Things are a-changing.
Well I've been busy so I haven't had much of a chance to update lately. For those of you who read My Poorly Drawn Life, a couple weeks ago I had a mini-recap of NYCC, which I feel was a huge improvement over last year. I went in this year thinking that if it was as disorganized as last time, I would never go back again. And, well, it wasn't perfect but it was better. Except for Artists Alley - what a nightmare! I didn't even get to look through half of it because it was so packed. I did fight my way through on Sunday just to reach the gaming area where I could set my stuff down and relax for a bit!
Below the cut are a few pics from the con.
Here I am signing at the Archie Booth. That's my awesome editor Victor standing just behind me.
And here I am at the Mangaka America signing at the HarperCollins booth with M.Alice LeGrow and Rivkah!
Marty had to leave, and Svetlana showed up to take her place! Here we are again:
I actually enjoyed myself quite a bit at the con and I got to reconnect with a lot of people. There were some people I wished I could have talked to longer, but cons are just so crazy, I was lucky to have had a chance to speak with anyone at all! Will and I had been planning to go to a couple signings, but we ended up missing Chip Kidd and Gina Garan -_-
Oh well, at least I got to have my picture taken with Tim Biskup, who was very nice!
What else? Oh yes, I changed the news page of My Poorly Drawn Life to a livejournal account - so if anyone is interested in weekly updates/reminders and other MPDL tidbits, feel free to friend poorlydrawnlife. This week I added some youtube clips of the noises Will and I heard late one night in the haunted bamboo forest in Arashiyama, Japan! ^_^
Now for the biggest news.... Will and I are moving to LA!
This sort of came out of the blue.... a short time ago Will got a job offer from JibJab. And even though he's really enjoyed his time designing book covers over at HarperCollins, he felt like it was time for a change. I do feel Will has really has reached a peak with his book cover design- some of his best covers are the ones he's worked on just before he gave notice at Harper and I know he'll go even further at JibJab.
Of course, it isn't an easy decision to move all the way across the country... especially since New York has really grown on us and we've made so many friends here. And, of course, I'll miss being so close to my family...
But we went to LA one weekend and visited the people at JibJab and we were really impressed by the work that they're doing- and just how nice everyone was and it just makes sense right now for both of us. It just felt "right". Not only is the weather nice, JibJab is within walking distance to the beach (it's technically in Santa Monica/Venice, not downtown LA). Everyone there is so laid back and healthy... I really think it's a change Will and I could use.
Will also has another opportunity in LA that I can't mention just yet (but soon I hope!), and it looks like I might be working on something for TOKYOPOP - yes, finally, it looks like it might really be happening. Of course, I'm lucky in that I can work from anywhere, so I can continue doing Sabrina like always. But I will miss going in for my weekly meetings with my editors...
But I guess that's life. I've moved around my whole life - growing up I spent on average about 3 years in any one place, and I've been able to experience many different things in different places. So I'm used to the feeling. I still hate leaving friends behind, but the good ones always stay friends no matter where you are. And sometimes I hate the places I move to, only to have them grow on me. When I first moved to Colorado from England - I just hated it completely. I thought it was so barren and uninviting. But by the time I left, it was (and still is) one of my favorite places in the world! I didn't even like New York that much when we first came here because I really missed the Midwest. But the character of New York is unlike any other place, and it's really grown on me. So even though LA isn't my ideal place and there are a lot of things about it that turn me off, I'm sure I'll find things to love about it as well. This is just another part of my pattern, I guess...
Will's already leaving in about a week and a half! I'm staying behind a couple months to pack up the place and take care of some commitments I made such as workshops and such. It's going to be weird without Will around, but he'll be coming back in a couple months and we're going to drive cross-country with the dogs - something we've always wanted to do!
So, big changes ahead!
Below the cut are a few pics from the con.
Here I am signing at the Archie Booth. That's my awesome editor Victor standing just behind me.
And here I am at the Mangaka America signing at the HarperCollins booth with M.Alice LeGrow and Rivkah!
Marty had to leave, and Svetlana showed up to take her place! Here we are again:
I actually enjoyed myself quite a bit at the con and I got to reconnect with a lot of people. There were some people I wished I could have talked to longer, but cons are just so crazy, I was lucky to have had a chance to speak with anyone at all! Will and I had been planning to go to a couple signings, but we ended up missing Chip Kidd and Gina Garan -_-
Oh well, at least I got to have my picture taken with Tim Biskup, who was very nice!
What else? Oh yes, I changed the news page of My Poorly Drawn Life to a livejournal account - so if anyone is interested in weekly updates/reminders and other MPDL tidbits, feel free to friend poorlydrawnlife. This week I added some youtube clips of the noises Will and I heard late one night in the haunted bamboo forest in Arashiyama, Japan! ^_^
Now for the biggest news.... Will and I are moving to LA!
This sort of came out of the blue.... a short time ago Will got a job offer from JibJab. And even though he's really enjoyed his time designing book covers over at HarperCollins, he felt like it was time for a change. I do feel Will has really has reached a peak with his book cover design- some of his best covers are the ones he's worked on just before he gave notice at Harper and I know he'll go even further at JibJab.
Of course, it isn't an easy decision to move all the way across the country... especially since New York has really grown on us and we've made so many friends here. And, of course, I'll miss being so close to my family...
But we went to LA one weekend and visited the people at JibJab and we were really impressed by the work that they're doing- and just how nice everyone was and it just makes sense right now for both of us. It just felt "right". Not only is the weather nice, JibJab is within walking distance to the beach (it's technically in Santa Monica/Venice, not downtown LA). Everyone there is so laid back and healthy... I really think it's a change Will and I could use.
Will also has another opportunity in LA that I can't mention just yet (but soon I hope!), and it looks like I might be working on something for TOKYOPOP - yes, finally, it looks like it might really be happening. Of course, I'm lucky in that I can work from anywhere, so I can continue doing Sabrina like always. But I will miss going in for my weekly meetings with my editors...
But I guess that's life. I've moved around my whole life - growing up I spent on average about 3 years in any one place, and I've been able to experience many different things in different places. So I'm used to the feeling. I still hate leaving friends behind, but the good ones always stay friends no matter where you are. And sometimes I hate the places I move to, only to have them grow on me. When I first moved to Colorado from England - I just hated it completely. I thought it was so barren and uninviting. But by the time I left, it was (and still is) one of my favorite places in the world! I didn't even like New York that much when we first came here because I really missed the Midwest. But the character of New York is unlike any other place, and it's really grown on me. So even though LA isn't my ideal place and there are a lot of things about it that turn me off, I'm sure I'll find things to love about it as well. This is just another part of my pattern, I guess...
Will's already leaving in about a week and a half! I'm staying behind a couple months to pack up the place and take care of some commitments I made such as workshops and such. It's going to be weird without Will around, but he'll be coming back in a couple months and we're going to drive cross-country with the dogs - something we've always wanted to do!
So, big changes ahead!