꒰ Sunday 10.29.23 ꒱

Today I attended LightBox Expo, an animation/entertainment art-centered convention. This is my second year attending. Since I'm an animaton student, it's a good chance to do a little networking and receive from useful knowledge from panels and demos. I was able to attend for free this year, as Procreate provided our school with a handful of free passes.

Last night I spent some time straightening and styling my hair with a hair straightener so I could look nice for the convention. I even slept early since I'd have to get up at 6 to catch the train with my friends! This morning I awoke to a phonecall from my friends. They had already boarded the train... I was baffled, wondering if I slept through my alarms, only to find that I set my alarm for 6 pm instead of 6 am... Some panic ensued, as the next train wasnt for another two hours. My friends kindly offered to pitch in to help me pay for an uber ride straight to the convention center. I was overcome with emotion and gratitude.. T_T And luckily the cost of the ride went down significantly after I finished getting ready, so I didn't even have to pay that much. I had a pleasant conversation with the driver, too. She was the first person to receive one of my newly printed business cards.

At the convention, I was able to meet a lot of new people and have some really nice conversations. Last year I barely spoke to anyone because I was too nervous to, but I'm glad I was able to connect with so many people this year. Its fun exchanging business cards with artists because they always put so much thought into the design of their cards. It's like a trading card game. And it made me happy to see people light up in surprise when I handed them my card with my artwork plastered all over it. You feel closer to someone when you find out they're also an artist in your profession, perhaps. And I felt flattered receiving compliments from such esteemed artists, of course. The interactions I had truly made my day.

Oh and I ran into the youtuber Swell Entertainment?! She was really nice. I asked her for her thoughts on Lightbox expo since she usually makes convention review-esque videos. It was kinda surreal listening to her talk about her convention experience, it's exactly like one of her videos except shes standing in front of me?? Her general complaints aligned with my own, so I felt vindicated.

I was able to attend one demo at the convention-- a painting demo from Studio Ghibli background painter, Yoichi Nishikawa. My friends and I showed up a little early and secured good seats. The demo was really cool, informative, and personable. He asked for people to step up to the microphone and ask questions as he waited for the water or paint to dry or during segments where he had little to say about his painting technique. It felt like he was having a chat with us as he painted. He even talked a little about Hayao Miyazaki, and how he has apparently "calmed down" in recent years lol. He told us Miyazaki is actually very pleasant to background painters, but harder on animators since Miyazaki places so much emphasis on animation. And apparently he's already making sketches for his next project!

I got to ask Nishikawa a question about his coloring technique, and I was even able to step up on stage (along with other volunteers) and use his brush to test out his method for painting perfect straight lines.



It was such a cool experience being able to see him work in real time and bring a lush background to life!

After the demo concluded my friends and I walked to a nearby dim sum resturaunt for lunch. The resturaunt had nice spacious tables, and the food was delicious. And affordable! I think we all ended up having to pay $16~ each and we had enough dumplings to make us full! I ate 8 soup dumplings. We went to an icecream shop for dessert, where I got a scoop of a "Vietnamese Rocky Road" flavor. It was really yummy, and earned my Vietnamese seal of approval. It was vietnamese coffee flavored, with condensed milk marshmallows, crunchy caramelized cacao nibs, and french roast bits. The creamy flavor and crunchy texture perfectly aligns with my tastes!

We then headed back to the convention center and wandered around the artist alley until closing. Then we visited a few stores in the area and went to Oakobing, where we shared a strawberry bingsu. It was so tasty...



Finally we took the train home!



Here's what I ended up buying at the convention.



I'm especially happy with my bunny-themed purchases.



That's all for now!