TigerCon 2025: A Celebration of Creativity, Community, and Career Insights

Riverside City College’s annual comic and animation convention, TigerCon 2025, was once again a tremendous success. Since its launch in Spring 2022, TigerCon has grown through a collaborative effort between ASRCC, the RCC Department of Art & Art History (RCC Animation), RCC Applied Digital Media, and the RCC Library. This year’s event expanded even further, thanks to the additional support of RCCD Distance Education, the Black Student Success Initiative, and MakerSpace.

Held on Thursday, April 24, at the RCC Digital Library, TigerCon 2025 kicked off with an exhibition floor filled with the creativity, talent, and energy of RCC students showcasing and selling their work.

 

From 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM, the event featured a series of inspiring guest artist panels. First, Marcos Elizalde, an RCC Art Department alumnus and current designer in the animation industry (including work with Netflix Animation and DreamWorks), shared his academic and artistic journey—offering students an especially relatable and motivating story of success that began at RCC.

 

Next, Daron Nefcy, Emmy Award-winning artist and creator of Disney’s Star vs. The Forces of Evil, spoke about her creative process, behind-the-scenes insights, and advice for students aspiring to join the animation industry.

 

The panel series concluded with John Jennings, a renowned Marvel comic artist and UCR professor, who led a discussion titled "Black Comic Artists in Indie-Comics" alongside acclaimed artists Sebastian Jones and Kevin Grevioux. Their conversation offered valuable perspectives and advice, and many students commented afterward on how meaningful it was to see the importance of Black artist representation emphasized throughout the discussion.

 

Following the panels, students enjoyed free snacks and giveaways provided by ASRCC and MakerSpace before participating in the Cosplay Competition and the Whiteboard Doodle Competition, judged by RCC Art faculty, guest panelists, and alumni.

 

TigerCon 2025 was a vibrant celebration of our students' talents and achievements, providing them not only a platform to share their work but also direct access to inspiring industry insights and professional connections.