I'm returning to Baltimore this year for the awesome Baltimore Comic Con! The site has me listed under "studios" but I'm still in Artist's Alley table A255. For some reason, I always end up drawing the most dog sketches at this convention! People in Baltimore really love their pets :)
More info and tickets here: http://baltimorecomiccon.com/tickets/
If you're in the Baltimore/DC area, hope to see you there!
Limit-Break interviewed me at Boston Comic Con! I've done some Dead Pool sketches for Jared in past conventions, and it was cool that he chose to spotlight me. Here are some other Limit-Break interviews: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClC0JJmkLAwFLf0z-nO6Gcw/videos And if you have trouble viewing my interview, see it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pkNzxP7Ll0
In other convention news, I will NOT be tabling at Baltimore Comic Con this weekend. I'm not too sure how successful the show will be considering it's Labor Day weekend. Conventions are growing due to the large influx of new fans due to all the super hero movies. I know the hard-core fans will always show up for conventions, but most new fans probably will not give up barbecues, parties, and other vacations to go to a comic convention. I'll have to ask other tablers how it goes.
If you live in Baltimore and would like a sketch from me, I can totally still do that! Please email me at mindy@mindyindy.com with a description of the sketch you want and I can mail it to you.
Keep in mind I exaggerate the Daily Misfortunes, haha! I do spend a lot of time at the post office though, even in the daytime during off-peak hours.
Baltimore Comic Con was great this past weekend! Sketched a lot of kids as heroes, caught up with friends, and stayed at an awesome AirBnB. I also tried a new experiment - you may have seen voting jars in cafes where they pose a question and have you vote with $ to get more tips. Why not do the same for comic cons? Sometimes I get tips and it's a nice extra surprise, but I've learned that the act of suggesting tips brings more tips. And yes, that is an egg beater holding up the sign. I asked my room mate when was the last time either of us used an egg beater? The answer was never. The cans are also the "Hell or High Watermelon" beer cans (yum!), which I liked for the awesome design. Yay recycling!
So who would win in a battle - Star Wars or Star Trek? It was interesting hearing people's responses as to why either side would win - "Guns don't work in Star Trek," "The Force has awesome fighting skills," etc.
THE RESULTS: STAR WARS WINS at $7.75! Star Trek got $1.20.
This was a fun game and I want to pose different questions for future comic cons! It's another great conversation starter with fans, and I get a little extra $. Every bit helps - that's enough to buy some chai lattes, or lunch!
OH also I got into NYCC, finally! I'll be at Artist Alley table S6 with Jennie Wood! Very exciting! I can't believe it's already happening next week!
I've traveled a lot and it's neat to see all kinds of different living spaces. The problem with having a big house is that you can't find your phone a lot & have to search multiple floors to find it. I don't have that problem :P
I made a map of the important things. Considering insisting I become a graphic designer for Baltimore Comic Con. I'll be in Artist Alley table A322 this weekend at Baltimore Comic Con! It's Fri Sept 25 - Sun Sept 27 at the Baltimore Convention Center
FRI hours: 1p-7p. SAT hours: 10a-7p. SUN hours: 10a-5p.
One West Pratt Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21201
(PRATT & HOWARD STREET ENTRANCE)
THIS YEAR WE ARE LOCATED ONE BLOCK WEST ON THE OTHER END OF THE CONVENTION CENTER!
Here are some cool panels going on that I wish I could go to. If you go to these, please stop by my booth and tell me how awesome they were! (They should really put these rooms on the map, but it's not as huge as NYCC, so I think it shouldn't be too hard.)
Friday, Room 347-348. 2:30-3:30 – Living in Harmony: Digital and Print
The world of digital comics created quite a stir in the world of print comics. However, after a few years of co-existing, they are both still around and seem to be helping each other to become a strong industry. Join this panel to check in and see how digital and print are doing with Mark Waid, Amy Chu, Katie Cook, Christy Blanch, and James Tynion IV.
Saturday, Room 345-346. 12:15-1:15 – It’s an Ad, Ad, Ad World — Advertising in Comics
From SeaMonkeys to “The Insult that Made a Man Out of Mac” to TNT’s The Last Ship, ads have been an integral part of the comic reading experience. But are they a speed bump in the entertainment process or an integral part of comics and Pop Culture? Moderator Ed Catto (Bonfire Agency, Captain Action) takes a brief backwards glance at nostalgic comic ads, and then focuses on the future of comic advertising with an all-star panel of business professionals.
Saturday, Room 347-348. 12:15-1:15 – Superheroes Under a Microscope
AtomicUniverse.org’s very own Christopher Preece, who is also a science consultant for comic creators, and creators Mark Waid and Ramona Fradon discuss science in comics. Superheroes defy scientific laws all the time but how close are superheroes to reality? Just how fast can the Flash go? How can Ant-Man get so tiny?
Sunday, Room 339-342. 1:30-2:30 – The Fifth Beatle: Exclusive Film Presentation!
The Fifth Beatle: The Brian Epstein Story was the most celebrated graphic novel of 2014, and is now becoming a feature film with the blessing of The Beatles and unprecedented access to their music. Join award-winning graphic novel and screenplay writer Vivek J. Tiwary as he presents never-before-seen scenes from the screenplay and discusses how the film will differ from the book. Moderated by Patrick Reed (ComicsAlliance, Depth Of Field).
I worked as Kyle Baker's coloring assistant for our segment in The Fifth Beatle, and never got paid or even credited. And now they're making a movie out of it. Just saying. In fact, I'll post a page of it here. Kyle usually did some special effects to the pages after I did the flats. I think he may have toned down the bright colors for the final version. This is part of a 10 page dream sequence. From the script: "We now enter an old-school comic-book sequence modeled loosely after / in homage to The Beatles’ animated cartoons from the late 1960’s." The story segment takes place when the Beatles went to the Philippines. That's Imelda Marcos in the suitcase - she really liked shoes.
Buck in a vintage suit. Classy.
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.
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.
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!
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!
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!
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 :)
It's time to make more postcards! Made this one super quick last night. I'm going to be doing more conventions like Boston Comic Con and Baltimore Comic Con, and because these are bigger conventions, I want to do the street team thing again to drive people to my table. Another goal is to direct people to my social media sites more. Last time I designed the postcards, I had The Daily Misfortune taking up the whole card, which was good to see an example of my work, but it was black and white and not very eye-catching. This time I made it more colorful and bold. (Almost looks like mindy indy is a club ;) This look may or may not have been influenced by actual club flyers. Speaking of which, the company I printed from is called clubflyers.com....)
Lately I've been eating a lot of Chinese take-out because it's too hot to cook. I love fortune cookies (which is why I started this crazy comic) and I look forward to the fortune at the end of the meal. Unfortunately (or should I say Mis-fortunately?), all my fortunes have been SUPER LAME and I was super disappointed each time! I don't even remember any of them, but they didn't even make sense and I really think the fortune cookie people need to hire new writers, like me > : ) But luckily, you'll always get a SUPER AWESOME FUNNY fortune when you read The Daily Misfortune! So yeah, do that the next time you get a dumb boring fortune from a real restaurant.
A semi-true story. On my Baltimore Comic Con trip, my huge suitcase was SO heavy from all the books I printed. I was going up an escalator, and the suitcase didn't quite catch the next step right, so it fell and almost took me with it! It was actually more of a slump than a fall. No undies were flown, however. That same trip, it broke a wheel under the sheer weight of the books (like 50 pounds).
This one was inspired by a girl I met at the Baltimore con who said she went to the same Chinese restaurant all the time and kept getting the same fortunes :) The good thing about The Daily Misfortune: They're always different and new!
Also, I told many people at that convention that I'll be setting up an online store soon. It's in the works! I just need to learn more about it. Someone suggested BigCartel.com and Etsy.com, and a friend sells through facebook somehow. Does anyone else have suggestions? Please feel free to post a comment - anyone can!
The Baltimore Comic Con was a super success for mindy indy! I made back my table money and more! The table was $200, and I made $219, so that's pretty darn good for my first big convention :) Especially considering lots of artists don't make their table money back. I'm so glad people like my comics, and appreciate everyone that stopped by my table! Special thanks to anyone that bought anything and/or signed up for the mailing list! I loved meeting new people and talking about my artwork. It was a pretty exhausting weekend, but it was totally worth it :)
I didn't get to see much else of the convention, but you can see a bit more of artist's alley in this picture (taken before the convention opened to the public). I was lucky to get a table on the corner. Oh yeah, and see that huge purple suitcase behind me? I lugged like 70 of my new books from New York on the Megabus in that thing!
Here's my new book, "Mindy Indy's Daily Misfortune and Flip Book!" It's 2 books in one! On the right page is a collection thus far of all the Daily Misfortunes that I've been posting here on mindyindy.com, and on the left is a brand new quirky animation that's a flip book! I spent most of the time for this book drawing the animation. I wanted it to have the same look as the comic, so it's all hand drawn. It involves a giant godzilla-like-pacman-like misfortune cookie eating a city, then trying to eat a spaceship and getting zapped by the ship. At first I wanted it to be a simple animation, but it got more complex as I kept drawing :P Oh and in the picture above, the artist at the table next to me cleared their table early and I took it over :)
My friend Tracy, who helped me out with the table, suggested stacking my books, because people are attracted to vertical things. It was a super great thing to do, because if you just have flat objects, people can't see your stuff until they're already at the table. I even stood up my mini comics too. I think it helped!
Here's Tracy modeling another new addition to the mindy indy table: Misfortune Cookie Charms! My mom made these tiny cute charms BY HAND out of sculpey! You can put them on your cell phone, key ring, rear-view mirror, and other stuff :)
I had to take a picture of the GIANT box of fortune cookies. I stayed with Tracy in Washington D.C., and there's a super awesome China Town where I got this box of 350 cookies for $15. I wanted to make sure we had enough to last the whole convention, and we certainly did. I have enough left over to last like A YEAR.
Again, thanks everyone for making this convention a big success! And more good news, a spot in artist's alley opened up for the huge New York Comic Con, and I got a half table! Since I did well at Baltimore, I feel more comfortable spending $300 for the table at NYCC. It's the next big step in my career and I'm super excited! To all peeps in Baltimore, it's only a $9 Megabus ride to New York! So please stop by and see me and other spectacular artists and cool stuff at NYCC October 11-14 at the Javits Center in NYC!
No, I won't be at SPX (Small Press Expo). I missed the application deadline, and already have plans that weekend. Maybe next year!
I'm on the Megabus right now for the Baltimore Comic Con tomorrow and Sunday! It's awesome that I can even DO this post right now on the bus - they have wifi! This week I didn't have a chance to post the Daily Misfortunes because I've been super busy with other work and getting my BRAND NEW book out: "Mindy Indy's Daily Misfortune and Flip Book"! I can't even believe I got all 100 printed in time. I had to reformat the size like 3 times, then my first printing option fell through (their printer broke) but I was able to print them at Staples! The 24 hour Staples ALWAYS SAVES MY LIFE!! The books were so heavy I couldn't even drag them all in my huge suitcase at once, so I had to leave some behind, but if I miraculously run out tomorrow I can always print more at another Staples! I'll have pictures later, and will be creating an online store very soon so you can buy it :) Anyway, I'm super excited to be exhibiting at this convention! I'm also very thankful to my great friend Tracy for all her help - without her I probably wouldn't be able to be at the con! If you're in the Baltimore area (or NYC area - Megabus is only $9!!) please make a trip to the Baltimore Comic Con - I heard it's even bigger and better than last year :) I'll be at table A247 in Artist's Alley.
Thank God I didn't miss the Megabus! I came pretty close :/
I've been preparing new stuff to exhibit at the Baltimore Comic Con next weekend! It's September 8th and 9th. This time next week I'll be on a bus getting there. Special guests include Stan Lee, Neal Adams, Frank Cho, Dean Haspiel, and many more. The convention is also hosting the Harvey Awards, which honors comic work excellence. There will also be lots of fun and cool comics and collectibles to buy! I'll be in Artist's Alley, Table A247, so if you're going to the show, please stop by! I'll have a new book out! Yes, an actual BOOK, not just paper copied and folded at Staples :P More info on that next week!
I've been working on a very special project - a Misfortune Cookie Animation! I love doing hand drawn animation and use a light table to see through the drawings on paper. It takes longer than animating on the computer, but I want the drawings to look like how I drew the comic. The animation is part of a larger project, which I'll reveal in the next few weeks :) Part of my plan to get stuff ready for the Baltimore Comic Con that I'm in September 8th and 9th!
The Stoop 2012 event was postponed this weekend due to threat of thunderstorms. They spread the word on Friday, and it didn't even rain a single drop on Saturday! Beautiful weather all day! But that's the way it goes sometimes. I'll let you know what date they change it to if I'm still able to participate. They need to wait for a park permit, so who knows how long that takes. I'm also doing other events, like doing a Cartooning Illustration Demo at Utrecht Brooklyn on Saturday August 25th (536 Myrtle Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11205) and the Baltimore Comic Con September 8th & 9th. Hopefully neither of those events will get postponed! They're indoors, so that helps.
I got my new Square card reader in the mail this weekend! This tiny gadget allows me to now accept credit cards when people want to buy my merchandise. Another small step towards becoming more professional! Just download and open the Square app, plug the Square into your smartphone, and swipe a credit card. I made sure to test it out with my own card before using it on others. Last weekend at the Artists & Fleas market, one guy in particular really liked the Aer Head stuff because he surfed, but didn't have any cash. Because I couldn't accept credit cards, that sale was lost. But now I'm more prepared! I'm glad I got this before the big Baltimore Comic Con coming up September 8th & 9th. This weekend I made a whole task list of what I need to do to prepare for it. Many things are in the works! I was looking up self-publishing, because I really want to collect the daily misfortunes into a very special book (there's a surprise about this particular kind of book). Also figuring out my travel arrangements and other things. EXCITEMENT!!
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.
