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Stumptown 2010: part 1
This past weekend was Stumptown, the indie comic book festival held every year in Portland. Yes, I attended again! Things were different for me this time in two ways: first, I had comicking-friends to hang out with all three days; and second, I didn't have an agenda this time beyond just enjoying myself. ^^ The post ended up very long, so I have broken it into two segments. The 2nd half will follow tomorrow!
Last year I was on a mission to talk with every exhibitor and find out their preferred method of comicking, examine (and inwardly critique) their artistic style, and learn where they found their story ideas. I had recently wrapped up my Vampirates doujinshi back then, was considering several original comic plots, and had no clue what to do with my art. This year was definitely more enjoyable. ^^ Not being stressed out and having friends to talk with whenever we bumped into each other was fabulous. (The manga-art-is-all-crap woman was there again, but she didn't run a panel, and I sure as hell didn't talk to her. See last year's post for the full story, linked above. I also forgot about the tarot card from last year! I must still have that ugly thing somewhere on my desk. ^^)
On Friday night, I attended a social gathering *gasp* called "Drink and Draw Like a Lady", which is a mingler for female comickers. It was held in a pub-with-ballroom/concert hall on the NE side of Portland. I doubt I would have gone alone, so I must give many thanks to the friends I mentioned in my previous post,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
neekaneeks and mcruthless , for taking me with them. ^^ I handed out my freshly redesigned business card and chatted with anyone who caught my eye. ^^ I was hardly the star of the party--that distinction goes to Neekaneeks, but I certainly talked more than I expected! But then, 5 mini cupcakes (TWO of red velvet! :9) and a "real" coke tends to make me rather hyper. Sugar high yay! Shoujo Editor 2, our mutual friend coccinellidae, and a 2nd Viz editor I have yet to work for also attended. They came in very late, and were quite tired due to the 10 hour drive north from SanFran they had endured. It was still good to see and chat with them outside of the con. ^^V The trip home was its own adventure. We left the venue at about 11:45, walked to the train station, saw EK (more about her in the next paragraph) to her hotel entrance, then waited for the Max. It arrived, we piled on, then sat there for about 25 minutes. The driver announced over the intercom that police were dealing with something in the next block and we couldn't move until they gave the all-clear. Finally we started moving, then about 10 minutes later we were stuck waiting again. Thankfully not as long this time, but still. Neekaneeks and Mcruthless hopped off at their stop, the train was delayed a THIRD TIME a stop after that, and finally finally I reached my stop at 1:30 AM, staggered to my apartment, and fell into bed at around 2. Then I stared at the ceiling for half an hour before I could finally go to sleep. :P~~~ It was worth it, though!
At the aforementioned social I was fortunate enough to meet one of Neekaneek's many comicking friends, EK, the creator of The Less Than Epic Adventures of TJ and Amal. She was incredibly sweet and kind! Unfortunately she felt under the weather for the first part of Saturday, so Neekaneeks and EK's hubby ran her half-table. I must say, if I am ever under the weather and unable to run my own half-table at a con, I want Neekaneeks to sub for me, for she is a powerful force of outgoing nature! WOW! *stunned* Once EK was at her table, I made sure to hit her up for a sketch of my fave of her fictional pair, TJ. I asked for one of him looking all cute and rumpled, having just woken up. She obliged, and even told me she loves drawing characters in that state. Yay! The sketch is safely tucked into my sketchbook. I need to get a frame and place it on my apartment wall where I won't crease it or lose it or step on it. (That last one is more of a concern than you might think.)
Speaking of my sketchbook, when I was preparing my backpack of stuff to take to the con, I flipped through my current sketchbook, which is a white three-ring binder I've been lugging around to events like this and on trips since I finished art school back in 2000. As I turned the pages and reviewed my drawings and various notes on my former movie plot, I realized I had NO DESIRE to let anyone see them. =O I have improved muchly since I drew most of those. I was almost out of blank pages anyway and didn't have the time or energy to make new ones (hole punch blank computer paper for new pages, yes that takes effort! *raspberries*) so I just bought a regular sketchbook at Art Media on the way to Stumptown on Saturday morning. Mcruthless kindly met me at that stop with my fave Starbucks drink. Caffeine, which I desperately needed after my late night. I'm sure you can understand that!
I attended a ton of panels at this con, my fave being the first one on digital coloring. I learned some very interesting tips! For example, turn off brush dynamics for size when painting with transparency linked to pen pressure. If you have both size and transparency linked to pressure, then you can never draw a thin dark line nor a fat light line! It's so obvious once I think about it. :B
On Saturday once EK felt well enough to man her table, Neekaneeks and Mcruthless were very tired and headed home. I planned to eat with SE2 and company, so I wandered the con and found stuff to buy. Last year a fat graphic novel caught my interest, but I passed it up as too expensive ast $30. This year it caught my eye again, and when I asked if the table--a publisher--was running any specials, the guy said they were on these books over here (gesture) but that particular one and its compatriots were full price since the creator would be signing tomorrow. I sighed and bemoaned being on a budget, then the guy offered me $5 off if I bought the fat one and a smaller more recent book by the same artist. My thought: SCORE!! XD, my words: "Oh, how sweet of you!" and as I was digging out my credit card, he said he'd give me the artist's third book for free. :D
I don't get the Cute Girl Discount very often, so I am quite proud of my achievement here. :D I was hardly expecting it to work, either! The books in question are Blankets (which I just finished and can vouch that it is indeed very good), Carnet de Voyage vol1, and "Conversation" by Mr. Thompson again and James Kochalka, which I can't link to because it doesn't have an ISBN and isn't on B&N.com. Huh! (My amusement at this will become apparent in the 2nd half of my Stumptown report.) I also see I could have bought Blankets for half-off--for a new copy!--through B&N.com, but then I wouldn't have been able to get it signed on Sunday. Speaking of which, Mr. Thompson drew a lovely profile of Blanket's female main lead. She's wearing a dark jacket that looks like the one I was wearing at the time. Heeeee.
That's it for this post. The rest will be tomorrow!
Last year I was on a mission to talk with every exhibitor and find out their preferred method of comicking, examine (and inwardly critique) their artistic style, and learn where they found their story ideas. I had recently wrapped up my Vampirates doujinshi back then, was considering several original comic plots, and had no clue what to do with my art. This year was definitely more enjoyable. ^^ Not being stressed out and having friends to talk with whenever we bumped into each other was fabulous. (The manga-art-is-all-crap woman was there again, but she didn't run a panel, and I sure as hell didn't talk to her. See last year's post for the full story, linked above. I also forgot about the tarot card from last year! I must still have that ugly thing somewhere on my desk. ^^)
On Friday night, I attended a social gathering *gasp* called "Drink and Draw Like a Lady", which is a mingler for female comickers. It was held in a pub-with-ballroom/concert hall on the NE side of Portland. I doubt I would have gone alone, so I must give many thanks to the friends I mentioned in my previous post,
neekaneeks and mcruthless , for taking me with them. ^^ I handed out my freshly redesigned business card and chatted with anyone who caught my eye. ^^ I was hardly the star of the party--that distinction goes to Neekaneeks, but I certainly talked more than I expected! But then, 5 mini cupcakes (TWO of red velvet! :9) and a "real" coke tends to make me rather hyper. Sugar high yay! Shoujo Editor 2, our mutual friend coccinellidae, and a 2nd Viz editor I have yet to work for also attended. They came in very late, and were quite tired due to the 10 hour drive north from SanFran they had endured. It was still good to see and chat with them outside of the con. ^^V The trip home was its own adventure. We left the venue at about 11:45, walked to the train station, saw EK (more about her in the next paragraph) to her hotel entrance, then waited for the Max. It arrived, we piled on, then sat there for about 25 minutes. The driver announced over the intercom that police were dealing with something in the next block and we couldn't move until they gave the all-clear. Finally we started moving, then about 10 minutes later we were stuck waiting again. Thankfully not as long this time, but still. Neekaneeks and Mcruthless hopped off at their stop, the train was delayed a THIRD TIME a stop after that, and finally finally I reached my stop at 1:30 AM, staggered to my apartment, and fell into bed at around 2. Then I stared at the ceiling for half an hour before I could finally go to sleep. :P~~~ It was worth it, though!At the aforementioned social I was fortunate enough to meet one of Neekaneek's many comicking friends, EK, the creator of The Less Than Epic Adventures of TJ and Amal. She was incredibly sweet and kind! Unfortunately she felt under the weather for the first part of Saturday, so Neekaneeks and EK's hubby ran her half-table. I must say, if I am ever under the weather and unable to run my own half-table at a con, I want Neekaneeks to sub for me, for she is a powerful force of outgoing nature! WOW! *stunned* Once EK was at her table, I made sure to hit her up for a sketch of my fave of her fictional pair, TJ. I asked for one of him looking all cute and rumpled, having just woken up. She obliged, and even told me she loves drawing characters in that state. Yay! The sketch is safely tucked into my sketchbook. I need to get a frame and place it on my apartment wall where I won't crease it or lose it or step on it. (That last one is more of a concern than you might think.)
Speaking of my sketchbook, when I was preparing my backpack of stuff to take to the con, I flipped through my current sketchbook, which is a white three-ring binder I've been lugging around to events like this and on trips since I finished art school back in 2000. As I turned the pages and reviewed my drawings and various notes on my former movie plot, I realized I had NO DESIRE to let anyone see them. =O I have improved muchly since I drew most of those. I was almost out of blank pages anyway and didn't have the time or energy to make new ones (hole punch blank computer paper for new pages, yes that takes effort! *raspberries*) so I just bought a regular sketchbook at Art Media on the way to Stumptown on Saturday morning. Mcruthless kindly met me at that stop with my fave Starbucks drink. Caffeine, which I desperately needed after my late night. I'm sure you can understand that!
I attended a ton of panels at this con, my fave being the first one on digital coloring. I learned some very interesting tips! For example, turn off brush dynamics for size when painting with transparency linked to pen pressure. If you have both size and transparency linked to pressure, then you can never draw a thin dark line nor a fat light line! It's so obvious once I think about it. :B
On Saturday once EK felt well enough to man her table, Neekaneeks and Mcruthless were very tired and headed home. I planned to eat with SE2 and company, so I wandered the con and found stuff to buy. Last year a fat graphic novel caught my interest, but I passed it up as too expensive ast $30. This year it caught my eye again, and when I asked if the table--a publisher--was running any specials, the guy said they were on these books over here (gesture) but that particular one and its compatriots were full price since the creator would be signing tomorrow. I sighed and bemoaned being on a budget, then the guy offered me $5 off if I bought the fat one and a smaller more recent book by the same artist. My thought: SCORE!! XD, my words: "Oh, how sweet of you!" and as I was digging out my credit card, he said he'd give me the artist's third book for free. :D
I don't get the Cute Girl Discount very often, so I am quite proud of my achievement here. :D I was hardly expecting it to work, either! The books in question are Blankets (which I just finished and can vouch that it is indeed very good), Carnet de Voyage vol1, and "Conversation" by Mr. Thompson again and James Kochalka, which I can't link to because it doesn't have an ISBN and isn't on B&N.com. Huh! (My amusement at this will become apparent in the 2nd half of my Stumptown report.) I also see I could have bought Blankets for half-off--for a new copy!--through B&N.com, but then I wouldn't have been able to get it signed on Sunday. Speaking of which, Mr. Thompson drew a lovely profile of Blanket's female main lead. She's wearing a dark jacket that looks like the one I was wearing at the time. Heeeee.
That's it for this post. The rest will be tomorrow!