The Comic Kolloq is a monthly meetup setup by Dock11, where we discuss our projects and give each other feedback. Because of that, quite a few of us already had some stuff in store or freshly prepared to present and sell. The table was a beautiful mix of different styles and different articles, from postcards, stickers and buttons to tote bags, full on comic books and even huge linocut art prints. We also offered live portraits which was really well received!

All in all, we had a lot of fun these two days. Because we are so many people there was always someone to talk to at our table, and taking turns in the shifts was no problem. We also sold quite well, considering it was our first group convention (and the first for most people). After having discussed the results in the Kolloq, I want to share some of the points which we want to remember for future conventions. Maybe it’ll help you, too (However just remember, every convention and the experiences may vary widly, there’s a lot of factors that probably play into it in the end if it sells for you)

• For one, the little refrigerator magnets (made by 99Nines) sold really well! They had fun motives and didn’t cost much, so often people took quite a few to get one of each. That was a success!
• The less people have to talk to you to buy something, the better! Placing the articles so that the customer can just take them and wordlessly give you the money seems like a good idea.
• Everybody likes a good deal, e.g. one print costs 4€ but you can get 3 for 10€.
• People like surprises, e.g. in the form of mystery bags. We didn’t sell those but we discussed that with somebody who has more experience.
• The live portraits were especially profitable. One for 20€, and there were a few families who wanted portraits of their kids, or some other people too. I guess that depends on the visitors of the convention and also how much room you have for such a setup.

That’s just about it. I do have my next Convention coming up in October, the Polaris in Hamburg– if you are there, come by to say hi, I’ll have a shared table with a dear friend!

I also want to thank Dock11 again for sponsoring us and our table. The table costs (and the additionals you have to pay for too) were quite high as we heard from other artists. We did have the luck that our only costs were the production costs (since we also all live in the area).

And last but not least, please check out my wonderful and very very talented colleagues from the Con: (those who have SM)

• 99Nines on Bluesky or Instagram (keep an eye out for when he launches his action-filled fantasy comic- or his little fun comic strips, I love those)
• Wasteland Lighthouse on Instagram and her super cool comic “Second Sky” on Tapas
• The Amazing Iris with her funny but thoughtful comics on Instagram
• Jeff La Rocca on Instagram, who’s gone from zero to hero in those last few months with his art, it’s crazy
• and Denys Kovalenko on Instagram, an overall amazing artist (and also the teacher of the comic class I’m visiting!)

Have a good week!

Admittedly, I was a bit blank for what to write about this newsletter. I’ll share my experiences from Comic Con Saar next week (stay tuned for that!) and since I have nothing else lined up, I’ll use this newsletter for something else: to present you my favourite book series!

Fair warning: Everything below is very subjective. However I pride myself on having a good opinion on every topic of course so it could very well be objective.

(I’m joking)

Do you love good worldbuilding Do you love fleshed out characters Do you love character development?

You might enjoy the series „Death Gate Cycle“ by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. „Death Gate Cycle“, or DGC, is more sci-fi than their prior project, the „Dragonlance“. Latter is set in your traditional high fantasy setting. DGC however plays in a fantasy setting that introduces new balances, new types of worlds and new creatures and feels a lot more sci-fi through that. Each world has its distinct rules and settings. The series consists of 7 books total, but you won’t get bored of the settings and characters for each book introduces you to something new. (The 7 books however are tied together by a main plot so they can’t be read seperately.)

What makes the series so good for me though is the main cast and how characters act throughout the story. The interactions and advancement of the story feels natural and not foreseeable to me as the reader.

So, if your book schedule is open and this sounds like something for you- do take a look if your local library or the second hand book store around the corner or online (or maybe, friends or family) have a copy and dig into the story! First book is „Dragon Wing“.

I also want to add that the old books have beautifully drawn covers, created by Keith Parkinson (sadly passed away in 2005). Please take a look at his work too: https://www.keithparkinson.com/

I do have to work more on the worldbuilding – good worldbuilding can bring out tons of new ideas and I love concept art. (Can you tell I’m feeling inspired by early final fantasy/legend of mana/RPG like stuff?)

Also! Together with the Comic Kolloquium of Dock11 I will be attending the ComicCon in Saarbrücken this weekend! If you’re in the area or in the building, come look for our table and say hi!

First two images are inspired by surroundings, a train as seen from the train and the channel in the city of Carentan where we were staying. There was a little muskrat family that was swimming just a few feet next to where I was seated! (really cute little whiskers) Drawing in the evening while sitting outside, next to the water and surrounded by occassional animal sounds was super peaceful.

You see, working digitally is fun and all, but sometimes you need to feel, see and potentially, smell, the colors moving under your hands. I’ve slowly come to love them because they are jsut such a cool counterpart to clean drawing, the colors are so intense and when I look at my hands and desk afterwards, I know that I’ve done something. It’s a mess but worth it!

So I started to do panel redraws, where I selected panels from the manga „Trigun Maximum“ by Yasuhiro Nightow and redrew them with oil crayons and pastels. Since the comic is black and white, I can choose my colors how I like. Sizes are 54cm x 35cm.

Here are the super cool references:

From time and time again, I make linocuts. I started keeping some of the leftovers, the bits with shapes that don’t seem to make any sense. But that’s the cool thing: Use those shapes and you can create random images, that might fuel your imagination! I personally think it easier to do with undefined linocut shapes, so I don’t immediately have an idea in mind. Sometimes, I like the randomness of art.

Here’s two images that were the product of leftovers:

I didn’t plan on creating a specific scene, but the forms ended up reminding me of a mushroom and a waterfall, so I thought of a little poetic text and added some handwriting. I like the results- they look surreal, a bit dreamy and are a good way to create new ideas simply by experimenting.

If you’ve never been there, it’s a really huge exhibition site and at the Convention you can do all sorts of stuff- go shopping in the Merchandise areas, meet up with cosplayers, do workshops…etc. Mostly I just wanted to go through the artist alley where the individual artists set up their tables and sell their work. I bought some comics from artists and made a little thread on Bluesky with short comments about them.

I didn’t have time to draw much- the few scribbles I did were from when I was waiting for the fair to start, outside and inside the hall.

• Try to keep the focus of the viewer inside the image, so avoid lines that lead the eye outside of the frame.

• Start your drawing with thumbnails, using only few values (3-4) to work out the general composition and how you want to lead the eye to the focal point, the point where you want the viewer to focus on! Only then move on to putting more details into these bigger shapes.

• Learn what types of contrast exist and how you can use them to your advantage- remember, contrast creates focus, and different contrasts do this in varying intensity.

(This Youtube video by Sam Nielson provides good info)

But it’s one thing to know the rules and another to be able to use them. Especially if there’s so many ways to do so cleverly! So one way to get a feeling for that seems to be analyzing famous paintings, detect how shapes are arranged, how colors are used, is there a clear fore- and background, etc. Look out for everything that the artist used as a tool to lead the eye of the viewer. You’ll find more than you think!

Here’s some notes of mine with their respective paintings:

“The Blinding of Samson” by Rembrandt (1636)

“Judas Repentant, Returning the Pieces of Silver” by Rembrandt (1629)

“The Dogano, San Giorgio, Citella, from the Steps of the Europa” by J. M. W. Turner (1842)