The Slow End

...of my convention season. Not of me but I mean, you never know. Ama-Con is done and the prep for Hub City Comic Con begins. HC3 will be the last convention for me for the year, but not the last thing I do. Between two different gallery showings, Ladies Night (see Event calendar for details), conventions, and Geek Girl Brunch, my plate has been very full.

Better to be busy than to have no work, right? Right? Somebody?

First up, GGB had a Book swap brunch and then the following a Pokemon Go meet up. Both were awesome and had a great turnout. We've even started getting a tiny bit of press about our events and ended up with a crap load of sign ups.

Ama-Con was a wonderful experience this past weekend and it was great to have people come up and say they had previously met me at "insert convention" and loved my stuff. It feels like I'm starting to get a bit of traction after almost a year of entering the convention circuit.

Hub City will be my one year con-iversary actually so maybe it's time I add some new stuff. I'm working on a second sketchbook since I started getting requests for another one. Debating if I should make it of my fan art sketches, originals, or both so feedback would be nice.

And because Overwatch is a black hole that keeps sucking me in, expect some stuff from that.

I'm working on getting the Eevee set as a keychain version for those who either don't have their ears pierced to wear the earrings or boys. Boys, you can wear the necklace set. I promise you'll still look cool. I'm also finally getting the Starter Pokemon drawn out and done to add to the Pokemon set.

Also debating on doing some Pokemon Go Team flash art but don't quote me on that. They take a while.

Besides that, I have a lot of paintings to work on for the Suicide Squad Exhibit and for the FFAT at Star Comics Downtown. Ladies Night is this Saturday and we're starting to move to having a featured artist for each one. This one we're featuring Kyanne Birley who has previously helped out at the event! So come out if you can!

Gotta wrap everything up everything before family vacation (so much traveling. So so much. What is life)

If you have a request for something you'd like to see at Hub City Comic Con or just in general, let me know! I'll see what I can do!

Until next time

-Sam <3

Hub City Comic Con!

After a month of prepping getting both ready for my first convention and redoing my online shop, the big weekend finally came. Hub City Comic Con was luckily being held where I lived so the stress of packing everything up and going to a different town was absent, but there was still stress. I ran out of chain and lobster clasps like three times and had the hardest time just getting change. I can't imagine having to do that in a different town. But after very little sleep but pretty easy set up, we were ready for preview night on Friday.

Now since this was the first year they have had this convention and the first one in Lubbock, no one was really able to measure expectations. Friday was for VIPs only, but I kinda figured the people that came would mostly be there for the Dragon Ball Z and Power Ranger signings. Which I was correct on. Also, we were the weird booth apparently. Go figure.

But Friday gave me time to organize and finish anything I hadn't. And it was a chance for the vendors to browse around since it was going to be close to impossible on Saturday. I got to network a bit and kinda made friends with the lovely ladies at another booth over our love of comics and Steven Universe. It was nice.

Day 2 was the big big day. General Public was allowed in at 1030 and by noon we heard there were lines. Big lines. Mind you, the convention center is like a wall-less pit. No outside light comes in so I didn't even know what time it was or how big the line was or what it was like for the crowd out there but I heard it was pretty crazy how long it was. Saturday I sold mostly stickers and charms.

I think I only ate like half a burrito throughout just because I was too busy. I did get a chance to make phone charms though which seemed to do well.

There were a ton of cosplayers though! This made me happy because you hardly see any in town but there were tons and tons! (And our booth seemed to have the most traffic so that was nice to get pictures of them)

I made back my booth and supplies cost and had an overall good time. I did pretty good for my first convention though I would probably tweak some stuff for next time. I ended up clipping displays of my charm necklace to grid and I would have liked to have a jewelry display holder. I was only able to get postcard sizes of my prints done and didn't get to finish them all or my portrait style ones. But I did good and I'm proud of myself for that.

I had Geek Girl Brunch cards out and got to promote the chapter a bit along with one of our other Officers Alex who had a booth selling her custom hats (you can check her out on Instagram and her Etsy will be opening soon!) so we had a few girls interested. We also had a Ladies Night poster hanging up so I got to let more people know about that! (Too many hats on my head but all well)

At the end of Day 1, we were all kinda exhausted. I ended up passing out on my couch before going to hang out with friends. I didn't even get to work because I passed out again as soon as I got back home. We were dead tired on Sunday morning but were much more prepared.

The crowds weren't as big as Saturday, but Lubbock is a church town so we didn't expect to get crowds until after noon. Last minute buyers were grabbing prints that day so i sold more prints and stickers and a few charms. I was even able to go and grab some prints and stickers myself from other vendors. But by 4:00 the crowd had pretty much disappeared.

Lubbock on Sundays closes down very early. Most retail stores are shut down by 6 and everyone knows that. So it was kinda not surprising. We stayed a couple more hours and sold a few things, but after a long weekend, mostly we just walked around the place, checked in with our friends at the other booths (I bugged Star Comics a bit), and packed up.

Like I said, overall my experience was good. Things could be better but it was a first time convention and I was a first time tabler so there are things to be learned. The hard part is over though. Today we are getting everything ready for the shop to open up tomorrow and I'm very excited. All my prints will be available, #Workcomics, my sketchbook, charm necklaces and phone charms, stickers, buttons, everything. One more push and then I will be able to relax for the rest of the week.

At least until we start getting ready for Ladies Night.

Thank you to everyone that came to see me and buy stuff! It was great meeting everyone! And until next time!

-Sam <3

#Workcomics Vol.1!

I believe it was almost a month and a half ago when we got the harebrained idea to turn my daily work doodling into an actual thing. A book! A comic book?An art book? Well, all of those combined. We looked at different printers and figured out how we wanted it to look, how much it would cost, what size was it going to be? Well, I'm proud to see, it worked out. #Workcomics Vol.1 is here and in my hands and I'm so so happy

Isn't it cute?! (And the paper is so nice, like omg) And its the color of the actual post-it notes! Not only that, we kept all the creases and folds and tiny cat teeth mark the originals had to authenticate that yes, these were really post-it notes and yes, my cats really like to steal them.

These may be the only run of Vol.1 so they are limited in quantity and over all, just limited edition. Vol. 1 covers from April to June from when I first started it to about when we started getting the book ready for print.

The front cover is actually the very first #Workcomic I ever did and the back is brought to you by Lubbock's very own Star Comics who were gracious enough to sponsor the book so we could get it made. They've been so so so supportive of all my weird ideas and projects (like wanting to start a Ladies Night then wanting to make a baby comic book) so I'm incredibly grateful to them. Thanks, guys!

The books will be available to purchase online September 1st on my Etsy shop when it goes live again and they'll be $10. If you are in Lubbock this weekend, I will have copies at my booth for Hub City Comic Con so you can get them in person! And first! We are limited to roughly 45 copies so get them while you can!

And to celebrate the release, on September 1st I want you to do your own #Workcomic. Doodle at work (don't get in trouble though) either on some paper or a post-it note and hashtag it #Workcomics so I can see. You can tag me on Twitter @Raico13 or Instagram @ Raicodoll. It's like an art day!

Thank you so much to everyone who has supported me and this book! And now, back to prepping for the convention!

-Sam <3

4 Days! Ahhhhh!

I don't know how I did it in high school. Staying up until late in the morning then getting up early. I do it now and I feel like an extra on the Walking Dead. Since the end of July as I get more and more stuff prepped for Hub City, I've slowly been moving my bed time back. Midnight, 1230, 1am, 2am, ?????what is sleep??? Even more surprisingly, I haven't even been drinking coffee. Or soda. Just water. What is happening to me?

Anyways, here's a map of where I will be at Hub City Comic Con

But I just have 4 more days of prep work and it'll be here! And in one week, the Etsy shop will be live again! With all new stuffs! All the charm necklaces will be listed with some new additions like:

(They'll also be available in stickers)

And also new stickers with my face on them:

and then this little guy:

because why the heck not. Donuts and cats are cute.

Stickers sheets, individual stickers, Charm Necklaces, Keychains, buttons, sketchbooks, #Workcomics, all the stuffs! And still more to come because I'm an over achiever and can't stop working. I will update you all with more info later, along with a recap of how our launch brunch went this Saturday at Geek Girl Brunch Lubbock and with #Workcomics info when we get the book back from the printer.

SO MUCH STUFF. IT IS FILLING THE HOLE WHERE SLEEP WAS.

-Sam <3

Geek Girl Brunch Lubbock Launch and Arts!

It's been a crazy few weeks and still got about a couple of weeks to go until Hub City Comic Con! #Workcomics is at the printers and so we're anxiously just waiting for it to be done. Lots of art has been finished, sketch to final, but lots more is still being done. Like stickers!!

Sticker sheets and individual stickers will be available at Hub City and then on Etsy afterwards. I have at least 5 sticker sheets planned, but we'll see how many I'll get done considering my digital cutter is being finicky with me. I also have a few more necklaces planned too and I'll update with pictures later!

I had planned on making multiple sizes of prints, but it looks like the budget is only going to allow me bringing 4x6. Once the prints go on Etsy, you'll be able to choose between 4x6 or 8.5x11.

Lots lots lots to do. I haven't slept. Sleeping is for the weak! (I'm so very tired)

But this Saturday is Geek Girl Brunch Lubbock's launch brunch! We're very excited to launch officially and see all the lovely ladies that came to our Prelaunch. It was a blast last time so it's sure to be fun this time around. We've even started planning the next one already (and I may have started planning Ladies Night too, but shhhhhh).

So there's an update. Lots of plans. Lots to get done. If you're in the Lubbock area, come out to Hub City Comic Con and say hi! My side event info has been updated with our booth number!

-Sam <3