SEPT 22 & 23, 2018 • MARINA CIVIC CENTER • PANAMA CITY, FL
Celebrating, Connecting, & Inspiring Creative Minds
PANAMA CITY'S
2018 Conference Guests & Speakers
Rob Guillory, Comic Book Artist
Chew, Farmhand
Rob Guillory is an Eisner Award-winning American comic book artist. Born, raised and currently based in Lafayette, Louisiana, Guillory is most known for his art on the New York Times Bestseller CHEW, published by Image Comics. The book went on to achieve much success, winning two Harvey Awards (including Best New Talent for Guillory), two Eisner Awards, as well as being translated into a dozen languages. Guillory is currently writing and drawing the new Image Comic FARMHAND.
Rob Guillory will be doing a Q&A Panel on Saturday (Time T.B.A.)
Keith Osborn, Character Animator
Daffy Duck, Wile E. Coyote, the Iron Giant, Minions from Despicable Me, Halo2
KEITH OSBORN has worked in film, television, video games and theme park rides, and has animated such characters as Daffy Duck, Wile E. Coyote, the Iron Giant, and the Minions from Despicable Me. He has worked on video games such as Halo 2 and the Shadow of Colossus remake and animated on the Oscar Winning short film, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore.
Keith also has a passion for teaching, having taught for 10 years, half of those at the Ringling College of Art and Design, his alma mater, and the other half online at Animation Mentor and Anim School. When he's not animating, hanging out with the family or picking away at the banjo, he can often be found playing video games and watching cartoons. You can see examples of Keith's work at keithosborn.com
Presentation on Saturday: 2D or Not 2D, The challenges of bringing the Looney Tunes to the digital age.
Destinee Steele, Wig & Makeup Artist
Santa Fe Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Chicago Opera Theatre, Alabama Shakespeare Festival
DESTINEE STEELE is a Panama City, Florida native turned Wig and Makeup Artist. She graduated from Mosley High School, Haney Technical Center with a concentration in cosmetology, and Gulf Coast State College with a focus in Acting and Vocal Performance. She then finished her Bachelors Degree at the University of West Florida as an acting major and has recently graduated with her Masters from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Wig and Makeup Design.
Destinee has been blessed to be apart of the wig and makeup crew for many companies such as the Santa Fe Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Chicago Opera Theatre, and the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. She has thoroughly enjoyed making wigs and applying makeup for weddings, operas, dramas, musicals, music videos, commercials, and is now honored to share her talents with you. She would like to thank her friends, family, and mentors for all of their love, advice, and support.
Fun Fact: . She was the 2018 National Young Designer and Technicians awardee sponsored by Kryolan Professional Makeup.
Bruce Carr, No Ordinary Balloon Man
Entertained and built balloon creations for Disney, Wal-Mart, Geico, Build-A-Bear, & More!
Bruce Carr aka No Ordinary Balloon Man is a professional award-winning balloon artist currently living in Clermont, FL serving the Central Florida area and beyond. Bruce has entertained and built balloon creations for companies such as Disney, Wal-Mart, Kennedy Space Center, Geico, Build-A-Bear, Dunkin Donuts, Belk and Chick-fil-a. He is also an entertainer for parties and events throughout Florida and the Eastern United States, including Colossalcon in Ohio, Screw Attack Gaming Convention in Texas, Mobicon in Alabama and many more. Bruce combines balloon art, acting, singing and puppetry to construct beautiful lightweight costumes to delight attendees of any large event.
Bruce’s work has been recognized in social media and made into countless memes featured on such websites as Kotaku, MTVgames and Know Your Meme (Balloon Solid Snake and Balloon Colossal Titan) Equestria Daily (Balloon Party Favor Pony and Balloon Bridge) and Cartoon Network (Balloon Finn and Jake). As a performer, Bruce has collaborated with other amazing artists for unique balloon performances with Grammy Nominated punk rock band Green Jellÿ and with Pecach Pictures "Pony Meets World"as "Human Discord". As an individual with Asperger Syndrome, Bruce encourages other to pursue their dreams through the panel " Twisting Up the Odds" and he is excited to meet everyone at Panama City Creative Con!
There will be a vote for which balloon sculpture Bruce will make at Creative Con
Chris Arrant, Author & Editor
Newsarama.com, Marvel Comics, USA Today, Life Magazine, Publisher's Weekly
Chris Arrant is an ambassador for comics - writing them and writing about them for a living since 2003. In that time he's worked for Marvel Comics, USA Today, Life Magazine, Publisher's Weekly and others, and currently edits the longest-running website about comics, Newsarama.com. His comics work has appeared in three Eisner-winning anthologies, and he's spoken about comics at Comic-Con International: San Diego, the Savannah College of Art + Design, and HeroesCon.
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Learn more about Chris at www.chrisarrant.com
Fun Fact: Chris was part of the initial conversation that led to the birth of Creative Con.
Jerome Blake, Actor
Star Wars: Episode 1 through 3, The Fifth Element
After 20 years as a musician, Jerome made the transition to acting via modelling, TV commercials and the Actor’s Institute.
A speculative audition for Kennedy’s Children brought him to the attention of Emmy award winner, Charles Serio. After several years and numerous productions with The Serio Ensemble, he met and formed a continuing working relationship with director Craig McCall including award-winning projects for EMI Records and General Motors.
He broke into feature films with First Knight, appearing as a member of the royal guard to Sean Connery’s King Arthur. Next came The Fifth Element which heralded the start of a long involvement with creature-effects work which would later include all three of the Star Wars prequel trilogy (The Phantom Menace, Attack Of the Clones and Revenge Of The Sith) and the feature film version of The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy.
His most recent theatre work was appearing as Chief Bromden opposite Christian Slater’s R.P. McMurphy.
His latest project is the interactive movie console game The Bunker.
Jerome Blake will be doing a Panel called 'The Man Behind the Mask' on Saturday (Time T.B.A.)
Ken Kelly, Fantasy Artist
KISS Destroyer Album, Conan, Manowar
Ken Kelly was naturally talented as a child and was practically born with pencil in his hand. As his style developed in later years, he decided to join the Marines. While stationed in Cuba, he drew all the illustrations for the U.S. magazine “The Gitmo Gazette”. After serving 4 years in the Marines, Ken Kelly had the unique opportunity to observe Frank Frazetta's work up close. Throughout a career spanning over 40 years, Ken Kelly has achieved an international reputation as one of a handful of master painters of sword and sorcery/heroic fantasy.
Ken got his start doing covers for Famous Monsters of Filmland magazines, but it wasn’t until he painted both the Destroyer and LoveGun covers for KISS that he became noticed around the globe. Since then he has since painted a tremendous amount of book covers (his Conan covers being some of his most beloved works); calendars; artwork for toys such as He-Man, Micronauts, Transformers, G.I. Joe, Dungeons & Dragons; and album covers for bands Manowar, Rainbow, Coheed & Cambria and others.
In the 90s, trading card manufacturer FPG published two complete 90-card sets of Ken Kelly’s artwork along with a “Colossal Cards” set. Ken Kelly’s artwork has appeared in other sets including Batman Master Series, Micronauts, and various Marvel sets. He has created 23 covers for Lucas Licensing, and over 65 covers for Warren Publishing (Creepy/Eerie).
In 2012, Ken Kelly’s awesome career continued as he released both his Vampirella and Barbarian calendars.
Ken has painted several of Gene Simmons guitars. He has completed artwork for the video game “Call of Duty” and revived his work for Hasbro’s new Micronauts. He is currently painting Manowar’s new album cover art for their up and coming release and next tour. You may currently see Ken’s fantasy art on BIC Lighters at your local corner store. Other large projects are in the wings.
Learn more at his website: http://www.kenkellyfantasyart.com