Staple! THIS Weekend!

The MAGNIFICENT RETURN of one of my all-time fave shows, Staple! is finally back in Austin this weekend! I first started going to this show way back in 2009 when it was a one-day show and I recklessly flew into Baltimore for it (one day show Monica, how can you possibly afford that) and then it stole my heart for every year after that, until I finally moved to Austin in 2019.

The founder/runner Chris Nicholas is an All Time Amazing Person, and I'm so thrilled he's able to rev it back up after the shitshow that is Covid.

So anyhoo! I'll have my usual comics and mini comics with me:

As well as a slew of Cryptid fun:

I miiiiight have a Texas Crypytid Coloring Book (fingers crossed it gets back from the printers in time!):

So come on out and celebrate THE RETURN of this fun-filled, local indie comics fest! :D

Staple Stuff

As always, I had a FABULOSO time in Austin at Staple last weekend, even though I think I made the mistake of staying at my hotel too much (what can I say, I'm one of them introverted types) and therefore, the hotel workers were getting a little TOO familiar with me. "Ms. Gallagher, would you like another bottle of wine this evening?" Um ... I could be all "You don't know me!" but clearly, he did.

I had a blast chatting about comics, meeting new people, and even being included on a Webcomics Marketing Panel! Even though sometimes I get a little stage frighty, I LOVE being on panels and getting to chat about comics to a larger audience. This one was moderated by Mr. Boundless Energy Richard Whittaker, I got to chat with Jeremy The Artist, Jason Poland, and Kennon James.

It seemed like most of the questions from the audience were in regards to HOW to start a webcomic - i.e. what platform to use, what tools, how much web design do you need to know, etc. One thing we all seemed to agree on was to just start DOING. Start creating, and whether you post stuff via your phone camera and uploading to a newly created Tumblr page, or scanning and posting stuff on your own website/blog, the important thing was to just get started. No matter what, it won't be perfect and it will continue to evolve, no matter how much you plan and think you've thought of everything from the start. That's why I figure it's best to just do, go, draw, write! Nothing will be perfection, and everything will change, so you might as well kick it into gear and start!

As always, Chris "Mr. Staple" Nicholas put on a really fun show that I feel like highlights some of my favorite things about Austin - friendly people, oodles of creativity, and endless things to see. I sat next to super talented ladies Diana Steig and Anissa Bryant, who were kind enough to share their food supply with me and take me out on the town. And I even got to catch some of the Oscars and snark about them with Chip Zdarsky!

Here are the fun sketches that lovely people asked me to do:

Now I get to gear up for the next show . . . Emerald City Comic Con at the end of this month!

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Con Sketches

With Emerald City Comic Con looming on the horizon with its greeny glow, I've finally posted a collection of sketches I’ve done for lovely peeps at conventions over the years! Head over here to my Portfolio Section to check 'em out!

Here's just one of many ...

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My Comics Process: Table Preparation

As I'm sitting here, frantically alternately printing out books for my upcoming convention and replacing paper/ink cartridges, I'm starting to think about how to best display my work at said convention. I've already shown some of the ways I've displayed books in the past, but every show is always a wee bit different. For this show, one of my big challenges will be the size of the table space I'll have:

I'll be sharing a 6-foot table with two other comickers, so that leaves me with about 2-feet x 2-feet space for li'l old me. Considering that at my last convention, I had an 8-foot table to myself, I'm going to need to do some creative re-working of my products.

First, what am I even bringing along to sell? There are some books:

... And then there are some prints.

Now, clearly there isn't enough room to lay everything out flat - I'll have to start combining some things. I'll also need some good display items - racks, stands, what have you. Over the years I've dabbled in some different options, but so far I seem to have only these at my disposal, currently:

Hmm. I might need to hit up Michael's this week and see what else I can find. Stay tuned for the next installment - how on earth do I fit what I have into the space provided??