Creators

Mike Ficarra
Demonstrations at 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. (Great Hall)
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Mike Ficarra is a professional freelance illustrator and comic book artist working in Indianapolis. After graduating from Herron School of Art & Design, he began putting original material into the world as quickly as possible, releasing his first self-published book, The Chronicles of Cornelius Cross, nine months later after a successful Kickstarter. Having contributed to more than two dozen self-published books, Mike continues to produce work independently and for clients around the country, doing work in fiction, non-fiction, game design, coloring books, graphic design, wedding stationery and more.  Mike recently received an award from the Indiana Arts Commission to assist in his Clockwork Creatures: Commissions for Conservation project, available for pledges now!

Strengths: Illustration & Project Development
Demo: Storyboarding Basics

Patrick Handlon
Demonstrations at 12 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. (Great Hall)
Twitter | Website

Patrick Handlon is an artist who teaches so that he can draw. When he is not drawing or writing comics he thinks about writing and drawing comics. He is the creator of Wastes of Space, Fruit Bat, and the anthology book, Little Doodles. He is out there right now, somewhere, thinking about comics. Patrick has been called by some, "The most talented parody writer and artist in the Midwest.”  Stop by his table and learn some valuable insights to get your career writing humor off to a great start.

Strengths:  Cartooning & Photoshop
Demo:  Cartooning for beginners

Podcast: Page: New Voices in Fiction
Demonstrations at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. (Great Hall)
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Page: New Voices in Fiction is a storytelling podcast that takes original works from emerging authors and produces them as audio narratives complete with music, sound effects, and voice acting. Page's mission is to provide up and coming authors with a platform to reach listeners by showcasing their work in a unique medium.

Page launched in March of 2018 with a five-part fantasy western epic. Since then, the show has covered steampunk horror, apocalyptic poetry, a psychological thriller, historical drama, and reflective essays. Each story is accompanied by an Epilogue that features a conversation with the author on their writing and editing process. Page is recorded and produced here in Indianapolis.

Strengths: Writing / Editing & Multi-Media Storytelling
Demo: Sample episode and discussion of the creation process

Matthew Powers
Demonstrations at 12 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. (Great Hall)
Facebook 

Matt Powers is a dynamic creator of completely original non-humanoid creatures and worlds for video games, comics, and stories.  His experience stems from over ten years as an Informatics Media Arts and Science professor where he was awarded “Professor of the Year” 3 times.

He enjoys guiding students to craft original video games, tabletop games, comic stories, and public “Games for the Good”.  He also prides himself as a historian of Video Games with his class being translated into a crash course YouTube series on games.

Strengths: Non-Humanoid Creature Creation & Game History and Theory
Demo: Creature Creation from concept to final iteration.

Rowan Sanders
Demonstrations at 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. (Great Hall)
Website

Rowan Sanders is a 13-year-old artist. She has been drawing for 5 years and has been taking art lessons for 3 years. She is very excited to show and sell the art she pours her heart into. Her parents have been so supportive, and they have their own business. They inspire her so much to strive and push forward. She is very thankful to be able to showcase her work to other teens who are interested in pursuing their creative interests.

Strengths:  Character Styling & Color Selection
Demo:  Face Design and Shading techniques

Katie Silver
Demonstrations at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. (Great Hall)
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Katie is a humble illustrator, Color Theorist, and Visual Storyteller from Indianapolis Indiana in the Zionsville area. She earned her BFA from SCAD in 2012. Since then she has participated in many art shows and exhibited and paneled in Artist Alleys across the United States. she flatted for First Second under colorist Hilary Sycamore from 2012 to 2015. she has self-published many short comics such as “Witch Amy” which appeared “Connections” anthology, “Hope Retirement Home”, and is pursuing a longer comic “Paper Triangle”. Currently earning her MFA in Visual Narrative at School of Visual Arts, teaching at the Indianapolis Art Center, she hopes to continue exhibiting and creating narrative work that helps others understand mental health, narrative educational materials, and self-advocating as a patient.

Strengths:  Color Theory & Narrative Art / Illustration
Demo:  Coloring with Copics

Speculative Fiction Guild
Demonstrations at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. (Great Hall)
Facebook 

The Speculative Fiction Guild is a group of sci-fi, fantasy, and horror writers in Indiana who work together to network, promote and advance each other and the writing community. 

Speculative Fiction Guild authors appearing include:

Matthew Barron | Steve Craig | Savannah J. Goins | S.A. McClure | J.W. Troemner | R.J. Sullivan

Strengths: Writing & Publishing
Demo: Create unique bookmarks for your books.

Phil Velikan
Demonstrations at 12:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. (Great Hall)
Facebook | Amazon | Website

Phil lives under the Brownsburg exit of the information superhighway. He is an award winning and internationally selling 2 and 3D artist. He has designed over 400 book covers and illustrated thousands of cool things. He sculpts really weird stuff, makes coloring books and paints children’s books for authors that can’t draw. In his spare time, Phil helps his son care for an axolotyl named Godzilla by raising worms in his garage. He draws as often as he can, and firmly believes that after the zombie apocalypse and the subsequent rise of our ape overlords, he will still be drawing weird things for everyone's entertainment.         

Strengths: Art / Illustration & The Publishing Process
Demo:  Publish your book yourself

Wendy Zashka
Demonstrations at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. (Great Hall)
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Wendy Zishka of Tiny T-Rex Studios is a central Indiana-based artist with a passion for comics and picture books. While she hasn’t dabbled much in the latter, she launched her first webcomic, H.U.G.U.S. – Arcanic Academy, in 2015, which has been going strong ever since. She eagerly looks forward to participating in Inktober every year using Halloween-themed prompts. She prefers using traditional media but does dabble with basic digital artwork from time to time.

Wendy lives with her husband, a very spoiled dog, and far too many books. She has a weakness for blind box figurines, dinosaurs, and promotional pens.

Strengths:  Inking & Webcomic Creation
Demo:  Inking & Inktober Overview