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New York Comic Con: Day 3

Day 3: Kids' Day Sunday April 20

The NYCC blog (MediumAtLarge.net) reports a preliminary count of more than 64,000 attendees for the weekend. Pretty huge.

I only made it to 2 panels today, but I met cool people and swiped a lot of SWAG so it was OK.

I went to Harold & Kumar, where Kal Penn (who played Kumar), Neil Patrick Harris (who played Neil Patrick Harris), and the writer/directors sat and talked about making the movie, laughing at racists, and shipping in a woman with "the biggest tits in the world." Very enlightening stuff.
Interestingly, the first movie did poorly in theaters but the DVD sales alone made it possible for them to make a sequel.

Then I went to the Show Floor, where I met an art teacher in the Bronx. I was initially drawn to his historical/historical-fiction comic Bronx Heroes, calling for accurate representation of the Bronx and also for resistance to gentrification. We talked about lesson plans for students learning the art of comics, where to find funding, and different strategies on how to promote student work. I have to get back to him.

Then I went to the Self-Publishing Your Work panel, which was interesting. All I wanted was some tactical/technical advice, which I got, but then they had all kinds of advice I didn't even ask for like:
- have finished work. "Finished work is something apart from yourself," said Harrold Buchholtz. Basically this means something that doesn't need you to explain anything but can stand on its own.
- market yourself. Develop a 3-second soundbyte that summarizes what your comic or project is about, so you can tell very self-important people with ADD and lots of money/power about your work in the hopes that they will buy.
- establish an audience by putting your comic on-line. update OFTEN.
- do short stories first. Don't try to do your best thing first, because you might regret it later when you are a better artist and want to re-do it, which you can't. Just do little projects that you know you can finish.
- use these on-line/on-demand printers: comixpress.com, ka-blam.com, acredalemedia.com, lulu.com

Thus ends my reportage. Analysis to come!
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