Monday, 14 November 2016

Post-TB Instagram

I've started trying to document some of the work I've started doing now that thought bubble is over. I've gained more followers as a result but I'm very bad at keeping my social media up to date. As a result when I started doing my Friday print I decided to begin documenting the work I was making via instagram


As a result of this and the lino experimentation I'm try I was able to start up dialog with other lino based artist about different techniques and experimentation which I very much enjoyed.



I'd like to start more of a dialogue with creatives and others interested in the creative community online. As I think it's helping to shape the way I view and develop my practice.




Thought Bubble

Ya Boi Got a Table at Thought Bubble
I've been going to thought bubble for 7 years now and then this year I got to have a table. We got the table 2 weeks before the convention and though it was stressful as all hell I feel accomplished in that I made half a table's worth of sellable work. 



Doing the convention was a huge confidence boost to my practice as I got so many compliments from both artists and art enthusiasts. When people bought my work all I could think of was how weird it was that people wanted to part with cold hard cash for my stuff.

I was shocked at what sold well at the con and what didn't. For example I thought people were going to love the rick and morty work so i made a lot of them however I sold only one the entire show. On the other hand the square image of the trapped woman which i'd only made 6 of sold out on the first day and my nigerian zine almost sold entirely out as well. People seemed very interested in my works colour, personality and quality. Alot of people asked if I was going to do more with the square lady character as well as professional comic critiques asking me if I'm thinking of creating a comic anytime soon and giving me their details so that they can be the first to critique it. It's very overwhelming as I didn't think I was good enough for comics but now I'm starting to think differently. Alongside that I've had people asking If I have a Big Cartel and sold work online. I'm thinking of pursuing this to get rid of excess stock and pushing my name and branding further.

Talking to people was a huge part of thought bubble for me, I was able to make connections with other black and queer creatives alongside others whose work i admired and potential fans of my work. It felt really good to do and I ended up with only 2 of my 100 business cards left!

I also got talking with a man from the Black cultural community in sheffield about one of my books going into their library collection archive. I also got t speak more with Mike Mignola and he complimented our work!

Overall I feel like I have a lot more options and opportunities presenting themselves towards me than I originally thought. I don't know which to choose but I'm excited to have the choice.

Traveling Man

When it came to traveling man , even though I couldnt go down to the party due to prep for Thought Bubble I am happy that my work is being showcased there. I've been going to traveling man for the better part of 6 years and similarly to Thought Bubble having this opportunity to be involved with something i'm so familiar with was an opportunity that I felt was very necessary to take. I'm not sure that I like doing fan art that much or that this is the way for me to go professionally but I did appreciate the opportunity immensely.

My Buisness Card

When doing my card I didnt want to do what I did before. Try to be serious and what I thought was 'correctly professional' in my business card. I decided to have fun with it and make it memorable in the way that when u see it you know it's me cause it literally has my face on it.

Mike Mignola & Creative Network

Though I was super worried about the Mignola talk due to my anxiety flaring up at the last couple I went to However it went really well. I sold one print and talked to a few different creatives. One of whom was Mr Mignola himself. It was a real pleasure meeting him and after talking about how he started to draw for himself and that's where he found his passion and success I felt calmed in what I expected from the future a bit.

LinkedIn & Posting

Getting LinkedIn is something that if I harnes it right will be good for me. However I think that at the moment I'm not pushing it as far as it can go. For example Creating my post about black creatives and an unspoken obligation to be political helped me understand and form myself and my practice better. Because connecting and networking on a personal one to one basis is something I find easy but over the internet I am some what fearful to voice my opinions. For example I found it easy to discuss with Howard Hardiman about the relatively low standards given to horror art and how that has begun to change and horror illustration is getting into it's own renaissance. It was a really positive and insightful discussion that I've wanted to post on LinkedIn and discuss further with other creatives; yet for some reason my own personal fear of voicing myself on the internet holds me back.