May 10 2011

TCAF 2011 Con Report

The Toronto Comics Art Festival—AKA “TCAF”–is now over. This was the first time I exhibited there and here’s my con report in short: there’s a heck of a lot to love about TCAF.

Getting There

Pre-show, I wasn’t really able to suss out the general consensus on whether TCAF was a show where original pages sold well, but I decided “better safe than sorry” and brought a selection of originals with me in a display portfolio. Since I work so big page-wise, the portfolio was far too big to take on-board the plane, so I wound up boxing it up and checking it through at the airport. I immediately regretted this decision, though, when I arrived in Canada and realized that the airline had lost the box somewhere between Greensboro and Toronto. I cannot describe in words how it feels to contemplate the possible loss of years’ worth of artwork… but getting worked up about it wasn’t going to fix anything, so I filled out some lost baggage forms and headed to the hotel.

After settling in, I decided to spend the Friday afternoon exploring Toronto. I spotted a convenient rack of rentable bikes right near the hotel and checked one out. Unbeknown to me, this self-serve bike rental/bike share thing had just been introduced to Tornoto a few days ago, and so everywhere I rode people stopped me to ask me how I liked the bike–as if I were some seasoned Torontoite checking out the latest urban accessory.

The terminus of my meandering was the legendary comics shop, The Beguiling. If you have any interest in comics, you don’t need me to tell you that this is one of–if not the–most amazing comics shops in the world. I could have spent a mint there, but I restrained myself and just got that new translated Last Gasp edition of Pinocchio by Winshluss.

Thankfully my box of originals showed up at the airport and was delivered to me here at the hotel. My near-heart attack aside, I guess the silver lining here is that I didn’t have to lug the thing on the bus and subway from the airport to the hotel. All’s well that ends well.

I ended the day at the TCAF kick-off party, but didn’t stay long because I really didn’t know a soul there. This was really the most striking aspect of going to TCAF for me: I’ve been in a convention “rut” for a while. I go to SPX. I go to Heroes. I know everyone there. They know me. But TCAF was uncharted ground and it was really an unusual experience for me convention-wise to find myself as such an “unknown quantity.” The positive side of this, though, is that I was really struck by the notion there’s this whole other group of amazing cartoonists out there doing great work, going to conventions, etc.–but just doing it in parallel with my own little clique of folks.

The Show

First off, imagine my surprise when I got to the Toronto Reference Library (the site of TCAF), opened up the Saturday morning National Post Toronto paper and saw this:

Boo ya! That’s one of my Oyster War pages front and center. They’d contacted me the week prior and asked for some artwork, but I imagined they’d done the same with a bunch of other attendees and would be printing various samples from different cartoonists. It was a total surprise to find my artwork there all by itself–and there so GIANT.

Saturday was really, really busy–busy to the point that people were having a hard time moving around the isles. I was having reasonably good sales throughout the day, although I think mentally I think I’ve still not wholly made the adjustment from the “selling a lot of cheap minis” mindset to being comfortable selling my now-more expensive books less often. I had volunteered for the TCAF Kids room in the afternoon and it was packed with kids. Dave Roman, though, was doing such a great cartooning talk/lesson that there wasn’t really much for me to do there. Having a dedicated kids area is such a great idea. I wish other conventions would do this and do it this well.

Sunday was (as is the case with a lot of conventions) somewhat slower–although things picked up in the afternoon. The day started out on a really high note, though, when right before the show opened a guy came by my table to buy a copy of Midnight Sun. He said he’d bought some of the single issues but wanted to read the whole thing. He also mentioned how much he liked my mini superhero pinups that I had on display and he bought my Red Tornado drawing. Well, it turns out this “guy” was none other than Jeff Lemire of Essex County fame (not to mention his other great stuff like Sweet Tooth, The Nobody. and a ton of other things for DC/Vertigo). Anyway, I’m a big fan of his work and it was really cool to find out that he knew of and was interested in my work.

The thing that most surprised me sales-wise over the two days of the show, in fact, was those little superhero pinups. Even at busy cons I wind up with some dead time and what I usually do with that time is draw those little mini superhero pinups. I do those with the idea that I’ll sell them either online or at Heroes Con, where they tend to sell as fast as I can crank them out. My thoughts with drawing them at TCAF was just to build up a stock of them to take to Heroes, but I was totally surprised to find that I was selling a fair number of them at the very “indie” TCAF. I arrived with seven already done and I’m leaving with (a different) seven. I never managed to build up a stock of them because they were selling at about the rate at which I could draw them. Here’re the ones I managed to draw while sitting at my table:

The Blue Beetle (a commission)

Kraven the Hunter (also a commission)

Moleman

Stiltman

Arnim Zola

Galactus

I’ll post all of these (other than the commissions obviously) to my store when I get back home and can get decent scans of them.

Also on the original art front: once I’d sold out of Farewell, Georgia and had some available table space I put some of my Animal Alphabet originals out for sale. It was fairly late in the game when I did so, so I only wound up selling one painting, but I did wind up talking with a bunch of folks about the whole animal alphabet project. Several of them sounded interested in joining in. We’ll see…

Random Thoughts

1) TCAF was incredibly well-organized and executed. Even before the show got going, the flow of information to exhibitors was fantastic and the output to the general public about new guests, panel discussions, seating arrangements, etc. was really great. Why this doesn’t occur with every single small press show is beyond me. Hats off to the TCAF organizers.

2) Related to the above: the TCAF volunteers were really, really fantastic. Your guess is as good as mine as to how volunteers are enticed without the “prize” of free admittance (TCAF is free to attend), but all the volunteers I interacted with were really super-friendly and very very helpful. It probably doesn’t seem like a big deal if you’ve never exhibited at a convention, but little conveniences like having a volunteer mind your table for a few minutes so you can grab a snack, something to drink, and a bathroom break is so, SO nice. Pat yourselves on the back, TCAF volunteers; y’all rock!

3) I was surprised no one noticed/reacted to Chris Ware’s blanket statement America-bashing in the National Post Tornoto TCAF article, where he claims that “Canadians… have vastly better taste than Americans.” Broad generalizations like this are pretty silly just by their very nature, but it’s a particularly bizarre statement from someone whose cultural/artistic heroes–Charles Schulz, Frank King, etc.–are all American.

4) It was really great to meet in-person some folks I’ve interacted with via Twitter, email, blog comments, and the like. I’m sure I’m missing plenty of folks, it was really nice to meet (either for the first time, or the first time in real life): Annie Koyama, Ryan Claytor (whom I shared a table with), Faith Erin Hicks, Eric Orchard, Jeff Lemire, Marian Runk (my table-mate on the other side), Tom Spurgeon, Mike Holmes and many others I’m probably forgetting. And of course I loved meeting all the folks that stopped by my table to talk and/or pick up a book.

And in Closing…

I had an amazing time at TCAF. Sales-wise, I feel like I did pretty damn good for someone who’s never exhibited there before–and someone whose most recent book has been out for a while and available for purchase on Amazon and whatnot. If traveling to and from (and staying in) Toronto, weren’t so freakin’ expensive, I’d apply to exhibit there every year. Next time I’ve got a new book to hawk (or can afford a “comics vacation” to the amazing city of Toronto) I’ll for sure be back!

It’s hard to come up with anything bad to say about my whole TCAF experience. If pressed, though, I guess it’d be this: my (apparent) plan to hijack a plane with a can of shaving cream was foiled by the diligent TSA agents in Newark, New Jersey. Nice job, fellas! Maybe I’ll getcha next time…

May 09 2011

Animal Alphabet: F is for Flying Fox

Did you think spending a long weekend in Toronto, Canada would make me slack off on my “F” animal this week? Think again! I managed to execute this drawing of a flying fox in my hotel room over the course of TCAF. I foolishly forgot to pack my bottom-of-the-line watercolor set, but that just gave me a good excuse to hoof it on over to Toronto’s Curry Art Supply and upgrade to a decent set of watercolors.

You can follow the other “F” entries as people post them to Twitter this morning by following the #AnimalAlphabet hashtag. To see all the entries so far, check out the Animal Alphabet Tumblr: http://animalalphabet.tumblr.com.

F is for Flying Fox

The original art for this is for sale here.

May 04 2011

Illustrated Lord of the Rings… by Ben Towle, age 7

Before my daughter takes her afternoon nap, I usually read her a few pages from a non-picture book to help her doze off. We’ve gotten through a surprising number of books in this fashion–mostly things like William Steig’s Abel’s Island and the Ramona books.  Last week we started reading The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien.

My mother read The Hobbit to me when I was around the same age (three-ish) and I likely comprehended about as much of it then as my daughter will now: not a whole heck of a lot. I did, though, develop a genuine childhood interest in things-Tolkien, most likely a result not of the book The Hobbit but from the 1977 Rankin/Bass animated TV special and its accompanying double LP soundtrack set that I listened to ad nauseum as a youngster. Curiously, though, the visual aspects of Middle Earth haven’t seeped much into my artwork. While my love of J.R.R. Tolkien’s work continues to this day, (I regularly re-read the Hobbit/Lord of the Rings series every few years) my artwork is decidedly non-fantasy-ish in nature.

This was not always the case, though. I got some positive reactions to an earlier post of one of my childhood “mini-comics,” so here for your viewing and/or laughing-at pleasure is my Lord of the Rings-themed childhood mini-comic, “The Hobbit Story’s” (sic).

Here’s a picture of me holding it, so you can get an idea of the size of the thing. I was Kramers Ergot 7 before Kramers Ergot 7 was cool. Masking tape binding, though?! C’mon, Mom, couldn’t you shell out for a long-reach swing-arm stapler like all the “cool kids” use to make their mini-comics? Incidentally, I’m guessing I was seven when I made this based mainly on the character designs of Bilbo and Gandalf in the book, both of which seem to be influenced by the Rankin/Bass adaptation that I would have seen in ’77 when I was seven years old.

The book is eight pages total, but I’ll just excerpt a few here. Most of the pages are just illustrations of characters from The Hobbit and/or Lord of the Rings. Here’s one, for example:

You can see here some early gore: the orc has apparently felt the bite of “Sting,” Bilbo’s blade. For some reason I was apparently under the impression that the Balrog was THE Lord of the Rings. I love the way he’s drawn like a bat, which makes him look really tiny. “YOU SHALL NOT PASS, LITTLE DUDE!!” I think that ent is drunk. And, ah, who can forget the enigmatic wizard, Gondof.

Here’re a few more:

Bilbo here is clearly the beady-eyed “alternate world” Bilbo from Coraline. In the upper right is Shelob, I think. What she’s walking on top of  is anyone’s guess. I gotta say, though: other than the missing “u.” that’s not a bad Smaug.

A few more characters:

I’m gettin’ all obscure on ya here. Hurons are ent-like creatures that can create darkness around themselves. They can speak, but only to each other and to ents– not to other races. I’m pretty sure they don’t breathe fire, as pictured here (a little “artist’s license,” I guess). It really goes without saying, but Narsil was the sword of King Elendil of the Dúnedain, which in a later age was reforged as Andúril. I have no official comment on my Hershey’s Kiss-like  character design for Aragorn, nor on what that thing’s supposed to be directly underneath him.

Mom is clearly assisting handwriting-wise with this inscrutable “chart”:

What’s with the numbering? My best guess is that this is the order I’d pick characters from Middle Earth to play on a kickball team. If you’re from the Shire, you’re probably wondering what the heck a “mamuk” is. It’s the same thing as an Oliphaunt–kinda like “turtle”/”tortoise.” See here.

Much as the Chris Ware-edited McSweeny’s comics issue had that smaller-book-within-a-book deal where there was a little John Porcillino mini folded into the book’s cover, The Hobbit Story’s features this little “bonus mini” taped right into the binding:

The insert here is (I’m guessing) showing the scene in The Hobbit where the dwarves are captured by giant spiders and sewn into their webs. The left-hand page of the big book shows Bilbo falling into Gollum’s cave. That thing that looks like a gecko is apparently Golum himself.

While I didn’t turn out to be a fantasy artist, I can’t help but think that my early love of Tolkien must have played some part in my lifelong devotion to drawing–and to books. Thanks, Mom! There are a lot of things about being a parent that are frustrating and difficult; reading to your kids isn’t one of them. Do it.

May 03 2011

Portrait Night 5/3 (Grant Achatz)

Tonight’s #PortraitNight subject is chef and restaurateur Grant Ashatz.  This is actually one of my favorite  portraits so far, I think because it’s so stripped-down, cartoony, and not over-rendered as some of my past ones have been. It also looks like a character design that I’d actually do for one of my comics. I wonder if unconsciously–because I was drawing a chef–I made him look like one of the characters from my culinary-themed graphic novel in-progress, In the Weeds?

This turned out well enough that I got to thinking: if I did enough drawings like these, I could print up some setts of “Famous Chefs Trading Cards.” I did some cursory digging, though, and there don’t seem to be a lot of folks out there who print trading cards anymore. I’ll keep it in mind and maybe do a few more chefs as subjects for my portrait night before the year’s up. Anyway…If you’d like to suggest a #PortraitNight subject, you can do so either via the comments section here, or via my Twitter.

May 03 2011

I’m TCAF-bound, Y’all!

You’re Going Where?!

That’s right, people: I’m breaking out of my crusty SPX/Heroes Con-only shell and exhibiting at a new (to me) convention this year! I’d heard nothing but fantastic stuff about the Toronto Comics Art Festival (AKA “TCAF”) and so I applied to exhibit this year… and was incredibly surprised and honored to have been selected for the show. So far, the show’s been impressively organized and on-the-ball–something some of its American counterparts could learn from <cough!><cough!>. For example, they’ve coordinated with Toronto’s National Post newspaper to do profile/questionnaires of many of the new exhibitors this year. Here’s mine:

On May 7 and 8, an eclectic roster of cartoonists, writers, illustrators, and artists will take over the Toronto Reference Library for the 2011 edition of the beloved Toronto Comic Arts Festival. For the past two years, the National Post has previewed TCAF by running dozens of Q&As with some of the talent attending the festival; this year, we wanted to spotlight those exhibiting at the festival for the very first time. What took them so long?

Q: Who are you? Why are you here?

A: I’m Ben Towle. I’ve come for your comics festivals!

Q: Why have you never been to TCAF before? What’s wrong with you!

A) I guess I’ve jus t been waiting for the proverbial “stars” to line up. I do a number of comics festivals each year and I had to find a good year to work TCAF into my schedule. I’d been hearing so many good things about TCAF that it had just reached a boiling point this year. I had to take the plunge. B) Lots of stuff. Don’t get me started about my lower back pain. (more here…)

Where’re You Gonna Be?

The TCAF folks just posted the floor-plan today. I’ll be on the first floor at table 129. Please come say Hi!

Click through for a bigger pic. That’s me in red there.

Also, I’ll be an “Artist-in-Residence” for TCAF: Kids from 12:00-1:00 in the afternoon on Saturday, helping out (hopefully!) aspiring young cartoonists.

What’re You Bringing?

Well, new for TCAF, I’ve got a ton of these 100% absolutely FREE Oyster War bookmarks:

I’ll leave a bunch at the free table (assuming there is one), but please do come by and pick a few up.

I’ll also have my usual wares: Amelia Earhart – This Broad Ocean, Midnight Sun, Snooker, and Farewell, Georgia. An interesting thing to note, though, is that this will be the Canadian convention debut for the Eisner-nominated Amelia Earhart: This Broad Ocean–a book which takes place entirely in Canada: first in Trepassey, Newfoundland, then later in Halifax. (Did I mention it’s nominated for an Eisner award? Just checking.) Also: unless there are some copies hiding in the corners of the SLG warehouse somewhere, I’m pretty sure the five copies I’ll have of Farewell, Georgia are the very last copies around. If you want one, you best get your behind to Canada ASAP!

I’m also bringing a bunch of original artwork for sale:

I’m not entirely sure this setup is going to work (I really should have gotten a six–rather than three–foot table), but hopefully I’ll be able to set up this original art display behind me at my table. I’ll basically have most of the stuff I’ve currently got for sale at my StoreEnvy, plus a bunch of original pages from Oyster War. As with conventions past, I’ll likely be cranking out $10 superhero mini-pinups as well–either pre-done or by request.

Come see me up north, people!