The DOOR Book 1 presented at MOTOR CITY Convention

I just wanted to present the inside cover and briefly present the talent who worked on the "the Door Book 1.... so i will leave it up to the main author- Marco Evans to explain- so read on...- click on image for larger version

see you all soon- C. P Jackson- and note June 11th meeting is our monthly meeting that will occur at 1431 Washington Blvd, Detroit, mi

Detroit tradecraft at MotorCity

We did it- we presented "The Door" book 1-Comic to Motor City convention that happened May 13-15 2011-at the Suburban Collections Showplace (formerly rock Financial Convention center) in Novi, Mi and it was by any other words- REAL FUN!!! here is a pic of the cover. Its List price is 2.99 and we will begin to determine distribution to the retailers in our June 11 meeting. We will be working with condensed planning to present the conclusion of "The Door" Book2 for the Detroit Fan fare on September 24-25 at Cobo Hall Convention center in Detroit, Mi. Detroit Motor City convention was Detroit Tradecraft's re-launch as a a rejuvenated collaborative group of artists and writers and we worked hard to share booth costs and show ourselves and a unified front. The experience was extremely beneficial to all that attended and we hope more will get involve for the Detroit fan fare. After the September event Detroit Tradecraft will see where we go from there- so stay tuned comic lovers

C.P Jackson

quick meeting in May- prep for Motorcity con

okay I am trying to be proactive about writing about our meetings so I am hopefully getting better- but here lies the reason- gotta get ready for MotorCity Convention this coming weekend...

Okay what did we discuss- in short we need to:

1-determine who will be at the table during the three days

2. finalize payment for the first episode of "The DOOR"

3. prepare the logistics for how materials will be presented at the table and

4. get the "The DOOR" printed and ready for the convention

5.finalize pitch-in payments and release receipts for ads and pitch- in payment for table and booth

6 the need for a post-mortem on the book

7discuss future actions for "The DOOR" book 2 and using "Kickstarter" for future projects

okay that's it

1 After a first decision and additional call from Dudley we will have these people available at the booth'

Friday- Pat Jackson, Joe Cain, and Gerald Walker(needs to pay this day)

Saturday- Gerald Walker, Michael Marcus, and Marco Evans (one needs to pay)

Sunday- Mark Dudley, Oz Wilson, and Marco Evans (one needs to pay)

since we have three people in attendance each day- I will propose buying one-3day pass that will be passed onto the third person- please response if this does not make sense

2 The Door will be paid for by I Below Ground Production budget- which I expect everyone going can compensate the payment- I will get the books on Tuesday May 10 from Grekko printing in Plymouth Michigan-.

3 Still an open question is what is to be at the table the three days- Michael Marcus relayed that he wants IF-X issues 1 and 2 to be displayed and is willing to offer up his book stand for use at the table. Joe Cain stated Mark Dudley will have prints to present as well. Teon stated that xlr8 may have book 1 ready for the convention. Pat Jackson is getting a poster ready for the convention of his characters in his FX Mulrooney comic series. What is still needed to call for is how to get them at the convention and what is to be displayed each day- I think its easier that each person brings their own things the days they are there and only joint things like the "The DOOR" be there each day- unless some items are designated as splits in profits. lets communicate through the week- the current big banner is in Marco's car....

4 was stated in #2

5. pitch in payments should be made to Pat jackson- so far Oz has payed for the book pitch in, his ad , the back cover spot, and booth pitch in. and Joe Cain payed for himself and Dudley. Arvell Jones payed for a quarter page ad-the following pitch-in is needed for

Gerald Walker- $36- book and table

Marco Evans- $36- book and table

Michael Marcus $42 ( book, table, and 1/4th page ad)

other ads currently in book less printing ad needs to be assessed as well

6 we will need to do a post-mortem on this first book and the convention presentation- we can discuss this fully after the convention

7 it was mentioned and agreed upon by the group to pursue a Kick-starter project to cover the next convention and book installment . This will require forming a bank account and a plan.... TBD

It should be noted as a typo that Joe Cain contributed to the story of the "DOOR" but was left off the credits- this shall be remedied in book 2... and also Detroit Fanfare is on September 24-26- 2011- this is the date to shoot for book2 and an upgraded DTC unified front.

okay - whew I am done- now onto business- see everyone at the conventions- I still need to get material for booth set up- lets keep in contact by phone if possible.

PEACE!!!

late posting- April meeting and Green brains

Hi every one- sorry for the late posting- I should have had this out last week this time- but here is what has happened with Detroit Tradecraft in April....

Meeting minutes:- the main focus of the April meeting was to discuss deadlines on getting prepared for May 2011 Motor City convention. It will be happening on May 14-16 at The Rock Financial convention center in Novi Michigan. The goal is to have a Detroit tradecraft booth in the artist alley section (TBD- on my part)- so what we would like to see as far as presentation for this May outing is The book- "the door- issue one completed and printed for the convention and a banner completed as well. T shirts will have to wait for Detroit Fan fare- . We discussed cost for the book to get printed and what each individual involved with the book would pay. We also discussed the pitch in cost for the banner and the convention. All monies should be turned in to Patrick Jackson by end of April 2011. I will be handing out receipts for all those paying . Here is where the lateness of this note hits me- those wishing to have their bios and two pages of images or other in the book should have got them to Michael Marcus by this past weekend. I just got my info in this morning by 3:00 am- so I am beat down currently. And I still need to get images for advertisement in the book as well. I do need to say this- I applaud Michael Marcus again for getting on our ass about deadlines-. We still need to get in items to Teon so he can forward to Dave to get the banner done if we are going forward with that- again turn monies into me by months end for banner and booth space. I will give receipts for those who pitch in. I will arrange that everyone will either get a badge of we will rotated attendance- so keep on me on that point.......

Green Brain outing- On wednesday, some of the crew made their way to Green Brain to participate in a comics Jam- Green Brain Comics is located in Dearborn, Michigan on Michigan avenue and is a cool place to get great comics and hang out. It was a more close setting so the folks who came- Marco Evans, Teon Walker and Patrick Jackson met Michael Marcus ( a comics jam regular) at the store with a few regulars to draw some comic strips- It was a different experience for us comic book heads- who wanted to do this long winded drawings in the jams that came by- but near the end we were able to see it was about writing and communication as much if not more than about the image. It was telling on how bad my mind works cold- but I think I got use to it near the end. The only short end was that we stayed too long and couldn't eat afterwards.... will be learned next time. It was told to us about the jams were every Wednesday in Hamtramck and Green Brain hosts it in Dearborn on the second Wednesday--- something to know....

future events- FYI Next Monday- April 25th 7:00 pm ACM SIGGRAPH Detroit meeting at Eprize in Pleasant Ridge, Mi- design focus

Dr Sketchy sketch event, Hamtramck, Mi April 30th about 6:00- check website

All monies for Motor City convention goers- due April 30th, 2011

$45/person for total- book, table,and banner cost

more for others with ad space

SPACE in Columbus OHIO-H.I.M. Rules!!

I had the great pleasure to go to S.P.A.C.E. with Michael Marcus last weekend- March 19-20th In Columbus, Ohio. S.P.A.C.E. is a well known Indy comics cartooning convention that sports a unique talent of individual creators, comic artists, and publishers. Some stuff was rather rough and some stuff was beautifully well done. It was kind of all over the place as far as quality and variety of businesses and many of the attendees are fans in general. I sat at the booth with Michael Marcus and got to see how he worked the crowd. He featured H.I.M. (Hamtramck Idea Men) comics series IF-X, His games, Sudouko Tactics and his games pack(sorry forgot that name), and his well received and talked about Primer- "How to Publish Your Comic Without Losing Your Shirt". -I even bought a copy of that. It appeared that Michael knew the crowd and audience of the show and did not flinch in his sales game. I was especially impressed on the fact that Mr Marcus was able to publish his last two issues of IF-X using some of the tactics from his Primer... all in all it was a coup for Hamtramk Idea Men and Michael Marcus... Michael- when you get the chance send me some pics that you took from the con- oh here is one sketch I sold for $5....cheese

Inspirational meeting at Laurel manor/ Livonia

went to laurel manor for town hall meeting for tax incentive for michigan Film community- last Thursday- Feb- 24. It was Surprising!!!- the core Detroit tradecraft members That I knew about that were there was- Teon and Myself- I also saw Arvell Jones, and Desmond Jones and was alerted to it by Mike Winn who I suppose was also there with Keith Pollard ans maybe other i did not mention. It was basically a call for action from all creatives to contact their congress people and prep them not to vote for Govorner Snyder's plan to cap the current incentive at 25 million dollars and not support creating yearly changable referendum (i think that was the term- a way every year people would have to lobby back to keep the numbers the same and vote again on the industry)- we heard speakers like Mitch Albom, Emery King ( from the DMC commercials), Jeff Daniels-actor, Mike Binder actor(from Minority Report), university professors and film students.
The true fact was stated that the guys at the head of this push were conservatives as well as liberal in political leanings but all believed in getting creatives and support jobs here in Michigan and not just taking the money and running out of the state as it has been portrayed by many on the outside looking in.

So for my part- i wrote a letter to my State representative and senator- for this reason alone- inspite of all the rhetoric- Kieth Pollard one of my mentors and a fellow dispaced worker at Ford motor company had finally scored a job as head Storyboard artist at Maxar studios for films. Showing the incentive was bringing in permanent resident studios that could potentially employ artists and writers here in michigan- people in Detroit Tradecraft. But the full realization of these incentives may be lost before we could see actual residents forming their own services businesses and supporting the film industry- like i want to do as well...
So there you have it- I ask each member of to get out to their congressmen and women and make a stand for an industry that may help us all stay in Michigan and do the jobs and careers we always dreamed of doing...
thanks
C. Patrick Jackson

FEBRUARY meeting- minutes

The February meeting was held on February- 19 2011 with the following in attendance:

David Perrin,

Gerald Walker (Teon),

Michael Marcus,

Marco Evans,

Patrick Jackson,

and Mark Dudley by skype

we had a real meaty discussion focused on several topics

organization, financing/fundraising, promotion/presentation at conventions, and membership

Dave made a lot of point on observations and statements:

promotion:- creating a group t-shirt for conventions was tagged a way to get membership, show solidarity, and attract attention. Instead of paying dues members get a tshirt for $10, and access to the facebook page , yahoogroup site, and blog as well as potential emailed newsletter.

presentation- sorry for the females in the group- but it was suggested that we get a pretty lady to wear the tshirt and pass out info at the booth to help attract people at the convention- want to stay politically correct-lol

financing projects- Michael Marcus put out there that he was financing his books through "kick-starter" an Amazon tool setup and that we need to think about putting projects like the door through this process- TBD

Mark Dudley who will be leading Palladium Books comics division suggested we try to present "The Door" project to Image- due to the challenge of distribution and dealing with Diamond.

both options of financing and distribution should be understood- but the first priority needs to be about getting Book 1 completed- it was noted about having the book completed by Motorcity convention in May. The current production team will need to meet every two weeks until the product is done- Michael Marcus will be the editor on this project- I got the feeling Teon wants to be Creative director.

Public Relations- Dave Perrin stated he will try to talk to a PR specialist to see if there can be some help in that are for the group.

It was also mentioned about getting a comic store to adopt Detroit Tradecraft as well- everyone thought this to be a great idea-

fundraising idea

It was also mentioned on getting speakers to talk and setting up a paid event to help in financing Detroit Tradecraft projects and convention appearances.

PR

Pat Jackson asked was there a way to set up a panel discussion at Motor City or the Like- everyone agreed it were possible if we contacted the Motorcity ASAP and organized how we would set it up- it should be set up with Detroit Fanfare as well.

Promotion/marketing

Mark Dudley suggested he wanted press releases done for each event as well as getting a single Detroit Tradecraft portfolio to show at the events and conventions- this was agreed to be a good idea- we need to schedule this in for Motorcity ( by May).

Jobs:

Mark Dudley- noted that he will be leading Palladium Books comics division and will be looking for artists in the group once finances are understood.

Pat jackson mentioned (briefly) he will be working with KTUNEZ.com and needs to get animations done- he will need costs on potential 30 second- up to 30 minute animated spots using the Ktunez character- this will be 2d and simple animations similar to DORA the Explorer at first and using the Ktunez music soundtrack songs- he will review with the animation members of group. He imagines these can be either flash or after-affects animations

Michael Marcus is always looking for member submissions to IF-X comics