One of the events I always put in bold into my calendar is the East London Comics and Arts Festival… or in short: ELCAF!
The very first ELCAF took place June 2012 at East London’s Village Underground and the festival has been going strong ever since. No wonder with London having such a thriving Illustration, Art and Design community! This year the event was hosted held across two venues just around my corner: The Laundry and SPACE in Hackney. Easy peasy!
With Workshops, talks, gigs, performances and movie screenings ELCAF has something for everybody and the big exhibitor hall is packed with stalls selling zines, patches, screen prints, tote bags and anything else comic and illustration related. Renowned comic shops and publishing houses like Nobrow Press and Gosh! selling alongside local artists is a great concept and provides a good variety.
It’s just awesome to be able to have a chat and purchase some hand pulled screen prints directly from the artist! Bought a great Dracula print by Peow!Studio and a copy of the great female fighters zine you might have heard about on Kickstarter at the stall of Dilraj Mann. PS: Dilray, next time I’ll buy a screen print as well I promise! Love your work!
Although I promised myself not to buy too much stuff I couldn’t say no to this kick ass She-Hulk by the very talented Donya Todd! Reminds me not to piss off the ladies which is not an easy task..
Another highlight are these absolutely great hand painted Wookie badges by Benjamin Wright. Very PHRESH indeed! Plus you can never go wrong with a great selection of vintage trading cards…
Events like this are so inspirational and I got a big energy rush getting back into my own work. So who knows, maybe there will be a Solaris100 stall at ELCAF 2016! 😉
Visit the official ELCAF website here and seeya next year!
Oh man, looking at all of these makes me want to go home and just make some art.
I’d love to buy prints for myself too, but I have no walls at the moment (I’m a Jane Austen style attic dweller, you see?).