Dogs in funny costumes always brighten my day! I can't stop laughing at this!
Dogs Anthology Signing Success!
Left to right: Dogs! cartoonists Cristina Mezuk, Patrick Goussy, and Jeremy Stoll. Also joined by Carol, a board member at Last Day Dog Rescue.
The Vault of Midnight repainted their basement to look awesome! A pretty good turnout for the event too!
The "Dogs! An Anthology" release party in Ann Arbor went very well! There were 3 artists who worked on the book there: Jeremy Stoll, Cristina Mezuk, and Patrick Goussy. I skyped in for a bit - the awesomeness of technology! The audience got to hear the stories behind the creation of each artist's dog comic. Later a worker at Last Day Dog Rescue explained about their organization - all proceeds from the book will go to our doggy friends in need! The rescue is in Livonia, Michigan - my hometown! REPRESENT!!
If you're a dog lover or animal lover in general, please pick up a copy! They're great Christmas / Hanukkah / holiday presents for your dog-loving friends or family too :) You can buy it on Amazon for $8.99 http://www.amazon.com/DOGS-An-Anthology-collection-companions/dp/9384439053/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_img_1 WOOF!!
DOGS! Release Party in Ann Arbor tomorrow!
WOOF! Calling all dog lovers in the south-eastern Michigan area! Come to the Vault of Midnight comic store in Ann Arbor Friday Oct 24th from 7P-9P for the official US release party/signing for "DOGS! An Anthology"! 219 S Main St, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104
This collection of comics was conceived after a series of meandering conversations with artists in India and the US revealed a shared admiration for dogs, as well as a collective desire to explore what the world would like from the other end of a snout. In this collection, you will encounter dogs that are post-apocalyptic, self-reflective, murderous, environmentally-conscious – and much more!
Meet creators Jeremy Stoll, Cristina Mezuk, and Patrick Goussy! The evening will begin with a brief introduction by Stoll, a researcher of India’s comics culture, followed by a chat about their stories by Mezuk, Goussy, and Stoll. Possible Skype appearances by creators Mindy Indy and Vidyun Sabhaney. Questions & conversation will be welcome, and book signing will follow.
DOGS! is the result of an international collaboration between Captain Bijli Comics in New Delhi and Great Bear Comics in Michigan, along with many fantastic creators in India and the United States. All proceeds from the US edition go to Last Day Dog Rescue, a volunteer-run no-kill rescue that focuses on rescuing dogs from the “Urgent” list across lower Michigan and parts of Ohio.
If you can't make it to Ann Arbor, you can buy the book here on Amazon! http://www.amazon.com/DOGS-An-Anthology-collection-companions/dp/9384439053/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_img_2
I'm very excited and hope the Skyping goes well! This is my first contribution to an anthology as "Mindy Indy" (I don't count the ones in college as part of class.)
THIS IS WHAT YOU NEED
NJ Pop-Up Market in the "Village" this Saturday!
I must be crazy for doing another show the weekend after NYCC, which by the way, HAS SURPASSED SAN DIEGO COMIC CON as the largest comic convention in North America!! It's in the news! Right now I'm finishing up some sketches that people were kind enough to be flexible with.
But this nice lady contacted me who met me at a small flea market in NJ, and I figured why not, it's a free table, and it's in a super cute area of Jersey! Only 3 stops on the PATH from NYC and you're in the adorable Grove Street area (called "the village"... not to be confused with lower Manhattan's Greenwich Village). This fall-colored flyer tells it all - Noon to 5pm, around Monmouth and Newark Streets, outdoors! May be a good place to get some early holiday shopping done. I'll be there drawing anything for people, along with my mini comics. Hope stuff doesn't fly away, but the weather should be nice this weekend at a lovely 69° with 0% chance of rain!
In other news, the DOGS! anthology is finally out! My story "Dog VS. Balloon Dog" is in there along with other sweet and curious stories. Available on Createspace, Amazon, and Kindle! They're having an official release party in Ann Arbor next Friday at the Vault of Midnight! Wish I could be there! DOGS! is the result of an international collaboration between Captain Bijli Comics in New Delhi and Great Bear Comics in Michigan, along with many fantastic creators in India and the United States. All proceeds from the US edition go to Last Day Dog Rescue, a volunteer-run no-kill rescue that focuses on rescuing dogs from the “Urgent” list across lower Michigan and parts of Ohio.
They need to design dryer layouts like parking garages, where they can move all around or something :P
NYCC: More Awesome Each Year!
New York Comic Con was once again very awesome but extremely exhausting! This year I sketched for a few hours at the Papercutz booth on the main show floor! My first official signing/sketching block at NYCC - very exciting! First I was doing medium sized sketches, but then they had me draw on this huge easel to attract attention, and kids got life-sized ranger posters!
Back at my artist's alley table, Nadia and I did even better sales-wise than last year! Thanks to everyone who stopped by to chat, get a sketch, etc! This year quite a few people said "hey I got a sketch from you 2 years ago and everyone loved it!" That kind of stuff means a lot :) Here are my favorite sketches from NYCC:
One cool thing about NYCC is that Marvel and DC make special blank covers for some comics for artists to draw on! All this guy said was "draw me as Super Man and my wife as Wonder Woman." This is the quirky kind of drawing you get :) He was like "OMG that's just like my marriage!!" haha, Mindy Indy knows... :)
Another cool cover! SUPER ADVENTURE!
FROG THOR VS. VENOM PIGEON!!!
A clever gift! One guy wanted all his siblings as Yankees players on baseball cards. The small size is just perfect for ball cards! I probably spent way too much time on these, but hey they turned out great.
Small but cute video game characters! The guy kept mentioning "Dark Stalkers" and I kept not remembering what it was until I saw a picture and was like "OOOHHHH I saw ads for this all the time in comics and anime magazines! Visual memory, not name memory haha!
Morrissey VS. John Lennon at poker. These are the kinds of awesome things that I can make happen! Of course Morrissey is losing at the game, like he loses at life in all his emo songs :P
He loved the drawing so much! And had a super cool costume!
This lady met me 2 years ago at the Bronx comic con and is a costume designer. She had an awesome voice alternator thing that really sounded like an alien!
An Oompa Loompa and Captain Crunch... now THERE'S cosplay you don't see every day!
After all that, I had to sleep for 13 hours STRAIGHT. Only now am I kind of getting back to a normal speed.
I taught the Sketching from Life class on Sunday as part of NYCC's official programming! My plan was to draw kiwis first (simple object but cool texture), then leaves, than hands. Since the kiwis I bought were shriveling up, I wanted to wait a few days before the class to get fresh ones. OF COURSE, Pathmark, the only 24 hour grocery store in my area, was out of them when they said a shipment would be in on Friday! They are out of season, and I had no time for a kiwi hunt because both my Papercutz signings were first thing in the morning, and stores would be closed by the time the con got out at night Saturday. ELLESAUR TO THE RESCUE!!! My friend Ellen got all the kiwis I needed, and the class went really well!
Also, the Ellesaur Scavenger hunt went well too - some people stopped by my booth and got stuff! I think the hunt has even more potential for next year :)
NYCC continues!
Left to right: Cartoonists Mindy Indy, Alitha Martinez, writer Matt Miner, cartoonist Andy MacDonald, and Director of the Office of Student Development and Campus Life at Berkeley, Nicole Turnbull.
The Comics Business panel at Berkeley went great today! I managed to be pretty awake and able to not space out too much considering I got up way early and barely had sleep. Anyway we were asked great questions and people seemed to like the talk. The Berkeley peeps are going to edit the final video (with candid interviews included!) which I'll post a link when they send it.
The biz panel was a great way to kick off this year's NYCC! Although I didn't make many sales today compared to Thursday last year (it's Thursday, which should be considered a "bonus" day), I talked with some awesome people! Gonna try to rest up for the avalanche that is to come Friday through Sunday.
If you're at the convention this weekend, stop by Papercutz booth 2229 Sat 10A-11A and Sun 11A-12P to get a quick Power Ranger sketch from me! Also teaching the "Sketching From Life" class Sunday from 2:15-3 in the Family HQ - 1C02 (right below the elevators!). It's all ages, so don't be shy if you're the only adult there drawing with kids! Seriously!
And be sure to stop by my table W4 in Artist's Alley with Nadia Burgess! Fun!
NYCC STARTS TODAY!
It's after midnight on Wednesday night, so it's officially Thursday. LET THE NEW YORK COMIC CON CRAZINESS BEGIN! Visit me and Nadia Burgess in Artist's Alley at table W4! Also, my friend Ellen has a really fun scavenger hunt game http://www.ellesaurarts.com/#!follow-the-ellesaur/caos where you can visit different artists and get discounts on her stuff as prizes!
NYCC Appearances
Mindy Indy new flyers, yay!
This year I'm participating in 4 events for New York Comic Con! Made these spiffy flyers too :) Kicking it off is the Geek Week Comics Business Panel, which I posted about yesterday. Then I'm doing 2 signings for Power Rangers at the Papercutz booth 2229 on the main show floor Saturday Oct. 11th from 10A-11A, and again on Sunday Oct 12th from 11A-Noon. If you or anyone you know loves the Rangers, come on by and I'll sign your book/Rangers item and do a little sketch :) Last but not least, I'm teaching a drawing class as part of the "official programming!" Sunday Oct 12th from 2:15P-3:00P in the Family HQ - Room 1C02 (on the lowest level of Javits). It's called "Sketching from Life with Mindy Indy." Here's the description:
Cartoonist Mindy Indy will teach kids of all ages to see the world as their canvas. Kids will start by sketching a variety of objects in front of them, and then later sketch themselves! Sketching is looser than drawing and doesn't need to be "perfect." Students can move at their own pace and just have fun!
Hope to see you there!
You know what I'm talking about. That ONE box that you've pushed to the side. Inside it has things that are important, like papers for filing and such, but you don't use them every day, so you put off sorting through it for a week, a month, a year... In my last apartment, I had one such box that lasted probably more than a year. Maybe I'll get to this one after NYCC...
Get ready for NYCC - next week!
I can't believe it's only ONE WEEK til the mega-event New York Comic Con! Check out Nadia's and my listing on the NYCC official site! I've been trying to get a new mini comic together in time... hopefully I can make it! Thursday tickets are still available for NYCC fyi.
I've also been selected to be a panelist for a talk about comics and business at Berkeley College! Very excited! The room is open to Berkeley students, but everyone can watch online live at tinyurl.com/BCGeekWeekLive. I love talking about stuff like this and hope people will find it helpful.
Yeeeeeeeaaaaaaahhhhhhh so y'know how I got that new adjustable drawing table? We're still settling the living room in the new apartment, so no couch or dining table yet, so I've been eating in my room with the table on a level position. TO MY HORROR, even when I put a magazine underneath the dinner plate, the drawing surface got all bumpy! Luckily, I explained the situation to the manufacturer and they're sending me a replacement part THANK GOD. I spent so much time putting that thing together, and it was hard carrying it from the store to the subway and up 6 flights of stairs... no way in hell am I returning it and going through all that again.
New Adjustable Drawing Table!
I got a new drawing table for 60% off! WAS $200, got it for $80. I've been meaning to get an angled drawing table for awhile because I hate hunching over my drawings, and this will be better for my back. I used to have a huge 6ft table but in reality most of that space got taken over by clutter and I couldn't utilize it to the fullest anyway. With this table angled, it's LITERALLY IMPOSSIBLE for clutter to accumulate!! It also has a little side table for my laptop too. It was a pain to put together, but wasn't as bad as it could've been. It's by "Studio Designs" and I got it at Michael's (yeah the craft store).
It can adjust to 8 different angles, and you can adjust the height as well! It also lies flat like so, for when I'm doing more serious long term computer work (like Power Rangers coloring...). It's difficult to adjust the height, but you have to or else the angled part gets too low.
This is how I had it set up originally. I moved into a much smaller room to save money, so I had to get more creative with the setup. Pictured here, I found out quickly that I couldn't use my laptop comfortably, and I couldn't adjust the table to be flat (too much crap in the way). Right now I'm typing on the little side table as I write this, whereas before the side table was cornered in. Moving to a smaller place in general has made me think more of how to best utilize what you have to work with.
But I'm really happy that I made a good investment with this table. Even though I put it together myself, it's pretty sturdy! The oooooooonnnnnllllllyyyyyy thing I can complain about is that I can't have the art supply tray on the left - I'm left-handed. I guess if I wanted to, I could drill some holes on the left side, but then I wouldn't have as much space for the side table, and the side table is built into the frame... Maybe I'll just take the whole supply tray off so I can open my door all the way though...
It's a bit cramped, but I can deal. Who knows, maybe someday I'll have a real studio space with other artists. But then I'd have to figure out how to get it DOWN the 6 flights of stairs fully assembled.... #firstworldproblems
NYCC Super Week!
Not sure if I mentioned, but I got into NYCC's Artist Alley! I'm sharing a table with Nadia Burgess again, and am very excited! We're table W4 in Artist Alley. There's still time to buy tickets for Thursday October 9th for $35! But if you can't take the day off work or miss class, you can still go to all these cool new SUPER WEEK events! What is Super Week?! NYCC has wised up to the fact that they've grown so much that people who are casually interested cannot easily get a ticket. Tix are selling out earlier and earlier - it's freakin' 3 weeks away and only Thursday tix left?? So they created Super Week packed with comic-themed events all around NYC! There are over 100 things going on for free, cheap, or $$$ to fit anyone's budget. Events range from a free Muppets and Superheroes thing at Housingworks Bookstore, to lots of $10 improv comedy shows at bars, to more expensive talk shows with the stars (I reeeeeeaaaaaaalllly want to go to Neil DeGrasse Tyson's talk!!! But $45..... hmm.....) Anyone can go, and I'd like to go to some of the free/cheap ones to mingle and talk with people about my Artist Alley booth! I went to an event last week at Brooklyn Brewery (yes last week, it was that early... the hype is getting like that of the Super Bowl's), and found out that a lot of people don't even KNOW about Artist's Alley. For shame. http://www.newyorksuperweek.com/Home/ Super Week goes from October 3rd thru 12th. Ok that's more than a week but "Super Week" sounds better than "Super 10 Days."
Since moving, there are the obvious places you need to change your address officially with - the post office, credit cards, and banks are the first things that come to mind. But then there are the zillions of other smaller things you forget about that need your address, like every online shipping address for starters, and stuff like insurance and aauuuughhhhhh!!!!
Baltimore Comic Con 2014 Success!
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.
Baltimore Comic Con THIS WEEKEND!
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.
Moving!
The good news is that I've found a cheaper place to live that's actually pretty nice! The bad news is it's a 6th floor walk-up. But really, nothing is perfect, and Harlem has become a pretty good area, especially compared to some shady areas I checked out in Brooklyn. I'm excited for the move! Seems I have a couple affordable moving options (yay friends with Zip Car!!!) because U-Haul charges for all these hidden fees... gotta be careful. If it wasn't for the mattress set, I could in theory move everything via subway. Yeah it would take awhile (like the ENTIRE weekend), but would be pretty much free because I pay for the subway card anyway. Of course if I were rich none of this would be a problem, as I could just pay movers. But then again, I wouldn't be moving to a cheaper place at all in that case.
Mindy Indy Returns!
Hobbits as Queen!
Queen the band
Wow last time I blogged was before Boston Comic Con - it was overall a successful convention! Here's my favorite drawing - one guy had a Lord of the Rings sketchbook and he said I could DRAW ANYTHING! All the other drawings were really elaborate and fantastical with a variety of characters (mostly Gandalf). I wanted to do something different, and for some reason, the image of all the Hobbits as the band Queen popped into my head: all that curly hair! It was first thing in the morning, what can I say?
But on the last day (Sunday) I got sick with a cold. Odd, since it's the summer, but it was pretty awful having to keep talking to people and making my sore throat worse. I survived though.
I've been so stressed for the last month trying to find a decent apartment. Basically I want to move to a cheaper place to save money, but I still have standards. Such a hard search! If you live in NYC, you KNOW how it is. If you don't live here... I feel like I just can't convey the craziness.
Boston Comic Con THIS WEEKEND!
Hey y'all! I just took Bolt Bus into Boston and am exhibiting in the Boston Comic Con this weekend! Actually it starts Friday - it's 3 days long this year! Friday, Saturday, Sunday August 8 - 10, 2014 | Seaport World Trade Center | 200 Seaport Blvd, Boston, MA http://www.bostoncomiccon.com You can get tickets here. Just checked out the site (yes I'm IN the freakin' convention and only now just looked at the site) and Sean Astin from LOTR is going to be there! There's also a cool panel on web comics that I'd like to see if I can get away from drawing.
Oh yeah and last weekend Pete's Mini Zine Fest was awesome! A cute venue and cool people. My friend Rachel published her first poetry zine and sold some! It was nice to focus on the mini comics because I usually have so much stuff at my table... sometimes they get overlooked.
Yes this happened today. Luckily it only got on the cover and not inside THANK GOD.
Also yeah... biweekly misfortune...? Been so busy apartment hunting and stuff that it does get away from me :/
Special Interview!
I love little surprises like this! The awesome people at Bookshelf Podcast interviewed me at Special Edition NYC, and now it's online! Gabriel Lemaine asked me about conventions I've exhibited at, my work on Power Rangers, custom comics, and Pete's Mini Zine Fest - just in time for this weekend!
Don't forget to come to the kickoff reading tonight 7/25 at Pete's Candy Store, 709 Lorimer St. in Brooklyn, from 7-9pm! It should be pretty chill I imagine, so grab a drink, relax, and enjoy great reading performances!
Pete's Mini Zine Fest THIS WEEKEND!
Flyer designed by Mindy Indy :)
So much has been going on! Last time I blogged it was before the Comics and Medicine Conference, which went really well! I didn't mess up on my presentation! Since then I've been finishing the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers coloring, which I thankfully got done in time for the deadline. Oh and my friends had a wedding that displayed 2 custom comics I made for them! Pics to come. In the meantime:
I'm in Pete's Mini Zine Fest this Saturday July 26th! In my 'hood of Williamsburg at Pete's Candy Store (it's a bar that used to be a candy store) 709 Lorimer St. in Brooklyn, from 2-7pm. There's also a kickoff reading event the night before that should be fun too. If you liked the Brooklyn Zine Fest, you'll find Pete's Zine Fest to be similar, but cozier and with booze :P
Oh, Daily Misfortune, I have missed ye! Freelancing has been hard. It's great when I have a huge project like the Rangers, but even though I paced myself (literally coloring on the plane... on the bus...) crunch time meant staying up til dawn for a week and doing nothing else but Photoshop. But hey, it worked! So now comes the search for the next project... there's always a celebration upon completing a project, but then it's like "now what?" After the Zine Fest though I have Boston Comic Con lined up for early August. On top of that, I have to move because my place is getting too expensive.
Crazy Busy
Yesterday I was supposed to fly back to New York from Detroit - how the hell did I end up in South Carolina? Spirit Airlines, that's how.
I think this is the busiest I've ever been in my life - even moreso than finals in college, because I wasn't travelling the country. When was my last blog post... before NYCC Special Edition? That convention went pretty well, albeit surprisingly slow at times, with it being at Javits. But met some nice peeps and I even got to see Maki from the Penny Arcade "Strip Search" reality show.
The day after that 2-day convention, I flew to Michigan to be in a friend's wedding. Weddings are always fun, especially when you're in the bridal party :) It was fun to reconnect with friends and dance, and visit Ann Arbor again. Got to spend some time with family, but I still have that Power Rangers coloring work amidst everything, so it wasn't a true "vacation" to relax.
Right now I'm en route to Baltimore for the Graphic Medicine Conference. I'm giving a 15-minute presentation with David Brenner of the Familial Dysautonomia Foundation for our work on the comic strip "No Tears: Life With FD." You can see the whole program of awesome stuff here and our presentation is called "Comic Strip as Connection, Identification and Education for Rare Disease." At first we were part of the shorter "lightning round" talks, but someone cancelled and we were upgraded to a longer talk at 1pm Friday.
Oh yeah, and the reason I'm in South Carolina now is because my flight back to NYC was cancelled yesterday. I was supposed to fly back to NYC, unpack stuff, pack stuff I needed for the convention (besides the talk, there's a small convention for the conference on Saturday), and take Bolt Bus to Baltimore today. Since all the flights were booked until Saturday, the best Spirit could do was fly me to Myrtle Beach, then Baltimore today. I won't have all the things that are usually at my table for the mini convention, but I'll make it work with what I do have.
It's now cheaper to check bags than have a carry-on. I'll need to look more closely at all the extra fees when getting flights next time. After I got my new flight settled, when I saw it had a connection, I was expecting them to lose my luggage, after the run-around I got yesterday. Luckily I was able to get them to upgrade my little luggage as a carry-on, so no way I'm losing anything. Although the part in The Daily Misfortune about losing luggage and it being sent to the wrong address actually happened with Delta a few years ago. It got sent to my friend's address - the same one who got married this past weekend. Everything comes full-circle!
Special Edition: NYC this weekend!
Ack! I've been so busy with projects and stuff that I haven't posted all week! But New York Comic Con: Special Edition is this weekend! Saturday June 14 from 10am-7pm, and Sunday June 16 from 10am-5pm in the Javits Center. Nadia Burgess and I will be at table I-5 in Artist's Alley. That's letter " i " number 5 (not 15):
"Special Edition: NYC is an intimate event that is focused solely on the art, creation and culture of comic books. Special Edition: NYC is located in Javits Center North and will feature comic book creators, dealers and a limited number of panel discussions.
Special Edition: NYC is an event where Fans can meet their favorite comic book creators in an intimate environment. Special Edition: NYC is organized by ReedPOP, the creators of New York Comic Con, however this is a completely unique event and not meant to be a mini New York Comic Con."
This is a brand new convention, focused on comic creators, so I'm pretty excited! At least as much as can be with all this stress going on O_O I've actually got another Power Rangers coloring gig! Papercutz is getting back to Rangers roots by revamping the original Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers in comic form! Yes, the original cast with new adventures! Coloring until my eyes bug out. Here's some cool insights to the world of color you probably didn't know before: http://www.radiolab.org/story/211119-colors/
