Ever wonder what you’d look like as Bart Simpson’s sibling?
You’ll be able to find out September 18 – 20 when Spa-Con V in Hot Springs welcomes special guest artist Phil Ortiz, creator of more than 200 characters on The Simpsons, the longest-running comedy television show in history.
“Come to Spa-Con at the Hot Springs Convention Center and be ‘sketchanized’ by Phil Ortiz and see what you would look like if you were to appear as a character on The Simpsons,” said Bill Solleder, marketing director of Visit Hot Springs and one of the creators of Spa-Con, a multi-genre comics and pop culture convention that marks its fifth anniversary this year. “When Phil creates a sketch of you, you’ll have a work of art that you will cherish for the rest of your life.”
Three more celebrity artists for Spa-Con V were announced today: Rags Morales, Georges Jeanty and Rodney Ramos.
All four artists will spend time on the convention floor where guests can visit with each and watch as they draw. Morales will lead a “Dynamic Figure Drawing” class and Jeanty will lead a discussion on “Bringing Intellectual Properties to Life in Comics.”
• Phil Ortiz — Over his more than 30 years as a professional artist, Ortiz has worked on everything from daily newspaper comic strips (Bugs Bunny) to layouts and character design for animated cartoons including The Simpsons where he had a hand in the look of about 200 characters including Flanders, Otto, Herman, Lou and Eddie, Ralph, and Apu. Ortiz has won five certificates of achievement for his work in TV animation and has been drawing for The Simpsons comic books for many years. He won three of these Awards for work on Jim Henson’s Muppet Babies animated series. He has also worked on Disney’s illustrated books and for Hanna-Barbera, Warner Bros. Animation, Ruby Spears, and many other animation studios in his long career.
• Rags Morales — He is the artistic talent behind many of DC Comics most famous titles, including Identity Crisis, DC’s ongoing company-wide storyline. This series was selected by The Young Adult Services Association’s recommended list of Great Graphic Novels.
Morales also penciled large segments stories in Nightwing, Superman/Batman, which was collected in the Finest Worlds hardcovers. He continued to work with DC Comics on Blackest Night and Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps, Batman Confidential, and Wonder Woman.
Morales was also part of DC’s massive relaunch of their entire superhero line, as he was announced as the artist on the new Action Comics #1.
Other works include Forgotton Realms, Black Confor, Turok, Archer & Armstrong, Geomancer, Sliders, Justice Society of America and Hawkman.
• Rodney Ramos — He has been a professional pencile/inker in the comic book industry for over 15 years. He started penciling on such titles as Thundercats, Marvel Presents, What If , Conan and Toxic Avenger. He also started inking on a wide variety of books such as Gen-X, Ironman , Gambit, Punisher War Journal, Spider-man and Peter Parker the Amazing Spider-man. He went on to Valiant to work with Jim Shooter to pencil Legend of Zelda and inking titles Armorines, Bloodshot , X-O Man Of War. His inks have graced many titles such as Spider-man, X-men, Iron-man, Peter Parker, Batman, Wonder Woman and the critically acclaimed Transmetropolitan with Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson. Recently he has worked for DC Comics on 52, Countdown, Green Lantern, Batman, JSA, Magog, Vertigo, Bang Tango and many more titles.
• Georges Jeanty — He is an Eisner Award-winning, New York Times bestselling comic book illustrator, whose first major work was Marvel Comics’ Bishop: The Last X-Man.
Previously announced celebrities for Spa-Con V were:
• Rodger Bumpass, the Emmy-nominated voice of Squidward on Spongebob Squarepants, who will visit with fans in the Expo Hall and will take part in a question-and-answer session during the convention.
• Puddles Pity Party, The Clown With the Golden Voice, who will open Spa-Con V with a concert on Friday, September 18.
• Lori Petty, known to comics fans for her portrayal of Tank Girl in the movie of the same name and for her starring role more recently in the hit TV show, “Orange Is The New Black.”
The Puddles Pity Party concert will begin September 18 at 7 p.m. in Horner Hall. Seating will be general admission and tickets are $30. Admission to the concert is not included in the special weekend pass, day pass or VIP pass price. Concert tickets are available at www.spa-con.org.
Solleder said, “Our celebration of pop culture and comics brings together a diverse audience that loves everything from Batman to ‘Stranger Things,’ Pac-Man to Mario Smash Bros, Dungeons and Dragons to Pokemon and everything in between.
He said Spa-Con provides “possibly the best people-watching fun in the state. It has hosted celebrities from ‘Star Trek,’ ‘Twin Peaks,’ ‘Battlestar Galactica,’ and ‘Stranger Things,’ not to mention NASA scientists and 12-foot-tall robots.”