The Way I See It, It's Not Jumping The Shark If You Just Never Come Back Down

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My art blog has been quiet lately!  That’s because all of my art time has been taken up colouring Diaperman issue 14, but as of last night that’s all finished.

Michael has a few pages to letter still, but it’s close!  And it’ll be available at our table at the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo.  And our table number?  D14.  I know right.

Now I can work on other things: first up is my Comic Expo artbook submission, then a couple of new prints for this year, then a TDA ashcan, then TDA issue 1.

Then, once all that is finished, I’ll be doing a project all on my own!  That’s a thing, hey.

I need ideas for a “sci-fi adventures” print for this year’s Expo artbook. I’m thinking a Calgary tie-in, but that makes it a space western, and “space western” has been really sort of done in the previous years. I’m also thinking of Isaac Asimov’s work, since I grew up on that and I’ve been reminded of it a lot recently, but I don’t really have a VISUAL sense that goes along with that, if that makes sense.

I usually just default to drawing girls. Fans like that. But I don’t want to cop out, either.

Page one!

Aaaand cue the Doctor Who theme.  reeeeeeeeeeeeee dun da dun! dun da dun! dun da dun! DUN da dun!

Now I’m working on two comics on the same time, which, not my first plan.  Still!

A fella at a convention asked me if I’d draw Sailor Moon, but he changed his mind before he clarified what he wanted her to be doing. I bet he didn’t want her as one of the Judoon, the grunty-talkin’ rhino police aliens from Doctor Who! But I did.

Then I couldn’t stop with the Judoon jokes. I love those guys. Something about the leather and the stomping. Woh! Toh! Foh!

Jeremy draws Sleepers’ Mom somewhat differently than I did.  (Mine’s the one on the left.)

Michael explains that Sleepers is imagining his mom in the Black Whip’s costume, whereas in the new issue we get to see her as she actually appears.  Which would mean that Sleepers is crazy and has a reverse Oedipal complex.  Maybe he’ll snap and start Dextering the other characters!  I’d read that comic.

I drew this at the Manitoba con.  She is the one named Sailor Judoon!

Woh! Toh! Foh!

This weekend was our second trip to the Central Canada Comic Con. Well, first technically, as previously the convention was called the Manitoba Comic Con.

The thing that C4 has going for it, apart from being the only comics convention in an entire province, is that Artist Alley tables are free, to bring in outside talent and to offset travel costs. You can’t beat that.

We thought it was a bit weird to have a convention on Halloween. Wouldn’t people have plans? But the new Victoria con is on the same weekend. Perhaps people are in costume already and don’t have anything better to do before nightfall. Who knows?

Because it was Halloween, Michael wore his Jedi costume and I busted out my Sith costume. Which was awesome, and helped to bring folks to the table.

–At least the Jedi did. Seated, I just appeared to be wearing black, which is not especially unusual. Particularly not for me. But those riding boots, oh dear and unpeaceable God, those riding boots. By 3:00 on Saturday, when we participated in a Star Wars photo shoot, they had my calves in their rubbery nerve grip, and were well on their way to becoming a permanent part of my anatomy. I had to enlist Michael’s help in removing them, and it was quite the undertaking. I don’t know what the congoers made of the straining and the grunting. Kyle took pictures, of course.

Last year attendees weren’t too interested in prints, but were ravenous for business cards and Lisa sold quite a few commissions. Printed comic sales were lowish. So, based on that, we had Diaperman character giveaway cards (designed to ease people into the not-immediately-obvious-and-somewhat-offputting Diaperman world) and the remaining TDA Issue Zero, which had gone very well as free giveaways at the Gathering.

And I had the Spanker comic, which arrived in the mail on Tuesday. The wire, I was just under it. I had 25 copies and I didn’t even remotely expect to run out of it. For some reason people will not cough up $4 for an indie self-published comic–or even $2 for TDA0. However, the more printed comics you have on the table, the more professional you look.

The expected mover was my Doctor Who magnets. Small inexpensive magnets have always done well for Lisa, and last year Winnipeg was hungry for Doctor Who and Venture Brothers material.

I had wanted a magnetic display stand, because when they’re laying flat on the table they look like stickers. We found one, that looks like a little refrigerator for them to stick to. It even says FRIDGE. However, the eBay seller would only ship to the UK, and Michael’s contact in England was able to buy them but not to ship them to us in time, unfortunately.

Table-positioning-wise, they treated us like rock stars. They gave Michael and I an endcap, which meant that I could put my floor banner beside the table rather than behind it, and the corner Kyle shared with us made him the first thing anyone saw when they came in the main doors. Literally the first thing. I don’t know that it increased sales, but it certainly increased traffic.

Traffic was good. It wasn’t as elbow-to-elbow as the Calgary Expo is, but I think the room was spaced out more.

As for sales, I sold out of the Catfight print, which is odd because it’s not that new and, as I said, prints didn’t move that much before. Maybe the banner being in front of the table did that. Interestingly, kids were all OVER it–because they loved the tiny Spider-Man in the background. And the Batsignal. Black Cat and Catwoman they couldn’t give a flying eff about.

Lisa opted to stay home this year, as she hadn’t sold enough last year to justify the travel. However, she sent along her remaining Slave Leia prints, which I sold seven of. So she did quite well for a convention she didn’t even attend!

Magnets did okay. Not as much as Lisa had expected. A few of the Cyberman magnets sold to people who didn’t watch Doctor Who and had no idea what the tiny robot was. Huh.

We sold three of the $30 Diaperman Graphic Novel. The LAST three Lulu prints, actually–the two Michael had and my own copy which I had brought along for show. So, sold out of those now; we can sell a $30 book but not a $3 issue. The art in the book is older and worse so I cannot wrap my head around it.

Next year: Diaperman 14 and Twilight Detective Agency 1. Not because they’ll sell but because it looks good to have a spin rack. Magnets again. An ashcan of TDA0 that’s printed ourselves, because the remaining giveaway comics were gone by Saturday closing. And we’re out of Diaperman website postcards, too. And a blue print book–it may be time to cross that line.

Maybe I’ll Costco-print pieces at larger sizes? It’s more expensive than laser-printing them, but not prohibitively so.

And I did one commission, from a fella who originally wanted Sailor Moon but decided on Marvel girls instead. He was shy and nervous and I think he wanted something a bit more next-level but wasn’t ready to ask. But I gave him my e-mail address. He’ll ask. And I’m sure, whatever it is, it won’t shock me. —Though I probably wouldn’t mind if it did, frankly. I’m always thrilled when the Internet shows me something I hadn’t previously thought of.

As always, so fun! I love conventions.

I finished the cover for Diaperman #14.  I’m up to page ten in colouring, and Jeremy’s up to page 14.  We’ve set a due date for January 24, so things are ticking right along!

I’m almost all set for the Central Canada Comic-Con over Halloween weekend!  Everything’s packed, and 25 issues of the Spanker comic are on their way!  U.S. Postal Service, so hopefully things will work out with that.  Hoo!  Stressful.

All done!

Some of them I worked a little more closely to reference material than I would if they weren’t for free and I’d actually agreed to do them in the first place.  But what the hell, hey?  Now to (arbitrarily) number them, and spray them with fixative since whatever card stock they used doesn’t hold ink at all.

Here’s the next six C4 sketchcards!  Only eight to go.