Reaching Goals and Gen Con
Sam Flegal and a little Customer, Gen Con Booth 2011
Gen Con has been an important marker in my career these last few years. It was at Gen Con 2009 when I realized I could make a living drawing Zombie Portraits. It’s also a time that I get to show my work to a lot of art directors and other artists to get feedback.
The first year I was told how to fix a lot of stuff. Last year I was told I was really close, but that I needed to keep pushing; however, those who saw my portfolio the previous year were surprised by how far I had come. This year I started to get job offers.
I can’t quite put into words how amazing this is for me, but I wanted to share. When I started this blog back in 2008 I made a choice to share my Artist’s Journey with friends, family, and random people on the internet. Fast forward to 2011—after a lot of hard work and a lot of help I’ve reached a new milestone. Thank You everyone who’s taken the time to review my portfolio, critique my work, taught me how to paint better, shared illustrator career secrets, and babysat my kid.
Gen Con this year was awesome! The art show was right in the middle of the dealer’s room floor (in years past it was off to the side towards the back). Business was booming! I drew many a Zombie Portrait, sold some Evil Penguin shirts, a bunch of prints and guin cards, and an original painting!
James buys Sam Flegal's Last Battle Painting
One of the highlights for my wife and me was seeing our old friend Sarah Frary! Sarah was one of the artists who encouraged me to attend my first Gen Con (Paul Bielaczyc was the other).
Sarah Frary and Loraine Flegal
I got commissioned to do my first Angels vs. Demons Monster Portrait by returning customers, thanks guys!
Sam Flegal's Angels vs Demons
And my knowledge of Blood Bowl came in handy, too!
Sam Flegal - Blood Bowl
All in all it was a great year! Thank you to all the Gen Con staff who made this year’s show so great!
An Artist's Journey 
Awesome to hear of the progress and that Gencon was a success!! Go Sam!!!
I was also excited to see Sarah Frary return for a visit! Such an awesome creative spirit.
Hey Sam, what’s up? It was awesome to meet you at DragonCon last weekend. Your Last Battle and Cerebus paintings were two of my favorites in the artshow. It was really great to see someone doing work like that in oils as well. I don’t know if you ever got a chance to check out my acrylic paintings in the show or not. I’ve started a new artblog and have posted some of them as well as process photos. The blog is http://jorossart.blogspot.com Maybe I’ll have to start a wordpress blog now so I can keep up with everyone else over here. Anyway, if you get a chance, I’d love to know what you think – looking forward to seeing some new paintings from you soon!
Hey James!
Thanks man I’m glad you like my stuff! I really dug your werewolf painting in the show!