Tag Archives: conventions

Anime USA: November 18-20, 2011

Posted by melydia on November 11, 2011 None comments

For the fourth year running, I’ll be in the Artists Alley with my dear husband at Anime USA in Crystal City, Virginia, next weekend. Stop by and say hello!

Intervention Collage

Posted by melydia on September 23, 2011 3 comments

Last weekend, my dear husband and I attended the second annual Intervention, an internet pop culture convention. This was also our second year: we had such a great time in the artists’ alley last year that we had to come back. And we were not disappointed.

While I do make a few of the items we sell (the 8-bit ornaments, mostly, though I designed a few of the buttons as well), most of my job description falls under the heading of Booth Babe. I sit and look pretty and try to get people to buy stuff. And I watch the table when The Artist has a panel or for whatever reason is away from his station. The hours are long and quiet times are inevitable, so I bring things to do, like stuff for gluebook pages I’ve been meaning to catch up on. As I’ve mentioned previously, I often create sort of collage scrapbook things out of tickets, pamphlets, and other detritus picked up while traveling. This time around I was doing a couple pages from a recent excursion to Cumberland, MD, as well as our recent trip to Dragon*Con.

By early evening on Saturday, however, I’d run out of things to do, so I did a walkabout the artists’ alley and picked up all the business cards, flyers, and other free paper matter I could get my hands on, and began glueing all that stuff into my book. Because I was doing this more to pass the time than anything else, I decided I wasn’t going to worry about keeping images with information, so I cut things into smaller and smaller pieces, sticking them wherever they fit, but making a concerted effort to include URLs and contact information for everyone, rather than just hijacking their drawings. I ended up filling fourteen pages. A few of the people I showed it to thought it was nifty, so I’ve scanned in the whole thing for your viewing pleasure.

[Click to embiggen.]

One person suggested I start a blog just about this sort of gluebook souvenir that I make pretty much every time I visit anywhere with a brochure. Granted, I’d be using other people’s art and design to make my art, but on the other hand, I’m actually in physical possession of everything (as opposed to just downloading from the internet), I’m not claiming any of it as mine, and I’m linking back whenever possible. It could be an unconventional (and thus interesting) approach to travel blogging. Then again, it might not interest anybody at all but me. Either way, I’ll continue gluebooking for my own pleasure regardless. The question is whether I should put forth the effort of sharing what I make.

Anyway, I’m waffling. As usual. What do you think?

Intervention: September 16-18, 2011

Posted by melydia on September 9, 2011 None comments

I’ll be in the Artists Alley with my dear husband at Intervention in Rockville, Maryland, next weekend. Stop by and say hello!

Balticon: May 27-30, 2011

Posted by melydia on May 20, 2011 None comments

My dear husband is a guest at Balticon, the science fiction and fantasy convention in Baltimore, Maryland, next weekend. I’ll be there too, so if you’re in the area, stop by and say hello!

T-Mode: April 15-17, 2011

Posted by melydia on April 8, 2011 None comments

If you’re attending T-Mode in Rockville, Maryland, next weekend, stop down in the Artists Alley and say hello to my dear husband, who will be there representing Binary Souls / Other Dimensions. I’ll be at the BookCrossing Convention that weekend, but if you’re in the area, you should stop by and say hello. Tell him Kate sent you.

Anime USA

Posted by melydia on November 5, 2010 None comments

Next weekend (November 12-14), I will be making my annual trek to Anime USA, working at the Binary Souls / Other Dimensions table in the Artists Alley. Stop by and say hello! I’ll even draw something for you if you ask nicely.

Intervention Sketching

Posted by melydia on September 14, 2010 1 comments

Me, as sketched by Alex Heberling of alexsguide.net. I'm a poor judge of how much it really looks like me in particular, but my cowlick is spot on!

This past weekend I attended Intervention. We were in the Artist Alley, which always means a lot of time behind a table with people occasionally coming up to talk to you (and/or buy stuff). From time to time I’d wander around and chat with folks, but mostly I just sat and amused myself with my sketchbook.

A couple of random skulls

On Friday evening I participated in a special session of Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School. Our model was dressed as Kali, complete with skull necklace and blue skin. Most of my drawings pretty much suck (30-second poses are not my forte), but I got a couple halfway decent ones I inked and colored the next morning.

Not the best, but certainly the most complete drawing I did that evening.

During the breaks they introduced Stupid Artist Tricks contests. The first was of Kali destroying the world, and mine was chosen as one of the top three by the staff, which would then be voted on through applause. I got by far the least applause, but I was so psyched to have been chosen at all that I didn’t mind. Besides, the girl who won totally deserved it. Her Kali-meets-Katamari was brilliant.

My last-place masterpiece.

By Sunday morning I was starting to get bored and uninspired, so I colored some old line-art drawings I did at another convention, possibly Otakon 2008.

After I ran out of things to color, I drew a vampire chicken.

Look, I don't know.

Anyway, I loved Intervention and we will definitely be there next year. And I’ll probably continue to draw inexplicable things.

Intervention and SPX

Posted by melydia on September 3, 2010 None comments

Through some sort of scheduling mixup, my much-beloved Small Press Expo and the brand new Intervention are happening the same weekend (that of September 11th), right down the road from each other. This actually isn’t as catastrophic as it seems. I will be working the Binary Souls / Other Dimensions table in the artist alley at Intervention, but I already plan on taking part of Saturday afternoon to go check out SPX. I can’t miss it – it’s quite possibly the most inspiring day of my year. Intervention, however, also looks pretty interesting: it’s dedicated, more or less, to internet pop culture.

So if you’re in the DC metro area next weekend, head on up to Rockville, Maryland, and say hello. I’ll even draw something for you if you ask nicely.

Baltimore Comic Con

Posted by melydia on August 20, 2010 None comments

If you’re headed to Baltimore Comic Con next weekend (August 28-29), stop by the Binary Souls / Other Dimensions table in the artist alley. I’ll be there all weekend. If you ask nicely, I’ll even draw something for you.

MAGFest 2010

Posted by melydia on December 28, 2009 None comments

Ring in the new year with video games, music, and general geekery at MAGFest in Alexandria, Virginia. I’ll be there with my dear husband and a bunch of folks from OverClocked Remix. Should be good times.

utter randomonium