~D-Type

Journal: Doujin Overload 08

Jully 26th. The date had been marked on my diary for some time. It indicated the third advent of the amateur manga art festival that is… Doujin Overload. This year the event returned to its original venue at the Mercure Hotel (corner of Queen & Customs streets, Auckland).

Being in Auckland, in the middle of winter, no-one could really expect all that much on the weather front… but this year, we were to be treated to one of those “Once in every 10-20 years” type storms (you know, the ones that seen to come around every other year these days… ). Heavy rain and gale force winds had many an exhibitor scurrying from one spot of shelter to the next, all the while clutching their wares tightly to themselves to prevent the every threatened water damage (something to which, printed artwork is ever susceptible).

This was my second year exhibiting at DO. Although circumstances had conspired to prevent me releasing the second story to my “Tales From the Flat” series this year, I had produced what amounts to a “special edition” re-release of the original story (with a larger format, colour cover and some extra pages showing some character sketches and other behind the scenes stuff). In effect, this was the kind of production it should have been last year (but wasn’t due to time constraints). The printer had done a really nice job of it; the blacks were nice and dense, and the linework beautifully sharp and crisp – thanks Mr Bloodaxe… I also produced a limited number of greeting cards incorporating some artwork from my gallery (more as an experiment than anything else, as I only had a small amount of photo paper left for my printer).

His year was bigger than any that had gone before it, stretching the capacity of the Mercure’s conference room with exhibitor’s tables, stage areas, and other displays and vendors. Plenty to see, enjoy… and buy from. Adding flavour and colour to the whole event was a sizeable number of cosplayers (people dressed as anime, manga and occasionally film or video game characters). I always have a certain admiration for anyone who can spend hours working on a costume, and then wear it around in public for the best part of a day. Certainly this year, more than any other they had sufficient presence (i.e. numbers) to really help set the atmosphere. Nice job.

The event was well patronised by the public despite the horrid weather, with a steady stream of visitors were flowing though the venue pretty much all day. There were a couple of lulls in the crowds, but not really any quiet periods at all. And, since my table was situated right next to the cosplay stage, and the musical performance area (not to mention “Lucky Star dance area” ), things got very crowded very quickly at times…

However, despite this apparent busyness, I didn’t sell very much- just 4 copies of my Doujin, and two greeting cards.

Of course, selling stuff is not the primary reason for entering such an event – the thrill of taking part in something bigger than oneself, the enjoyment of mixing with people of like-mind (i.e. equally warped), the challenge of meeting new people and the sheer otaku-ness of the whole thing are all big reasons for being there (and I think I rate pretty highly in all those categories – where else can you chat casually with a tall girl dressed as a character from Appleseed while eating a sandwich in a hotel hallway, and not think anything odd about the whole situation). It would be nice, though, to make enough back to at least cover one’s printing costs…

It was interesting to note that people seemed to be buying more prints and posters this year, and not so much actual doujins. I’m not much of a poster person myself, preferring something with a story. Not that I’m adverse to a nice piece of art, but for me to buy a print, it has to be REALLY good. I don’t have any room for posters anyway – every inch of available wall space is taken up by shelving to house my anime & manga collections (along with other books). Now, I’m not saying that there wasn’t any rally good work out there – there was, indeed there was – it’s just that posters don’t really do much for me. Sure they’re pretty, but they are also fragile and just likely to end up being damaged in storage – I’d rather have my arts in a nice fat, properly bound art book, that will sit nicely on a shelf (that is, if I had any shelf space left.. T_T).

Generally, I prefer to buy actual doujins (graphic novels, mangas, comic books if you must….), since I like something with a story (and with a name like “Doujin Overload”, this lies at the very heart of this event – “doujin” or “doujinshi” being the Japanese term for what is essentially a “self-published comic” ). To me, sequential art is all about storytelling. Plus I like to see how other artists tackle the presentation of the story – the panel layout, the pacing, the types of “camera” angle, how they render the grey tones, the use of line and shadow, the character design… I read a story once for its story, than go back and dissect it later to see how they did it…

Unfortunately, not so many people are producing actual stories nowadays. I guess for one, they are really hard work (my own Doujin took 6 months of hard toil to produce), and since they seem less popular with the buying public, represent less return for your work (it is sad that so many people pass right by the tables offering actual stories, without so much as a glance, in their search for one-page prints). That said, I will produce some prints for next year’s event, they might subsidise my comic work…

Still there may yet be hope. It was interesting that I (probably one of the older, if not oldest, exhibitor) should be sharing a table with probably the youngest an almost-13-year old, who was there for the first time, exhibiting his very first manga story. Of course, his work can improve (whose couldn’t), and certainly will over the coming years. But what impressed me most (besides his very real drawing talent), was his determination and enthusiasm to be a comic artist. The many hours of work that went into producing that book were a testament to an unquenchable spirit that many older and more experienced artists could learn from and be inspired by. I certainly hope to see more from this person next year, and am only too happy to offer any advice that I could to this young talent in terms of technique and the essential skills of storytelling through sequential art (sure, I’m no expert, but I believe that part of what community is all about, is those who have gone ahead can encourage and support those who are still starting out – and we might just learn something ourselves along the way).

In all, an enjoyable and inspiring, if tiring, day. I managed to bag some nice loot, and survived another year’s DO, subsisting as I did on one sandwich, a coffee and a muffin…