A Walk to a Waterfall - In print!!

A Walk to a Waterfall is here and in print! My second comic is slightly different to my first, most pages have 6 panels rather than 4, meaning the illustration detail is smaller. 

I am not fully happy with the colours in this comic, although it looks fine, I know how I expected it to look and its slightly different, so this is something I want to investigate a little more for future prints. Other than that, I really love how it looks. The cover works really well. I used the back page to add in the map I had created too, to match the walk I took, which I really love.

Macc- Pow! - First Comic Market

I am super excited to have today exhibited at my first comic market! I have sold at markets and fairs before, when I ran my own creative business, that gave me a great idea on how to expect, and how to prepare, so the day went really well! 

I got to meet some really amazing comic creators, and talk to people about my work, which felt like a huge accomplishment. I exchanged 

There were a few things I didn't fully expect, like some people asked me to sign the comics they bought which was really exciting. I want to have a bigger variety of work to sell at my next market; prints, postcards and zines. However, having two solid comics for sale, really felt great. My feet hurt. 

Adding Travel Zine Elements into my Comic

 

A Walk to a Waterfall - Sent to Print!

 Today I have finished lettering and formatting A Walk to a Waterfall; the process was MUCH quicker with this being my second comic, although still quite clunky! I've sent them off to print, with the hope they will arrive in time for the weekend when it is my first ever comic fair.

Here are a few of my favourite spreads. I love the grey and pink colour pallet, and can't wait to see it in person.

A Walk to a Waterfall - Progress Update

I have now fully finished the artwork for A Walk to a Waterfall!!

I have gone through so many iterations of this comic, and I have now finished the artwork in a way that really pushed my boundaries. There were so many scenes that I actively avoided adding in originally, but in the end I pushed myself out of my comfort zone and I am really happy with the results.

I will start lettering now, and send to print as soon as I can.

 

Preparing for a Comic Market

 My first comics market is coming in the next 3ish weeks, which means I want to start doing some prep to make sure I am ready. This includes ordering things like a card reader, looking into additional merch (stickers, postcards prints etc), ways to display everything and things to label prices etc.

At this stage I know I will 100% have at least one comic, and I have a riso print which I'll be taking too,

Card Payment

After a little research the simplest, and cheapest card reader I can find is Square. It can take contactless payments and also works via bluetooth, so no cables. I do plan to only take card so this is very useful. 

https://squareup.com/shop/hardware/gb/en/products/credit-card-apple-pay-reader-contactless

Transporting Stock

Display

 I am going to have to transport everything on a train, so I need to take that into consideration when thinking about my display. I want to make sure my work is displayed well and accessible. After a little search I found this module wire mesh display, it comes apart and packs away flat, and can be built in various ways. I can use bulldog clips to attach prints to display them better too.

Merch

I want to use a local independent printer for my merch work, although I haven't settled on exactly what I'm going to print yet, I hope to use Print Works (www.print.work).

Art print pricing-

• A5 - 20 prints - £14.28 - Sell for £5
• A4 - 20 prints - £20.40 - Sell for £7.50
• Concertina Zine - 30  - £30.15 - Sell for £5

Reflections on First Printed Comic!

I received the printed copies of A Crying Shame last week, and I am so pleased with how they came out. 

If I was going to redo anything, I would make the cover a little thicker, I have the impression its going to curl quite easily. I also left a page blank at the back (intentionally) and I'm going to make sure that doesn't happen again with future comics; either with artwork of details of myself, something so it looks more intentional. 

I wish I had also added details of where and when they printed, eg "First print run, June 2023" or similar. I will definitely be doing that on A Walk to a Waterfall.

Other than that I am really happy, the cover is bold and bright, the inside pages are really pleasing, and the overall layout flows really well. Working closely with the printer and taking their advice really worked out!