And so it begins…

Preparation for MancsterCon2014 is already underway. Once again we’re planning to give you a long weekend full of beautiful comics, fun events, sparkly cake and cosplay fabulousness from 8th-10th August. For those of you who like to get in there extra early, you can start booking your tickets here and tell as many people as you can that the MancsterCon is back with a vengeance!

 

As usual we’ll be hosting talks and workshops during the day so if anyone is interested in leading an event, let us know. There will also be lots of cosplay events such as a catwalk, sketch off and crafty costuming sessions. There is something for everyone at the MancsterCon!

 

This year we’re also planning to host a week long festival from 4th-9th August which will feature screenings of local animation, talks and seminars. If you’d like to be a part of it, send an email to mancstercon@gmail.com. We would especially love to hear from local animators who might have something to show – be it a short or a feature length film, length is no option! Speakers of all stripes – from academics to hardcore comic/animation fans – are wanted to show off just how great the Manchester sequential art scene really is.

 

So we’ll leave it there for now and hope that we have successfully enticed you to join our merrie band of artists and fanatics. Get in touch by twitter, email, on tumblr or even owl post if you’d prefer and we hope to see you there!

March Cosplay Sketch-Off

This months Sketch-off was a historical event for us at MancsterCon… or at least, a shistorical as it can be considering we haven’t even reached our first birthday. But no matter, the March Cosplay Sketch happened to be the first with it’s own workshop, a new feature we hope to see more of at our events.

Cosplayers giving it a go!

Julie showing us what’s what

Led by Julie Johnson of local Girl Geeks fame, cosplayers, artists and extras alike banded together to take part in an introductory e-textiles workshop which took us on a conductive journey through the world of soft electronic, culminating in a stitching session where we got the chance to stitch our LEDs to ribbons. A great idea for the cosplay maker!

Artists at work

After the workshop we settled down to a series of life drawing sessions where artists were again given the opportunity to sketch our brilliant and enthusiastic cosplayers who posed like they’ve never posed before. It was great to see some new faces and see some brilliant work being done.

We hope this will be the first of many such workshops at the Cosplay Sketch-off. It’s wonderful meeting people with so many different talents, reach out to the Cosplaying community, teaching new skills and giving new ideas. If you’re a bit of a maker and have a great idea for a workshop, or perhaps would like to give a talk at one of our upcoming events, let us know by sending an email to mancstercon@gmail.com.

A bobbed Sir Integra!

Want to see more of what we get up to at the Cosplay Sketch off? Plenty of pictures over here…

Want to get involved? Here’s a list of our upcoming Events:

5th April – Cosplay Sketch-off

3rd May – Cosplay Sketch-off (TBC)

7th June – Cosplay Sketch-off (TBC)

5th July – Cosplay Sketch-off (TBC)

8th-10th August: MancsterCon 2014

And now we return to our regular programming…

Cosplay Sketch-off!

It’s been a couple of months since the great event that was the first MancsterCon, bringing together awesome cosplayers, artists, writers and fans. MancsterCon2014 is still in the planning stages but rest assured that it will be bigger and better, with an additional three days of talks, screenings and seminars.

In the meantime, we’re filling our calendar with some cool events including the bimonthly Cosplay Sketch-off, where artists get to be inspired by the best cosplayer life models in the North West, to the accompaniment of some killer J-pop and anime tunes and vast quantities of sparkly cupcakes.

The first event will be on 6th December at MadLab. You can book a free ticket here (just so we know how much cake to get!), let us know you’ll be there on facebook, or just drop in with your materials and talent ready to go!

If you’d be interested in modelling, drop us a tweet @MancsterCon or send an email to mancstercon@gmail.com. We would love to hear from you so don’t hesitate to get in touch!

What’s in Store for MancsterCon 2013

We are so hyped about the first ever MancsterCon, coming to you 2nd-4th August at the Northern Quarter’s own MadLab. With animation screenings, movie nights, a J-pop party, talks, workshops and cosplay, the MancsterCon promises to be a convention packed with homegrown comics related goodness.

¡MancsterCon!

The 2013 MancsterCon promises to be an amazing event with notable local comics figures such as Travelling Man selling their beautiful wares, and to top it all it’s going to be held at a brilliant location: the Northern Quarter’s very own Manchester Digital Laboratory (or the MadLab as it’s known on the streets). Starting from the 2nd August, the weekend will be filled with talks, barcamps and evening screenings.

Sounds like your kind of thing? Well, we thought so too. Entrance on the day costs £3 – but that’s for the whole convention! Or, for the super organised, get a ticket from our eventbrite page if you want access to the preview events on the 2nd August. The important thing is to be prepared for some serious talent and general fun and we hope to see you there!

Would you like to take part? Would you like to hire a table, give a talk or are you just a little bit intrigued by all of these strange goings on? Feel free to contact the organisers at mancstercon@gmail.com.