet ropes or answer any questions you might have. My presentation on the Wacom demo stage will be on Thursday, September 6th, from 3:00-3:45, but I plan to be spending time in their booth at other times during the conference, helping people out. I wonder how long it’ll take before they call Security.