My Komikon Experience

I was too tired to make this post last night so I'm doing it now. I had a blast at Komikon 2011! It was my first time to be an exhibitor! I'm so happy to have made a contribution to such an event that not only showcases the art of many talented Filipinos but also proves that komiks is still very much alive!

I was there the whole day and I've been very busy. I came in around 7:30 am to prepare our booth. I got a chance to meet and greet several of the most well-known names in the comics industry before the event officially opened. It was rather calm during the earlier hours and then it got really crowded around lunch time. I barely had time to take pictures because I was also making little sketches which all three of us in our group had to do for our promo (buy all our titles, get one free sketch). It's a good thing my girlfriend decided stay with us there! She did a fantastic job at managing our booth while we were all too busy with sketch requests!

Here are some pictures:

Buena mano! Here's fellow exhibitor Benji Bartolome! The guy behind Team Tag Team and also the first ever buyer of my komiks, Palagdas!

I'm really not used to seeing any Komikon like this! Komikons are never this empty! Haha! Taken during setup time.

Rommel "Omeng" Estanislao with his latest komiks, Bruho Barbero!

Here's a shot of our booth. Here we can see my art prints and some copies of my komiks. I'm so glad that these things sold pretty well. I should have made more prints of my paintings. more than half of them got sold out early in the afternoon.

Exhibitor and fellow Makasining member, MJ Pajaron.

And Omeng again with my komiks! :D

Makasining presents! Two of the four titles that we sold!

I just realized that this would be the first time I'm posting a picture of myself here on my blog. There I am in blue. With me are two legends, Mr. Randy Valiente (left) and Mr. Tony DeZuñiga!

Mr. DeZuñiga's great! I got from him a Conan print and a copy of a Jonah Hex graphic novel. That's not all! He drew Hex behind the front cover! On-the-spot! That's gotta be the best among all the stuff I bought during the komikon! :)

I also gave him an on-the-spot sketch of Hex as a gift. Too bad I forgot to take a picture! I was starstruck!

Here are Vincent and Lariz! Thanks for the support guys!

Fellow Makasining members, MJ Pajaron and Allen Geneta! Allen's the SEASONED VETERAN of our group! He's been doing this exhibitor thing for quite a while now. MJ and I couldn't have made it to the kon without his help!

Here's Dee! Booth manager supreme! The loveliest girl on the planet!

Here's one of the sketches requested to me by one of the people who bought our titles! Dante from Devil May Cry! I was really nervous when I did this. Aside from the fact that I'm not used to drawing fan art, I didn't actually plan to make sketches during the event but since my ever-so-fantastic girlfriend was there to keep things organized, I had time to do these things.

Here's me again doing a sketch of someone else's original character. I didn't have a hard time with this one because a reference pic was provided.

Our in-house manga artist hard at work!

And more quick sketches!

Then here's my Komikon stash! I finally got my copy of Superman Birthright autographed by Mr. Alanguilan! I wish I had more time to buy more stuff and I wish the event had been longer! Can't wait for the next Komikon! Many many thanks to everyone who made this event possible! It's an experience I will never forget! See you all again next year! :)

I'd like to end this post with a little information about the Makasining Komiks Group.

Makasining is a group of individuals who, despite their differences in style are one in the belief that komiks is a legitimate form of art and working together to continue enriching it. Currently, it's members are Allen Geneta, MJ Pajaron and yours truly.