Local artist group The Starving Artist Collective held Star Con, a one-day anime convention, at Portland Community Center on Sept. 5.
The convention’s opening ceremonies began with a performance by the Corpus Christi Taiko Club. Throughout the convention, attendees could attend a Warhammer 40k speed-painting contest, a concert performance by Chrysalia, and a martial arts demonstration. While the convention hosts originally planned to have a One Piece TCG tournament, it was cancelled before the convention started.
The convention concluded with a cosplay stage walk, first for kid cosplayers followed by adult cosplayers. Corry Berryhill won first place for the kid’s cosplay for a Pinkie Pie costume from “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,” and Joshua Huggins won first place in the adults’ cosplay section as Nightcrawler from “X-Men.”
Alex Esquivel, founder of both Star Con Texas and The Starving Artist Collective, said the biggest challenges for the first-time convention was trying to unite local art communities, as well as making it as affordable as possible for both vendors and artists alike. At the con’s closing ceremony, Esquivel said they plan to host another Star Con next year, and hope to expand the convention to two days.
