Tag: portland

MeCAF 2015 Report

Posted on May 18, 2015 by admin

Another spring has arrived here in New England and that means comics shows are back! This is my 6th year doing the Maine Comics Arts Festival. I’ve been lucky enough to table at every single show since it started way back in 2008. This show has grown, evolved and moved venues over that run, but continues to always be a bed-rock show for me. I almost always do well at MeCAF, even in a down year. This year was no exception.

Beyond Mode 7 was very well received at the show, despite the fact I had to borrow some copies to sell from my co-editor Jesse DuRona. We’ve had high hopes for the Anthology from day 1 and seeing all our copies go at MeCAF really helped solidify those feelings. If you were there and didn’t get a chance to check it out of pick yourself up a copy, it’s always available at my store page!

Normally I’d have a bunch of photos from the show floor, but this year I was busy enough that I didn’t get to take any! This is a bit of a transition year for RKDIA Comics as well, as Jesse and I split to independent tables after co-tabling for many years, and my presentation is going to evolve in the coming season as I try to re-evaluate what it is that I want to share at comic conventions, and what the public is looking for from me.

To that effect, I did notice sketch cards were way down this year for me, and a few other artists I talked too on the floor. Perhaps it was placement (Jesse, who was near the entrance, did a ton of them) or perhaps it was just me not pushing them as hard. Either way, it’s something I’m going to take into account on-the-whole when it comes to cons and trade shows…almost everyone does them now.

I saw so many familiar faces but sadly did not get around to say hello very much. Check out the Guests List to see who was there and what they do…everyone is just amazing!

Next year I hope to be a bit more on-the-ball with MeCAF, I’m lucky and grateful that it went so well for me as I was woefully under-prepared. Sleep or no sleep (this year being the later) I always have fun in Portland and can’t wait to go back!

Cheers!

-RD

Kickstarter Sketch Card – Wahoo!!!

Posted on May 14, 2015 by admin

Toad says it all! Today is the one-year anniversary of the successful completion of the Beyond Mode 7 Kickstarter!

The opportunity to work with so many amazing artists, fans and backers was tremendously awesome!

The book will be available this weekend at the Maine Comics Arts Festival, Sunday from 10am-5pm at both my and Jesse Durona’s tables! If you don’t want to wait, or can’t travel to the show, you can still get a copy at my RKDIA Comics Shop online!

No comic page last week or this week as a result of prep for MeCAF as well as some commission work, but I should be back to regular updates next Thursday!

-RD

Portland Comics Expo 2014 Report

Posted on October 27, 2014 by admin

Rick Lowell of Portland, Maine’s Casablanca Comics is no stranger to putting on conventions. He’s had 6 straight years of a successful spring indie comics show called MeCAF. So with those experiences at his back, he launched this year a more mainstream show called Portland Comics Expo. With convention season wrapping up and a whole half a year separated from MeCAF, the timing seemed pretty good for one last hurrah for comics in Portland before the long, cold winter sets in. Unfortunately for us vendors/artists and Rick, the public interest in the show did not seem to match our enthusiasm. Let’s discuss why that might be!

Unlike the abject failure that was RockCon earlier in the year, I place no blame on the organizers of the show for it being a slow day. Rick is a great host and everything about the set up and organization of the program went as smoothly as any MeCAF I’ve been to. He kept his advertising focus on the artists attending, and unlike GraniteCon there was no extreme distraction in the form of a bunch of b-list TV show actors from a popular show. So why was it so slow?

I think this boils down to two factors: Convention fatigue and the mysterious x-factor. There are a LOT of conventions out there, more every year. I’m beginning to suspect that con-goers have too many options right now and their time and money are being spread a bit thin. The other factor, is an unknown quantity. Vermont ComicCon, which took place the same weekend as Portland Comic Con, and run by the organizers of the failed RockCon was an enormous success, according to other cartoonist friends of mine who tabled there. What was the difference? Why was that show successful while the Portland show was mostly flat? There are far too many factors that could effect the answer to that question, and it’s just the nature of business in a given year to have ups and downs.

All that said, I did make back my cost of tabling, but not much else. I did still have a great time and I also met some amazing new cartoonists. I’ll take some time now to talk about them!

Amanda Kahl is the self publishing power behind a fine fantasy epic called Age of Night.

After a brief 70’s dance-off with my table-mate Matt Young I wandered over to join the conversation and discover what this SCAD grad’s work was all about. The art style is definitely very well fit for the genre, a tight mix of realistic character designs, attention to details in textures and dense, dark contrasts to set a good mood for a bar fight!

I’m a few chapters in already and love the ramshackle group of adventurers she has coming together, full of witty con artists, innocent mages and failed attempts at debauchery! I’m excited to see where the story and this rag-tag crew goes!

Andrew R MacLean is a Mass-based cartoonist who’s Head Lopper was the most interesting comic premise I saw at the show. A tongue-in-cheek adventure about swords and monsters…and a talking severed head. Very cool, very bold, sharply illustrated with tight character designs and crisp, simple, well placed lines that express to the n’th degree! Definitely a fun romp of a comic and very polished work! Check out his blog too, he’s been doing some great Alien related sketching this month!

Caught up briefly with Christina Siravo who is a staple at MeCAF. She approaches fantasy art with a child-like wonder and beauty. Her designs are flush with vibrant color and subtle lines. She’s always got a smile on her face and one of the nicest tables you’ll happen across at any show!

I love visiting Portland, it’s a fantastic city with a lot of great comics fans. I definitely hope MeCAF continues to be a successful show and perhaps next year Portland Comic Expo, with a little tweaking, can be just as great!

-RD

Beyond Mode 7 Update

Posted on November 16, 2013 by admin

Happy weekend everybody! It’s been a long while since I made any sort of noise about Jesse DuRona and my forthcoming Super Nintendo themed anthology, but things are really coming together, so here’s an update!

As of now, we’ve collected around 20 pages of finished material from other artists, Jesse and I have an equally large amount of content in-progress and on the way, giving us so far over 50 pages of confirmed art, comics, essays, illustrations and memories of the greatest 16 bit system ever (and this coming from a kid who grew up on Sonic and Sega Genesis!) It’s going to be chock-full of great art, great stories and great testimonials!

As with any anthology, we’ve hit a few road bumps along the way, so far it’s been nothing we couldn’t handle, but the major road block to our main deadline is the fact that Jesse and I are still on the waiting list for a vendor table at MAGFest, where we had hoped to premier the book. Pre-registration for the show proper ends on the 22nd of December, and if we have not heard from the Vendor Hall coordinator by that time, we’ll have to push back the books official convention premier to MeCAF 2014, to which I’ve already applied for a table!

While disappointing in many ways, MAGFest represents the CORE of the audience we hope to get interested in Beyond Mode 7, MeCAF has always been a very well attended convention with a lot of youth, vigor and interest in games, past and present!

That said, we will still be attending MAGFest in January and if we are not tabling as in years past, we will be pushing flyers into people’s hands, letting them know about the anthology! We may even be able to use the show to pursue a Kickstarter Campaign, allowing the book to reach even more people!

Details on the Kickstarter are still pending, we have a lot of work to do to prepare for such a thing and we want the book to be completely finalized before we proceed with a campaign.

Hope all is well and remember that submissions are extended now through the MAGFest registration deadline of the 22nd!

Thanks,
-RD