Book Con Success!

Book Con turned out to be a surprising success!  Being mostly independent cartoonists and writers, we weren't sure what to expect, but in the end we were all glad to have taken a risk on a different, new convention with a higher booth fee.  I wasn't sure if anyone would even want sketches, but I was sketching the entire time and even had to finish up some at home and mail them later!  A lot of people wanted themselves drawn as Harry Potter.  Happy to say there was a good comics crowd there too!

I'm glad we were all able to coordinate to split the 10ft x 10ft booth space!  This was my first time in a big booth area, and with 5 people exhibiting, it didn't make sense to just have the table across the front and squish everyone in, wasting all the space in back.  I devised a plan to have a "U" shape that customers could walk into, with all our tables lining the walls (luckily there was nobody next to us, so I didn't have to stand while drawing!  Joseph eventually moved his table from the back of the U to that space.)  And the arch Alitha and I built from both of our frame sets made for the most awesome walk-way!  Although it took forever to build... since it was 10 feet across we had to find creative ways to stabilize the structure.

Here's Alitha's side that was behind that big awesome banner of hers.  Hmm I like my new banner, but in the future I'd like to get a huge one like hers.... she's got like a zillion of them!  Ok like 5, but still that's a lot!

At first I wondered if we'd have trouble getting people to walk into the U space, but as you can see that wasn't a problem :)

Book Con THIS WEEKEND!

Wow May has flown by!  And Book Con is this weekend!  Saturday May 31st!  As you may know, the infamous Grumpy Cat will be there in person.  Per suggestion from a friend, I'll be drawing Grumpy Cat as a theme for the convention!  I've already started on other cartoon cats VS Grumpy Cat drawings:

Nermal from Garfield.  I felt Garfield is kind of similar to Grumpy Cat, but Grumpy would still win.

Remember this guy?  Tigers are still cats.  Lots of guys I talk to say Calvin & Hobbes was their favorite comic strip.

Of course Grumpy Cat would get along with Catbert, Evil HR Director.

Book Con is in the Javits Center 655 W 34th St, New York, NY 10001

My booth is 3151

Yeah we're kind of in the corner, but better than not being there at all!  The map does go north beyond what I cut off too.  Show hours are 9a-3p.  $30 admission.  There are lots of great panels going on too!  http://www.thebookcon.com/Home/

Hopefully see you there!

I'm in Book Con Sat May 31st!

In my efforts to expand my horizons of exhibiting in different places, I'm going to be in Book Con!  It's Saturday May 31st, from 9am-3pm at the Javits Center.  This is a huge event for the literary world:  "BookCon is an immersive experience that features interactive, forward thinking content including Q+A’s with the hottest talent, autographing sessions, storytelling podcasts, special screenings, literary quiz shows and so much more."  From Amy Poehler to Grumpy Cat, there's going to be a ton of famous people there! 

A few months ago I began receiving emails about this event from ReedPop (who runs New York Comic Con) and dismissed it, thinking "oh that's a literary event... like prose novels, not comics."  But I did recommend the event to some friends in the publishing industry.  The more I talked about it though, I thought.... why not?  So just for the hell of it I sent the peeps at Book Con a link to my site and asked if I'd fit in to exhibit there...

And they loved my work!  Awesome!  But the difference with this convention is they aren't having an artist alley.... they only had super expensive booths for like $650 bottom price.  My first thought was "oh.... that's not gonna happen."  But once again, some little inkling was telling me - why not?  I'd gotten 10 people to help me with the Bridal Expo, surely I can get 5 people to split this booth.  $100 per person is pretty reasonable for an event at the Javits run by ReedPop, which brings in tons of people.  So I sent a zillion emails.  First I contacted people I bought zines from at the Brooklyn Zine Fest, thinking they're closer to prose than other cartoonists.  In the end, my team consists of mostly cartoonists!  Alitha Martinez (who I exhibited with at Wizard World), Todd Matthy (writer of Wicked Game, a comic I lettered), Amy Chu, and Joseph Carlough (met at BK Zine Fest).  Together with the magic of Paypal, we actually got a booth!  Come see us at booth 3151 !!!

For more info go to www.thebookcon.com

I have major events and conventions every weekend until July, with the 2nd half of June being booked solid with travel both for fun and work.  Freaking out.  But it's good to have a lot going on....!!