Over the weekend I had the pleasure of exhibiting at the Smudge Comic Art Expo 2015. Thank you to everyone who braved the rain and navigated past the marathon. running a few blocks away, to come to the show. It was great meeting everyone and getting to talk about the book. I met so many amazing people. It was getting to meet one young fan however, that made the long drive from Pennsylvania to Virginia worth it. She was there with her family and could not been any older than nine. We got to talk about my book and then while she looked through the book her mom and dad told me about how much their daughter wants to make comics. Being able to encourage the next generation of creators is such a thrill. I told them to keep her drawing and when she gets older to have her start going to life drawling classes and bone up on anatomy. I also recommended all of Scott McCloud's books on comics. You can find them here and they will give you a great foundation in what you need to know to make great comics.
I had an eerily similar conversation with a man in his fifties who loved comics and always dreamed of making them. I could see that it was something that he wanted to do, but had been discouraged from doing so to the point where he really didn't believe he was good enough to write comics. I hope that by talking about what it takes to make comics and how with the web, no one can stop you, that I was able to start to turn that ship around. He definitely seemed more inspired and confident when he left.
I love comics, I love reading them and I love making them. And I love that the indie comic's community is so open and welcoming. That we don't see each other as competition but that we are all in the struggle together to make the best comics we can. If you have passion to make comics that you should never let anyone tell you no.
I'm certainly not going to. Each day we get closer to being able to show you the fruits of those efforts. Kelsea is hard at work inking the comic. I have started putting in the preliminary lettering. Everything is looking so good and I can't wait to show you.
T.