Event: Cover Making Workshop with Balqis & Moss Fest 2023

In July, I got an invite from Mossery to attend their event (Moss Fest 2023) + join one of their available workshops during the 3-day event. Yes, that Mossery. 

I explained to Sofi the night before that I had to 'work' on that Saturday, also reminded her several times that morning, she kept on finding me in my room or kitchen while I was getting ready, just to give me a long hug (*5 times to be exact) because I was leaving her with AF that day. 

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Let me clarify first, I asked my sister whether she wanted to join the event and she said yes *not as a driver, but as a participant. So, assuming she wanted to tag along to go to the event, I didn't take the train ride lah. But, she didn't even go to the event later on. She went to watch Oppenheimer in Paradigm Mall with Is while waiting for me to finish the 2 1/2 hrs workshop. Then we had lunch and she sent me back home. Like I was a teenage girl needing a ride to go to a tuition class :F

We were an hour early so we had breakfast at Broom, just next to the event place. Read the Broom's post here.

I registered for the event, received the special gift bag, and was introduced to the Mossery's founder. Then I joined the workshop and met Balqis.

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I chose a Cover-making workshop using cyanotype printing by Balqis or @studiosunprint. It has been a while since I did something new, so the workshop was so much fun. I learned about cyanotype printing, did 2 tests on paper, and later did the art for the cover. 

I intentionally wanted just leaves on my cover (I wish there were petals too, but there were none from the tray), and also I wanted it to be a bit darker so I exposed it to the sun for an extra minute. Composition-wise, I wanted the front cover to be less cluttered while the back cover shows some personalities (just like me, what you see from the outside doesn't necessarily resemble what I feel on the inside). Plus, a lot of dots that I made from talcum powders.

Here is my Mossery cover: 

Beautiful.

I've been using the Mossery yearly planner for a month since I got it (finishing this post in Sept). Here's the catch, I got the 2023 planner at the end of July, which means more than half of the planner has already passed and I can only use the scheduled planner from Aug - Dec. But, I'm going to use this planner as much as I can because I don't want to waste it.

My plan is to use half of the earlier part of the book with journaling/writing and another half as a scheduled planner (considering I started working full-time again in Aug, kan). I stopped journaling on physical books a while back and it feels odd to start writing again. But old habits die hard. 

The cover might not last as long as the other covers Mossery sells because it has no lamination and it has been dunked in the chemical solution and water when we made the cover. I can also see some white tiny feathered edges already. But that's okay.

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I also received a gift bag worth *RM 250 consisting of their 2023 Year Planner, Mossery cover illustrated by Angela Pan, Life in Progress booklet, artprints x 2 by Sibylline Meynet, greeting card by Liunic, Mossery planner stickers x 2, in a Mossery pouch bag. I bought a second-chance version of Mossery's undated planner for next year (30% off). 

The reels I made for them:

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Event : The Weekend Event at CAFKL 2023

Last weekend I joined CAFKL at The Starling Mall. 

It didn't even make any sense. I didn't manage to create any new pieces of stuff like I planned, I felt like I made a mistake by booking 2 tables, and didn't feel like going anymore. I was physically in pain and couldn't draw, so there were no last minutes drawings. 

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I took care of the booth alone, so I spent most of the time reading Frankenstein. Af took care of Sofi during those 2 days I was at the booth. I did meet some of my old fans, but, I think the crowds were much younger and they probably never even heard about me. 

I wasn't anxious this time, which was great considering I was socially anxious in a lot of the previous events. Even with my old stocks (selling for really cheap), I managed to accumulate around RM 1k in those 2 days. So I think that was good - I sold out and gave away a lot of the things that I didn't want to keep anymore.

On the first day, I wore a white kurung and on the second day, I wore full black, in a shirt & jeans. I wish I would meet my fellow illustrators/artists, but, I didn't find that many familiar faces. Also, when I think about it, don't you think it's amazing that when you are surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of unfamiliar faces, most of the time you don't even feel connected to any of them and you just wish you meet that one familiar face, among hundreds of unknown possibilities of connection. You just want that one familiar face and ignore the hundreds. 

Sofi was so well-behaved and she had fun learning how to support local artists :

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Here was the floorplan and I was at D27-D28 :

Event : Comic Fiesta 2017 + Things I Bought

I thought I prepared myself for my first Comic Fiesta. 

I did, but it was not enough. 

The event was huuuuuuuge, huge as in 2 big halls in KLCC convention center, not including people outside, waiting at the park, super-packed alleys that you need to slowly walk, long queues of people waiting to meet their celebrity cosplayer or take turn to try out games, or even buy things. This was my very first huge event. The biggest one so far, and I've never seen such crowd :F

My booth was located at B-B01, so it was among the first booth at basic art booth, next to the premium ones. We bought extra ticket for Af as my assistant of the weekend, so we could take turn to walk and find nice beautiful things that people made. 

New things I prepared for Comic Fiesta :

• 2nd version of 'Game Nerd' enamel pin (almost sold out before the event)
• 1st version of 'Book Nerd' enamel pin (sold out before the event)
• 'My Doodle Book' zine (not so many people bought)
• Sticker sheets x 4 (so - so, people like the Harry Potter fan-art sticker)

Things that were sold fast :

• The remaining enamel pins sold out in the first few hours
• Japanese sticker pack version 2 + 3
• Laser-cut 'Game Nerd' keychain
• Laser-cut charms 
• and several more MesinWood + Eureka stuffs.

From this event, I can conclude that the audience love movie - series - anime related fan-arts. I didn't make as many fan-art stuffs as other booths, so we didn't get as much hits. If I want to attend more events like this : Comic Fiesta, Comic Art Festival KL, Animangaki, etc - I need to make more fan-arts, it is what sells compared to original illustrations. Some people even came and asked whether : "There are characters that I know of ?" or keep calling the 'Game Nerd' stuffs inspired by the original Game Boy as "Beemo" from Adventuretime. I never felt so old. 

But anyway, the sales was so great - we reached the highest sales for any events I've ever attended so far ! It gives us hope and kinda show me that my hard work almost paid off. I love selling my stuffs and creation to people, even how 'syok-sendiri' it might seems sometimes. But without people keep on buying and supporting, I would never be this far.  

Thank you - for every support, every money spent on buying the things that I made, for every visits, for every 'hello - I'm a fan'. You have no idea how hard I work throughout this year as a full-time independent illustrator and designer just to pay my bills and prove that I never wanted anything so bad. I love every single day I'm working for the past 9 months, creating, planning, and making stuffs. I am so happy guys, thank you. Thank you for the wonderful 2017 journey !

PS - You can also support me on my Patreon : https://www.patreon.com/azreenchan ❤ Where I share more detail stuffs on the projects I'm working on, on current life and thoughts and tips + tricks.

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And here's for the things I bought from illustrators and comic artists at Comic Fiesta !

You know, I took so many short trips to finish both 2 halls :

• because the halls were so big
• and there were too many people, so it was a slow-paced, taking turns kinda thing
• and sometimes so many people came to our booth, I can't just leave Af alone :F

But I told Af, that I've been waiting to join these kind of events and it is just once a year thing - so I need to explore and find great illustrators. It was the only chance to be surrounded by so many inspiring people ! Here I bought a LOT of printed stuffs to be added into my doodle book. This made me so happy ❤ I tagged almost all comic artists and illustrators, please do follow their work on Instagram.

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Like chibi stickers by Foxkunkun and name card from Meyoco (there was nothing that I can buy from her booth that was not out of my budget) :

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Lokamade was everywhere in bookstores, so it wasn't as exciting as meeting Ashionglee from Indonesia in person ! He is an Indonesian National Graphic Illustrator and I asked for his signature. Super inspiring. I also bought the 'Passion Pays' sticker from my partner ; Eurekartstudio.

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A colouring book from the legendary Kidchan/Cyanparade !
Two things that I love from this series :

1. Black/White stroke - no colours, so I can see just the beautiful strokes without getting distracted by colours
2. Symmetry 

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I also bought a 'Thor' sticker and an art-print inspired by Rogue One from Machodoodle/Amelia Lo from Indonesia. She got a lot of cool stuffs, but I had to limit my budget and not get too many things at one place :

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Weiliwonka and Pottetto were 2 local illustrators that I found from the previous CAFKL. I was super excited to see different kind of strokes and styles being used in illustration (because most booths were anime/manga-based style). I didn't buy anything Pottetto because the sticker set from her 'Stranger Things' fan-arts were sold out (too bad) :

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Hope to see you guys again next year !

❤

Class : Doodle your Day with Azreenchan

Doodle your Day class date with me. 

I would like to spend a day with people who are interested in doodle journaling + illustrating. This is more like an informal class where we could get to know with each other, spend the day doing activities, sharing session and have a guided doodle practice along the way. More like when an introvert wants to share knowledge and skills to people but in a very controlled environment (compared to my previous doodle class with 30 kids for 8 long hours). 

Class Detail 😘 :

• Weekdays in December + January 
• 10 am - 2 pm 
• In KL area, various places based on the selected day 
• There will be activities to help you with your day journal task : eg - a day out in Aquaria / Bird Park , chit-chats at a cafe, etc. 
• Will be conducted in a very small group (1-5 per class) 
• Fees : RM 100 (not including ticket passes) 

Things you will learn : 

• Basic doodling skill 
• How to start doodling 
• Doodle tasks to help you with your doodle diary + journaling 
• 101 - Your personal zine-making 

Things that will be provided : 

• 16-pages of 'Things you can Doodle' zine - that you will use for your doodle tasks 
• Free gift bag + goodies
• Foods at the selected cafes 
• I'll also bring zines + self-published books by international illustrators for reference 
• Washi tapes 😍 

Things you need to bring : 

• Your doodle notebook / diary 
• Favorite stationary 
• Water 

Suitable for : 

• Beginners 
• People who love to draw + doodle 
• People who want a doodle date 
• Fresh from the oven designer/illustrator/doodler 

No experience in doodling necessary, just your interest + passion in learning a new skill or hobby. 
If you are interested, please book your class from my e-store here.

Note : Date & activities will be discussed via email after booked.

Event : Comic Play + Etsy Made Local 2017

November was a busy month. I joined 2 events in a week, activated the Etsy discount month for Christmas and we had a fully-packed weekends throughout the whole 2 months until the mid of December (because Comic Fiesta also coming real soon). 

Preparation :
The preparation took around 3 weeks, to restock all my sold out items from Jesselton Artisan Market and Machi Mochi Market during the previous month's events. I am still hand-cutting some of the sticker sets (not all anymore), pack all the items and hand-paint laser cut stuffs, so I'm pretty much occupied almost every day. 

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Comic Play, Publika :

I think it was a 5-days event, but I joined for 3-days including the weekends under Animangaki (there were several organizers for the event) - is it fair to say that I never really know about them before this because I'm not fully into the anime/manga fever as I grew older?

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Things that happened at Comic Play :

• On the first day, we lost our parking ticket and we had to pay RM 60 for the fine. It was a lot of money, and I felt really sad thinking that we've been working so hard. Never keep parking tickets in your pant's pocket ever again - lesson learned.  
• I forgot to bring the pencil leads so I can't doodle in my book on the first day. 
• On the second-day, as a present for ourselves for the hard work, we bought lattes. I had the worst stomachache and diarrhoea afterwards because Af bought for me a venti green tea latte at Starbucks - I am now lactose intolerance and I shouldn't drink that much milk on an event day. I rushed to the toilet at least 3 times on that day - lesson learned. 
• I met a lot of old friends - I hardly meet people that I knew at events so it was a bit uncomfortable for me. 
• There weren't many interesting things for me to buy, so I just bought several cute stickers to add in my doodle book.

Thank you for visiting us at Comic Play, Publika last weekend ! • We had a lovely time ❤️ Things that happened at #comicplay2017 : 1 • We lost our parking ticket and had to pay RM 60 😑 2 • I forgot to refill my pencil and bring extra pencil leads, so I can’t doodle. I had to use @ahmadfarikarim ‘s 0.7 pencil ✏️ that day 3 • Bought myself a green tea latte at Starbucks and had the worst stomachache and diarrhoea 💩 (I’m lactose intolerance 🥛👎🏼 4 • Met some old friends, thanks for stopping by guyyys ❤️ 5 • Bought several stickers for my book 😊 Personal thanks to @animangaki ❤️🙏🏼 #doodlediary #illustration

A post shared by azreenchan (@azreenchan) on Nov 21, 2017 at 1:41am PST

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a week later at Etsy Made Local :

I was excited, been waiting for Etsy Made Local since I applied (because it is a yearly event, and I've been using Etsy for almost 7 years now). But the worst thing happened, I had another episode of vertigo (the sensation of whirling and loss of balance, dizzy and nauseous).  This was the third time this month, I'm not sure the exact reason yet (I need to do an ear check-up if this continues). I didn't feel good, because the world was spinning so bad, I get nauseous and I can't walk or function like a normal being. Of all the busiest days of the month, it had to chose to appear on Etsy Made Local day :F 

So I had to prepare the booth with Af's help, all my strength and patience to slowly put out all the items on the table. Every few movements lead to me feeling like I was going to fall down or puke. It was really bad, so I had to ask my sister's help (she took care of the booth, while I went back to rest and sleep for awhile, then came back to pack everything later that evening). I felt better after the sleep.

Here are some photos I managed to snap when I came back later (the place was beautiful !) :

I didn't felt like I joined the event because I wasn't there most of the time. 

But Aja said the crowd was over-whelming, we got a lot of supports and love, and our sales was really great. Thank you so much to Af and Aja for helping me with the event (I never thought I would be sick on my important day, I always thought I was some-what invincible) :F

Kudos Etsy team & volunteers ! ❤

Event : 1-day at Machi Mochi Market

Another short noticed event that I joined this year : Machi Mochi Market at Sunway Velocity on the 21st of Oct (Saturday). The organizer asked me to fill-in an emergency Saturday slot for 'Apom-apom' because they can't join on that day. I knew the organizer, so I'd said 'yes' 😃

I'm quite happy to learn that local illustrators are emerging slowly, I saw several new faces at the event among old faces ❤  

Here are the stuffs I bought from my fellow participants (more stickers + artprints) :

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The event took place at the 5th floor of Sunway Velocity, it was quite a nice space with cute lights, dedicated space for sharing sessions, artisan booths and small workshop. But the crowd wasn't as much as I anticipated (maybe because this was their first event) :

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Anyway, other worth mention : 'Seven Cups' cafe (an artisan cafe near our event). I bought an iced Matcha Latte from the cafe and I felt like I was in Japan again. 

Image from their Facebook

I bought my own Matcha powder several months back so that I can make my own matcha latte at home. But it didn't taste as good as the ones at the cafes, and so I asked my brother "why is that?", later I found out that it is because I refused to add sugar in my own drink :F 

"Everything tastes better with processed sugar, love ❤ "  

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Next events in Nov + Dec :

• Comic Play, Publika ( *still in application process )
• Etsy Made Local, PAM Bangsar
• Comic Fiesta 2017, KLCC

Happy weekend, guys ❤

Mini Escapism + Event : JAM, Sabah

We went to Sabah 2 weeks ago !

We originally planned to go to Sabah for an event invitation by Salt x Paper in Kota Kinabalu. They were organizing a monthly event called 'Jesselton Artisan Market : Inktober'. I thought it was good for us to visit Sabah for the first time and at the same time making little money out of our trip. So it was a work-holiday trip :D

Two sunsets in Sabah

This time we went in a group of 5 : Aja (my older sister), Ma, Wati + her baby, Af and me. We booked a 3-room apartment in Marina Court Resort right in the middle of the KK city. 

The places we went :

• Mount Kinabalu National Park - We wanted to take some photos of the mountain top but we had a long tough car ride from the city, so we were considered late. We can't see the mountain top in the afternoon, it was blocked by a huge dark cloud. Around 2 hours+ ride. 

• Desa Dairy Cow Farm in Kundasang - fresh milk, froyo and ice cream without any preservatives ! Also a nice view of the green field and black+white cows that reminds you of New Zealand. Fees - RM 5 each person. 

• Filipino Market - Super affordable seafood dinners ! We dined twice in different food stalls during our stay :

• Handicraft Market - where people sell local items : pearls, batik shirt, coconut wallets, hand-made items. This was where we spent our money buying souvenir to people at home :F
• Gayang Restaurant - A recommended restaurant by someone we met at the event. 
• Signal Hill Observatory Tower - A short car ride to the tower on the hill where you can have a view of the city (but mostly tall buildings nowadays). Sunset view from the tower would be great, I think ? Fees - Free. The view :

• Tanjung Aru Beach - A short visit before we headed home that afternoon. I'm guessing that we would have a really nice view of sunset from here :(

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Things I'm quite surprised about Sabah :

• It feels like we are 1-hour early than Semenanjung because the sunrise time is around 6 am and sunset is around 6 pm. 
• We need to have a visa-like document when we arrive, show your IC/passport for them to give you a 90-days visitation time even though both sides are Malaysia. (Note : I should have remembered, I use to love history - and I'm pretty sure we learned this somewhere). Oh, and make sure that the document stays with you, don't lose it or you'll need to make a report to the local police.
• So many affordable seafood ! I looooooove ♥
• Everything ends with '-bah' . 
• When people ask "are you local?" that means I need to say "no, I'm from Semenanjung" even though I'm pretty sure we are all local Malaysian. I don't even know why there's such a question.
• In Sabah, they are very welcoming and super-friendly but I feel like an outsider. 

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The event (Jesselton Artisan Market) :

This event was organized by Salt x Paper (thanks Aaron & Chrystin!) and Riverson. I sent my products to Salt x Paper since Dec last year so we've been communicating through Whatsapp & emails for the past 10 months. I felt like I know them even though we've never met.

When they invited me to join for their event, I thought about it for several days before I said yes. For this event, I shared my booth with Eureka ArtStudio - a young independent illustrator/painter that I've come to adore (remember that I've been searching high & lo for local independent illustrator that I could partner up? Well I think I found one). You guys can check-out her works on her IG.

Her most famous item at the event was :

Anyway, the 2-days event was a success.
My sales was quite high and I should be happy, but considering our expenses to come all the way from KL and the 5-days stay and the car rent, it wasn't enough. This was a paid trip to Sabah instead of business trip, because we didn't managed to get any extra money to bring back home BUT everything else was paid using all the money from the event.

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Expenses (per person) :

• Car rental (Bezza) + Gas (for 5 days) : RM 90 + RM 18
• Apartment - 5 days : RM 213
• Luggage : RM 76
• Flight : RM 310
• Food : RM 64
• Tickets : RM 8
• Groceries : RM 10
• Grand Total : Roughly around RM 800 per person 

How to improve in next events in Sabah (as an independent artist) :

• booth sharing (in a small group, 2-3)
• sales must exceed RM 1,500 (per person)
• conduct a workshop/class at the event (multi-income on the event day)
• restock items at Salt x Paper (save the postage cost !)

Glorious seafood galore

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Event : CAFKL & Food Poisoning

Last weekend's event was a success !

A lot of my stuffs that I brought and prepared for the event were sold out (sticker packs & enamel pins), people also came to pre-order the Eskapi travelogue and I saw a lot of talented illustrators and comic artists all around. There were a lot of self-published comics and zines. I think I spent around RM 100 just for buying other people's works.

Look, my favorite Moana artprint by Sillyjellie ! :

For me, this was my first comic-related event. I usually apply for art & crafts events because I don't really feel like I belonged to the comic-industry (I don't do comics). So I never really know what to expect in this event. Fortunately, it was the best among the best sales so far, doubled from my previous best sale record ! I am so extremely happy, so I applied for this December's Comic Fiesta in KLCC.

I am happy because just several days before, I spent several thousands on self-publishing my travel journal (and so I got it back almost right-away). I was so worried that I won't survive next month without taking any freelancing and only focusing on the Japan's travel journal. But, I think I can pay off all my bills for next month and still survive by working silently in my nest studio :D

Note : I just wish more variation on the styling of drawings/illustrations instead of focusing in manga & anime though. It's good that the industry is here and beginning to get bigger, but I just wish more people would explore their own unique styles & strokes.

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The bad from the event :

I had the worst case of food poisoning, just an hour before the event ended.

I felt bad in the stomach, nauseous, I can't no longer sit at the booth (so I let Af took care of the booth). Finally when I felt really-really bad (kenot tahan anymore), I ran to the toilet and threw up badly (around 6 times in one shot). I pitied the girl next to my toilet, she had to listen to all the drama. 

I asked Af to pack all the stuffs because I can no longer do anything. We left while it was still busy in the hall, I didn't even say 'good bye' or 'thank you' to anyone. The second time I threw up was when we almost arrive at our car in the parking lot. The third time was in the toilet in KL Sentral when we had to do emergency stop because I also had to go to the toilet so bad. And the final one was right in front of the clinic, near my house. 4 times in 1 hour, and because it was so bad, the doctor advised to take a shot to stop the vomiting. But the diarrhoea had to continue until all the bad stuffs come out from my body =.= 

Yes, it wasn't my first food poisoning. But this was the first time that I had the worst case of vomiting until I felt like I had to surrender my body to the urges alone. I felt like I was possessed and my body was so weak and so foreign that I could no longer stand or walk. :F So I took a shot, drank a gallon of water, ate charcoaled pill and all the other little colourful pills the doctor provided. And I slept and rested the whole night.

Af had some minor diarrhoea and Ma also had several times of vomiting and bad diarrhoea. The whole family ! There must be something we ate together (like the sandwich Aja made for all of us because we didn't eat anything else) :F Worst food poisoning ever.

Event : Pre Comic Art Festival KL 2017

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I'll be at booth A4 !

Dewan Bunga Raya Campbell Complex (Near Sogo),

Date : 29 & 30 July 2017

Event Page on Facebook

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Event : From Pen to Paper 5.0

Preparation :

I joined another event several weekends ago (I applied for 2 events in July). The application was awhile back, so I was almost fully prepared for it. I printed and cut sticker packs as much as I can wherever, whenever I was free. I think I cut thousands and thousands over the year, I became so good in cutting stickers (I'm a pro !). I also printed several artprints and small greeting cards (to replace the ones that had been destroyed by the small flood in my room several months back). And ordered several new stuffs ! This time, I was fully prepared with so many stuffs.

Things I collected from the event.

Event day :

We went to Battery Acid Club before for Etsy Made Local 2016 , so it was a familiar place and familiar faces (I remember the owners and several booths participants). I think there were only 1-2 booths owned by Malay on that day, everyone else were Chinese. It is common view (guys, where are independent businesses own by Malays nowadays? I hardly see you guys in creative events) :F

We opened our booth, outside (because last time we attracted the crowd outside of the cafe) but it was really hot and we had to wait in the sun later for several hours. The worst was around 3-5pm. Challenging day.

The good :

• The event only lasted for 7 hours (11am - 6pm), so it wasn't a super long day.
• I met several familiar faces (so they do remember me ❤ )
• The sales was goooooood. One of the highest sales I ever got in an event.
• I saw several potential local illustrator !
• Journaling station with lotttts of free stuffs to use.

The bad :

• It was so hot later that afternoon (we did really stand under the sun for several hours)
• No 'surau', you need to walk a bit to reach the nearest surau in the area.

Outcome :

Sales : RM 757

• Booth rent : RM 80 (shared with Aja, so it became RM 40 per person)
• Lunches & Dinner : RM 15+ (Tapau Meggi Goreng from the mamak for lunch, free coffee from Battery Acid Club)
• Gas & Toll : RM 10+

The best sales so far ! 

Mostly by selling sticker packs. Thank you random strangers ❤

For letting me create all the things that I love to make and support me all the way. I'll keep making new things and experiment, so you'll have reasons to keep supporting me !

Images from Af's video snippets (I didn't have time to take any photos !) :

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Anyway, the money I spent on making new things (like the patches, enamel pins, lots of printing new stuffs and paying for future events) were around that figure or even more, so you guys actually helped me making new stuffs and restocking. And I really appreciate this support ❤ 

Here is the video that Af compiled & edited for me :

From Pen to Paper 5.0 from Farikarim on Vimeo.

See you guys again soon,
Next event : Comic Art Festival Kuala Lumpur
in Dewan Bunga Raya in Campbell Complex, KL on the 29th & 30th July 2017.