Poison Ivy by Brian Stelfreeze

To make signatures at conventions easier, I have my name written down on my 9x12 sketch book. I hand it to artists & writers, so they can personalize the signatures in all of my books. At Paris Comic Con in 2018, with Brian Stelfreeze, I did the same thing.

But this time, Brian got excited about the paper in there and started turning some emptry sheets, touching and feeling up the paper. While my friend nout and I were still talking to his girlfriend, Brian took his painting brush and put down one line on the first sheet in my booklet. Then another. And another. Suddenly, there was an amazing eye on there. "This is really good paper and it absorbs the ink very well".

Then he drew some more lines and some more, and some more. Then there was some hair and such a sensual face - making up an amazingly sexy and beautiful Poison Ivy. Then he handed it to me, for free.

He instantly took some pictures of the paper, but when I offered to give him the sketch book with the rest of the paper, he refused. "Oh, I can't take that". He also gave some great life advice while we took some pictures: "Reach into your pocket and take out a large FUCK IT" while waving his hands around.

For me, Brian will always be the prime example of an "artist's artist". Someone other artists look up to, and whose craft is always on display - even with the simplest of sketches. The fact that my name and Brian's signature is perfectly interwoven in Poison Ivy's hair amazes me every time...

Sometimes you just get lucky with a unique sketch and a unique story.