As usual, I got up at 6am and since the breakfast bar was not going to be open until 7am, I went for a nice walk around the resort, see photos below:
Pacific Bay Resort
There were lots of Bush Turkeys running around
The small beach at the end of the resort
During the summer, they have a Circus School on site
After a nice buffet breakfast, it was time to attend the annual General Assembly of the Australian Cartoonists' Association (ACA). Members of the Committee, lead by Jules Faber, current ACA President, told us how the club was going and presented us with the financial audit of the club. Everything seems in order. After this official business done, the Committee answered questions from the ACA Members present. At 10am, it was time to start the ACA Conference itself.
First to speak was Jules Faber who gave the Presidential Welcome.
Brian Cook, a literary agent, showed us some typical costings for book publication and advertising and how much return an author and/or illustrator is likely to get. That was a bit disheartening to see how little royalty most authors get back.
Tom Richmond, Guest of Honour this year and President of the National Cartoonists' Society (USA) gave us a short course on caricature. Boy Tom is amazing! Basically, Tom talked about the art of caricature, what to look for in a face and asked the audience to practice with him. On the screen were projected some famous models and we were invited to draw at the same time as Tom. I suck at caricature, so my efforts were abysmal. Some of the other guys and girls though did some amazing work. It is easy to spot the real caricaturists! Below are a few photos:
Jules Faber introducing Tom Richmond
Caricatures of the models on the screen that Peter Byrne did during Tom's tutorial: Great stuff!
Another Peter Byrne caricature and some from Dave Blumenstein
This was followed by a short talk from volunteers of the Coffs Harbour Bunker Cartoon Gallery.
At lunchtime, it was time to buy second-hand books to raise money for the Bunker Cartoon Gallery as well as Tom Richmond's book and signed prints:
Tom Richmond signing his book for me: Yeah!
Straight after lunch, Tom Richmond, Anton Emdin and Dave Williams (editor of the Australian version of MAD Magazine) gave us an insight on how things work at MAD Magazine:
Tom Richmond, Anton Emdin, Dave Williams
Tim McEwen and Dave Blumenstein then gave us a "State of the Comic Nation". Tim showed a vast number of examples of emerging comic-book artists while Dave concentrated on explaining the development, ups and downs of Squishface Studio in Melbourne.
Jason Chatfield, Dave Blumenstein, Tim McEwen
Jason Chatfield then told us about the importance of being online. Jason talked about why you should check that your website is user-friendly when used from a mobile device and brushed on the importance of knowing how to work with Social Media to build more traffic and business.
Jason Chatfield
Last but not least, Russ Radcliffe, editor for "Best Australian Political cartoons" showcased his favourite cartoons from the past ten years...
This concluded the official programme of the 2013 ACA Conference, and it was time to get ready for the 2013 Stanley Awards...
(To be continued)
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