NCC Chapter Meeting: Saturday Oct. 7th

It was a full day of events for the North Central Chapter on Saturday. We started by attending the FallCon comic book convention, organized by the Midwest Comic Book Association. The MCBA crew were enthusiastic about our appearance there, and set aside a lot of table space for chapter attendees. They were very hospitable and we were welcomed with open arms and a free taco bar.

Dave Phipps and Michael Jantze man the tables at FallCon

Michael signs a book for a fan

Cedric Hohnstadt does a sketch for another fan

I’m thinking about the free taco bar while Dave thinks I am listening to whatever he’s saying…

Kelly McNutt talks animation with Mike Edholm

I had to throw in this picture! Holy Hot Rod, Batman!

We hosted a panel entitled “Ask the Cartoonists” in the main speaking area, which was sparsely attended as we did not draw superheroes nor did we have half naked babes parading around us (unless you count Bucky Jones, and none of us do). Still, we entertained ourselves for an hour.

The panelists: Cedric Hohnstadt, myself, Michael Jantze and Jerry Van Amerongen

Michael says something interesting

After FallCon we headed just down the road to O’Gara’s Bar and Grill for a chapter sponsored dinner. As I mentioned before, O’Gara’s has a special place in cartooning history. Charles Shultz’s family lived in a small apartment upstairs and his father’s barber shop was located in what is now O’Gara’s back when he was a kid. There is a special area in the establishment with original and litho print cartoons commemerating the history of the place, and even a barber pole in the area that Shultz’s shop actually sat.

O’Gara’s bar and Grill, St. Paul, MN

Bill Brewer addresses the chapter

Chapter chairman Bill Brewer read a letter written to the chapter by Shultz’s widow, Jeannne Shultz, telling us about how much that time in Sparky’s life meant to him and how great it was we were remembering him at our event.

We ended up in Minneapolis at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design for our main speaking engagement, featuring myself, Jerry Van Amerongen and Michael Jantze. Unfortuately there was some kind of miscommunication with the folks at MCAD, who thought we were supposed to start at 5:00 when we had definitely told them 7:30. As a result instead of an auditorium full of students and MCAD AV people ready for our speakers, we found a dark room and nobody there. Thanks to a few students who were in a nearby auditorium doing an unrelated presentation, we got our computers hooked up and went ahead with the presentations for just the chapter members and a few students who happened by. Too bad, everybody missed a lot of interesting information and insight into professional cartooning and some great artwork from Jerry and Michael, and about 45 minutes of drivel from me.

I was trying to start my presentation but Jerry refused
to leave the stage… he thought he should go first!

Jerry finally gets to do his speech

Michael talks about “The Norm” and it’s move from the newspapers to a web-only format.

Despite the mix up with the speaking event, the chapter meeting was a lot of fun. Cartoonists as a rule are solitary people, working by themselves in small studios in an introverted manner. Getting a bunch of them together is always fun and refreshing… a great way to connect to the profession we share.

Tomorrow I will post some pictures of the goodbye Sunday brunch at my place and Dave Phipps’ live radio broadcast from the studio.