I am in the States again

So I finished with JET and returned from Japan to the US, where I am career changing into biology work.

Here are some photos of things that have happened...

I raised some chicks, for a while, in Japan.

I traveled across America by train.

I am volunteering with bird banding.

Here is a Halloween jack-o-lantern I carved.

Party for creative people guest appearance (follow up)

Photos from the "Party for Creative People" guest appearance!

I put up originals and prints of my comics pages, and had samples for people to browse.

Above: jam comics from the event.

Crossing planes on the return flight.

I think the event went well. The first part was socializing and drawing jam comics, and then I gave a talk about myself (how I started as a bio major in college, and ended up making films and working on film sets, and then moved back to Boston, worked at MIT, and taught myself how to make comics. And then a segway into American indie comics and comics festivals in New England).

The audience was a mix of people from Japan and people of various nationalities who were living in or around Tokyo. People seemed quite interested in the comics festivals, and we had a general discussion about that. I mentioned some similarities and differences between shows I have been to in the US and the one show I have been to in Japan -- ie about how the Japanese mincomics are very slick looking, while the American indie comics are more craft-y or may have educational/activist feel to them.

Some examples of festival photos I showed include MoCCA and the Cambridge River Festival (one of my favorite shows).

 

A woman from the audience mentioned that the photos of the US shows looked like there was breathing space and that there would be a lot more interaction between sellers and audience. (I mentioned that people have hawked to customers by offering free cookies). What she heard about the Japanese fests was that there were a ton more people, and people were sort of crushed and penguin-walked through the isles trying to move around, nevermind trying to interact with sellers. "The festivals are just mental, says my friend!" (As a note, I didn't recall Comitia being that packed when I walked around briefly, but Comitia is not the largest festival either.)

At one point, an audience member suggested to me, "Well, can you organize a small comics festival here in Japan? I think that's a niche that needs to be filled, a smaller comic fest outdoors or in another setting that's relaxed, and where sellers can interact with the general public. And also, we need people giving out cookies and muffins with comics, like in those photos you showed. That part definitely needs to be brought to Japan."

Since I am finishing work in August, I am not sure about this plan, but it is an interesting idea.

I may post more photos later!

Stuff at Tokyo next week

Sorting materials

More prep/promo for the upcoming Tokyo event!

Some original pages I will be showing!

More comics! (These will be for sale as books)

And jam (collaborative) comics! International jam comics! History will be made!

Actually, international jam comics already happens (see below example from Nagoya)....

So more History will be made. Which is OK! It's like dried fruit, you always want some extra around, just in case. You can't go wrong with having surplus History stocked in your kitchen.

 

Anyway, here's some jam comics.

 (4th panel: Monster is saying "Ugh, annoying" in Japanese.)

 Some jam comics from Boston!

 

  A comic about flying teeth that save the day.

Below: invisbility

 

Guest artist at Party for Creative People" on April 19th in Tokyo,

Comics news! I've been invited as a guest artist to an event.

I will be appearing as a guest comics artist at the "Party for Creative People" on April 19th in Tokyo, Japan. I will be talking about my comics, creative process, American independent comics and self publishing. I am also planning on doing jam comics!

Links: http://www.meetup.com/Tokyo-Comic-Artists/events/175079782/
https://www.facebook.com/events/457889454344946/

Books on Kindle and photos of comics people in Tokyo and Nagoya

I have books on Kindle now! And an author page.

Also, I went to Tokyo and Nagoya and met a lot of people. Here are some photos.

Above: Rome Int'l Cafe's Party for Creative people, organized by comics artist Mokutan (Wonderworld Studio) with guest manga artist Davi Nathanael.

(You can see me hanging out the background in the photo on this page.)

 Nijikai (second party) as Sbarro.

People in the photos above include: Towa Hiyoshi (photographer), Davi Nathanael, Mokutan, Chinatsu Hirayama, Kaori Nakamura. And maybe Yamaguchi Shoutan, Kirisha Akanuma, Youhei Yamazaki.

Mokutan Angelo drew my face!


Then it was on to Nagoya,

Where I met Adam Pasion, Testuya and other folks, who are part of a Nagoya comics collective called Uzomuzo. (The space is Manga Kukan, a cafe where people can read and draw manga.)

Masks, ships, looming science museum photos

Some photos of recent things!

Kagura perfomance

Yokohama

 A science museum

オッス、大須！It's the Osu shopping arcade!