Canzine 2015: The pros and Cons

I had Press Start and a preview of Gardenia along with various prints. Canzine was way bigger than I thought and I was pretty intimidated standing in line with so many talented artists.

I was anxious the whole day even sitting with Cody at my side. I am working very hard to make sure this review is as postie and informative as possible. My anxiety weighed heavy on me for most of the day.


Pros:

There was so much room upstairs and down. Even with a 3 foot table I fit everything just fine. So many people had great displays,books and goodies at each table. There was one girl who bought Press Start outright because she liked games. It was the first sale I ever made for my own original art and it felt overwhelmingly satisfying.

We were able to get an extra chair for my hubs at no charge. I was the only one registered but I needed Cody as my table mate. He is the one who runs out for food or watches my table when I want to go meet friends.

This event was close to home! We live 1 hr transit away with pretty fast buses and trains. For that matter there are so many more indie conventions here than in LA. Thats not a surprise as LA is more of a mainstream kind of place.

Staff was very good about making announcements for workshops and other important info. The program was detailed,the goodie bags were rad and it was a nicely lit location.

Cons:

Even with first come first serve seating a table chart would have helped so much! The few conventions I've gone to before had them. I used them to promote the event and where I would be so that people could find me. I was told it was impossible to have a table chart with over 200 vendors. I wonder how SDCC,Anime Expo and so many others do it though? (More volunteers,yes I know....)

As a first time attendee I didn't know what time to be there to set up my table. No conformation email was sent to me so I asked on the facebook event, got no answer. Most of the time it's an hour before the event. I heard it was gong to be busy so I showed up at 10 AM, 3 hours before. To mild surprise there was already a line of maybe 20 people already.

Patrons are very standoffish and quiet. I may be shy in a friend setting but when I talk about my work I get excited. I love being friendly when someone shows interest in my work. I want to show my gratitude by interacting with people.

Some Observations:

Cody pointed out that no one seemed to care about comics. It pains me to agree but yes,most patrons just looked at prints or passed people by. I asked many of the people who stopped by my table if they liked games as Press Start is about gaming. Many said no and also that they're not really into comics either.

It looked like 80% of the vendors were white and I'm playing that down. It feels very weird to be one of very few brown people there. No one was mean to me because of this but it did make me feel like my voice in comics was burred in the sea. I'm friends with or admire from afar many cartoonists of color. So why aren't there more of us selling our comics at zinefests and cons?

These are the books I got and 1 sticker that was the last one. (I feel special). Cat Therapist by:Sarah Chan is the funniest take on cats taking care of you. Miss and the Monster by Lina Wu made me sad & intrigued to read more about Missy's adventures. Map Not To Scale and T(Ri)O by Rasiqra Revulva connected with me on my Toronto newbie life and on sexuality.

Overall zinefests are not like fancons and vice versa. From what I learned at Canzine it's more about making friends who make comics. I'll have to think about it before I apply for this event next year.

Atomic Lollipop 2015: The show!

My first con in Toronto,yay! I was holding off doing conventions til next year but I really wanted to make new friends and get to know the scene here. Ever since we got here I've been going to events and not having much luck making connections. Even normal people would have a hard time of it after moving to a whole new place where the only one you know is your spouse. I don't know how I ever made friends in the first place but thanks for liking me enough to keep talking. 

Usually I get more time to prep for a con but I got the acceptance notice for this 2 weeks before the event! I don't know what happened but I worked my ass off for the 2 weeks making comic pages and making some new prints. 

I had this Stevonnie sketch in my book so I cleaned that up. I also made my make it rain tiger bucks into a print.Surprisingly I sold out of my Marci/PB and Jake/Lady prints. Not so surprising was I sold most of my grilled cheese hot tub & breakfast threesome prints. I love food puns so had some weird burst of confidence about them.  

This is my new table poster/banner. I seen most people only have 1 image but I really like a lot of my pieces and wanted to be different as well. When I get a little more money I want to make it into one of those big banners. 

Next up is all (beside 1 I forgot take a pic of) of the commissions I did this weekend. I had a "Custom Inkling" sign up and I will admit that caught more eyes than my regular sketch commission page. 

 Overall the con was fun. I shared a table with Scott Uminga and his nice boyfriend Kevin. They drew in my sketchbook and I in theirs. One bad thing about the con was that there wasn't a seating chart UNTIL we got there. As far as I knew anyway. If there was one I could have been promoting it for the entire time! Next time I get a table at Atomic Lollipop I'll do it months in advance for sure!

Bent-Con: A Fist Full O Comics... and other goodies!

Oh how rife I am with spaghetti western references. I swear the next post will be ....just as cheesy! 

This is all the cool stuff I got from fellow artists. I seriously don't think I deserved the love you all showed me but I hope we get to see each other at more conventions. These will be mini reviews and links to their sites. 

Let me start with William O. Tyler  I love his work because he does water colors and well. Everything in his portfolio is so bright and had a Disney feel that I really dug. See his upcoming comic Ginger Head on facebook. From what I found it it's to be done in all water color. 

Right next to him was Zak Plum. See the pattern for my love of vibrant colors. Zak even had the best mohawk in fresh fuchsia. Still reading through Rites of Dionysus;the colors and page design is making me read longer because I get caught up in well..all the great color combinations! See more of his art and the comic at www.zakplum.com

Next up is Burly Press where I met Jeremy Owen. His work is very bold and I really liked Bludgeon for the rad fight scenes! I have to reread it just to enjoy the full 2 page spread with ... well I'll leave that for you all to get your own copy. Loving the Robert Baratheon print the most. Go see more art at Burly Press

You can see that Anything That Loves is in the pic. See part 1 of Bent-Con blog for the long version but I'm still reading through it with so many giggles and warm feelings. Hope there will be more soon.

I stopped by the Geeks Out booth and had HAD to buy this shirt with the tentacles. Then I wanted this one too.  Like them on facebook

HEJ!

Speaking of Game of Thrones here are some cosplayers I got some pics of starting with Renly

Too cool LSP OH MAH GLOB

Cute girl with a DaVinci kitty shirt

Oh yes! Part of the Burly Press table! 

Bent-Con: The Good the Bad and the Geeky-overload!

This could be a very long post so get comfy to read. Where to start where to start...Let's start with the good. 

 Kitten Squad invaded the exhibitors halls! Be and I had our comic ready. There will be another post about how we put the comic together in all of less than a year. We were also doing sketch commissions and had many cute prints. I sold out of Gentlewoman and All Wrapped Up in one day along with Cheesey Toast.

When I said I was doing sketch commissions I meant it big time. Here are pics of the nice people who requested from me. 7X5 paper with water color wash. 

PB and Marci: Fangbanger shirt and Candy Crush shirts

 

Frowny Princess Sam

Free sketch commission when someone bough our comic!

Rainbow unicorn 

Now onto the great panels we got to attend!

L to R Phil Jimenez,Damon Poitier,Jezza Smiles,B. Dave Walters

Our first panel of the weekend was the Race and Class in comics. I was looking forward to this panel from the moment it was announced on the Bent-Con schedule. With only an hour running time I knew it was going to be a great listen. They asked one question that really hit hard for me. 

How many of you want characters that look like you? 

I DO! 

It was further explained that not "look like us" as in an offspring only but as in our own ethnicity. The thing is I am mixed so I like to not only see multicultural peoples but lots of everyone's cultures. Obviously I can't speak for anyone else but I love history and learning about new foods,fashion and well, life. 

It was also brought up about how more people of color can be brought into the mainstream. Nick Fury in the new Avengers being Sam Jackson for instance. Honestly I didn't know before watching Avengers that Nick Fury in some arcs of the comic was a white dude. There was some debate on weather or not switching Johnny Storm's actor to Michael B. Jordan was acceptable.(Beside the fact that you can't be Captain America AND Johnny Storm at the same time ::glare::)  I've come to think that if it's brought to new audiences,like me who don't know enough "original" superhero things, it can be the new norm. If there was more of that it wouldn't be so jarring when characters are given to any person with the acting talent to pull it off and not just to those who only "look" the part. Needless to say this was a panel that needs to be kept for next year and added onto. 

Zan Christiensen,MariNaomi,Sam Saturday,Tara Madison Avery,Nick Leonard, and josh Trujillo.

Anything That Loves Panel piqued my interest but I didn't recognize the names at first. Once I got there though I was super excited. I remembered seeing the kickstarter for it earlier last year. I really wanted to submit a comic but then I just didn't have the time or, more importantly the confidence to finish a full story. (Read more why in the Gardenia Comic post) It was as great as what I expected and more. It not only focused on stories of Bisexuality but on how it varies between people,and all with fantastic art! Sadly the panel was cut short by cosplayers barging in for the next panel. OH Sorry I mistook the next panel to be at 9pm as the schedule said. I love cosplay too but that was just rude. Overall it was another panel that I was really happy to get to see! I am still reading the book. 

On the third day Be got sick so I pulled in my big gun customer service rep., my PB! I can at least thank Goodwill for training us cashiers to say HI to everyone no matter what. PB has that naturally;he's even made friends while we went to the urgent care earlier this year when I got sick. Here I present you with the love of my life.

Thank you Sunshine for taking this pic!

Our final panel of the weekend was the Adventure Time Encyclopedia with Martin Olson,Olivia Olsen and Tom Kenny. PB suggested I make a drawing for Tom Kenny and suggested Jellyfishing, so I made this.

The Panel ran the gamut of the voice actors to the book designers and illustrators. PB was super excited about the VA and so was I of course but what I really loved most was the book designers. I tried not to take too much time at the signing but I had to praise them for the scrapbook and storybook feel of it all. Oh how I love design and layout! At the risk of sounding like a butt I hope I work with these designers one day. 

Telling the mere mortals to leave. Not us witches tho,ehehehehe

Bad Parts?

Here is a small comic on one of the few mean people who came to our table. I was selling Penis and Vulva charms on my table. One person decided to point only the penis out by saying to me "Oh you must be straight,hahahah." Beside that fact that I am not at all it is uncalled for to laugh at someones sexuality. You do this yet it's not ok to ridicule you for your non-straightness? Neither is ok. So the real point of this mini comic isn't to whine about a mean person who came by but to call anyone who acts like this out. It's not just "Don't be a dick" it's Don't Be A Hypocrite. 

Bent-Con was a fantastic weekend of meeting other cool artists and going to awesome panels. My few complaints about mean people and a very small amount of art for the L in LGBTQ are outweighed by the positive energy in the exhibitors halls and the popup gallery.

LAST HAPPY NOTE!

To close out this  post here is a pic with Tom Kenny and the drawing I made for him. Thanks to PB for suggesting I draw it,thanks to Sunshine for putting it on the panel table for me,because yea I'd have wimped out. He showed it on stage with the comment of "Thank you for keeping it clean." and then really thank you. It made my day. 

Ninja-Con 2013

I signed up for Ninja-Con about a month before the event and I am so happy I did. I am new to going to conventions at all and this was my first time being at the artist ally as a seller. Kat came with so I'd get the hang out thing. It was the first year for Ninja-Con as well. If this is how smaller/new cons are then I love them! I loved getting to talk to people coming to the table,seeing everyone having a chill time,getting to catch a few mins of panels passing through downstairs and getting free food from the lovely con-runners!

It was cool that people liked my Pusheen at the table. I made nice friends with Ashley & Emily across from our table. Emily and I did an art trade. I made her an Evee eating a cookie and she made me FP & Finn being so cute!!

These cute gals are Maids from Tokari Maids who were so kind to pose with Pusheen. Next year I hope  I get to try out the cafe because the Tokari Maids are so nice. 

Recently I got into Madoka Magica and when I did get a chance to go out side for foods I seen this super cool Sakura! SQUEE. 

This is the goodies I had at my side of the table. Princess Morbucks gave me an orange rose at the end of the day. 

Over all this is a small comic about how the day went. When I got there at 8am I was very excited to meet people,super hyper and talking to everyone. By the end of it I was so worn out but still very happy to talk to so many people and find that someone liked my arts. Thanks for coming by our table and see you next year! Or if you're going to Bentcon,see you in November at the Burbank Marriot.

Tomo Neko maid & butler Cafe 2013!:The Trevor Project

Tomo Neko Cafe maids and butlers in all our cosplay glory! Lovely Darling Army models right up front too as the Avengers and Lady Loki! Can you pick out every character? I don't know if I can but it'll be fun figuring it out and finding new shows to watch. You can see me as Flame Princess maid with bright red fire hair as I hold Pusheen and Tom Baker Doctor Who right next to me (Peter Roig was our photo booth photographer for the event. Great stuff and if you cosplay Doctor you're gold in my books) Your eyes deceive you not, that is Miyuki Geta Dance on the right. She was a brilliant performance of dance and painting. I met her that day and her personality just shone! Basically I am a fan now.

Line of customers waiting to get into the cafe

I was very lucky to have at my table the winner of what seemed like most of the raffle prizes! This guy just kept winning as the MC Jon Allen stated a few times. Thats what happens when you treat your maid nicely,hahaha,karma. Tho on the other hand another gentleman at my table said he spent $200 in raffle tickets but didn't win a thing! He had a whole cup full of unripped tickets! I tried to make sure he got many refills and kind words from me. For some reason the kitchen was pretty backed up with orders so those of us maids and butlers that couldn't be back in the pick-up station were entertaining our hearts out for our guests. Gods bless all our partner maid and butlers stuck in the kitchen line and all the badass cooks in the kitchen making all those omelet rice orders!

What I did get to do a lot with my table was play lots of game challenges with them in the game room. 3 people from my table played Brawl with me and they won a picture with me! It was only the second time I'd played ever and I picked Luigi. They cute daughter picked Bowser,she was so kick butt! Then another guy challenged me and I kicked his butt playing Blaze Blue,another fighting I cannot remember the name of(but I was a lady knight) and Skull Girls;which he eventually beat me at.

Some of us didn't get to have our trading cards because of a still unknown error(I don't know what it was) but we were emailed the cards and I love mine so much! I'M ON FIRE!

Art by Zero-kun Blank

A few of the dedicated maids and butlers of Tomo Neko Cafe 2013!

If you ever want to know a persons nature,work with them in a high stress chaotic situation. All of the maids and butlers were absolutely splendid! Bobby & Jamie(far right),the 2 amazing violinist played such great pieces. I love it especially when I hear the Game of Thrones opening,that made me smile so wide.

Peter Roig the photographer for the official TARDIS photos and more cosplay

Dedicated butlers before the frey!

Up next was Miyuki Geta Dance! Being a maid and on the move most of the event didn't afford many of us time to see the acts. I did sneak this peek at the inspiring dance while running to the kitchen again.

Seeing my friends on stage dance and sing to Sugar Rush in English was so great. 

Pusheen,me and Kyle Herbert!

Pusheen,me and Dino Adnrede

Kyle and Dino were super nice to everyone in the green room. They were both so kind to deal with my fangirling and took pics with me for my Pusheen Adventure blog. =^-^= I was so extatic because I love their work and they are very sweet guys.

Until next years Cafe event! 

Ganbatte!