Evacomics as VIP at Comic Fiesta, KL 2016

It was my privilege to be invited as guest speaker for Comic Fiesta! I had an event on Saturday so I could only join the convention on Sunday.

Panel Talk: Making Comics and Designing Character Goods
It was nice of Mr. Jared Cheah, the director of Comic Fiesta, to personally greet me before I start my talk. I find that event directors in Malaysia and Indonesia are very sincere in inviting their guests and always made sure to greet us personally.

The room was gradually filled up with over 60 people :)

I shared how I started drawing webcomics before moving on to how I made the comic strips and products. The 30-40min talk was followed by Q&A and quiz where I gave away T-shirts. It was nice to meet some fans and aspired new artists as well 😀

Media Interview
After my talk and personal greetings with fans, I had to rush off for media interview by some magazines and online platforms. I regret not bringing my books along because my bag was filled with bottled water for my sore throat...

Autograph Session
After my quick lunch, I went for my autograph session at Coffytiam, Comic Fiesta's official merchandise booth. They were helping me sell my cat cushions, stickers and books. Everything was on consignment but they do not take a cut :)

Sadly I didn't notice that my camera "cried" and the lens was blurred out...

Luckily Aimi, one of my fans, took a really nice photo of us together and posted on her FB so I could save a copy. Thank you!

Attending a Talk by Kadokawa Gempak Starz CEO
I didn't know that Kadokawa (major Japanese publisher) acquired Malaysian publisher Gempak Starz and was curious to know more about the comic industry in Malaysia. It turns out that their X-venture series was making good money and they have a full-fledged studio for artists and assistants!

It's like a dream come true to have a trusted business partner so artists can concentrate on just creative work and hire assistants too. Unfortunately in Singapore, because of our small market (which is mostly unsupportive of creative work), high rental costs and high cost of living, it is difficult to realise this dream. I find myself producing less nowadays due to the paperwork I had to do, like preparing talks, negotiating prices, invoicing, chasing and tracking payments, replying emails, evaluating events and collaborations, marketing, maintaining several social media channels and replying to comments/messages. Oh yes, and not to forget deliveries to warehouses and gift shops. All these take up 50% of my time...

After the talk, I stayed back to talk to Chris and was surprised that anybody can just message them to make an appointment to visit their studio. Hopefully I can tour the studio one day and also have my own eventually...

Going Around
After a long talk with the speaker and another Japanese professor, I had to dash off to find my fan, Yoshiki Tsubasa, who was having a booth at the premium space area.

He and another artist Scull drew a fan art of me!!! Thanks guys!
BTW, Yoshiki also made CUTE Kopi and Matcha handphone straps too!!! (Though I tie them up to bags and thumbdrives). If you are interested, you can pre-order them here >>> http://www.eva.sg/EN/preorder.html

Next I visited my online artist friend Kendylife and completed his doodle art! We sorta knew each other from another Malaysian comic artist but we never met before until now, haha.

The basic artist booth area was crowded...

The premium artist and commercial booth area was also...crowded... But I heard that Saturday was worse... you could be stuck in one position and not move for half an hour...

It's good that the organisers created a platform to showcase work from local creative talent.

It's also nice to know that their concert is FREE... FREE!!! And it was pretty good too! Too bad I was hungry and want to eat.... FOOD > Music 😅

Last Thoughts
The CF merchandise store sold 5 cats and a few stickers for me so I had some extra money to buy stuff from the artist booths and support back to the community. Comic Fiesta also gave me their paper folders and a sketch book, which were designed by their local talent!

As an invited guest, my flight, hotel, transportation and food were all covered. They even assigned a Guest Liaison to take care of each guest and fetch us to and fro airport. I was happy to know Sheldon, my fellow sinus-affected guest liaison. Thanks for helping me with the photo-taking and bringing me around to eat!

Also special thanks to all who came down for my talk and autograph session, the media, as well as Comic Fiesta volunteers and team for inviting me and organising this great event! Hope there will be chance to be invited speaker again! *wink wink*

Comments

  1. Glad you had so much fun at CF! I haven't been in years but I heard it was a lot of fun this year. Would have loved to attend your presentation.

    Hope I get to go to one of your events in Singapore again when I'm in town!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Of course KLCC I feel was nicer but I guess too expensive to rent. So yeah, hope to see you too!

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