Citrus Con came and went! I’m looking forward to when the organizers can move the con to a winter month, as the plan is to slowly shift the con out of the summer. You can check out their Indiegogo campaign and Citrus Con site. Make sure to register if you’re interested in attending! It’s free.
It’s been another great year at the online convention, and just seeing how everyone is doing and enjoying themselves. The old man yaoi thread was several thousand comments deep, and apparently that and another thread had to be put in slowmode jail because people were too excited. I enjoyed chatting with people about Gegege no Nazo and convincing people to come to the Toronto Comic Arts Festival. (I don’t know anything about USA cons, only been to Anime Expo and PAX West once each.)
I only brought TCAF up since the maple syrup thread people were talking about how they were disappointed at the local “comic” (as in comic con) convention only having workshops for children. I’m very much looking forward to TCAF next year. I’ve never tabled there, mostly been someone that comes to buy stuff and maybe talk to people behind their tables when they invited me. That was years and years ago though. I think this year was the first year I even went to workshops or the events with the guests, since I never bothered in the past. Hopefully I’ll be less anxious next year! I don’t really plan on applying to table, it seems like it’s a hard show for someone without actual, physical books (and rather amateur art, for the matter), and I don’t have a squad of people to split the table with. I recently learned that people split and sublet their tables at conventions, and that’s how they reduce the risk, but I absolutely don’t think I want to worry if something will sell. Maybe in a decade’s time?
I’m still catching up on the videos from Citrus Con. Artist alley was fun this year as well. I think every order had at least one Bravern print in the order, so thank you everyone that checked it out. I kind of buried it in the pile of Tadashi and Ainosuke stuff, haha. I did have one commission! I like how it turned out.
Not much to report. Things are going. I worked on a new page with an original character in it for the CAC quarterly, which apparently will be given out for free at Small Press Expo (SPX) in Maryland. We all get the digital copy to make one for ourselves, so I might show it off next time.
The zine I’ve been thinking about writing for over a year was finally completed. It’s 16 pages, with a mix of fujoshi history, shipping, tutorials, and fun screenshots. I made some colour copies, but I’ll mainly stick to making black and white copies.
Tht title is “Not just fujobait: An information guide on fujoshi, BL fandom, and shipping”, and the drawing on the cover is something I drew over 2 years ago when my friend made a tofu and fujoshi joke. I was hoping that it would be useful for newbies and full-blown fujoshi/fudanshi/fujin to enjoy. It’s very silly, but I’m proud of it.
I went to Zine Dream, and it was fun. It was probably larger than the 2022 one that was at MOCA, and possibly even larger than Canzine. I saw someone comment to say that Canzine is the largest Canadian zine festival, but after last year, I seriously doubt that is true anymore. Maybe if the Ottawa location is bigger? Last year, Canzine was in a community centre in Chinatown. It was pretty small…like the same size as the zine festival at the Tranzac, and that was small. Anyways, point is. Zine Dream! There was a lot of risograph. There were some tables with very few zines, or no zines, but it did have an alternative art curation vibe. There were a lot of zines, which I’m happy about.
I did realize in the last while that while there is zine culture out here in the city, making fan comics isn’t really that popular. Hence me (Discord) server hopping, since it really feels like a lot of people are already in friend circles from tabling and whatnot. I just need to find a place to work quietly and ask questions occasionally. I think I’ve found a place for now, and it’s going okay! I’m going to work on the last 16 pages of this personal thing that’s been on my plate since July.
I enjoyed watching bon odori videos last year in the summer, and I’m back on it again.