Boy, did I have a blast at the show. I'd go far as to say it was one of my best con experiences ever. Stress-free, fun, short, and filled with lots of great people and experiences.
Here's an obligatory shot from the plane ride there. One of my favorite things to gawk at is light/cloud shadow pattens on landscape. What can I say, I'm all Miyazaki like that.
The flight itself was very pleasant. The wait to get through Canadian customs... not so much. See those itty bitty monitors waaaaay back there in the photo? That's where the customs folks were. The time spent waiting in the customs line was
longer than the flight. Jesse Hamm, who was traveling with me, finished 3 chapters in the book he was reading before we got through. I saw half a baseball game on the big monitor. It was like Canada had become an attraction at Disneyland and we were waiting to take a ride. But this was the only minor drag in an otherwise perfect trip. So really, nothing to complain about compared to the usual inferno of stress that is a convention trip. (Comic-Con anyone?)
I think I got the same hotel room as before. Loved it.Okay, so the next morning, I jumped into a cab with my backpack/suitcase/poster-tube full of my crap to get to the show. It was raining. Of course.Anyway, I get to the show which was being held inside Vancouver's biggest art museum, the Vancouver Art Gallery. (Affectionately known as "the VAG" by the locals. I kid you not.) So as I was
entering the VAG someone else happened to be coming out of the door at the same time. The guy was nice enough to hold the door for me so I could drag all my stuff inside. His face looked really familiar but it was one of those faces that you never think you'd ever actually see in real life so it doesn't really register in your brain at first, you know? Once I entered the hallway, it hit me.The guy? Ricky Gervais. Let me repeat that. RICKY. F'N. GERVAIS.That's when I totally lost my cool(the micro ounce that I have). I dropped all my shit in the hallway and dashed out the door after him. I politely got his attention then proceeded to babble and stutter like a complete idiot gushing about how much I loved his work. He was very cordial and friendly and let me take a picture with him.After I skipped back into the hallway, I agonized over whether I should give him my book or not. I actually had the books in my hands all ready to chase him down again, but I chickened out at the last minute. I didn't want to bother him any further. Also, I was mortified that he might reject it. I doubt he's into comics anyhow.Now you may be thinking I'm some easily star-struck fool (I'm not) or overreacting here, but you don't know. Ricky Gervais is one of my favorite writers/actors/comedians/whatever of all time and, as far as TV/Film goes, only running into Larry David or Woody Allen could rival meeting Ricky Gervais for me. I draw so much inspiration from his work, and on a more pedestrian level, the man just makes me laugh like no one else. It'd be like if you were a rookie baseball player and suddenly you run into Babe Ruth out of nowhere. Wait, let me change that analogy to something the readers of this site might fully appreciate... It'd be like if you were a first year cadet at the Federation of Planets and Captain Picard happens to be standing in front of you in line for the replicator. See what I mean now?Anyway, that was my thrilling brush with one of my idols for this con. I think it was an omen of good things to come as the rest of the con was very fun. It put me in a great mood to get things started anyway.Okay, back to the con report! Here's a few random pics from the show:
I love it when a non-typical comic reader comes to my table.
This may be my favorite pic of the con.
Corrupting another youth.
A sketch of the ever-popular Nancy I did for a reader.Now for something a little different... I cooked up a photo project for myself for this con. Okay, you know how whenever you read a con report, the only pics you ever see are the "stars" sitting there at the table signing or whatever? Well, I'm bored as hell with that, so instead of taking pictures of the artists, I thought I'd take pics of the people that actually
support the artists. These people are the one that allow us "artists" to keep doing what we're doing, so I thought I'd give them the spotlight for a change. So before the convention, I hatched a plan to take a picture of every single person that bought something at my table and post the pics up on a con report afterward. Unfortunately, I often forgot about it due to the million things going through my head manning a table by myself, but I did capture a good 2/3 or so of these fine patrons. My apologies to those whom I forget to snap a pic (if you wanted to be involved.) Also, I realize a lot (if not
most) of these supporters are also artists themselves, which make them doubly cool. Anyway, without further ado, here they are!
My big thanks to all of you for your support! I really appreciate it.A few results and thoughts on this photo project:-I was really nervous about this at first, thinking a lot of people would be creeped out or be uncomfortable with it, but only
1 person declined to be photographed. I was really surprised by that. I guess I shouldn't have been though in this age of youtube and blogs.-I was particularly nervous about asking when it happened to be a lone woman who was buying something. I was mortified that they might think I was some sleazeball hitting on them with some pretense of an "art project." Or that I was going around just taking pictures of cute girls or something. So before asking any lone woman, I went on this long-winded disclaimer about what I was doing and explaining the project and that I swear I wasn't hitting on them, etc etc. And of course,
that seemed to creep them out way more than anything else. Yeah, I'm smooth like that. Luckily they all seemed to be cool with it. (at least to my face) Yay!-Just seeing the veritable rainbow of readers fills me with joy. Every time you read some mainstream write-up of Comic-Con or some equivalent, there's always this really dismissive, broad-stroke description of the "comic book reader." And it's just not really true. I had people of every race, age, shape, gender, major, and profession come up to my table. And this is just a small sampling, as it was only a one day con.-Not to get too sappy, but I love seeing all these faces in one big happy picture.My only regret of the show is that I didn't get to roam around like the last time I was in Vancouver. It's getting harder and harder for me to just check out a show when I'm tabling at one. Not that there's people at all times at my table, but whenever there isn't, I have something to draw for someone who could come by anytime to pick it up. Oh well, I'm not gonna complain! It sure beats the years and years of being a completely obscure cartoonist.Anyway, time to wrap this up, I got work to do! Once again, big thanks to everyone that came out to the show, and my biggest thanks to the organizer of the show, the great, grammar and alcohol-fueled Leonard Wong, for having me up there!(No thanks to Steve Rolston for stealing my money on his damn gambling wheel. It's rigged.)
My big thanks to all of you for your support! I really appreciate it.A few results and thoughts on this photo project:-I was really nervous about this at first, thinking a lot of people would be creeped out or be uncomfortable with it, but only 1 person declined to be photographed. I was really surprised by that. I guess I shouldn't have been though in this age of youtube and blogs.-I was particularly nervous about asking when it happened to be a lone woman who was buying something. I was mortified that they might think I was some sleazeball hitting on them with some pretense of an "art project." Or that I was going around just taking pictures of cute girls or something. So before asking any lone woman, I went on this long-winded disclaimer about what I was doing and explaining the project and that I swear I wasn't hitting on them, etc etc. And of course, that seemed to creep them out way more than anything else. Yeah, I'm smooth like that. Luckily they all seemed to be cool with it. (at least to my face) Yay!-Just seeing the veritable rainbow of readers fills me with joy. Every time you read some mainstream write-up of Comic-Con or some equivalent, there's always this really dismissive, broad-stroke description of the "comic book reader." And it's just not really true. I had people of every race, age, shape, gender, major, and profession come up to my table. And this is just a small sampling, as it was only a one day con.-Not to get too sappy, but I love seeing all these faces in one big happy picture.My only regret of the show is that I didn't get to roam around like the last time I was in Vancouver. It's getting harder and harder for me to just check out a show when I'm tabling at one. Not that there's people at all times at my table, but whenever there isn't, I have something to draw for someone who could come by anytime to pick it up. Oh well, I'm not gonna complain! It sure beats the years and years of being a completely obscure cartoonist.Anyway, time to wrap this up, I got work to do! Once again, big thanks to everyone that came out to the show, and my biggest thanks to the organizer of the show, the great, grammar and alcohol-fueled Leonard Wong, for having me up there!(No thanks to Steve Rolston for stealing my money on his damn gambling wheel. It's rigged.)
