I also went to Dean Haspiel's Trip City Salon last night - good times! A band called Americans UK played music while cartoonists read from their new comics. There were poetry and short story readings too, as well as a comedian and a girl playing the ukulele.
I've been putting my Aer Head star stickers on the things I use most, like my phone and computer. The sticker background blends in with my black phone, so it looks like I make custom Aer Head phones :) If you have an Aer Head sticker, please take a picture of you using it on your favorite object and I'll post it on this blog and facebook! I'm curious to see how people are using the stickers, and it's just fun :) Please send pictures to mindy at mindyindy.com. (Use @ - "at" is to prevent spam).
And, for those who missed Saturday's post, here's The Misfortune Cookie Bite 4:
So I was debating whether or not to do posts this weekend, because not as many people will see it because it's Memorial Day weekend. But I had time tonight, so why not? Maybe I'll re-post on Tuesday on facebook for anyone who missed today's gem.
I'm having way too much fun coming up with these bites and posting them everywhere on the web :) I just applied for a table at this year's New York Comic Con, and I think if I do these Misfortune Cookie Bites each day, or nearly each day, I'll have plenty of content to make into a new book of just these! Also, I've thought of 2 more short misadventures (about 5 pages, like the first one) of The Misfortune Cookie. Things are happening!!!
Another semi-daily bite! I'm changing the name from "shorts" to "bites" because it's a smaller chunk of story, applicable to eating a cookie, and it's just cuter. The original Misfortune Cookie is a short comic in itself, with the actual story being 5 pages. This will hopefully clear up possible confusion. Or maybe I just made you more confused. Anyway, more to come!
Also, mindy indy is now on Tumblr!!
I want to turn The Misfortune Cookie into a semi-daily strip, so you'll start to see lots of these little bits of Misfortune around. These short comics are a quick way to get my gags out there. Enjoy!
Also, I've been sick lately, and that's when I finally get around to reading other people's comics. Check out Aviary and Trinadot - both have amazing artwork you can drool over, and Anecdote has the cutest most adorable characters! All these were made by awesome independent cartoonists I met at MoCCA Fest.
I drew this short comic in two weeks, even while sick for the last week. I took a lot of short cuts, like drawing on regular typing paper (vs. bigger bristol board), inking with micron pens (vs. pen nibs dipped in ink), filling in the blacks in Photoshop (vs. by hand with brushes), and adding text in Adobe Illustrator (vs. by hand). But now this story is finally out in the world! The last two pages are promotional to fill the extra pages for the 8 page mini comic, but it could stand alone without them. ENJOY!!
Thank you SO MUCH to everyone that stopped by my table at the Bronx Heroes Comic Con! I had SO MUCH FUN meeting everyone and was thrilled that people liked my comics! Seriously, it's one thing when my friends and family say they like my artwork, but it's a whole other level of awesomeness when people I've just met like my work!
It was so fun that people wanted to take their picture with me! I'm very photogenic, so I totally loved it :) I felt like a celebrity!
Some young people also asked me to look at their portfolios. It was great to see everyone's different artistic styles! It was only 2 years ago that I was the one showing my portfolio around to exhibitors at comic conventions, so please keep at it, guys!
Some of my friends came to see me too! Rachel came all the way from Park Slope (seriously, it's a long way from Brooklyn to the Bronx!) You go, girl!
I loved when people wanted me to sign the mini comics they bought :) I made sure to sign them as "mindy indy" instead of "Mindy Steffen" (my real name).
You may notice some people with blue bandages on their arms - there was also a blood drive at the con. People were encouraged to donate blood and "be a hero" because it really does save lives. The con reached their goal of a lot of donors - I forget how many.... but it was totally reached!
I also have to say how awesome it was to be sitting next to Jim Salicrup - he ended up promoting ME more than his own company, Papercutz! When I first arrived at the con, I was put at a table outside, but all my mini comics and merchandise were flying away, it was SO hot and I was getting sunburnt, and the location wasn't getting much foot traffic. Not an ideal situation. I went inside and saw Jim (who I knew from before) and he offered the other half of his table, which was so much better! Jim even helped bring people to my side of the table and was really hyping up mindy indy! The way he talks can really draw attention! I probably wouldn't have met half the people or sold half as much stuff if he wasn't there. It was truly an honor to have his support.
To give back in a small way, let me say a bit about Papercutz! Papercutz publishes comics and graphic novels for kids and tweens, featuring classic characters like Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, and even the Smurfs (it was a Belgian comic before the animation) and Tinker Bell (ok, I still love Tinker Bell and I just turned 28 :) Papercutz has a team of writers and artists that create new stories but also publishes foreign comics. Jim Salicrup is the Editor-in-Chief and always works super hard to bring these comics into the hands of young comic lovers. He was giving out tons of FREE Papercutz comics at the table! About half way through the con all the comics had gone, and Jim was just chatting with people about how great mindy indy is :)
Here's a close-up of my table. I just finished my new mini comic, The Misfortune Cookie! As you may guess from the title, it's about a fortune cookie that predicts bad things but in a comical way. I gave away free fortune cookies (the normal kind, not misfortunate ones) which was a great way to tell people about the comic. Last week I bought a HUGE bag of fortune cookies from a local Chinese restaurant, and it was very difficult for me to resist eating them before the big day! I was afraid I'd run out of cookies at the con, but I even had a few left over.
I absolutely loved people's reactions to The Misfortune Cookie! I sold 32 copies at $1 apiece, which was pretty good for the first time selling comics in my opinion. I'll be posting The Misfortune Cookie in the next blog post! I'm also excited to think of more misadventures of The Misfortune Cookie - I want it to become a regular web comic.
Also on the table was my Aer Head section. I sold 6 of those (a harder sell at $2 each, but the printing was more expensive for color). Some people were really interested for when the graphic novel comes out, and that makes me SUPER EXCITED! I'll work even harder to finish this 45 page craziness knowing I have the support of others :) Nobody bought the Aer Head prints (bottom left corner of the pic). Usually prints are good sellers at cons, but for some reason they just didn't fly. The Aer Head stickers were a big hit with the kids, though! I was planning to sell them for 50 cents each, but it was more fun to give them away. In the middle of the table I had my tally hall comics. Not one sold. Strange - fans of the band love it, but maybe "a band with musical super powers" doesn't have much universal appeal? I also wasn't promoting that as much as the others. The big draw was definitely The Misfortune Cookie!
Jim drew these cute signs :) Again, I can't emphasize enough how awesome this guy is!!
All in all, the Bronx Heroes Convention was a success for mindy indy :) I want to exhibit in more cons! People say it's addictive, and now I know why. I'm just glad I finally made another important step towards making my dreams come true :) Again, many thanks to everyone that visited me at the convention, and I hope to see you again! Feel free to leave a comment on this blog too. I added everyone to the mailing list that signed up, but a few addresses were hard to read. If you signed up on the list at my table and haven't gotten an email from mindy indy, you can always enter your email in the green box to the right and you'll be put on the list. Thanks!!!
I made AER HEAD STICKERS! This is a tiny part of my dreams coming true :) I've imagined all kinds of Aer Head merchandise for awhile, and it can happen - all I have to do is just make it. There's this great site, zazzle.com, where you can upload your images onto anything - stickers, buttons, T-shirts, mugs, aprons, etc. I was going to print on regular circular stickers, but when I saw the star one I was totally excited! It fits so well with Aer Head's future/outer space theme. I printed these to have at my booth at the Bronx Heroes Comic Con this Saturday. Also wrapping up my new 5 page mini comic, which I'll post about later - it's a surprise!
This week I'm preparing lots of material to exhibit at the Bronx Heroes Comic Con, which is THIS SATURDAY. I just printed out some "tally hall" comics I did a few years ago. The comic is about a band called tally hall (an actual band) that has musical super powers. Set in the city of Ann Arbor, MI (where tally hall and I went to college), a crazy guy called Mr. Misnomer tries to take away all sound. Will tally hall be able to stop him? The comic is still pretty funny even if you aren't familiar with the band. Each member has different colored ties and in the pic above I'm hand coloring each one, because it was cheaper to print in black and white. But I forgot how LONG it took! I colored about 7, and I think I'll do the rest on the subway to the Bronx next week. Gotta make the best use of my time. Here's the first part of the comic:
I'm also working hard on my new comic short - it's a surprise, though, but I can't wait to post it!
It's been such a crazy weekend! MoCCA Fest 2012 for Saturday/Sunday and the ASIFA East Animation Festival Sunday night! They were both super awesome, and the flames of inspiration have been rekindled in me! I met so many wonderful people and got to reconnect with friends too.
Saturday I went to the Dare2Draw event held inside MoCCA Fest - it's figure drawing, but with models that pose dynamically like a comic character would, and they have comic-like costumes and props (Wolverine claws, for example). These and other figure drawing events, like drink-n-draws held throughout the city, have seriously helped with how I draw Aer Head.
I came across the Bronx Heroes Comic Con booth, and later on SIGNED UP FOR A TABLE! Yes, MINDY INDY will actually BE EXHIBITING and SELLING some Aer Head mini comics, new Aer Head stickers, and a brand new short comic I'm creating right now. I learned from vendors at MoCCA Fest that they were pretty successful with short stories in mini comic form and in anthologies. I need to jump on this! I've been kicking around some shorts in my head (wow, that sounds like I'm a washing machine... or a dryer...) and will start bringing them to life! Of course I'll still be creating Aer Head, my main epic series, but the short comics (like 6 pages or so) are great to get mindy indy's name out there! I was also inspired to make sure I draw for at least an hour each night, even when I'm tired. I've done it since Saturday each night to far, and it's been pretty successful. That little bit DOES add up, and that's how I will make things happen! GO TO the Bronx Heroes Comic Con on Saturday May 12th, from 11AM to 6PM. It's at the Bronx Museum of the Arts, 1040 Grand Concourse on 165St., Bronx, NY 10456. Hope to see you there!
I've just finished drawing this page! Aeryan boxes as well as surfs. Rocky was my main influence on this aspect of his character :) Aeryan can predict the future sometimes in his dreams, and I wanted to balance that mental power out with physical strength. This comes in handy for Aer later in the series ;)
I wanted to post a recent drawing in time for MoCCA Fest this weekend. It's a smallish comic convention that focuses on more independent cartoonists and small press. It raises money for the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, the museum I teach at. Last year, I thought "next year, when I have the first book of Aer Head all done and published, I'm gonna get a table!" ... and I'm saying the same thing this year :/ I drew a lot this past year, but I need to push myself harder. It takes serious discipline to focus on drawing at the end of the day when I'm tired from working other jobs. But mark my words, when this comic is finally finished, it will be totally awesome :) Just tonight, I was at a comic book release signing at Desert Island Comics, and I told the owner, Gabe, "when I get Aer Head published, I want to have an event here" and he was cool with it :)
This week I've been learning a lot more about creating the 3D characters in Blender - a bit more tricky that animating them (I guess it depends who you ask!) The above image is a character from a new 3D comic of Kyle Baker's. He needed to make lots of gangsters, so he gave me the file of this basic gangster (above) and wanted me to change their clothes, hair, skin tone, etc so it would create many individual gangsters quickly.
You can not only change the color of a character's clothes, but "map" a texture onto it. This was my favorite part! Above, the black+yellow striped square was an image I found online and modified. I picked all kinds of funky textures for the different characters, to which Kyle said "What kind of gang IS this??" see below:
That's what happens when you put me in charge of outfits :)
Wrapping up the TNH animation. It's in the final editing stage. Above is a screen shot of me animating the chick, Officer Peep, driving a car. Yes, it's a cartoon so s/he (we haven't decided it's gender) really can drive that way! See the animation in the TNH2 link from last week's post.
In other news, drew more Aer Head yesterday (finally!) but that's for another post. I also don't have a scanner at the moment.
It's been awhile, but mindy indy has been pretty busy! Since the NY comic con, I've been all over the place. Took a figure drawing for graphic novelists class back in the fall, got another small comic coloring gig, moved apartments. Coloring on Marvel's Deadpool Max ended, but I've still been working a lot with Kyle Baker on lots of stuff. Mostly, this animation called TNH (Tortoise and Hare). Take a look at some clips:
Learning 3D was tricky at first, but luckily Kyle had faith in me. We use a program called Blender - it's free online.
There is too much to say about everything that went into this in one post. I'm also going to keep my posts shorter so it doesn't take forever to do - maybe I'll post more often that way :)
As for Aer Head, the figure drawing class really helped, although I'm drawing some parts over and fixing some things. Lately, I've had lots of inspiration for the comic series I'm doing after Aer Head, so I've been sketching that a lot. When inspiration strikes, you just gotta go with it. It's good to have multiple projects going at once. Anyhow, things are still in the works, but I'm all over the place with projects!
Words are not enough to describe how awesome and inspiring the New York Comic Con was this year! I met SO MANY awesome people everywhere I went and learned immensely important things for my career as a cartoonist.
I got a 4 day "Professional" pass. Usually the con is 3 days, but Thursday was open to just Professionals. That's why you see all that clear space around me in the top picture, and craziness in the pic just above (taken Saturday). It helped to have time to scope things out before it got insane. I was able to talk with some other professionals I may not have gotten one-on-one time with otherwise, like Victor Gorelick: Co-President/E-I-C of Archie Comics, and Paul Kaminski: Compilation Editor of Sonic the Hedgehog. More on Sonic later :)
Half the time I spent going to panels (meaning interviews with creators/business people, rather than drawn comic panels on a page!). The ones I targeted were mostly about "how to" things, like self-publishing your comic, copyrighting, and digital distributing. One of the best panels was about using Kickstarter to fund and market your comic, so that may be the way AER HEAD gets out into the world. I even went to a panel about planning events in a comic store. It was aimed at store owners, but was actually very helpful in teaching interesting marketing techniques. Another useful one was about digital coloring. Christina Strain blew my mind away with all the awesome Photoshop stuff she demonstrated. I thought I knew a lot about coloring before, but there's so much more to learn!
I loved the panel about Womanthology, which is a compilation of short comic stories drawn and written by women. Womanthology is being put together by Renae De Liz, who I got to meet and is super awesome! She also drew the gorgeous artwork for the graphic novel adaptation of The Last Unicorn (one of my favorite childhood animations). I also met her husband, Ray Dillon, who inked and colored her work. This couple is so inspiring not only because their artwork is supernaturally amazing, but they have such drive and passion about them, as well as being very friendly down-to-earth people. Another Last Unicorn person I saw was Peter S. Beagle, who wrote the original prose novel that the animation was based off. I met him once before at the San Diego Comic Con years ago, and it was just as awesome seeing him again.
Another highlight was the Sonic the Hedgehog panel! I've been a lifelong fan of Sonic - from the videogames to the tv shows to the comic. I was thrilled to meet my favorite Sonic artist, Patrick Spaziante ("Spaz")! I asked him lots of questions about his career, gave him one of my AER HEAD mini comics, and practically launched into outer space when he said that HE liked MY artwork! How cool is THAT? As Sonic would say: "Way past cool!" I also briefly met Ian Flynn, writer of Sonic. Everyone working on Sonic just beams with positive energy and it shows that they really love what they do. Someday, I want to be part of that team!
I also spent a lot of time in the "Artist's Alley" section of the Con. This is the section where independent comic publishers and freelance artists have booths to sell their books and showcase their artwork. The more I talked with artists there, the more I felt the calling to get a table at this and other cons too. Some artists suggested starting with the smaller conventions to save money, so keep an eye out for mindy indy at your local Brooklyn cons soon :) (In this context, "con" is short for convention. I don't intend to con people :)
I noticed a significant difference in people's general responses to me this year when I mentioned that I colored Marvel comics as Kyle Baker's assistant. (I was careful not to look like I was blatantly name-dropping, and didn't bring it up with everyone. It naturally came up in conversations). I had a published Deadpool Max comic to show as an example too. Last year, I toted my portfolio around to publishers and asked advice, and was told at worst that my style wasn't what they were looking for, and at best to just submit samples online to the company's general email, not to anyone specific. (I don't like online art submissions, because like job submissions, I think they go into a black void and my time was wasted). But this year, people paid attention to me more! I got lots of positive feedback from the AER HEAD mini comics, and I may have gotten some possible leads to future projects - fingers crossed!
Speaking of Deadpool, a gazillion people dressed up as him! Everywhere I turned, there was Deadpool! I think because there's a movie coming out soon. I felt special that I get to contribute my talents to something so big and popular :)
While I'm at it, here are more cool costumes! If you don't know, Comic Cons are places where people dress as their favorite characters, often going to amazing lengths over details. I especially appreciate when I see unique characters from my childhood, like Darkwing Duck! Look at how the guy made the duck feet - they're 3 shoes glued together!
There are so many more awesome stories to tell, but it's past 4AM. Overall, this year's NYCC was more amazing than I could have imagined! I met fantastic people, reconnected with some old friends, learned a whole lot about the business, and had a TON of fun all at once!
In preparation for this year's New York Comic Con, I've made some mini comic previews of AER HEAD! This is the first time AER HEAD has been in print, so I'm super excited! The mini comic includes a cover, the first 5 pages of AER HEAD, and 2 promo pages at the end for the comic itself and mindy indy as an artist. I printed them at a local printer, and the cost came to about $1 per mini comic, which is a great price. I'll only give these out to a few key people at comic con, whereas I'll give my business cards away like candy because those are super cheap to print in bulk if you know where to look.
Creating this promo page was a snap, due to my years of experience as a graphic designer. Yes, I will make AER HEAD #1 in 2012, ideally before the big San Diego Comic Con in the summer, but aiming for as soon as possible. I have a facebook page, if you haven't seen that already. And I'm going to start using twitter more. I haven't really used it, because it seemed annoying, and I don't want people stalking me, but I need to use it for professional purposes now. The name mindyindy was already taken on twitter, so I had to go with mindy_indy. Hopefully that won't confuse people. Check mindy_indy for frequent updates when I'm at the NYCC! I don't have a booth, because I don't have products to sell, but I'll just be walking around everywhere going to various panels about the business of publishing and such.
The back cover promotes mindy indy (aka Mindy Steffen, that's me) as an artist. Since I do coloring work for Marvel, I feel like I have a leg up this year at the comic con, and hopefully that can lead to more coloring work. I don't want to limit myself to just that, though, so I put pretty much everything I can do related to comics and illustration.
Just had an idea... Would anyone be interested in buying an AER HEAD mini comic? If so, I can print more. You can write a post or send me an email and we can work it out :) Excitement!!
A new addition to mindy indy is a new page just for the finished pages of AER HEAD! There's a link that says "AER HEAD" on the upper right corner of this webpage. Click it and you'll see all the pages in order, instead of having to skim through old posts backwards. Yeah... I know it's still the same 5 pages. But know that I'm making progress! In other news, the New York Comic Con is coming up in 2 weeks! I'll be there trying to get more coloring work and learning more about self publishing. I think I need to self publish AER HEAD first, then once people see it, other publishers may want to pick it up. I need to keep my rights though. That's super important, because too many artists sell out their dreams to big companies and the artist gets nothing in the end. My boss (Kyle Baker) keeps mentioning the Super Man creators. Near the end of their lives, they were homeless while Super Man was known as the most popular comic character, making movies and lots of money for other people. I've learned so much, not only by being his assistant, but just by being around Kyle because he tells me lots of history about the comic business and about his own experiences.
In other OTHER news, I started taking a "Figure Drawing for Graphic Novelists" class at the School of Visual Arts. It's taught by Tom Motley, and I'm learning so much! At first I was apprehensive about taking this class in the middle of drawing AER HEAD, because I didn't want to feel compelled to redraw the whole thing again after I got better and realized all the old drawings sucked. But I brought some of my comic pages to class and Tom recommended some tweaks, but I wouldn't have to change the whole positions of characters (so far).
So lots going on over here! Stay tuned.
I've been drawing lots of the surfing poses lately. When I get into a groove, I like to draw similar pages or subjects all at once. I looked online for reference pictures. And this is the first "full" page I've posted in quite some time. I felt this page doesn't give anything away, so it's safe :)
I actually haven't surfed before, but I'd like to learn someday! You may ask: why would you make a comic about that, then? Well, surfing is something the characters DO, but it's not the main focus of the comic. It's like how I love to go to concerts and go jogging, but it's not part of my artistic work. I want to make my characters well rounded. What IS the main focus of the comic, you may ask? There are many foci, but one is about learning how to discover your true abilities.
Do not adjust your screen - that drawing is purposely sideways :) I had to scan it sideways and realized it looked even cooler that way! Looks like Aer is pouncing on/fighting with Andy rather than warning him about something (dun dun DUNNNN!!!). As my hero Bob Ross says, gotta love the happy little accidents in art. I've been drawing up a storm for the past week! 15 pages!! YES!! Well, 15 almost complete drawings out of about 45 pages (the first 5 of which are completed and posted on this site). So that's about 25 (wait... check the math..... yes!) more pages to draw.
I couldn't even fit all the pages on my desk. This is the way to go though - I love working on multiple pages at once. That way, if I'm stuck on a pose I can work on something else and go back to it later, and I'll reach a better solution. I'm also working backwards - these are the last 15 pages of the comic, because I felt like doing the real action sequences now :) The life of a freelance artist is constantly changing, and since my other work has taken a break for a bit, Aer Head kicks back into full gear! You will see more!!
Mindy indy is back with another custom comic I've done for a client. The client is actually my cousin who is an art teacher in Florida! She's also a very versatile artist herself. I had lots of creative freedom with this comic - she gave me a basic idea and just let me run with it. She wanted the comic as a piece of art for her, but also to use in her classroom as an example of what a real working artist does. I thought it would be encouraging for the kids to see a comic about how fun it is to draw comics :) This comic is also added to my "Custom Comics" page (there's a link on the upper right of this page), which tells more about custom comics, my rates, and more. Please check it out!