In taking the Fest back on, I realize that it will be dominating my attention again for the next few years, so I really want to make it worth the trouble. To me, that translates to making the Fest bigger and better than it's ever been before. To start with, the exhibition floor needed to expand - the show has had an ever-growing waiting list for spaces for the last four years - a need which necessitated the move to the larger Convention Center venue. I'm also going to be shifting the gaze of the Fest ever-so-gradually toward the more established, professional creators in the Portland area and beyond. For years Stumptown has been considered just another indie-show, like APE, SPX or MoCCA. And while it has catered predominantly to that stratum of creator, there's a lot more that a creator-focused show like Stumptown can offer. I've already reached out to a number of creators who might previously have felt like they wouldn't fit in at the Fest, and the response has been gratifyingly positive so far. We're also going to be expanding our workshop track to an additional room, allowing more flexibility in our curriculum and again, the ability to broaden our scope a bit to offer a range of classes for beginners and more advanced comics writers and artists, and even for those aspiring to self-publish and distribute their work.

So, that's the big news of the day. I hope you can join us at the Fest next year, and keep checking back at the site for additional updates over the coming months!

A few months after I closed on the condo, my friend hired me full-time, locking my salary in at its current monthly rate, which was again only billing for about 20 hours of work a week. This effectively cut my potential salary (which my mortgage loan was based on) in half. Thus began my slow, steady slide toward bankruptcy. I began having to dip into my savings periodically, and then even more, until it was gone entirely. I held out hope that the new company I was working for would take off and make all of us rich with creative freedom and ample financial compensation, but that never materialized. In fact, we were all laid off after about three years. I'd already been living month-to-month by that point, and my savings were completely gone.

The only thing that held me afloat financially for those couple years, actually, was a combination of being able to claim the Child Credit and Head-of-household credits on my federal income taxes, as well as going back into business for myself. Business deductions can add up quickly, especially if a business isn't doing so well, and I was treated to tax returns in the thousands of dollars for a couple years there. Since getting laid off, I have managed to build my income back to about where it had been before getting hired in 2006. But still, the writing was on the wall. The 'slow slide' had sped up significantly, and I was no longer even able to tread water in the sea of consumer debt I'd accumulated after my savings disappeared. With an average monthly income of $2000 and monthly expenses nearing $3000 or more, I knew I couldn't continue like that much longer, and bankruptcy began looking like a real option.

Finally, one morning in March 2009, I woke up with a pain in my gut. I honestly thought it was just gas - I'd had stomachaches like this periodically going back to junior high school. But this lasted through the morning, increasing in intensity. I hadn't had medical insurance since being laid off the year before, so I was keenly aware, as I made the decision to call the hospital, that declaring bankruptcy wasn't just an option anymore, it was an inevitability. Turned out I made the right decision, within hours of driving myself to the emergency room I was prepped for surgery, and I woke up a couple hours later minus one inflamed appendix.

Bankruptcy talks began in earnest last December, and we discussed a lot of things, most specifically my realistic expectations of my income, and the hard facts of my consumer debts. I had to accept the fact that, even with twice the income I had I still wouldn't really be able to afford the monthly payments on the condo I was living in. Two mortgages and HOA dues can really destroy a paycheck. At the end of this month, June 2010, my condo is going into foreclosure, and I'm preparing to move to a new apartment next week.

Now to the reason I'm even talking about this today:

Being a sole-proprietor, most of my worth is tied up in my business, and in my case, my inventory of merchandise I've been producing to try to grow that business. I have a huge stock of 8-Bit Tarot Decks, a good number of t-shirts and comics. If I sold them all for full retail value, it would total over $15,000. But, when I file for bankruptcy, it's likely that the bank will claim it all and liquidate it for a fraction of that to try to pay some of my creditors. So, I've decided to liquidate the inventory myself, and try to put the money to good use. Paying off my bankruptcy bills, for example (which is not a cheap process, ironically), or paying my girlfriend back the money she lent me to help me get set up in the apartment. That sort of thing. Everything in the store is currently at or below the cost of producing them, so I'm still losing some of my initial investment. But I figure, at least I'll get something, as opposed to just giving it all to the bank. And hey, I'm open to commissions and contract work as well, beginning in July. Just drop me a line and we'll talk.

So I'm asking you to help a guy out. Take advantage of the sale, tell your friends, spread the word, throw me a line. Help me get back on dry land, and on my way back to being 'comfortable'.

UPDATE: Holy cow, people, I can't believe the tremendous response this post has already garnered! Thanks to everyone who rewteeted this post, in just the last 24 hours over 40 new orders have come in! That's more than I think I've ever tried to tackle in a single day (and I can only imagine the look I'm going to get at the Post Office!) I'm going to do my best to stay on top of the orders that come in, but shipping might take a little longer than I expected. So, I apologize if your order doesn't ship right away. It will ship, though, don't worry! Thanks again, and please keep spreading the word, there's a lot more inventory to clear out!

Update #2: Over 100 orders have been taken now, and I'll be shipping a whole bunch of them out this weekend, thanks to the generous use of Meredith Gran's Endicia setup! I've still got a whole mess of inventory, though - over 200 decks of Tarot Cards, dozens of shirts (mostly in Large and X-Large sizes now), and even a few comics. Some people have asked if I'll be restocking anything that gets sold out. At this point, I'd like to be selling t-shirts, but if they continue to sell at the previous rate, I don't think it would be very feasible for me. I am hoping to start introducing more items in the store in the future, including art prints and more comics, but I'm not going to add anything else to the inventory until after the bankruptcy is all squared away and done with. Keep an eye on the blog, and I'll keep you posted. Until then, please help spread the word about my sale, and help me clear out the rest of the existing inventory! Thanks!

Of particular interest to me, is Number 5: Less Is Not Necessarily More. I've long been critical of the current school of art in cartooning that's epitomized by the work of John Porcellino and James Kochalka, a home-grown aesthetic that celebrates its simplicity and minimalism. Not to say that I dislike the work per se, just that I prefer work that has more to it, visually. I guess I'm tired of feeling like I need to justify my texture work and 'over-renderings' in the face of such a simple alternative, and it's nice to see someone else share my ideal.

I'm going to have to continually revisit this list during my journey.

So, the show:

Saturday got off to a quick start, I sold two Tarot decks in the first half-hour. The crowd was bustling, seemed like lots of people came to the show to buy, which is always a plus. Several long-time Ellie readers visited that day, and it's always gratifying to hand someone a flyer and have them tell me that they already have the site bookmarked and they read it regularly. Should have pointed more people to the new Badge set, but the Preview book got a lot of support, even after telling people that the content was all available online. I was worried that my placement near the back of the hall would hamper traffic, but I didn't notice any lack of activity around me.

Also, I sold more NES Triptych badge sets than ever before. I think it paid off making packages of the sets, rather than having them lumped in with the rest of my individual badges. Definitely going to move the badges in that direction from now on and get rid of the single badges from my store.

The high point of Saturday was getting a visit from Ellie, in the form of superfan Nicole, who made her costume herself and drove all the way from Wenatchee to show it to me. Of course we had our pictures taken and I gave her a set of the new badges. I'm officially instituting a convention policy: If you attend dressed as one of my characters, I WILL give you free stuff! Guaranteed! Way I look at it, it's free advertising for my work! Plus, I know those costumes aren't cheap to assemble.

On Sunday, the show floor was quite a bit slower, which is almost always true of Sunday mornings (though the fact that it was daylight-savings weekend didn't help in the slightest!). Empty show floors allow attendees to breeze past lots of things, especially on their way to the nearby bathrooms. Location definitely hindered me a bit on Sunday, as many exhibitors in my area had shown up late or left early, that part of the room began to resemble a wasteland, as it did last year. The two or three tables to my left were only sporadically filled during the weekend, and by Sunday afternoon had been taken over by squatters doing commissioned drawings for money. I wish there would be some sort of penalty for blocks of exhibitors who leave the show early or don't show up, or at least a movement to break them into smaller groups in subsequent years. Having large areas of empty tables kills the flow of attendee interest in an area, and the exhibitors who did show up suffer as a result, I believe. Either way, Sunday was still a pretty good day, though sales were quite a bit slower.

I didn't get a chance to socialize much during the show as, like I say, several of the tables around me were empty most of the weekend. In the evenings, my plans revolved around primarily getting together with several people who I don't get to see very often, such as Chris Baldwin and Jim Zubkavich. There are always a number of cartoonists whose friendship I would like to foster (ironically, many of them local to pdx), but I've gotten to the point finally where I've decided it's better to preserve my good mood than to risk getting snubbed again. So, I mostly kept to myself and to people I knew were good company, and I enjoyed myself much more than I normally do at conventions.

In the end, I scored some great deals on items I'd been wanting for a while, and I even pre-registered for next year (my first time pre-registering, I believe!). So, put it on your calendars, I'll be back in Seattle next March, if not sooner!

Hey, gang! I'm participating in this years Stumptown Comics Fest Art Show again, with two pages of Ellie Connelly art in the show. I'll be in attendance at the artists' reception on April 1st, where Mayor Sam Adams will be reading his proclamation to make April Comics Month in Portland for the third year in a row! Come check it out and say hi!