Ah, Stumptown Comics Fest.
I am awful at the whole “con report” thing. But I wanted to say a few things. Stumptown this year was possibly the best year yet.
Since I started going, I have used this event as sort of a benchmark. An easy way to evaluate how much improvement I have made in several areas the previous year. This is easier to track than something like New Years, because the interactions I get involved in allow for easy contrast.
Past years have been a slow evolution, mostly in my art skills. The first two years, I used the Dark Horse portfolio reviews as an indicator of progress. But also in my ability to talk to people, and who I was able to talk to.
Last year, I met a few new people, but mostly stayed close to my friends. Didn’t have the guts to really show my work to anyone.
Well, this year…was rather different. There was a massive jump in my skills over the past year, so I was far more confident in my abilities. I also was able to overcome a lot of my social fears and actually converse with other artists, even when I could not buy their stuff.
But the biggest difference was the sorts of people I felt comfortable talking to. Not due to any new boost in confidence to strike up random conversations, but because they already knew me. Or I knew a mutual contact.
It was mind-blowing. To go from last year only having actual conversations with maybe a dozen people, to knowing so many people this year I was never at a loss of someone to talk to.
Hopefully, next year the change will be instead of being on the wait list, I’ll have my own table!
It was a great show. Looking forward to next year! (And Wonder Northwest)
