Tip Jar Experiment

Baltimore Comic Con was great this past weekend!  Sketched a lot of kids as heroes, caught up with friends, and stayed at an awesome AirBnB.  I also tried a new experiment - you may have seen voting jars in cafes where they pose a question and have you vote with $ to get more tips.  Why not do the same for comic cons?  Sometimes I get tips and it's a nice extra surprise, but I've learned that the act of suggesting tips brings more tips.  And yes, that is an egg beater holding up the sign.  I asked my room mate when was the last time either of us used an egg beater?  The answer was never.  The cans are also the "Hell or High Watermelon" beer cans (yum!), which I liked for the awesome design.  Yay recycling!  

So who would win in a battle - Star Wars or Star Trek?  It was interesting hearing people's responses as to why either side would win - "Guns don't work in Star Trek," "The Force has awesome fighting skills," etc.  

THE RESULTS:  STAR WARS WINS at $7.75!  Star Trek got $1.20.

This was a fun game and I want to pose different questions for future comic cons!  It's another great conversation starter with fans, and I get a little extra $.  Every bit helps - that's enough to buy some chai lattes, or lunch!  

OH also I got into NYCC, finally!  I'll be at Artist Alley table S6 with Jennie Wood!  Very exciting!  I can't believe it's already happening next week!  

I've traveled a lot and it's neat to see all kinds of different living spaces.  The problem with having a big house is that you can't find your phone a lot & have to search multiple floors to find it.  I don't have that problem :P

"The Forward" spotlights my work on "No Tears: Life With FD"

"The Forward," a Jewish American online magazine focusing on politics, arts, and culture, recently highlighted my work on the weekly comic "No Tears:  Life With FD."  There's a video of me creating the comic strip.  The video also shows David Brenner, executive director of the FD Foundation, talking about Familial Dysautonomia and how this comic has helped connect patients, families, and others beyond.

Read the corresponding article here:  http://forward.com/culture/318404/sketching-life-with-a-rare-disease/  It came out wonderfully!  I also love how I'm referred to as "Indy," like how reporters refer to interviewees by their last name.  The only thing is that I don't live in Manhattan anymore, haha!  Thea interviewed me in the midst of all my moving boxes!  I made sure to warn her that she'd be walking into the middle of a tornado, but she was cool with it.  You have to be prepared for some things, y'know?

All in all, it's been great to be involved with the FD community for so long, and to touch people with the comics I create.  Hopefully this article and video will spread more awareness of Familial Dysautonomia.

And Boston Comic Con was a great success!  Special thanks again to my friend Jennie Wood for sharing her table space!  I got lucky and was on the corner of an aisle - more visibility!  Also the AirBnB was AWESOME!!!  I stayed with an older couple in what was practically a mansion.  The bathroom alone was bigger than my room in Harlem.  It was a whirlwind trip though, taking Megabus at 6AM going there, and this Daily Misfortune happened on the midnight bus back.  I switched seats with the guy so he could lean on the window instead of me :P 

Boston Comic Con This Weekend!

I managed to squeak into Boston Comic Con this weekend!  This Friday July 31- Sunday Aug 2 at the Seaport World Trade Center!  I say "squeak" because I got rejected from Artist's Alley at first because they cut a lot of artist tables this year.  Luckily, a friend I made, Jennie Wood, who was sitting next to me at Chicago's C2E2, decided to condense her table space and offered me the other half of her table!  If only there were more awesome people like Jennie, the world would be a much better place! 

This is Jennie's recent graphic novel:  Flutter!  Written by Jennie Wood, art by Jeff McComsey.    "Fifteen year-old Lily shape-shifts into a boy to get the girl. Chaos ensues from pretending to be someone she’s not. While coming to terms with who she really is and what she’s done, Lily learns that life as a boy is just as difficult."  The more I heard her pitch at C2E2, the more curious I became about it!

Jennie and I (and also her friend Eric, a comics podcaster) will be at tables D320 and D321, kind of in the corner.  I'm listed as "Steffen, Mindy" this time, under "S".  Looks like all the Artists Alley peeps are in the D aisle, with some more well known artists in C. 

Also excited to be trying out AirBnB for the first time for my stay!  It's like the more legit form of couch surfing.  I've heard lots of good things about it.  Hopefully it won't end up in The Daily Misfortune.

Honestly though, this is small potatoes compared to in my last place when the power went out all the time.  In my new place, the super is ON IT!