So Saturday was an important day. After setting up everything I needed to job wise, apart from signing up to an agency, I was read to do just that. But it was Saturday, and I knew that there were some anime gatherings on Saturday. So me and a guy that moved into my six bed room in the hostel went into town to go to the information desk and find some job agencies. We found the name of one and then time was getting on because we left late. Then something strange happened that I must say only seems to happen when you're doing something completely new and unstructured like this though. We bumped into Matt's dad. The guy I was walking around with was called Matt. So of all the people this could have been that was shaking my hand saying 'hi Matt' haven't sen you in a while, yes those two things, I thought it could not have been his dad because why was he letting his son live in a hostel? But then I thought about things like marriage seperation and things and just went with it. I was heading off anyway so I said goodbye and headed to the bus station. I caught a bus from St Geogre's street off into south Perth, the bus didn't leave from the station, and it was free. In south Perth I got off the bus too early and walked to find where I was looking for.
When I got to the community centre I was surprised and not surprised to find the room full of thirty year old or something and fat gamers. I could not have set up a stereotype better than this I thought. Luckily they didn't get many wild cards like me so they weren't afraid to talk. I was introduced to play on Halo... the anniversary edition which is the first one re-done. To be honest I don't find halo that fun but there I was anyway. Then I surrendered my seat to someone else to have a go and perched myself by some other gamers, completely engrossed in their laptops, PSPs and Dss. Someone was handing out cheese and ham yaki balls (like takoyaki) which could barely be described as food and then she switched to nutella yaki oh and they were too hot as well. Then it was coming up to screening time and I'd have to pay to stay so I wondered about the other place I had read about in Tactics. As I hadn't had anything much to eat this day I wondered to a guy who wasn't doing anything and I asked about the society I was at. It was more of a screening and gaming soc and so not so much drawing with comic aspirations. I headed out for that reason and traevlled back to Perth, where I discovered to my horror that the bus service was only free inside the city and not... well where I was. Anyway I got back into town feeling silly and just wanted to go back to the hostel. But then I rallied myself and knew what I had to do so I maned up and got some chicken. Then I tried to find the place and trust me it is one of the hardest places I've ever had to find but with perseverance and wit I managed to find the door, which had bars across, and the woman seeing someone who appeared to be the last customer out. Then I asked her about the anime group that was supposed to be meeting there and she told me they were running it downstairs and she invited me down.
So this is where the fun begins. After basically crashing this place I showed off my things and got on really well with the girl (I say girl... I don't know her age). So I got on really well with the people there and we talked about things and I did some drawing. It was really refreshing to be around people so far from home that draw manga have a passion for it. So.. we talked about the convention in January, theres a convention in January, win! They plan to do draw characters from popular anime and sell them for a small profit at the con, good idea I thought, so I was instantly on board and by the end I suggested doing some, but I'm humble about it because its such a level up. I read some little manga on the table by con goers who have sold their things, and they're very good. I feel like I'm stepping into that half way place I had believed didn't exist. The level above Britain that I was surrounded by where I hadn't met anyone who had drawn manga and the other side where doujin artists parade amazing and impossible things. Here in Oz there is middle ground where story writers draw storyboards and sell it at the conventions but its not as good as professional artists.
I met everyone there and we played an unintentional but very fun game of anime trivia. Someone starts describing an anime they're thinking of but can't remember the name and we have to figure out the name before they remember. As they all knew each other and I was friendly we all got along and I had some sweets, oh how did the sweets mention get in there, ahem. I also found out that you can approach three different comic selling shops in the city and they will sell your comic if you bring it to them to sell, they have a rack. I was like wahhhh this is an amazing find.
Then I discovered something else that sent me reeling back to the dark corners. Something a group of art students had done either at school or at uni, but I think school, it was an amazing colourful fan book and looked so damn amazing you would have no problem believing it was professional. These guys are good, not just good but professional level, basically the potential best... and these are the guys you're competing against... O_O but hey, this is a point where you don't go 'crap, forget it' you go... 'what a tower to topple' and you aim for their level. The other great thing about having good artists in the city is that they are meetable. At the con and made also in a soc or gathering. Talking to them about what they've done and how is invaluable. I intend to go next week too and by then hopefully I can have some drawings to show off ohoho. So in all a productive day :D
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