Phew, has it really been a week since the last post? It feels like both an eternity and no time at all; this past week has been a blur of activity.
ComicCon Africa was a rousing success! The Dragon Wagon did well as always, and we had a team of people to help out this time, so we were able to get out of the stall a bit more often than usual. I still stuck around as much as I could, as is my wont for such things, but I was able to join my fiance for some photo ops and autographs with the visiting celebs for a change. We met Anthony “C-3PO” Daniels, Veronica “Ash Ketchum” Taylor, and John “Jack Harkness” Barrowman over the course of the convention; they were all extremely lovely, positive people and an absolute pleasure to talk to. I was as conservative with my cash as I could be, though I still found the wiggle room to support a few of my favourite local artists, and there was a lot of inter-stall trading happening everywhere (you’d be surprised how effective dice are as bartering tools). Overall, despite the additional expenses that we had to factor in, we still made a sizable profit that proved the trip to be well worth the effort.
There were some hectic storms happening in Cape Town while we were away; looks like we picked the right week to be in a different city. Fortunately, our cats were safe in a very well respected cattery; I can only hope their time in close proximity with each other helped their relationship somewhat. They are both very happy to be home again, though they were very vocal with their complaints when we picked them up; Silver doesn’t like being in a carrier, and while Sparrow handles it a lot better, he hates car rides, carrier or not. Both the trip to drop them off before we left, and the one on the way back were a cacophony of caterwauling, but they calmed right down as soon as they were out of the car. We’re going to give them the day to acclimatise back into the home situation, and by the weekend they can go out and roam again; there was a tree that got blown over in the park across the street that I’m sure Sparrow will love to explore.
Naturally, while I’ve been away, artwork has been on hiatus once again, and I will be taking a break from posting comics during October. However, I am keen to get drawing some other stuff in the meantime, as well as potentially building a buffer for the next issue of the Showcase, properly this time. I’m still running on the creative energy of ComicCon; seeing what everyone had to offer in the Artist Alley has been a major inspiration and motivational booster to me. You’ll recall how I mentioned that ComicCon pulled me out of my depressive spiral; it was in my first major blog post on this site when I finally returned, almost a full year ago. In the time between ComicCon Africa 2022 and 2023, I’ve gone through a lot, artistically, physically and mentally; on the whole, I think I’m a lot better for it, and it’s the power of creativity that has helped me keep pushing through in many situations since. I’ve stumbled here and there, and I’ve still got a long way to go, but I’m feeling refreshed, reinvigorated and…a third thing beginning with “re” that I can’t think of right now.
Even being back at the day job hasn’t put a dampener on my mood yet, so I’m going to ride this high for as long as I can, and get started on whatever comes next.
Ciao for now.
…
…
…
…revitalised!