w i g h t h o u s e

I went to New England Webcomics Weekend this past…weekend, the first true comic con I’ve been to since C2E2 in April. Some bullet points:

• Artists and geeks have a very odd sense of fashion. I say this for both the exhibitors and the con-goers. Admittedly, this is one of those situations where I just “don’t get it.” /old
• Having it in the Topatoco building is very convenient for the exhibitors, but not so much for the audience. My friend Joe Hilbert (I tend to call him Wylie) and I had to fly into Hartford, CT and rent a car. Hell, from any airport we’d flown into, we had to rent a car. Lord, I hate renting cars.
• Another Eastworks complaint: I spent almost all of my panel time in the secondary Chamber of Mystery room, which became ungodly hot and stifling. I had to leave during the Webcomics from Memory panel so I wouldn’t pass out. It was that bad.
• Social awkwardness abounded, probably more so than any con I’ve been to, and I’m including PAX. Putting audience with artists together with virtually no middleman…it takes some getting used to. The amount of Star Wars/Star Trek suggestions at the Quick Draw panel reached “okay, stop it, I’m not drawing that” levels.
• Overall, the panels were pretty good. I’m sad we couldn’t see Kris Straub’s smilin’ face during the live Tweet Me Harder broadcast, but c’est la vie. I learned a lot about coloring (mostly from wordfont Aaron Diaz), a little about inking, and a ton about crazy Internet fans.
• Everyone I met was very, very nice. I’d never met Jess Fink, Magnolia Porter, Joey Comeau (who was a lot less “mack”-y and exactly as twisted as I’d imagined) or Dave Kellett before, and they were all great, especially Dave. He humored me well enough to draw a sketch for my sister even while he was still setting up his booth. My Webcomics Weekly quartet-meeting is complete!
• Speaking of meeting people and getting stuff, here’s what all I got:
  • a sig from David Malki ! answering a question from Kris Straub in my Tweet Me Harder book
  • Malki’s short film, “Expendable” (forgot to have him sign it)
  • Dungeons and Discourse poster from Aaron Diaz
  • a Bobwhite mini from Magnolia Porter
  • two Templar, AZ books from Spike
  • Adventures into Mindless Self Indulgence and a mini from Jess Fink
  • Super Stupor #3 from Randy Milholland
  • the third Sheldon book and Drive from Dave Kellett
• MC Frontalot was also quite fantastic. I wish I’d had more energy for it, but I enjoyed his flows and videos. And yes, “Charity Case” really does make me want to BUY his stuff.
• I’m kicking myself for not getting Machine of Death signed by John Allison. Any excuse to talk to a Brit, Shannon, cripes.
• I wasn’t expecting to draw at all over the weekend, but I ended up doing three things: a “beaver in a wagon” sketch in my friend Eric’s NEWW sketch book, an Art Nouveau drawing for Wylie (he drew an Art Deco one for me), and a sketch of a rejected Quick Draw suggestion: Vegan Zombie. I could not let that go.
• It was fun seeing Wylie, Eric and Bill again, and meeting Diana Nock, Abby Lehrke and SamDoug for the first time.
• I came away from NEWW proud that I didn’t overspend, glad that I’d learned a lot and scared that I wouldn’t be able to replicate what I’d learned at home. The last point is pretty much a constant, but it worsens after I’ve been to a con and seen so much great artwork. It always reminds me I’ve got so much to work on, but that hopefully I now have more tools to get there.