FallCon was fun, though I didn't get nearly the amount of work done there as I had thought I would. I did some sketching, fleshing out how the characters in Carpe Noctem would look, and I tried starting on the actual comic, but I was very unhappy with the first two panels. I ended up chucking those and resolving to begin again with a different approach. In other words, I didn't really get any work done.

I did, however, reconnect with a lot of comics people, which I feel makes up for that loss in productivity. As far as I've discovered, a good part of getting into the comics industry (and remaining a known member) depends upon networking. I saw my friend Patrick and his friend Bill Hauser (who had spoken with me last year about the possibility of work - he explained that my work had turned out not to be what his boss was looking for, but he added that I shouldn't take that as a condemnation of the quality of my work); I touched bases with Zander Cannon (though we didn't really have a conversation - I never made it over to his table, primarily because I knew I'd feel guilty for not buying any of his books for lack of funds), each of my teachers from MCAD (Barb Schultz and Ryan Kelly), and a number of new people that Pat has introduced me to.

Barb actually gave me some very high praise when she looked at my portfolio. She insisted on seeing it, so I dragged it out from behind the CCAS table and brought it over. She started paging through the assignments I've done for Comics II this semester, and she said sotto voce, "And you're going to MCAD why?" Wow. I told her that my artistic goals had been changing since coming to MCAD. When I first applied, I wanted my art to be of a quality on par with, say, Zander Cannon. But since meeting Pat and looking at a lot more mainstream artwork, I've resolved that I want to become much better (not that Zander is any slack; it's just that his style is a bit more cartoony). I want to become as skilled as Pat is, to get my pencils as clean as his, and generally have a better grasp of anatomy, layout, etc. I want to be able to get work in the mainstream industry; while I still don't have any real interest in drawing superheroes, I would like to know that I could if I needed to in order to make a paycheck, and the Big Names are putting out more and more non-superhero titles all the time (I especially see this in DC, both in their Vertigo line and out of it). Pat says he thinks I could already do this, but I don't really believe it. Then Barb did me the favor of showing me an artist who is currently working on adapting the Dragonlance novels to comics format. His pencils were...how can I adequately communicate this? They were sublime. I wept when I saw the finished version of the comic, not because it looked bad (on the contrary, they used a very high quality of digital coloring that was close to painting) but because it meant that those beautiful pencils couldn't be fully appreciated by the reader. They were absolutely lovely, detailed to the Nth degree, a finished work, in my opinion. And light years beyond what I currently produce.

Thanks, Barb.

Carl was selling all of his books at 50% off. He told me that he's decided to get out of the comics distribution business; that he's not a businessman after all, and he's been dying to get back into writing comics. I guess I can't blame him - it was a difficult job, I'm sure. We never sold much of anything at the conventions (even with the sale, I think we probably did a total of $25 of sales over the weekend), Northwestern Bookstore only carries a couple of the titles he sells, and I don't imagine that the Church in general has shown much interest. Therefore, when I come to the next convention (MicroCon, in this case), I'm going to have to either ask Sherwin if I can sit at his Community Comics table, or get a table of my own. I know that Sherwin would be accomodating, but the fact of the matter is, the time has come for me to have my own. If I finish my homework this semester, I will have something to sell. I'll have a minicomic, professionally-printed and all, and I learned that I could just scan a number of sketches from my sketchbook and sell that as well. Bill Hauser told me that he had more luck with sales when he only had one or two books on a table than he does now, with books all over it. I think it's time to begin making a name for myself; I've been playing at it over the past few years, coming to the conventions, sitting behind a table, and even drawing the occasional sketch on request.

Overall, it was a very encouraging experience, and has maintained my excitement about comics. I also spent a little bit of money, of course. Marilyn came and sat with us all of Saturday, which was really great (especially when you consider the quality of the little fold-out chairs they provide). We got a comic called "Lullaby", which was drawn and colored anime style. Many, many people try to draw anime style but fail by varying degrees, but this one was quite good. It was about fairy tale and fantasy characters such as Alice (as in Wonderland, all grown up and now a formidible warrior called the Red Queen's Hand), Pinocchio (who has this speech pattern similar to Gollum, referring to himself as "it"), Jim Hawkins (from Treasure Island, still a boy but very much a pirate), the Pied Piper (carrying a big anime sword with a flute built-in), and Little Red Riding Hood (a werewolf). The story is fun, a basic quest story to discover why the fantasy lands are turning darker, but what also drew our attention to the book was the cover quality. The illustration on the cover is nice, but the paper stock is of a very unusual type, with a surface that makes it look and feel more like a leathery old book cover. It's difficult for me to describe; I'm going to have to take it to Barb and ask her opinion on what it is.

I also picked up a couple of books by a Japanese artist on drawing characters. I'm usually not very interested by most "how to draw manga" books these days, as I haven't liked the currently popular style for the past decade (ever since "No Need For Tenchi"'s cartoonishness replaced the more dignified look of "Macross" and the realism of "Akira"), but this artist's work is right up my alley. Besides, the books were being sold as a package deal for $8. Hard to pass up.

Finally, on Sunday I went to a sale across the road that Shinder's (a newspaper, comics, and sports chain around here) was having. They were clearing out their stock, and had everything on sale. They had a decent collection of roleplaying game books; $6.99 for hardcovers, $1.99 for softcovers, and 50 cents for everything else. I got about $11 worth of books, and wished I could afford to spend more... I also got a copy of Fritz Lieber's Farewell to Lankhmar for 25 cents, which was probably the best deal I found all weekend.

Anyway, back to the regular grind of things. Midterm is upon me, far earlier than I had expected. I'm seriously behind on Carpe Noctem; I'm supposed to have at least four pages finished by now so that I can scan them and write up a printer's bid for Barb. I have, at best, a page-by-page written overview of what's supposed to happen. Aargh! I need a week without classes or work so I can catch up on everything...