Emerald City Comicon 2017: Nerd For A Living Hosts 4 Speaker Panels

Emerald City Comicon is the premier comic book and pop culture convention in the Northwest, taking place in beautiful downtown Seattle, Washington. In 2016 ECCC soared to 88,000 people over four days and featured hundreds of comic book guests, celebrity guests and more! This year’s convention will take place March 2-5, 2017 in the Washington State Convention Center in downtown Seattle.

Nerd For A Living has provided panel programming at the 2015 & 2016 shows. We’ll return to present 4 panels at the 2017 show. Plus, our host Adron Buske will join an additional panel as moderator. All of ECCC’s panel information is here. Details about each of our panels are below.

Friday, March 3rd | 4:15pm – 5:15pm
Room TCC 302

As a busy creator, marketing and promoting your work can be a daunting task. This accomplished group of professional artists, creators, business owners & marketers will share valuable anecdotes & advice on how to build an audience for your art or small business – online and on-the-ground. Moderated by Adron Buske of Nerd For A Living, panelists will provide tips for creating your brand, online and event sales/promotion, managing your social media channels, crowd-funding, and more.

Guest Speakers:

• Jaimie Cordero – Espionage Cosmetics
• Jordan Dene – Jordandené apparel company
• Amanda Nuckolls – GnomeAcres
• Tara Theoharis – The Geeky Hostess, Charisma Consulting

Saturday, March 4th | 12:30pm – 1:30pm
Podcasting Stage – WSCC 617

From the sacred Saturday morning rituals of yesteryear, to today’s storytelling masterpieces, cartoons and animation bring our imaginations to life. The animation industry is full of vibrant professionals working together across creative disciplines to tell exciting stories that we will cherish for years. Nerd For A Living podcast host Adron Buske talks with a of group of animation pros about their jobs, the collaborative process, and the joys and challenges of making cartoons.

Guest Speakers:

• Mike Collins – The Powerpuff Girls, Adventure Time, Ben 10: Omniverse, Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends
• Steph Laberis – DreamWorks TV, Sesame Workshop, Nick Jr., Disney Jr.
• Victoria Ying – Tangled, Wreck it Ralph, Frozen, Big Hero 6

Saturday, March 4th | 4:00pm – 5:00pm
Room WSCC 604

This goal-setting workshop encourages attendees to create “leveled-up” versions of themselves as roadmaps to future success! Participants will construct a future-self using special character sheets that track skills, professions, and goals. They’ll then compare their present and future selves to highlight strengths, expose weaknesses, and map their way to achieving personal goals. Using familiar RPG gaming concepts, this session combines interactive fun with a useful, motivational takeaway.

Presented by Nerd For A Living’s Adron Buske and Wendy Buske.

Sunday, March 5th | 2:30pm – 3:30pm
Room TCC 301

Dane Ault (Monkey Minion Press), Autumn Fredrickson (Daydreams & Giggles), Christine Knopp (KiKidoodles), and Cody Vrosh (Binary Winter Press) talk about living the life of a convention artist – traveling the country in search of fame and fortune and trying to make a mortgage payment, feed yourself and stay (relatively) sane while doing it. Moderated by Nerd For A Living’s Adron Buske.

Sunday, March 5th | 3:45pm – 4:45pm
Room TCC 305

Do you want to build a career in the “nerdy” industry you love, but you’re not sure where to begin? This panel of professional “Nerds for a Living” will share advice and insights into a variety of careers that exist within comics, gaming, animation, film, and more. Learn how our guests got their start, and get advice on what it takes to create a path to the career you want. Moderated by Nerd For A Living’s Wendy Buske.

Guest Speakers:

• Alverne Ball – comics writer: OneNation, Virgin Wolf, Dime, Kid Carvers; crime novelist, Only the Holy Remain
• Lauren Shippen – actor and podcast creator, The Bright Sessions
• Sam Sykes – fantasy author: The City Stained Red, The Mortal Tally, An Affinity for Steel
• Jen Vaughn – narrative game designer: Nicki Minaj: The Empire & Plants Vs Zombies: Heroes; comics colorist: Archie
• Rebecca Zanetti – romance author: Wicked Edge, Forgotten Sins, Sweet Revenge

Alverne Ball has a M.F.A in Fiction writing from Columbia College Chicago. He has taught graphic novel writing at Noble charter High School in Chicago. He has written comics and graphic novels for Di Bona Ventura Productions, Paramount Pictures, McGraw-Hill, Lion Forge comics, and New Paradigm Entertainment. He was the recipient of the 2014 and 2015 Glyph Rising Star award for his writing on 133art’s comic book series, OneNation and OneNation: Old Druids.

He traveled to South Africa to work as a storyline writer on the hit telenovella, Uzalo. Alverne has produced and published a 200 page trade of his Virgin Wolf comic series, a choose-your-own-destiny graphic novel entitled Dime, and an online comic series, When we were Kings, published by Afropunk.com. His first crime novel, Only the Holy Remain, was released from Vital Narrative Press. He is working on the new all-ages comic, Kid Carvers.

Once described by actor Nathan Fillion as has having “actual talent,” Mike Collins has spent the last 12 years working in Television Animation for such Cartoon Network shows as The Mis-adventures of Flapjack, The Powerpuff Girls, Adventure Time, Sym-Bionic Titan, Ben 10: Omniverse and Emmy-winning shows Class of 3000 and Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends.

He was part of the award-winning production crew at 6 Point Harness on Tom Hanks’ web-series “Electric City.” Currently at DreamWorks TV, he was involved in the award-winning Mr. Peabody and Sherman Show for Netflix and is on a top-secret yet-to-be-announced project.

Jaimie Cordero is the CEO / Artistic Director of Espionage Cosmetics, an all nerd, woman-owned business based in Tacoma, Washington, creating make-up for nerds, by nerds. Founded in 2011, the company has seen enormous growth in the niche nerd market. Espionage Cosmetics has expanded from a living-room operation to a Tacoma-based studio space with 8 full-time employees, several part-timers and an army of interns. Bi-monthly product launches and fully produced ad campaigns pour out of the studio manned by a full-time wardrobe master/cosplay expert, an interns and conventions coordinator, and Jaimie. Her business card says Glitter Jedi.

Espionage recently launched the bi-monthly subscription box service, Boom!Box, and the monthly nail-wrap subscription, Nexus.

Jordan Dene founded Jordandené, a geek chic clothing brand for kids and kids at heart. She’s a proud Hufflepuff who loves dressing up and throwing extravagant theme parties.

Jordandené started as a fun way to put a nerdy twist on traditional handmade goods. Their first product, the geek chic apron, makes all mundane household tasks a little more tolerable. Even the worst chores (dishes!) get better when you do them as Batman or R2D2, right? Not wanting to be confined to the kitchen, they now make all kinds of subtly geeky products that stay true to their deepest nerdy selves, yet aren’t too extreme for everyday life. They focus on combining a few favorite things with good design and quality materials. No cheap plastic, comic sans, or boxy graphic tees here. They try to keep their process as eco-friendly as possible – from the inks to packaging.

Steph is a freelance character designer for TV & feature animation, as well as a children’s book illustrator. She has done development for DreamWorks TV, Disney Jr., Nick Jr., Sesame Workshop, Paw Patrol & is the character designer the upcoming animated feature, Blazing Samurai. She has also illustrated 5 Little Golden Books, most recently the Grumpy Cat series, as well as several other picture book titles. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her boyfriend, a cat & a couple of well-mannered rodents, and spends her free time volunteering at her local wildlife hospital. Please visit her at Booth 1324 to say hi!

Amanda Nuckolls, Founder and Chief Executive Gnome at GnomeAcres, has been making art using various mediums since the age of 3. She grew up in a family that owned an arts & crafts business and was often a regular contributor to the many products they offered. In 2009, after spending 20 years around llamas and alpacas, she decided she would obtain her first llama, “Oh My Darling, Clementine”. The acquisition of Clementine, combined with her lifelong love of the agricultural world, playing outside and “making stuff”, helped to spark the idea of GnomeAcres. When GnomeAcres came to fruition in late 2009, Amanda saw it as an opportunity to pursue her true passions.

Amanda has a background in website design, website development, e-commerce, online marketing, radio, newspaper, photography, woodworking, agriculture education, tractor riding and professional clowning. Because of her vast knowledge in these areas, all of GnomeAcres show displays, product packaging, promotional materials and websites are created in-house by Amanda herself.

Lauren Shippen is the writer and creator of the science fiction podcast, The Bright Sessions. Since its first episode in November of 2015, the podcast has been downloaded millions of times, has been featured on iTunes, Vox, Wired, and Popular Science Magazine, and won numerous awards, including an Audio Verse Award for Best Writing. When Lauren isn’t writing, she is an actor in Los Angeles. Her work includes voicing numerous podcast characters and acting as one of the leads in the D&D web series, “Natural 20”.

Sam Sykes is the author of the acclaimed Tome of the Undergates, a vast and sprawling story of adventure, demons, madness and carnage. He lives in Arizona. He once punched an ostrich. What a great guy.

Tara Theoharis is the creator of The Geeky Hostess, a geeky baking and party brand. When not baking and selling geeky sprinkles, she is a marketing and crowdfunding consultant for top game and geek companies through her business Charisma Consulting. With 8+ years of marketing under her belt, she can advise you on your brand, content, marketing/pr strategies, crowdfunding plan, and more.

By the light of the sun, Jen Vaughn is a narrative game designer (Nicki Minaj: The Empire and Plants Vs Zombies: Heroes). She is the former marketing manager for Fantagraphics Books.

By the glow of the moonlight, she is on the coloring team for the new sexy Archie, a cartoonist of the Cartozia Tales anthology and recently finished a travelogue for ComiXology and Mental Floss about French convention called Angouleme called JENLAGGED. She’s currently working on a one-shot by Ryan K. Lindsay.

Ask her any questions about going to the Center for Cartoon Studies or living in Vermont under Bernie Sanders’ reign.

Victoria Ying grew up in Southern California with the sun and surf. She started her career in the arts by falling in love with comic books, this eventually turned into a career working in Animation. She loves Japanese Curry, putting things in her shopping cart online and taking them out again and hanging out with her one-eared cat. Her film credits include Tangled, Wreck it Ralph, Frozen, Paperman, Big Hero 6, and Moana.

Rebecca Zanetti is the author of over twenty-five romantic suspense, dark paranormal, and contemporary romances, and her books have appeared multiple times on the New York Times, USA Today, and Amazon bestseller lists. She has received a Publisher’s Weekly Starred Review for Wicked Edge, Romantic Times Reviewer Choice Nominations for Forgotten Sins and Sweet Revenge, and RT Top Picks for several of her novels.

She lives in the wilds of the Pacific Northwest with her own alpha hero, two kids, a couple of dogs, a crazy cat… and a huge extended family. She believes strongly in luck, karma, and working her butt off… and she thinks one of the best things about being an author, unlike the lawyer she used to be, is that she can let the crazy out.