Mindy Indy is returning to Eternal Con in Long Island! I'll be at table 39 along with my writer friend Patrick McEvoy, and we'll be selling our comic "Other Realms!" I'll be sketching as usual, and as always please get your sketch orders to me earlier in the day. More show info:
If you're in Long Island, hope to see you there!
EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT! I'm debuting a brand new officially printed (like an actual comic - not from Staples!) called "OTHER REALMS" at Big Apple Con this weekend! I've been working with writer Patrick McEvoy for awhile on short stories for the past year or 2, and now we have enough material for a book! Inside, you can jump to 8 other realms where technology has unexpected consequences! It's a sci-fi 'zine of short stories, printed in comic book format, but features a mix of comic art with prose/poetry + illustrations.
I sent the files to Ka-Blam for printing, and when I got this box in the mail on Monday I was literally JUMPING ALL OVER MY LIVING ROOM with excitement! This really feels like a "level-up" for me professionally, as I've printed mini comics at Staples now for many years. We'll be selling OTHER REALMS for $5 each at conventions. We don't have an online store YET, but if you'd like a copy and aren't going to Big Apple in NYC or Motor City Comic Con in MI, just email me at mindy at mindyindy dot com and we'll work it out. Speaking of Big Apple...
The flyer pretty much says it all! Tickets are $25 per day. If you think NYCC is too expensive, this is your chance to attend a comic con for a better price and get a feel of an "old school" convention. In their own words: "Low ticket prices and family-friendly fun is the lure of this classic style convention that brings together fans of all kinds of entertainment from all walks of life. Through the central theme of comic books, the convention features a large range of pop culture elements including science fiction/fantasy, film/television, cosplay, animation, anime, manga, toys, horror, collectible card games, video games, web comics, and fantasy novels. Including panels with celebrity and artist guests, the Big Apple Comic Con also features an amazing Artist Alley with the best local talent, and two main event Costume Contests, one each day!"
Comic cons are GREAT for deadlines to publish new work, and debuting OTHER REALMS at Big Apple is a prime example. Even though ideally we wanted to debut it at MoCCA Fest, it couldn't get shipped in time. However, I was able to make some postcards for it to give away at MoCCA to create some buzz. Look for opportunities even in possible setbacks!
Hope to see you at Big Apple!
I'm happy to present to you the latest comic I worked on with writer Patrick McEvoy, called "Equations!" This one was tricky to draw, since the characters are made up of numbers/equations, and I'm used to drawing humans, but I was up for the challenge. Went through some character designs before we came to the final result. I was thinking of numbers stacked on each other like School House Rock-style, and in the end we decided to have human-like bubble-forms around the figures too.
In other news, NYCC is next week! I'm still on the wait-list for an artist alley table, but if that changes, I'll blog about it. I am doing pre-show commissions though! I'll be there at the convention as a "professional" for all 4 days, networking and checking out creator panels. If you'd like to get a custom sketch from me, please email me at mindy@mindyindy.com BEFORE the show and tell me what you'd like. You can PayPal to that address, and we can meet any day at the show for you to pick it up! Also, if you'd like to get a variant sketch cover comic at the show and have me draw on it, send me an email and we can connect at the show (I won't be checking email during show hours though, but give me a head's up if you're thinking of variants). Thanks and looking forward to a super fun show!
"Computing" by Writer Patrick McEvoy and Artist Mindy Indy
Here's another one-shot comic page I created with writer Patrick McEvoy! I love his techie futuristic themes. Also, couldn't help throwing in another disco-ball pattern in the computer room in the first panel. (Side note - the window and last panel colors were inspired by Sonic 2's Oil Ocean Zone). It's great that Patrick is cool with whatever I come up with, as writers should allow freedom for the artist to do what they do best! He was also open to suggestions I had for making the second panel two separate panels, so it's more clear that we are zooming into the computer's circuitry.
The Papercutz team on the Charmz School panel at NYCC 2016! Left to right: Sven Larsen (marketing), Jeff Whitman (editorial), Janice Chiang (letterer), Mindy Indy (penciler/inker/colorist), Amy Chu (writer), and not pictured is Jay Jay Jackson (penciler/inker/colorist) who joined us later in the panel!
Working with others was one of our discussion topics on the Charmz School panel at NYCC. letterer Janice Chiang and writer Amy Chu talked about how they worked together on many projects over the years, as writing and lettering are very intertwined. Jay Jay Jackson and I are both "triple-threat" penciler/inker/colorists, so we talked about our experiences working with others, but also benefits of being sole creators of comics.
NYCC's line up of panels was MUCH better than last years! I targeted other writing panels too, as I'm working on rewriting AER HEAD, and panelists kept suggestingfor writers to start working with an artist on one-page comics before delving into their magnum opus. This is great, because it helps both writer and artist develop their communications to see if they work well with each other.
This is something that people don't really think about. Lots of indie creators are just so excited to get their work out there, that they don't take the time to get to know their team-mates working style: Do they respond to email timely? If not, was there a good reason? Do they ask lots of questions to ensure clarity? If not, they may end up doing extra work over changes. What is their schedule like? Do they prefer to work late at night? All of these things and more can be ironed out with a one-page comic before committing to too much if you realize you're not working well together.
I also work with writers in the FD Foundation and RLS Foundation for our weekly and monthly comic strips. My first boss for "No Tears: Life With FD," David Brenner, usually sent me the script and I drew it: easy-peasy. Occasionally, I'd offer suggestions (like "I don't think a kid would say it that way"), and sometimes he'd agree and we'd change the script, but usually the script stayed "as-is." My new boss for No Tears, Paul Schack, and also the team at the RLS Foundation are very open to my script suggestions. They give me the dialogue and I'd sketch it out, realizing that it would be better if some things were changed in the script or action description. Sometimes it's a back-and-forth process, which leads to a better finished comic! For example, the No Tears comic above was originally scripted with just the bottom 2 panels, but I suggested we insert a 3rd panel in the beginning giving more explanation that October is Dysautonomia Awareness month. YAY TEAMWORK!
Jay Jay Jackson and I were talking later on about how we don't like Robert McKee's "Story," a book about screenwriting. It's supposed to be this really great book, but it's so old that I don't get half the movie references, and the writing is pretty dry. I have the book sitting next to my bed, for when insomnia strikes it helps put me to sleep.
This is a comic I've been working on for awhile with writer Patrick McEvoy - called "Integration"! I met Patrick at a small convention at Lovecraft Bar months ago, and he liked my work and sent me some scripts to look over. (It's good to exhibit at conventions large and small because really, you could pick up freelance work anywhere!) It's great that I had a lot of freedom with the drawings - from the green mohawk to the disco ball stoplight (of course stoplights will look different in the future... so why NOT a disco ball?) I love futuristic themed stories - they're so fun to draw! Glad this comic is complete and seeing the light of day - as freelancers know, projects without solid deadlines are always the ones to be pushed back when other hard deadlines loom. But I've been improving my time management skills and was able to fit this between other projects whenever possible.
In other tech news, I replaced my computer's RAM (random access memory) all by myself with success!! It's a big step for me - at first just the thought of opening my computer's insides was scary. Thanks to talking with the Mac Doctors at the Apple store, watching lots of YouTube videos about it, reading some articles, and asking tips from technology-inclined friends on Facebook, I found the process pretty easy to do once I got started! Knowledge is power!! I wouldn't recommend doing this if you're not prepared though. The biggest thing to watch out for is the electrostatic thing, which sounds scary! No, you will not be electrocuted, you just need to touch something metal to discharge any static electricity. Honestly, the hardest part of the process was getting the new RAM out of the damn clam shell packaging!
I'm not going to give a step-by-step process, as others could do it better than me, but I'll give a tip. From watching YouTube demos, I learned that there are different sizes to the 10 screws on the back of the MacBook Pro. To keep track of what screws went where, I put them in 2 shot glasses and drew a little map of where those sizes of screws should go.
A few years ago I had to get my Mac's hard drive replaced. I've blogged not too long ago about how I had to take it in to get the logic board replaced. Well soon after that I had to replace the battery. And now with 16GB of RAM (vs 4GB), my computer is 4 times faster!! This Frankenstein computer pretty much runs like new now - the difference is unbelievable! I can definitely extend the life of this baby for at least another year I think.
One other thing - computer repair places will charge you a lot to do a simple RAM upgrade. Installation can cost anywhere from $40 (if you've already bought RAM online) to up to $200 if you buy RAM from their store. When getting RAM online, make sure it's compatible with your OS (operating system - in my case, a MacBook Pro). I chose the Crucial brand, recommended by the Mac Doctors (Genius Bar people), and it was half the cost stores charge. Some other complicated things, like the logic board, should definitely be handled by a pro, but newbies can save a lot of money and feel empowered by getting your feet wet replacing RAM.
Going against the tech theme for the Daily Misfortune - I don't want to jinx my computer :P