Patreon Is Where It's AT

NYC is FINALLY mostly “over the curve” and now we’re all in the phase of “NOW WHAT?” Definitely a time of soul searching and exploring career/life choices for many people on Earth. One thing I’m super happy about is that through all this, my wonderful patrons on Patreon have not only STAYED, but I gained some NEW ones and some people even pledged MORE! I’m truly grateful to each and every patron that has supported my work.

Backing up a bit, Patreon is a crowdfunding website, much like Kickstarter, but it’s for ongoing work, not for one particular item. For example, I launched my Patreon so people could see the behind the scenes world of how I create the AER HEAD comic series. Whereas I launched my Kickstarter specifically to print 100 copies of AER HEAD issue #1 once it’s all complete. Building my Patreon definitely helped me understand how to better launch a Kickstarter when the time was right, and I highly recommend artists launching both.

If you’re an artist, musician, or other creative and don’t have a Patreon, BUILD ONE NOW! Now is the time where, even though you may feel like the world is crumbling around you with instability, there ARE actually people out there that still have stable jobs working remotely that would love to support you during this time. I share a lot about the stages of building my own Patreon in the first few public posts. Public posts are posts everyone can see, whereas you’d need to join one of my monthly membership tiers to see some other posts.

For example, here’s a sneak peek of a recent post for the “See the Present” tier (lowest tier level at $2/month) where I went into detail about the scanning and cleaning up process for my AER HEAD comic. If you want to level up your comic creation skills, this is a great tier to join at a low price!

Also, as part of MerMay (drawing prompts where you draw mermaids for the month of May & post on social media), if you join my “Custom Character Artwork” tier, you’ll get a drawing of one of my AER HEAD characters as a mermaid, usually on a surf board!

This is a $50/month tier, but this is the price I normally charge for a color sketch of one character at a comic con anyway (btw MoCCA Fest is officially cancelled). If you’d like a mermaid sketch, you can always sign up for one month, then cancel later. If you’re missing that in-person comic convention experience, this is a great way to get some cool unique art and support me as a freelance artist in these troubling times.

Just go to patreon.com/mindyindy and select a monthly tier. It’s super simple - you can even pay with Paypal. Many thanks, and I hope to see you on Patreon!

Last 48 Hours of Kickstarter! Reached 1st Stretch Goal!

It’s crunch time: the last 48 hours of my AER HEAD Kickstarter campaign, and just we reached the first stretch goal at $2802 as of this posting! Now I have the funds to hire a professional letterer, which will make the book much snazzier and save time! But I’m not stopping there - help me reach an even stretchier stretch goal of $3600 to hire a flatter! Heck, I’ve flatted for others in the past, but this is the next step in helping me get AER HEAD out into the world more efficiently. If you’ve already backed, MANY THANKS YOU’RE AWESOME!! If you haven’t checked out the Kickstarter yet, please do so now before it ends this Thursday October 10th at 5pm!

Business Tip

You never know what you can achieve until you try! A little over a month ago, I didn’t feel fully ready to launch a Kickstarter, but I did all the research I could in the available time. Having deadlines is a super motivator! If you’re considering launching a Kickstarter, find out when they have special campaigns, like January’s “Make 100,” and set it as a goal. Sometimes comic cons are great deadlines too. Or holidays, or other events. But Kickstarter really kicked my ass into gear!

Kickstarter Launch Wednesday 9/4 at NOON!

It’s almost here! I’ve really been hunkering down for the past few weeks to prepare myself as much as possible for my Kickstarter launch. I’ve gotten some preview pages done and have gone over the numbers of calculating shipping and goals many times. The launch won’t be perfect, but I gotta do it anyway!

If you back my project, you can get some SURFTASTIC rewards which include a digital or physical copy of AER HEAD #1, fold-out poster, original art, custom art, or even get drawn in the crowd scene at the surf competition! Go to Kickstarter at noon tomorrow and search for “Mindy Indy” or “AER HEAD” (keep in mind the spelling). I’ll send the link with a post tomorrow but currently I can’t control what time these emails go out (one of many tech problems). When you see this email the Kickstarter may actually already be live. But you’ll want to snag the early bird deals ASAP - there are a limited amount of discounts for the first backers of the higher tiers.

Also as a THANK YOU for being on my email list, if you back my project and send me an email (mindy at mindyindy dot com) with your Kickstarter receipt, you’ll get a FREE digital PDF of OTHER REALMS, a collection of short sci-fi comics, stories, & illustrations! Written by Patrick McEvoy & drawn by yours truly. Thanks for being with me on my creative journey thus far - I truly appreciate it!

Business Tip

The special offer I just mentioned is a great way for people to get more interested in your projects! Everyone loves free stuff! At this point in my career I have plenty of work I’ve already created to choose from. The common thread of AER HEAD & OTHER REALMS is the sci-fi theme. For example, I don’t think that Apartment Hunt really ties in with AER HEAD themes at all besides being funny. Digital rewards are great because they don’t require shipping.

Thanks for reading!

Brooklyn Comic Con, AER HEAD Banner, and International Surfing Day!

This weekend June 15-16 I’ll exhibit at Brooklyn Comic Con with my friend Nadia Burgess of Toughspirit Creations at table A29. Brooklyn Comic Con is a new show that’s quintessentially BROOKLYN - focusing on local eats, music, and videogames! Brought to you by Sexy Nerds, this is sure to be a scene. It’s in Greenpoint at the Brooklyn Expo Center. Take the G to Greenpoint Ave (the G has improved A LOT over my time in Brooklyn - probably due to the L being messed up).

I’ll be debuting my new AER HEAD banner at Brooklyn Comic Con! I’ve been wanting a banner like this for YEARS and now it’s finally here! All the comics pros have free standing banners like this. I wanted to hold off on spending $ on one until I made the cover for AER HEAD #1 and now I’ll use this for years in all its glory. See the process of how I made this banner and the cover by joining the “See the Future” tier of my Patreon!

In other news, did you know that this Saturday is International Surfing Day? This is an environmental day to focus on protecting our oceans (while having a fun beach day!) Looks like it’ll be half-sunny 80° weather in NYC, so here’s the plan - go to the beach on Saturday (International Surfing Day) to enjoy some rays, swimming (and surfing if you surf!) and please pick up a few pieces of trash while there. Then on Sunday, go to Brooklyn Comic Con (it’s supposed to rain). You’re welcome for planning an awesome weekend for you ;)

Riis Park Beach Bazaar This Sunday!

So after the NY ESA surf challenge went so awesomely last week, I decided I’d like to exhibit in more beach locations! What a fun theme for the summer, right? I’ll be at the Riis Park Beach Bazaar this Sunday June 9th! It’s in the Rockaways: 16702 Rockaway Beach Blvd. Queens, NY 11694. This Bazaar actually goes on every day from 11a-6p, and I’ll be trying it out to see how it goes. Going to sell AER HEAD prints and also draw summer themed sketches! There will be music too: Screamin’ Rebel Angels from Noon- 5 and two DJs! Also there is food and other cool random stuff that’s quintessentially NYC.

You know how most of summer goes by and then you’re like “omg I haven’t gone to the beach yet” in late August? Don’t let that happen! NYC has tons of great beaches, so please visit the Rockaways this weekend and stop by the Riis Park Beach Bazaar!

Surfing Event!

Very excited to announce that I’ll be participating in a surfing event this Sunday June 2nd! No I’m not competing (ha after only one surf lesson!) but I’ll be onsite creating surf themed “flash sketches” and offering AER HEAD prints for donations. If you’re in Long Beach and want to check it out - should be a fun time! It’s run by the NY Eastern Surfing Association and is sponsored by all those companies with the logos on the graphic (look I’m there too! :D ) 10% of donations will go to NY ESA.

This is a prime example of creating your own opportunities as an artist (of any kind). I’m doing freelance social media marketing for others, and am coordinating some events for my clients, which got me thinking I should “level up” my own game in terms of marketing on and off line. So I googled around for any surf events going on and this one appeared. I emailed the organizer just to see if I could participate somehow and here we are! You just never know! It never hurts to ASK. The worst someone could say is “no.”

At this event, I’m hoping to get more people interested in my AER HEAD comic and Patreon. I’m also curious about the event vibe, as there is a scene at the end of AER HEAD #1 at a surf competition. Research! And also fun! One challenge will be to keep all my prints and paper free of sand and water droplets. Yay for Krystal Seal protectors! Also wrapping everything in plastic. Super pumped for this event! Oh and the site for NY ESA says there is another “craft-vendor” fair on the board walk, but I’m NOT part of that - I’ll be under a tent with the ESA team chilling on the beach!

ROCK LOBSTER!

The “flash sketches” will be of similar detail to this “ROCK LOBSTER” doodletune I did recently (so many people loved in on instagram - if you’re not already following me there I’m @mindyindy_art . I’ll be drawing simple sharpie sketches of animals surfing, and you’ll see more examples on all my social media this week.

SURF’S UP!

Made My First Patreon Goal: IT'S POSSIBLE!

I'm so happy to say I've surpassed my first Patreon goal of making $100/month and celebrated by taking my first surfing lesson!  This was important research for AER HEAD, the comic I'm creating, which features surfers.  See how I persevered through fear and how I'll apply my surfing experiences to my comic on https://www.patreon.com/mindyindy

Y'know, when I first started Patreon, I wondered if it could really be possible to make legit money from it because I'm not a famous YouTuber with thousands of fans (which is a large portion of their creators).  But I felt like I had to at least try it!  My Patreon has steadily grown, thanks to the support of family, friends, and fans!  YOU could start a Patreon too.  Anyone could, really.  There are so many categories of creative things people are doing on there.  Even if you have a regular 9-5 job and want to get motivated to do your side passion, I recommend Patreon.  You really have to plan it out well though and consistently post and reach out to people to start to see successful results though. 

Do you want to be a part of the Mindy Indy community on Patreon and get the behind-the-scenes scoop on how I'm creating AER HEAD, the story of a surfer who predicts the future in his dreams?  Just go to  https://www.patreon.com/mindyindy  and click the orange "become a patron" button.  Then select the reward tier you want and you'll be able to have access to posts according to your tier!  I'm particularly excited about the next set of "see the present" posts where I'll talk about how I'm directly applying what I learned from my surfing lesson to the comic.  

Patreon and AER HEAD Progress!

Progress on my AER HEAD comic project is going very well!  As for the Patreon itself, as of this posting I'm 38% of the way towards my goal of $100 in the first month, with 2 weeks to go.  If you're considering donating and want to check it out, but are unsure about long-term commitment, remember that you change your donation amount at any time. 

I've also added a NEW $50 tier, which is custom art of any AER HEAD character, or you AS one of the characters!  I think my comic con peeps will like this tier, because it's similar to my sketches at comic cons!  If you select this tier, you'll get one 5"x7" original color illustration per month of one character, mailed to you.

I recently did the math on how long this project will take given my current pace.  If I continue working on AER HEAD for 20 hours a week, I can complete issue #1 in ONE YEAR!  I'd be able to do a 6 issue series in 6 years.  But if I don't reach my larger goal by mid-October, I'll need to cut the project's time by half or more to make ends meet, and the project may stretch beyond my 40s.  If you donate, you're not only giving the gift of $, but of TIME as well.

If you have any questions, feel free to comment on this blog post or on social media, or email me at " mindy at mindyindy dot com ".  Please help me to raise another $62 by August 14!  Since I'd like to celebrate reaching the $100 goal by taking my first surf lesson (the comic features surfers) I realized I have to achieve this before it gets too cold in the fall.  Every dollar helps, and I really appreciate all the donations!  If you've been following my career and have been inspired in any way, now is your chance to give in the name of art!  Go to https://www.patreon.com/mindyindy and select a fun reward tier and get a behind-the-scenes look at AER HEAD!  Thank you very much!

PATREON LAUNCH!! GO GO GO!!

EXCITING NEWS!!!  I’ve officially launched a PATREON!  Patreon is a crowdfunding site where artists can achieve their dreams by collecting small donations from many people.  My Patreon features a comic series I’ve been working on for FOREVER… called “AER HEAD!”  It’s a sci-fi/comedy series about a surfer who predicts the future in his dreams.  Yes, if you’ve been following me from way back in 2010, you’ll remember my first blog posts featured my process of working on AER HEAD.  See the initial pages here:  http://mindyindy.com/aerhead  The style was too complex to be sustainable though… it was beautiful, but I felt bogged down by it and got caught up with trying to make a living in NYC. 

This year, I realized I needed to SIMPLIFY many areas of my life, including AER HEAD’S style & my process of working on it.  I’m finally at a point in my life now where I can dedicate legit time chunks to move forward with this comic series, but I need your help to do this long term.  Time is money, and in order to dedicate more time to this comic I need more sustainable funds.

NEW AER HEAD promo mini comic!

I’m inviting ALL OF YOU WONDERFUL PEOPLE, especially those who’ve followed me since the very beginning and wondered what the hell happened to AER HEAD over the years, to please donate and become a patron on my Patreon.  Please go to https://www.patreon.com/mindyindy and click the big orange “Become a Patron” button, select a “reward tier,” & connect with Paypal.  The process is so user friendly that even my parents figured it out easily!

Every donation helps me toward my goal of getting this whole comic series out of my head and into the world!  Once you donate, you’ll be able to see my progress on everything from writing, sketching, drawing, inking, digital & watercoloring (I simplified it from all watercolors to half digital/half watercolor) and more.  My blogs here on mindyindy.com are more event focused these days, so think of my Patreon as another blog exclusively for AER HEAD.   

THANK YOU SO MUCH & I truly appreciate your support!  And even if you can’t donate at this time, please forward this info to a friend you think will like it. 

New Month Resolutions

Well it's that time of year again.  For the past 5 or so years, my New Year's Resolution has been to finally finish volume 1 of my comic series AER HEAD, without much result.  I realize I never made a REALISTIC step-by-step plan of HOW to accomplish that goal before (for example, getting all the drawing done in one month is NOT realistic under my current schedule or any previous schedules).  But now, because I've been implementing productivity techniques for various goals and projects for awhile, I think I can finally start to make more progress on AER HEAD.  My strategy this year is to set super small monthly goals instead of one huge resolution.

I've also divided my goals into 2 areas:  creative and non-creative.  The non-creative goals are usually financially related.  For example, for February, my non-creative goal is to get all my taxes done before the end of the month, while my creative goal is to write the over-arching outline of the whole AER HEAD series.

When setting these small monthly goals, it's important to seriously take into consideration how much time you can devote to each goal each week, which is something I didn't do in the past.  I've set in my calendar 4 hours a week, from 11pm-midnight M-Th, to work on these goals.  I'll alternate M/W creative goals and Tu/Th non-creative goals.  This leaves me with 8 hours per month to devote to my creative goal, and 8 hours for the non-creative goal.  With my teaching hours and freelance projects, this is a reasonable time I can dedicate.  If my schedule changes, I can add more time, but this is doable for now. 

I also realize that even at taking 8 hours to draw one page, it will take 2 years to finish just the drawing portion of AER, but hell that's more than what I'm doing with it right now.  I've made a road map for myself, and it's OK to deviate from it, but I have to have a concrete place to start.  I've planned up until June, but no farther because life changes and I'm always adjusting plans accordingly.  And that's OK.  Give yourself the freedom to be flexible with your goals.  I'm also curious about some of YOUR goals too!  Would you like to share any of your creative or non-creative goals?

Working With Writers

Here's another one-shot comic page I created with writer Patrick McEvoy!  I love his techie futuristic themes.  Also, couldn't help throwing in another disco-ball pattern in the computer room in the first panel.  (Side note - the window and last panel colors were inspired by Sonic 2's Oil Ocean Zone).  It's great that Patrick is cool with whatever I come up with, as writers should allow freedom for the artist to do what they do best!  He was also open to suggestions I had for making the second panel two separate panels, so it's more clear that we are zooming into the computer's circuitry.

The Papercutz team on the Charmz School panel at NYCC 2016!  Left to right:  Sven Larsen (marketing), Jeff Whitman (editorial), Janice Chiang (letterer), Mindy Indy (penciler/inker/colorist), Amy Chu (writer), and not pictured is Jay Jay Jackson (penciler/inker/colorist) who joined us later in the panel!

Working with others was one of our discussion topics on the Charmz School panel at NYCC.  letterer Janice Chiang and writer Amy Chu talked about how they worked together on many projects over the years, as writing and lettering are very intertwined.  Jay Jay Jackson and I are both "triple-threat" penciler/inker/colorists, so we talked about our experiences working with others, but also benefits of being sole creators of comics. 

NYCC's line up of panels was MUCH better than last years!  I targeted other writing panels too, as I'm working on rewriting AER HEAD, and panelists kept suggestingfor writers to start working with an artist on one-page comics before delving into their magnum opus.  This is great, because it helps both writer and artist develop their communications to see if they work well with each other. 

This is something that people don't really think about.  Lots of indie creators are just so excited to get their work out there, that they don't take the time to get to know their team-mates working style:  Do they respond to email timely?  If not, was there a good reason?  Do they ask lots of questions to ensure clarity?  If not, they may end up doing extra work over changes.  What is their schedule like?  Do they prefer to work late at night?  All of these things and more can be ironed out with a one-page comic before committing to too much if you realize you're not working well together.

I also work with writers in the FD Foundation and RLS Foundation for our weekly and monthly comic strips.  My first boss for "No Tears:  Life With FD," David Brenner, usually sent me the script and I drew it: easy-peasy.  Occasionally, I'd offer suggestions (like "I don't think a kid would say it that way"), and sometimes he'd agree and we'd change the script, but usually the script stayed "as-is."  My new boss for No Tears, Paul Schack, and also the team at the RLS Foundation are very open to my script suggestions.  They give me the dialogue and I'd sketch it out, realizing that it would be better if some things were changed in the script or action description.  Sometimes it's a back-and-forth process, which leads to a better finished comic!  For example, the No Tears comic above was originally scripted with just the bottom 2 panels, but I suggested we insert a 3rd panel in the beginning giving more explanation that October is Dysautonomia Awareness month.  YAY TEAMWORK!

Jay Jay Jackson and I were talking later on about how we don't like Robert McKee's "Story," a book about screenwriting.  It's supposed to be this really great book, but it's so old that I don't get half the movie references, and the writing is pretty dry.  I have the book sitting next to my bed, for when insomnia strikes it helps put me to sleep.

Artist UPGRADE!

I'm so super excited about some fancy devices that will help me in comic creation efficiency!  For a Christmas present to myself, I got a brand new Intuos Pro by Wacom, and my comic artist friend Warner gave me his old A3 scanner because he got an upgraded scanner/printer.  With these tools combined, I can conquer the world!  ART BATTLING COMMENCE!

For awhile I'd been wanting a bigger scanner to scan whole comic pages but gave up because they were too pricey.  Thus, with the free 8.5x11 scanner I found on my apartment doorstep (I'm too much of a cheapskate for my own good), I scanned large images in pieces and stitched them together in Photoshop.  What a time waster!  A few times I was able to access larger scanners for rush projects but that was lots of running around.  But now I can easily scan 11x17 sized paper in the blink of an eye!  Pictured above is the A3 Scanner, which uses Twain Driver.  Works for both Mac and PC.  Simple and easy to use because it does one thing and does it very well - scans big stuff!

I've also wanted to get a better Wacom tablet for awhile.  Seeing ads for the Surface Pro 3 (where you draw directly on the screen) made me want to get one of those at first, but upon trying it out in Best Buy, it was much smaller than I expected.  How can you create legit art on such a tiny screen?  I've seen people do it, but it's not for me.  The Best Buy techie recommended the Intuos family of tablets, and I'm pretty happy with it so far!  Previously I used a Wacom Bamboo for digital coloring, but it's the most basic one (only $25).  It worked well for solid coloring but I couldn't draw smooth lines for creating artwork SOLELY on the computer.  Also, the pressure sensitivity sucks.  And the pen nib always wore down too flat, which made my "brush" too blunt.  Anyway I've been playing around with the Intuos Pro and it's pretty awesome so far!  My goal is to create more comics solely digitally, which will be much faster!

It's serendipitous that I acquired these devices at the same time.  As shown above, I've scanned an AER HEAD page and am playing around with digital inking.  AER HEAD is drawn by hand on bristol, and is like 75% drawn, but I've had some hang-ups about changing scenes around and moving forward.  But working digitally makes it SO much easier to edit!  Yay for the UNDO command!  And inking is pretty much like tracing with pizazz anyway.  I've gotten frustrated with my traditional inking tools, like unexpected globs of ink plopping out of nowhere.  Having to switch pens each time you want to change line widths (I find the brush to be too blobby for inking small works).  Trying to draw a line and no ink will come out even when I just dipped it in ink.  The list goes on.  It'll still take awhile for me to master the Intuos and digital inking, but I think it's a step in the right direction.  Mostly experimenting in Photoshop, and tried Illustrator but have had some problems.  While Illustrator is great about smoothing the line, when I lift the pen from the tablet the line ends quite bluntly and not gradual like in Photoshop.  Any comments on digital inking are appreciated!  I've been looking at some online tutorials too.

WHOO that's a long post!  So much to blog about on this topic! 

Sometimes it's good to be thrifty, but when that thriftiness is holding you back from being productive, it's better to invest in tools that will make your life easier.  If you're just entering a field, it's good to begin by seeing how you can get by on cheaper materials that work just fine but maybe they take more time.  But once you're on the professional scope of your field, it's time to get serious and invest in some better tools.  I'm not saying buy the most expensive things, because even though business expenses are tax deductible, you only have so much $ in your account.  But growing in knowing yourself, your habits, and your field will help you to spend money more wisely in a way that will benefit you the most.

What the Font?

I turned my handwriting into a font!  My friend and fellow cartoonist Simon Fraser recommended this last year, and I finally got around to doing it!  I've been told that the computer fonts I use as a short-cut on my mini comics don't fit with the hand drawn comic.  The current comic I'm drawing ("Apartment Hunt") has LOTS of text, so this is a good time to test it out.

There are free sites that turn your handwriting into a font like http://www.myscriptfont.com/  Print out the sheet, write in the boxes, scan, upload, and voila!  It did take 2 tries to tweak some weird letters, but the final result is awesome!  I'll save tons of time but it'll have the warmer look of writing by hand!  Also thinking about making an Aer Head font.  I do pride myself on the fact that that comic is all done by hand, but as I get busier and time slips away, it's best to utilize tools like this!

If you're in Jersey tomorrow, check out the Super Heroes for Hospice show in West Orange!  If you're in Philly on Sunday, check out the Philly Zine Fest at the Rotunda!

Yeah this happened.  Luckily I'm pretty sturdy (also survived a freaky skiing fall last winter).  Pissed me off though.  See, these kind of New Yorkers give all the other ones a bad rap. 

Robot Rock

I'll always love Daft Punk!  Their new release (Random Access Memories) is good, but by far their best album was Discovery in 2001.  My absolute favorite not only because of the danceable music, but they animated the entire album!  Interstella 5555.  It's the main inspiration for the Aer Head graphic novel I'm slowlllllyyyy working on.

Boston Comic Con Countdown!

5 days until Boston Comic Con!  Super excited!  There's a lot going on at BCC - some things I'd go to if I didn't have a table are:

Saturday 8/2

Female Creators 6pm-6:45pm Amy Reeder, Colleen Doran, Sara Richard

Colleen Doran totally rocks!  I looooooove her art style and her graphic novels of "A Distant Soil" influenced the look of "Aer Head."  (Yes, been awhile since I've worked on Aer... I need to stop being such a perfectionist about it).

BCC's Indie Film Fest

Sunday 8/3

How to Pitch Your Comic to Publishers 2pm-2:45pm Anthony Del Col, co-creator of Kill Shakespeare

I've finished drawing my new comic, and am moving on to inking today.  Can't wait to show it off!

Super Heroes for Hospice Recap

I had a great experience at Super Heroes for Hospice this past weekend in Jersey!  This was a small event to raise money for the Barnabas Health Hospice and Palliative Care Center, as well as a canned food drive for the needy of hurricane Sandy.  A big part of the event was 1,000s of old comic issues to delve through (as seen in the picture above).  Another part of the room had me and about 7 other artists selling our work and drawing sketches.  Another big draw was the "Getting Into Comics" lecture series, featuring Paris Cullens, Joe Endres, Steve Zinoda, Christian Rubiano, and myself.  I gave a super cool power point presentation about how to get started exhibiting and selling your comic art at conventions!  YouTube clips coming soon!

I had many unusual and charming drawing requests this time!

One guy had a collection of envelopes that he had artists draw upon, and he gave me an ocean-themed stamped one to draw Aeryan surfing on!  If you google "super heroes for hospice" in image search, you'll see other artistic envelopes in his collection.

The next commission was from a grandfather that wrote a story for his two grand daughters.  He gave me a script to look at and said I could illustrate any scene in any way I wished.  He wanted to see different artists visions of his story.

Another cool request was from a guy that wanted me to draw this Big Foot doll!

I felt that Big Foot would need to comb all that hair!  The guy has a project going on where he has commissioned over 400 artists to draw their version of the Big Foot (or caveman doll as he calls it).  Pretty cool!

Special thanks to my friend Christina for driving me all the way from Brooklyn to West Orange, NJ!

NYCC SUCCESS!!

WOW!  Ok I know New York Comic Con was last week, but I need to recap!  It was so intense that I had to recover for awhile.  I took those videos on Friday, and the crowds in the video got even bigger for Saturday and Sunday.

I got a tripod/easel at the 24 hour Staples Thursday night to elevate my poster for better exposure.  It worked!  More people saw my sign and looked at my table.  I also taped drawings to the poster so people could see examples of my drawing style.  Most importantly, I put a sign at the top that said "Colorist for DeadPool" and that really drew attention!  I got about 4 DeadPool commissions from that!  People were interviewing me and taking pictures - NO JOKE!  I felt like a celebrity!

I spent all of Saturday and Sunday just drawing commissions!  It was amazing!  I had a list of drawings to do and honestly took more than I could handle, but it was a great learning experience!

This pic was my first commission!  A guy dressed as Dead Pool and his girlfriend wanted their favorite characters (Dead Pool and MewTwo from Pokemon) fighting.  This became a theme of the weekend - couples wanting their favorite characters either fighting or cuddling.

He's so happy with the sketch!  Later on, I drew another Deadpool sketch (below) and put it on my poster, and he bought that one too!  Repeat customers!!

This commission was for an amazing girl, Mya Terry, who's battling cancer.  Her aunt/godmother went around getting sketches of Mya as a "super girl," because she's been through a lot and is very courageous.  Mya even wrote a book about getting an NG feeding tube.  I went for a Rainbow Brite/Sailor Moon theme for the sketch.  Her aunt was thrilled and even got me and Scott (the artist next to me) fries :)  Hope Mya likes the drawing!

One guy wanted some Avengers head shots for his niece and nephew.  I chose Scarlet Witch and Captain America.

I looked up references for characters on my smart phone.  Luckily this year Artist Alley was in a spot that had good reception!  I had kind of cramped drawing space for my little half table, and I kept knocking over the Aer Head stand and Ellen's comics next to me, but I made it work.  Here are some other sketches I did, but I didn't have the chance to take pictures of all of them:

This girl even came back the next day for a Prince Zuco sketch!

This guy heard I was a colorist (word of mouth spreading like wildfire!) and asked me to color a black & white drawing someone did of the Fraggles.  I totally had the theme song stuck in my head all day after that!

I kept seeing all these people dressed up with horns that looked like candy corn.  It's from a web comic that got pretty popular called Homestuck.  I got about 3 commissions of Homestuck characters!

This guy was a teacher who was getting sketches to show his students many different drawing styles.  My first Aer Head commission!  It's interesting to me to see the variety of people that come to comic con for different reasons :)

And ending with my favorite, Sonic!  Didn't even need a reference for that because I drew Sonic all the time as a kid :)  I love My Little Ponies too :)

The flyering worked well too - my friend Ellen passed around flyers and brought about 20 more people to the table, and of those maybe half signed up for the mailing list :)  A few bought misfortune cookie mini comics, and half just took the free cookies.

All in all, New York Comic Con was a HUGE success.  I made my table money back plus a huge profit!  This was an eye opening experience because now I see that doing the comic con circuit can be a legitimate way to make a living, if you do it right.  Next time, I'm going to do more sample sketches beforehand so they're ready to sell, and I need to practice drawing faster!

Rockaway Beach Studies

This weekend I went to Rockaway Beach in Queens, NY.  I heard it's a great surf beach, and wanted to sketch the waves and surfers for Aer Head references (besides just having awesome beach relaxation :)  The above sketch was done with Prismacolor markers.  I scanned it with my recycled scanner, but the colors weren't as vibrant.  I had to tweak it in Photoshop to get the bottom picture.  The top picture, just taken with my camera, is actually closer to the true colors.  So far, the scanner doesn't seem to be that great with colors (maybe that's why it was on the curb).  But for line art it's great.

When I think of surfing, I think of gigantic waves, and was a bit disappointed when all I saw was tiny waves.  Maybe it was the wrong time of day for big waves?  I still got to capture some surfing gestures.  It was hard because surfers move fast.  I mostly sketched the surf board's size in relation to people's bodies, because I had trouble with that size ratio when drawing Aer Head.  Also, a detail I noticed was that all the surfers have a cord attaching their board to their foot.

Square!

I got my new Square card reader in the mail this weekend!  This tiny gadget allows me to now accept credit cards when people want to buy my merchandise.  Another small step towards becoming more professional!  Just download and open the Square app, plug the Square into your smartphone, and swipe a credit card.  I made sure to test it out with my own card before using it on others.  Last weekend at the Artists & Fleas market, one guy in particular really liked the Aer Head stuff because he surfed, but didn't have any cash.  Because I couldn't accept credit cards, that sale was lost.  But now I'm more prepared!  I'm glad I got this before the big Baltimore Comic Con coming up September 8th & 9th.  This weekend I made a whole task list of what I need to do to prepare for it.  Many things are in the works!  I was looking up self-publishing, because I really want to collect the daily misfortunes into a very special book (there's a surprise about this particular kind of book).  Also figuring out my travel arrangements and other things.  EXCITEMENT!!

New Aer Head Sketch and Scanner

Yesterday I drew this in the park.  Drawing outside is a great way to enjoy the summer weather and still be productive!

Also, I scanned the new drawing with my "new" scanner that I FOUND ON MY DOORSTEP!  FREEEEEEE!!  This is a HP Photosmart C4280, is in good condition, and works pretty well so far!  Yay for rich people buying the latest gadgets and giving old ones away!  Awhile ago, I bought a complex scanner on sale (Epson Artisan 725) and it was WAY too complicated to use and didn't even print right (jagged lines).  After being frustrated with trying to figure it out and tech support saying it would take months to a year to tweak the settings and learn how to use it, I returned it.  I just want to press a button and have it scan or print!  User friendly is my main priority - I'm picky about colors, but not THAT picky to have the printer be a pain in the ass to use.  As for this new one, I need to get a black ink cartridge to test the printing, so we'll see.  My main need was the scanner anyway.