Location: booth L-12 in the Small Press Pavilion

ArtisticDOOM will be making it’s debut appearance at San Diego Comic Con this year come July. I’m not going to lie, it’s a pretty exciting opportunity to be able to exhibit along the best of the best for a grueling 5 day event! It’s an honor to know I’ll be working my own booth only feet away from some of the artists I’ve looked up to for years; I’m a bit nervous. I’ve been working every single day putting together as many plushies, prints and comic books that I can to prepare for this convention, Which is part of the reason I haven’t posted any of those new plushies I’ve taken pictures of and tweeted about. I want to have as much available as I can. I have no clue what to expect from SDCC, other than finding myself exhausted after each day and the fact that I will be having a blast at the same time!

What will I have at my booth?

Officially, I will be there representing TNP Press, So I will have a few things from that, of course. I will also be sharing the booth with Ali Showkati of RobTheBot, the co-founder of TNP, once again. Otherwise, I will be carrying various items from everything under ArtisticDOOM Umbrella: L.A.W.L.S. merch, Anhedonia Blue comics books, as well as Unconscious Ink [ui] prints and my hand-made plushies. As I mentioned a moment ago, I’m working like a mad man to make as many plushies as I can, JUST for THIS event. So expect some really random creations that may vary well only be available at Comic Con! :] I’ll probably be putting together at least 1 more Hammerspace Hat Plush from L.A.W.L.S., a number of various Dead Hearts, and possibly a few more of those Fire Plushies I had available for Emerald City Comic Con. My main focus for this year though is prints, prints, prints. So far, I’ve got the Lady Gaga – Pop Villain 13×19, the Smile and the Sad Panda 13×19’s, the Cadence Pin-up Girl 13×19 and possibly a 13×19 of the Twilight Zombies print that currently is only available as one of the [ui] collection (8.5×11). If I spent the time re-doing the art and making it ready for large format printing do you guys think it would be worth my time? Currently it’s one of the top sellers in the [ui] collection… so I feel it will be a safe bet?

Overall, I’m super excited about this, so much so my nerves are getting the best of me. If any of you guys can make it to the show, please stop by! I’d LOVE to hear from you! I’ll be giving away a few little freebies here and there (little L.A.W.L.S. cards with comics on them.. and possibly some buttons) if i got some extras laying around still. No promises though.. I really have no clue what to expect from this convention, at Emerald City Comic Con a few months ago all of my free comics were gone the first day (Yowsa)! Also, if you know you’re gonna be there and there is any merchandise you’d like to see me have there, or possibly a plushie idea I haven’t thought of, hit me with a message here and I’ll see what I can do.

Hope to see some of you guys there!

Location: booth L-12 in the Small Press Pavilion
Downloadable SDCC MAP <–I’ve marked my location here, I’m with TNPPress.

So it’s official, I now have a store! The best part is THIS WEEKEND ONLY I will be giving a 20% discount your total order for helping me out during it’s “Grand Opening.” The code is opendoom. Currently there are about 20 something Unconscious Ink [ui] Series Prints, The Lady Gaga and Sad Panda Prints, a few hand made plushies, and of course, my comics. I’m really excited to FINALLY have a really nice looking store front in which i can put ALL my products, since i have so many random projects it can get hard to keep track of them. In case you are wondering, yes, I will still have my Etsy Store.. but because of their fees and all that, I’m better off only keeping the top selling products from the ArtisticDOOM store there. Double exposure for the good stuff. :]

If you are curious as to what I’m gonna do about the domains. For now it was easiest to just put the store at Http://artisiticdoom.com/store after many discussions and a reality on time restrictions, I’ve decided to just put it as an extension rather than a sub-domain or as the root site’s main landing page. Over time, this may change… but right now I have to just focus on the next few obstacles, getting a mass amount of printing done before San Diego Comic Con AND get as many new plush toys done as my hands can bare… while I am off course still getting three comics up per week! As you can see… the decision about the URL thing sorta just made it self. I BARELY HAVE TIME TO LIVE!

Anyway, I need to get back to work on Mondays Anhedonia Blue post.

PROMO CODE: opendoom.

The other option would be that the store would become a sub-domain or extension of artisticdoom. This case would read http://store.artisticdoom.com or http://artisticdoom.com/store. My main concern about this whole ordeal is simply the fact that I need to continue making money so that I can keep drawing comics and getting stuff up online for free. Right now, the important thing for me would be ease of access to a store front. When im at a convention, it would be the easiest solution to say, “oh and you can also buy other stuff online at artisticdoom.com”. Customers can then at their leisure after the convention come to my site and EASILY find my store.

Your opinions and thoughts would be greatly appreciated as I’m really not sure what the best solution would be. One of you may have some ideas that could help me a ton.

Well, as some of you may already know, I was just exhibiting in Seattle for Emerald City ComiCon over this last weekend. I got home earlier today and have been struggling to have the energy to do anything! Knowing that, I’ll tell you now, It was one hell of a con! It’s almost overwhelming how good it went actually. In comparison to the previous conventions I’ve done, this by far has been my favorite. That being said, I was slightly bummed out that I didn’t really have much of an opportunity to walk around to meet new people, mingle with old friends, see what other art was out there, or just flat out be a nerd myself. So sadly, the amount of pictures I took from the booth or around the convention are really rather limited… but I still have plenty to report! First, let me give you the low down on what I had with me, what sold the best, and what I’m planning on having at future conventions! And feel free by the way to take this opportunity to suggest anything you think I should have at future cons, I’m always willing to get feedback from others.

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The Merch:

• 20 different hand selected Unconscious Ink [ui] Prints
• A random assortment of [ui] buttons
• Reeder Rabbit – The Gift of Death – Zine
• “I Love You” – Painting
• “My Heart Burns for You” – Painting [SOLD]
• “Melting Tree Spirit” – Painting
• Reeder Rabbit Plushie [SOLD]
• Fire Plushie [SOLD]
• 8 Issues of Anhedonia Blue Chapter 1 [SOLD OUT]
• 5 Anhedonia Blue 11×17 Prints
• 5 Unconscious Ink 11×17 Posters

As you can see, I sold BOTH plushies! I was really excited about this, but it was sorta sad to let them go. They were the first ones I ever made and now they are gone forever! Oh well, I’m in the process of making a few more of those Fire Plushies and I am considering making a few more Reeder ones possibly as a buying incentive (buy the plush, you get a Reeder book free sorta thing). Interestingly enough, after going to APE just last August I watched Philippa Rice of My Cardboard Life sell plush after plush and it impressed me so much I figured I’d try it myself. I never in a million years thought they would both go, nor would I be able to make the quality plush i was able to make. Also, I was worried that Emerald City would NOT be the right place to sell such things but apparently it was the PERFECT place to sell them. In fact the first day of the convention I was about 15-20minutes late and was throwing all my merchandise up on the table as quickly as I could and not even 2 minutes into that a guy walked up and asked to buy the Reeder Rabbit plushie! I was shocked he didn’t even last through the morning! :] Another Top seller was the prints. In the first day I sold out of all 10 of my Zombie Twilight prints and several others the following day. I’d have to say about 60+ percent of my profit actually came from these prints! The take home message from this event, at least as it stands, is that people like to buy art pieces especially humorous ones that make them smile (90 percent of the prints I sold the buyer laughed at the one they bought) or something that simply looks interesting. Now knowing this I’m probably gonna work on taking an even broader selection of Unconscious Ink prints to the next con and POSSIBLY work on a few unique prints that look like art pieces rather than advertisements for my comics and/or projects. From watching the difference in the number of sales that Cari of Door made with her 11×17 art prints, for instance, in comparison to Ali and I with our Comic related 11×17 poster prints, I realized what people want is something unique for their walls that people will like to look at but doesn’t look like promotional garbage; which in all honestly our current posters sort of look like at the moment. The fact that I designed my Unconscious ink prints to look simple and classy, which I sold a lot of, and the Anhedonia Blue Poster that has doubled as an advertisement, which I sold ZERO of, I feel like that assessment of the situation is not too far off from the truth. So to any of you out there considering what art work or merchandise to put together and sell online or at conventions keep that idea in mind; art pieces not promotional advertisements.

Anyway, Enough talking shop. As far as the convention itself went, I had a GREAT time! I was on my feet just about the entire convention trying to talk with everyone who came by the booth. I barely even took a break to eat on Saturday and DIDN’T eat till after the con on Sunday. Even though I didn’t get much of an opportunity to leave the booth, several really interesting people came by and chatted with me; including Ryan and Vee of Channelate, a comic I’ve been reading off and on for quite sometime now and actually really enjoy! Other interesting things that went down at the convention is the fact that Stan Lee (the creator of more super heroes than I can count), Lou Ferrigno (the original Incredible Hulk) and Jhonen Vasquez (the creature of Invader Zim and Johnny the Homicidal Maniac), were all within 1 or 2 booths from our booth. At first I was bummed that we weren’t over by the other Webcomics but over time I got over it cos we really did have a great location! Plus, what I heard from some of the other webcomic people is that Jeph Jacques’ line was so long that they were blocking the way to a lot of the other webcomics booths! So that alone made me glad I didn’t really have to deal with that, the lines for the aforementioned famous people were planned and guided off out of the way of our booths… the convention center probably wasn’t expecting that little old Jeph Jacques of Questionable Content would amass such a large line.

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The interesting thing about conventions, especially for a web based comic collective such as TNP Press, is that without them we may never meet our collective members; we often recruit our members via the internet and don’t necessarily live ANYWHERE near one another and therefore never have reason to meet. So just as I finally met Philippa Rice at the Alternative Press Expo [APE], this convention I met the guys who do Woody After Hours; Paul Westover [the artist] and Ben Carter [the writer]. It was great to finally sit down and mingle with these guys. I feel like I’ve already made close friends out of them and would love to do more conventions with them in the future. IN FACT, we are already in the works of talking with Scott Ferguson of Nerf This, Philippa Rice, Ali Showkati of SSWestern and Paul/Ben to do APE together this coming year! If we did, it would be the most collaborative epic convention the collective will have done to date! Who knows though, with the way life happens to us all there’s a possibility that this wont happen, but I’ve got my fingers crossed. At least I know that this year I will 100% definitely be doing San Diego Comic Con International with Ali (which we should be meeting up with Cari while there), and about 80% sure I’ll be doing APE again this year especially since I should be living in San Fransisco for school by the end of the year.

Even though I had a BLAST, and will definitely be doing Emerald City ComiCon next year, I’m REALLY glad to be home. Every night of the trip I almost felt DEAD for real and couldn’t wait to sleep. I still have a sore throat from all the talking I did and I ache like my body was pummeled by 1,000 angry seals but I’ve still got a smile on my face knowing that this was a very successful, eventful and fun experience. Thanks to all my friends and fellow comickers for making that possible!

Emerald City ComiCon (ECCC) is coming up March 13 & 14. It is held at the Washington State Convention Center in beautiful Seattle, Washington, a place i love to be and used to live. ECCC is the Northwest’s premiere Comic Book and Pop Culture convention and I will be there representing both of my collectives TNP Press and Starboard Comics, exhibiting my work and other artists.

You can find me at booth 1006 displaying and selling work from both my comics Anhedonia Blue and L.A.W.L.S., as well as some of my older stuff. I’m also working to bring along a few plushies that I will be making by hand for this convention! Ali Showkati of Spaghetti Strap Western, Paul Westover & Ben Carter of Woody After Hours and Cari Corene of Toilet Genie will be sharing the booth with me, so this should overall be a great experience! Come by my booth, say hi (or bye), and meet and greet with the other artists I’ll be hanging with for this event.

ALSO, if you will be attending be sure to download our map and bring it along to the the con, we’ve worked out a deal that if you purchase more than $30 worth of merch from any of the TNP Members and display the map there is a coupon for $5 off a purchase on it!

HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!

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Starboard comics, a new collective with a new beginning! For any of you who have been following my work and/or the work of my fellow TNPPresser’s you may be wondering why in the world I would be starting another collective. Well, there are many reasons, but most of them come down to the simple answer: simplicity. Originally TNP Press’s single focus was on humor based comic strips, but over time the demographic of readers and overall content of work started to expand. As we’ve grown through out the last year we started having more graphic novel based works start to show up (including my own comic Anhedonia Blue) either on the collective, or applying to the collective. After many discussions with Ali of SSWestern and Scott of Motokool we decided that it would be in the interest of these comics to separate them from TNP as to not loose the power of cross trafficking similar work. If people were to be coming to TNP to find some light-hearted humorous jokes, that don’t require their minds to dive deeply into a story that is going to be lasting years, then they would find themselves disappointed when they clicked a link to find SSWestern or ABlue. At least that was our overall consensus after looking through traffic reports and such.

Another reason for the new “brand,” other than trying to produce like minded work, is reduce the responsibilities on us as far as getting together for conventions and cross promoting, yet, in a strange way also increase the responsibility. Let me explain; After running TNP for quite some time now, I’ve started to find that it’s far to hard to coordinate and correspond on a regularly bases with each of the collectives members once you start to have a larger number of them. That being said, the sole purpose of this new collective is just to promote one another both online and in real life. In a sense it’s just have a few good friends hang out together, via the internet, conventions, and now our new Podcasts and getting some serious work done at the same time! That being said, member acceptance for this collective is going to be rather limited. We by no means are going to attempt to be some asshole elitist group that doesn’t accept anyone, but we will be having major prerequisites that will have to be apparent before membership will be gained. The way we are planning on scouting members is basically by attending conventions in the next year or so and meeting other artists along the way. Once we’ve developed strong friendships with other comics artists and we find that we have really like minded ideas about the seriousness of the business then and only then will we be inviting new members. This way we can always maintain a strong work ethic between the members and still have a good time; a key element in running a successful collective. A strong example of this concept can be seen is the popular collective, Dumbrella, not only are they a group of great artists but they’ve also all been friends for quite sometime, I believe a couple of them have even known eachother from Highschool (don’t quote me on this, but I believe that’s what i heard at their panel last year at San Diego Comic Con).

SO, blahblahblah, What can you expect from the new collective? Well, at the moment, we have three comics: Anhedonia Blue, SSWestern , & Motokool! We plan to do a podcast every other week, which will probably be released on Wednesdays, if they go over well we will start doing them once a week. We’ve already launched a sample Podcast to sort of give you guys an idea of what to expect… but, that particular one wasn’t on any topic, we just through it together from a phone call we had. Future casts will each have a set topic which will very from techniques, comic reviews/discussions, and the occasional guest artist.

I’m pretty excited about the future of this collective and will be doing what i can to start promoting it at the cons this year. I hope you guys enjoy it and would greatly appreciate your feed-back and thoughts about this whole new endeavor. Thanks!

The Anhedonia Blue Chapter 1 Comic Book is currently available for Pre-order while I finish putting it together and send it to the publishers. Pre-orders let me know exactly how many I should buy and help the me pay for the production process overall. In return I will be giving you three ABlue buttons (available only through the pre-order). So hurry and reserve your copy before March and get your very own signed copy of the first book in the Anhedonia Series!

Price: $6.00 (+ Shipping) USD
Ships once books are ready. ETA Mid-March.

OUT OF STOCK