Hey everyone! I didn’t get into NYCC’s Artist Alley unfortunately, but that doesn’t mean I can’t do sketches! I’ll still be at the convention all 4 days doing sketch work onsite! Please email me at mindy at mindyindy dot com with these details:
What do you want drawn? In color or ink? Are you at the con for just that day or multiple days? See the price list below and note I charge extra per figure. Paypal to mindy at mindyindy dot com. We can email each other about a time to meet and I can give you the sketch onsite! If you prefer cash we can meet up before I start sketching.
I’ll also be walking around the convention scoping out interesting panels, promoting my next Business Basics for Freelancers class, networking etc. 2 years ago I didn’t get into artist alley, but I actually made 2 essential connections to my career, so I try to look at the bright side!
I'm heading back to my homeland in Michigan for Motor City Comic Con this Fri 5/18 - Sun 5/20! If you're around southeastern MI, check it out - XENA's going to be there! She has a panel at 2p on Sunday. Also I'm table H-6 in Artist Alley. If you stop by my table you'll get to see my newest comic, Other Realms! Also doing sketches as usual. Another panel that looks good is Promoting your Comic Books Through Podcasts at 4p Fri. Tickets start at $25 and up. Also get there early, especially for Saturday, as traffic gets really bad in the afternoon. It's always great to exhibit at Motor City - I went to that convention as a kid and it's really changed and gotten way bigger and better! Hope to see you there!
The beautiful San Diego Convention Center! I love this building! So futuristic!
(Crowd photo by Geek Shot)
How can I begin to tell about the awesome time I had at Comic-Con International, the biggest comic convention in America? I was on the wait list for an Artist Alley table, and my main goal was to enhance my career. I got all my merchandise ready, and felt that even if I didn't get a table, I could still benefit greatly from the portfolio reviews and informative creator panels. It was a bit of a risk - the plane ticket was pricey all the way from NYC, but I got to stay with my sister and brother-in-law :) The risk was totally worth it, as I ended up getting a table half-way through the convention!
"Let's Fighting Love!!" South Park life-sized scenes.
At other conventions, I don't really get to walk around and fully enjoy the fun due to working at my table, but this time I got to do BOTH! My favorite thing to see was the life-sized recreation of the town of South Park, complete with some of the most popular scenes. Neil DeGrasse Tyson sponsored a virtual reality section too.
Did you know that at SDCC, there is a whole section for folio reviews? Other conventions I've been to don't have this. I researched the listed companies and what they were looking for, and the week before, I got together 3 folios: storyboarding, comic, and coloring. These were reviewed by people from Nickelodeon, Disney, and comic companies like Action Lab and Arch Enemy. I did this all Thursday, because I knew it would just get crazier with each passing day so I had a better chance of being chosen. If the list is too long, no luck - I didn't get in for Cartoon Network which was only on Friday. I actually went to SDCC a decade ago and just had a student folio. I noticed a considerable difference in the response to my work now that I have years of professional experience in the comics industry! I think artists at any stage in life can benefit from these reviews - people pointed out things in my work I'd never thought of before. Many cards were exchanged... we'll see what happens!
Most of Friday I sat in on a bunch of panels. I was amazed at how many wonderful creator-themed topics SDCC had! Everything from industry pros telling their career stories to cool Photoshop techniques and more! My top 3 were: 1. Artist as Brand: Rise of the Artist Entrepreneur, where indie creators talked about the struggles and rewards of business stuff and owning their creations. 2. Creating Comics with the iPad- I had no idea of the incredible advances in technology and freedom artists can have on-the-go. 3. Cartoon Creatives: Women Power in Animation- since I'm considering getting more into the storyboarding world, it was great to see many strong women with major roles in the industry!
I've gotta say, New York Comic Con has been lacking in creator-themed panels in the past few years, probably due to a "fans first" policy. But before I began tabling at NYCC, I remember they used to have more good artist panels. Last year I didn't find many good NYCC panels to blog about that I'd be interested in as a creator (if I had time to go) - they focused on celebrities and fan themes. By the way, SDCC "pro passes" are still FREE, whereas NYCCs pro passes keep going up in $ each year. Overall, I feel that San Diego CC respects, appreciates, and represents creators more than NYCC.
The Most Random Sketch Award goes to this dog as an Ewok-Gremlin!
Every day I got to the convention super early and checked in with Artist Alley registration to see if a table opened up. And Saturday morning IT HAPPENED! I couldn't believe it! Little did I know, SDCC's Artist Alley is notoriously difficult to get into, with the waiting list being "years long." It's complicated to explain exactly how I was able to get this table, but it was a combination of being qualified, prepared, persistent, some tips from the inside, and some luck! If one of these aspects had gone wrong, I may not have gotten in, but I guess it was meant to be!
I realized that SDCC's Artist Alley is different than other artist alleys because it's made up of mostly old pros that have had major industry work for like decades! I was right next to Len Wein, creator of Wolverine and other X-men characters! Ken Penders, one of my heroes from Sonic the Hedgehog, was also tabling. So there were giants like these, and then... me, somehow! :PI was sketching up a storm though, and was successful enough to pay for that plane ticket + more :) There was lots of encouragement among the rest of the artists, with words like "good luck, kiddo!" and I did feel like I fit in there more. Oh Katie Cook was in the row right behind me! Her career has grown so much over the years, she's very inspiring! So it looks like the next generation of cartoonists is on the rise at SDCC.
Overall, I had the most ideal experience this year at SDCC, with a great balance of fun, constructive folio reviews + networking, informative creator tips, and making $! If you're on the west coast and in the comics or animation industry, SDCC IS A MUST! If you're in the midwest, it's worth a road trip! If you're on the east coast and have a place to stay, the plane ticket is definitely worth it. If you don't have a place to stay, hey AirBnB is on the rise. It's cheaper if you stay farther from the convention and take the trolley. Hope to see you there next year!
Did I mention that I got sick the week before SDCC? Just like what happened last year before NYCC! I guess I burn myself out preparing. I went to the same clinic and they recognized me :PLuckily antibiotics are like tiny microscopic superheroes! Comic cons are exhausting enough without being sick.
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!
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 !!!
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....!!
WOW! Ok I know New York Comic Con was last week, but I need to recap! It was so intense that I had to recover for awhile. I took those videos on Friday, and the crowds in the video got even bigger for Saturday and Sunday.
I got a tripod/easel at the 24 hour Staples Thursday night to elevate my poster for better exposure. It worked! More people saw my sign and looked at my table. I also taped drawings to the poster so people could see examples of my drawing style. Most importantly, I put a sign at the top that said "Colorist for DeadPool" and that really drew attention! I got about 4 DeadPool commissions from that! People were interviewing me and taking pictures - NO JOKE! I felt like a celebrity!
I spent all of Saturday and Sunday just drawing commissions! It was amazing! I had a list of drawings to do and honestly took more than I could handle, but it was a great learning experience!
This pic was my first commission! A guy dressed as Dead Pool and his girlfriend wanted their favorite characters (Dead Pool and MewTwo from Pokemon) fighting. This became a theme of the weekend - couples wanting their favorite characters either fighting or cuddling.
He's so happy with the sketch! Later on, I drew another Deadpool sketch (below) and put it on my poster, and he bought that one too! Repeat customers!!
This commission was for an amazing girl, Mya Terry, who's battling cancer. Her aunt/godmother went around getting sketches of Mya as a "super girl," because she's been through a lot and is very courageous. Mya even wrote a book about getting an NG feeding tube. I went for a Rainbow Brite/Sailor Moon theme for the sketch. Her aunt was thrilled and even got me and Scott (the artist next to me) fries :) Hope Mya likes the drawing!
One guy wanted some Avengers head shots for his niece and nephew. I chose Scarlet Witch and Captain America.
I looked up references for characters on my smart phone. Luckily this year Artist Alley was in a spot that had good reception! I had kind of cramped drawing space for my little half table, and I kept knocking over the Aer Head stand and Ellen's comics next to me, but I made it work. Here are some other sketches I did, but I didn't have the chance to take pictures of all of them:
This girl even came back the next day for a Prince Zuco sketch!
This guy heard I was a colorist (word of mouth spreading like wildfire!) and asked me to color a black & white drawing someone did of the Fraggles. I totally had the theme song stuck in my head all day after that!
I kept seeing all these people dressed up with horns that looked like candy corn. It's from a web comic that got pretty popular called Homestuck. I got about 3 commissions of Homestuck characters!
This guy was a teacher who was getting sketches to show his students many different drawing styles. My first Aer Head commission! It's interesting to me to see the variety of people that come to comic con for different reasons :)
And ending with my favorite, Sonic! Didn't even need a reference for that because I drew Sonic all the time as a kid :) I love My Little Ponies too :)
The flyering worked well too - my friend Ellen passed around flyers and brought about 20 more people to the table, and of those maybe half signed up for the mailing list :) A few bought misfortune cookie mini comics, and half just took the free cookies.
All in all, New York Comic Con was a HUGE success. I made my table money back plus a huge profit! This was an eye opening experience because now I see that doing the comic con circuit can be a legitimate way to make a living, if you do it right. Next time, I'm going to do more sample sketches beforehand so they're ready to sell, and I need to practice drawing faster!
Exciting news! mindy indy has been accepted for an Artist Alley table at the Baltimore Comic Con! I'm super happy, because this is a big convention and is good for exposure. And for the first time ever, you can see my name on a comic convention website! Look for "Mindy Indy" under Guests>Artist's Alley.
You need to scroll down a long way, and I missed it at first because I thought it would be under the companies instead of individuals, but "mindy indy" is totally there! The con is in September, so it feels like a long way away... but it's really only 2 months! I think I'll have enough Daily Misfortunes to compile into a little book of their own by then :) I'm also working on my 2nd Misfortune Cookie short story! I made all the layouts on my plane to Michigan, and will get more done on the plane back.
