This Halloween weekend, I tabled at Stan Lee’s LA Comic Con, otherwise known as “The Con Formerly Known as Comikaze.”
I was part of the wicked cool Comic Bug Pavilion alongside a bunch of my Southbay comic buddies! Walking into a show and exclaiming “Ooh! I know them, I know them, and yay them!” all the way down a row really changes the experience. I felt like I was nestled inside of a little family!
I was directly next to the Ladybugs and across from the Sketchy Bugs which was great because we had early copies of our new Secret Anthology. It turned into a little signing tornado.
Photo credit Amy Wagner
I was also on my very first panel ever! “The Business of Art Presents: Build Your Audience Even If You Don’t Have a Product” (longest name ever) hosted by Russell Nohelty. We discussed branding, business infrastructure building, and networking, which are all Really Important Things ™ that they don’t teach you in art school. So if you want to “Do Art as a Career,” best learn ‘em! Get on it! Russell’s podcast is a great place to start.
Russell ran a tight ship, and kept the information coming. As someone who has been frustrated with attending panels that ramble off topic, I particularly appreciated him keeping it on task.
I spoke alongside MOM Comics who founded the Ladybugs, Lynly Forrest of Hex Comix, Neo Edmund who has a new novel out, and Bryant Dillon of Fanbase Press. All of these people have achieved so much and are fantastically inspirational to me!
My favorite part of the panel was talking to the audience members individually when they came to my booth afterward for more advice. All of you are awesome, and you go ON with your bad selves and amazing dreams! Kill it!
Photo credit Amy Wagner
I got to catch up with a few Press friends of mine too, including The Grand Geek Gathering, and NerdSoul! Also a post featuring my booth has popped up, written by the delightful Amy Wagner, who I had the pleasure of meeting. Check it out here!
I had a complete blast at the show, and sold out of Heavenly Kibble Guardian Corgi for the third time! The people asking for #3 finally inspired me to get off my duff and work on it. I mean, I haven’t been busy with a messed up ankle, moving, and getting married (with two parties on opposite coasts) or anything. Not busy at all! Nope!
And work on it I did: I wrote the entire thing during downtime right there at the table!
Boom! Done!
Since Clucked is still on hold for pitch development, I’m going to roll Corgi 3 into my workload this month, alongside my new 8 page piece for the upcoming Manthology.
Basically, it’ll be like a NaNoWriMo for me, but NaCoMaMo– National Comics Making Month. Which is a thing I just invented! I like inventing things.
That’s all for now, keep an eye on my Twitter and Instagram for snapshots of my comics in progress during this month!