Brooklyn Book Festival This Weekend!

Did you know the Brooklyn Book Festival is this weekend?  Actually, they've been having all kinds of interesting events all around Brooklyn this week leading up to it, and they're celebrating the Festival's 10th Anniversary!  I'll be signing/sketching Power Rangers (and possibly Thea Sisters??  Wow that would be a miraculous turn-around time for that book!) at the Papercutz booth for Kid's Day this Saturday Sept 19 from 3-4pm and also Sun Sept 20 from 2-3pm.  Papercutz is numbered as 308 booth #3, in the Metro Tech Commons.  The address is: 1 MetroTech Roadway, Brooklyn, NY 11201

Saturday has lots of kids programming and activities, like live readings and pop-up book workshops.  There are quite a few comic related events going on too!  George O'Connor is talking about his Olympians comic series along with other cartoonists and authors Saturday at 2pm.  On Sunday at 1p, cartoonists Ayun Halliday and Leslie Stein join 30 Rock actor Judah Friedlander at the Brooklyn Historical Society "for a conversation about creativity, performance and the incessant inspirations of ordinary life, and making light out of the dark in our day-to-day."  More events are scattered around the Downtown Brooklyn area.  And of course there will be TONS OF BOOKS too :)  Actual books.  Like, not on your iPad.

ALL FESTIVAL EVENTS ARE FREE!!

TICKETS ARE NOT REQUIRED
SOME BOOKEND EVENTS CHARGE ADMISSION

In other news, I made a Facebook event for my Super Week comic reading on October 7th!  It's never too early to start planning.  If you're around NYC the day before NYCC begins, come celebrate with me in Bushwick!  Ironically, I'm still on the wait list to get an artist alley table, which makes me nervous.  Hopefully I can squeak in somehow.  If you know of any cartoonists who may be looking to split their table last-minute, please let me know!

As a freelancer, usually every day is different.  I didn't get a headache doing Photoshop for 20 hours a day, but after 4 hours of intense research, correspondence, reading text online, etc, my brain is unsettled.  Probably has to do with the blue light the screen emits.  Which is why reading from an actual book is much better!  Which is why you should go to the Brooklyn Book Fest this weekend!  ;)

Big Apple Con This Saturday!

The first comic convention of the year is this weekend!  The first day of spring brings the Big Apple Con at the Penn Plaza Pavilion featuring our favorite Tommy the Green Ranger (Jason David Frank) and many other guests and artists!  I'll be sharing a table with Nadia Burgess of Tough Spirit Creations. 

Big Apple Con http://www.nycbm.com/  Saturday March 7th from 10A-6P.  Tickets are $20.  401 7th Ave & 33rd St. 

See you there!

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 Appearances

This year I'm participating in 4 events for New York Comic Con!  Made these spiffy flyers too :)  Kicking it off is the Geek Week Comics Business Panel, which I posted about yesterday.  Then I'm doing 2 signings for Power Rangers at the Papercutz booth 2229 on the main show floor Saturday Oct. 11th from 10A-11A, and again on Sunday Oct 12th from 11A-Noon.  If you or anyone you know loves the Rangers, come on by and I'll sign your book/Rangers item and do a little sketch :)  Last but not least, I'm teaching a drawing class as part of the "official programming!"  Sunday Oct 12th from 2:15P-3:00P in the Family HQ - Room 1C02 (on the lowest level of Javits).  It's called "Sketching from Life with Mindy Indy."  Here's the description: 

Cartoonist Mindy Indy will teach kids of all ages to see the world as their canvas. Kids will start by sketching a variety of objects in front of them, and then later sketch themselves! Sketching is looser than drawing and doesn't need to be "perfect." Students can move at their own pace and just have fun!

Hope to see you there!

You know what I'm talking about.  That ONE box that you've pushed to the side.  Inside it has things that are important, like papers for filing and such, but you don't use them every day, so you put off sorting through it for a week, a month, a year...  In my last apartment, I had one such box that lasted probably more than a year.  Maybe I'll get to this one after NYCC...

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!

 

Power Rangers Signing TONIGHT!

Tonight Mindy Indy will sketch your favorite Ranger, or you can get a sketch of you AS a Power Ranger, like this sketch!  OR, you can even get a sketch combining characters, like this one of Dead Pool dressing as the Red Ranger:

Please stop by Carmine St. Comics tonight from 7PM to 9PM to get a copy of the newest Power Rangers Megaforce book, signed by colorist Mindy Indy and editor Michael Petranek.  I'm sorry that some people can't make it because of Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year).  We picked this day because that's when the store and people who worked on the book were available.  But now I know, and will definitely keep Rosh Hashanah in mind in planning future events (mental note:  beginning of September...)  In any case, Shanah Tovah!

Hope to see many people at Carmine tonight - it'll be fun! :)

More Power Rangers Stuff

Here's what the cover looks like for the new Power Rangers book!  If you haven't gotten your copy already, you can get it at Carmine St. Comics this Thursday!  It's my first official signing event so I'm really happy :)  Yeah I'm posting more about this event than about the next convention coming up:  Baltimore Comic Con this weekend!  Life is happening so fast!

Power Rangers Megaforce Vol 3 IN PRINT!

SUPER EXCITED to announce the printing of Papercutz' Power Rangers Megaforce Volume 3!  I got some complimentary books ("comps") mailed to me and it's so great to be holding a work I contributed to in my hands!

Look for me in the credits page as a colorist :)  I'm so happy my name is spelled right!  This is the first job I've done with a large company that has my name in print as "Mindy Indy."  Back when I colored Deadpool Max with Kyle Baker, I was "ghosting" so it was under just his name.

These are the pages I'm most proud of :)  This is when the rangers call upon their "Zords" and they all combine to form the big Megazord (like Voltron).  Also in this episode, the rangers fight a giant trash monster.  It's pretty sweet!  Power Rangers Megaforce Vol 3 is supposed to be in stores on August 27th, so mark your calendars!

Last week when I was dragging my suitcase in the rain for like 20 minutes, I also had a sandwich with me.  The Subway bag was wet, so I feared the worst.  Luckily, you know how they double wrap the sandwich in paper?  That mostly saved it!

BACK UP your files!

I need to stress the importance of file back-up.  So I've been working hard on the Power Rangers coloring and backed up a bunch of files last Friday, but really I should have been backing up every day I worked on it.  2 of the files became corrupted somehow and I can't even open them without it crashing my external hard drive.  It doesn't let me copy them to my laptop either.  When I worked as a full time graphic designer, I had used the Time Machine function on the big desktop computer and it automatically backed stuff up every hour or so, and I didn't need to worry about it.  Over the 4 years I worked there, there was only 1 or 2 times I actually had to "go back in time" to recover files.  I need to see how I can do Time Machine on my laptop, because it's not always connected to an external HD.

In the meantime, looks like I'll need to just do all that work over again for those pages :(  Not the worst thing in the world, but I cringe at all the wasted time.

Trust Issues

It always boggles my mind how many people ask me to watch their computer at a cafe while they go to the bathroom or get another drink.  I NEVER trust anyone with my laptop - it's far too precious to me to risk it.  I'm at a cafe today working because I felt too cooped up working for hours in my apartment.  Did I mention I'm coloring a Power Rangers comic now?  It's by Papercutz.  It's a lot of work, but a ton of fun!  Both Papercutz and I will be at the Kids Comic Con coming up in May.  And don't forget to come to MoCCA Fest next week!  Have a great weekend and Happy Easter!