NYCC: More Awesome Each Year!

New York Comic Con was once again very awesome but extremely exhausting!  This year I sketched for a few hours at the Papercutz booth on the main show floor!  My first official signing/sketching block at NYCC - very exciting!  First I was doing medium sized sketches, but then they had me draw on this huge easel to attract attention, and kids got life-sized ranger posters!

Back at my artist's alley table, Nadia and I did even better sales-wise than last year!  Thanks to everyone who stopped by to chat, get a sketch, etc!  This year quite a few people said "hey I got a sketch from you 2 years ago and everyone loved it!"  That kind of stuff means a lot :)  Here are my favorite sketches from NYCC:

One cool thing about NYCC is that Marvel and DC make special blank covers for some comics for artists to draw on!  All this guy said was "draw me as Super Man and my wife as Wonder Woman."  This is the quirky kind of drawing you get :)  He was like "OMG that's just like my marriage!!"  haha, Mindy Indy knows... :)

Another cool cover!  SUPER ADVENTURE!

FROG THOR VS. VENOM PIGEON!!! 

A clever gift!  One guy wanted all his siblings as Yankees players on baseball cards.  The small size is just perfect for ball cards!  I probably spent way too much time on these, but hey they turned out great.

Small but cute video game characters!  The guy kept mentioning "Dark Stalkers" and I kept not remembering what it was until I saw a picture and was like "OOOHHHH I saw ads for this all the time in comics and anime magazines!  Visual memory, not name memory haha!

Morrissey VS. John Lennon at poker.  These are the kinds of awesome things that I can make happen!  Of course Morrissey is losing at the game, like he loses at life in all his emo songs :P

He loved the drawing so much!  And had a super cool costume!

This lady met me 2 years ago at the Bronx comic con and is a costume designer.  She had an awesome voice alternator thing that really sounded like an alien!

An Oompa Loompa and Captain Crunch... now THERE'S cosplay you don't see every day!

After all that, I had to sleep for 13 hours STRAIGHT.  Only now am I kind of getting back to a normal speed.

I taught the Sketching from Life class on Sunday as part of NYCC's official programming!  My plan was to draw kiwis first (simple object but cool texture), then leaves, than hands.  Since the kiwis I bought were shriveling up, I wanted to wait a few days before the class to get fresh ones.  OF COURSE, Pathmark, the only 24 hour grocery store in my area, was out of them when they said a shipment would be in on Friday!  They are out of season, and I had no time for a kiwi hunt because both my Papercutz signings were first thing in the morning, and stores would be closed by the time the con got out at night Saturday.  ELLESAUR TO THE RESCUE!!!  My friend Ellen got all the kiwis I needed, and the class went really well! 

Also, the Ellesaur Scavenger hunt went well too - some people stopped by my booth and got stuff!  I think the hunt has even more potential for next year :)

NYCC STARTS TODAY!

It's after midnight on Wednesday night, so it's officially Thursday.  LET THE NEW YORK COMIC CON CRAZINESS BEGIN!  Visit me and Nadia Burgess in Artist's Alley at table W4!  Also, my friend Ellen has a really fun scavenger hunt game http://www.ellesaurarts.com/#!follow-the-ellesaur/caos where you can visit different artists and get discounts on her stuff as prizes!

Baltimore Comic Con 2014 Success!

Baltimore Comic Con was a successful trip!  Originally, I was supposed to share a table with Ellen Stedfeld and Carlos Abdu, but we were incredibly lucky that there were 2 vacant tables next to us, so we each got our own table!!  Probably one of the few times where waiting til the last minute paid off.  I almost didn't do the show because I was crazily apartment hunting, then moving.  But there was still table space left after I found a place, so we went for it!  We were way back in the corner, and it seemed like there were quite a few empty tables here and there, that of course filled up as exhibitors got wise and spread out more as the show went on.  Last year we were definitely cramped at 3 people for one table, and our sales reflected that.  I think we all did better this year because we got more display space and room to talk with customers. 

I was interviewed by Comic Pow!  http://www.comicpow.com/2014/09/05/baltimore-comic-con-day-1-interview-with-mindy-indy/ Eric Mesa kind of caught me off-guard Saturday morning - he mainly interviewed me about Aer Head (which I haven't worked on in awhile), and I sound like a total ditz, but he said nobody likes the sound of themselves :P  Anyway it inspired me to work harder on the series!

We stayed at Ellen's friends' place - super friendly couple!  Their house was super nice and had vintage decor.  There was fluffy carpet everywhere which, y'know, after being in NYC with all the wood floors for years, felt luxurious.  We stayed in the basement which was redone very nicely... but then... there were.... THE SPIDERS.  It's actually a myth that you supposedly swallow 8 spiders in your sleep per year. 

Baltimore Comic Con THIS WEEKEND!

Hope everyone had a happy Labor Day!  Now summer's officially HERE with this heat wave we're having :P  I'm in the Baltimore Comic Con this weekend sharing a table once again with Ellen Stedfeld and Carlos Abdu!  We're table A354 in Artist's Alley!  http://baltimorecomiccon.com/

DATES:
THREE DAYS!!! Friday, Saturday and Sunday
September 5, 6 & 7, 2014

SHOW HOURS:
Friday 1-7
Saturday 10-7
Sunday 10-5

LOCATION:
The Baltimore Convention Center

In other news, loving my new place and had a successful move-in, thanks to like 10 friends who helped :)  As for the Daily Misfortune, well, it's still New York.  That actually happened to the guy in front of me.  New Yorkers know to just calmly ignore homeless people if you don't want to give them change... but DON'T argue with them. 

Baltimore Comic Con Recap

The Baltimore Comic Convention was a great time this past weekend!  This was the first time I shared a table with 2 other people (Ellen Stedfeld and Carlos Abdu).  There are pros and cons to sharing a table with a lot of people.  Cons are that you have less space, it takes some time to coordinate things like transportation etc, and we learned that we needed to figure out how to work together to talk to people who passed by - don't talk all at once - either take turns or one person should give a summary of everyone's merchandise.

There are some cool pros too:  We had a special deal where you could get one custom piece of artwork done by all 3 of us!  Here's how it worked:  A customer wanted the character Ryu from Street Fighter.  Carlos penciled it:

 Ellen inked it:

And I colored it!

And it came out beautifully!  GO TEAM!!

Other pros of sharing a table are (of course) keeping costs down.  It's also advantageous have someone else "man"  the table if you want to leave the table.  You can also pool your resources together when you have multiple people.   For this trip Ellen found us all a place to stay with her friends (thank you Marie & Jeff!).  I took charge of the food by grocery shopping for us all the night before and making lunches for everyone.  It was so much cheaper buying a loaf of bread and everything for 3 people's lunches to last 2 days than if we'd all bought lunch individually.

Another perk was that we could share each other's display stuff.  I have my own piping archway that hung our sign, our drawings, and Ellen's mobile (as shown in the top picture).  Below, you can see my new story, "The Lucky Penny," in a special standing case that Carlos shared.  I want to get more of those!  He also shared those star Post-Its for pricing, which are super cool and effective because you can stick them right on books.  I had the new Power Rangers Megaforce book for sale (thanks to Michael Petranek for comps!).  You'll also see a bonus sketch of Mindy Indy as a Dodgeball Teen by Emilio Velez in the back.

 Overall, we all sold some stuff, had a good time, and learned a lot.  Thanks to everyone who stopped by our table!  As always it was great to meet new people and reconnect with friends and fans :)  VICTORY!

 

Signing Success! On to Baltimore!

Last night the Power Rangers signing was awesome!  Thanks to everyone who came!  Sold some books, did some drawings, and talked with a lot of nice people!  Special thanks to Michael for bringing all the books!  It was super great catching up with him too!  Special thanks to my friend Carlos Abdu for bringing everyone pizza!

It felt so fulfilling to be a part of such a cool book and in this event!  Sometimes, because it takes so much work and time to plan events, and to prepare for things like comic conventions, I wonder if it's all worth it, but it's for amazing experiences like this that make me know that comics are what I'm meant to do with my life!

Now onto the next thing!  Right now I'm on the Bolt Bus to Baltimore with my friends Ellen Stedfeld and Carlos Abdu for the Baltimore Comic Con!  OMG it was crazy coordinating and some of us almost missed the bus :P  Everyone was printing last minute stuff, and I just printed my new story, "The Lucky Penny" today!  Can't wait to show it to everyone!  I'll post it on here soon too.

We'll be in Artist's Alley at Table A286!  Super excited!

 

Baltimore Comic Con NEXT WEEKEND!

I'm excited to announce that I'll be at this year's Baltimore Comic Con!  It's next weekend, Sept. 7th - 8th.  Saturday hours are 10A-7P, Sunday hours are 10A-5P.  It's at the Baltimore Convention Center at

One West Pratt Street Baltimore, Maryland 21201 (SHARP STREET ENTRANCE)

You can get tickets here.  $25 for Saturday, $20 for Sunday, $40 for a weekend pass.

I hope to see some fans I met last year!  This year I'll have my new story out in time (it's allllllmost done!  I'm too much of a perfectionist about Photoshop...) so you can look forward to that :)

I'll be sharing Table A286 with Carlos Abdu and Ellen Stedfeld.  We're doing something very unique and fun for this convention - we'll have a special deal on custom drawings:  Get one piece of finished artwork by all 3 artists for $30!  One of us draws, another inks, and the other artist colors it.  It's like how comics are created in the traditional way with a team of people.  It should be a fun time and a one-of-a-kind experience!

Hope to see you there!

My room mate Kaitlin has become the star of The Daily Misfortune lately.  Just lift the glass out of the base - don't turn :)

Carmine Street Comics Studio

Hey peeps!  Tuesday was super nice at Carmine Street Comics.  The picture above shows more of what their little studio set up is like.  The artist sits on that elevated platform in the front window of the store.  I was actually successful at luring some curious new people into the store!  (well, "luring" may not be the best word, but you know what I mean).  The desk space is just big enough for me to work on my comic pages.  That day I worked on drawing and inking the weekly comic I do for the Dysautonomia Foundation - No Tears:  Life With FD.  It was super great and super chill drawing at that space.  I had a nice big window, the door was open and let in the fresh spring air, but best of all - I got to talk with comic peeps every so often!  Saw some friends, met some new people, talked about comic stuff.  MUCH better than just working on stuff alone at home and going stir crazy (and more productive too, since it's not easy to climb up and down from there all the time, I'm not distracted).  And hey, I even sold a book, so that was a nice extra bonus!

Each day Carmine St. Comics has rotating artists drawing in the window.  Today (Thursday) is Ellen Stedfeld's turn.  Friday is Sean Von Gorman's turn, and he's having a special party event.  He has a book out:  The Secret Adventures of Houdini.  Sean usually does an escape act of some kind during his events.  In his own words: "When I crash a party ANYTHING CAN AND WILL HAPPEN!"  So stop by Carmine St. Comics this Friday May 10th anytime from 2pm to 10pm to witness the insanity.  I may or may not be there (gotta prep for Kids Comic Con THIS WEEKEND).

Also, Carmine St. Comics Community Showcase is going on next Wednesday May 15th 11am-10pm!  ALL of the daily window artists will be there at some point of the day sketching, signing, partying, having an all-around good time!  Special prizes available to customers of the store!

All this awesome stuff going on at 34 Carmine St. in Manhattan off the West 4th stop.  Look for the big green awning that says Imperialist Bookstore, and the Carmine St. Comics sign will be underneath it.  GOOD TIMES!

Carmine Street Comics Going Strong!

Last Wednesday was a great success for the opening of Carmine Street Comics!  A big crowd was steady from the afternoon onward.

I was sketching outside for the most part.  (Later on, I had to condense my drawings plastered all over the window.)  It got super cold in the evening and I had to borrow a coat :P

My friend Ellen Stedfeld sketched in the small studio space the store had in the front window area.  The owners said they'll have "resident artists" on a rotating basis every day in the store!  My next day will be TOMORROW, Tuesday May 7th, ALL DAY!  Come for a sketch, check out the new store, chat, and/or hang out.  I'm excited about this new work space!

Here are the proud owners of the store:  Michael Novo (left) and Jon Gorga (right).  What's extra cool is that hey, they're my age and owning a freakin' store.  You can do anything in life you put your mind to!  Of special note:  this store space is shared by Unoppressive Non-Imperialist Bargain Books, that's been there like forever.  To save on rent (cuz hey, it's in the Village) that bookstore rented out 1/3 of their space.  Life in New York:  finding creative ways to make things work!

Can you tell that Sonic & Knuckles are my favorite?  (And they always have been!)

So be sure to stop by Carmine St. Comics on Tuesdays to check out my work!  See you tomorrow!  34 Carmine St. by the West 4th station.

Oh yes, and I did the Bronx Heroes Comic Con this past weekend.  Didn't go so well for me and other artists, but more on that later.  To be honest, I did better at this one event at Carmine Street Comics (and I wasn't even there the whole day!).

MoCCA Fest THIS WEEKEND!

Super excited to be a part of one of the biggest and coolest indie comics festivals in America!  MoCCA Arts Festival will be held this weekend, April 6th and 7th, from 11AM to 6PM.  It's in Manhattan at The 69th Regiment Armory, 68 Lexington Avenue (between E. 25th & E. 26th Street), New York, NY 10010

Just take any train that connects to the 6 train and get off at 23rd St. or 28th St, as shown above.

My table is F194.  When you walk in the entrance, just go to the left-most aisle and walk to the back.  I think it's a good spot to be, because I've always walked the perimeter first before going to the middle.  Hopefully we'll get lots of traffic.  This is a fairly large convention, but nothing as crazy as NYCC so I'm not worried about being in the back.  I'll be sharing a table with Ellen Stedfeld and Pronto Comics.

Advance ticket purchase will end 

tonight at midnight!

Advance Ticket Price: $12/day, $15/weekend

Door Price: $15/day, $24/weekend

Click here to register now!

Also check out some of the great panels and presentations going on this year!  Gonna be super fun and hope to see you this weekend!

Oh we all love the holiday specials, but have you seen these gems?

NYCC Day 1 recap

I'm writing this post Thursday night, but people on the email list will get it Friday.  Today was Day 1 of New York Comic Con, open only to Professionals.  It was pretty slow, and is mostly a time where professionals can meet new professionals and reconnect with old friends.  In the pic above, you'll see some new items on the table - my drawing sign and my friend Ellen Stedfeld's comics (she's helping promote my work by handing out fliers and sitting in for me at the table :)

I'm next to a really cool guy, Scott Zambelli, who's also from Michigan!  He was really encouraging today and had lots of helpful advice on exhibiting at large conventions.  He suggested drawing mainstream characters interacting with the misfortune cookie, because fans are drawn to more well known characters first.  He even drew Batman looking scared of a misfortune cookie!  Such a nice surprise!

I'll try drawing Deadpool with the misfortune cookie, because I've done Deadpool work before.  I did draw a little bit of my own stuff:

It's the pomeranian from the first Misfortune Cookie comic:

Since it was so cute, Scott suggested I draw My Little Ponies to sell.  Going to be drawing a lot tomorrow!

Luckily, I was smart enough (and allowed enough time) to use the elevators this time, for the stations that HAD them.