Lakes International Comics Art Festival Report

Here's my little report on the bits of the Lakes International Comics Art Festival that I saw...

It was my first time at the Lakes festival so I wasn't sure what it would be like. To save money I was commuting up each day, which was knackering, so I missed out on all the evening drinking. Next time I think I would try and stay on the Saturday night. I had a table in the Comics Clock Tower in the Town Hall.

The Saturday started very quiet, I sold a few in the afternoon but I became very worried. I haven't done a show for a while, and this is the only big one I'm doing this year so I was a bit panic-y. Luckily the Sunday was much better and I did well in the end. So that was a massive relief. The room was pretty busy all the time, but never impossible to move around which was good. I met a lot of great people and caught up with everyone I knew, it was easy to find people. I didn't buy many comics due to poverty but traded Lydia Wysocki's 'Pancho and Lefty' which looks cool.

The show was very well organised and run. All the exhibitors got free coffee, tea, biscuits and fruit which was really nice. It made a lot of difference and made the show feel a lot more friendly and inclusive, and not like we were second class to the guests, which sometimes bothers me. We also got really nice chocolate tarts in honour of the 24 hour drawing marathon.

I didn't manage to go to any of the talks as I was behind my table all the time, or go to the How Viz is Drawn exhibition which I had wanted to see, but I did make it to the two Oliver East exhibitions.

The first one was at the Brewery Arts building just down the road. It was pages from his 'Homesick Truant's Cumbrian Yarn' comics. The pages looked really good on the walls. Some had a really different looking sort of spray paint style for the greys.

Also we went to his exhibition of huge paintings in The Factory just over the river. They were really great, and impressive. His drawing has changed a lot, especially the people, and they worked very well in black and white, and on the massive scale. They looked a lot of fun to have done. There was a lot of very interesting lines and textures.

I enjoyed the show in the end and would go back next year, if I can get a table. Hopefully it'll get a little busier for sales as it was a lot of fun.

MCM Manchester Comics Expo Report

Wow, I did amazingly badly at this convention yesterday. I ran off early in the end for the first time at a comics show to go and get drunk at a barbecue. There were massive crowds but they were totally uninterested in my stuff. It was totally the wrong crowd for my comics and was the opposite of the Birmingham Zine Festival where I did really well and had a great time with lots of interested people. The show seemed well organised and that on the day, and it was really well attended but its just not for me. If anyone notices me thinking about going to another really mainstream comics show can they please punch me repeatedly in the face and remind me that I always do really shit at them.

Thanks to all the people who came and talked to me, and the guy who bought a copy of 'Goblin Hall'.

Leeds Thought Bubble 2008 Report

I had a very good time at this one and have bought and traded some good new comics so I'll be mentioning them next week. I had to get up at 6 so I was getting really sleepy by the end of the day, just got the train home afterwards so didn't go to the after party (I am trying to save money this month as i'm skint).

I had a big pile of old books and comics to sell. I was a bit worried they might effect my sales of my own comics and also make my table look a bit like a jumble sale, but they were fine. Some people looked at my small press comics and other people looked through the second hand books, there were only one or two people who had a look at both, they are totally different crowds. I had some manga to sell so it was nice to sell something to all the millions of manga kids who were there and usually have no interest in my stuff at all. It was good to have a bit more to do instead of just waiting for the next small press person to come wandering round. It's very easy to sell other people's stuff instead of your own work, so much less personal involvement...

In the end I made £44 of the second hand stuff which was great and nearly sold all of it. I sold, or traded for stuff I wanted, about 25 of my own comics which is good for me too. In the end I had covered all my costs and made a bit of money too, so that's great.

I was happy with my cardboard wonder, hopefully I'll find a picture someone has taken of it and be able to post it up on here. I was sat next to Peter Beare and his family who were very nice even though I had to ask them for change twice. He does Dangnabbit which I had seen before at Lancaster a few years ago and is great.