BEST. WEEKEND. EVER!! (To date...)

I've had my mind blown several times over! And I can't type fast enough to write about it! It was Oz Comic Con in Adelaide this weekend. The two draw cards for me were David Yardin and Jon Sommariva, but I met more great artists. I bought signed prints from most of the people I sought advice from, so I'm really happy that I now have a memento, which will hopefully trigger great knowledge and skills when I see them! My favourite part: watching David Yardin sketch. He is my favourite. Day 1 terrific people: David Yardin, Jon Sommariva, JASON PALMER! I'd never heard of Jason Palmer, but his work is gorgeous and he trained under Drew Struzen. He was on a panel with Queensland comic artist Stewart McKenny, and I have to say that it is so refreshing to hear from people who feel that they have busted their butts to get somewhere. He's a really funny guy. I spoke to him after and he recommended some great books, and artist's to look at. He also looked at my sketchbook and told me to keep doing what I was doing and increasing my drawing mileage. So I shall. Day 2 terrific people: David Yardin, Jon Sommariva, Matthew Clark, and Nicola Scott. Matthew Clark was probably the most interesting person to listen to on the weekend for me. I went into his panel with my sketchbook thinking I would be able to sketch and listen at the same time. No chance. I was completely engrossed in what he was talking about. What I took from that was that he is a pretty recent artist in that he has been in the industry for about 15 years (I think he said) so everything that he was talking about is relatively current with how you would go about getting into the industry. Best piece of advice: Set realistic goals - eg by a certain age I will have achieved this. Actually it resonated with me because in his early twenties he was telling people that he was going to be a comic artist, but wasn't doing it, so he set out to be what he said. Similar to me, I've always said that I would be an animator and I'm still not there... Gotta set my realistic goals!!! Plus I just found his story very interesting. He also looked at my sketch book and told me to stay in touch - which is very encouraging when you know that they want you to succeed. That's generally what I got from everybody - they are so encouraging and want you to succeed - like a big push to go live your dreams. Nicola Scott was very intimidating and I was scared to talk to her and I don't know why. It might have been because I didn't really feel that I knew enough, as I haven't followed her work, but today I wished that I had spoken to her sooner because she is lovely. I asked her if she got approached alot by women purely because she was a woman in comics and she was so informative. I can relate to her because she said that in her twenties she was pursuing acting and at about 28 decided to give comics a shot because that's what she'd always wanted to do: draw Super heroes. So with tunnel vision she went after it. She went to the USA, approached the studios, dressed down/set some rules for herself (meaning do not sleep with anyone and be purely professional) and she succeeded. She impressed the importance of deciding exactly what she wanted to do, and set that as her target. She doesn't even really use social media because when she works, SHE WORKS! With everything that I've been told I really want to apply this. These people give great advice, but if you don't do anything with it, you lose credibility with the professionals that took the time to speak to you. I'm not going to waste this. Jon and Matthew told me to set up my Deviant art page so I'm also going to set this up... I post my stuff all the time in the hopes that I will improve and that people will watch me do it - part of why I've set up this blog - I hope I get so good and that this will offer inspiration to others on the same path. Now I have to get to work on making this happen. Bye!