LSCC 2015 Report

Hello all! 

Jumping right in, last weekend was the London Super Comic Con and I think it was the best one yet! Mainly because this year I was resolved to introduce myself to artists who were regulars but didn't have the courage to say hi to before. Turns out they don't bite! lol. But on a more serious note they were really friendly and I wondered why I took me so long to say hi in the first place! With each con I'm getting better though.

So who did I meet and what went down?

Returning people included (thanks for the print!) , , (thanks for the DeBalfo variant!) and who's Hercules piece I recently finished inking. I also got the chance to chat with although he's been a regular at the con I hadn't had the chance to have a proper chat before. He was very friendly and chatty and a lot came out of that conversation. , ,  Joyce Chin and Art Adams, Neal Adams, David Roach, Cavana Scott, Maria Laura Sanapo, Marco Santucci and Gary Erskin (always!).

Some new people I met included , , , , Adi Granov, Mark Farmer, Ian Churchill, Christian Ward, and Klaus Janson.

Some surprise meets where with Jonathan Ross whom I was able to show my work to when he was signing with Ian Churchill. He was amazing to meet, very warm and friendly. Rich Johnston of Bleeding Cool. Though I've seen him often both at cons and at local comic meet ups, I hadn't spoken to him before; he was very enthusiastic about my work (as was Jonathan for that matter, lol). Dave Gibbons I met on the Friday event and we got talking about the company I work for and comics as children's literature which he is very passionate about.

The biggest surprise meets were on the Sunday and both were very casual and while I was chatting with the artists behind the table. First was Brian Bolland. I was at David Roache's table chatting when he came over. I didn't know who it was but David introduced me and I was totally taken off guard! He was very friendly and we started talking about inking line weights, lol. later that day was comedian Johnny Vagas. :iconfableimpact.: had said he saw him wandering round on the saturday. On Sunday he came to the table of whom I was chatting with. Took me a minute to figure how to break the ice without acting like a crazed fan so I went for a very soft 'so, you're into comics?', which prompted a brief but friendly conversation, during which I mostly nodded while I let him talk ('cos I had no follow up question in mind!).

With the exception of  from Mr. Vegas, Gibbons, Cavana (can't remember if I did show him or not) and Adi I think I showed show my portfolio to everyone I met! The response was amazing, overwhelming really, but I also got some constructive feedback from Neal, Klaus, Christian and Brooks, mainly that I need to work on my line weights still to push depth of field. The biggest take home, I think from Brooks, was to consider the page as a whole when applying weights, not something I had thought of before; usually I just focus on within a panel. Neal was quick to point out the detail I had missed, particularly in the faces and it didn't surprise me; last year I was printing out my bluelines far too light to avoid excessive and timely touch-ups when I scan but I kept loosing a lot of detail. 

The most frequent question I got was about how fast I was and the most frequent advice was to get to an American Con. I certainly intend to visit an American Con, most likely NYCC but I doubt very much I can do that till 2017

I also attend the Pitching to Editors panel which was a little like going to church! So much of what was said I feel is what a lot of aspiring writers ignore! Or don't care about - and I find that baffling! Among the things said were the following:

'Ever seen the comic without pictures? 
If it's not drawn well why bother to make it a comic? Don't cheap out on the art, don't cheap out on the lettering. You can write a great story but you'll be judged on the bad art. But if you write a mediocre script with a great artist, you'll have a good story, so don't cheap out on the art.' - RON MARTZ

What he said certainly resonated with me as I see lot's of writers cheeping out on the art and, as I've already said, I'm all about quality. If you have good art to start with you've probably already won half the battle with an prospective publisher without having to say anything.

So all in all, a great weekend. It was a shame I had to cut my sunday short, there were still a lot of people I wanted to see. Only another 53 weeks till the next Super Con!!!