Monday, August 3, 2015

Popcon 2015



Popcon 2015

What is it?
According to the organizers: POPCON is the biggest pop culture convention in Asia that is dedicated to celebrate and appreciate the professionals, artists, and creators in the creative industry, focusing on comics, games, toys, films, and animations.

Popcon Asia aims to encourage and support the creative industry ecosystem, as well as to become the platform for networking and collaboration among creators, brand, government, media and other stakeholders to grow the creative industries in Asia.

When is it?
This year, Popcon Asia will be held for the 4th time on 7-9 August 2015, which will be attended by visitors from various countries such as Indonesia, Singapore, Australia, Japan, France, Malaysia, Thailand, Korea, and Philippines. This event is a joint project between creative companies such as Revata, Fabula, Kibar, Kreavi, Layaria, Pionicon, and Plastic Culture.

Where is it?
Assembly Hall, Jakarta Convention Centre.



Who are going from Singapore?
Jerry Hinds (SupaCross)
Evangeline Neo (Evacomics)
Shawn Siow and Mark Koh (Silent War)
D’Creativeaholic (Wackymons)

For them, it’s their first visit to Popcon, although a few like Shawn, Mark and Jerry had participated in the first Indonesia Toy Game and Comic Convention (ITGCC) last year. It was a positive experience for them.

Shawn and Mark: It was very interesting. The best experience about attending such overseas event is of course meeting their local artists and letting people other than your own country know about you. It’s the best chance for networking and relationship building with artists of different backgrounds.



Jerry found ITGCC a bit slow in general and the entrance fee was too high for a small event with no big names present. Hence he was pleasantly surprised that he was able to sell many books & commissions.

Most of the artists do not have their books on sale in Indonesia, with the exception of Eva whose book is translated to Bahasa Indonesia and published by Elex Media. At Popcon, she will be participating on a comic panel on the second day of the convention, The Climate and Condition of ASEAN Comic Industries, which will discuss and assess the potential and possibilities of collaboration between South East Asian countries in order to strengthen the position of ASEAN comics as cultural and commercial product within the global market as a whole. I will be moderating the session, which also includes artists from Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.



In general, the artists felt that attending overseas conventions has been helpful for them. Eva, Shawn and Mark was at Comic Fiesta 2014 in Kulua Lumpur last December. Shawn and Mark explained: As Singapore is a small country, attending only local events has a tendency to recycle the same group of supporters every year, and once you reach a threshold, it is hard for the others to notice your work. One of the best ways to show your art to a wider audience is through such overseas events, besides the Internet. This allows a very good chance for us to increase our supporters and making our work known to other countries. And by meeting other creators, it opens up many possibilities for collaboration.

So if you happen to be in Jakarta this coming weekend, do look out for them at Popcon. And also drop by Akademi Samali booth as there will be some Singapore comics on sale - Gone Case, Benjamin Chee, AnnaRex, Funics and Epigram Books.



No comments: