[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-comics-jamming-at-london-world-con":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"Last Friday I went to the huge international Science Fiction convention that is \u003Cb>World Con\u003C/b>, this year hosted right in my hometown! (It was, somewhat confusingly, also called \u003Ca href=\"http://www.loncon3.org/\">LonCon3\u003C/a>.) And I saw some familiar faces right away! Spot the family who were in my \u003Ca href=\"http://jabberworks.livejournal.com/656242.html\">Nine Worlds\u003C/a> convention blog post from the previous weekend... (The lady in the excellent Vivien of Holloway dress is \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/Adela_Terrell\">Adela Terrell\u003C/a>.)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/worldcon_guardian_zpse5d97c6d-f0d7739756.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd since I was going to lead a Comics Jam session, I wore my best Jampires dress! And brought along my beautiful new Jampire friend, knitted as a surprise by \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/apytown\">Ann Lam\u003C/a>. Poor little Jampire; World Con was a BIG PLACE and he couldn't find jam anywhere, just post-apocalyptic landscape. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/worldcon_jampire_zps1cb1f288-264ddd029e.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Ci>First photo tweeted by \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/ExLibrisNora\">@ExLibrisNora\u003C/a>\u003C/i>\\r\n\\r\n\u003C!--more Click for more under the cut!-->\\r\nMeanwhile, I was schmoozing it up in the Green Room with writer \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/EmApocalyptic\">Emma Newman\u003C/a> in her amazing red frock coat. Wait, check it out, the Green Room at the Excel Centre was in this crazy pod on stilts. Funnily enough, I also sat right by George RR Martin in there, but since I don't watch or read \u003Ci>Game of Thrones\u003C/i>, the experience was a bit wasted on me and I chatted with fab \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/streakofpith\">Hannah Berry\u003C/a> instead. Cons are like that for me, I don't know any of the people I'm supposed to know, because I never get a chance to WATCH TELLY.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/worldcon_emma_greenroom_zps3ca21fab-38395bfa2f.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nSo for the \u003Cb>Comics Jam session\u003C/b>, I brought along a range of indie/self-published comics, a mix of work by adults and kids, to show to the group. And I talked about how writing and drawing are one thing, but making their own books is even better, because they can learn how a whole book is put together, practice the form, and play around a bit with marketing it, designing covers, etc. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/worldcon_minicomics_zps819d9afe-4e252f4f01.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nHere we are, in the midst of the Comics Jam, everyone working on panel number three at the same time. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/worldcon_comicsjam_table_zps9aaec5cc-d7fab8ee70.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd a couple of the comics we came up with, each panel drawn by a different person:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/worldcon_comicsjam1_zpscd74de32-e15d6ad20d.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nOne of the dads in particular was very interested in helping his son find out more about making comics, and I was hugely pleased to be able to recommend \u003Cb>Neill Cameron's brand-new book, \u003Ci>How to Make Awesome Comics\u003C/i>\u003C/b>. In the past, I've recommended \u003Cb>Scott McCloud's \u003Ci>Understanding Comics\u003C/i>\u003C/b>, but I find Scott's book has a bit too much advanced technical theory for younger kids, say, under 10 or 12. Neill's book is a wonderful gap-filler and I know I will be recommending it often. (You can buy it here from \u003Ca href=\"http://www.thephoenixcomic.co.uk/product/how-to-make-awesome-comics/\">The Phoenix Comic online shop\u003C/a>, among lots of other great kid-appropriate comics.) \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/worldcon_comicsjam2_zpsa68b39c8-3ff58e37ce.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nOh, and as a side-note, Scott McCloud will be a special guest this October at the \u003Ca href=\"http://www.comicartfestival.com/\">Lakes Internation Comic Art Festival\u003C/a> in \u003Cb>Kendal\u003C/b>, which I'll be attending. Neill does lots of workshops at the Story Museum in \u003Cb>Oxford\u003C/b> and elsewhere, so keep an eye on his website \u003Ca href=\"http://www.neillcameron.com/events\">events page\u003C/a>.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://www.jampires.com/activities/\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/worldcon_comicguides_zps539ed324-403d9ada48.jpg\">\u003C/a>\\r\n\\r\nIf anyone from the Comics Jam is looking for guidance specifically on running more Comics Jams, I've created a guide with my \u003Ci>Jampires\u003C/i> picture book co-author \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/davidoconnell\">David O'Connell\u003C/a> on our \u003Ca href=\"http://www.jampires.com/activities/\">Jampires.com\u003C/a> website.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/comicsjampires_zps996af65e-029dbb8ccc.gif\">\\r\n\u003Ci>\u003Ca href=\"http://www.jampires.com/activities/\">Click here to read more\u003C/a>\u003C/i>\\r\n\\r\nI also spoke on another panel on art, and then went to see \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/AANiffenegger\">Audrey Niffenegger\u003C/a> give the \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/englishpen\">English PEN\u003C/a> H.G. Wells talk. I sat next to \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/sphlynswrites\">Sophie Lyons\u003C/a>, who'd studied on Audrey's novel writing course in Chicago. Audrey talked about Wells' short story \u003Ci>The Door in the Wall\u003C/i>, which I managed to find and \u003Ca href=\"http://www.online-literature.com/wellshg/5/\">read online\u003C/a> late that night. It's like a dark inversion of one of my childhood favourites, \u003Ci>The Secret Garden\u003C/i>, about a man who once finds a wonderous door to a garden and then spends the rest of his life yearning for that garden; he's unable to find the door, except at the most inopportune times, when he feels he can't take time to walk through it. Good stuff. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/worldcon_audreytalk_zps7ddd6d07-5e70dbfeb7.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd here are some of the LonCon team! There's \u003Cb>Maura McHugh, Erin Horáková, James Bacon\u003C/b> and \u003Cb>Esther MacCalum-Stewart\u003C/b>, and they all looked after me very well. Thanks so much! \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/worldcon_team_zps4a122561-fa7b45bc8e.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nI knew Maura from trips to Ireland, where she had hosted me when I spoke to the Dublin chapter of Laydeez Do Comics. Maura does loads of things, but you might know her for the famous list she made of currently practicing female comic artists in the UK and Ireland... Ah, and I see she's widened it to \u003Ca href=\"http://splinister.com/women-in-comics-uk-ireland\">Wome in Comics in Europe\u003C/a>! You can follow her on Twitter as \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/splinister\">@splinister\u003C/a>.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/worldcon_sarah_maura_zps58743780-654909e9e2.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nI made a quick foray into the Dealers Hall and saw the art exhbition, and was particularly pleased to see my ol' studio mate \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/ellenlindna\">Ellen Lindner\u003C/a>'s books on display at the \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/spenguin\">Soaring Penguin\u003C/a> table, manned by \u003Cb>John Anderson\u003C/b> and \u003Cb>Nora Goldberg\u003C/b>. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/worldcon_soaringpenguin_zps9747bb85-9fca179a98.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nSo my experience doesn't even begin to encompass the vast scale of the con, and it ran for five days. There were Hugo Awards and about a thousand other events. But I was glad to have a little window into it, for the day I was there. Thanks, Maura and James, for inviting me to be a part of it! \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/worldcon_comicsjam4_zpsb5ec9c8c-2aa183a924.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nI'll leave you with a few more of the Comics Jams. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/worldcon_comicsjam3_zpsafe2feac-7cebc9540d.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/worldcon_comicsjam5_zps08b160d8-f702156056.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Ci>Edit:\u003Ci> Just in, from \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/gilibugg\">@gilibugg\u003C/a> on Twitter:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/comicsjam_zpsa8b5faa1-3588069e9a.jpg\">","2014-08-17T22:16:00.000Z","comics-jamming-at-london-world-con",[],"comics jamming at london world con",1776628726749]