Hi everyone!
Following my last post you may have briefly read something about me saying that I went to Nottingham Comic Con during the weekend to sell my own comic - well, in true fashion of my days out I have decided to write a blog post about the day along with a few things that I spent my money on.
(This isn't my normal post to write about, but it was very enjoyable to go to - oh and for fans of the comic book world welcome!)
(Update: unfortunately my SD card which I used to take pictures of the day has decided to finally give up on me after about 4 years of use. Luckily all pictures before the event are on my computer - phew!)
Following my last post you may have briefly read something about me saying that I went to Nottingham Comic Con during the weekend to sell my own comic - well, in true fashion of my days out I have decided to write a blog post about the day along with a few things that I spent my money on.
(This isn't my normal post to write about, but it was very enjoyable to go to - oh and for fans of the comic book world welcome!)
(Update: unfortunately my SD card which I used to take pictures of the day has decided to finally give up on me after about 4 years of use. Luckily all pictures before the event are on my computer - phew!)
Starting off a Saturday morning by getting a 7 o'clock train is not my idea of fun. As it's winter now, the mornings are darker and daylight is cut shorter - so effectively I left home in the dark and arrived back in the dark, I HATE it! After hopping on a train really wishing I was in bed - I arrived at Cambridge at met the "elite selling crew" for the day. Oh, and we had to hop on another 2 trains to finally get to our destination (WHY is reserved seating a thing on trains?!)
So what actually were we selling?!
Our task for the term was for everyone in the class to produce their own comic books - this meant there were an array of drawing styles (some simple, some highly detailed - which did put me to shame!) a number of different stories were created and 6 of us from our class had to try and sell around 100 comics all of different genres...yikes. This meant reading my classmates stories so we knew what we were selling before we set up our stall.
Our task for the term was for everyone in the class to produce their own comic books - this meant there were an array of drawing styles (some simple, some highly detailed - which did put me to shame!) a number of different stories were created and 6 of us from our class had to try and sell around 100 comics all of different genres...yikes. This meant reading my classmates stories so we knew what we were selling before we set up our stall.
It's hard to explain how we set up our stall without any images - but we were definitely in the shadow of some amazing comic artists who had actually spent years on their own product. That, in my opinion, is commitment. I was already done with drawing and producing my comic after drawing the first page and it was only 8 pages long, so I give major props to all the comic book artists out there, because even the simplest of drawings took some doing *yawn*.
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And here was what I produced! I teamed up with my friend Samuel and we created a anthology of two comics under the slice of life theme and we named it simply: 'Another Day'. The first comic is mine (ladies first, thank you Samuel) and I named it Blushed, ironic when nothing in the comic links with blusher but it was a working title and I just stuck to it due to the time crunch when this was due. The main character Ola Lay is based off myself when I had braces and had to wear glasses (when contact lenses weren't in my life) and she doesn't look just like everyone at her school. I did a whole description in my last blog post so I'll link that here. I wanted to create a comic to get across the message that the stress that beauty brings on girls of our generation and that we really shouldn't have to worry so much about what we look like.
After my comic is Samuel's one called "Employee of the Day." His comic features Wilson - a supermarket worker who's sick of his job and just wants to help others. After finishing work, he stumbles across a girl being mugged in a alleyway by a mysterious man. Wilson's secret power of super strength comes in handy and falls for the girl he's just save. But is she really what she cracks up to be? (Can't spoil the ending for you!)
We sold ours at £2 each comic then to £1.50 - and surprisingly, we sold the most on the day! Our drawing skills combined aren't the greatest (we both admitted to this) so we weren't expecting to sell many at all. I am still so chuffed that we actually managed to sell, and even to sell 3/4 of our products was such a great feeling!
We sold ours at £2 each comic then to £1.50 - and surprisingly, we sold the most on the day! Our drawing skills combined aren't the greatest (we both admitted to this) so we weren't expecting to sell many at all. I am still so chuffed that we actually managed to sell, and even to sell 3/4 of our products was such a great feeling!
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I'm not a comic fan or part of any major fandoms, so going to this convention I did feel like a fish out of water. However, I did find the best stall ever! Hand made frames with little lego figurines in front of their movie/show. Finding this Disney princess one was too tempting not to buy (they even had a Frozen one too!) It reminded me of my old room and I have found the perfect spot for it to remind me of what my room was when I was growing up. If you'd like to see any more of these creations the link is: https://www.facebook.com/lminiversesfigures/?fref=ts or you can find them under @mini_verses on Twitter or Instagram.
The first comic book I brought at the convention was another self published comic called "Paradox Girl". This comic caught my eye when I was having a mooch around looking at things - I think having a female protagonist really did catch my eye. It's a comic about a woman who has the power to travel time and change her past - however, she's done it so often she can't remember much of her past or how on earth she got the powers. I've only had a brief look at this comic, but stories like this really interest me - so I'm sure it'll be an exciting read! They've only been able to produce the first issue - however, they've got a Kickstarter which will make it possible for the next issue to go live. Go onto paradoxgirl.com to either buy this comic or back their Kickstarter!
And the final thing I brought was this comic called "Almost Eden" another self published comic. It's based off their creators being happily married and starting their life together - the soppy storyline that I really enjoy to read (probably based on my old book reviews you could probably guess that!) However, this is all occurring during the zombie apocalypse and they're the only two on the earth to witness it all. Besides all the drama happening around them, they're completely oblivious to all of it and are just focused on their lives together - very sweet and comical in some ways! Each page is a short story - which was confusing at first when the stories didn't match very well. I really enjoyed this comic and I wish I'd brought more whilst I was there! Unfortunately I'm unable to find a link to where you could buy this or find out from them - which is incredibly annoying as I want more! If you have any luck please let me know too!
And there was my day summed up in a post for you to read! It was a different world going to this convention as I really had no idea what to expect. It has opened my eyes and maybe in the future I will take an interest in comic books, but for now I think I'll stick to books and magazines.
See you in the next blog post,
See you in the next blog post,
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