The weekend was as busy as I thought it would be, but what a fun kind of busy!
Gen Con was VERY crowded and most of it seemed to be rooms and rooms of gaming tables. These we ignored. What Scott and I wanted to see was the Exhibition Hall and how they had it set up. We had heard rumors, but we wanted to see for ourselves before deciding whether or not to rent a table at future events here.
The rumors we heard were true. Comic book sellers were scattered in among the dealers area and Artists Alley was specifically for those who sold art and art only. It was set up like a small gallery – not at all what we are interested in doing. For us to be among the dealers with any comic book that might be of interest to gamers would cost us $600 for the table – twice what it costs for a table in Artists Alley at Wizard World Chicago, and that is high enough. Also, what we produce and sell would be of very little interest to those who attend Gen Con. It’s a gamers’ marketplace and superhero comics would garner barely a glance.
That being said, both Scott and I wore our Johnny Saturn T-shirts (making us walking billboards for our comic) and we got a lot of attention for them – more than we had expected. In fact, the T-shirt caused one game retailer to ask us about our comic, whereby we pulled a graphic novel out of my bag and handed it to him. He glanced through it, asked a couple of questions, then asked “How much?” Yes-siree-Bob, we sold a graphic novel to someone trying to sell us a roll-playing game. Those T-shirts just keep paying for themselves!!!
Saturday night, we went to a local artist’s house where we met several other local artists, ate a wonderful supper of grilled chicken and fresh, garden grown vegetables, then gathered together in the living room for a night of figure drawing. The model, Marla, is not only one of the best models in the City, but one of the sweetest people you’d ever want to meet. I sat to one side and spun on the merino wool and enjoyed the creative ambience and conversation. We left about 11:00 and got to bed at about midnight.
Sunday, we drove to a small, wide spot-in-the-road called Millersburg, close to Paoli, Indiana, where we met for the Wininger Family Reunion. Lots of food, great music with Larry Wininger, Troy Qualkinbush, my Dad (Clinton Crowder) and Branden Crowder playing Bluegrass and old Gospel music for us after a huge meal. All of this under a huge beech tree on top of a ridge in southern Indiana. The weather could not have been more pleasant.
I brought out my spinning wheel, and a lot of my relatives had to come over and check out what I was doing and ask tons of questions. I guarantee they went home having learned something. Also, Scott took out his sketchbook and began sketching people and the beech tree, and before we knew it, younger cousins of mine had hunted out paper and pencils and were following his example, all the while keeping an eye on what Scott was drawing. It was good for the parents to hear that one could make a living at art, even if the way is a bit rough going. One cousin in particular borrowed his grandmother’s video camera, video taped me spinning for several minutes, then parked himself behind Scott and videotaped him drawing. He was one of those who found paper and pencil and drew while listening to the music. I noticed he stuck pretty close to Scott the rest of the afternoon.
Then, on the way home last night, we stopped at the Broad Ripple Brew Pub and met with the Indy Webcomics Guild. There was a lot of networking, note sharing and ideas being shunted back and forth in a near cacophony of voices. I sat, listened, knitted on a sock, and, occasionally put my two-cents worth in, but for the most part let those around me talk. It broke up about 9:00 with the younger crowd going on to listen to some music somewhere and Scott and I going home.
I am proud of Scott and me. It has been a long road toward our socializing more and the whole comic book thing has really brought Scott out of his shell. We enjoyed it so much, we will be doing more of it, but I am a tired lady this morning as I head back to the work week. An educational weekend, to be sure, but we did have lots of fun. I managed to nearly fill another 8 oz bobbin (honestly, that’s what these Lendrum Woolie-Winder bobbins hold with the finess that this merino wants to spin) and I got quite a bit of knitting done on my sock. Not bad for someone who spent nearly 6 hours driving yesterday and most of Saturday walking around a convention.
