Tales From Another Con

So I did Jay and Eddie's Comicbook Show yesterday. It's a smaller con, basically in a large room at a hotel. Definite advantages to the venue: It's well lit, carpeted,  nice looking, air conditioned (maybe a bit too much, it was chilly!) and it's small enough that it's hard to miss you.

 

I felt there weren't as many people passing by but I sold slightly more. I think there was less folks who just came to hang out or just see what a comic convention was like than at the last con, which was held in a building at the Fair Grounds at the same time as the Earth Day Fair.

 

The table was nice this time, but I came prepared with a table cloth designed for a 6 foot table. Best $20 I've spent. I just laid it on there and it fit the table exactly and securely. It seemed no worse for ware after I was done, so I should be able to reuse it indefinitely.

 

 The table was slightly wider and I was able to fit everything in and have just enough room to draw. I did both the cover and variant cover for issue four, which was a great way to pass the time. Dropping the contest really helped on the space. My table was tight but uncluttered, though I'll have to think about how to do future cons as I'll be adding more comics to sale.

 

I'm not sure if positioning is that important at a con that small. Basically there's just tables around the walls and in the middle of the room, so anyone wanting to see everything just does a loop around the room. Depending on if the person proceeded straight at the door or took a left, I was either one of the first or one of the last booths they'd come across, but it's a short circuit around the room so it didn't matter all that much.

 

 I got sandwiched between two comic creators. And not knocking non-comic artists, because my neighbors at the last con were fantastically talented and nice, but there is something really awesome about the camaraderie you get from folks who are doing the same thing you are. 

 

Niki Pell

On my right were the talented couple of  Bobby and Suzanne Capobianco of Superville Comics, with their series and tons of Minion fan art (including Jay and Silent Bob minions!). On the other was  Katie Bishop, the Hawkeye from Young Avengers. Well, not really. It was a fantastically gifted artist named Niki Pell who did a great Katie Bishop cosplay at Heroes Con I got a shot of last month. She does superhero jewelry and a comic called Wander.

 

I was definitely more connected  to the other comic artists there.  I'm apparently on a Facebook group of regional artists called the Scattered Pencil Society (one of those weird Facebook things, where you end up joining a group and getting its posts, without receiving or accepting an invitation, but this is one of the good ones). I was fortunate enough to see and respond to a Facebook post about them doing a podcast and post-con gathering but they seemed nice enough that they probably would've included me anyway.

 

Bobby and Suzanne Capobianco

So Bobby and fellow artist Kev Lyerly interviewed me for a podcast, which was great. And then about eight of us got together at Panera Bread for supper and chatted, which was pretty informative and inspiring.

 

I still wish I'd gotten their earlier. I got there an hour early, which was more than enough time to set everything up but not enough time to explore the room and see who/what else was there. Last time, the con ending was like the Death Star evacuation scene with everyone packing up and getting out within 15 minutes. This time it seemed like everyone was like "After that port exhaust thing on the last Death Star, we're getting out of here at the first sign of the rebel fleet." Half my row was out half an hour before it ended and practically everyone else was out by 4:30 (the time the con ended). So next time I'll try getting there even earlier.

 

Overall good experience. I'm checking into a local con in September, if I can get into that one, I'll do it.