i’m back! in truth i was back two weeks ago, but wordpress ate my last post.
I’m going to be at Goulburn Comic Con next Saturday – hope to see you there!
In the meantime, I participated in the 100 People in One Week sketch challenge last week. I managed to smash them out in three days…and now I need some recovery time!
The sketches began on the bus home…
When I ran out of subjects on the bus, I started staring into cars and along the road
There were the after work studies from photos, too
Such as from these shots from Canberra Dart Tag games, referenced from photos by Callan ODonohoe
I had a bit more trouble getting into morning studies on the bus
there are some people who just stand out. they were easy to remember a good nine hours later, and i had no issue colouring them in then
but it really was a test of memory
On one particularly lucky morning (my second of the week), I got 60 people in one sitting
Plus another night time study of an awesome friend for International Womens Day
I went to Otakufest on the weekend, and it’s kind of fitting that my last market for the year was my busiest!
I met a lot of cosplayers and very friendly people who made the day more fun. My favourite new-people-to-meet that I met while trading include:
J, who came by and made a beeline for, of all things, Sweet NV issues 1 and 2. He wins favourite new person of the day just for that, but then he went on to tell me that he digs shojo manga and practiced some Japanese with me. (If you’re reading this, I hope you enjoyed the books!)
The excited young lady who made a beeline straight for the sweets deco stock I had out. I promptly showed her all of the extra stock I had (hidden away because there wasn’t enough space on the table!), and offered her the marker sketch I’d been working on that morning because her enthusiasm made my day.
The Eliza and Donny cosplayers from the Wild Thornberrys. I didn’t see the Nigel cosplayer (*sad* 🙁 ), but those two were so fantastically in character I can’t get over it.
The many friendly, talented and cool young women who came by to chat comics, sweets deco and art. You ladies made my day 🙂
I’m also not counting the most excellent friends whom I already knew who stopped by to say hello.
Overall the event seemed to go well. It was fun trading at a pop culture type convention in such a large open space. I did end up getting rained out and leaving early with most of the other comics sellers but the time I had at the show was good. Outdoor markets are great, but can be dangerous for paper-goods sellers if the bureau of meteorology predicts a “high chance of rain”. More signage would have been good (as is my usual complaint with events), but the market was so spread out over Garema Place this wasn’t much of an issue. The good part about being spread out was there weren’t the usual pop culture market tiny walkways for human traffic jams and spontaneous, but poorly placed, cosplay photo shoots – the one photo shoot that led to a human traffic jam near my booth still left enough space for people to walk around.
The show was, for me, very different in ways I’m not used to. It’s also given me plenty to think about for next year and what I want to prioritise. Hm…watch this space!
It’s almost time for the next market! I’m a little bit nervous because it’s been so long since I did an outdoor market, but I think I’m prepared now. Sort of. We’ll see – experience is the best teacher, right?
I’ll be at Otakufest tomorrow in Garema Place from 10 – 4.
I’ve updated some of my sweets deco stock and packaging, which I’m very excited about! Once I get my stuff together and take some photos, I hope to put some of the sweets online for sale. And then it’ll be time for me to bunker down again on a few other projects.
Events keep me honest and updating. The last event, the Tuggeranong Arts Centre fair, was a lot of fun but rather, well, uneventful. That’s the biggest problem with events in the far out suburbs with not a lot of promotion. On the other hand, it was a great place to debut my sweets deco work and we had a gorgeous view of the lake all day. Also, ice cream.
I’ve got two more events in my calendar this year, both free to attend and both to be filled with (exciting announcement) new books, new sweets and hopefully new art!
I have been quietly chugging along with things – finishing quiet collaboration comics here, struggling over the Major Project there, and making stacks of miniature food there to relax. Soon I’ll be able to announce two (!) new books and I think I will have both available for the next markets. Expect those announcements soon 😉
Don’t worry, the SpAE Storenvy store isn’t missing – I’ve just taken it down for a moment while I go on a break! You can still get digital comics and the YES | NO zine from the Gumroad shop. 🙂