Maine Comic Arts Festival

This year’s Maine Comic Arts Festival brought another wave of sun and shiny artists together.

The location really can’t be beat, sitting right over the water in Portland, Maine. I found many familiar faces from the MECA orbit. Front and center was Ben Bishop, who’s had recent success with his graphic novel for DownEast, ” Lost Trail.”

We met years ago in an Illustration 2 classroom at MECA. Not far away I encountered colleague
Michael Connor of Coelacanthus fame, who co-taught Illo 2 with me this past semester. Sitting next to him was former student, Jessica Shea.

Right next to her was MECA alum Kori Handwerker, who publishes a free web comic, Prince of Cats.

Many other talents showed their wares with big smiles. Found kinship with this artist over deer.

Who could resist these adorable crocheted jellies?

They were total magnets for the fab art of Renee Kurilla.

Indeed, the water theme was fitting for the location. Here’s Dave Roman and Kazu Kibuishi working their pens.

Another familiar face from SCBWI: Casey G! Could be the last time I see her for awhile, as she departs the east coast for the west. Fare thee well, Casey, you’ll be missed.

The MECAF crowd is always friendly and chatty, a good place to talk shop, ogle wares, collect cards and buttons, and bring home plenty of swag with a capital S.