In this conversation, Nick interviews Emily Cannon, an illustrator and comic artist. Emily discusses her journey as an artist and her decision to pursue a degree in therapy alongside her art career. She shares her experience with Kickstarter and the benefits it provides for marketing and exposure. Emily also talks about her process of working with Chinese manufacturers and the importance of communication. She discusses her preferred digital art software, Procreate, and her use of Affinity Publisher for layout. Emily emphasizes the importance of creating new art for each Comic-Con event and building relationships with repeat customers. In this conversation, Emily Cannon discusses her experience as an artist and the impact she has made through her prints and pins. She shares how she engages with Kickstarter to fund her enamel pin projects and the challenges and benefits of using the platform. Emily also talks about the importance of balancing deadlines and avoiding burnout as an artist. She discusses the differences between Kickstarter and market sales and the role of demographics in determining the success of a project. Emily shares her plans for future projects, including a graphic novel and a tarot deck. She emphasizes the importance of enjoying the creative process and not being too focused on perfection. Finally, she provides information on where to find her work, including her graphic novel Ghost Roast.
- https://www.instagram.com/emilyaillustrates/
- https://www.facebook.com/EmilyAIllustrates
- https://www.emilyillustrates.com/
- Music by Old Romans: https://www.instagram.com/old_romans
You can listen to the episode here (or wherever you listen to podcasts) or read the transcript below:
A Conversation with Emily Cannon:
Nick (00:07.806)
So I'm lucky enough to have on the podcast today, Emily Cannon, Emily A. Illustrates on Instagram. Emily's an incredible artist who I first ran into at Comic Con, Tampa Bay Comic Con, I don't know, four years ago or so. Do you remember?
Emily Cannon (00:24.331)
I don't think it was as long as four years ago, but yeah, it was, it was, it was in the years though.
Nick (00:26.502)
Heh.
Nick (00:31.084)
Yeah, I mean it was it pre-pandemic or post?
Emily Cannon (00:34.226)
It was post, it was definitely post.
Nick (00:37.786)
Okay. So like, I kind of feel like I somehow forgot you existed the last couple years because you're not on Facebook, and I'm not on Instagram. But like kind of going back and catching up with all the things you have made since I first ran into you. It's insane. Like, I feel like you're like four years ahead of me where my business is at. So I'm really excited to kind of see what you've been up to. So please.
Introduce yourself to the audience. Tell us what you do
Emily Cannon (01:04.714)
Absolutely.
Yeah, and I would say first off, measuring where we are in art is so weird. You can't even do it linearly because it is such a strange field to be in. But yeah, to the public, I am Emily Cannon, Emily A. Illustrates. I am an illustrator and comic artist and a future therapist. So yeah, life takes a lot of turns.
Nick (01:19.245)
Yeah
Nick (01:31.837)
Okay.
Nick (01:37.161)
So I know you mentioned before when you're filling out the form, tell me to prepare for this, that you are working on your masters right now to get into therapy. So are you still planning on doing art? You're winding that down? You need to combine them? How is that going to happen?
Emily Cannon (01:46.259)
I am.
Emily Cannon (01:53.966)
So my thing is, I just wanted, because as I mentioned before, art is a weird field to be in, and I was getting to a point where doom-scrolling, I saw a bunch of things happening in the art world, and I wanted a little sense of stability. So I thought, ah, now would probably be the best time for me to go and get, I don't want to say a real degree, but a degree that looks good to...
Nick (02:19.257)
Hehehe
Emily Cannon (02:22.978)
people on paper, you know? So my plan is therapy is something I've always been drawn to. I really believe in it. I really, I feel as though it's something I'm maybe good at. And it also works in a schedule where it's flexible so I can still work on my.
Nick (02:43.601)
Okay good, so you're not giving it up.
Emily Cannon (02:45.83)
No, I would never give it up. But it just allows me to kind of make a little bit more time and not worry about making art purely for other people and being able to make art for myself again.
Nick (03:01.493)
Well, I think that's probably a good way to kind of provide context for the listeners as to what type of art you do make. So just off the bat, what percentage of the work you make would you say is commission-based versus what percentage is just an idea you had that you'll wholly own the rights to?
Emily Cannon (03:23.278)
So for the majority of my professional work, it's commission based. I would say it's 60-30. 60% is commission based, but 30% I do actually, I'm very lucky that I had a few ideas take off. One of the things we actually have in common is the Kickstarter situation. And I'm lucky enough that I had people enjoy my original ideas.
Nick (03:45.399)
Mm-hmm.
Emily Cannon (03:51.746)
But the things that pay the bills are the commissions, are the freelance.
Nick (03:58.154)
Okay. It's funny, like for me, I like that I have those commissions as a fallback, but when I look at my annual income, the biggest percentage of it is my Kickstarter projects.
Emily Cannon (04:04.907)
Mm-hmm.
Nick (04:11.149)
and as well as like the continual sales of leftover kickstarter inventory. So commissions are nice. They keep things moving. They keep my, you know, my adobe cloud monthly fee paid and my internet and my, you know, all that stuff going. But like what I live for and what I strive for is those kickstarter based projects. Do you feel the same way?
Emily Cannon (04:24.684)
Mm-hmm.
Emily Cannon (04:36.583)
I would say Kickstarter was incredible in helping me get my own ideas to actually start making money. It's really good for the marketing side of things. Because a lot of times it's just for artists the biggest thing is exposure. And this isn't doing free art for exposure, it's just getting the marketing so that your ideas out there so that people get it.
Nick (04:59.821)
Mm-hmm.
Emily Cannon (05:04.63)
We live in a time where social media is just ripe with ideas flying at you. And Kickstarter is a pretty good job of organizing actual products that people can actually support.
Nick (05:16.713)
That's one thing that I'm always constantly telling people is, yes Kickstarter is a tool to offset production costs, but its main benefit is it gets your brand in front of thousands of eyes all over the world that you would never be able to pay an ad to get. Like...
Emily Cannon (05:33.822)
Oh, absolutely.
Nick (05:35.889)
Yeah, and I know you've seen this too. When you're looking at a Kickstarter project, it gives you the refers on like how people found your project, what percentage, how many, you know, how much income came from each one of those things. And you could create custom links to put on your Instagram, your Facebook, to put in ads, put on Reddit till you're blue in the face. But the overwhelming majority of people are gonna find your project because they were just browsing Kickstarter for stuff or Kickstarter recommended it to them.
Emily Cannon (06:02.538)
Yeah, it's really incredible. I remember when I did my last Kickstarter, just going through all the different countries my stuff would be going to. And I think it's really good because it also forces artists to...
actually think as a marketing business, what is a physical product that people want? Because I think as artists, we always love the idea, we love the concept, but getting down to the brass tacks of making something tangible that can be bought, I wouldn't say is consistently the strongest sense on a whole.
Nick (06:27.615)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Nick (06:45.949)
It's funny because like I exactly agree with what you're saying. It does force you to think of your art as a.
project manager as a production company, as a manufacturing company, as a distribution company, not just as someone who makes the art. And I was shocked that I enjoy all of that as much as making the art. And it's not like I never find myself longing to just sit and draw because I really want a final product that I can hold in my hand and show to people. And maybe it's just because,
Nick (07:24.639)
Digital art is rarely a physical product, so making it a physical product feels like an emotional legitimacy that you don't get otherwise. I don't know, you probably don't feel the same way, but that's how I feel.
Emily Cannon (07:35.03)
No, no, I think it really is one because I mean, especially today, digital art is always under fire in terms of legitimacy. But just having like, again, not to completely be like, Kickstarter is fantastic, but it really sets up in a really intuitive way. Like they do provide a whole bunch of ways for you to break down costs.
And like, you know, they, they do a really good job of forcing people to do that. And when it comes to your own project, having those kinds of models and that kind of, those kinds of cheats, she thought about something here already. Like super enthusiastic about it's just, yeah, it really just helps. Like I, I never thought of myself as like, Oh, I'm really into marketing. But when it came to like figuring out how the layout of my Kickstarter page was going to look and I.
I went a little above and beyond, like I made animated gifts and everything for my first one. It really just kind of helped you like, ah, like, get excited about it.
Nick (08:37.406)
Mm-hmm.
Nick (08:48.201)
Do you ever, I'm constantly saying this to myself when I'm building Kickstarter, so I wonder if you ever say to yourself either. But do you ever think to yourself, oh I'm so glad I know how to make these graphics myself. Because if I had to wait for someone else to send me these, it would take months to build this thing. But I could just be like writing the text and be like, oh I should put a graphic in here. 20 minutes later, I got a graphic and I can keep writing. So nothing holds us back. And it's such an exciting feeling.
Emily Cannon (09:16.17)
And even if you just have the building blocks for that thing, I'm a big fan of YouTube tutorials and like if there's a certain kind of style I want to do for like an animation, I love being able to know the technology but also being able to understand tutorials so I can get it exactly because exactly what you said. If I said it away, like these people are going to do a good job, but they're...
My project is not their top priority. And I can guarantee you, as a freelance artist, my budget is not their top priority. And it shouldn't be.
Nick (09:56.013)
Well, let's talk a bit about, I mean, we don't have to spend the whole time talking about Kickstarter, but we absolutely could, because it comes up a lot on this podcast. But you are the first person I've had on the podcast that has made enamel pins, and that's also how I started. Well, actually, my first project was a coloring book, but then my second, third, and like fifth were all enamel pins. So is that how you started with the enamel pins?
Emily Cannon (10:02.913)
Unless Kickstarter is paying us.
Emily Cannon (10:22.29)
For Kickstarter, yeah, so it's an interesting thing because I ended up, while I was living in Colorado, I ended up with some friends who were in the comic industry. The convention, like anime, like comic conventions. And I had already done one, and I planned to do more, but alas, the pandemic kind of put a halt on that. In the meantime, I made these new friends.
And they were telling me all about enamel pins. And I had never done enamel pins before. And they said, well, if you want to get, if you know, like, it's pretty easy to pick up in terms of like, when you have someone guiding you through, they're like, well, you could always make a Kickstarter if you're unsure about whether or not these would sell or not. And yeah, enamel pins are, they're quite the industry.
Nick (11:15.965)
Yeah, yeah, so like I
Ultimately, I wanted to make board games, because that's what I was obsessed with. And I was like, well, I also do very like cartoony graphic. I was mostly illustrating in Adobe Illustrator at the time. And I was like, well, I've got these designs that sell well as like little pieces of art and as stickers. Why not turn them into pins? So I got my most successful designs, designed those as pins, got a price quote. And like, also when you're like researching similar projects on Kickstarter, you see how well pins do. So what was your process
Emily Cannon (11:23.927)
Yeah.
Nick (11:50.331)
for finding a manufacturer and did you do samples, how well did that Kickstarter go, how did you sell leftovers?
Emily Cannon (11:58.466)
So again, I was very lucky with my group of friends who were able to recommend me. Obviously, a lot of us, I'm not sure if it's safe for you, but we find our manufacturers through Alibaba just because the simplest way to get a manufacturer. And I was very lucky I had friends who recommended a systemic manufacturer for me. And their customer service person was really good about turnaround and like getting me quotes and stuff like that.
Nick (12:11.645)
Yeah, me too.
Emily Cannon (12:28.542)
I didn't really have to do the samples some, I didn't do the samples physically, I just did the, you know, when they show you the kind of like test one being like, hey, is there anything we need to fix before we send these to you? So it kind of, I kind of like got a lot of help, I shouldn't say kind of, I did get a lot of help in getting my pins to me and it was a pretty smooth, it-
Nick (12:35.896)
Mm-hmm.
Nick (12:49.603)
Mm-hmm.
Emily Cannon (12:57.726)
It was smooth except for the fact that I did not expect the Kickstarter to do quite as well. I was not expecting the turnout that I did. So you kind of underestimate volume. Like when doing research for a lot of them, you see like maybe 100 or 200 people sign up. And that's reasonable. But I was sending out things for a solid month.
Nick (13:26.699)
Mm.
Emily Cannon (13:27.694)
So.
Nick (13:29.173)
So the manufacturer I've used and have ever used since then, always used since then is JC Basic. Is that the same company you use or no?
Emily Cannon (13:36.114)
It is... probably... it is not, no.
Nick (13:39.577)
Okay, have you noticed that there's like a special art to communicating with Chinese manufacturers? Like I, so like when I'm telling people like to do, how to do it, I'm like, okay, only ask one question at a time. Cause if you ask five, you'll only get a response to one of them. They're probably gonna be running those through Google Translate. So you short sentences whenever possible, do a diagram of what you're trying to get made so that they could see that. Do you have any?
Emily Cannon (14:08.078)
Honestly, I don't want to say I had a great relationship with my liaison for the company, but she was phenomenal. And we were sending emojis and stuff like that. I didn't really have a... We just hit it off in terms of business-wise, where she was like, that looks good. I was like, that looks phenomenal. And then she sent back a little heart with a smiley face. I'd be like, shiny heart back.
Nick (14:09.014)
things you've learned like that.
Nick (14:19.633)
Okay. Nice.
Nick (14:34.371)
Hehehe
Hehehe
Emily Cannon (14:38.35)
So I didn't really get a sense of like, I gotta parse them out, but I would say I am not the best with email or text. Mostly because I constantly, it's like a battle between me not wanting to be glued to my technology all the time, and then me realizing, oh wait, but I have business that I need to do with technology. So they would, I did get a couple messages.
Nick (14:59.583)
Mm-hmm.
Emily Cannon (15:07.666)
off of Alibaba just like direct email saying, hey, we texted you this about an hour ago. Like, can we get a response? And I'm like, hmm, sorry. But that was the only thing. Like they would just be like, we need an answer now.
Nick (15:14.113)
Mm.
Nick (15:23.233)
It is kind of funny like I've worked with manufacturers that just communicate in Alibaba I've worked with some who only communicate through whatsapp and some only communicate through email So it gets a little tedious to track like wait who wasn't that made the mousepads again? And then I got to go back and figure out like how I talked to them And then sometimes you'll get contacted by like five agents from the same company and you're like wait Who's the one I was working on because they all showed up when I search
Emily Cannon (15:40.639)
And I try to keep it.
Emily Cannon (15:46.49)
Yeah, no, I, um, yeah, I try to keep it all in Alibaba. Like, I don't, if they email, when they email me, I don't respond to their email. I go to Alibaba just that way. I, because I know I will also get confused about where the thread got. And also, I just like having, only the true crime, like, you know, like person, but I'm like, I gotta be physical evidence in case something happens and they send me the wrong-
Nick (16:15.865)
Gotcha. Yeah, that's a good point. So let's talk then about your software. Are you primarily doing your digital stuff on Procreate or using other software?
Emily Cannon (16:31.278)
I am currently using Procreate for all of my drawings, for all my digital drawings. I am getting back into more traditional art pieces, but for digital I'm primarily on Procreate and for layout for things like my books, for like comics and stuff like that, I'm using Affinity Publisher.
Nick (16:56.729)
Oh, okay. So, um, is there a reason why you don't go the Adobe route on anything?
Emily Cannon (17:04.166)
I do, well, so here's my thing. Adobe, like I'm on a prep, a iPad. Adobe's iPad app is terrible. Procreate was designed for the iPad and therefore the sizing is so intuitive they do a really good job of making sure like it's easy for you to find the right button.
Nick (17:18.942)
I believe it.
Emily Cannon (17:32.526)
Procreate just was like, what if we made it smaller? And because there's so many options, or not Procreate, Adobe Photoshop made it smaller and because there's so many options, it's a pain to like, finagle all the things that I usually do. So I just ended up making the switch to Procreate. And since Adobe has started doing the whole AI integration.
Nick (17:46.412)
Mm-hmm.
Emily Cannon (17:59.898)
I've been seriously considering canceling my Adobe subscription.
Nick (18:03.693)
Mmm.
Nick (18:08.477)
I get that. I would like to. Like, I mean, I still buy stuff off of Amazon, even though I don't like the company, you know? So it's the same way I feel with Adobe. But I am in Adobe programs so much that I can't really give it up. Every day, I'm in Adobe Illustrator. I'm working on a couple of books right now, so I'm in Adobe InDesign every day.
Emily Cannon (18:17.846)
Yeah. Oh, yeah.
Emily Cannon (18:32.602)
Mm-hmm.
Emily Cannon (18:37.42)
Yeah.
Nick (18:38.573)
But when it comes to doing actual art and illustration, I'm exclusively, sorry, when it comes to putting stylus on screen, it is almost exclusively Clip Studio Paint for me. But, well, that's also because I've only ever worked in a Windows environment. Except for when I was in like high school and we were learning Mac stuff. But like, are you on an iPad Pro or regular iPad?
Emily Cannon (18:50.75)
Oh, that's a good one.
Emily Cannon (18:56.565)
Mm-hmm.
Emily Cannon (19:00.994)
Yeah.
Emily Cannon (19:06.114)
I'm on an iPad Pro and then I have my desktop situation which still has Photoshop on it. Like I'm, it's the, it's the weighing of it. Um, but that one is a, uh, it's hooked up PC. It's not a Mac. So I kind of have a dual system going.
Nick (19:14.399)
Okay.
Nick (19:23.908)
Okay. Gotcha. Do you- yeah. Do you use a Apple Pencil?
Emily Cannon (19:29.99)
For my Procreate, my iPad, yeah. Yeah. I've tried alternative ones and unfortunately, I say that because as an artist the whole price point does come into play. Apple is the most efficient, like, intuitive one. But for my Wacom tablet, I use, like, you know, the Wacom stylus.
Nick (19:32.105)
Yeah. Okay. Ha ha.
Nick (19:58.481)
Okay, but most of the time though you are drawing on the iPad, right?
Emily Cannon (20:03.218)
Yeah, mostly because I usually, for most of the day, I am away from my desk. So...
Nick (20:09.477)
Yeah. So say you're working on, sorry, are you using Affinity Designer on your iPad too?
Emily Cannon (20:18.37)
I am not because Procreate's been working so well, but I've just been using Affinity Publisher. So, yeah.
Nick (20:24.745)
Oh, sorry, that's what I meant, a publisher, sorry. And that's an iPad app too.
Emily Cannon (20:29.502)
It's an iPad app and it's a desktop app as well.
Nick (20:34.281)
So like, for example, your comic book that you've been putting together, you do that all completely on the iPad. You don't need to bring files over to the computer to do the layouts.
Emily Cannon (20:43.214)
So the comic I worked on was through Harper, and I didn't have to do any of the formatting, I just had to make the art. So I was very lucky. They were like, hey, do you have any experience with lettering? And I said, this is my first big project. I prefer someone else's letter, just so I can kind of see what you guys are looking for our next project.
Nick (20:50.944)
Uh... okay.
Nick (21:06.501)
Mm. So like the reason why I have these questions is because like in my in my mind there's a dialogue that The iPad may be great to do the art, but you can't be finished with it on the iPad You still have to take it to a computer to like do all your different exports reformatting resizing You know doing all that stuff, and I don't know if that's true
Emily Cannon (21:06.926)
But yeah.
Emily Cannon (21:21.362)
Yeah. So I do, yeah. Now I do have a publisher on my iPad. I just prefer the layout of the desktop because it's such a larger screen that I can do multiple windows open as reference. Whereas the iPad is kind of a set screen and I just don't like working small. I like having a larger space to work.
Nick (21:49.166)
Okay, so that was one of the main reasons why I decided to go all in the Windows environment. I draw on a Windows Surface Studio, which is a decently sized laptop, and the screen pops down flat so I can draw right on it.
Emily Cannon (21:55.284)
Mm-hmm.
Emily Cannon (22:01.07)
Oh yeah!
Nick (22:02.805)
Um, plus with Clip Studio Paint, I also have this little guy, which is like a little controller that I can map buttons to and it's got a little wheel. And so I can be super efficient with it, which is nice to keep that on my offhand while I draw. And then I love that. Like if I've done a whole bunch of illustrations and now it's time for me to lay out the book, I just pop the screen back up and open up Adobe InDesign. And I don't have to move from one environment to the other, move files from one to the other.
Emily Cannon (22:11.276)
Mm-hmm.
Emily Cannon (22:30.806)
So the thing with the files is since I used my OneDrive account extensively, so because I have them both logged in and a lot of things just instantly back up to OneDrive, I really don't have to move a lot of files, I just have to like, like you said, close it down, open it the other. Like I don't have to bother with the finagle of which folder did I put it in.
Nick (22:37.568)
Oh, okay.
Nick (22:57.317)
So like, my work laptop has OneDrive and I don't know how it works. I just save stuff to the machine and like, if I need to send it to someone I just put it as an attachment. I know I could spend five minutes learning how it works, but I'm just annoyed that like, I feel like Microsoft keeps shoving the OneDrive down my throat. And the other day I turned on my computer and now it's got a new AI assistant. It's like, nobody used Cortana, so now they throw in Copilot?
Emily Cannon (23:21.853)
Oh, yeah.
Emily Cannon (23:25.634)
to be fair, Google's doing the same thing. Like I make one wrong click and it's like, hi, I'm Gemini. And I'm like, no, get away from me. No. But yeah, no, I mean, this is obviously, I wouldn't say it's the most efficient use, but it is the use that I have. And I kind of have become, I really kind of love, I've only done publisher, but I've been really loving Affinities. Like...
Nick (23:33.108)
Ha ha
Emily Cannon (23:54.758)
InDesign kind of like alternative because I'm also I'm not a fan of the subscription payment plan and Affinity is one set like and I've used InDesign before and Affinity's a really good alternative uh that's like a set price and then you're done.
Nick (24:04.995)
Mm-hmm.
Nick (24:23.527)
I know, yeah. I don't like that I have to pay monthly for Adobe. I don't use any cloud storage with them. I do use the Adobe sites just because like I have my main website Chain Assembly is all my products that's all GoDaddy and Shopify.
Emily Cannon (24:24.907)
Yeah
Emily Cannon (24:34.615)
Mm-hmm.
Nick (24:40.609)
But then I do have Adobe portfolio has a thing where you can create like five different websites, just super whizzy wig drop, whatever. And I have NickRobera.com, which is like my commission based portfolio. Like here are things I've done as layouts, here are logos I've done, here are whatever. So it's nice kind of having that and it ties automatically into Lightroom, the Lightroom software. So I could just drag a file into a folder and it's reflected on the website,
Emily Cannon (24:40.668)
Yeah.
Emily Cannon (24:52.386)
Mm-hmm.
Nick (25:10.663)
is super convenient. But like, I'm not really using like, and also most of the new updates that come to these software I don't really need. So I see what you're saying.
Emily Cannon (25:12.878)
But truly.
Emily Cannon (25:21.706)
Yeah, the thing that really like is making me hard to hit that delete button on the Adobe thing is their library of fonts. I am such a stickler for fonts. Yeah.
Nick (25:32.017)
Oh yeah, Adobe Fonts is great. Oh, I probably have like 500 fonts on this computer. I really wish there was a way to organize them and like give them personal ratings. Cause like you sort it by like sans serif and it's really up to whoever created the font to label it as sans serif. So.
Emily Cannon (25:39.625)
Exactly.
Emily Cannon (25:51.07)
Oh yeah. It's, yeah, but I'm such like, I think a lot of my art college friends have memories of me when I had to do poster design, and I've just been like hours like sifting through the flats, I'm like, I gotta find the right one.
Nick (26:06.709)
Yeah. So like the Tarot project that I've been working on now that I have on Kickstarter is I'm making each card look like a movie poster from Italy from the 70s. So I've been really falling in love with poster design and I've been having fun with so many different fonts. It's been great.
Emily Cannon (26:20.098)
Right.
Emily Cannon (26:29.656)
I did mention this, but I do come from a military family and I actually lived in Italy for three years and honestly the pulp Italian movie vibes are so good.
Nick (26:47.493)
Oh, that's awesome. I don't think you did mention that to me, but that's really cool. Thank you. So, I want to ask you about Comic-Cons. I had a bad experience. By bad, I mean I didn't make a lot of money. And didn't get a lot of attention at that Comic-Con.
Emily Cannon (26:50.69)
Yeah.
Nick (27:05.293)
Primarily because I don't really do a lot of fan art like I was looking through your Instagram and you and your Facebook And you have some really cute Pokemon there So do you like do art specifically for comic-con stuff or like kind of what's your relationship with? comic-cons
Emily Cannon (27:19.874)
So because I...so my whole thing is, and again there's a reason why I love doing comics, why I love doing narrative art, is because I do believe story is what sells. People like to relate to things, so if you have a story, you can get away without doing fan art. However, if you do not have a story, if you don't have like a set thing that people can instantly relate to...and you...
You do have a story, you have these wonderful tarot decks, but I didn't have a set canon that people would immediately recognize. And so, I did make a rule for me when it came to Comic-Cons that I had to do 50% fan art, 50% original stuff. And that was my rule. And it's just for Comic-Cons. I'm not saying I...
Nick (28:13.128)
Okay.
Emily Cannon (28:18.966)
don't love doing fan art and I actually make a rule of I only do fan art for things that I enjoy because I don't want to do like a hop-and-down trend thing but it has to be one a thing I've enjoyed and two 50% of my stuff is fan art until I get to that point where I have a lexicon of like you know stories that people can like
Nick (28:26.442)
Mm-hmm.
Nick (28:44.533)
I like that you set that rule for yourself. So if you have like a Comic-Con coming up in a month or so that you're gonna be vending at, do you make new art for that or are you constantly like reusing old stuff?
Emily Cannon (28:56.898)
So I like giving myself too much work. So I do, I do, like I do say to myself, I have to have at least five new pieces because I believe in making the Comic-Con experience a unique one no matter when someone needs me because I'm always, I'm usually at camp with a Comic-Con. I'm usually like a repeat tabler. And so I want people to see new stuff when they, if they see me at camp.
Nick (29:00.833)
Hehehehe
Emily Cannon (29:26.354)
I don't want it to be, you know, like the same thing over and over. And terrible, like don't do what I do, which is like, I'm going to do like 20 new pieces. Don't do that. That's insane. But yeah, I do try to, I do try to make it a new experience.
Nick (29:45.066)
Do you get, since you do that regularly, do you get to see repeat customers who are excited to see you?
Emily Cannon (29:51.178)
I do. And I actually, one of my favorite things is having, because obviously, as I was once a young teenager obsessed with anime, it's really kind of wonderful seeing the teenagers who want to become more involved in arts, and they come back and they see me, or I'll see them wearing an enamel pin I sold them last year.
And I feel actually really bad because- well, no, not about this person, but I do have a friend now who I met just on the other side of the table. And then I have another person that has- every time I've gone to Tampa Bay Comic Con, they show up looking for a piece of art that I lost the file for and they'll never get it. And they always come back asking for it and I'm like, I- I can't print it for you. So...
Nick (30:38.233)
Ciao.
Emily Cannon (30:50.047)
It's kind of wonderful, like it really kind of is like, obviously I'm sure you've heard of a couple of horror stories, but for me, the experience has been mostly positive and wonderful just meeting people.
Nick (31:06.961)
I love when people recognize me, but I also get disappointed because I know they're probably not going to buy something because they already bought it the first time. I know I shouldn't feel that way, but like I've started to see people like say, oh, it's good to see you again. What do you have that's new? And because I'm making tarot decks, I'm not always going to have something new at each event because it takes a while to make a whole tarot deck.
Emily Cannon (31:18.434)
I love it.
Emily Cannon (31:32.678)
It takes a long time. Yeah, it's what, 72 cards? Like...
Nick (31:38.613)
78 this new one I'm doing I'm adding an extra five so it's gonna be 50 I mean 82 83 yeah Well, you got to do stretch goals
Emily Cannon (31:42.79)
Oh my god. You do the same thing I do. Let's add more work. But yeah, no, I was about to say.
Oh my gosh, stretch goals, absolutely. Yeah, but yeah, your projects do take a lot more time because you do have, you have like to make a whole collection. And that's kind of a thing why I'm happy I only do print.
Like, for the most part, prints and pins, to give it a little bit more, it's a little easier to just bring out a new thing. Yeah, the majority of people who recognize me, they usually don't buy something new because I'm kind of all over the place when it comes to style and stuff like that, and sometimes it just doesn't vibe with what they want. But it's still nice to know that I made an impact and
I remember like, it was at Tampa, there was a girl who was like, oh, I've seen your stuff. My roommate has your poster on her side of like our dorm. And there, I don't know, there's something just kind of wonderful about that because I'm not like, you may not be the same. You may be one of the few artists, maybe, I don't know, who is, every time you put something out, you're like, this is the best thing ever. I'm amazing. But most artists I know.
We are our own worst critics. Like, there are times I finish something and I'm like, this is disgusting, I hate this. And then you have someone look at that piece and they're like, I want that on my wall. I wanna see it every day. And it really kind of just, it really helps. It helps the like little, the like the negativity you have, like the constant comparison, you like person comparing yourself to others as an artist.
Nick (33:28.619)
Mm-hmm.
Nick (33:40.234)
So, going back into this idea of constantly having new stuff, when it comes to enamel pins, do you ever get any made outside of the Kickstarter environment?
Emily Cannon (33:52.358)
Actually, I do. So I'm planning on doing, for once, getting completely new enamel thins made, but I've actually had to do several reorders, and that's because the Kickstarter I did, it was a series of bugs because I'm absolutely enamored with entomology. And at the time I lived in Colorado and...
I went to the Mays Natural History Museum, which is purely a bug museum in the mountains of Colorado Springs, and I was saying, hey, I make these enamel plants, do you want to buy them in bulk? Because you're a bug museum, and it just so happens I have all these bugs. And they order such a large quantity, I had to do a major reorder.
Nick (34:45.767)
Oh wow, awesome!
Emily Cannon (34:47.202)
So yeah, again, bugs, man.
Nick (34:54.082)
So like the first Kickstarter project I did, like I said, was, I mean, way early on was Enamel pins. And of those four designs I got manufactured, only one has sold out. The other three are very close to selling out. And it's like I do want to get more pins made because I feel like I'm a better designer and I could be a lot more...
Risky with what I'm putting into the design, you know Like I have more confidence in the manufacturer than I did with that first order so I can be I can use thinner lines I can use more colors and I know it's not gonna affect the cost all as much back then I was like, oh only one color per pin or like only two colors per pin now I'm like, let's go. Let's go ham on it make something insane and So like I'm excited to do more pins, but I also feel like
Emily Cannon (35:19.509)
Mm-hmm.
Emily Cannon (35:26.231)
Yeah.
Emily Cannon (35:32.49)
Hmm.
Go ham, yeah.
Nick (35:41.917)
It's a wasted opportunity if I don't involve Kickstarter in the project, because I'll be losing out on orders and reducing the cost of manufacturing. But then that also like slows down other things I want to do on Kickstarter. So like in my mind, I have like my whole year planned in Kickstarter and I don't want to interfere with that plan. So it's just, it just drives me crazy. I don't know if you feel that same way.
Emily Cannon (36:05.43)
No, like, honestly, I think the biggest drawbacks to Kickstarter is the need to schedule that amount of time because again, I did not do that the first time I did a Kickstarter and it really came back to bite me. Like, just not understanding how timing works. And especially you have to, you kind of have to understand when the federal holidays are for Chinese manufacturing because there are, there's a whole month where they don't
do any manufacturing. And you have to be aware of that. I was not, and it did not work out well for me. But I would say it's actually a big thing for Kickstarter is also besides the exposure you get, it's the fact that you get to gauge how popular certain designs are.
Nick (36:36.203)
Yeah.
Nick (36:40.19)
Ugh.
Emily Cannon (37:02.194)
And I actually, based on surveys, the first time I was surveys, I actually ordered out of my own pocket, I ordered more of specific pins, just because I knew that they were doing well and everyone seemed to want them.
Emily Cannon (37:22.764)
So it does feel like you're missing out, especially if you have a whole collection planned. Like if you're kind of unsure if things are going to sell. Which is why I do know a lot of people outside of Kickstarter, they do pin pre-orders.
But because you don't get the marketing that comes with Kickstarter, not a lot of people pre-order, but it does help you kind of, if you have a good following, it does help you gauge, like, how interested people are.
And like there's a couple of things that I think I'm going to turn into pins later just based on how much engagement the project got.
Nick (38:08.365)
So one thing I see, I know we're going back into pins again, but one thing I see a lot with Kickstarter projects that are pin based, weird way to say that, but Kickstarter pin projects is they'll add new designs as a stretch goal. And in my mind, that just seems like a recipe for disaster because you're still going to have a minimum order quantity and that opens up a variable that like people are probably not going to go back to the project they already pledged to.
Emily Cannon (38:11.199)
No, it's fine.
Nick (38:38.125)
to see if there's something new as an option. I don't know, is that something you did?
Emily Cannon (38:43.994)
It's not something I did and it's not something I made sure not to do. One, I knew I was going to have stretch goal pins, but when I did my first Kickstarter, I was like, okay, this is the majority number of pins. So I think I've only done two Kickstarters. One had 12 pins in total, including the stretch goal pins, and the other one had 20. If I were to...
Nick (38:48.729)
Okay, good.
Nick (39:10.561)
Jeez, that's a lot of pins.
Emily Cannon (39:13.115)
in the future. Now a lot of these stretch goals, some of these stretch goals were duplicates but in a different color variant, which changed on the model like cost.
Nick (39:23.79)
Oh, I didn't know that was a thing, but that's cool.
Emily Cannon (39:26.07)
Oh yeah, so I did kind of like an alternative, yeah, like a kind of like, you know, that oxidized nickel, I did an oxidized nickel version of it, so it was a little bit safe cost on that. But, um...
Nick (39:34.989)
Yeah.
Oh.
Emily Cannon (39:43.578)
I kept it at that and if I were to do another Enamel pin Kickstarter, I would stick to the 12. I had friends continually add designs and it just ended up overwhelming them because they were not the designs they had planned to do. Amazing, amazing projects, like really beautiful pins, but for a wellness self-care thing,
absolutely overwhelmed them because I think they ended up having around 55 different parts that they had to manufacture and that just cut into their time for themselves, making, coordinating everything. They ended up going beyond the schedule they had planned and it just it left them stressed out and for me I like and I had I had people who
my kickstarters asking me if I was going to do any more pins. And I've been very resolute in just, these are the pins. This is my idea for the collection. We're not going to do any more because as artists, our time is money. Like we have to start putting more value and that includes putting value on.
Nick (40:55.65)
Mm-hmm.
Emily Cannon (41:02.794)
that way we don't burn out. Your wife sounds like a very smart woman.
Nick (41:06.397)
mmm you sound like my wife yeah she she's dictated that this podcast you hear it first here folks he's dictated that this podcast is going to be twice a month now not weekly
Emily Cannon (41:21.766)
And that is a smart decision. Putting together something well, less frequently, is so much better than burying out and just having to stop it completely. And as someone who is a frequent put all the pots on the stove, have them all boil over and then take all the pots off only to do it two months later again. Like don't be me.
Nick (41:24.745)
It is.
Nick (41:51.197)
So, related to that is one thing that I'm always fascinated with is things that do well on Kickstarter don't always translate to things that do well at a market. Or vice versa. Like, for example, Satisfy was this adult board game I made for couples, just barely made its funding goal on Kickstarter, but it sells well when I'm able to explain to people at my booth how it works.
because there's things that you can't just like say on a Kickstarter banner because it takes a dialogue to explain something
Emily Cannon (42:27.914)
Yeah, it's very interesting because you bring that up because I think this comes to demographics. Kickstarter, you can follow people that have done similar ones and you can also follow friends. And chances are there are pods of friends that all like the same thing. If one of them finds the Kickstarter, all done wonder about the Kickstarter. If they're interested, they'll pledge.
I would argue for, this is a board game. I would argue for board game, you have a very different demographic where, especially in cons, where tabletop and board game are kind of the traditional fare for cons, and you have the people who will, this is their annual thing where they go and buy things. Having board games being a part of the traditional like things you would buy.
Nick (43:00.97)
Yeah, yeah, it's a board game.
Emily Cannon (43:26.358)
I think it just comes down to a case of demographics. Like, I'm not sure if you had to explain to family members what Kickstarter was, but yeah.
Nick (43:38.751)
Well, I've, yeah, I've never asked any of my family to pledge, so.
Emily Cannon (43:45.022)
My family was very, they were like, now what's this about Kickstarter? Oh, I'll share it. And they're wonderful. I'm very lucky. I have a very supportive, like large family. And they were just having to explain Kickstarter to them who had never heard of it or like didn't really know what it was.
Nick (44:09.558)
Yeah.
Emily Cannon (44:10.19)
versus the younger generations, which Kickstarter is now kind of a, Kickstarter has its own lore now. There's infamous Kickstarters that have happened. There's the Brandon Sanderson Kickstarter that broke records. It's just a different realm of what, common knowledge is not actually all that common. We all have our own different framing. And it just so happens that you, I think,
Nick (44:17.697)
Mm-hmm.
Nick (44:22.133)
Yeah.
Emily Cannon (44:39.498)
I'm glad that it got funded because that means that the people who would enjoy it, sorry, I'm in a study chamber on campus, I'm glad that people got to enjoy it and get a physical copy because of Kickstarter, but I think it is just that thing where Kickstarter is just a completely different demographic, which is why I think enamel pins do so well, and a lot of sci-fi and fantasy things do well.
Nick (45:05.681)
That's true. It's not the people who come up to your booth at like a market outside of a bar on like a Saturday night are gonna age be like 20 years older than the people who are browsing projects on Kickstarter. So yeah. But it does keep in mind like just when it comes to choosing your quantities, you always need to have an avenue capable of selling your leftovers.
Emily Cannon (45:20.694)
Yeah.
Nick (45:32.501)
And that is really what determines the viability of something as a product. Is not just does it well on Kickstarter, but does it do well in the other tools you have to make sales.
Emily Cannon (45:45.046)
Absolutely. And I mean, it's also a thing of deciding your brand as an artist. Like you I have I would say I have two different gigs with two vastly different art styles. But my nail pins work very well with a lot of my very children's book, comic book style art. And so luckily it translates. That's that's what I choose for my comic, my comic con.
tables. It's that child-like, that kind of wind school style. Meanwhile, on the other hand, I have my art for... I draw horror art on the side for a podcast. So, I don't do prints of them because it's kind of weird if someone came up to my table and went, this is wonderful, and then you have this horrific Eldritch monster print just in the middle of all these very cutesy, like, Sanrio type creatures.
Nick (46:27.109)
Oh, okay.
Nick (46:44.953)
Oh so, yeah I saw, I was looking on your Instagram, I'm like, oh that looks like Tomie, and I guess it is. From Junji though, yeah.
Emily Cannon (46:50.578)
Oh yeah, no, I'm a big fan of Junji Ito.
Nick (46:55.417)
Yeah, awesome. So, uh, can I, uh, I have my list of questions and I lost them. Uh, oh yeah. So speaking of the Instagram, I saw that you also participated in mermaid, plane, April, uh, air, air pearl. Um, how regularly do you engage with those like Instagram social, whatever you call those?
Emily Cannon (47:02.626)
Hit the.
Emily Cannon (47:19.15)
So I used to get really down on myself for not completing a 30 day challenge and then I realized that no one was actually following the rules for 30 day challenges. They were preparing months in advance. So now I kind of, I use it as kind of a way to be very lenient with myself and like, this is fun, I get to be a part of a group thing for a little bit, but I don't beat myself up.
if I don't complete it and I only engage if it's a topic I'm really into. I'm very big fan of mermaids, I want to improve my drawing, which drawing from life will always do, so I only do it if I feel as though it's beneficial to me and, you know, it's a chance to like belong or like be a part of it.
Nick (48:15.057)
So I think I feel a little bit similar to you but in more of an extreme in that I don't think I'll draw Anything if I can't turn it into a product Because it's like I have products that I need to complete before I can waste time just sitting there and doing a drawing I Guess maybe I'm jaded, but I don't know it works makes me happy. I'm keeping it that way So I've yeah, I've definitely never done any of those challenges
Emily Cannon (48:30.485)
Mm-hmm.
Emily Cannon (48:39.746)
So I would say...
So I would say it's definitely a thing where, and this goes into why I'm currently pursuing my masters, is that it allows me a little bit more, in a completely different field, it allows me a little bit more time to kind of just focus on why I enjoy the thing, why I enjoy art. Because I found that I was only drawing things if I needed to sell things, and I wanted to get back to...
why I chose this profession in the first place, which was I just love drawing and I love creating things. And I try to make a point now of just drawing things purely for me that make me happy because otherwise I end up putting stress on myself like I have to make a finished product that needs to be able to sell otherwise I won't be able to like, you know, support myself. And it's, yeah.
Nick (49:39.361)
Well, if your business is a few years ahead of me, then that's probably how I'll be feeling in a couple years.
Emily Cannon (49:44.499)
I hope so because honestly it kind of lifted a weight off of me just because living my life entirely by deadlines stressed me out. I am not a good person with deadlines. It just caught, it's like the anxiety just gets amped up. So.
Nick (50:05.686)
I live for the deadlines. Like I will build a Kickstarter project and set a launch date on it with like nothing done just so I have to have it done by then.
Emily Cannon (50:17.988)
You're a stronger, braver person than I am.
Nick (50:23.1)
Um, so what else do you want to make in the future? Like do you have any other products you're planning on or just thinking about or things you're, I don't know, curious about?
Emily Cannon (50:30.574)
So I'm actually waiting to hear to see if my, if I have a, so I have a graphic novel I'm working on, a kind of secret graphic novel. I'm waiting to hear if it has a home. I'll hopefully hear back soon if it can fit in with a certain publishing house. I'm currently finishing up a short little 28 page.
comic that will be available at my next convention. And then I'm also getting back into just writing prose. So I told you, I have a lot of pots cooking on the table, I'm just not worried about finishing them because I want to make a good product. So I'm now imposing a deadline and letting it kind of develop organically. So yeah, writing, waiting to hear back on the graphic.
Nick (51:18.508)
Mm-hmm.
Emily Cannon (51:27.874)
novel pitch which I already kept kind of quasi finished I just need to finalize the first draft and then I can get started on the drawing. Finishing up the comic, writing for fun. Oh shoot is there anything else I'm doing?
Oh, and I'm also working on a tarot deck, but that I put on the back burner just because there's a lot of research that goes into this topic. So...
Nick (51:54.285)
Okay. Well, I will say, being in the tarot space is really fun. There's also lots of judgmental people, but that's in any space. So at Local Topia, a woman got mad at me because I said, I don't do readings. I just like to create the decks. And she said that was fucked up.
Emily Cannon (52:16.935)
Hahaha
Emily Cannon (52:21.096)
hahahaha
Nick (52:21.401)
and the husband was like, you shouldn't have pissed her off. And I'm like, I'm sorry. Anyways, anyways, but I will say going to like a metaphysical event as a person who created a tarot deck, you're going to get a lot of attention and make a lot of sales because those events are usually like, if anyone's selling tarot decks, it's publishers selling the many tarot decks that they have.
Emily Cannon (52:25.731)
Like, Lady Gang, you gonna curse me? Hahahaha
Emily Cannon (52:48.183)
Yeah
Nick (52:48.533)
So you really stand out there at those events. And I've really enjoyed being able to make a lot of sales at a tarot event or a metaphysical event. And there's plenty of metaphysical events.
Emily Cannon (52:58.016)
I Yeah, so I do readings for myself I don't do readings for others Like I think it's weird to do readings rather than like that's your that's what you do So that's a wild thing to ask someone And I have been to a metaphysical event so I'm very curious I'm really This is definitely
Nick (53:10.923)
Mm-hmm.
Emily Cannon (53:27.263)
a product I've been working on for a long period of time. So I'm really hoping to get it done, possibly over the summer.
Emily Cannon (53:39.286)
But yeah, I love the tarot deck community. I also love, I'm not sure if you saw, there's a tarot deck movie coming out.
Nick (53:49.197)
Oh no, I did not.
Emily Cannon (53:52.99)
Well, if you know, obviously you do extensive research on your card and stuff like that. The entire time I'm watching the trailer, I'm like, that card doesn't mean that. That card doesn't mean it's a horror movie. It's like they would think people as we do. So it's like, yeah. And I was just like saying it.
Nick (54:05.561)
Okay. Oh, oh, okay, okay. I get it now. I understand. Yeah, it's funny. Anytime someone brings out a tarot card in a movie, I'm like, let me guess, they're gonna pull the death card. Yeah.
Emily Cannon (54:16.966)
Oh, it's gonna totally be the same car. That's just like, that's not even the worst car. Ha ha ha!
Nick (54:22.553)
I know. Okay.
Emily Cannon (54:25.742)
So... I kind of get a giggle when like, movies play up the pterodacty and I'm like, huh.
Nick (54:35.593)
So when you're working on a pitch for a graphic novel and your first draft, are you describing all the panels and what's going to be on each page? Or is it really just like a script, like a movie script, like a description of what you see and then the dialogue?
Emily Cannon (54:40.631)
Mm-hmm.
Emily Cannon (54:51.374)
So because for the last graphic novel, I was purely the illustrator and I'm very lucky Channette and Chanel were like super wonderful that like if I had a little feedback like I think I suggested one thing where I was like, hey, can we do it in this room instead just because I think the lighting would be amazing for this scene. And they were super like, I think that's the one thing I asked for them. I was like, please, I just would love to draw the scene in like this area.
and they were super okay. But like, they gave me a script. And I believe the majority of stuff they do write are TV and movie scripts. So there, it was purely he said, she said, like, a description of actions. My style, obviously, I send over when it's, it comes to editors, I would send over a script very much in the same fashion.
But the way I write it, I write it with drawing. Because I like planning out the way that the page layout would look, and the way that the page layout looks informs my writing. Because some panels, you find you don't really need a lot.
Nick (55:57.433)
Mm-hmm.
Emily Cannon (56:12.786)
And it's just, it helps me inform how that scene plays out.
Nick (56:22.161)
Okay, I gotcha.
Emily Cannon (56:22.894)
But yeah, I don't know if that was a good way of explaining it, but like yeah, I know it's um, it's very in tandem, which means it's a little bit slower, but it does mean I get two steps done, which is the thumbnail and the script.
Nick (56:38.114)
Hmm.
So, when you do get to working on the final thing, I recommend giving Clip Studio Paint another try because it's kind of like the industry standard for manga and comics. So there's really great tools for documents with multiple pages and doing like masked out frames and windows and speech bubbles and stuff.
Emily Cannon (56:50.748)
Mm-hmm.
Emily Cannon (56:56.332)
Okay.
I'll definitely like I could meet like I have a lot of friends who they swear by Clip Studio like and I'm just like it's that thing where like you know as soon as you get a new piece of technology and you're like I know there's gonna be a learning curve and I just don't want to deal with the learning curve right now but I know it's in the future I could see it coming at me and I'm just like alright well when I'm done with classes I'll sit down and properly give it a look but yeah no I've heard wonderful things when it comes to
Nick (57:15.951)
No, I get that.
Nick (57:29.789)
So like I want to try a graphic novel. I just don't have a story in me that needs to be told in that format. I feel like I'm good at creating the elements to a story like role playing games, characters, locations, NPCs. I'm good at all that. But in the process of that, like I have an idea of a final story, but I don't have the confidence in myself to.
Emily Cannon (57:39.775)
Mm-hmm.
Nick (58:00.245)
do anything to fruition that way. But again, that's just me. I know if I did it and practiced it, I'd be good at it, but I'm scared.
Emily Cannon (58:11.302)
I believe the best way to combat that is baby steps because graphic novels are a huge undertaking and I can't believe I signed up to do another one. But it's a, I think baby steps because like I mentioned I'm doing a little 20 page comic and I think starting off slow, starting off with like a five page, what's the-
Nick (58:19.561)
Mm-hmm.
Hehehehe
Emily Cannon (58:38.762)
like challenge yourself what's the shortest comic I can make? Like with a beginning, middle, and end. And then I've actually, so a big part of my New Year's resolution is reading more and I've been making a point to read more varied graphic novels and there's some that are just beautiful, surreal like scenes. There's no beginning, middle, and end. Just a beautiful scene.
that is very surreal and there's no set one way to do a graphic novel and sometimes the narrative can be incredibly non-suc—
Nick (59:21.945)
Mm. Okay. So.
Emily Cannon (59:27.845)
I'm not sure if he did hourly comic day at any point.
Nick (59:31.558)
No, what's that?
Emily Cannon (59:34.102)
So February 1st is Outerly Comic Day and you're supposed to do an hourly comic every hour that you're awake. And this could be like one or two panels, like usually one or two just so that you don't like stretch yourself too thin. But you end up with like a lot of really great like fluid like a lot of bestie, a lot of like really brave comic panels that you see on Twitter, that you see online, and it's just
kind of a wonderful way to get into comics, where it forces you to just write about your day in comic format.
Nick (01:00:11.517)
Oh wow. See, I figure if I did do any comic or anything, it would be very like Adrian Tomani inspired. Or very Daniel Klaus, because like, I feel like that I could maybe manage.
Emily Cannon (01:00:20.362)
Mm-hmm.
Emily Cannon (01:00:28.503)
I mean, I threw out, like you mentioned that you're very set on making the product and one of the biggest things, because again, my problem was I keep trying to make a product out of things. Letting go of perfection for your first attempts at things is like the hardest step to do when you're trying something new.
Nick (01:00:50.153)
I can't let go of perfection. Alright, well as we wind it down, where would people be able to find some of your stuff? I know you have Emil right? And then...
Emily Cannon (01:00:50.99)
So... I know, but like... Hahaha!
Emily Cannon (01:01:04.798)
Yeah, so I do have my shop closed while I am in school, just because I could not handle doing both as well as a bunch of other stuff. So if you wanted to find me, it would be as Emily A. Illustrates on kind of almost every social media except for I think Twitter, which is MAAllustrates. And you can find me.
My next con and my only con so far for the year is actually going to be Anime Boston so at the end of this month. So if you don't want to celebrate Easter at home and you're in Boston.
Nick (01:01:42.649)
Oh.
Nick (01:01:47.001)
Oh, fun. And then so the book that you were talking about that you just finished doing illustrations for is Ghost Roast.
Emily Cannon (01:01:54.09)
That is, it's Ghost Roast, you can find it, not to sound like a cliche, but wherever books are sold, it's through Harper Alley and Harper Collins with their imprint of Burst.
Nick (01:01:55.507)
Yeah.
Nick (01:02:10.777)
It is really beautiful. I love the style. It kind of reminds me of Paper Girls. Okay. Like you have the solid color tones, but I mean you've always been really good at color. Okay.
Emily Cannon (01:02:20.914)
Oh yes, paper girls! Damn, no I...
Emily Cannon (01:02:27.054)
So, I thank you. That actually I have to shout out to my wonderful colorist, Ashwarya Tandon. Like, just, she is an incredible colorist and she saw my sample pages and she ran with it and she already has an amazing eye for color and she really helped me out. So, Ashwarya and I think she's a...
She's tuned in, but if you look up Ashwarya Tandam, she's like... She's everywhere. She's phenomenal.
Nick (01:03:04.097)
Was it difficult or awkward not getting to do the colors yourself?
Emily Cannon (01:03:11.726)
I think there's a part of me that was like, ah, I'm, this, again, this is my first major publication and actually my first major comic. And I think it really, it kind of, it hurt just because I was like, damn it, I could make, not make the cut, but I couldn't work fast enough to do both because I think I got bogged out in certain parts of the process. But I think...
Honestly, there's always that little part of you as an artist that's like, damn, I want to do everything. But one, having such a beautiful end product, if I ever had any doubts, blasted that out of the water. But two, being able to, I love the creative process when it's collaborative. I have a big history with working in the theater during college.
Nick (01:03:48.694)
Hehehe
Nick (01:03:59.541)
Hehehe
Emily Cannon (01:04:10.994)
and having that kind of collaborative element. I love it, seeing people take something that you worked on and through their own eyes, kind of reinvent it. And I think the only thing, I gave Vajwari a little key for just like, there were certain colors, I just wanted to make sure were like, present in certain characters. But I think Vajwari heard the words, like she got the key and she heard vivid, and she just created just...
like such a wonderful end product. And I just, I can dush for hours about her work, so.
Nick (01:04:52.173)
awesome. Well for the listeners that is GHOST, R O A S T, ghost roast and it's kind of like a ghost hunter and there's some type of mystery involved, right?
Emily Cannon (01:05:06.978)
It's a middle grade graphic novel about a girl who embarrassingly has a ghost buster as a father, but then also can see ghosts. So there's history, there's mystery, there's a little bit of romance. It's all a good thing.
Nick (01:05:26.857)
Well, I promise you I'm not gonna forget you exist over the next two years. I'm gonna be following everything you do very closely. Heh heh heh.
Emily Cannon (01:05:33.079)
Oh, the same, absolutely, honestly. Meeting you again at Little Tokyo, I was like, we were table mates.
Nick (01:05:40.521)
Yeah, it's just insane that like you live in St. Pete, I live in St. Pete, but somehow, and we have so many of the same friends on Facebook and Instagram, it's like I don't know how we didn't ever run into each other in the last, since that event, since Comic-Con.
Emily Cannon (01:05:55.738)
Honestly, I play big and introvert. Ha ha ha.
Nick (01:05:58.88)
Hehehehe
I get it. Alright, well thank you so much Emily for joining-
Emily Cannon (01:06:04.514)
Hahaha
Emily Cannon (01:06:09.218)
Hopefully.
Emily Cannon (01:06:12.91)
Thank you so much. This has been a wonderful time, and I honestly, such a blast. Thank you.
Outro
Chain Assembly: Art for profit sake is recorded through Riverside FM, distributed through Spotify for podcasters, and edited on Adobe Audition. The music is provided by Old Romans. If you learned anything useful or found this podcast helpful, please rate and review us five stars. If you want to learn more about me or my art, head over to ChainAssembly.com.
