Zinefest Experience

So I suppose it's a little late to be blogging about Zinefest that happened three weeks ago BUT I think Pimpkillah's first debut is special and something to be remembered/documented. My wonderful friend and artist Christina Mirani told me about SF Zinefest about a month before it was actually going on. She convinced me that we could get our books together in time to debut them. So we accepted the challenge. I would complete Naomi: Prequel to Pimpkillah and she would complete Introduction to Pimpkillah: The Protector. Sharing a table at zinefest was exciting and nervewracking all at once. Well, I guess preparing for Zinefest was nervewracking. Same day printing was stressful. When all was said and done and we finally got there it was a mecca of people just like me, it was an overwhelming but thrilling sensation. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect. Would people line up to see my comic books? Would anyone at all even stop by to flip through one? I only knew one thing prior to displaying my books to the public: I would not sell many, if any. And I didn't. But the best part about zinefest is trading. I met so many wonderful writers and artists through talking with them and trading zines. Hearing some zinefest veteran's stories and experiences with making their comics and which conventions they've gone to was definitely an inspiration. I knew this was the only the beginning of zinefests and comic conventions.

Check out my comic strip: My Guide to Zinefest on www.pimpkillah.com

8.6.12 Pimpkillah I

PIMPKILLAH, first blog entry. 

We're just getting off the ground running. Writing and conceptualizing Pimpkillah the comic series and releasing my first mini comic at the beginning of September. Though I'm new to the comic medium, I am not new to storytelling. And my artist collaborator Christina Mirani creates beautiful, unique work, and is no new kid on the block either. We've been good friends since middle school in small town USA. We've both venture out here to the west coast. I reside in Los Angeles and Mirani respectively in San Francisco. We've been brainstorming about creating Pimpkillah into a comic book series now for at least a year. I wrote Pimpkillah as a screenplay two years ago. Pimpkillah is my passion project, my baby. But I don't have the money or the time to make it into the feature length grindhouse thriller noir action movie I want it to be, not yet at least. So I decided it would be a kick-ass comic series. Sloane Stone must come alive!
Right now I have the first issue of Pimpkillah written, and am still continuing writing. Mirani is working her magic on sketches in preparation for Pimpkillah I. Since I knew absolutely nothing about creating comics prior to this past April, I had to practice with something. I'm in the last stage of completing my mini comic, Naomi B.D.: A Prequel to Pimpkillah. Only ten pages long and in black and white. We will be debuting some pre-Pimpkillah fun and Naomi B.D: A Prequel to Pimpkillah at SF Zinefest September 1 and 2nd in Golden Gate Park. Admission is free, so you should come check us out along with many others!

www.sfzinefest.org