249/365 Oz Comic Con Brisbane

1pm Saturday | Brisbane.

Aja and friends photographed at Max Brenner Southbank, pre-Comic Con. 

On The Road (Squeeeee!)

Sept 16. 2013 ❤ The day I had daydreamed about for years... the day we were FINALLY back "on the road" with our munchkins!!

Brisbane - Singapore - Abu Dhabi - London. Erm, I pretty much don't recommend flying that far without a stopover. #crazy. Luckily, the boys thought the in-sky entertainment system was the best thing. Ever. Particularly the retro game "Pong". 

First stop Singapore. Can you tell they also thought the airport shops were awesome? Lol. 

I may or may not have been more fixated with the orchids :)

T checking email at midnight in Abu Dhabi.

Lovely riding a brass camel. Err, sans teeth.

Loving the arabic text.

C'mon Mama. We've got a plane to catch...

London here we come!!

Brutalist Architecture and Character Development: a juxtaposition

I mentioned yesterday that we went to the Children's and Young Adult Writer's & Illustrator's (CYA) workshops and conference in Brisbane over the weekend. CYA is aimed at both emerging and established writers and illustrators.

I'll put myself and the boys in the emerging category :)

Tagging along with T who was presenting we were delighted to get to sit in on some of the action.

Can I just stop here to say that I am a bit obsessed with severe architectural design at the moment. 

Alongside the Queensland Art Gallery, Museum and Performing Arts Centre (as well as the National Gallery in Canberra) I have now discovered the beauty of the Brisbane TAFE building where the conference was held. Love. Please indulge me and my love of concrete walls and stairwells.

Wikipedia wants to call in Brutalist Architecture. If you must. Although, that sounds a little brutal perhaps. Ah hum. Where was I? Ahhh, yes...

In an art studio. 

Listening to Judy Horacek give a masterclass on Cartoons and Characters. Fun!

Lovely and Hug were the only kids in this session but they really enjoyed it. 

Judy got us all doing quick 2 minutes sketches and then fleshing out characters.

"I want a gorilla. I want an ice cream. I want a cat called Mr Whiskers" (says one of  L's little guys).

Can a stack of art paper be brutalist? I think so. 

While I was distracted by the little details around me, Hug was absorbed in the serious business of cartooning.

Draw an angry face. (This is too cute)

In the afternoon the boys attended another character development session - this time with author illustrator James Foley -  that utilised sketching and paper clay modelling. Hug was thrilled to head home with some original sketches James kindly gave him. Apparently they bonded over a love of Asterix.

Meanwhile, I went to see Jackson Pearce talk about Social Media.

It was a nice change from life-with-munchkins to be in a room full of people interested in talking about blogging and facebook and twitter.  An American YA author, Jackson Pearce had flown in for the conference. Apparently she was looking for her socks ;) and she had lots of insight into the art of forging a successful social media profile. You can follow her sock adventures on twitter. Do.

Eventually it was time to go fight some invisible Star Wars baddies (I gather from the pose that's what Hug is doing here. Paper tube = instant light saber. Of course.)

We had had a great day.
Four happy, tired people. Freshly inspired by character, art and architecture.
With a social media buzz. 

Hanging out in Brisbane

We've been up to Brisbane a few times in the past month. 

I like it. Having not been in a while, we spent our first visit hanging at Southbank doing all the cool cultural stuff ( I love me some GOMA and State Library) but this time we ventured over into the city. I was on the hunt for a new camera.

But, a few camera stores down I'm still undecided. Anyone want to suggest a compact?

The boys (packed up with snacks) did great waiting for me while I talked camera nerd so we celebrated with a trip to Starbucks. Okay, it was 11 and I hadn't had coffee. And that.

This is a large. Sorry, a grande. They have a coffee bigger than a grande - a Venti - I love coffee but that is a seriously huge drink. 20 oz. How many shots in a 20 oz coffee?! I'm not that brave.

The kids had some frozen fruit concoction.

Thirsts-quenched we stumbled up into Queen Street mall & into a magic show.

The boys, considering themselves rather good at magic, thought this guy was a genius. How did he get that coconut in his hat...?

Georgia at Documenting Delight had mentioned good sushi in Brisbane CBD on her facebook page recently so I asked around and we found it just around the corner from where we were. Hooray! & Y-U-M. Thanks Georgia! A new favourite.

(If you don't already follow Documenting Delight you should 'cos she is pretty amazing and has the cutest kids).

Not that these ones are bad! ;)
Hug working some chair poses over lunch.

Tomorrow I'll post some photos from the CYA (Children's and Young Adult Writer's and Illustrators) Conference we attended the following day. I even got to attend a workshop on Social Media hosted by American author Jackson Pearce  all.by.myself  which was a treat!