MCM London October

Hey all!

This is my very first blog post! I wanted to have a space I could share events, keep people up-to-date and talk about my artist / convention experiences. Social media at present, certainly feels a bit rickety with the downfall of the Bird Site™ and Meta’s constantly disappointing algorithms, I do feel like I don’t really get seen which is one of the reasons I’m creating a dedicated blog! (That, and it gives me something to look forward to writing every other week!) Bluesky is however, very hopeful and has connected me with a lot of industry professionals and fellow art / comics nerd! (Come join us if you haven’t already!)

So, without further ado, lets get into it!

MCM London Comic Con is one of, or perhaps the biggest comic convention in the UK - held twice a year in May and October at the ExCel Centre. It’s in the name, “Movies, Comics, and Media” at MCM you’ll find enthusiasts of the most niche fandoms, I personally consider MCM in particular to lean more towards, TV/film/voice acting guests rather than larger comic guests (I feel that tends to be more apparent in US cons with the biggest publishers.) However there are always very impressive artists exhibiting in the alley each year.

I’d like to thank Reedpop and the MCM Team for the opportunity to attend the con this year, with all expenses covered thanks to their scholarship program, helping upcoming artists attend events to excel (no pun intended!) their careers and provide the change to meet industry professionals they can gain advice from. If your an aspiring artist, 100% go for it! Take all the opportunities you can!

I attended the con in October, it was a crossover with EGX – the gaming convention! Where they release demos, in this case Little Nightmares 3! Alongside a retro gaming area which is especially fun in the After Hours (where they keep the con floor open until 9pm on the Friday) The main reason I wanted to attend was to attempt to make meaningful industry connections, get reviews of my portfolio and advice on how to break into the comics (which is notoriously difficult) as well as to meet the artists exhibiting who also share the same love for the industry and are creatives I can potentially collaborate with in the future!

It was the first time I’d ever travelled to London by myself, was slightly nervous the entire thing was just a joke when they asked if I’d like to attend (especially as I didn’t book the hotels myself, I just had to trust) I actually had a lot of fun navigating the tubes, Paddington (we really milk our love for that bear!) and the new (ish) Elizabeth Line! They had a Formula 1 Exhibit at the Excel which was excellent to kill time until I could check in (They had Romain Grosjean’s car which was really cool! Horrific event in F1, but interesting to see for sure!) Dockside is very pretty area of London and it was surprisingly sunny for UK autumn weather.

I went as Stanford Pines from Gravity Falls (I’m an avid cosplayer, usually Star wars, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to go in cosplay at least one of the days, and no, no sill outfits picture on my very serious art website!) Was lovely meeting Gravity falls fans (especially Katherine Hemmings, a lovely person who’s comics makes me laugh, especially the “Being a cosplayer” series)

Artist alley is the very first place I always seek out at events like these, I love seeing the different variety of art styles and I will always go out of my way to suppose indie creators with their comics (One of the reasons I love Thought Bubble! I remember in the first 5 minutes of artist alley opening I ran to buy a BTAS print from Ryan Jenkins, (I had never bought something so fast!) Its gorgeously foiled, one of the things I proudly have it up in my art studio. Bought a whole bunch of comics from Afterlight, absolutely brilliant, if your a horror comic fan its worth looking into! Shout of to “Jar Of Loose Screws!” fellow Transformers nerd and artist, very talented go check out their work!

If you didn’t know, I’m an avid Transformers fan so the Hasbro Pulse booth was a must! I got to see new figures announced live with the prototypes in person at the Transformers panel, as well as all the current Haslab projects – I do say, what a gorgeously crafted Ecto-1! Still have FOMO from not backing Haslab Starsaber from a couple years back.

I had my portfolio reviewed with a couple artists and received some invaluable feedback on my next steps forward (Shout out to Alessendro Micelli! Grazie Mille!) I truly do love the comics industry and I will work very hard to establish myself as an artist, and earn a place in this industry (Just you watch! I will!) Joe Quinones did an excellent panel and so did Alex Moore, Allyson Sampson and a whole bunch of others, about creating compelling comics, hearing others talk about their own experiences in comics is always inspiring and motivational as an aspiring artist, who also, is currently writing a creator-owned comic.

I did an interview with Reedpop (I think was horrible – I refuse to watch it, but if you want to see how baby-faced I really am it is around somewhere I ain’t tellin’!) Was half in cosplay – no my hair isn’t actually luminous grey! The MCM team was kind enough to introduce to various people, and encouraged me to have a table in 2025 (Thanks Alex!)

The Helluva Boss panel with Alex Brightman and Brandon Rogers was brilliant, big fan of that show! The Masquerade is always a personal favourite thing of mine to watch and never ceases to impress me! Also stumbled across a DA Games concert when I was getting lunch, it’s hilarious to see people take their small (and I mean small) children to see that without knowing what some of his music is, that kids parents were horrified...

Thank you to everyone to supports my work to help me achieve opportunities like this, thank you MCM I will see you next year! And thank you, to all the fellow Gravity Falls cosplays who gave me lil trinkets and Easter eggs from the show!

I did it! I saved the town! - LL

Happy Halloween?!