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!
Celebrating 100 Daily Misfortunes!
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.
Toys on the Hudson
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!
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Wow, I realized I have almost 100 Daily Misfortunes! A little bit each day (or... almost each day...) certainly adds up!
Super Heroes for Hospice Recap
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!
Dare Devil
This is a sketch I did for Spiro Ballas, who coordinates Super Heroes for Hospice, going on this Saturday. I met him in person at New York Comic Con and he said he'd like all the exhibitors at SHFH to do a Dare Devil sketch. Can you guess the movie reference in the speech bubble?
I've been preparing for my lecture on Saturday and am super pumped! My talk is at 2pm. Super Heroes for Hospice goes from 10am to 6pm at the Barnabas Health Corporate Office, 95 Old Short Hills Rd., West Orange, NJ 07052. Tell your friends, it's going to be an awesome show :)
Super Heroes for Hospice
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!
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So the last few Daily Misfortunes have been about buses, because many Brooklynites still can't access subways (the L and G are still down). Most of Manhattan lines are running though, so that's a lot of progress since Sandy 10 days ago. Oh yeah and that whole election thing that went on? Well, I'm not a political cartoonist ;P
King Con Brooklyn
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!
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I have to take the bus to work today (shudder). I hope my own misfortune cookie doesn't come true! Since most of the subways aren't working, most of those commuters are now above ground driving in grid-locked cars and buses. FUN! But seriously, I don't want to sound like an ass - best of luck to all workers trying to get NYC (and NJ!) back to normal.
If you live in Brooklyn, or have access to a car, or can brave the bus system, or can take the limited subway service in lower Brooklyn (see previous post), please stop by KING CON on Saturday Nov 3 & Sunday Nov 4th. Admission is now by suggested donation! I'll be there doing custom drawings for people as well as selling my comics as usual. Spread the word, please! A lot of cartoonists had to drop out due to Sandy, so tables for the weekend are only $25!
Subway Recovery
The efforts of New Yorkers are amazing, and they actually got partial subway service going today. It will still take about 10 days before most lines are running, though. See the maps below:
So, you see that huge blank area at the bottom of Manhattan? Yeah.... Also, my line (the L) and many others are still out. You can get a better idea of the missing lines here:
All the faded lines are not running. SUCKS! I'm not even near a running line, and even if I walk to the J, it doesn't go anywhere. Thus:
Trying to find some humor in these dark times! Cheers to all the hard workers that are trying to get NYC up and running again!
If you can make it, please check out King Con this weekend in Brooklyn! It's at 227 4th avenue at the Brooklyn Lyceum, off the R at the Union Street stop, which IS running! Brooklynites unite for a return to normalcy and get cool comic stuff! I was able to get a table for both days (Saturday and Sunday) for only $25! If you're a fellow cartoonist and would like to get started exhibiting (and can get to the Lyceum) take this opportunity!
Hurricane Sandy: Aftermath
Hurricane Sandy update: There is supposed to be partial subway service restored tomorrow, but nothing below 42nd street in Manhattan (read: very little). I wonder if the G will be running, because it doesn't even GO to Manhattan (just in Brooklyn), but we'll see. People are working around the clock to get all the water pumped out of the tunnels. The L tunnel (the one I use) is completely flooded, as well as many others. This is the craziest thing that's ever happened to the NYC transit system. Partial bus service is going today, but from what I've seen on the news, all the roads are grid-locked.
I was supposed to do a small convention in New Jersey this Sunday, but it's been postponed. The people there are ok, so no worries, but everything is too crazy in NJ right now. I AM going to be at King Con this weekend, though! I'm going to try to take buses to the other side of Brooklyn, which will not be fun. Not sure how many people will make it out there to buy comics though. I'm sure buying cool stuff at conventions is the last thing on people's minds right now, but it's a return to normalcy. Most of Brooklyn seems to be OK from Sandy, though, except Coney Island. Everyone please be safe!
Hurricane Sandy Part 2
Hurricane Sandy update: I amazingly have power! Last night I lost internet/tv for a long time, but it's back today. I've just been in the apartment getting busywork done, so I've been productive. It's pretty freaky that the subways are flooded though. NYC is on hiatus and NJ is a total disaster. My heart goes out to everyone that has experienced devastation during this time. Hang in there.
Hurricane Sandy
But in all seriousness, if you do need to get to work during hurricane Sandy, please be safe! When I moved to New York I never thought I'd have to deal with hurricanes. What the heck?! This is the second one I've weathered through. Hopefully it won't be an annual thing.
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Misfortune Cookie Animation!
This is the animation from my book "Mindy Indy's Daily Misfortune and Flip Book!" I realized I hadn't posted it yet. It's also on the mindy indy YouTube channel :) There, that's 3 ways to watch the animation! Although it's even better when you can flip it yourself in the book :) Yeah I need to get that online store going :P
Mailing List Success!
I finally got around to inputting all the emails on my mailing list from New York Comic Con. I got 70 emails! Thanks everyone for signing up! Also thanks for printing very clearly! Out of those 70, there was only one I couldn't decipher at all (vs like 6 out of 40). Also, I noticed that the last mindy indy email didn't have the video, which is weird, because it shows up in the blog itself just fine. It's either a feedburner bug or a gmail bug. Or in the WAY I embedded the video, which opens a whole other can of worms. Techie stuff. I plan to do more videos in the future, so I gotta fix that. In the meantime, here's a link to the little vid on the new mindy indy channel on youtube.
NYCC SUCCESS!!
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!
