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

logos and flyers

I put this up on the face book fan page as well- its a flyer that will be passed out during Detroit Fan fare convention

just trying to get it started

Hi My name is C. Patrick Jackson. I am the president of Detroit Tradecraft- a Comics/animation/film user group located in the Detroit Metropolitan area. Our new Motto is to collaborate, educate, and even trade-- art and writing services to get our comic projects, cartooning projects and film projects completed. Many in the group are as I am- really interested and committed to aid independent artist and creators on their projects and potentially barter services ( ie Trade) to get projects done in lieu of monetary funds.. The goal is to build a strong entertainment community in Michigan- which may line up with the movie industry being present in Michigan recently. The more realistic objectives is that the members jointly show as a team at the local- comic /cartoon convention. Better brand our intentions to the outside world. and network with the larger artistic community in Michigan