THOUGHT BUBBLE 2016 - Meeting Artists

Thought Bubble 2016 I volunteered on the Saturday of the weekend festival and between checking wrist bands, queue wrangling and helping people find the toilets - I had a few breaks to take a look around the festival.

I couldn't afford to get many comics but I did finally get to meet a few artists. I met Philippa Rice and finally got my hands on signed copy of SOPPY, I've been following her work online for a little while now but I've never managed to meet her in person before. I also met Sarah Graley and got a copy of her daily comic masterpiece 'Our Super Adventure' along with her boyfriend, who is heavy featured in her comics; it was so lovely to chat with the both of them. Sarah is also working on a series Rick and Morty comics that I'm looking forward to reading soon. Another artist I'm obsessed with at the moment is Andrew Maclean and his newest work HEAD LOPPER and was completely unaware he'd be designing the Thought Bubble shirts this year as well as having a stall at the festival. I nervously approached his table and at first didn't know what to say, after introducing myself I finally asked for his signature (on one of his post-it notes). Completely by surprise, on my way back to the coat room to dump my comic book haul I recognised an artist I'd be following for about 8 years online. It was wonderful finally meeting her and seeing that characters she'd drawing years ago had finally made their way into a published comic! It was so wonderful to see her work come so far and chatting with her almost felt like talking to an old friend - we're possibly planning on meeting up and having a drink together soon, which is hugely exciting! I also networked with a few other illustrators and I'm currently working out possible collaborations with those artists.

Mike Mignola is a lovely man

I also did the VIP queue wrangling for Mike Mignola, who is best known for the creation of Hell Boy. Mike Mignola also did a talk at Leeds College of Art that I couldn't attend because tickets sold out. My job controlling the queue for Mike Mignola was basically telling people that they could only request him to sign 6 things. At the end of the signings, me and another volunteer Billy nervously asked for the photo and we managed to get a quick selfie with him.

I also came away from his festival with connections to artists who had also volunteered at the festival working and who I'd got to know better as the day went on. This had led me into other freelance opportunities and other arts circles.