CHS Otaku Fest

I'm definitely, definitely, not in any way experienced or qualified in comics creation, art, or panels.  All I know, I know from books and advice from those more experienced than me.  And I'm not even good at following my own advice. So in a lot of ways, I'm pretty "Eeegh" qualified to do a panel, and I'm not sure that that's the sort of panelist you guys would want.  But since it's a small con, without a plethora of better-qualified people to do the job, I guess I'm not so bad.  Yay for low standards XD !  I'm not 100% certain I'll do this panel, but I'd really, really like to, I think it'd be fun, so I'll pitch it here and see how people feel about it.

THINGS I MAY DO SO FAR:

Book Recommendations - If there's one thing I'd say I'm good at, it's sniffing out top how-to books.  The quality stuff, classic stuff, the books that are revered by those most involved in the medium, and I even own most of the ones I've found.  If nothing else, I think these recommendations could be really useful. 

Online Resources - I'm not as on top of this as I'd like, but I've got a few things that I think would help people out.  A few art and communities or websites, maybe some photo reference resources, etc..

Sample Work - Showing or recommending various 'good' manga or comics and giving some advice on what sorts of things to study or look out for in the books, so people can learn and appreciate them.  Or contrasting different kinds of comics.  For example, the difference between art styles in shojo and shonen, or the pacing between panels, etc..

Some Practical Advice - A bit of practical advice on drawing, creating stories, etc..  Just basic things.  For example, many new artists don't understand the importance of a strong art foundation, and learning proper anatomy and such, and I could explain that.  I could also explain that the bipolar, moody way you feel about your art (sometimes really good, usually reallly, really bad) is normal, and will never go away, ever. 

Comparison to literature and art - Comics brings together both writing and art, and while comics is unique from both mediums, it borrows a lot and can learn a lot from the two.  I can't get too deep into it, since I've just noticed such things recently myself, but I think pointing it out and giving some food for thought on the matter would be good.  Also how the nature of text and images differ.

Artist Tools - I'm not 'hooked up' with the fanciest artist swag, and I haven't used that many mediums or tools, but I've read a lot, and used at least a few different ones.  I'd explain the basic various types of pens (nib, multiliner, brush, crappy ballpoint), pencils (.mech, #2, fancy), paper (printer, sketchbook, comic artist, etc.), various other tools, tablets, digital software (Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.), and coloring things (color pencils, COPICs).  Anything else I could go over?

Copyrights - I'm a bit of a copyrights nazi, in some ways... I plan to go over some copyright misconceptions and smack people over the head with it, and why stealing art from artists is wrong.

Becoming a Professional - I obviously know very little about this from personal experience.  I can only spout off different things I've heard from others about the process (which really is a rather vague and difficult path anyway), and give suggestions on how to spread around and such.

Scott McCloud Worship - I worship his books and the teaching of his books.  Worshipworshipworship.  I plan to 'borrow' a looot from him and his books.  He has a lot of exercises and practices in his books on comic creation too, I'll probably take full advantage of that and steal them.  Haw haw haw.

...That's about it in terms of everything I had in mind.  I have no idea how long this would take, how it would be organized, or how I would handle the panel; I guess I'll have to figure it out.

Thoughts?  Suggestions?  Comments?  Is anyone interested in this sort of thing?

<3 ali

Don't worry if you think the length is too long.  I personally think the more information you have to talk about, the better.  The list looks great so far, and we'd really love it if you were to become a panalist.  Panalists get free attendance, & if you choose to host this panel, sign up here!  Good luck!

I'd definitely attend! I've been wanting to do a comic for a while now.   ^_^

That's good, thanks for the feedback ^_^ .  Once I put together a solid enough panel plan, I'll go ahead and sign up!

I hope this is fun ^^ .

<3 ali

If you like I could perhaps help with some of the art portion if you like. I'm not the best at anatomy, but I'm not the worst or anything.  >>;;

we should have people bring a CD
and pick a few songs off of it and make a playlist

Thank you for the offer, Tsukiyo-san.  That could be really helpful, though I'm not sure how much I'll be going over actual art... well, drawing and technical skill, anyway.  Once I have some sort of time table, I'll show that here.

<3 ali

Ok. Just keep me updated on what you need me to possibly do.