Here's what I've been up to for the past month… You know, when I haven't been at a show, restocking inventory after a show, or in transit on my way to a show.
The Collingswood Book Festival kicked off this month's jam-packed show schedule and although I was only expecting moderate foot traffic, it ended up being one of my most successful shows to date!
I had also intended to set up at the Barrington Harvest Festival, but sudden health issues forced me to cancel at the last minute.
Thankfully, I recovered in time for our next outing- the New York City Comic Con.
Awesome doesn't cut it.
This convention was definitely several notches above anything else I'd seen before. To anyone who's thinking of going next year, my advice to you is go on Thursday. Get yourself a VIP pass or whatever else it takes, because that is the only time the floor isn't going to be a body-to-body wall of people. On Thursday, the place is packed. On Friday, it's a mess of super-smelly gridlock.
I genuinely believe that someone urinated in the tunnel that connected Artist's Alley with the rest of the floor, because by the end of the day, it smelled like hobos on fire. Just awful.
Don't get me wrong! I had a wonderful time in NYC! I got to hang out with Bob Wayne for a little while on Thursday, (before the massive turnout on Friday made further conversations impossible) and was able to meet Andrew Sumner, a delightful fellow from Liverpool. I also met Diana Meneses, (dressed as Harley Quinn in the photo above) a spunky playful girl who was a total blast to hang out with. I really hope we run into each other again sometime. I showed my portfolio to half a million people and even got encouragement from some of them. We got to eat like kings on DC's dollar. A good time was most certainly had by all!
The highlight of NYCC was getting to meet
Jenny Frison, a cover artist whose work I absolutely adore, and learning that she got her start doing what I've been doing all along: Going to cons, showing your portfolio, making contacts, building relationships, working your way through a million little jobs until the right person sees one... It's a hard path and progress is slow, but to see that it's still worth it, that it's a path that might take me where I want to be, makes it SO much easier to keep going.
Meanwhile, back in my studio, I'd been using any spare scrap of time I could find to work on a logo design job for the wonderful people over at Quail Run Farms. My brother and sister-in-law run a small business (Tehachabee Honey LLC) based around the beehives they keep on their property.
I've already designed the labels for their honey jars and beeswax chapsticks, so converting the preexisting design to a circular format for their new line of lotion bars was relatively simple.
In addition to supplying the graphic designs for Quail Run's bee products, I was also hired to create a logo for their new business- Blessed Bee Birth Services. The sudden illness that kept me away from Barrington also slowed me down significantly when I was trying to work on the logo, but I was finally able to finish the design after returning from New York. We're both extremely pleased with the final result.
The weekend after NYCC, we packed ourselves back into the truck and set sail for the Mid-Ohio Comic Con. Ohio was WONDERFUL. In terms of making money, making friends, making contacts- all of it. The Stormwatch booth was situated perfectly. We were between the concessions, the bathrooms, and the door.
I sold a decent chunk of my inventory and Bob sold at least half of the stuff we'd brought with us! It was great!
Also, the ceiling was magic.
First and foremost, I want to send a huge thank you over to Enrica Jang of
Red Stylo Media, who made this trip SO much more exciting and enjoyable for us! She showed us around her hometown, took us out drinking with her, and generally made our trip more interesting just by being her wonderful self.
One of my favorite memories from Ohio was simply sitting at her booth on the morning after a particularly delightful cocktail party, quietly recovering over a cup of coffee and some bagels. We're always running into each other at shows like this, so I'm really looking forward to seeing her again when the con season starts up again next spring.
Ohio was a great chance to spend time with friends, both old and new. On Saturday,
Max Ink came by and wandered the show floor, passing out Blink comics to anyone who'd stand still long enough. I was able to hang out with him for a while, which is something I'd been looking forward to for months! I hung around
Paul Storrie's booth for a while- making lewd comments, scaring away his customers, and generally being a nuisance. I also spent
hours chatting with
Tony Isabella, who if you don't know him, is a veteran of the comic book field and one of the biggest sweethearts I've ever met. He even gave me
a shout-out on his blog in one of his post-convention recaps, which delights me more than I can say!
I also got to meet the lovely duo of Sarah Gray and Emily Gibson-Roberson, one mister Erick Korpi, and
Kayleigh Lascio- a young Monkees fan who is so adorable it's unreal. Seriously. This girl is like a spy who's one objective has been to break into my heart and steal all the secret government documents I keep there.
So freaking cute. Instant cavities.
About 2 hours into the 8 hour drive home from Ohio, our truck broke down- stranding us in Washington, PA for a day. Once I finally got back home, I had barely enough time to restock my wares before heading out to the
Superheroes Anonymous event on the 30th.
I had really high hopes for this show, but it was not as well attended as I would've liked... Which is to say, there was almost no foot traffic during the day. It seemed like everyone was waiting until the after party to show up. Between the tolls, parking, and gas, it cost a lot of money just to get there and I barely made enough sales to cover my dinner on the way home.
That being said,
Tom and I were interviewed by the Discovery Channel for some special they're doing on Real Life Superheroes. So there's a very good chance we'll be on TV and that's kinda cool. Also, it was a nice excuse to put on my Black Widow costume and take Tom's
Doctor Strange outfit on it's maiden voyage.
Even though it didn't really pay off, I'm still glad we showed up.
The weekend after THAT, we packed all my stuff up once more and set up shop at a Gloucester City Cultural Arts event that was taking place in the community center that's attached to Firehouse 54. It was low-key, but actually rather nice. I wasn't expecting many people to come in the door, since the venue was pretty unassuming, but it attracted a much larger crowd than I would've guessed. There was live music (some of which was really very good) and free food and wine. Not a bad way to spend the afternoon.
I had the walkthrough for
the upcoming RAW event on Thursday and I'm trying really hard to pull everything together in time for the show, without totally freaking out about how small my space is and how crowded the G Lounge is going to be. I just dropped off my files with the giclée printer last night. I'll feel a helluva lot better when I have my show boxes all packed up and ready to go.
In the middle of all this chaos, I also managed to finish up a commission for a friend. A zombie Spiderman fighting a zombie Venom. Pretty standard stuff, but I have to pay the bills somehow.
After the RAW Awards, my show schedule should slow down to something resembling normal life. At which point, I need to get 100 sketch covers to Dynamic Forces ASAP before I can even think about drawing anything for myself. A set of
Vampirella books that were solicited on Halloween and some
Marvel Girl books that (as far as I know) are supposed to grace the front page.
No rest for the weary, man.
