Okay, I am going to make this post. I am going to somehow sum up my feelings after Baltimore Comic-Con. But it's not gonna be easy!

Basically, my summer con experience was amazing. I made some money, met great people, hung out with friends, learned a ton, and had a blast of a time!
So many things happened at Baltimore that it's hard to even start to put 'em down! But let's try to get some of the highlights.

Dogs As it turns out, I'm not the only one who friggen loves dogs (duh!). Baltimore's sales were all about dogs and Pokemon. Early on some people asked me to draw their dogs because of my poster, so I put up a sign offering dog 'n' pokemon commissions for $10 pencils or $15 inks. I spent much of the rest of the con doodling people's pets and pokes! Which of course had the added benefit of getting to SEE everyone's adorable dog pictures. This is definitely something I'll be doing at cons from now on, and may need to work into an online thing as well. Especially if I finally draw that dog comic sometime~ Amanda Conner So, self-indulgent con story! At the bar the night before the con, Scott introduced me to Amanda Conner, one of my favorite Western comic artists out there. She was so nice and approachable! I ended up going over to her at the con to give her my Power girl fanart like a big dork. Jimmy Palmiotti (her boothmate and often writer) saw me holding it in the line and let me skip ahead, which filled my heart with sillytimes. Amanda really liked it and asked me where my booth was and stuff! So basically I had the biggest of dorkout times. It was rather great. Style Another interesting thing I noticed (and tweeted a bit about) was that the only people who seem to think of my style as "anime" are people who also consider themselves "aspiring manga/anime artists", whatever that means. I was really glad that the Baltimore attendees weren't judgmental of my style. A few asked what I 'call' it (which I wasn't sure how to answer honestly! I tend to default to 'anime-influenced cartoony something'), but these Superhero convention attendees were very open to my cutesy drawings, for which I was very grateful. Kids especially (which Baltimore had a TON of. It's definitely a big show for families!) don't give a crap about where your style comes from, which I love.

Books-sellings
Honestly, I sold almost no books at Baltimore. A lot of people like to throw around the idea that anime conventions are the ones you can't sell anything besides fanart at, and I'm here to say that the notion is officially bunk. My KB books moved pretty well at both AX and Otakon, and not just to readers. I think there's actually been a bit of a cultural shift lately, and anime con attendees are interested in finding new material to read. Heck, I was sitting across from Mad at Otakon and she sold out of her new Sakana books on the first day!
What I could really use is something at a lower price point, which is one of the reasons I'll be happy when I have those Jack issues to sell at cons. Still waiting on the proofs to ship of that, BTW. I'm getting pretty disappointed with both ComiXpress and Ka-Blam for taking so long to be honest!
But I'll probably start bringing fewer books to cons in general, just so I don't have to lug these heavy things back and forth. Which will, of course, become a bigger issue next year when Volume 2 is out! And speaking of next year...

Convention Plans
Since conventions have been so great to me, I definitely want to try more out next year!
I fully plan to attend both Baltimore and Otakon again, as well as ECC which I'm already signed up for.
AX I'll probably pass on, because honestly it's run with a kind of assholeishness towards AA exhibitors.
Other conventions I want to try getting to include:
Sandiego Comic-Con, which I applied for a Small Press table at. We'll see how that goes! I may attend in some capacity even if it doesn't work out, so let's work on the assumption that I'll be there!
Sakura-Con in Washington, which I hear is super difficult to get an AA table at. If you live near Washington. Since it's only a week after ECC, I'd really love to go. Since I'd already be there and have somewhere to stay, I sent them an email asking if they might be willing to have me as a guest artist thing. If you live near there, please drop them an email saying you'd like to see me as a guest! I may not have a shot, but it's worth a try! Otherwise I'll try to grab a table the normal way for sure.
A-Kon in Dallas, which I couldn't try for this year 'cause of my sister's wedding. But it's in driving distance and I'd love to try it out!
Anime Central in Illinois, which I've heard good things about and could stay at my relative's house for!

If you'd like to see me at any of these conventions, dropping a mail to the con itself would help me a ton! And be sure to recommend any other cons you'd like to see me at. I'm open for trying about any decent-sized con I can afford to attend! Hopefully next year will be full of lots of new con experiences, and thank you so much to everyone who made this year so great!