By Popular Demand: The ‘La Sirena’ Poster!

LASIRENAposterLR2Ever since I first debuted my ‘La Sirena’ art, I’ve been getting tons of requests for her to be turned into a poster. Ask and ye shall receive, Loteria Lovers.

She is now the fourth official Lone Boy limited-run poster, joining “La Calavera”, “El Corazon”, and “La Luna” to be featured in a giant 11″ x 18″ format on thick card stock. There will only be 500 Sirenas produced.

SAN ANTONIO — the posters debuted last weekend at Dragon’s Lair, but you have a second chance to score them this weekend, Friday May 13th and Saturday the 14th! I’ll be appearing at Paper Trail SA 2016, located at Brick at Blue Star (108 Blue Star / 78204). I’ll be signing ‘La Sirena’ posters, but there will only be fifty available, at the special event price of $20 each! Come get ’em, San Antonio — and check out over forty illustrators and print makers under one roof.

Friday’s ‘Night Market’ is a pre-shop event, with advance tickets required for those who want to beat the Saturday crowds. (A few tickets still available, as of now.) Open 7pm to 9pm.

Saturday is Artist Market Day and it’s free to the public. Open 11am to 6pm.

FOR THOSE WHO DON’T LIVE IN SAN ANTONIO — especially all members of The Lone Boy List — I’ve got you covered!

There will be a one-week online order window to purchase ‘La Sirena’ posters — as well as ‘La Luna’, ‘El Corazon’, and ‘La Calavera’ posters. Orders will be taken from Monday, May 16th to Monday, May 23rd via the Lone Boy shop. The single poster price will be $25, including shipping and handling. No international orders, please. Only orders within the continental United States. All Lone Boy List members will be notified in advance and given priority. This will be the only chance to order these posters online this year.

I’m looking forward to the Paper Trail extravaganza this weekend and thank you to the event’s founder and host, Tiny Roar Creative, for inviting me.

‘El Arbol’ Final Art + Armadillocon Wrap

ARBOLpicacioI debuted the final art for my next Loteria card at Armadillocon in Austin, TX this past weekend. Behold “El Arbol”. It was featured in the con’s Art Show, and I’m proud to say that it won “Best In Show”. Thanks so much, Armadillocon. That one’s for you, Jay Lake. The artwork is a tribute to Jay as a ‘Tree of Life’. He passed away last year from cancer, but he is not forgotten.

Great times at the con. Big thanks to all who played Loteria on Saturday and snatched up my Loteria Grande cards and posters all weekend long. It’s great seeing my friends do well at this con. Enjoyed visiting with C. Robert Cargill, Stina Leicht, John Hornor Jacobs, Wesley Chu, Justin Landon, Joe R. Lansdale, John DeNardo, Jacob Weisman, Sanford Allen, Chris Brown, Amanda Downum, Clayton Hackett, Jonathan Miles, Sara Felix, Rocky Kelley, Don Webb, Caroline Yoachim, Michael Nelson (DC17) and many more that I’m sure I’m forgetting (apologies).

Huge shoutout to Team FACT and the Armadillocon committee. I heard a lot of great reports on the programming content from the writer folk, but I want to give a special shout to Scott Zrubek, Tomi Welch, Laura Domitz, Jimmy Simpson, and the Art Show team. Yeah — that art show location was pretty hard-to-find, to say the least. The room itself was fine, but I give a lot of credit to Scott and the team (you too, Chuck Siros), for letting me figure out a solution that would pull more traffic into the show and experiment with table locations. For the first time, I tried doing a vendor table within the Art Show and when that wasn’t quite working, I moved it out into the main concourse, designing a table layout that would draw foot traffic down the handicapped ramp, to the Art Show. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision, and sales on both ends leaped immediately. Hopefully, my table solution provides a model for success in upcoming years. And thank you to Karen Meschke and Scott for a major assist on Sunday.

What’s next? It’s your turn, Spokane, Santa Fe, and Albuquerque.

In August, George R. R. Martin’s Jean Cocteau Cinema in Santa Fe will be hosting “Loteria Fest” from August 12-29, featuring a first-time ever exhibition of my first twelve Loteria artworks as large-scale giclee prints in one room. The prints will be for sale, as well as my Loteria Grande cards and posters, plus limited edition prints of my A Song of Ice and Fire art. On Thursday, August 27th, from 7pm to 9pm, I’ll be hosting a special reception where we’ll play the traditional version of Loteria for fabulous prizes, and I’ll do a card and poster signing that night.

Before that reception, I’ll be in Spokane for the World Science Fiction Convention (AKA Sasquan) from August 19-23, and after the reception is over, I’ll be appearing at Albuquerque’s Bubonicon.

Whew — this August is going to be a beast.

Let’s do this.

Loteria Fest at Salud Tequila Bar!

LOTERIA4picacioLRSan Antonio: Ready for an evening of amazing tequilas, cocktails, art, and Loteria?

I’ll be hosting Loteria Fest at Salud Tequila Bar (8123 Broadway, San Antonio, TX, 78209) on Saturday, March 28th from 6pm to 8pm. Join us for multiple rounds of the classic Loteria game (AKA “Mexican Bingo”) and win fun prizes and drinks!

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Prizes will include:

• Heads up, Game of Thrones fans! Signed prints featuring John Picacio art from the award-winning George R. R. Martin / A Song of Ice and Fire Calendar!

• Signed John Picacio Loteria art posters

• DVDs including Alien, Batman Begins, Underworld and more!

• Movie art books

And even if you don’t play Loteria — you still win as Salud offers commemorative Loteria-inspired tequila specials with a free John Picacio Loteria Grande card included when you order selected drinks!

Don’t miss executive chef Michel Costa (formerly of Frederick’s), serving delicious food throughout the evening, and I’ll be there signing Loteria Grande cards and posters after we finish the games and prize-giving.

Spread the word and bring your friends! See you on March 28th.

In Loteria We Trust.

LOTERIA54

Austin Books Signing + FRAZETTA!!

So much fun yesterday at my Loteria Grande Cards Signing at Austin Books & Comics. Thanks to Brandon Zuern and the entire ABC team for the hospitality. Huge thanks to everyone who attended, including appearances by Michael and Linda Moorcock, C. Robert Cargill, Rick Klaw, John Worsham of Texas Lightsmith, Peggy Hailey, Kimm Antell, Lawrence Person, and many, many more. Austin Books now has a few of my signed Loteria posters and Grande Card sets available in-store — so get ’em before they’re gone!

After the signing, I made the pilgrimage to Robert Rodriguez’s Frank Frazetta Exhibit in downtown Austin. They don’t allow photography inside (understandably), so I don’t have onsite pics to share, but lemme just say that if you love great works of art or have any love at all for fantasy, this is one of the year’s MUST-SEE art events. Why? Because these are only a few of the originals on display……deep breath……

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The Rodriguez exhibit doesn’t just have ‘some’ Frazettas hanging on a wall (which no matter what, would be pretty cool). No — they’ve got some of the all-time GREATEST Frazetta paintings ever hanging on a wall. And if you’ve never heard the name Sebastian Kruger — you won’t be forgetting it after you see a giant 6′ x 6′ painting like this on display. I won’t even post his Keith Richards painting because it needs to be seen to be believed, and was one of my favorite works of the entire display, Frazettas included!KRUGERjagger

Add to that original Drew Struzan movie poster art, Frank Miller Sin City art, and George Yepes originals, and…..seriously, folks. Missing this exhibit means living with regret for your remaining years. Don’t think. Don’t stop. Just GO.

Enjoyed visiting with Nixon Guerrero of Troublemaker Studios while touring the exhibit. (Borges FTW!) Brought along a blast from the past with me, just for fun. Back when I was attending the University of Texas, I used to shop at a comic book store called Funny Papers. One day, circa 1991, I spotted stacks of compendiums for a comic strip called Los Hooligans, written and drawn by a guy named Robert Rodriguez. Never heard of him. I flipped through it, dug it, plopped it on my stack, and carried it to the register. The manager rang up my purchase, opened up the Los Hooligans book and said, “Oh hey. Congrats, man. You scored the free one.” As fate would have it, Robert did an original sketch inside that single book with a note saying that the buyer received this copy for free. What were the odds? I’ve kept it all these years.HOOLIGANS

I attended UT around the same time as Robert, even though we never crossed paths. I graduated with my architecture degree, and went on to self-publish my own comic books, which led to my current career as a Hugo Award-winning science fiction/fantasy illustrator. Yesterday’s signing, plus the exhibit visit, was rocket fuel, an energy boost for the career-expanding work I’m currently doing, but it was also a reminder of my roots — the Frazetta paintings, visiting with Worsham who knew me ages ago in my architectural intern days, seeing Michael, Linda, and Rick who were with me at the birth of my book cover career…..good times.

One last word on the Frazetta exhibit — it’s located at 920 Congress Ave. and will be on display until this Saturday, March 21st. I think visiting hours are 12noon to 8pm. Make the time to see this, even if it means taking a day off from work, or driving a long distance to do it. Experiences like this are precious and few. So worth your time.

All proceeds from the admission fee of $10 (such a bargain!) and the limited-edition Frazetta giclees (gorgeous) are dedicated to the preservation of these artworks by the Frazetta family, as well as funding for a potential permanent Frazetta museum down the road.

Hats off to Robert, Nixon, and Troublemaker Studios for a first-class exhibition.