2012 - in retrospect

2012 was a little bit disappointing... Well, not now that I look back on all the fun things I managed to do this year, but when it comes to all the things I was hoping for but didn't achieve. To defend myself I want to point to the fact that the things that I hoped for that didn't come true was because of others, not me. Sometimes in your life there's things that can't be done because other people don't give you the chance to do them.

I don't blame them though, I blame myself. One day, when I have become more well respected within the industry, I might get all things I hope for. Today, I have to live with the benefit of the doubt from others.

Time for a look back on the milestones of the past year, as I usually do this time around!

Milestones of 2012:

 

• In January I worked hard on finishing all three major comics that I made that year. Good way to start off the year, haha!
  A Sword Princess Tale - chapter 1 (fanzine made for SIS/SPX in Stockholm in April)
  Hooked On You (published in Nosebleed Studio's Seaside Stories anthology)
  A Song for Elise - REMIX: Memories (published in the Boy's Love anthology GUYS!)
  

• February came with a small achivement: my entry for the Japanese manga magazine Ribbon's monthly manga competition resulted in an honorable mention, a prize called もうひと息賞 ("Mou hito ikishou" = one more try-prize). My manga was mentioned in issue #2 this year, you can read the full review here.
  
  
• All through Spring, Summer and Fall, I applied for several artistic funds but recieved null. This was quite dissapointing. I know I can't expect to get any, but it's still heartbreaking every time you get a letter from one of the organizations saying "...you application could not be approved."
  Well, they won't get rid of me that easily! I'll keep trying until I get some!
  
  
• I was aslo teaching at Malmö Univeristy in their English comic course Comics, International Perspectives, specializing in the Japanese manga market. Very nice and fun, I like teaching at the University because it's so professional and enjoyable!
  
  
  
  
• In March and April, the main focus was to finish all the projects before Small Press Expo at Stockholms International Comic Fair (the biggest comic event in Sweden) in the end of April. Nosebleed Studio's book Seaside Stories was to be released, as well as the latest edition of Swedish Comic Sin (book 3) that I'm the editor of.
  Chapter one of A Sword Princess Tale was also sold at the event as a fanzine, and I also began my search for a publisher in these months, both inside and outside of Sweden. Most publishers take some time to think over things, and even though I had a Swedish publisher and a Danish one that was quite interested I wanted more. Back then, my goal with this project was to have at least three or more publishers working with me on this, to make the best out of their collected feedback, and also to get enough pay to have an assistant working with me on this.
  
  
  
  
  
• In the beginning of 2012, my childrens manga Mjau! also got an International deal with Portuguese NCreatures and their manga magazine Banzai.
  
  

• May and June was mostly waiting for replies from the publishers. I had also sent in my second entry to Ribbon in March, and got the results in June: the same honorable mention in issue #6! Read the full review here.
  
  

• I used all the spare time to work with my friend and colleague Elise Rosberg on the coming site NonstopCon, a Swedish community for Asian-fans of all sorts! During Spring and Summer, we worked on the layout, putting up a crowdfunding page (and recieved the full amount in the end!) and planned all the features of the site. Our webb developer Rick worked his ass off all Fall and Winter, but still didn't get it done until December which was our plan. The site is a little late, but it's all becasue we're not okay with just any crappy community site, we want this one to WORK!
  For our Swedish fans, follow the work on our blog.
  
  

• A well deserved vacation was made in July, to my aunt and relatives in Portugal. More inspirational trips made, and lots of photos taken!
  
  

• In September my sister Catarina and I finally finished Nosebleed Studio's new Worppress site! It's so nice to finnaly have a professional and working webshop and also a manga reader with flip-book funtion! Check it out!!
  
  

• I felt I needed to make a trip to some of the bigger comic fairs in the world, both for my self an my career. As I am a big fan of American reality shows (yup, one of my sins), I decided it was time to go to the big land over seas. So, Emil and I went to New York Comic Con in October and I got to talk to Yen Press, a meeting that changed my perspective on things and also my focus for A Sword Princess Tale. I'm no longer pursuing a multinational deal to begin with, but focusing on making something for a Nordic market that might work elsewhere.
  Check the full report here.
  Afterwards, I also made a report from NYCC in comic form for Bild&Bubbla, that will be printed sometime in 2013.
  
  

• For the second time around, I got to teach at Malmö University's comic course in Swedish, Serieteckning och visuellt berättande. Yet again, so rewarding! Teaching is a great way to learn more about your own profession, it forces me to overlook my work process and put it on paper (I make handouts for all courses, I think I should put them here on my page actually).
  I was also teaching at Serieskolan in Malmö, which also feels cool and honoring (they trust me!). The week there focused on storytelling, very convenient because I had just finished a book (John Truby's The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller)  and some self-studies on storytelling!
  
  

• Some Swedish media attention during this year:
  ✎ An interview in City Malmö (nr 2012-08-23) about nerdy hobbies.
  ✎ An interview together with Catarina in Lokaltidningen Lund on the 28th of September.
  ✎ The above shown frontpage and article of Sydsvenskan Omkretsen on the 11th of November.
  
  

• All through the year, Nosebleed Studio visited a lot of manga/comic conventions:
  KodachiCon in Lund (May) - where we sold a lot of our books to our fans in Skåne (the Southen most region in Sweden). I also did my Yaoi presentation again, which was fun!
  UppCon in Uppsala (June) - I did a presentation on my attempts to get into the Japanese manga market, and we sold a bunch of our Swedish manga to many awesome fans, thank you!!
  NärCon in Linköping (July) - I did the Yaoi presentation here as well.
  NowJapan in Vilnius (August) - we where Internationally invited to this Lithuanian convention, cool huh? I did the Yaoi presentation there (very well attended!) and we also did the manga battle tournament, fun!
  AltCom in Malmö (November) - not a manga con, but still fun. We managed to get into the paper as well!
  Confusion in Göteborg (December) - I did the Yaoi-presentation again, and there was a line of people who didn't even get in... It was popular! We met a lot of awesome fans and gained new ones as well.
  
  

•   In the end of the year, comics started calling for me again. I had almost stopped drawing at all during April to October, and now I not only have to make a 32 page manga to Nosebleed Studio's next anthology (sneak peek to the right) but also I need to start making the layout sketches for A Sword Princess Tale! The first 4 chapters are planned to be finished before July and the Swedish and Danish publisher are both eager to have it and so am I! Okay, let's go!!

Hm... I think that's a pretty good summary of my year. I probably forgot some small things here and there, but all in all it's pretty much like this.

This year was disappointing in some ways. I didn't get a contract with A Sword princess Tale as early as I wanted it (I would have wanted to start working on it in the Fall) and the God of funds was not on my side this year. I do survive though, thanks to all the childrens books I have made last year.

But, I'm still pleased with the victories; 2 honorable mentions in Japanese manga magazine Ribbon, the publishing of Mjau! in Banzai, a new homepage for Nosebleed Studio and all in all 90 manga pages finished (and another 60 pages in rough sketch). Not my most productive year, but still pretty awesome!

✰ Okay, onwards to 2013! Let's make history!! ✰

New York Comic Con Report!

Wow, long time no see! A month since I last wrote here, and that's because I've been quite busy... With everything else than making comics, sadly. Still enjoyable stuff though, so here's a HUGE report!

In September I was teaching comics art and visual storytelling at Malmö University again, thanks to Gunnar Krantz - my ex-teacher from Malmö Serieskola (Comic Art School). It was fun and this time I had the chance to go through more than the basics, which was nice.
The course was Serieteckning och visuellt berättande if you are interested in taking it. It's in Swedish but there's also an English one every Spring called Comics, International Perspectives.

Ok, now over to what I've done in October!

Guess where I have been off to?

Me and my boyfriend Emil went to the US of A! More precisely New York City, for their yearly New York Comic Con! It's the second biggest comic convention in the US, the San Diego Comic Con being the biggest.

Why New York? Because I have wanted to see these. You don't find this in Sweden, and the Big Apple is such an interesting and energetic city. It's not really an American city as much as it is an International city, especially Manhattan (where we hanged out most of the time).

 

The food. Oh, the food.

These huge pancakes (pobably more than 20 cm in diameter each) was our breakfast. Twice, and then we realized it would actually kill our stomachs...

Thursday was the "Professionals and VIP's only" day! So after standing in this line for one hour we finally eneter the huge convention center.

Huge. ((This word pretty much describes most things we experienced in the US))

Powaaaah!!

Back to the future!

  All the big videogame and comic companies was there. Big booths, a lot of "booth babes" (both female and male ones) and cool sculputers, life size models, figurines in glass cabinets... So much to see!!

These historical originals was displayed for the charity auction, check out the starting bid!

Also, there was a lot of shops and smaller companies and studio's there, selling all from nerdy T-shirst and self-published comics to steampunk stuff and small production toys.

Yes, a steampunk keyboard...!

 Lego also had a booth, with awesome models like these of Gandalf and Bildo. They're smart, they know their audience is not only young kinds but old kids as well!

We had to check out the Artist Alley, which was in it's own big hall. So many fantastic artists! Most into the American comics style, but also some into manga and more European styles. Mike Mignola had a table, which just shows the level of artists there. Some where more green though, and the diversity was appealing. So inspiring!

I usually don't buy prints, but since some of the artists was so freaking amasing, I just had to. I think we spent more than 100 dollar on prints alone!

I also took the chance to talk to editors at Yen Press (yes, I know, I'm a workaholic!) and their great and insightful feedback made me change a lot of my agendas and plans. They where harsh and honest, which I love!! Hopefully a collaboration in the future, a great contact!

The next day, we went for a walk in Central Park. Here's the statue of the sled dog Balto, who aslo got his own animated movie, remember? 

Even the squirrels were huge! And cute~

 We stopped by the Natural History Museum and checked out the space exhibition and the dinosaur skelettons!

HUGE!

 

Saturday, and back at Comic Con. If we ever though it was packed on Thursday, this was HELL. So much people it took us 3 times longer to get anywhere. 

A lot of awesome cosplayers and people dressed up for the costume contest.

So... much... people...

The Artist Alley, a little more packed, huh?

The Javits Center (where Comic Con was held) from the outside. Um... huge?

 On Sunday we had the chance to check out Midtown and Downtown, and especially the shops we had maked on the map before the trip. Among them was Forbidden Planet on Broadway and Midtown Comics at Times Square. Both have a lot of comics and figurines and made me even more poor...
We also went to Chinatown, Financial district and walked along the High Line, a former train bridge that was turned into a floating park along the West side of Midtown. 
We walked a lot... I meassured on the map, and we went like 60 km all 6 days! O_O

Monday was return day, but we still had the chance to go on a visit to Parsons New School of Design thanks to my friend Dinah (the same Dinah that helped me back when I got my contract on Ein Lied für Elise with TOKYOPOP back in 2010). It was interesting to go there, see the school and participate in a lesson.

Wow, a trip I will remember and that mattered a lot to me. Tired and dirty we returned home to Sweden.
Feels like this trip was like a piece of the puzzle of my life, put in the right spot and made things a little clearer. 

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Now some tips for you who think of going to NYCC any time in the future:

1. Book a hotel on Manhattan, as close to NYCC as possible. The island is HUGE and walking in the city makes your feet hurt... Bring good shoes as well!
2. Make sure you have the ESTA (a traveling visa you have to apply for at least 3 days before your trip). The Americans are super duper careful, scanning every inch. And don't lock your bag, they have to be able to check it if they want to.
3. If you are a librarian, artist, game developer, publisher or any other professional, apply for the NYCC Professional Pass at least 2 months before the trip. It's so much cheaper, plus you get entrance to the Show room at Thursday, which is the only day you actually can breathe in there.
4. Do a lot of planning before the trip! Check the Internet for shops and restaurants and attractions you wanna go see. Print out maps, mark the shops and restaurants and always have the addresses written down. Did I mention that the city is HUGE? People are helpful though, so as long as you have a map and an address you'll manage.