Ottawa Comiccon 2022 - 3 years later!

Crazy to think that most of us who were tabling at Ottawa Comiccon this past weekend had bought our tables in May of 2019. 2020 was supposed to be the first Ottawa Comiccon to be held in September and well… yada yada, global pandemic, yada yada… here we were, 3 years later.

Leading up to the con, the anxiety was real. Oh god, I haven’t done this in so long! Where had all my gridwalls gone? Have my button supplies crumbled to dust?–Answer was yes–What fandoms will reign supreme this year? How many new strains of covid are we going to brew up in the course of these three days? (Buy a VIP ticket and be the first to partake in the new limited edition covid variant: Omicromiccon!) But mostly–will it even feel the same?

Thankfully, there was no reason to fret (except about those button supplies–no really why did everything turn black??). Within an hour or two of getting comfy on Friday I was seeing familiar faces from years past, making friends with the table neighbours, recognizing the eyeballs of my buds from the industry above colourful masks, squeeing over SO MUCH amazing artwork, and arranging a number of giddy art trades. It felt so good to be back.

New stickers that will appear in our new store

This year I decided to test out some merch that I’ve been creating in preparation for the opening of a new Etsy shop that will be a joint venture between myself and two fellow animators and creators with fun and unique styles, and I’m so thankful to everyone who came by and bought a sticker, charm, or one of this year’s new sets of prints! It was a great chance to see how these items would fair in the e-commerce battle royale and to gauge where we should let our creative energies take us next!

Some of my prints on sale at Ottawa Comiccon — I swear I took photos of things other than my set-up, but my favourites turned out devastatingly blurry…

Thanks to *everyone* who came by to have a chat, who shared a smile or a lovely compliment, who took a card, and to all those who liked my work enough to take a little piece of it home with them. I loved meeting you all and it always makes me so happy to experience everyone’s passions, witness your creativity, hear your stories, and of course to see photos of all your beloved cats. As a nerdy, artsy person who can talk at length about dinosaurs, cats, rats, squirrels, mythological creatures, and d&d, it’s so glorious and validating to be surrounded by like minds, all in one place.

A new charm that will be available in our new store

As for the shop, our goal is to have that operating by the end of the month (if all outstanding shipments arrive on time and barring any unexpected setbacks). We can’t wait to have a permanent little table here on the web.

Hope to see you there!

… And here’s a bonus photo of Ezio and Murray blessing the con suitcases before leaving for set-up…