Emerald City Comicon 2011: The Photographs

I cannot even begin to describe how excited I have been for March to roll around ever since 2011 dawned. As the perpetual convention lurker that I am, though the lull in "oh god traveling constantly and never sleeping right" was a welcome one, I was getting a little bit of cabin fever. And the perfect way to ween me back into my convention habit was with one of my favorite conventions – Emerald City Comicon (ECCC). Not only is it an incredibly well organized convention in an excellent venue with an astounding guest line-up, but it takes place in my city of residence, Seattle, WA. Which means I get to sleep in my own bed and see my dog at the end of the day, which is pretty fantastic.

I had all these grand plans for ECCC. I attended on Friday (which also happened to be my birthday – double whammy!) in a casual sort of way because I still had Saturday and Sunday to behold the splendor that is this awesome con. I wandered around aimlessly, forgot my sketchbook at home, and didn't exert a lot of effort on anything except for getting the Axe Cop trade signed by both author and artist (Malachai drew me a heart because "All girls get hearts")

Friday was mellow. I planned on going crazy on Saturday. Unfortunately, my plans were thwarted by an intense food allergy that left me looking like a hive covered B movie monster creature. It sprang up Friday night and persisted throughout the rest of the weekend, so my ECCC attendance was more than halved and I spent most of the weekend wallowing in bed out of my mind on medicine while everyone I know and loved hugged Felicia Day or went out for drinks with fantastic artists. Despite this, I still braved a couple of hours of the convention on Saturday if only just to take photographs for you poor souls who were not in attendance.

Even though this photo haul is not anywhere near what I usually get, please enjoy the meager image dump I now bestow upon you. I promise C2E2's coverage will be double this, and your brains will explode with the awesome.

ECCC had a surprising amount of cosplayers  this year – I would say it was at least 30% more than I witnessed in 2010. Since the Pacific Northwest seems to have a pre-disposition for incredible cosplay, I wasn't necessarily surprised but it did make me really delighted that comic book fans were getting in on the action. Though I didn't photograph near as many of the talented cosplayers and I would have liked, here's my small offering of cosplay coverage:
 

The highlight of my ECCC experience was the live art event that I put together on Friday night. It had been an event I'd been planning since San Diego Comic-Con 2010 where it sprang drunkenly into realization, and I have been spending the last couple of months making sure it was absolutely perfect in every way. Despite a Friday full of intense stressing, it went off without a hitch and was probably the most entertaining live art event I have ever been to – and I am not just saying that because I was the organizer.

We had an incredible line up of artists, including Jim Mahfood, David Mack, Ben Templesmith, and a ton of others – even some really fantastic local Seattle talent that brought in more than just comic book fans. Even artists who weren't on the flyer came out of the woodwork and the best way I can describe the ensuing madness was, well, it became an art orgy. Towards the end of the night willing girls (and then some boys!) from the audience were up on chairs acting as human canvases, and people who aren't even professional artists were painting on every available surface. The Noc Noc (the venue) is now the proud owner of some Mahfood/Mack defiled trash bins, and the painting literally did not stop until the lights were turned on and the DJ (the incredible DJ Sven Svengali) stopped spinning at last call. At one point we were at capacity, and celebrities were slipping in and out. It was just awesome.

One of the highlights of the event was that all of the artwork was donated to ECCC's Saturday Night auction, which 100% benefited the Seattle Children's Hospital. I cannot give an exact number, but I would say that we definitely raised a couple of thousand dollars for charity… which makes it all worth it and then some.

So, without further ado, here is my photographic evidence of the epic-ness that was the Live Art Event:
 

I could not have done it without the help of all of the artists, and the sponsors: iFanboy, Graphicly, Comics Evolution, and a very generous private donor. Also the vibe wouldn't have been half what it was without our fantastic DJ, Sven Svengali. I'm already planning next year's ECCC Live Art soiree, which promises to be even more epic.

All in all, despite crippling allergies and probably too much booze, ECCC could not have been a better start to the convention season. It eased me in and I'm now super energized and ready for C2E2 in Chicago in two weeks.

I'll leave you with some random images from the convention floor.
 

Molly McIsaac is glued to her camera and really enjoys making artists paint on people. She has a really weird life and you can read all about it on her Twitter.