Over the weekend, I had the privilege of attending MCX (Mississauga Comic Expo) at the Mississauga Central Library where I had a booth set up for Creator Resource, and I was the Noel Ryan Auditorium moderator for the day.
My friend Tate came with me to help watch the Creator Resource booth and I spent the majority of the day talking to amazing comic creators on the respective panels that I helped to guide.
My first panel of the day was a Sketch Challenge with Shay Hahn, Adam Gorham, Zi Chen, and Shamayal Hayat. They were asked to draw Korra from The Legend of Korra. I wish I had thought to take photos of the amazing drawings but I was not that awake at that point. We had lots of great questions from kiddos in the audience and the 30 mins for the drawings went by really quick. In the end, we gave away the drawings to some lucky folks in the crowd.
Next up I had the distinct pleasure of hosting the Creator Spotlight with Marcus To and Caitlin Major. This was the panel I was most anxious about and did the majority of my pre-convention prep for. I don’t know why I was so anxious though (lol jk I’m always anxious, that’s why) because Marcus and Caitlin were delightful. We had a great conversation about their works, their processes, and about things that they love.
And when it came time to take questions from the audience, we had a wonderful kiddo raise their hand and with the utmost seriousness asked, “Why is Dumbledore SO old?!” to the panelists.
We had a little chat after the panel, and I felt silly for having been anxious in the lead up to it (but we can’t turn our anxieties off…)
After that, I chatted with Megan Huang, Jamal Campbell, and Paris Alleyne in the Behind the Comics panel which was focused on the artists’ digital process for their works. Each artist hooked up their tablet to the overhead projector and showed their works to the audience. We asked questions about their processes, and then opened things up to the audience for them to ask their questions.
Last but not least, I had the final panel of the day which was the second Sketch Challenge with Brenna Baines, Te’ Shawn Dwyer, Joy San, Casey Parsons. For this challenge, we asked the audience for four different ideas and then the artists could choose from those four things what they wanted to draw. You can see parts of the panel here:
And that was the show for me! I got to spend some time with great people, and caught up with some friends (shout out to Jey and Michelle). And I guess I technically got to get out of the city for a little bit – even if it was just to Mississauga.
MCX is a wonderful library show that’s free for attendees, and is a small but great experience. I highly recommend checking it out next time, and making sure to support the organizers, as well as the folks who table at the show and help make it as fun as it is.