Castle Greyhawk And Conventions

Last weekend I had the pleasure to attend the Schaumburg Township District Library Comic Con with my co-conspirator from the Castle Greyhawk webcomic, Scott Casper. After more than a few years working together, and living in the same state, this was our first ever live meeting and I must say after attending many GenCons, being on the business end of a small convention was a pleasure! Scott was a gracious host and went the extra mile (or twenty) for me. The STDL is an amazing place with so many events and visitors. My tiny hometown library could learn a thing or two from them.

Pitching our webcomic to people who don't know Greyhawk or even D&D was an interesting exercise and actually has been an important learning experience. I also learned to not leave people empty handed. Not everyone is going to want your work unless you're super-famous, so the next best thing is to give people something free to remember you by, even if its just a business card with your email or website URL. Postcards, buttons or other knick-knacks might suffice as well.

I also see the need to promote my personal art more. Even if the comic's content is IP owned by WotC, I think I have enough striking images, pages or even individual frames from the comic that could appease even a casual "sword and sorcery" fan looking for a print to put on their wall. Now if I only knew something about making prints, pricing and stuff like that.... On the other hand, I can see myself being open to commission work. I have published some pieces for BRW Games and some ezines, but beyond that I've always been leery of art-for-pay projects. Too modest I guess. I will give it more thought and perhaps get into that once I have an online portfolio to show off.

The best part of the event however was sitting in on an authors/artists panel in front of a crowd. I never saw myself doing this, maybe a private interview like I'm used to on the podcast GamersTable, but not this! It was fun answering questions and interacting with the audience. I wish I had been this relaxed at public speaking 25 years ago.

Anyhow, it was a lot of fun. Looking forward to another event, possibly an in-state con or to Wisconsin for GaryCon next year. Who knows?