TCAF went extremely well. Fantastic people, an eager crowd and a wonderful location came together to make it a great show. Unlike many of the bigger cons, the show itself was just as fun as the after-hours socializing.

Seeing old friends and making new ones is always an important part of the cons for me. TCAF had so many incredible guests and it was a blast getting to know some of them better. Little conversations, fun interactions and silly photos... independent comic people kick all kinds of ass.

The panel I was a part of on Saturday afternoon went well. Chatting about my painting process and getting to talk a bit about my thoughts on digital art with Bobby Chiu, Atilla Adorjany, James Jean, Jose Villarubia and an attentive crowd was great. After that panel a lot more people recognized me and came by my table.



Once the show started rolling I had a decent amount of foot traffic. I learned a lot since MoCCA and had more things for people to browse through to keep them at my table longer. That, in turn, gave them a chance to explore my work more and ideally decide to buy a book or art print. It was really nice and relaxed. I sold out of my smaller Gir and Cap'n Crunch prints and made quite a dent in my Zim art print pile. I'm probably going to bring my leftovers to PAX this weekend and see if I can't sell the rest off.

I asked a ton of the people who came by my table how they heard about the show and their answers were incredibly varied - the Toronto Star article, Now Magazine, Eye Weekly Magazine, Facebook, friends, all sorts of different avenues. The TCAF gang did their damnedest to get the word out and it definitely paid off.

There have been quite a few times over the past four years that I haven't felt like an artist. The management and teaching sides of my job have been overpowering and it's made it difficult to keep up with my own artistic growth. The TCAF show felt like a bit of a vindication and made me a lot more at ease about the artwork I'm creating. All three aspects of my career (creating, managing and teaching) are valid and worthwhile... I know this, but events like TCAF help solidify that in my brain a bit better.

Last night was the wrap-up party. Everyone I talked to seemed really happy with the crowd, their sales and the show as a whole. Afterwards, Kean and I took out a tight-knit crew of 6 for karaoke and rocked until the wee hours.



Good times.

PS: Caricature master Joe Bluhm busted out amazing renditions of a pile of the TCAF attendees and guests over the course of the weekend. Here's mine:


Doodle page I created on the Sunday of the show while manning my table: