Festival of Fear

FanExpo Canada has started to announce their lineups for 2010. While I am usually stuck at my table, unable to join the masses for a 2-hour queue in order to acquire a (sometimes insanely overpriced) autograph or attend a Q & A session, I still like seeing the celebrities.

The featured guests for the Festival of Fear portion is promising: David Cronenberg, Lance Henriksen, and Heather Langenkamp being the three names that jump out at me immediately.

The Sci-Fi guest list is a heck of a lot of fun as well: William Shatner, Adam West, Burt Ward and Julie Newmar are just a few of many stars announced (question: do people recognize Peter Mayhew - Chewbacca - by his towering height, or do they make him wear the mask at the table?).

The Comic Book guests will be announced tomorrow, but they've already said that Stan Lee will be in attendance. I've taken this as a good omen. Let me explain.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I turned the corner of an aisle and saw haunt props. Could it be my kind of people are here?

A welcome addition to the FanExpo this year was Fort Fright, a haunted attraction designed within the lower fort of Fort Henry in Kingston, Ontario.

Usually, the only haunt promotions I see at the Expo are for Canada's Wonderland, which is fine but there are so many other great haunts in Ontario - professional and home haunts - that it's a shame more people don't know about them.

Plus, Fort Fright also offers a 40 minute ghost walk for people who enjoy history mixed in with their ghoulish experience.

I'm hoping this is a sign of things to come where the Expo is concerned. For a horror event that takes place at the end of summer, I'd expect to see more promotions of Halloween related items.

Going to take a break from the art posts to talk about my side of it all. So what can I tell you? I think I'll start with tidbits that might help other people who are new to selling/showing like I am.

• Plotting out my table display before I got to the venue helped cut down on assembly time (and stress).
• Never underestimate product placement. On Friday I might have sold 1 book. On Saturday morning, I decided to put a second sign with 3 books on the opposite end of the table. Like magic, they started to sell.
• People like little extras. The black Chinese food takeout boxes were a hit. And people thought the skull design on the front were custom made. For the peek-a-boo plants, I stamped paper bags, hole-punched the folded top and tied it shut with ribbon. Simple, but effective.
• I realized too late that some people thought I used stencils to decorate the Halloween boxes I'd painted, when really they were all painted free-style by hand (which impressed them). I should have had that information on the price sign.
• Having the stories for the Underbiters on the table was a nice reference piece if people asked questions about them. Some people were really excited about the idea of adopting (and actually, their excitement gave me a little thrill too, and I felt better about saying goodbye to the little fellas).

Now let's get to the bigger news.

You might be familiar with Imaginism Studios for their beautiful work on Tim Burton's new Alice in Wonderland movie. I've known them for a while because I am a big fan of Bobby Chiu who lives in my fair city of Toronto.

You know a guy is going places when his first gig at the age of 17 was designing Disney, Warner Bros., and Star Wars toys at Thinkway Toys.

I loved this print of the creature disguised as a pug dog the first time I saw it on the Imaginism Studios blog where Bobby is constantly posting sketches to feed my creative hunger. So when I saw it at their table, it was an easy decision to hand over some cash for what I consider to be a crown jewel in my collection of art prints.

It's called "Death of Teddy".

My favourite part of the weekend is having access to art that appeals to me. The bonus is meeting the artists in person. I came away with 4 prints this weekend. The first is from local artist Ghoulish Gary Pullin.

I wrote a short piece on him last year and then again when I bought his Wolfman t-shirt.

Wondering why the artwork looks familiar? Gary does illustrations for Rue Morgue.

What I really wanted was a copy of his Fido print. Alas, there were none available. Instead, I picked up a rockin' rendition of Frankenstein's monster. Normally me and Mr. Big-Bad-and-Green don't have an instant connection (I blame overexposure to his image), but how can you say no to that face when he's so wonderfully captured on paper?

Saturday was a different beast entirely. Lineups for buying tickets for the event zigzagged across the lobby, out the back door of the building, around the corner and up the block. I've been one of the poor souls who waited 2 hours to get in, but I can only imagine what the wait time was this year.

Luckily, with a flash of my exhibitor pass, I could slip in and out of the event with little hassle; that is, if I dared face the packed crowds in the aisles.

And then there was more lining up inside. Lineups to hear celebrities speak (people started to lineup at 3 for a talk by Bruce Campbell at 5). Lineups to buy tickets to have an autograph. And then lining up to GET the autograph.

I'm back from Rue Morgue's Festival of Fear (part of Hobby Star's Fan Expo). I'm dead on my feet, but I had a great first day. Let me tell you about it.

It's 11:58 pm on Thursday night. Everything (with the exception of the peekaboo plants still drying) is packed up and ready to go.

For those of you who are attending, be sure to come by my table (A191) at the Festival of Fear. I am directly behind Rue Morgue's booth. And the first person who comes to the table on Friday and says "Trick or Treat" gets a small prize.

Good night, ghoulies.

Spent today working on an adoption display booklet for the Underbiters.

I wanted to have their collection of stories all together. I also wanted people to see any of the Underbiters they may have missed at the table (hopefully sold to others). And finally, I wanted to give people a copy of the story to take home with them.

I created a sheet for each character that has their image, their story, and an "ADOPTED" stamp (right).

I then created a second sheet for each one ("What you need to know...") (pictured below). This one slides over top of the adopted page. This way, when someone adopts one of my dark little darlings, they simply take the top copy.

Hopefully this will also act as a "no return policy"; I don't want angry phone calls from people complaining their washing machine is broken, or all their leftovers have been eaten. I've clearly stated in writing the quirks of each Underbiter.

Sorry kids. Ghoul Friday can't come out to play.

She has four days left to get ready for Rue Morgue's Festival of Fear.

There are plants to make, Photoshop designs to create, Underbiters to finish, and numerous other little details to get done (including running out to get a cashbox at some point. Oh Yetch dear?).

The schedule of helpers at my table is almost finalized.

Anticipation (or is that nervousness) is building. People ask if it's because I'm showing my work for the first time in public (which makes sense), but the closer I get to the event, the more I worry about things away from the creative side (like running out of items before the end of Sunday, or even having enough petty cash for change).

Be back soon.

GF