Organizers: Want the whole world to know about your convention? Drop us a line. area52@newscorp.com
 

SWILCON '97
March 7-9
Swarthmore, PA
Guests: Ed Wasser of Babylon 5, artist Jeff Menges
Info: will@sccs.swarthmore.edu
 

FANIME CON '97
March 8
Los Altos Hills, CA
Info: Info@fanime.com
 

SCI-FI COMEDY CON
March 8-9
County Meath, Ireland
Guests: Dave "Darth Vader" Prowse, author Michael Carroll
Info: cj@iol.ie
 

CONAMAZOO 5
March 14-16
Battle Creek, MI
Anime, filking, masquerade and films
Info:
conamazoo@tezcat.com
 

COAST CON XX
March 20-23
Biloxi, MS
Guest: Richard Hatch of Battlestar Galactica
Info: sotmesc@datasync.com
 

CONESTOGA
March 21-23
Tulsa, OK
Info: rlmorgan@ionet.net
 

MILLENNICON 4
March 21-23
Cincinnati, OH
Fund-raiser for an organization to promote literacy
Guest: Author Diann Thornley
Info: mvfl@homeworld.com
 

STELLARCON
March 21-23
High Point, NC
Guests: Actress Gwynyth Walsh, author Larry Niven, others
Info: SCon21@aol.com
 

BALTICON 31
March 28-30
Baltimore, MD
Writer's workshops, filking, masquerade and other activities. Child care available.
Info: bsfs@balticon.org
 

MIDSOUTHCON
March 28-30
Tunica, MS
Guests: John DeLancie, Cullen Johnson, others
Info: sjcox@netten.net
 

MINICON
March 28-30
Bloomington, MN
Guests: Author C.J. Cherryh, publisher Tom Doherty
Info: 
request
@minicon32.mnstf.org
 

INTERVENTION
March 28-31
Liverpool, UK
Guests: Authors Brian Aldiss and Octavia E. Butler
Newspeak short-story competition, other activities
Info:
intervention
@pompey.demon.co.uk

ANDREW PIDCOCK

AGE: 29 

OCCUPATION: Software engineer 

HOME PAGE: http://www.furnation.com/loopy

I'M A BIG FAN OF: The superb and the worst (and nothing in between), Godzilla, Babylon 5, gargoyles, bionics, werewolves (and not vampires). 

WHAT I DO: I am an artist, a sculptor, a role-playing gamer, a performer and a magician. I have been dressing in elaborate costumes since I was a little kid, when my mom made me into Herbie the Love Bug and Goldorak and things like that. When I grew up, I grew out of it, and then, two years ago, I returned with a vengeance with a Darkwing Duck costume. I then did Anubis [the Egyptian god], followed by Korul Al-Wassar, the gargoyle. As an artist, a sculptor and costumer, I am fascinated by the nonhuman form. I find the uniformity of human appearance rather dull and am interested in variations. I'll continue to do more costumes -- although it's a hellish amount of work -- because I like the attention people give me when I wear them. It makes me feel good. 

WHY I DO IT: I suffered a very bad personal tragedy in my life some time ago, which I am not really recovering from. Doing these sculptures and costumes offers [me] something to pour [my] effort into that yields a beautiful result. I work hard, and I'm proud of what I do. It's my nature to throw my heart and soul into everything, and I prefer sculpture -- where your heart and soul come back out -- over the alternative. 

MY MASTERPIECE: For me, Korul is a massive achievement, nothing short of a miracle. I worked on him every night till 2 a.m. for several months. Each piece of him is impressive in some way, and together they make a costume that I am genuinely proud of. The head, which I made and cast myself, using my knowledge of sculpture and casting, strikes me with a special kind of alien beauty, with a lower jaw that moves when I speak. The ears, which I cast separately, were made to be huge and grotesque, the kind of thing you could mistake for horns. The wings are a prosthetic device I designed that spread out (with a bit of puppeteering skill), and they are probably the part of the costume that people drool over the most. The bodysuit was a stroke of luck -- finding that patterned Lycra saved me painting the entire suit, and the scaled velour of his tummy makes a nice effect. Lastly, the tail, which features a segmented design, swishes from side to side when I move, making the whole costume very animated without the use of any electronics or servos. In fact, little children are terrified of me in the suit, much to my chagrin. Because it's so animated, they're not sure if it's real. Even adults have said that when I come out with that face on, and it speaks, for two seconds they are struck by the fact that they are talking to a real gargoyle. That is gratifying. I had wanted to add electronic sound effects, growls, purrs and roars to the gargoyle, and though I came close, it was a new field for me and time ran out.
 

.avi 1.34Mb | .mov 753kb
 

Photo credit: Korul courtesy Andrew Pidcock