Baltimore Comic Con 2012 was another big success for Comics Experience alums and Workshop members, and a great time as well.
Our second annual Baltimore "Comics Experience Meet-Up" happened Saturday night at Tír Na nóg.
More than twenty people showed up to talk comics (and more) including alums/Workshop members Chris Lewis, Elizabeth-Amber Love, Gannon Beck, George O'Connor, James Babbo, Janine & Ken Frederick, Joe Sergi, Joey Groah, Neil Fisher, Nick Dedual, Rich Douek, Rob Anderson, Ryan Murray, and Scott Dubin.
After the meet-up, some folks headed to other locations, including the Hyatt Bar. CE alum Amy Chu was there, post-Harvey Awards ceremony, and even filed her own "Convention Bar Report" after the fact on The Beat. You can read her report right here: On the Scene: Baltimore Comic-Con Night -- Part I.
Another highlight of the convention for many members was Tom Brevoort's Marvel Boot Camp panel.
For two hours, Tom shared the presentation he gives to new Marvel Editors each year. This was the first time the session had ever been given outside of Marvel, and attendees were asked to purchase tickets to benefit the Hero Initiative.
It was a very informative session and more than ten pages of comprehensive notes on the session are now available to our Creators Workshop members in our "Convention Panel Notes" thread. (You can see a screen capture from our forums of that topic and a few others below.)
Finally, the convention was a success for our members exhibiting at the show, with heavy crowds through most of the weekend. Some members were exhibiting at a con for the first time, while others are old pros at the convention circuit. One member, Chris Lewis, travelled all the way from Germany to debut his new comic, Drones!
Other Comics Experience-related exhibitors included Comics Experience coloring instructor Chris Sotomayor, Joe Sergi (Aliens Among Us), George O'Connor (Healed), Joey Groah and Gannon Beck (both of Space Corps), Amy Chu (Girls' Night Out), and James Babbo (The Moses Militia).
To check out more information on all these projects, including trailers and cover art, check out our pre-convention blog right here!
Thanks to all our members who attended the meet-up. It was great seeing everyone!
Hope to see you at our next Meet-Up at NYCC 2012...
If you want to make comics, write or draw comics, or improve as a comics creator, you'll find like-minded friends and colleagues in our online workshops and courses. We hope to see you there!
Baltimore Comic Con 2012 is this weekend, September 8-9, 2012, and a bunch of Comics Experience alums and Creators Workshop members will be attending and exhibiting!
In addition, we'll be holding a Comics Experience Meet-Up on Saturday night. If you're an alum and don't have the details, drop an email to rob@ComicsExperience.com.
Here's a run-down of some of the CE folks exhibiting at Baltimore!
Comics Experience Coloring Instructor, Chris "Soto" Sotomayor will be exhibiting at Artists Alley table A231.
CE alum and Workshop member, Chris Lewis, will be flying in all the way from Germany for the convention to premiere his new comic book Drones.
Drones is described as "The War on Terror - Now Playing in Las Vegas!"
Chris was recently interviewed on Liberation Frequency, where he discussed Drones and the impact of Comics Experience on his work.
Check out the comic book trailer below or visit www.epigamics.com for more info.
Chris will be exhibiting at the Epigamics table -- A5 -- in Artists Alley.
CE alum and Workshop member Joe Sergi will be exhibiting, showing off the latest Elevator Pitch Press anthology, Aliens Among Us.
Joe was a writing contributor as well as editor of the book, along with numerous other Comics Experience writing, art, and lettering alums and Workshop members -- including the cover shown by CE art alum, DaFu Yu.
Joe will be exhibiting in Artists Alley at table A105.
CE alum and Workshop member George O'Connor will be exhibiting, showing off his now-completed 5-issue miniseries Healed. In Healed, when all life-threatening diseases and illnesses are suddenly cured, it leaves confusion and chaos in its wake.
Reviewer Blair Butler of Fresh Ink Online and G4TV wrote it's "Fun, West Wing-type dialogue and I love the stories at play here."
An 8-page preview is available at www.homelesscomics.com and here's a brand new video preview:
You can find George at the Homeless Comics table -- A92 in Artists Alley.
CE alums and Workshop members Joey Groah and Gannon Beck (also on our staff as our new Art Moderator!) will be premiering the zero issue of the book Space Corps.
Gannon publishes and provides all interior art (as well as some stories), while Joey has also written a story inside. Space Corps is an ongoing comic series which gives the account of a platoon of Space Marines fighting in a planet-hopping campaign in an intergalactic war.
You can find Gannon and Joey at table A253 in Artists Alley.
CE alum and Workshop member Amy Chu will be offering her short story collection Girls' Night Out as well as CE alum Georgia Lee's scifi thriller Meridien.
Girls' Night Out is a collection of short stories written by Amy, each with different artistic teams. Georgia’s Meridien City follows a space detective in a world where the upper class dominates the only habitable living space on the planet.
You can find Amy at table A253 in Artists Alley with Gannon and Joey!
CE alum and Workshop member James Babbo will be debuting his new comic, The Moses Militia.
The Moses Militia is set during World War II, where four Jewish soldiers are determined to stop a Nazi alchemist’s plan to kill Winston Churchill with the undead. And it's set in Nazi occupied Casablanca!
The cover features work by Bill Wylie, Mark McKenna and our coloring instructor Chris Sotomayor. You can read more about the project right here!
You can find James at table A-56 in Artists Alley!
Best of luck to all our alums attending and/or exhibiting at Baltimore Comic Con!
If you want to make comics, write, draw, letter, and color comics, or improve as a comics creator, you'll find like-minded friends and colleagues in our online workshops and courses. We hope to see you there!
In this guest blog, writer George O'Connor, Comics Experience alum and Creator’s Workshop member, talks about the most important lesson he's learned from the comic book convention circuit this year.
Here’s what I learned from exhibiting at ten conventions this year:
If you dream of making a comic, DO IT!
Please, trust me on this. Get your butt in gear, make your book, go to some shows and DO IT. It’ll be so worth it.
For 20 years now, I’ve been doing DIY projects: CDs, short films, web series -- and doing the comic book Healed has been the most rewarding creative endeavor I’ve had yet. Comic book people just seem to be the nicest people and if you have a book that interests them, they’ll support you.
Maybe it’s the structure of comic conventions? Or that fans of the medium walk in with an open mind and WANT to find something new? Maybe it's because comics aren’t mainstream "cool," so we all band together to support each other. Maybe it’s the low dollar entry point, where people feel comfortable taking a chance for $2-$4? And maybe it just doesn’t matter.
Through Comics Experience, I’ve met dozens and dozens of creative people who have great stories and visions –- many I get to call friends –- and I want them ALL to experience the confidence, excitement, and enthusiasm I got to feel this last year...
People buying all four issues of Healed just based off the pitch.
People buying two issues and then coming back later and saying, "I read the first two issues and I NEED the next two."
People remembering the book from last year and wanting to know what new issues are out.
The kid who *ran* up to our booth because he couldn’t wait to buy new issues and his friends saying, "He wouldn’t stop talking about your book the whole drive up here."
I want ALL OF YOU to experience that. There is nothing like it in the world. And there has never been a better time to make your book and get out there.
Print-on-demand services make small print runs possible. You can bypass the whole printing process completely and put your book on the web or available through Graphic.ly. And if you’re part of the Comics Experience Creators Workshop, you’ve got an incredibly supportive group to fall back on and learn from. (Look, I’m not just shilling Comics Experience; it’s the honest truth).
Do it. Do it. Do it. Use my little wins as the fuel to get out there and make your own victories. Talk to other creators and learn from them and get excited. There’s no reason to wait. You don’t have to get anyone’s permission.
If you have a story to tell, there’s someone out there that wants to read it. And there is no better feeling.
That’s what I learned from going to ten cons this year and I want to see YOU behind the table with me in 2012!
George likes to write. A lot. He’s currently writing the ongoing comic series, "Healed," for Homeless Comics and has contributed stories to several anthologies published by Elevator Pitch Press. He was also the creator behind the webseries "664-The Neighbor of the Beast." And somehow he also juggles playing guitar in his metal and punk rock bands. By day, George is a mild-mannered copywriter in the advertising world. He once put a truck on the moon.
If you want to make comics, write, draw, letter, and color comics, or improve as a comics creator, you'll find like-minded friends and colleagues in our online workshops and courses. We hope to see you there!
In this guest blog, Gerald von Stoddard, Comics Experience alum and Creator’s Workshop member, talks about the 1st Annual Coast City Comicon (November 12 & 13th), sponsored by the comic shop Gerald founded in Portland, Maine.
This November 12th and 13th, a dream that we had as fledgling comic shop owners is coming to fruition! Finally, after all these years, we will be hosting what we believe to be a real celebration of comics in all their glory: a true comic con!
Our inner nerds can barely contain themselves as the 1st Annual Coast City Comicon finally takes flight at the historic Eastland Hotel in downtown Portland, Maine.
It has always been Coast City Comic’s mission to support not just the mainstream, but the local/indie talent as well. This convention will maintain that same attitude; a real DIY event celebrating comics, pop culture, science fiction and vintage video games.
Comics Experience founder Andy Schmidt--former Marvel and IDW Editor--will be in attendance, discussing Comics Experience and participating in the Breaking Into Comics panel, which includes Womanthology creator, Renae de Liz and her artist-in-arms husband Ray Dillon as well as author Alex Irvine and Top Cow artist Chris Dibari.
There will also be a Self-Publishing 101 panel that was initiated and will be moderated by Comics Experience alum and Workshop member, George O’Connor. Many very talented locals and Comics Experience members will be part of this informative discussion on publishing one’s own work in today’s comic market.
In July, I joined the Comics Experience Creator’s Workshop, mainly due to being so impatient as I waited for the Intro to Writing class to begin. What I did not expect was to be welcomed so openly and warmly. It was here that I began to work out my first creator-owned comic, Deadboy.
Members were brutally honest and helped me give shape to the idea, and as a result, the first issue will be debuting at the Convention. I have also begun work with Workshop member, Ken Frederick, on a project titled AM.NESIAC and hope to be debuting our 6-page pitch as well. His awesome artwork can be seen as part of Workshop member Paul Allor’s creator-owned project, Clockwork.
In response to such support, I wanted to do something to give back what has been so freely given to me, so I have opened up a section for Comics Experience alumni and Workshop members to show off their creator-owned books at my expense. So far, our Comics Experience guests will include: Amy Chu (Meridian), George O'Connor (Healed), Janine Frederick (Awaken), Joshua Dahl (Rapid City), Ken Frederick (AM.NESIAC), and Rich Douek (Gutter Magic), in addition to Comics Experience founder, Andy Schmidt. If you’d like to come and be part of the Comics Experience Workshop tables, feel free to grab your schwag and head up to Maine and join us.
The festivities will be kicked off on November 11th with a special Nerd Rave featuring Portland sensation Waranimal at Space Gallery. There will also be a Drink and Draw at a local pub and all are welcome to attend. It will be a great way to meet some awesome local talent here in Southern Maine.
We’ll also be hosting the premiere of the remastered 35mm cut of Blade Runner in celebration of the release of Exegesis by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and giving away all sorts of Phillip K. Dick books as door prizes! There will also be a PKD panel discussion with writer Alex Irvine, Zack Handlen of the Onion AV Club, Sam Pfeifle from the Phoenix, and others!
I hope to see as many of you as can make it. Just bring your awesome self’s and we will take care of the rest!
If you want to make comics, write, draw, letter, and color comics, or improve as a comics creator, you'll find like-minded friends and colleagues in our online workshops and courses. We hope to see you there!
New York Comic Con starts tomorrow, and Comics Experience alums and Creators Workshop members will be everywhere.
By our last count on the Workshop forums, more than 30 members will be attending! And quite a number of folks will also be exhibiting at the show as well.
Alum and Workshop member, Shaun Noel, will be showcasing his book, City of Walls, which you can check out at Booth 2546.
Alum and Workshop member, Monika Smyczek, will be at Booth 3047 with Moxie Comics.
And Booth 2939 will have a slew of Comics Experience creators and books, including:
Joe Sergi, Eric Drumm, Neil Fisher, and Dan Rivera of Elevator Pitch Press (see Dan Rivera's recent Guest Blog right here). Joe Sergi will also be joined by Comics Experience alum, DaFu Yu;
Janine Frederick, showing off her preview of Awaken!
This is just a sampling -- stop by and check out all these booths and ask them about Comics Experience!
If you want to make comics, write, draw, letter, and color comics, or improve as a comics creator, you'll find like-minded friends and colleagues in our online workshops and courses. We hope to see you there!
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