Despite the London bombz0rs, I survived the last four days at the A+I show. All in all it went much better than we expected, and it was really interesting to be at such an event. totally different to anything we've ever done before, and a totally different market to normal. Lots of 'What is manga?' and lots of curious old grannies - but equally so, lots of excited people and curious artists too. There was a huge buzz of interest from the younger crowds in general, and lots of parents who were eager to help their children out with their interest in the topic - I would have sold loads of my Digital Manga book had I actually had any copies to sell!! ;_; Ah well, lol, it was great nevertheless and quite inspiring too.

I bought some canvases and canvas board, so at some point I'm going to force myself to pick up a paintbrush again and do some acrylic pieces. It's been many many years, but I did lots of acrylic for a long time, so I ought to be able to do it okay. It'll be for fun, no huge pressure.

So I'm back in Cambridge now, taking an evening away from working on stuff and trying to play some video-games. I have a few scary projects looming over me which are causing quite a lot of unwelcome pressure at the moment, especially as everyone else is tied up right now, but I'll see what I can do to cope with those. There's also a lot of work at my day job, and a lot of exciting stuff there too, but I'll get through it somehow. ^_^

London MCM Expo was last weekend, and it was a fantastic event! I went down with all the Sweatdrop crew, and we weren't quite sure what to expect. A lot of work was done preparing, and we were probably the most organised we've ever been for an event, right down to having made Sweatdrop logo t-shirts and getting posters printed.

As well as running the 'artists alley' (a public drawing area of sorts) we also organised a manga-art competition in collaboration with Letraset which went better than we could have ever hoped - with over 300 entries! o_O Judging it was very painful, but satisfying to know that so many people were interested - and a lot of really cool artwork out there too! The artists alley was busy throughout the entire event, with people sitting and drawing at all times with the supplied paper and pencils.

It was a great event for Sweatdrop as we found a lot of people who had never heard of us, or had any idea anyone was doing this sort of thing in the UK. We learned a lot from the event, and we're now well primed for upcoming conventions (Aya!) and events (A+I!)... and it seems that we'll also be doing Expo again on 29-30 October 2005! ^-^

Right, I'm off to London Expo for the weekend with Sweatdrop Studios!
*dons sweatdrop logo t-shirt* Yosh! XD

Anyone who is in London then please come along - it sounds like a great event, and it would be great to have your support.

(crossposted on sweatdrop)

It’s been a very busy year for Sweatdrop Studios with many new releases, new members and some exciting projects underway –
One of which we can now officially announce!
Sweatdrop are proud to announce their involvement in the following event:

The Artists & Illustrators Exhibition 2005.
July 21st - 24th

For those who don’t know of the exhibition, this is a large event which last year attracted over 14,000 visitors to London’s Business Design Centre.
As you can see, it’s an event spread over four days and will be wall to wall with artists, manufacturers, publishers and creativity! The exhibitors vary broadly across a whole range of genres and styles, and the event is always keen to introduce new and innovative art styles to the exhibition.

So where does Sweatdrop come in?

This is a very exciting time for Anime and Manga themed art in the UK, with its influence being felt now more than ever in the mainstream art world. More and more people want to know about this wonderful medium and how they can create the style. Sweatdrop Studios will be exhibiting and selling at the event, but also will be providing workshops, seminars and larger ‘conventions’; The latter being 4 x 90 minute presentations covering aspects of Manga-styled art and its creation.

The following Manga-themed presentations will be on offer over the 4 days:

Conventions:
· Day 1 – Manga – A history and overview of the Japanese Art form
· Day 2 – Manga – Creating the style #1
· Day 3 – Manga – Creating the style #2
· Day 4 – Manga – Sequential Art

Workshops:
· Kids workshop – hands-on workshop for younger artists
· Drawing a character – basic and hands-on guide to creating and drawing anime style characters
· 1 Page comic-drawing session – we’ll walk you through creating a single page comic

Demos:
· Seminar – preparing and printing comics
· Inking – demonstrating the power to change a piece of artwork through the use of inking techniques


Sweatdrop are immensely proud to be representing the UK Manga community at this event and we really hope that many of you will join us there! This is our chance as a community to show the outside world just how varied, powerful and emotive an art style this is. The more manufacturers realise how popular the medium is in the UK, the more they will cater for it! There are so many talented manga artists in the UK now, so if you’re one of them or an enthusiast of the style, why not come along? Maybe take part in the workshops, pick up some high quality art materials direct from the manufacturers (Letraset are just one of the brand names in attendance!) or maybe just wander around the event and absorb the sheer variety of artists and illustrators in the UK.
Either way, it looks set to be a big event and we’d love to see you there!

Ticket prices are estimated to be:
£11 on door
£9.50 pre-booking online
More info HERE and HERE.