Baltimore Trip Part 3: Otakon Anime Convention

After our visit to the American Visionary Art Museum Saturday morning, we had lunch at the Cross Street Market in the Federal Hill Neighborhood of Baltimore.

I was getting into anime convention mode in anticipation of the afternoon's activities. Look! The Cake is not a lie! :)

Otakon is one of the largest Anime conventions in the US. I attended Otakon last weekend, although I really only spent Saturday afternoon and evening at the convention and spent the rest of the weekend sightseeing with my wife.

Otakon took place at the Baltimore Convention Center on Baltimore's Inner Harbor. It's a great location, close to plenty of attractions and restaurants.

The Convention Center also had this very cool display of model ships in one of the lobbies.

My main reason for going the the con was to meet an artist who will be drawing a comic book that I have co-written. The comic, a swashbuckling fantasy adventure called Perils of Picorna, is scheduled for release in 2009 by my company, Dandelion Studios.

The artist for the series is Missy Pena. This was my first chance to meet her in person, so I headed down to where she and her partner were set up selling prints of their work in Artists' Alley.

This is their booth setup, displaying their prints.

Missy was cosplaying America from Axis Powers Hetalia.

And here she is surrounded by her artwork.

We got some time to talk business in between her selling a lot of prints. It was great to finally get to meet her in person.

The rest of the convention was spent shopping, both in Artists' Alley and in the dealers' hall, and wandering around taking in the sights and sounds of the show.

Of course one of the big attractions at any anime con is the costumes. Here are some shots of cosplayers that I took in and around the convention center.

I love this centaur costume. I saw it at Anime Boston as well as here.

Power Rangers!

This robot is not a costume; it's a sculpture that was on display in the art show. It had a note attached that said it did not qualify for the $20 flat-rate shipping for art show purchases!

More costumes!

The cosplayers really take over the streets of Baltimore during this event. Just wandering around and watching people's reactions is fun.

The convention was a lot of fun, and I'd definitely like to spend more time there next time I go. After spending the afternoon at the con, I took a walk around the inner harbor and took more photos, which will be the subject of my next post.