Ikkicon 2009: Day One

Appropriately costumed, Ivy and I (and David, but he was not costumed) headed out for the first day of the anime convention.
Our first stop was the School Rumble panel. It was hosted by directors/voice actors Caitlin Glass, Carrie Savage, Leah Clark, and Trina Nishimura.

This event was enjoyable enough; I'd never seen the show before and everyone on the panel seemed to enjoy their work.

Hilarity did not ensure at the opening ceremony as promised, but I loved visiting the artists' alley outside the main event room. I bought the petticoat to complete my costume from La'De'Da's, and browsed the selection of SereniTeas being sold by the Austin Browncoats.

None of us had a lot to spend, so my only other purchases came from Generations of Art. The woman running the booth was incredibly nice, and this choker

was an excellent accent to my costume, at only $5! She also convinced me to purchase a CD from a local artist: We stopped for a nice chat with Chelsea M. Smith, who had adorable crochet goods and was the first one to call "steampunk!" on our costumes.

Later, we hit the makeup panel, which was informative and laid-back:

Presented by Meredith Placko
Now that the costume is on, what do you do?! Just because the last stitch is in place doesn't mean it is complete; make up can make or break a character. Learn the basics of a good foundation and how to apply the right look to finish off your costume. We'll show you make up techniques for on the stage, roaming the floor, photo shoots and even some special effects make up.

Other events for the day included "Iron Artist." This was supposed to run as follows:

Presented by Amelie Belcher, Tony Salvaggio, Matt Herms, and Michael Terracciano. Armed only with paper and pens, see the guest artists draw it out. Be part of the audience that provides topics for the artists to draw in a limited time frame, and see who wins the title of Iron Artist.

However, only three of the panel members arrived

and the first 45 minutes were spent killing time while the people running the convention scrambled for supplies. You see, the con hadn't informed the artists that they needed to provide their own supplies.

Fortunately, after an interminable period of five-minute jokes involving tapeworms and puns, a laptop was set up: the difficultly level of Iron Artist was raised, as it became clear that the artists would be working in Paint.

The audience gave each competitor a set of three words/ideas, which they then had to turn into a sketch over the course of two minutes.
Some of the results:

And my personal favorite:

Our final stop was the Peelander-Z concert. So. Much. Energy. And bright flashing lights. And fun! And strange call-and-response sections involving ninjas and steak. And roughly half the audience got to go on stage at least once.



None of my pictures came out fantastically, but I think several of them captured the feel of the concert.