I'll be in the Bronx Heroes Comic Con this weekend May 4th and 5th! It's at the Bronx Library Center: 310 East Kingsbridge Rd. Bronx NY 10458. FREE ADMISSION!! For all ages! Sat 11AM-6PM, Sun 1PM-5PM (yay!! I get to sleep in on a convention day :D) Here's the facebook event and you can rsvp here too.
This is the second time I'm exhibiting at Bronx Heroes - it's been exactly one year since I've been exhibiting in comic conventions, art shows, and other events! What a year! I've learned so much in this time. It's been really fun, but a lot of work. But I love doing it, and will keep on truckin'.
Yesterday was a big success for Carmine St. comics grand opening! Pics to come soon. I also realize I never recapped from Super Heroes for Hospice: that went very well too! Not many people there but I did well despite that. My lecture went well but the video didn't capture the power point presentation well, so I may not post that. But yeah life in NY is flying by! Where did April GO? I'm doing so many shows, events, and freelance gigs that I can't keep up with my blog. It's a good thing to have work though. Bronx Heroes Comic Con THIS WEEKEND May 4th and 5th!
I'll be in Super Heroes for Hospice tomorrow! Check out their facebook page. Excited for my talk: "Get Started: Selling your Comic Art at Conventions!" Even though I gave that talk last fall, I've had a lot more experience since then and have added new important things to the talk! There are many other cool presenters that day too, and lots of great comic to sort through. If you live in NJ or can make it out there, this will be an awesome show.
Last week, NYCBM was MY MOST SUCCESSFUL SHOW YET! There was a great crowd and I was sketching non-stop! It was really fun talking with everyone and am glad everyone loved their sketches. I did a sketch for Rosemary Kiladitis who featured me in her blog! Here are some cool sketches I did:
I made a sign that said I colored for Power Rangers Megaforce and printed some sample pages (with permission from Papercutz), so I got some kids interested in Rangers sketches! This is the Great Gosei Megazord. All the rangers have their Zord robots that combine to form this big one (similar to how Voltron works).
One guy wanted a combination of Big Gay Al (from South Park) with Star Sapphire. ROCK ON!!
This lady wanted her face on my pomeranian character of Sir Leonardo Zeus Armageddon (page 3 of The Misfortune Cookie #1). So funny :D Kind of looks like a sphinx too. I love when people have such creative requests!
One guy had me draw a funny Deadpool scene on a special blank variant cover. I'm honored!
One girl wanted a family portrait of Batman, Robin, and Alfred. So sweet!
Also did lots of Adventure Time sketches, more Deadpool, and a cool one of Yoshi but no time to post them all! If you don't see your sketch here, but want to share it with the world, feel free to post it on my facebook page.
Thanks SO MUCH to everyone who came by my table! Great meeting everyone and I appreciate your support!
Finally starting to recover from the weekend craziness that happened at MoCCA Fest! A very intense weekend - there was a great turnout for both days of the convention. This year it was run by the Society of Illustrators and I saw lots of improvements in compared to previous years: the red curtains not only divided the space nicely but provided some "wall space" for exhibitors to pin artwork to. There were nice banners clearly marking the aisles. There was a super delicious free dinner for exhibitors and volunteers on Saturday (much needed, since everyone was exhausted and starving by the end). They were also very helpful to me when I had a problem (more on that, read on) Basically, the Society of Illustrators rocks!
I shared a table at this con, because it was pretty expensive. Had as much space to work with as in NYCC (about 3 feet wide). I learned the hard way that even though you do save money up front in table cost for half a table, you sacrifice visibility and accessibility, which results in not as many sales. It so happened that a group of exhibitors in my area was blocking my table for most of Saturday. Their strategy was to have 3 to 4 people standing in the aisle, getting people's attention and driving traffic to their table. Some of them were right in front of my space and some in the middle of the aisle but I saw people going around them and missing my table. While this strategy worked well for that company, it really hurt my sales (I've done enough cons to know I should've been making more money for a con that size on a Saturday). I kept asking each of them if they could please move, and they did, but the same thing kept happening all day. I know this group didn't intentionally mean any harm to me, and they seemed like nice people, but the fact was they weren't mindful of their neighbors and were hurting my business.
At one point I got in the aisle in front of my table and did the same thing - tried handing out free cookies but people didn't want any. I tried holding some mini comics out and had a few people interested, but it was very stressful and I felt like one of those people in Times Square that hassles you to buy something on the street - I didn't like it at all. Most importantly though, why was I paying $200 for half a table when I'm not even at my table?! There were some people just walking around with their comics on a tray and sold stuff that way - all for the price of admission - $15.
The next morning (it was a 2 day con) I explained the situation to Anelle Miller, who organized MoCCA Fest and is head of the Society of Illustrators. I love this woman - she was able to track down an empty table and had 2 volunteers help move all my stuff there! I felt like Anelle and others that ran the fest really cared about me and wanted me to have a positive experience. I'm totally thankful to everyone that had a part in helping me out!
I did AMAZINGLY WELL that day! I made over twice the amount I did on Saturday (enough to cover my table cost and a small profit!), and Sundays are supposed to be the slow days at cons. Made me wonder how well I could have done on Saturday if I had my own table. One guy who saw me both days pointed out that my sign was much more visible at the bigger table - he didn't even notice it the previous day. I think the best part was that I was much more happy and relaxed because people had plenty of space in the aisle to walk up to my table casually and browse my merch without any pressure. An added benefit was my friend Ellen got to expand her corner of our previous half table to all of the half table, and she sold some stuff that day. I also helped exhibitors next to me at the new location just by occupying a previously empty table (vacant tables pose loitering problems and dead space - people tend to not look at things near empty tables as much). So it worked out for everyone in the end :)
I learned from that experience that life presents you with all kinds of obstacles and challenges that you have no control over, but you CAN control how you react to them. If you find yourself in a situation like this, don't just sit there and be like "oh well, there's nothing I can do." First talk kindly yet firmly to the person/people interfering with you. If the problem persists, get help from a person running the convention/art show/event and they'll find a better solution. This situation isn't all that uncommon - I had a little bit of it at NYCC too (mostly friends of one exhibitor next to me just hanging around), but not to this extent. I'll add this experience to my lecture "Get Started: Selling Your Comics at Conventions!!!" on Saturday, April 20th, at Super Heroes for Hospice in West Orange NJ.
Here are some sketches I did. This guy is writing a story about tiny people. He wanted the artist to draw themselves in the picture as a giant doing something mean to a tiny person (him in the picture).
This girl wanted me to draw her driving a monster truck. I love random fun requests like that!
Thank you all very much to everyone who stopped by my table! MoCCA Fest was a success thanks to all you peeps :) I had a great time overall and am looking forward to next year's fest!
Super excited to be a part of one of the biggest and coolest indie comics festivals in America! MoCCA Arts Festival will be held this weekend, April 6th and 7th, from 11AM to 6PM. It's in Manhattan at The 69th Regiment Armory, 68 Lexington Avenue (between E. 25th & E. 26th Street), New York, NY 10010
Just take any train that connects to the 6 train and get off at 23rd St. or 28th St, as shown above.
My table is F194. When you walk in the entrance, just go to the left-most aisle and walk to the back. I think it's a good spot to be, because I've always walked the perimeter first before going to the middle. Hopefully we'll get lots of traffic. This is a fairly large convention, but nothing as crazy as NYCC so I'm not worried about being in the back. I'll be sharing a table with Ellen Stedfeld and Pronto Comics.
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!
Today I'm a "Featured Exhibitor" on MoCCA Fest's tumblr. Please come to MoCCA Fest in 2 weeks! It's April 6th and 7th, 11AM to 6PM. It's at the Armory on Lexington Ave. in Manhattan. More details to come, no time to blog much today. But this is very exciting for me because it's the biggest indie comic con in NY!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nA2dYkVcOE&feature=youtu.be
Here's a good overview of the awesome atmosphere of Sketch Con 2013! Great crowd and great music. It was a FIASCO getting there though. Had to wait 40 minutes for my bus at NY Port Authority (where the buses go to NJ). I need to learn that they only come once an hour on Sundays. The bus ride itself was super short, but the bus dropped me off on the side of the road, and since we just had a huge snowstorm, the sidewalk was covered in a foot of snow. I had to trudge my suitcase and all my crap down the slushy street for 10-15 minutes. Luckily there wasn't much traffic, but I kept thinking "The things I do for my passion!" I can think of a lot of people who would've just turned around, but I'd already gotten that far. I'm SO GLAD it turned out to be worth the trouble! Even though I arrived late, the crowd was just picking up. I had to get the smallest table though:
But I made it work. Y'know, the more shows I do, the more stuff I have on my table. I focused on the sketches.
First sketch of the day: adorable baby! To save time, I'm not going to post all my sketches. Even though I love doing this blog, the convention posts are taking too much time (gotta touch up all the pictures, crop, resize them, write something witty, etc). I really gotta focus more time on creating art and getting more work, so I'm going to only post a few sketches. If you don't see your sketch here but would like to share it with the world, you can upload it to my mindy indy facebook page.
Yes, they all held perfectly still for 20 minutes while I drew them!.... No not really, I took the picture first :P
A couple wanted me to start with a picture of their friend's dog, and then get creative with it. The answer = a flying doggie! I wish my camera took better pictures. I was in a rush and couldn't tell if it was blurry on the small camera preview screen :/
So the theme of this convention was supposed to be "Fairy Tale Nightmares." Evil Tinkerbell is my interpretation. Creepy, I know. I don't think many other people went with the theme, but it's a good starting point.
Sketch Con was super successful and it was totally worth the trip there. I just have to think of more efficient ways of getting to NJ... I only know so many people with cars, y'know :P
Which is why I didn't drink any whiskey at the Whiskey Cafe. I can't get any work done if I have alcohol. This of course doesn't apply to some of my friends who can mysteriously work BETTER with booze.
Yesterday while en route to Sketch Con in New Jersey, the bus dropped me off on the side of the road and I had to do this for like 15 minutes. The sidewalk (if there was one) was covered in a foot of snow from the blizzard we had on Friday. I kept thinking "why am I doing this?" but the con was a big success so it was worth it :) Pictures to come later this week!
I'm going to be in SketchCon this Sunday February 10th! Apparently the theme is "Fairy Tale Nightmares," so I hope people are looking for other stuff too because I don't have much time to prepare sketches for this :/ If you're in the Jersey area, please stop by! It's at the Whiskey Cafe 1050 Wall St. Lyndhurst NJ. DO NOT go to Wall St in NYC - we won't be there. 10A-5P. See you there!
Had to take some time to recover after another 3 day show (technically a 2 1/2 day show). The pic above is of the Westin Hotel in Newport NJ, where Toys on the Hudson was held. It was a new thing for me to exhibit in a toy show.
The show was divided into many rooms of the hotel, with all the comic books and artists in one big room. The Jersey Journal covered the show, and you can see more pics of the toys on their site. It was a good show for me, despite low crowds. I was given an extra table too!
I did another lecture about "Getting Started Exhibiting Your Comic Art at Conventions."
And of course I did a lot more sketches! One guy that sold Transformers toys wanted me to draw any kind of "mecha" (robot) I wanted. Check out the unicorn mecha in rockin' boots! Have you EVER seen a giant robot in high heels? I don't think so!
I sketched this Optimus Prime in keeping with the toy theme of the show. Transformers was of course popular....
As was Godzilla! I tried something new with this sketch and made a misfortune to go with it:
This guy wanted a portrait. The spittin' image!
This girl wanted a My Little Pony. I asked "old school or new school?" (because there's a new version that looks different from the 80s version), and she chose old school!
Yeah rockin' Firefly Pony!
The same guy that had me do the story book pictures at Super Heroes for Hospice came back for 2 more drawings! Yay repeat customers! These are like concept sketches for this children's book he's writing for his grand kids (rather than the finished art that would be in a book).
This one turned out extra awesome. It's the "Rock King" and the guy described him as being made of smooth, speckled rock. GO, Prismacolor Brush-tip markers!!
Overall, it was great meeting lots of nice people and seeing familiar faces. Spiro from Super Heroes for Hospice (the last con I did) was at a booth right across from me, and my friend Emilio was at the table right next to me. I also talked a lot with R. Allen Leider who gave me lots of helpful advice. Thanks everyone for being part of the show, both exhibitors and fans!
This is another Toys on the Hudson promo video - it's pretty cute! I'm also going to be doing my lecture about Getting Started Selling Your Comic Art at Conventions at Toys on the Hudson. Time TBA!
WOOHOO! I'm glad I've tried hard to stick with posting this daily. Some nights it's hard to squeeze in a posting, and although I've skipped a few, it's totally been mostly a daily misfortune. I love how daily stuff adds up before you know it. Here's to another 100!
Here's a funny video promo of Toys on the Hudson, where I'll have a table this weekend. The video starts out kind of epically, but if it were up to me I'd edit the time by half :P I'll be there for all 3 days of Toys on the Hudson, so please stop by if you're in the area over the holiday.
I'm on the convention scene again for Thanksgiving weekend, this time doing a toy show: Toys on the Husdon! It's a 3 day event starting Black Friday at 5pm-10pm with special deals. The show really picks up Saturday and Sunday though both 9am-5pm. There is a TON of stuff going on at this show - not only does it have lots of cool toys, collector comics, and movie memorabilia, but it's also NJ's first toy show combined with a comic convention, so there are great creators there (like me! :P ) and lots of awesome guests. They'll have the guy that played Randy from "A Christmas Story," which is my favorite movie of all time :)
If you go to the Celebs/Guests/Artists link on the left of their site, and scroll waaayyyy down, you'll see a mindy indy collage Phil put together :P I hope people will still recognize me without my winter coat on!
You can get to Toys on the Hudson easily - it's at the Newport PATH station, the 1st stop on the PATH train from NY to NJ. It's at the Westin Newport Hotel, 479 Washington Blvd, Jersey City NJ 07310. Hope to see you there!
I had a great experience at Super Heroes for Hospice this past weekend in Jersey! This was a small event to raise money for the Barnabas Health Hospice and Palliative Care Center, as well as a canned food drive for the needy of hurricane Sandy. A big part of the event was 1,000s of old comic issues to delve through (as seen in the picture above). Another part of the room had me and about 7 other artists selling our work and drawing sketches. Another big draw was the "Getting Into Comics" lecture series, featuring Paris Cullens, Joe Endres, Steve Zinoda, Christian Rubiano, and myself. I gave a super cool power point presentation about how to get started exhibiting and selling your comic art at conventions! YouTube clips coming soon!
I had many unusual and charming drawing requests this time!
One guy had a collection of envelopes that he had artists draw upon, and he gave me an ocean-themed stamped one to draw Aeryan surfing on! If you google "super heroes for hospice" in image search, you'll see other artistic envelopes in his collection.
The next commission was from a grandfather that wrote a story for his two grand daughters. He gave me a script to look at and said I could illustrate any scene in any way I wished. He wanted to see different artists visions of his story.
Another cool request was from a guy that wanted me to draw this Big Foot doll!
I felt that Big Foot would need to comb all that hair! The guy has a project going on where he has commissioned over 400 artists to draw their version of the Big Foot (or caveman doll as he calls it). Pretty cool!
Special thanks to my friend Christina for driving me all the way from Brooklyn to West Orange, NJ!
This Saturday, November 10, I'm exhibiting at Super Heroes for Hospice in West Orange, NJ! I'm also giving a presentation about how to start exhibiting and selling your comic art at conventions. Here's more info:
There will also be a "Getting Into Comics" lecture series. Admission is free, but pre-registration is encouraged to reserve a seat, as seating is limited. Please register by emailing your request to SBallas@BarnabasHealth.org - include each lecture that you'd like to attend. On the day of the event, remaining seats will be given on a first come, first serve basis.
I'm super excited to give my first lecture! I've been working on my power point presentation a lot :) It'll be super awesome and informative! It'll be great to meet all the other fascinating comic artists too.
The event will also hold a canned food drive for communities hit hardest by Hurricane Sandy. Donations will go to Last Resort Emergency Food Pantry (Asbury Park, NJ). Super Heroes for Hospice attendants can pick a free comic for every canned good they bring (limit 5 per attendee).
In the aftermath of Sandy and now the Nor'easter storm, things have been grim for many people. If you can make it, please come to Super Heroes for Hospice to help in a small way by donating food or getting comics for a family you know that has lost much - because besides needing the basics to survive, people also need to be cheered up!
The economic aftermath of hurricane Sandy was felt at King Con. With most subways not running this weekend, people scrambling for gas, and the fact that it was the first really cold weekend this fall, hardly any customers showed up. On top of that, the Lyceum had no heat!
It was hard to draw with my hands being so cold, and hard to even see the colors of my markers with little light (where my table was). But I kept thinking of all the people who are still without power and heat, and that's what kept me going.
2 years ago the last King Con saw many tables lining the center as well as the perimeter of the Lyceum, and so many people you could barely walk the aisles. This year with so many vendors unable to get there, some people got a table last minute for $25. Despite difficulties of low attendance, other artists and I still made a bit of money. During the slow times, it was super great to meet lots of creators and writers! I talked a lot with Jason Quinones, who was at the table next to me. I was even able (through the power of twitter!) to get my friends Sean Von Gorman and Josh Gorfain to exhibit.
I made my table money back with one sketch! An anime called "One Piece" features a character called Luffy that can stretch his body like rubber. The guy that wanted the sketch saw similarities between Luffy and Plastic Man.
Since many families with small kids came, I drew some of my favorite cartoon characters like Finn & Jake from Adventure Time and Sponge Bob.
After the con, I got some creators together for an after-party at The Rock Shop. It was so nice to get to know other cartoonists and writers! Jason said it best: "You all helped to make what should have been a disaster of a con into something special." It's also noteworthy that this convention still went on despite many events in Manhattan and Brooklyn being cancelled or postponed (even the New York Marathon!). It took very passionate people to make King Con happen. Cheers to getting NYC going again!
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!
I'll be in the Bronx Heroes Comic Con this weekend May 4th and 5th! It's at the Bronx Library Center: 310 East Kingsbridge Rd. Bronx NY 10458. FREE ADMISSION!! For all ages! Sat 11AM-6PM, Sun 1PM-5PM (yay!! I get to sleep in on a convention day :D) Here's the facebook event and you can rsvp here too.
