PIE EVvent 2026

PIE Event 3/15/26

On March 15 2026, I went to my 2nd Pittsburgh Indie Expo (PIE) event. PIE is where all independent writers, illustrators, and content creators sell their books and comics to the masses. But this one was different from the last event. Mainly because I did a workshop while I was selling my book Milo The Mime. The workshop was part of the Mobile Cartoon Museum (MCM) where we educate and entertain people about the cartoons and comics that shaped our society and entertainment. 

My workshop was about drawing appealing characters using basic shapes. I talked about how characters with circular shapes tend to be friendly and approachable. Whenever a character is square or rectangular, they tend to show strength and dominance, though sometimes (not all the time) lack intelligence. Finally, triangular characters or characters with sharper edges tend to show danger or edginess or  sometimes speed or action. I used various examples of characters that use shapes to show body language and appealability. I even showed examples of how some  characters subvert what those shapes represent. You can be a cute square character, a villainous circle character, or a heroic triangular character. One of the things I enjoyed teaching about was how you can combine the shapes to create the perfect character or creature. We even played a short game where I drew an animal using all the shapes and people/children had to guess what I was  drawing. It was fun. I gave the audience sheets of people with shapes and told them to make a face using various shapes. After the workshop,  two people came to my table to show me what they made, and others came by who told me they loved my lessons.  They also talked about how much they loved the art style of my book, comparing it to My Life As A Teenage Robot.

For my first workshop, I admit I was kinda nervous. I never taught a class before, and I wasn’t sure if people might understand what I was saying. But their reactions were pretty positive, so I guess that was good news. And some of the people came up to my table to say what  good job I did. Would I teach again? Most certainly I would.