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Emerald City Comic Con is almost here, bringing with it the chance for creators to once again meet their peers, their partners, and their customers. As with previous conventions — most notably New York Comic Con 2023 — ReedPop (which owns and operates both ECCC and Popverse) is once again featuring a number of panels at the show specifically for professionals and future professionals, with an advanced Pro Track of programming across all four days of the convention. There’s a lot to dig into, so keep reading for a guide on everything that’s on offer.

ReedPop Artist Mentorship Program

ReedPop Artist Mentorship Program places emphasis on helping the next generation of creators get to where they’re going, including portfolio reviews, special drawing classes, and a mentorship program featuring some of the most successful creators of today offering advice, with programming across the entire four-day event.

Day	Time	Topic	Location
Thursday, February 29	11:15AM	Portfolio Prep	Summit - Room 432
Thursday, February 29	2:15PM	ReedPop Artist Alley Application, How to Stand Out	Summit - Room 432
Thursday, February 29	3:45PM	Kickstarting Your Indie Publishing Project	Summit - Room 432
Thursday, February 29	5:15PM	Stone Tablet to Digital Tablet the Growth of Digital Comic Art	Summit - Room 432
Friday, March 1	11:15AM	Don’t Break, Break in! to Comics	Summit - Room 432
Friday, March 1	2:15PM	Authentic and Effective Social Media Marketing	Summit - Room 432
Friday, March 1	6:45PM	This is Your Brain on Comics with Chip Zdarsky	Summit - Room 432
Friday, March 1	6:45PM	Fighting in Fiction: Writing a Knockout Scene	Summit - Room 434
Saturday, March 2	12:30PM	Everything You Need to Know about Indie Publishing	Summit - Room 434
Saturday, March 2	12:45PM	Creating Your Brand	Summit - Room 432
Saturday, March 2	3:45PM	AI Ethics in Comics	Summit - Room 432
Saturday, March 2	6:30PM	Outline in 60	Summit - Room 434
Sunday, March 3	11:00AM	Writing for Comics with the Pro's	Summit - Room 432
Sunday, March 3	12:30PM	Comics are collaborative	Summit - Room 432
Sunday, March 3	2:00PM	Demystifying BookTok for Indie Authors and Publishers	Summit - Room 432

Drawing classes with Mark Matessi

Former Disney animator Mark Matessi, the author of FORCE: Dynamic Life Drawing, will be holding three drawing classes during the four-day show, with one per day beginning Friday.

Day	Time	Topic	Location
Friday, March 1	5:15PM	The Basics of FORCE	Summit - Room 432
Saturday, March 2	6:30PM	How to Push Poses with FORCE	Summit - Room 432
Sunday, March 3	3:30PM	Drawing Clothes with FORCE	Summit - Room 432

Educator’s Day: Thursday, February 29, 2024

Running on the first day of ECCC, Educator’s Day is intended to “bridge the gap between formal education and pop culture” in a way that allows educators to uncover the connections between students’ interests and educational goal, with the end goal being a more dynamic, innovative and practical way to approach teaching.

Here are the Educator’s Day panels that will offer complimentary clock hours through PDenroller.e:

Day	Time	Topic	Location
Thursday, February 29	11:00AM	Battling Bullies: A Pop Culture Perspective for K-12 Educators	Tahoma 2 • Arch at 800 Pike Building
Thursday, February 29	12:30PM	SPED Superheroes: Using Pop Culture to Support Neurodiverse Affirming Learning	Tahoma 2 • Arch at 800 Pike Building
Thursday, February 29	2:00PM	Feeling Super: Representation of Mental Health Pop Culture	Tahoma 2 • Arch at 800 Pike Building
Thursday, February 29	3:30PM	Superqueer: A Discussion on LGBTQ+ Representation in Superhero Media and Power Structures	Tahoma 2 • Arch at 800 Pike Building
Thursday, February 29	5:00PM	Fight the Power - With Powers! Representations of Black Heroes Across the Multiverse of Marvel	Tahoma 2 • Arch at 800 Pike Building
Thursday, February 29	6:30PM	Why Your School Needs a Role Playing Club	Tahoma 2 • Arch at 800 Pike Building

Portfolio Reviews at ECCC

Two different top level editors are going to be at ECCC conducting portfolio reviews for artists — the amazing Marie Javins (DC editor-in-chief), and the iconic Shelly Bond (the editor behind such books as Bodies, iZombie, Lucifer, Fables, and Image Comics’ Bitter Root). Both will be handling reviews Friday through Sunday, but portfolios should be dropped off at specific times the day prior to review. Here are some rules to remember:

• Portfolios can be submitted at the show office, located on Level 4 of the Summit Building, during Thursday, February 29 from 11:00 AM - 5:00 PM, Friday, March 1 from 11:00 AM - 5:00 PM, and Saturday, March 2 from 11:00 AM - 5:00 PM. Review sessions for these submissions will take place the following day.
• Portfolios must contain your contact information. This includes your full name, cell phone number, and e-mail address.
• The portfolio review schedule will be posted each morning at the SHOW OFFICE on Friday March 1, Saturday March 2, and Sunday March 3. Please visit this location to confirm your scheduled review time and location for the reviews.
• Do not leave original work with us. Whatever your portfolio contains, make sure you keep the original work. We cannot be responsible for any lost or misplaced work. Portfolios will not be returned.

Please note that these are two separate reviews. Artists who hope to have both editors review their work should submit two separate copies of their portfolio.

More details about all of the Pro Track programming — including details on each of the panels, as well as more information about the portfolio reviews — can be found right here.

All programming (unless otherwise stated) on the Pro and Creator track is open to all badge-holders.

ECCC 2024 will take place Thursday, February 29 through Sunday, March 3 at the Seattle Convention Center. We won’t just be at the event, we’ll be sharing the highlights with you, including live-streaming the biggest panels from the show.

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