WonderCon 2011 Report

Well gang, Wondercon 2011 was truly an incredible step forward for me as an artist.I want to thank everyone who stopped by the table to say hey, and to everyone who bought a book, I LOVE YOU! :-)

I really hope you enjoy our Steampunk anthology and hope you will pick up Strampunk #2 once we've completed it.

What I'd like to share with everyone I think will be useful to anyone preparing for, and getting the most out of a convention like WondeCon.

1st, The mundane things to learn about tabling at a comic book convention.

1. Take a cushion! OUIe veY! the seats must have been stolen from a kindergarten, the little plastic butt bucket kind. So I stood a lot. :o)

2. It really takes two! I'm so glad to have had my son with me. He sat with me for a good portion of the day on friday & went in early to help me set up. came to my rescue for a potty break every now & then, but we really need to have two at the table, especially when it's busy.

3. Bring a table covering. Fortunately I thought of that. they provided a table cover and table drape in the small press area, but you need something to cover up the goods when the day is done so as not to load & store everything everyday.

4. Bring plenty of STUFF to sell & talk about! I was amazed at the shier lack of stuff at some of the booths. They spent $300 bucks to display a few ashcans, post cards and few cheepy magnets to sell WHA? Dude! I mean not even a finished book to sell. Be-leave me, We had PLENTY!

2nd. Presenting yourself. I am a very gregarious guy. (my family would say hyper. :o) but this is important so here is a few observations I made of where some folks went wrong.

Don't just sit there sketching all day, and DONT BARK!

People will first walk by and glance at the table. if you look at them, smile & just say hi, that puts most of them at ease and they continue looking.

if you get too forward, "HI there! come see my stuff! don't you like stuff? well this is really good stuff! Come on! Have a look at my stuff!" you will run them off.

I would often be posting to twitter, just glance up and say hi or just smile & they would keep looking. Some folks are just too shy. they do not want to be pressured to converse with you, so just try to let them know they are welcome to come up and look. You can tell when they want you to make the first move and say something by making those quick & fleeting glances at you. so I would just say "Are you enjoying the con?" and we would then have a nice conversation. if they had a portfolio in hand, "are you an artist yourself?" If a family with kids walked by, "Hey there, kind of hard to find family friendly stuff isn't it?" Then Sunday I learned a VALUABLE secret. "I'll get to that later. :o)

so don't hide from & don't bark at the people!!!

And of course all the, "Take a shower nightly, use deodorant and floss kind of thing too. :o)

3. Take the time to get to know those tabling near you.

http://www.trinarobbins.com/Trina_Robbins/Welcome.html Trina Robins was my next door neighbor across the way Dani Dixon with toumblecreekpress.com I mean you never know how a connection will help in the long run and you just might need them to watch the table for a quick potty break. :o)

Now to the last important thing I learned. "LETS MAKE A DEAL!" Sunday Archaia started selling books at buy two, get THREE FREE! FIVE BOOKS for the price of TWO!!! WoW! This got me thinking. My B&W economy comics weren't selling so taking their lead I got smart. As a family would walk by almost all would stop & try to pronounce the name. I DISCOVERED MY GIMMICK! My hook! my, "I remember that guy!" kind of thing! If the kidos would make an effort to pronounce the name I would sign & give them a free copy! ZING!!! this brought one of the key elements in the story out in the presentation and into the memory of the audience! You should have seen the smiles in those kids faces, and in their parents faces. Here in the middle of all this questionable & not so family friendly fare was someone taking an interest in their kids and having a bit of fun with them. There are now 50, maybe 60 families out there reading my work & getting there kidos involved in reading!!!

Got some amazing feedback. Here was a BIG one, Joe Ferrara Owner ofhttp://atlantisfantasyworld.com/ out of Santa Cruz stopped at the table. he has owned and run this shop since 1976, won the Eisner "Spirit of Comics" Retailer Award. He KNOWS his stuff. (I know he knows because his wife kindly told me after he left to listen to him He gave me the name of a distributor who can get our books into Diamond. He said local comic book shops are looking for this very thing. Suggested I go see Dave who owns our local shop. "I know He will want to see this." And he did! Thanks Dave Allread of HEROES 110 E. Shaw Ave. Fresno Ca. For the first time anywhere my kids comics and our Anthologies are available for purchase by the general public at a Brick & mortar store!

A Special word of Thanks to the folks at Ka-Blam! Digital printing Guys, there is no way I can thank you enough. The anthology came the day we left for San Francisco. I was so elated! I Can only say that I truly wish you guys continued success and my you GROW and expand and find you some good people to add to the crew. You guys need to get some sleep every once & awhile you know?

And to the folks at GOTPRINT.com We were loaded up, had picked up my sons friends and what do you know? The banner for the anthology arrived just in time!!! Every thing fell into place just like it was meant to be. you gotta go gotprint.com for all your promotional printing needs! WoW Sounds like a commercial. :o)

The week before

WonderCon here I come!

WonderCon is a little over one week away and I think I'm ready. One thing I wanted to share is the importance of doing a test set up to make sure the presentation will work.

Now my kitchen table isn't quite 8 ft wide, so I will have a bit more room to spread things out a bit, but I think the basic plan will work. Doing this test set up also lead to me ordering a banner for the Steampunk anthology. Another 3x4 to hang beside my one for Ouwangalaymah! I hesitated, because I don't even have my copies yet( AHHHH!) but my faith is in Ka-Blam!

and in UPS. they are Scheduled to ship out thursday from Florida. You just watch, the UPS guy will drive up just as I'm driving off! But at least I'll have this Banner for future cons too.
Now that the programming has been announced, I'm feeling a bit sad. There are some super programs that I would LOVE to attend this year. At 4:30 on Friday the topic "Indy Comics Marketing 101" is the subject. Perhaps I will be able to bribe my son to watch the table for me for that one. Plus all the other Screening and events going on this year Check it out!

http://www.comic-con.org/wc/wc_prog.php

All in all, I couldn't be more excited. Nervous and anxious, but optimistic! I will try to share as much from the show as I can via my Droid phone & such. I'll take along my HD camcorder as well. (Perhaps another bribe will encourage my son to record the stuff I gotta miss.)

Stay tuned, Check back. I hope that my sharing the experience be of use to those who are considering this insane course of action!

Con Preparation 101

The Farmer In The Dell

and other

Special Prints for WonderCon 2011

There is so much to consider when preparing for tabling at a convention. Listen to me talk, like I've done this before, but there is, and I thought I'd share with you things that I have found to be helpful.

#1. Podcasts. Especially Art & Story #124 The Big Convention Field Guide

in this episode, Jerzy Drozed & Mark Rudolph spell it out. all you need to know as well as a link to a very helpful spread sheet that details the costs you might expect.

#2 Ka-Blam.com No point in having a table if you have now wares to sell.

There is no better POD service for comics in the world. and as long as you get all your files right, your books will arrive perfect and on time if you send them early

enough. I would recommend a minimum of two months lead time on a new book. they

now have a 10 day turn around for reprints so that is good news, but on new titles, the

bigger the window the better.

#3 GotPrint.com for SWAG. Post Cards Business cards, Flyers & such

you have to invest generously in free stuff! Every one loves Free stuff. Convention Swag is a tradition and one of the best ways to get your message across to attendees with a hope for future business. Also Banners! you gotta have Banners and GorPrint.com is the BEST source for all this, and FAST!!! It is usually just a 4-5 day turn around for me. 500 post cards 3.5x5.5 run around $12.00 bucks! with full color front & Black & white Back. a 4'x5' Banner in the neighborhood of $34. Full color glossy reinforced vinyl!

#4 MORE STUFF! Buttons, Magnets, Coffee mugs, Etc.

For this I gotta sing Zazzles praises! Keep watch on their 4 hour specials. I've takes advantage of a 50% off mug sale, and a 50%off Magnet sale. Excellent quality. and making a 50% profit aint bad either. You just need to be diligent and watch for the specials.

For buttons I'm trying Busy Beaver Buttons. Reasonable prices and I've heard good quality.

It always helps to have tie ins to your books and why not take advantage of these?

#5 All the other stuff.

You will need:

❶ A cash box... with cash for change.

❷ Receipt book. I'm taking a couple with carbonized pages. Important for record keeping!

❸ Display materials. I purchased clear lucite 8x11 displayers from Office Max for $7.99 each.

this will allow you to display your wares vertically, perhaps setting on a pile of the sale copies.

❹ A folding dolly. I got a great one called a Magna cart for $21.98 at Sam's Club.

❺ A way to display your Banners. I'm experimenting with a rather inexpensive PVC pipe

system. (Working at a hardware store these things come to you.) It is lite, CHEEP! and

very portable. Hope it works.

❻ All the other stuff your bound to forget.

#6 self run prints, limited, exclusive editions, signed by you the artist.

This is something that I hope works out. Provided that you get good results from your printer.I have a wide format hp office jet K8600. I can print up to 13"x19" border-less prints. A pack of 20, 13x19 high gloss photo paper from office max ran $34@ and many prints this size go for

around $20-$40 at these cons, so if you pick a few of your BEST work to print out & personalize for potential patrons, and smaller 8x10's for $5.00 you might just have a little more revenue to make up for your expenses. Think of doing a special design that you will limit and sell only at said event. WonderCon special. Just might get some attention.

At any rate, these are just a few of the things that I have taken into consideration in my preparing for this event. If you are planning on attending WonderCon 2011 I do hope you will stop by Small Press area #14 and say hello!

See you at the show!

Steampunk Anthology Trailer

I just wanted to share the trailer for our Steampunk anthology. you can view it

Here; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4R0Bp3H8LAc

30 copies available at WonderCon

Folks, we are down to the wire, the files are in, the order has been placed, and now the waiting begins. With expedited service at Ka-Blam! we should have 30 copies available of our 8 A Steampunk Anthology. I'll be on pins & needles until that package arrives!

Now that our second collaborative project is wrapping up, Life on the Illopond is starting to really sing! new members, a new look, a more easily navigated and intuitive user experience.

Here is a sort of mission statement designed by our own Lee Wiley that sums up what te pond is all about.

The Travails of a Sky Captain

It has been quite a while since my last post. The duties of a sky captain prohibit much of the activities outside ones responsibilities, but none the less, an up date on our progress as a group is in order.

We have past the first deadline of February 1st, missed the second of the 16th, and now we are careening headlong into our third extension for the end of the month. We began this excursion some five months ago,

Sept 26th at 9:13 am the call went out for artists to join in the development of or second Illopond creative collective project, "8 A Steampunk Anthology".

The project was embraced immediately with enthusiasm and an amazing battalion of artists joined forces to tackle this mountain. As the "Captain" of the project it has been my duty to steer the ship, to keep it on course, and to rally the troops into fighting. Alas, as captain, I also bare full responsibility for the troops in my lead. The going has been quite difficult. Two of our brave young lads feel by the wayside. Many have had the economics and unforeseen troubles of this life beat them down. However. WE ARE NOT OUT! WE HAVE NOT GIVEN IN!! WE WILL PREVAIL!!!

I am looking at the turnaround time at Ka-Blam! and I suddenly have the shock and horror a true Captain of war must feel when it looks as if the battle is lost. Like Luke in the trenches of the Death Star we hear the voice of our mentor saying, "Stay on target!"

Sure it is going to cost. I knew that at the very inception of this project. But we must carry on. I have responsibilities to my troops.

And I urge them to carry on! I can't emphasize enough the opportunity that my representing our efforts at WonderCon will present to our Cadre, our group. To my men who have valiantly faced the enemy, fought the fine fight, and have the laurel of victory in their hands I salute you with all due appreciation, respect and admiration. To those who have fallen, your captain is here for you. you will not be left behind. all I ask is that you complete you assignment with all due dispatch and haste. I am PRUOD of my troops, and will remain so till the end.

it is FINNISHED!

I have finished the 8 page prolog to GREW entitled, For The Public Good. I must sing the praises of my fellow Anthologists involved with the SteamPunk project we have going over at the Illopond.com They have done MAGNIFICENT work! If you haven't been introduced, please let me now do so.

Paul Caggegi of the Process Diary podcast He dose magnificent work in a 3D program called Blender his podcast centers on tutorials in Blender and are SEAMLESS! perfectly conducted to Whet the Appetite of any creative interested in trying their hand at 3D rendering.

Pauls contribution to the project is a Magnificent Asmiovian sci fi Chiller of a man transformed into an immortal, bound to the ship which has taken him to the end of the solar system.

DATA POINT take a peak at his process.

Mark Harmon of Harmon Illustration is a talent bound for greatness, and a great guy of which I am proud to associate with. His contribution is a comic Romp of a tale.

PEST CONTROL His Characters Conrad & Trigger provide a bit of light hearted Levity to the heaver segments of our book.

Lee Wiley of http://www.wileyillustration.com/ Strings an emotional and action packed story of young mans dream to find a world beyond the post apocalyptic dregs of an existence and find a purpose, a greater reason to his being. Thwarted, but never defeated in his quest.

EXODUS

Clint Sutton of http://www.clintsuttonart.com/ adds another Light hearted comic to the mix with his witty and warm hearted STARJUNKERS Clint hales from South Africa! What an experience to meet and work with such a talented brother. I hope for much more to come from our efforts here.

Zach Bosteel of http://zachbosteel.com/ brings some comic adventure to us through his story THOROUGHBRED When a Brilliant, if somewhat bungling inventor and impetuous daughter wrangle with the mishaps of his invention, a Steam Locomotive that is able to lay it's own tracks.

Warren Belfeild http://www.warrenbelfield.com/ shares with us a story of a Mans Duty to his family and country. A history of sacrifice in the name of liberty and it's all to human costs.

DECISIVE MOMENTS is a humanly heavy piece that will move you to question the cost of war.

Carsten Bradley has joined us to round out our 8 story anthology. his story;

Tamerlaine Waller & the Tentative Temporal Time Thief is a warm hearted tale of a Sleuthing Hamster named Tamerlaine Waller. His Arch nemesis, an evil Owl named Galbraith is not all what he appears to be.

Be sure to watch for a podcast interview posted to the Process Diary this week end.

five of us discuss what we are doing and why. I hope you listen in and even more, get involved in a project over at the Illopond.com