Awesome Con 2021 Highlights

We had a blast returning to Awesome Con! From the edge of your seat contests to seeing old friends, we could not imagine a better time. Here’s what our president and friends had to say about their time at the Con.

Eric Suggs (Art Way Alliance President)

Walking onto the Convention floor felt like returning home. Everything looked a little different, but the vibe was still the same. It was nice to walk around and see new and familiar faces. The community felt stronger than ever from start to finish. Someone even made a personalized baseball card of me! During the Artist Sketch Sessions, professional and student artists drew free art and engaged with the children that visited our table. We also had two memorable winners of our drawing contests! The 2nd place winner of our Fan Art Competition was a returning contestant from 2 years ago. Sunday’s Comic Book Cover Winner was another return contestant who received Honorable Mention during Friday’s Fan Art Competition. It was really inspiring to see the growth of these artists in real time.

So many young creators bravely put their imagination to the test and show off their skills in the face of a 30 minute clock and a blank Bristol board. It is not an easy task by any means, especially with the current environment, but they all tried, which makes them my personal heroes.

Marc Weinschenker

I have to say my favorite moment was with artist Ricky Bundy. We had a shy girl ask for a drawing her a picture of Miss. Ladybug, and Ricky just started asking her questions about what she wanted and then proceeded to ask her sister what he could draw for her, and she chose Wonder Woman. Ricky asked intentional questions about what they wanted their drawings to look like and asked if they wanted their drawings to look like them. It was a beautiful moment and the mom and uncle were so grateful, AND Ricky was going to do it for free.

Elvin Herandez (with Bryan Tillman)

I gotta say it was nice to see young people showing so much interest in media studies and comics. Bryan and I had the chance to talk to a young lady and her mom about her options moving forward in the arts, and I also had a few great conversations after my Sunday panel. Between those experiences and just seeing so many familiar faces in a con environment, those were my favorite parts..

Thank you to Awesome Con for having us, and thank you to our judges and friends for your help throughout out the weekend: Amy Reeder, Arsia Rozegar, Marcus Williams, Ben Pereira, Bradley Hudson, Elvin Hernandez, Bryan Tillman, Jordan Jackson, and more. See more pictures from Awesome Con, below.