San Diego ComicCon 2019 has come and gone. We had a great show thanks to Robyn’s careful planning and the immeasurable help of our teammates, Fernando and Mike. The four of us are like a band now, and that’s a good feeling. So my hat’s off to my Abstract Studio band and here’s hoping we have many more adventures to come.
Some changes this year in the show:
The DC booth was gone. It was always across the aisle from us, a large pavillion that fans strolled through and met their favorite creators. I heard that it was moved to the WB booth on the other side of the room but I never got a chance to go see it. We share our endcap space with Cartoon Books and the new setup placed Scholastic, who publishes Bone, across the aisle from us. So I thought the new layout was good for both of them.
The crowd was noticeably lighter during the week, inside the halls and out on the streets. Everybody noticed it. There were fewer Hollywood promotions that usually canvas tha area, like the elevators in the Omni were not wallpapered with some hot show imagery, and that’s been the case for a number of years in a row. I really didn’t see it pick up until Saturday and Sunday, then it was the usual shoulder to shoulder crowd.
Even with the lighter crowd, we had a good show. I sold a lot of sketches and books. We did something new where I would record a timelapse video of drawing a sketch then post it on Twitter. The first person to come to the booth and ask specifically for that sketch got it for $100. I did one of these in the morning signing stint and another in the afternoon. I think people enjoyed it but it drove a few folks crazy who saw the tweets but weren’t at the show. If a sketch wasn’t claimed the same day, I raised the price to $1,000,000. Unless you asked for it by name. All told, I sold maybe 8 of these and several were discounted from millions to the promised $100. It really pays to be in the know at these shows. Follow those Twitter updates.
So we’re back home now and FIVE YEARS #3 comes out next week. I’ve been off the book for 2 weeks dealing with SDCC and now I have to make up for that so I’ll be drawing like a honey badger! Thanks to everybody who came to see our band at SDCC. We’ll see you again next year!
Here’s one of the timelapse sketches: Timelapse Sketch Vid
