Over the weekend the Ironlak Art & Design crew hit the Gold Coast for our first ever Supanova Expo. Before we even left Brisbane, HQ was humming – we had TUESY building our wooden counters for our display, and SOFLES painting some superhero canvasses, which became part of the backdrop for the Supa-Streaming Stage. After running around like crazy, the crew loaded a truck with art supplies and lurched south.
We set up the Ironlak Creative Corner at the end of Artist Alley and invited the Supanova peeps to hang out, draw, and test out our range of markers, pencils and other materials. It was a huge weekend and it was supa-cool (bad pun intended, soz) to see people of all ages, and skill levels spending time in our area and creating.
Inside the Ironlak Creative Corner, we blessed Supanova with some live art demonstrations by Jeremy Eden, Buttons, and Emmanuel Moore. Jeremy spent all weekend working on a realistic portrait of a Cosplayer, dressed as Wolverine with a finger up his nose (Wolverine, that is, not Jeremy). He shot the reference photo at the event on Friday night, and using Ironlak Sketching Pencils and charcoals, Jeremy condensed about two months worth of drawing into two days. He even made a brief appearance on the Supa-Streaming Stage to show off his process. Buttons rocked a quick canvas on the Saturday using Ironlak Pump Action paint markers, plus our spray paint for the background. And Emmanuel brought his surrealist-tendancies on Sunday, painting a canvas with our Ironlak Fluid Acrylics straight out of an open Pump Action marker – his preferred method it seems.
We asked the guys from King Spray – a virtual reality video game using Oculus Rift technology – to set up inside our space. To play the game you don a pair of VR glasses, and use the controls to spray paint, digitally, in different (virtual) environments. It’s quite an immersive experience, and even the Ironlak staff couldn’t resist multiple sessions inside the virtual world. The King Spray developers have done a great job making the game feel like you’re actually painting. Very impressive.
One of the first things you might notice when you get within 500 metres of a Supanova event, is all the attendees dressed in costumes. The GC was no different. We spotted some pretty amazing costumes throughout the event, and gave away a $1,000 Ironlak Art & Design shopping spree to the winner of the ‘Best in show’ Cosplay Competition on Saturday. Congrats to the winner. Shout out to the legends we met who have been using Ironlak aerosols on their costumes. It was awesome to see, and hear, how well certain products are working with the different materials used.
Thanks to everyone for making our first Supanova an great one. The Ironlak Creative Corner will be back at the Supanova expos in Brisbane and Sydney later this year, and we’re an rewarding winners of the Cosplay Competition at all Supanova events.
Supanova Pop Culture Expo continues to Melbourne this weekend, 28 – 30 April. Jump over to their website for more info.
Ironlak’s full range of art supplies are available in Australia and New Zealand via our online store: shop.ironlak.com.au, and at our Ironlak Art & Design flagship stores:
Ironlak Art & Design Sydney
Central Park, RG14, 28 Broadway, Chippendale, NSW 2008
Phone: (02) 9188 7249
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Ironlak Art & Design Brisbane
Lower ground, 62 Queen Street Mall, Brisbane, QLD 4000
Phone: (07) 3211 3224
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Ironlak Art & Design Chermside
Westfield Chermside, Shop 2629, Level 2, Cnr Gympie & Hamilton Road, Chermside QLD 4032
Phone: (07) 33590673
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Ironlak Art & Design Garden City
Westfield Garden City, Shop 1325B, Cnr Logan Rd & Kessels Rd, Upper Mount Gravatt QLD 4122
Phone: (07) 3219 3665
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Shop online:
Ironlak Shop – Australia/ NZ
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