Stumptown Comics Fest (or OCTOPUSES GALORE!!)

Yeah so today was the first day of the two day Stumptown Comics Fest. I'm not going tomorrow, had enough UBER FUN today. Highlights: $2 comics at the Oni table, Shannon Wheeler, meeting Christopher Mitten and octopuses EVERYWHERE! Also not going tomorrow because I spent about $20 too much (but it was spent supporting indie people so I don't feel bad. I never buy things at cons and fests that I could buy elsewhere (except for the $2 comics)). But it was great, really close and comfy and lots of super nice people.

I planned to set out at 10, left at about 10:20. Was going to walk to the Max stop in fareless and then just decided to pay for the ticket and got on at the stop in Goose Hollow. Turns out this weekend they are closing down a chunk of the Max line for construction. Course they couldn't do that without giving us options so the shuttle but took us across the bridge lickety split (probably faster than the Max). Got right on the Max again and went to Lloyd and thought, "crap is this where I get off?" But I didn't scoot off in enough time to follow through on the possibility of it being my stop, but luckily for me the next stop was right outside the front door for the Comics Fest so it worked out great!

The fest was only $5 to get in, and was relatively uncrowded when I got there. Did a look checking out everything. I didn't want to browse everything serious during the first walk through because that's how I would end up spending all my money (gotta be specific!). Made my way to the back where Jim's table was but Jim wasn't there, only his friend. So I went back. Ran into Karen at the Oni table and then we saw the prices on the scuffed comics. $2 each or 6 for $10. I got the first volume of Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life (it wasn't scuffed it was just on sale) and the first two volumes of Wet Moon. Karen was buying two comics and they said we might as well buy six between us and save some dough so she picked up this Marquis de Something that we both went "ooohh" at the line art in. Shes holding onto it for now, sort of a trade off thing I guess. We parted ways after that, I'll see her Monday. Jason from Floating World Comics had a table. Lots of neat things, but nothing I couldn't just go and buy later.


Octopuses at the Fest:
One girl had this really cute style, big eyes and brilliant colors. One of her prints had this girl with an octopus draped over her. I didn't want to outright buy the print so I bought her postcard collection instead, which had more variety so that was cooler. Plus I don't really have room for lots of prints right now.

Talked to these guys from San Fransisco (at their table). Actually I came to their table several times throughout the day, they were really cute and sweet and I was bummed to find out they were not from around here. The red-head drew an octopus next to his autograph in one of the comics I bought from him (I had previously complimented him on his octopus art in a poster he was selling). The other guy did a quick sketch and wrote "hugs and kisses" next to it. Tee hee.

I bought a mini figurine from this nice lady. She had these two molds; one was a mutant chicken that had a mini-comic accompanying it and the other was an octopus attacking the space ship. You can figure out which one I bought.


Panels:
Carol Lay, Shannon Wheeler (with Stacey Murdock) and Matt Wagner were the major guests at the Fest. I only saw Matt Wagner, I didn't talk to him (I'm not familiar with his work). I love Carol Lay and Shannon Wheeler so I was just tickled that I talked to both of them in person.

Carol Lay's panel was a little under attended which sorta made me sad but I think shes the type that's loved by people that know her work but she isn't so much out there as other cartoonists. She advised me to be bold. And I shook her hand. WHOO!!! Didn't get a picture with her but I'm happy having met her.

Shannon Wheeler and Stacey Murdock did a panel about the Too Much Coffee Man opera. And there is going to be a second one which I will try my darndest to see (just gotta remember to buy tickets around December for the show which is in April). I had a good laugh. Stacey Murdock plays Too Much Coffee Man in the opera and he sung a little from it, quite brilliant. Afterwords at their table they autographed a postcard for the show for me. Booyah!


Autographables:
The first comic I bought was Kazimir Strzepek's The Mourning Star. He was really nice to talk to and warm and friendly. Generally if people were approachable and nice I was more inclined to buy their stuff. Plus he was downright adorable! The comic has great art and I look forward to reading it. He doodled in it and wrote "Thanks Trillian! Hope to read one of your comics sometime! ♥ Kazimir."

Camilla D'errico autographed the postcard book for me.

I chatted at length with John C. Worsley about materials and methods and how he produces his work. he was doing live digital drawing and it was cool seeing his process. He had two issues of his comics and they were both bound really nicely and you could buy the set for $5 so I went for it. His autograph was a simple thanks with his squiggle autograph.

Christopher Mitten was one of several artists at the lengthy Oni table. One guy earlier, a writer, he was nice but I just didn't feel like talking to him right then and there (he apparently works at Floating World Comics on Monday so I'll see him again most likely). The thing that caught my eye about Mitten was Wasteland. It is one of those comics I keep seeing around, on shelves and store fronts. It is a very distinct cover and I said this to him, that it was sort of lurking around. I flipped through his portfolio and asked him about his comic methods and whatnot (he has really nice ink skills). I gave in to fate and got the first volume of Wasteland interpreting it as a sign I must buy it because it keeps showing up (same thing happened for Palahniuk's Rant). When he was autographing it we got to talking about my name. I boasted it being the queen of nerd names and how I once heard a dad refer to his daughter as Arwen. Mitten teased me a little saying Arwen was more nerdy than Trillian. Once I finish Wasteland I'll email him an apology for the name I called him. He signed the book, "To Trillian, Thanks for following the signs! Christopher."

The last guy I talked to, Jeremy Tinder, he had a whole comic about all the mean things he has done. I would read a snippet and look up at him in shock or with a slight glare. Hilarious in the end, I bought the little mini meanness-comic and he drew a self portrait with a speech bubble saying, "blah blah blah" next to it on the inside of it.


It was great, so much fun! I only spent maybe five hours there, the two panels I sat in on were sandwiched between three chunks of time spent wandering and admiring people's octopuses. Saw Michael and Phil from my drawing class, Jim showed up eventually and we had a good chat over coffee (well I had root beer) about comics (like usual). I boinged his curly hair. You know, I lightly grabbed a curl and let it go and went, "boing!". Craig, who I met last night at the movie night, was also at the shindig. We chatted a little and ooed and aaahed over the octopus and chicken figures. He mentioned buying one of the chickens but I don't know if he did.

I feel really inspired to do my own little indie comic to pitch for $5 at things like this.

Road the Max/Shuttle/Max back and relaxed. Our RA was having a little get-together tonight. Hung about, chatted, ate brownies and cookies. Busy day, most of my energy was spent in the afternoon chatting up the comic honeys and looking fabulous.

the man in the (cheesy) mask

Movie night at PNCA. Saw Fantastic Planet and a Japanese movie from the late 60's about a man whose burned and gets a mask for his face and seduces his wife. There was also a tangent about this brother and sister which only made half sense and a scene with a guy talking that was filmed all in x-ray. I keep forgetting the Japanese movie's title, something about a man who gets a mask? Oh and there was a girl with a yo-yo. Fantastic Planet was cool, lovely animation. It was in English and the dub was horrid. I'm glad it didn't end up where the Om went to a new planet and treated the inhabitants there like they were treated. Really really odd three hours. Met some new people and had some free pizza. It is every Friday so that's fun, something to get out and do.

Lazy day. Went to the clinic again to sort out the fax to there to get it to fax to here stuff. As per Moms advice, I crossed left using the crosswalk this time. Really easy. But you know sometimes you just don't think right you are just thinking about going left and you can't think smart.

I could swear I did something between the clinic and the movies but I really don't recall. Hmmn. Oh well.

Oh, right! My stove, some really nice guys came in and swapped out my stove for one that works. One guy was English and the other had lots of piercings and burn marks from his adventures spinning Poi. Another group of people came in earlier to assess the situation with the stove and the sprinkler leaking. Turns out it is probably leaking due to some problem in the drain of the people above me so they have to fix that to fix ours. It only drips when they shower so yeah, drip drip drip in the morning. Gah!

I've been shot!

I just got back from Sean's. Because I was over at Sean's you know we were watching a movie. This time it was Severance. It was great. Just the right amount of scary that doesn't leave me worried about Soviet war criminals lurking outside my window and enough scary to make me go EEE. It was shot really well; the colors were nice and clean with good greens and blues and the darks were nice. Enough character development to make you go "AWW DANG NO" when they died (and I went "AWWW NO" at every one of them, I felt bad every time). Didn't try too hard to be a commentary about weapons companies, sure you could get that out of it but I just found it to be a well put together thriller/suspense/action/sort-of-really-violent movie. Plus it had the guys who played Howard in Death at a Funeral and Gustav Graves in Die Another Day in it. It bugged me every time he was on screen where I had seen them before, yay for the Internet.

We made popcorn in a pan, not from a bag, to enjoy with the movie. Turned out a little salty but it was good.

I wore the nice coat that Jeanette gave me today, it is always cold in the morning and you never know if the gray will stay or leave. It left, and the sun was oh so radiant. Had to lug the big thing around with me all day. Errg.

More audio work in Digital Tools. It is interesting but I am starting to get tired of it. Gordon said we might make zines int he end which I think would be super awesome and cool. This is his first year teaching, I think hes doing pretty well but I am well and ready to move on from Garage Band.

On the way to my next class I ran into Daniel who said class was cancelled due to Arvie being sick (possibly food poisoning). Chatted with Mollie, Michal, and Michael a bit. Michael wasn't quite sure about the specifics of two point perspective so I whipped out a pen and drew a quick little tutorial for him. On my arm. He took my pen and drew two little dots above the drawing and said, "there, now it is a smiley face."

Outside I was unlocking my bike and a nice lady with her bike was looking around for a spot to park hers and I mentioned to her how I was leaving in a minute. She was very grateful even though she probably would have seen me leave, even if I hadn't told her). Nice to be gracious and friendly.

I didn't get halfway down the sidewalk when I encountered Jim and we talked at great length about comics (great length=I'd say 20 minutes?). Noel joined in for a little bit, so many good comic people around here. Very awesome!

After that I went to make my comic run and decided to go up to Trader Joe's (I knew it was on Glisan and somewhere around 20th). Comic run proved successful, sort of. Well the only thing in was American Virgin and Becky Cloonan wasn't the artist for it again and if she isn't doing it anymore I don't know if I can stick with it as I had only bought it in the first place due to her artwork. Story isn't so great, it has it's moments I just don't know what it is leading into. Picked up a couple indie comics on a whim (bad Trillian, whims are bad) but well, you gotta support the indie comic maker. God willing that will be me some day!

It was alllll up hiiiiiillllll to get to Trader Joe's. And it was hooooot. Uhhhg. Got there alright, my fear of biking near cars is almost all gone (not so good at trying to achieve a left turn when I am on the far right side of the road. Got honked at when I did it and I couldn't get enough speed to do it not-wobbly. Ahhhg.). I wasn't really in need of anything from Trader Joe's, I just wanted to see where it was and what they had (also it is fun to adventure). Ended up getting some cheese puffs, jam, and Emergen-C. Biking back was down hill and easy peasy. Got to 13th alright, even though I had to go West on 16th for a bit. No worries about it, I knew I'd find a place to cross eventually.

Relaxed at home for a bit, ate some lunch and kicked back. Did my laundry. The people will be coming TOMORROW to fix our stove/sprinkler.

I had an appointment at the Portland Clinic so I left at 3:00 for that. They were very helpful and kind to me at the desk and at the counter on the 3rd floor. And when it came to giving me my third Gardasil (what I was there for, needed to establish myself somewhere to get the third shot) they did it without the proof I had the first two. I'll call my old doctor and have them fax the proof I wasn't tricking them tomorrow (they closed at 4:00 and I didn't get to the point of getting the shot until 4:15). But yeah, they did it and that was super nice of them! I think they were more willing because I was mellow about the possibility I may not get it today ("oh yeah that's cool, I understand. I live like five minutes away, I can come in whenever right? No biggie.). I know the attitudes that get people behind the desk to be nicer to you, but it wasn't much of a stretch. I'm really happy and content down here. Wonderful place Portland and PNCA.

Went back home, talked to mum and Nathan on the phone. Lindsay and I went to Ole' Ole' for dinner (we needed the hot meal) and I had one of their burritos. It was HUGE and the owner and waiter seemed really impressed that I got through 2/3 of it. Sort of complimented me on my eating prowess almost. Nothing on the menu went over $6 and the food looked great with large portions.

Sean stopped by (he knew we were back because I was went "whooo!" in his open door as we were walking past it in the hall) and I wasn't sure if I was up for a movie tonight but OOOHH I am so glad I saw it.

for the birds

The Audubon Society is doing this fundraiser through Art Media. Basically you fill out a form and get a canvas and draw a bird on it. Then you give them the piece of art and they sell it and keep the profits. They get the money, you get the pleasure of having sold a piece for charity. I'm thinking about drawing that old song from my childhood about the three crows on a wall, or the three craws who sat upon a wa'. Its 6"x6" with nice sides on each side so I think I'll put a few of the lines on each side and the first part on the front. Complete with crows! Wheee!

A lecture and critique was all that went down in 2d Design today. Lots of interesting examples of line, texture, and value, no one really pointed out my work and went "WOW". But then again they weren't the most dynamic of shots.

I had Yo's soup for lunch. Ohh that stuff is GOOD.

In Time Arts was another lecture, this one about animation. Rose really gets into her discussions so they don't really feel like lectures. We put our zoetropes into the animation machine.

I have another roll of film to shoot and some animation stills to draw by Monday. I think I'll start taking my camera with me so I can get more "oh I must take a picture of that!" shots for the darkroom. I'm really proud of myself, I'm no where close to being behind in anything.

I reported the stove/sprinkler thing to the Goose Hollow people. It should be fixed tomorrow.

no heat in Portland

Woke up this morning with time to spare on making myself a nummy breakfast. Was going to make scrambled eggs, got the eggs all ready and was just waiting on the pan. But the pan didn't sizzle when I tested it. It didn't even cook it a little. It was like the range wasn't even on. It was at medium and I set it to high to test and nothing. Tried all the other ranges and still nothing. Put the egg mixture in the fridge and decided to just have a cereal bar and banana. When I came home I was going to make the scrambled eggs for dinner but the range STILL wouldn't turn on, and the oven wouldn't either. The indicator lights were on so it wasn't unplugged. I was left with one option, I had to call the man.

Dad was just going to bed (so he says)when I called him. He said to check the breaker switches. I turned them off and on and nothing, nada, el zilcho! I'm going to have to talk to the Goose Hollow people and get them to fix it because without the stove I am stuck in Cheerio/Sandwich/Cereal Bar territory. God forbid I have to include more vegetables with my meals. Cracked open the first jar from Tuna Clause, oh yeah lunch will be awesome tomorrow! Had to enquire from dad about how much mayo to put in, and if there was any secret thing I was missing. The technical amount to put in is a "glop" of mayonnaise.

In Digital Tools we messed around in Garage Band making noises that the teacher called "textures". Fun but the constant noise really got on my nerves. We'll be into video next so that's cool. Its a nice general overview of the programs, most of which I am not familiar with in the slightest. Plus they are all Macs and on a PC my work has never mysteriously vanished leaving ghost files that may or may not be there. Grr, thankfully my files ghosted when I only had about two done (out of 15).

We reviewed perspective (my old arch-nemesis)in drawing class. The first part was just one point perspective and then we broke for lunch. There was this financial tip speech going on and I hear there was a free lunch (sure I packed my lunch but free pizza? come on!) Mollie and I showed up at a lecture where there was pizza but it wasn't about finances and managed them, it was more about acrylic paint and we decided that was more interesting so we stuck around and had pizza and learned about how to mix paint with stuff. I still ate my lunch after two slices, developing that artist "eat when there's food" stomach.

The rest of drawing class was spent outside drawing one point perspective of condos and streets. Mine was meh, decent. Didn't have the life the tree did.

I was all bundled up today, gotta be for the bike in the morning. COLD! I need gloves, good gloves. Not dinky little knitted ones with no grip (no grip on a bike, that's smart). And a basket for my bike to make it easier to go grocery shopping. I loaned Mollie my scarf during the outside drawing, as it was cold outside and I had my (dad's)cap that goes down over my ears. A lot of people were questioning me about being cold, Michael ever offered me his jacket (awww) but I was fine, I had three layers. I think tomorrow I'm going to bring a jacket to school to leave in my locker just so I have something there in case there is a snap and I'm not prepared.

Says there will be rain soon. UHHHHG I can't bike with an umbrella in one hand.

pah-chew! lasers! pah-chew!

Mel complimented me on having a great kitchen. Clearly she just saw our fridge and assorted counter top appliances, and not the stack in the sink. I got a dish load going right now, I'm clean and all that. On our fridge is a photo of Phoebe, a photo of Amma, a photo (I took and printed) of Ibanez, a quote about frogs, a Mech Warrior magnet, a Gnome magnet, a magnet of Lindsay's old cat, a flier for Japanese Hamlet, a Japanese flier for Matthew Barney's Drawing Restraint, a cut out of a man I did for my first Time Arts project, and pictogram magnets! You can also see to the right my Oster mixer and rice cooker.

No one tried to turn into the bike lane today, though one lady was driving in it a little. Kinda wanted to shout at the stupid lady on her cellphone. Pay attention lady!

Stayed awake for Art History and learned some cool stuff about Egyptian pyramids and whatnot.

I started today in the darkroom with a photo for fun, instead of the assignment we were supposed to do (unity) and the photo I did (the one of Ibanez that is on the fridge) turned out great! And that gave me real confidence and I think I produced at least five good prints. Not sure if I'll spend more time in the darkroom tomorrow, might have to but I don't feel so frustrated now that I've pulled off a few pieces. But that's the way to go, combine art you have to do with art you want to do.

We made zoetropes in Time Arts. Super fun! Mine was of this secret agent lady walking and firing laser guns. There's a good amount of motion and it looks sooo cool. Its all pahCHEW pahCHEW. There were lots of good ones, one had a moustache bouncing about and another was hair ruffling about. Next class we will put them into the computer and animate them a little better. Whoo!!

Getting really easy to bike home. All I need is a tube to lug my paper work back and forth in.

PahCHEW! Heroes on in 10 minutes, whoo!! Prison Break is currently in an awesome second episode of a third season (I'm so glad MariCruz is alive). Love the show but hope it will be the last season, they can't stretch it out anymore.

kitten smuggler

I was reading my Art History book and I was near the heater so I was all warm and toasty and I started to nod off. Then I woke up and spent ages just trying to wake up again. Uhhg. Well at least my reading is mostly done, I hope that nap doesn't make me unable to sleep till 2am. Monday is my long day, I must have a good night sleep!

Another lazy day, fulfilling my lazy weekend. Heroes tomorrow! 9pm! YAY!

I had a dream where I was smuggling kittens and I put them in one another in a coin purse like way, to smuggle them out. And I was left with one kitten and then I was stopped at the check point and I had to unzip my kitten to see how many kittens I had. So I unzipped my gray kitten and pulled out the white kitten that was in it. I set the gray kitten down on its side and its body was flat as I had removed its insides. The white kitten was wet like I had just bathed it but all the other kittens had turned into paper. I was sad I only had one kitten and then they told me I had way too many kittens and I looked to my left and there was about 14 kittens on a display rack that was indicating they were mine and the limit was six. Oh no!