Jeff says: Hey, everyone! Sorry for the momentary time-out from the comic, but we wanted to talk about our time at #SPX.

We had a fantastic time at the Small Press Expo in North Bethesda, MD, this past weekend. Met a lot of people, sold a few books, and generally made a lot of good connections in the independent comics world. We shared table space with a lot of really great people, a number of whom are shown in the sketch above. In case you’re curious, they are (from Left to Right):

One of the things that we really strove for was to look professional. This was our first show – not to mention the debut of our book – so we figured we’d dress (the table) for success, as you can see below.

It was hard not to be inspired by the raw talent of the artists around us. For instance, mid-Saturday, a cup of coffee tragically spilled across some sketch paper we had lying about. We won’t mention that Monica’s tippy display stand is what knocked the coffee over, but what we will say is that she then took that stain and turned it into an adorable (if kinda icky) doodle that I share with you now:

I’ve come away from the whole experience feeling a bit like I just left summer camp. There wasn’t much marshmallow roastin’ or ghost-story-tellin’, but there were friendships forged among this pen & ink crowd, and I’m already looking forward to next year.

Jeremy says: When I attended SPX in 2012 for the first time, I left feeling quite overwhelmed. There was so much talent on display there, that it was difficult not to compare myself with the exhibiting creators. The fact that I was experiencing a comic creator’s convention for the first time ever made me feel a teeeeensy bit out of place. It was hard not to see my own work as chicken scratch, after seeing so much amazingly polished work.

One year later, this time as an actual SPX exhibitor, and with another year of drawing the Ouro Bros under my belt, I left the convention feeling like a colleague of other comic creators. Yes, I saw an overwhelmingly large amount of incredible work, but this time I felt like I measured up to the standard. It certainly helped being (literally) surrounded by a group of awesomely supportive friends and fellow creators (not to mention all the great new people I met this year!). The work of these familiars and other attending creators has this time served as an inspiration to me. I want to be a much better cartoonist/comic artist, but I don’t feel depressed that I still have a long way to go. I am excited to see what drawing hurdles I will jump over next, and what Jeff and I can do with the story of the Ouro Bros that will make the comic ever-engaging and fun to our audience. Here’s hoping we make it through the registration gauntlet to exhibit at SPX 2014!