Well after a week of insane running around we've finally made it the main event - Armageddon 2007. Just quietly I was crapping my pants because I've never gone to an event as an artist before and had to produce art with people hovering over me. I suffer from performance anxiety when people are watching, mostly because I don't feel my stuff is ever good enough for human consumption (I had a teacher in high school that told me my art was so bad, I should never bother doing anything artistic), and a lot of people tend to look down on comic art. So we anxiously set up the booth, and about 15 minutes later I sold a sketch. You could have knocked me over - I couldn't frickin believe it. By the time I sold the second, I was off and running. I drew my ass off for the next two days and sold a few sketches - by Sunday I was taking requests. I'm so glad I did it now, because it was a huge confidence booster. I'm feeling much better within myself now about my art - of course, that's not to say I couldn't improve still, and there's still lots of things to learn - but at least I don't feel crippled by anxiety anymore. I've come back awhirl with ideas for stories and original material. Heh don't panic Rob - I will finish my Rally Mark installment before I start drawing anything else.

The con was really good though, and the guests were really nice and interesting people. I had Nicola Scott draw me a fantastic Catwoman sketch, that's definitely going in a frame and on my office wall once we have a house to live in again. Also, Amanda Conner's most excellent Power Girl is going up there too. I got Billy West (Futurama) and Richard Horvitz (Invader Zim) to sign sketches I'd drawn of their characters for my kids. I was gutted that Adam West couldn't make it in the end (as were a lot of people I spoke too) - hopefully next time we'll get some 100% pure West.

Color me excited though - we got offered a free booth at Supernova to sell drawings and New Ground. I'm working on getting Robin over for it, and hopefully we'll be able to loosen Jeremy's grip on his wallet so he can come over and help publicize New Ground here. The latest book looks really awesome (although Dylan Horrock's cover could be a little more action packed), the contents are consistent and of a higher quality. The book just keeps improving. I really hope it'll get to the point that the creators will be able to start to see some reward for all their hard work. Check out Dealer Man Comics if you want to support some great New Zealand artists. Thanks to Robin, Neala, Tuku, Michel, Jeremy (and his army of munchkins) for making it an awesome time.