Spring Literary Festival

So, I took part in the Mississauga (My home town, just mins from Toronto! I ALWAYS have to explain this) Spring Literary Festival, yesterday. All the libraries in the city showcased a number of local authors and writers. (Is there a difference? Yes.) I was one of them.

It was a bad day for such an event, thursday doesn't exactly scream huge traffic at the library, but apparently it's always held on April 23rd, so they couldn't move the event.

When I started as an artist slash writer in the comics industry, I would go to multiple comic book conventions and trade shows every year. I hit up the SDCC for like 4 years in a row when I was pumping out work for Oni Press. It was good times, but insane times. The past two years I took a break from the convention circuit to focus on writing and getting new material together.

Over the past few months I've been missing the whole convention scene. I miss everything about a con, minus the fanboy B.O. ;p

So, doing this literary festival was kinda cool, as it felt pretty much how conventions felt, despite the fact that I and my buddy Jason Loo were the only folks who had comics on their table.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting back in to conventions this year.

I will have stuff on display at the Toronto Comics Arts Festival, that is run by the Beguiling. And I'm thinking of hitting up Anime north, as a fan. And I'll probably be at the big Hobbystar show in Toronto in August. San Diego is a possibility, but that all depends on work.

So, yeah, this is sort of a nothing post. But aren't they all?

/ADC

ps-sorry I didn't put any links. I'm lazy/busy today. This post could probably benefit from a speel check too. That one was intentional.

I'm not a sell out?

When I was a teen in the 90s, selling out was like joining the dark side. Even if you were able to maintain your creative control as a band, filmmaker or what have you, if you aligned forces with "the man", you lost all your cred.

Times have changed, and now if you don't sell out, or aim for it in some fashion, you sort of come off like a sitting duck. It's like you missed the boat, and someone else is rolling around naked on a bed of cash. Artistic integrity is sort of like an in joke in most contemporary pop culture circles.

Well, recently I came across a job opportunity as an artist that the young me would've loved. I would be able to be an illustrator and have a steady income and probably benefits.

One of the caveats of this gig involved moving across the continent, which would not be a problem. The other issue would involve essentially ignoring the past few years of my career. I've been attempting a transition from an artist/writer to a writer/artist, with the ultimate goal of being mostly a writer and sometimes an artist.

Taking this new gig, while bringing financial stability and the chance to create art full time, which I love to do(and have been doing the past decade, though hovering just above of the starving artist status), it would totally go against what I want to do. What I feel I should do, deep in my heart.

Call me stupid, a sitting duck, or nostalgic, but I decided to cheezily "follow my dream", and forego the stability of this art gig. I'm staying the course, continuing my efforts to write more.

I did not sell out. The jury is still out on whether or not that was the right choice. But I still have my integrity, right? Right?

/adc

Kissing Chaos. The earth friendly webcomic

Okay, so I guess most webcomics do their part by not being printed and shipped around the world, and more often will you find comics being made totally on the computer. My somewhat regularily updated webcomic Kissing Chaos: 'Til I Die is no different, as the comic is produced 100% digitally! Therefore no tree has perished, and not one drop of ink has been spilled during the making of the comic.

I also don't commute via a gas guzzler, or take public transportation to get to any electricity eating studio, and to this date, only one print has been made to advertise the webcomic.

So yeah, the carbon footprint of this webcomic is the electricity that is used by my trusty tablet laptop, which will be salvaged for parts and recycled when it's run it's course.

Booya. Earth Day.

ADC

me is online

I just updated my webcomic. I'm also starting to post pics of girlies at shesmykindofgirl.com

For my webcomic this week, I did some experimenting.There's a chance that I'm treading new ground here, or at least ground I've personally never covered in the realm of comics. Though, I'm not the most well read comic creator out there. I'll admit to that.

So, I'm attempting things I've never come across. Mainly, TV closed captioning style, um, captioning, for the dialogue. This allows for a 'voice over' effect, while the sequence of panels depict the envirnoment, and obscured characters. The only other way I've seen this done in comics is having a tiny little head representing the character talking along with a traditional caption.

I'm going for a sense of detachment. (click the pic to see it!)

Sucessful? Or let me know of examples in comics where a similar effect has been achieved!

ADC

what's wrong with this picture?

What's wrong with this picture?

So, the most highly acclaimed Canadian film of 2008, the historical war drama Passchendaele, grossed 4.4 million in the theatres. (it cost 20m)

Fast and Furious, on the other hand, raked in 72 million over it's opening weekend.

w.t.f.?

ADC

-who am I to talk. I would've watched F&F over Passion-what?