Public Library- Comics Mini Con

Last Thursday, I was one of a dozen or so invited guest artists for a comics mini-con held at the Union West Regional Library in Indian Trail, North Carolina. Children's librarian and himself an artist- John Tompkins organized this extravaganza, and it was huge! John did a great job putting this event together, and his efforts resulted in a swarm of comics-hungry kids and parents- over 300 attended! The kids were very excited as they went from table to table asking for artist's autographs and watching over our shoulders as we sketched characters. I was surrounded by tons of talented artists, all of whom live in the greater Char-Meck area; I was seated at a table with Marcus Hamilton, artist of "Dennis the Menace" panels from Mon-Sat. in the newspapers. It was thrilling to hear him talk to his fans about how he got one of the best jobs on the planet some 16 years ago; training with Dennis creator Hank Ketcham, and eventually taking over the duties shared with Sunday panel artist Ron Ferdinand. I say "trained" to draw Dennis- only to draw it the way Hank wanted; but make no mistake- Marcus had a successful career as an accomplished fine illustrator prior to becoming Dennis cartoonist. I also met the very kind Derek and Nikki Davis of Bitter TEA Studios. Check out their online strips and books- "T.E.A. The Ered Adventures", with new posts on Mondays and Fridays. On display throughout the children's section was one of the largest collections of graphic novels and "how to draw comics" books I think I've ever seen in a library of that size. Al Bigley and Andy Smith are two artists who offer "how-to-draw" books- you need to check them out! John holds a monthly cartooning club for kids at his branch, and he's developed a good following of readers-most of them boys from what I witnessed- who enjoy this art form. He also saw a spike in his Summer Reading program sign ups during the event; way to go John! In the picture above, I am standing with Alex, a new fan of Hamster Sam. He purchased a copy of the book and promptly ran over to a cozy chair against the wall and read it from cover to cover. A great time was had by all!