Thoughts on PMZF

Although my second time tabling at Pete's Mini Zine Fest wasn't as financially successful as the first, I think I actually enjoyed myself more this time around. Between the rain and the lack of a live music event, there wasn't as much foot traffic. But the conversations I DID have were all pretty great even if most of them were with other creators. It also didn't hurt that the music selection at Pete's was top notch. If I'd spent the whole day sketching and listening to good tunes without selling a thing, I'd have been pretty happy. I bought a new sketchbook and a bunch of pens from NY Central on Friday and was eager to try them out.



Since I was coming from Queens, I took a scenic detour through Long Island City on the G shuttle bus. By the time I had a nice walk down memory lane past McCarren Park, all of the tables in the front of the place were taken, so I set up in the little area next to the food pickup window and the bathrooms. Hey, I figured I'd at least get some foot traffic and it had a bit more light than the cavern near the stage.



The rain held off until most of the tablers had arrived (and some had already set up outside) but the clouds quickly covered Brooklyn for the rest of the day. Everyone from outside made themselves at home near the stage.



I definitely got more chatting in with the other tablers than I had in May. Conversation fluctuated from printing comics and paper types to stories about other peoples' cats. From drawing archaeological digs in Greece to punk bands from Virginia. I even got schooled on the type of art deco wardrobe I'd drawn in Counter Attack (it's a waterfall, who knew?!) One guy bought a comic then brought me a button from his punk band! At one point I got up to check out some of the other tables and the nice punk guy selling pizza t-shirts across from my table made a sale for me while I was gone.

I had a nice talk with Paul Hoppe who does lovely childrens' books, a great walking sketch tour comic of Red Hook and has an upcoming show at the Brooklyn Museum. I chatted with Glynnis Fawkes for almost an hour before realizing she wasn't even tabling at the event, but had come from NJ with her kids and comics in tow. She had some great content about being a mom and drawing archeological digs in Lebanon and Greece. I hope to see her at some other cons in the future. I also got to catch up with Matt Hawkins of Fort 90 and met some of the creators of the Rabbid Rabbit anthology. I had a great conversation about hardcore music as well as vegetarian Guyanese and Trinidadian food locations in Jamaica, Queens with the creator of Mirrored Mitten. Another new tabler, Kyle Fewell, had a great little zine full of illustrations of cats, birds and people.

But my favorite sale of the day goes to Gene, the Brooklyn local in a FDNY shirt who perused my table while I had taken a bathroom break. He asked what kind of event was going on, then handed me a $20 and said "You artists do a lot of hard work and deserve to be compensated. I'll take one of your comics. I'll give it to my kids, but I'll read it first." With less than 15 minutes left in the show I figured I wouldn't top that and started to pack up. Luckily the rain held off and the G shuttle bus arrived exactly when I got back to Metropolitan Ave. I had lots of new reading material for the ride home.

Here are some of the rad trades from the other tablers. There was an unintentional red, white and yellow theme and a surprising amount of cat content. Fidget approves.



I did get to do a few drawings in the new sketchbook. I felt rusty drawing from life, but I had fun playing with the new pens.

Thanks to Pete's Candy Store for hosting us, to everyone who came out despite the rain and to Andria and Marguerite for putting it all together!

In other news, I have an interview up on Animation Insider!