{"id":99,"date":"2007-06-18T09:09:21","date_gmt":"2007-06-18T15:09:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chriswisniaarts.com\/blog\/?p=99"},"modified":"2010-04-26T11:52:38","modified_gmt":"2010-04-26T17:52:38","slug":"day-one-ape-con-april-8-2006","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chriswisniaarts.com\/blog\/archives\/99","title":{"rendered":"93. DAY ONE: APE-CON, April 8, 2006"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/o:p>This is the first con I brought my laptop, and am writing at the con, when things are slow, to make sure I keep updated as to what things happen. <\/span><\/p>\n

I came to the con feeling, this was basically my worst con last year for sales, and it basically felt like a waste of time being there. <\/span>This year I brought a laptop, I brought a stack of Kirby monster reprints from the \u201870s, I brought paper and a ruler and pencils and pens in case I wanted to start drawing. <\/span>I figured, if I just sat and drew or wrote for the entire two days, at least I\u2019d get something done.<\/p>\n

The first few hours were totally dead. <\/span>Shockingly dead. <\/span>No one was anywhere on the floor, and I\u2019m not just talking the upper area tucked in back (where I was, for the second year in a row) that no one can see. <\/span>I\u2019m talking not even the lower level had any foot traffic. <\/o:p><\/p>\n

TALKING TO INDIE ARTISTS<\/h1>\n

I spent a fair amount of time walking around and saying hello to all the indie artists I\u2019m meeting and seeing at all the cons. <\/span>Each convention, we befriend a few more people, who we sit by or near. <\/span>And now I\u2019m realizing I have so many people to go say hi to. <\/span>It\u2019s a lot of work. <\/span>But I think it\u2019s important to keep in touch and see how they\u2019re doing and what they\u2019re up to. <\/span>A lot of them pop by the table and ask if I have anything new. <\/span>Like they want to keep buying my stuff. <\/span>It\u2019s very rewarding knowing I\u2019m beginning to build a fan-base of admirers, at least amongst the industry. <\/span>Even though I still don\u2019t sell many books, and there are just a few of these people out there. Even so, it helps me to fantasize that I\u2019m a minor superstar of indie-books. <\/o:p><\/p>\n

One person said they enjoy all the text I put in my comics. <\/span>This is something I\u2019ve often struggled with, because obviously I put way too much text in all my books. <\/span>And I think it gets worse every issue.<\/p>\n

Have you seen the Crumb documentary, where his brother drew comics as a kid, and each comic he did had more and more text, until finally there were just little tiny heads in the bottom corners of each panel, and eventually the drawings just disappeared? <\/span>That\u2019s my fear. <\/o:p><\/p>\n

I have a friend who says my writing style reminds him of Ted Kosinski. <\/span>I ramble and ramble and fill pages and pages with undecipherable nonsense. <\/span><\/p>\n

On the one hand I feel like I could use an editor, but on the other, I kind of sickly enjoy putting so much text. <\/span>I work and fret over every sentence, and realize it\u2019s way too much, but want to say every little thing I squeeze in. <\/o:p><\/p>\n

So at the con, this person who said he liked my text, he said it reminds him of Dave Simm\u2019s Cerebus comic. <\/span>I found that similarity interesting, because during my formative years, I loved Cerebus, and read all the text he included. <\/span>At some point, in college, when I slowed down reading comics, I still enjoyed Cerebus and wanted to keep reading through them, but I knew what a commitment it would be, trying to get through all his text. <\/span>Each issue would take me way too long to finish. <\/span>I didn\u2019t even necessarily agree with whatever he had to say. <\/span>But for me, there was something about getting all the additional insights into his work. <\/span>And perhaps more importantly, I really enjoyed how it helped me to know who this person was who was making this comic. <\/span><\/p>\n

I told myself I could just not read all his text, but I couldn\u2019t get myself to do that. <\/span>I always feel like I have to read through something, and ingest all of it. <\/span>I find I have to finish a novel I\u2019ve started, even if I don\u2019t enjoy it. <\/span>I can\u2019t turn a shitty movie off. <\/span>It\u2019s a perverse, maybe slightly neurotic (autistic?) problem I have. <\/span>So isn\u2019t it interesting that my love\/hate of these kinds of text pages would develop and mutate in my own comics. <\/span>And isn\u2019t it interesting that someone is nurturing that sick habit of mine, and encouraging me to continue. <\/o:p><\/p>\n

Someone asked about commissioning me to draw a monster again. <\/span>I told him I\u2019d recently done one for $100, and he said he\u2019d pay me at least $125. <\/span>Uh oh\u2026Two requests for commissions in two conventions. <\/span>Does this mean my rates are going to have to go up now?<\/p>\n

It makes me think I should start bringing original art to conventions to sell. <\/o:p><\/p>\n

This weekend, one self-publisher I see and say hi to all the time came over and actually looked at my stuff for the first time. <\/span>I don\u2019t think he realized that I have such a roster of pin-up artists. <\/span>He looked dumbfounded flipping through my book. <\/span>And then he realized I\u2019d done a book with Sam Kieth. <\/span>He got real quiet about it. <\/span>Then he kind of timidly asked if I might ever do a pin-up for his book, and I told him I\u2019m just so busy trying to do all my own projects right now, I just don\u2019t have time. <\/span>I feel sad, using the same excuses I\u2019ve heard everyone say to me. <\/span>Now I understand how they feel, and it\u2019s nothing personal, but there just isn\u2019t enough time in the days to get things done you\u2019re passionate to be working on. <\/span>Now I\u2019m that guy who people are starting to ask. <\/span>It\u2019s flattering, but a little scary.<\/p>\n

In addition to this newly-developing phenomenon (or perhaps it\u2019s all a related phenomenon), a few artists once again asked if they could draw me a pin-up, and if I would publish it in my book. <\/span>What I am learning to tell them, whether it\u2019s polite enough or not, is that there are only so many pages in my books, and I have so many stories to tell, and I just don\u2019t really have the room to publish pin-ups of anyone but my idols and people who personally influenced me. <\/span>But I am doing a links page at my website, and I\u2019d love if they would contribute something I could post there. <\/span>And I would love it, and I\u2019m loving it every time I got one in my emails. <\/span>I think it\u2019s gonna be a really cool links page.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the first con I brought my laptop, and am writing at the con, when things are slow, to make sure I keep updated as to what things happen. I came to the con feeling, this was basically my worst con last year for sales, and it basically felt like a waste of time […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-diary-of-a-struggling-comics-artist"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"woocommerce_thumbnail":false,"woocommerce_single":false,"woocommerce_gallery_thumbnail":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"cwisnia","author_link":"https:\/\/chriswisniaarts.com\/blog\/archives\/author\/cwisnia"},"uagb_comment_info":1112,"uagb_excerpt":"This is the first con I brought my laptop, and am writing at the con, when things are slow, to make sure I keep updated as to what things happen. 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