Volunteering at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival was a great experience — really friendly and relaxed, with lots of support and appreciation from the event’s organizers, exhibitors, and guests.
I was a bit worried about doing something new that I knew nothing about, but discovered that being a generally confident grown-up goes a long way. I felt totally at ease — although some of the details and duties were left to us to figure out on the fly, as in:
“Where’s Room [Mysterious Letter-Number Combination]?”
“Do you know where [Comic Artist I’ve Never Heard Of But is Probably Way Famous] is doing their signing?”
“I have no idea. Let me look it up in the guide [which you also have in your hand and could look up as easily as I can].”
All it took was being one step ahead of the guests — delivering a bit of patter all the while, of course.
And I discovered endless reserves of banter: until the after-party last night, where suddenly I found myself in a dark wooden-floored room with flashing lights and loud music, and spun back to those horrible grade-school dance afternoons or my nights as a single person. Everyone was chatting with their group, and I suddenly felt totally out of place. So I went home.
Over the weekend, though, I did get to speak with a few artists I’ve long admired, who inspired me to get back into cartooning (like Boulet, Dustin Harbin, and Dan Berry). It felt great to credit them, to their faces, with giving me the chance to make a living doing this thing I’ve always loved.
I also tried to make contact with other cartoonists for this project I’m building — Comix.Work — a network for referring paid work to other artists and production people.
(Our clients at work are always asking me if I do freelance work. I don’t, so then they ask if I know anyone else who does what I do. I didn’t, but am trying to change that!)
I went to TCAF two years ago, but ran through and didn’t speak to any of the exhibitors ’cause I felt too shy. By contrast, this year I felt totally at home in the library, wearing my orange volunteer T-shirt, and was much more outgoing because of it. I felt like part of a community I care about, full of people whose skills and intentions I really admire.
So it was a fun weekend, I picked up lots of books I’m going to enjoy, and hopefully I made some new friends I can enjoy creative solidarity with, and perhaps help out, too.