|
Welcome! This page is a record of meeting minutes for the Foghorn Comics Collective. Meeting MinutesJuly 2025 - the following minutes were sent by Veronica Post in an email to our member list.July meeting recap!by Kate Phillips We had a successful comic meet up at the Halifax Library on Tuesday July 15th. Scott Marshall did all of the pre-press, imposition and printing for the first ever Foghorn Anthology, and we all got to work collating and producing the books! This was a learning experience for at least a few of us who had never hand-collated or used a long-arm stapler before, so we were very happy to have Scott guide us through the process. And the product looks great! Huge thanks to everyone who contributed - Kate Phillips currently has a few extra copies for those contributors who weren't there that night. They've reached out to a few folks already but please let Kate know if you were a contributor and need to grab your copy yet. Festivus for the Rest of UsRecap of the Montreal and Toronto Comic Arts Festivals 
A whole month late, but here is a little recap of my experiences at the Montreal Comic Arts Festival (May 23-25), and the Toronto Comic Arts Festival (June 7-8)! Starting with MCAF, which is an outdoor street festival spanning three days. The festival this year will most notably be remembered by three days of continuous rain, which, as we all know, is a bit of a nightmare for an outdoor, paper-based festival. The MCAF volunteers had luckily planned for the situation, and all the stock and artists were thankfully kept dry. Brief hours of sunshine on Saturday and Sunday did bring out the incredible energy of the festival, and comic readers of all generations came out to browse and purchase comics and art. The festival itself has wonderful energy, and the attendees were enthusiastic about discovering new comics to read. Verdict: Although attendance is at the mercy of the weather, the festival is well organized and excellent for reaching a new audience in Montreal! Books in English sold just as well as books in French, the audience is very receptive to both languages! Table Costs: $235.7 for a half table (3') On the other end, TCAF is a two day indoor festival. This year the festival moved to a new venue, the Mattamy Athletic Centre in downtown Toronto. This year TCAF hit record attendance numbers, and although the new venue was much larger than the Reference Library where the festival used to take place, there was huge congestion during peak hours on both Saturday and Sunday. TCAF continues to be an incredibly well attended, busy, and lively event, bringing in comic creators and professionals from across Canada and abroad. It's always a treat to be surrounded by physical, printed art that you can see and touch for a whole weekend, and the sheer amount of creativity on display at the festival always leaves me inspired, and with a renewed energy to make art. It's worth noting that TCAF also has a whole day of programming on Friday, called the Word Balloon Academy. It's a whole day of workshops, panels, and talks with industry professionals. Signups are required ahead of time, but it is free to attend. Verdict: TCAF remains one of my favorite comic festivals in Canada for its unbeatable attendance and energy. The two day event is well worth visiting, even if you are not tabling. Table Costs: $450 + HST, for a total of $508.50 CAD for a full 6' table. (TCAF does have a table fee waive program available to creators from marginalized backgrounds. However due to large demand, selection is now lottery based.) Critique Circle
Comic Book Writers Circle We had a great writer’s circle on the 8th! Almost everyone brought something, so we had 4 different projects to take a look at. That’s a record, my friends. I think 3 of them were getting some feedback ahead of DCAF, so when you visit my table, Lil’s or Charlit’s, ask them what they had and how they felt about the feedback! (And maybe you too will be enticed to join.) Cheers, A Good Word
Happy news of the month Vivian Zhou, Heather Cui, Humberto Kehdy volunteered to draw caricatures on the Halifax waterfront on Canada day (Jacob Moore joined for moral support!) to raise money for DCAF. There was beautiful weather and lots of people out enjoying the day, so thanks to the team for their help!! Upcoming!Events to look out for August Meet-up!Date and time TBD. DCAF 2025I’m going to dedicate a little bit of space to this event, because it’s going to be a big one for many Foggers! DCAF, the Dartmouth Comic Arts Festival, is taking place this August 9-10 at Alderney Landing. August 9 - dubbed “DCAF TALKS”- is taking place in the Helen Creighton Room of the Alderney Landing library, is a series of presentations and panel discussions on subjects like: Grant Applications, Thumbnailing and layout, Queer Comics, Comics in Academia, and Worldbuilding. Some artists and experts that will be presenting are (but not limited to!) Vivian Zhou, Kate Phillips, Lynette Richards, Mollie Cronin, Alex Forbes, and Scott Chantler!! Alongside the panel discussions, in another room of the Alderney library, Irene Velentzas, editor for the YA imprint Emenata will be doing portfolio reviews! (by appointment, first come first served, to book your slot, fill in this form). On Sunday, August 10 (dubbed “DCAF SHOPS”) the Alderney Landing Market will be converted into a vendor hall for a variety of local comic artists, publishers and more! The Comic Creators Society has reserved a table for Foghorn members who only have one or two comics to use for free :) If you want to sell your zine at the society table, please fill out this form, bring your copies to the festival, and be prepared to August 9th 11am-4pm: DCAF Talks! Alderney Landing Library, Dartmouth August 10th 10am-5pm: DCAF Shops! Alderney Landing Market
Festivals:SAPPY FEST: Sackville, NB, August 1-3 Halifax Art Book Fair: August 22-23 Publishing/Exhibition opportunities:MAD CAVE STUDIO SUBMISSIONS OPEN NONMACHINEABLE queer and trans collage submissions Halifax Central Library SUNROOM GALLERY June 2025 - the following minutes were sent by Veronica Post in an email to our member list.June meeting recap!Workshops at Halifax Central library The June meeting of the Foghorn collective featured workshops by April Baird and myself. We gathered in the BMO community room of the Halifax Central Library and had a great turnout and interesting discussion after the presentation. Thanks to Michael Lei for bringing snacks! April presented a really great slideshow on marketing and selling at comic-cons and other events. She answered questions about displays, inventory, pricing, preparing and staying organized so that your event experience will be as smooth and successful as possible. We also had some fun conversation about how to be emotionally prepared for not-so-helpful comments from customers and tips on closing sales opportunities. I know that people who are contemplating tabling at an event for the first time as a solo artist learned something useful from April! I know I did. Veronica (myself) gave a presentation on grant writing. I spoke about three main points: how to be prepared, how to write a project description and how to show the feasibility of your project. We had a discussion about the details of grants, from budgets and work schedules to how and where to get help with the process. I hope that anyone who is preparing to write their first grant proposal is feeling more confident and prepared! Scott Marshall brought some previews of parts of the printed anthology (!!) for us to look at which was very exciting! There was, as always, excited chatter about printing, paper, layouts and general comic nerdiness. It was great to see everyone who came out! Kate at Capercon!Kate Phillips describes tabling at this Cape Breton festival 
Last month, I was lucky to spend some time tabling at CaperCon for their 10th annual pop culture convention. I'll cherish any time I get to spend in Cape Breton (I'm a little biased, growing up on the island) and this weekend was no exception. I hauled my six current self-published comics, as well as a handful of other small goods and print materials, to try my hand at selling to the CaperCon crowds. I'm not a seasoned convention artist - in fact, aside from DCAF here in Dartmouth and a few other small markets, I have pretty limited experience. As an artist, my desire to have eyeballs on my work is really the main motivator - job wise, I consider markets and events to fall under the "business" part of the gig; like grant applications, proposal requests, and taxes, not my favourite. A three-day event 4.5 hours away is a pretty big commitment. And, as a mainly pop-culture fan-oriented event, getting guests to commit to my unfamiliar indie comics can be a tough sell. So, how did it go? A mixed bag for sales, but a positive experience in terms of networking and friendly faces. Sales-wise, this could be chalked up to a number of factors (cost of living is getting tight right now, of course, and I've also had better luck at smaller markets, book-related or art-related events, and I don't have any fan-familiar art). But folks were really friendly, and it was great to get to see other artists and creators in action. I definitely spent most of any profit I made on zines and art. In the vendor hall, our own Rob Hansen (Cheapo Comix) beside me was probably getting tired of my customer service spiel ("feel free to look through the comics!"). I got to chat print and art with folks of all ages, and poked around at potential collaborations. CaperCon staff were also great, making sure we were hydrated and checking in lots. One guest in particular stands out - a young comic artist with his mother, looking for resources to continue developing his comic skills. He's made tons of his own comics already, inspired by graphic novels that he'd read voraciously and repeatedly, and they were finding that there wasn't a lot of direction to develop these skills seriously, in school or beyond. His mom asked me if there were any workshops or mentorships for comics arts in the area, which I totally drew a blank on. This kind of bugged me - I work on children's books in my other job, and my comics are family friendly - comics are for everyone! And yet, there aren't a lot of resources for interested youth, which I would have absolutely benefited from myself. Something I'll definitely be thinking about more moving forward. Anyway, event considered a success, I'd say. Now to find the motivation to unpack! Writers CircleComic Book Writers Circle The Comic Book Writers Circle, organized by Jacob Moore, is having another meeting this month at the Oxford Taproom on Quinpool Road! Tuesday, July 8, 6:30 p.m. If you have some writing, thumbnails or work to share for feedback, please consider attending! It’s a great way to tackle those nerves as well as improve your work! Pl Jacob pointed out last month, If you want some deadlines and encouragement to have something finished for DCAF (Aug. 9 and 10), then join the meeting this July for help prepping! A Good WordHappy news of the month 
Kate Phillips' work is on exhibit at the Alexander Graham Bell Museum! It is on display all the way through to October so if you are heading to CB for summer fun, definitely go check it out! Congrats, Kate!  Scott here. Since our fearless leader was too modest to promote herself, allow me to add that Veronica brought not one but TWO new books for us to admire and purchase: Let the Good Times Roll (part of Conundrum's lovely Conundrum 25 series of small graphic novels) and The Bouncing Beet, an all ages rhyming celebration of Ukranian culture that includes a recipe for borsch. Upcoming!Events to look out for July Meet-up!Date and time TBD: Hosted by Kate Phillips! DCAF Caricature FundraiserCanada Day-July 1: Vivian Zhou and others will be heading to the Halifax Waterfront to do by-donation caricatures to raise money for the DCAF Professional Development day! Funds raised will go towards paying panelists and moderators. If you are free, come down and check it out! Between 2-4-ish somewhere on the Halifax Waterfront! (walk around with an ice-cream till you find us) Festivals:Rainbow Vision Market: Lighthouse Arts Centre June 28-29 MONTREAL COMIC CON: July 4-6 at the Palais des Congres SAPPY FEST: Sackville, NB, August 1-3 DCAF: Dartmouth, August 9-10 Submissions/Calls:Almost all instagram links here, apologies for anyone who isn’t on that app. I tried to find other links to view their information whenever possible. Thanks to Kate for keeping track of these important notices! Inkwell Boutique is open for Maker applications! Lumiere at-night festival is open for submissions! Inservice Comics is open for submissions (micropress) Beautiful Trash for Beautiful People magazine is open for submissions Watered Distress press is open for submissions! Canadian children's book week submissions are open! Central Library Sunroom gallery submissions are open! May 2025 - the following minutes were provided by Veronica Post in an email to our member list.May meeting recap!
Good time had by all at Alderney Landing library Three cheers to Humberto for organizing the May Meeting! Timbits and sweet treats abounded in the Maxine Tynes room of the Alderney Library on the evening of May 22, 2025. Veronica Post discussed the creation of the Comic Creators Society and answered questions from attendees.DCAF “Panel and workshop” day was discussed, with suggestions from attendees on what topics they were interested in seeing at this year's festival. And general discussion on various topics buzzed around the room. Rob Hansen brought tote bags and stickers emblazoned with the bold “Society Seal" logo and they were offered especially -and for one night only- to people in attendance for $5. Three cheers to Rob for getting those bags and stickers printed at the NSCC print shop! The remaining bags will be sold for $15 at various festivals and events to raise money for the DCAF “Panel and workshop day”.Great to see everyone who came! TOP STORIES Comic Creators Society is Formed! 
Fundraising for DCAF workshop and panel discussion day continues apace
In March 2025, Scott Marshall, Veronica Post, Sal Sawler, JJ Steeves, and Vivian Zhou registered the Comic Creators Society of Nova Scotia as a non-profit society with the Nova Scotia registry of joint stocks. CCSNS’s main purpose is to fundraise for panels, workshops and accessibility features for DCAF 2025! Membership to the CCSNS is currently limited to the board of directors. The reason for this is as follows: Nonprofits cannot pay members for services without being subject to scrutiny for conflict of interest. We are limiting our membership to enable us to benefit the largest number of people with potential paid opportunities. Another reason is that we are very new to this and still getting the hang of things. If we do make a mistake, it will only affect the 5 current members and we feel more comfortable with that. Another reason is that to meet quorum it is easier to arrange meetings and pass motions with a smaller number of people, making us more efficient. That being said we are currently open to suggestions for DCAF, especially Foghorn/meet-up members! Check out our website at ccs-ns.org DCAF 2025 Panels and workshops will astound at this free event!
Dartmouth Comic Arts Festival is a free annual event in Alderney Landing. Taking place this year on August 9-10. August 10 is vendor day, with approx. 65 tables for artists. August 9 is reserved for panel discussions, presentations and workshops in the Alderney Library that are open and free to the public. The Comic Creators Society (more information in the article above) is organizing the August 9th events, and we are fundraising so we can offer panelists and moderators an honorarium in keeping with other comic festivals around the world. The Comic Creators Society is open to suggestions for panel discussion topics, presentation and workshop ideas, as well as panelist and moderator suggestions! The Society also requested a vendor table for Foghorn members who have a zine or two of their own to sell! There is no cost to you, all you have to do is show up at the festival with your zine, comic or print and be open to helping at the table! A tally will be kept of sales, in cash only, and creators must present themselves at the end of day to pick up their profits and leftover art. Do you have panel discussion, workshop, presentation, panelist or moderator ideas? Fill out this form! 
Foghorn Issue #1! Much anticipated comic anthology soon to be released!
Foghorn Comics #1 is an anthology of comics created by us, the Foghorn Comic Collective (aka comic meet-up group) The first issue is on the theme of “blood” and has been edited and collated by the intrepid Scott Marshall of Black Rocks Books (publisher). What do I do to get my greedy hands on this anthology, you ask?? Well, wonder no further! Once the final draft is finished, Scott will make it available as a PDF for download and a link will be sent to this mailing list! The PDF will be printable, so members can collate and staple the books themselves or we can organize a small party and do that together. Updates to come! [Update from Scott: the comic will be available in print soon and is available now as a PDF download for contributors.] We Need More Writers! Comic Book Writers Circle
I’ve just signed some more people up for our group, so we are expanding. But we had our smallest turnout yet at the last meeting on May 15. To entice you, here’s what can happen to your own work with a little bit of magical, rainbow-coloured feedback: Lil’s comic was already quite good! But now the first few pages are quite different. In April, most of us had thoughts on how to give proper context for the action in the first moments of the comic, as well as context for the space and the characters moving through it. Here’s the draft we saw at the writer’s circle:
And here's the updated version, which lil brought to the monthly meet-up on Thursday:
Lil also changed the ending, adding a whole page after many of us were unclear what the protagonist was looking at. Take a look: First Draft 
Second draft with added page 
Thank you Lil for sharing! Any of you can bring your work, whatever quality you think it is, and we'll read it thoroughly, give you a sprinkle of compliments and a pinch of critique to make your work even better. So come on over! The next dates are: Thursday, June 19, 6:30 p.m. at the Oxford Taproom on Quinpool Road. Tuesday, July 8, 6:30 p.m. at the same place. Might not have one in August for DCAF. If you want a deadline to force yourself to have something semi-finished for DCAF (Aug. 9 and 10), then use the June date for your first draft, and bring the story again in July and you'll have two rounds of prep! Cheers,
A Good Word 
Happy news of the month
Vivian Zhou, an illustrious member of the Foghorn Collective, has released their second book in the fantastic ATANA series! Available in bookstores now! Upcoming! Events to look out for
June Meet-up! Monday June 23rd 5:30-8:45pm: Halifax Central Library, BMO Community Room. DCAF Caricature Fundraiser- LOOKING FOR VOLUNTEERS! Canada Day-July 1: Vivian Zhou and others will be heading to the Halifax Waterfront to do by-donation caricatures to raise money for the DCAF Professional Development day! Funds raised will go towards paying panelists and moderators. If you have experience drawing caricatures on the fly and would like to volunteer, please email comicsocietyns@gmail.com Festivals: Y-Con: Yarmouth Mariners Centre, May 30-June 1 TORONTO COMIC ARTS FESTIVAL: June 7-8 at the Metropolitan University Mattamy Athletic Centre EAST COAST COMIC EXPO: June 13 and 14 at the Moncton Coliseum MONTREAL COMIC CON: July 4-6 at the Palais des Congres SAPPY FEST: Sackville, NB, August 1-3 Zine Submissions: Sunscad Zine Press: Ratcatchers. Call for text and art based works, submission date May 25! If you have a suggestion for the newsletter, please fill out this form. |
