The Stumptown Comics Fest was last weekend, and to sum it up: I had a super-rad time. I was table-buddies again with the most awesome Breena Wiederhoeft and I think we could both safely say that Stumptown was much more our kind of show compared to Emerald City. We weren’t flanked by print sellers of Babylonian demigods or cheesecake pictures of super hero women, the crowd was more interested in comics and zines, and there was a lot more space and the room didn’t feel as crowded or claustrophobic.

The short recap: I got to talk to a lot of great people that I haven’t seen in a long time or got to meet for the first time, sales were good and people responded well to Americus [I sold all but one copy!] and I was even able to sell some of the original pages, Breena and I got to hang out and shoot some ideas around for a potential collaborative project, and I got another jolt of inspiration to keep chugging away at The Searchers.

I don’t want to throw a wall of text up on the front page of my site, but keep reading for expanded coverage of this cartoonists experience at STCF 2012…

So something that you may not know about me: I’m kind of anti-social. Outside of a handful of people, I don’t really go out much. I don’t really socialize with other cartoonists or illustrators. Why? I don’t know. I think it’s because I’m a little shy in small crowds, or feel like an outsider because I don’t hang out with these people and they’re already all friends, or I hate the small talk and what not that goes with people I don’t really know. Maybe I feel inadequate around other more successful people? I don’t know.

The irony is not lost on me that despite this, I love public speaking and I’m totally cool standing up in front of a large group of strangers for a lecture or a class I’m teaching. Weird, huh? Anyhow, the thing about conventions is they help me get out of my shell a bit, and also, it’s super-convenient to have all these people that I want to talk to are around me in the same room for a couple of days and it’s a good environment that is conducive to talking about comics, art, etc.

I would say that was the most fulfilling part of the weekend for me.

Well, that, and sales were almost the same level they were for SPX. Like I mentioned before, I almost completely sold out of the stock of Americus I had, and I was able to sell a good amount of original art and I even sold out most of my mini-comics too!

I also picked up a lot of really cool swag that I’m excited to dig into:

Things are pretty up in the air for the summer, but I am going to try to do some work for the ALA conference in June, even if I can’t make it there, and then I want to try to wrap up the first draft of The Searchers. We’ll see. If you have any time to spare good vibes for my pa, I would really, really appreciate it.