Comic Arts LA Indie Comics Downtown

Comic Arts LA, our on indie comic and art show, perhaps a run off from Zine Fest, filled the second floor of the Think Tank Gallery. It was so easy to miss people had to wait outside and guess if you were nerdy enough to care about the event.

I'll complain just a bit about the venue and location, which had nothing to do with those volunteering their time for the event, but that area sucked! So damn hot. I just came from an air conditioned gallery, screw all the galleries in LA that don't have air. Stuff Em Burgers nearby sucks. CALA wasn't selling out to drive business. It was taking place in a hot upper floor of an indistinguishable building near bad food. Getting past that.

Past the volunteers, past Rebecca Sugar and Ian Jones of Steven Universe, past stairs and a freight elevator was the first Comic Arts LA. As there is sure to be more than one from all the attendees, the many artists that came and fans asking for it to be a two day affair next year.

We saw artists from dozens of past art shows from LA. We saw familiar faces from animation. It was more a get together of old like minded friends in the same business than any con. That and some great little indie comics and art that got snatched up before we arrived.

We caught up with David C Smith, we've interviewed on the site a few times before. You've seen his work on Adventure time and he recently worked at Titmouse, he was sold out of his Sailor Moon Mini about Luna, "Single Black Cat". He said he didn't have time to get it out until now, which made little sense with three separate Sailor Moon art shows in the LA area this year. I asked David why did he come to the show. "Because it's a comic book show ... in Los Angeles and it's a good one. And I knew it would be good, because of the people involved.... It's about time," David said. I told David about Comikaze Expo, he hadn't heard of it. "First of all, I'm not going to go to something called Comikaze. It's about comics get it, but it's crazy. It makes me want to kill myself!, " David sarcastically ended on. David simply captured my thoughts on Comikzae without either of us ever going to it.

Later we talked with one of our favorite artists, Jordan Crane. This tall gent was signing a comic he recently he finished for the show. He couldn't really describe his comic, "It's about a guy living in the middle of the dessert and his waiting to leave, and no one is coming to get him and stuff happens after that and... oh g-d, what's it about? Oh, Jesus... it's about, it's about..." He did get us to laugh as we talked about his past work. "I like this, this is fun, " he said cheerfully about the show we were at.

Next I talked to Andy Ristaino for a bit, who just finished working on Adventure Time, I passed by Kasey Williams of Galaticat and Brianne Drouhard of Harpy Gee. Artists who all have met high praise in social media.

Charmaine Ver Hagen -say that five times fast,-was in a corner. She's an illustrator and worked freelance on some Adventure Time episodes that haven't come out yet. "I have a lot of friends in the area and I do work for some of the networks in the area. And I absolutely love doing indie con! So, I jumped at the chance to apply for this," Char told us.

The events greatest feature were the artists in attendance. They were meeting their fans for the first time. Meeting other artists they only talked to online and getting a chance to all come together. They showed off their scribbles and tiny piecies of art, some with dreams at working at one of the big animations studios.

We left with a pile of books of strange tales about Nurses and other weird stuff waiting to read even more weird goodies next time.

Now we only need a nice  party mixer to relax at afterward or closed the show floor to just open a nice chat session while the show floor is closed.