ArlingCon 2020 Schedule

The Arlington Public Library and UTA Libraries are excited to welcome you to ArlingCon 2020! Catch a preview of the day's fun in this live welcome message.

Industry vet, Sarah Mensinga will show you how to use film and television storyboarding techniques to enhance your comics. Strengthen your visual storytelling with tried and true compositions and layouts, and be inspired to create a fantastic comic or graphic novel.

Amanda, AKA Rumplestilt_Seam has been cosplaying in the Texas Cosplay Community and abroad for over seven years. Having been a professional dancer in Formal Ballet for eight years, going straight into cosplay after retiring seemed like the next artistic progression. She has competed and has won numerous awards for Craftsmanship and Performance/Skits. Her competitive routines focus on highly detailed and structured costume pieces as well as captivating choreography and storytelling. She likes to focus her skills strongly on needlework and bringing all kinds of characters to life from many genres including Video Games, Manga/Anime, Comicbooks, Pop Culture and Original Designs and Artwork.  

"...The Legion is an all-volunteer organization formed for the express purpose of bringing together costume enthusiasts under a collective identity within which to operate. The Legion seeks to promote interest in Star Wars through the building and wearing of quality costumes, and to facilitate the use of these costumes for Star Wars-related events as well as contributions to the local community through costumed charity and volunteer work..." 

Websites: 

https://www.501st.com/  

https://www.stargarrison.com/  

Join us for a star studded panel that highlights a hidden gem in North Texas, professional wrestling. During this panel we will hear from leading individuals in the North Texas wrestling community and discuss the history of wrestling in the area, the impact that it has had on the community and the future of the industry. Guests include: Jaxon Stone, Lou Gotti, Steven Kirby, and David Fuller

The Arlington Public Library will be hosting raffles throughout ArlingCon. Look out for our posts, answer the question and enter the raffle for your chance at a great prize!

 I’ve been cosplaying at cons for ten years, and before that ten years at ren faires.  I strongly believe and preach that Cosplay is for Everyone. Over the years I have cosplayed many characters, and several different versions of Captain America. I also am a strong advocate of Cosplay and Cons being used to combat depression/anxiety.  Hopefully through a positive attitude I can help inspire others to show their passion and love for their fandom. 

 Infiltrate the Capitol in this digital escape room, brought to you by the Arlington Public Library.

Chiptunes 4 Autism is a passion project and fundraising nonprofit started in 2015 by an autistic dad named Gustuf Young (aka Oddioblender, Asperkraken). He grew up around autism his whole life with a nonverbal sister, autistic nephew, a wife diagnosed as neurodivergent while young and his own son who was diagnosed around age 3 before learning he, himself, was autistic. 

After becoming interested in chiptune and synthesizer music, he realized there were many people out there who, like him, were autistic and expressed themselves more clearly in music. After reading about another chiptune artist’s revelation of their own autism, artists from across the chiptune spectrum, from as far as Indonesia to England to North America, joined forces to create music for compilations that we now distribute through Bandcamp and other services, all for the sake of promoting autism positivity, the concepts of neurodiversity and empowering people on the spectrum. 

UTA Libraries will be hosting raffles throughout Arlingcon. Look out for their posts this afternoon, answer the question and enter the raffle for your chance at a great prize!

 Join us virtually for our Cosplay Runway on Facebook Live! We'll be adding cosplayers to our Live footage, so get dressed up from home and join us on Facebook Live. We'll also have a post available where you can share pictures of your favorite cosplays for everyone to enjoy!

Learn about LARPing (Live Action Role Playing) with Mourningwood Glen, an Amtgard park in Arlington.  This chapter of the Kingdom of the Emerald Hills has been in Veteran's park in Arlington for over 20 years!

Kei Boardman is a 34 year old cosplayer and actor based in Fort Worth, Texas. A history buff and a lover of Japanese language and culture, they enjoy experimenting with alternative costume design, taking extant characters and designing alternative costumes for them based on different settings and/or time periods. They also enjoy character analysis and writing in general; being an avid role-player, both hobbies have gotten a lot of use over the past twenty years.

This panel discusses the ins and outs of original characters, or OCs: what they are, methods of creation, how to flesh them out, dos and don'ts, as well as tips and tricks on how to cosplay or otherwise represent your OCs in visual media as well as in writing. 

The Arlington Public Library will be hosting raffles throughout ArlingCon. Look out for our posts, answer the question and enter the raffle for your chance at a great prize!

Learn about the Makerspace at the Arlington Public Library's Downtown Library. There are lots of options for cosplay and technology, from sewing and embroidery machines to 3D printers and milling machines. Plan a project for when we reopen!

Need that super suit customized? Look no further than Main Street Signs & Graphics - Arlington’s one-stop headquarters for creative projects big and small. From custom decals and stencils to finish your next prop with style, to custom apparel printing, to full vehicle wraps to commemorate your fandom; our 45,000 Sq ft facility has the equipment and expertise to help elevate your next project from amazing to legendary. 

The Basics of Game Development Workshop is an introductory workshop focused on the fundamentals of game development. In this workshop you will learn about these fundamentals and use the knowledge to create a board game with UTA Libraries. The information in this workshop can be applied to all game formats.

 UTA Libraries will be hosting raffles throughout ArlingCon. Look out for our posts, answer the question and enter the raffle for your chance at a great prize!

 Forget jetpacks, the future is now. Explore connections with science fiction and our real world with librarians from the Arlington Public Library and UTA Libraries.

 Conventions can be tricky: can you escape from one? Find out in this digital escape room, brought to you by the Arlington Public Library.

Melanie Jasmine, is a Texas-based costume designer, panelist and makeup artist with over 7 years of experience in sewing and design. 

She started her involvement within the cosplay community at the age of 15, and she has always played an active role by hosting panels, crafting sessions, judging cosplay contests across the US, and as a brand ambassador. 

Melanie's involvement in cosplay and entertainment has granted her the opportunity to participate in a variety of projects, media features, and even international awards. 

MJasmine has worked with a variety of brands, such as Lootcrate, 20th Century Fox, Dreamhack, AVC Entertainment, Anime Expo, Dallas Fuel, Hulu, Coca Cola, and Blizzard Entertainment; creating promotional content, organizing meetups and participating in photo ops. 

The Storytelling game development workshop will teach participants the importance of storytelling in games and how to develop engaging ones. Using the platformer as an example, explore the different elements of storytelling from character choice to story arc. 

The Arlington Public Library will be hosting raffles throughout ArlingCon. Look out for our posts, answer the question and enter the raffle for your chance at a great prize!

Koiyke is a self taught cosplayer from north texas since 2007! Shes most known for being one of many cosplayers that Hand sew, for safety to sewing machines. She really prefers to work with foam, since she loves working on armor and especially large props! She has been competing in contests for Four years and has been awarded 3 different Contest awards, Best Craftsmanship on her Human Discord Cosplay, 3rd place on her Princess Celestia Cosplay Along with her best friend as Princess Luna and has even been awarded first place with her DayBreaker Cosplay! Koiyke really enjoys finding the fun in making cosplay and wants to always share her experience with everyone and even hopes others could also learn from the many mistakes she has made! Her favorite thing to do with cosplay is create videos for Youtube and even TikTok!

GameTank is a game showcase for independent and budding game developers (all formats). Participants will be able to submit their games to be showcased by The Basement staff. Are you a budding game developer? Do you have a game that you want to show off and/or get our opinion on? Submit your game to The Basement and we will showcase your game on this year's GameTank. You can send an image/video of your game along with an optional video explanation to milaun.murry@uta.edu.

A look into the process of getting hired and creating licensed original works of art for non-sport trading card collections, presented by Ashley Villers. Ashley received a Bachelor of Arts from Kent State University in Kent, Ohio with a degree in Arts Education with a focus in Studio Art and Art History. She has over 11 years of experience teaching art in and outside of the classroom. Her inspiration comes from popular culture — film, television, and music. She has worked on sketch cards for Star Wars, AMC's The Walking Dead, Netflix’s Stranger Things, and Marvel. In 2017, she published my first coloring book Color Your Kingdom. You can often find her set up at Artist Alleys and art markets in the DFW metroplex.

UTA Libraries will be hosting raffles throughout ArlingCon. Look out for their posts this afternoon, answer the question and enter the raffle for your chance at a great prize!

We are a competitive cosplay team comprised of My and Hannah! Between the two of us we share twelve years of costuming experience and we're hoping to add many more to that number! We have a passion for historical sewing, competing and learning new sewing techniques. When we’re not making costumes, we’re taking care of all of our needy pets! We love talking with fellow cosplayers to improve our crafts and share information, make sure to say hello and tell us all about your costumes!   

Learn about our convention host UTA Libraries and the full range of resources they provide to the community. Did you know anyone can use the UTA Libraries, whether or not you're a UTA student? See all the amazing things you can do at the UTA Libraries.

See the contestants and the WINNER from our Dollar Store Cosplay Contest! We will be live with Charles Poynter to see the amazing entries and the winner of this contest. Click here to learn more details about the contest. Entries are due June 12, so you still have time!

Thank you for spending your day with us! Join the Arlington Public Library and UTA Libraries for this live farewell message.