Artist Alley General

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Artist Alley General Anonymous Mon Apr 10 17:08:46 2017 No.9429453 [Reply] [Original]

Last thread >>9410330

>NEW! Frequently Asked Questions
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PpDyjw2LDxbupdvHMNsBUOBVB66Lzwf44RM1You1GDA/edit?usp=sharing
>Resources
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10uNmynwRn6CRc-OMqCeXmJwCNnEnd-vYi-7AQzSx74I/edit?usp=sharing
>Taobao/Alibaba services (broken link)
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14zGSegr0b-429wZq5_xdMbE9hpLcXg8fqqe0OxnU2Yo/edit#gid=0
>Artist Spreadsheet
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ESQ-1h4IRUivbGNaxJFxXyDU1lSv26xTmMdH0sDX7sU/edit?usp=sharing
>How to order from Vograce (now with video on how to set up files)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/18UxKnpgrmeb82NnW5e4YIEX-eZ3zHt178Mp6i0A5gME/edit?usp=sharing
>Convention List (WIP)
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13o7hD5xS3sDqVptnTVGUlRae3ovEE-vPPST_QOrQwtM/

>>	Anonymous Mon Apr 10 18:58:01 2017 No.9429536 Is the con list editable by anyone? Im in Canada and I have a bunch of local Vancouver cons to add to the list

>>	Anonymous Mon Apr 10 20:00:07 2017 No.9429599 >>9429536 Maybe the doc needs a tab for Canada/Euro cons?

>>	Anonymous Mon Apr 10 22:15:06 2017 No.9429692 >>9429599 Most Euro cons don't make any money though

>>	Anonymous Mon Apr 10 22:23:53 2017 No.9429703 >>9429599 It already had tabs for that though...

Anonymous Tue Apr 11 01:03:49 2017 No.9429833

>>9429359

One of the McElroys basically made a rough implication that they don't like sales with 3rd party sites like Redbubble involved, but seem pretty chill about merch where the artist keeps all the profit. Another one implied that it'd be nice if some of it went to charity but obviously didn't want to police that. Still, even with their tacit approval, it's pretty gross how some fans just fucking leaped on it without question. I started seeing a lot of merch and preorders pop up before they made any kind of statements at all. So you know those "fans" weren't giving a shit of a thought to whether the bros were okay with it or not before they jumped on the bandwagon. There are people making merch for it who haven't even listened to the podcast and that's incredibly shitty. Artists need to understand that selling merch of a small IP can absolutely negatively affect that IP and is a million times more harmful than making merch of a big IP. It's not all the same thing.

So yeah tl;dr I can see how the original tweet is annoying but she's also not wrong. Artists really need to differentiate how they approach big and small properties when making fanart. Fanart sales is already fucking gray area so yeah you're going to have to be more careful when a fandom is small and close to its creators. It's just common sense.

Anonymous Tue Apr 11 01:15:06 2017 No.9429842

>>9429317
I don't generally make merchandise for Indie stuff, so I don't really have an opinion on this, but I'd like to point out that Toby didn't give "resignation taken as permission" - He created an official statement allowing merchandise to be created by independent artists within parameters that he set out.
http://undertale.tumblr.com/post/139726155020/changing-policy-on-fan-merch

I did make a piece of Indie merchandise once, it was a single print. The creator came to my table and was psyched I created a print of it, and he took a few copies and advertised it at his panel, and after the swarm of sales came and bought it out he put a sticky note on the print saying thank you to everyone who purchased it. He had mentioned prior he didn't care if people made merchandise of his series, so I wasn't acting in any gray areas. But I think the assumption that all indie devs discourage fanmerch/only allow it through their teeth isn't entirely correct.

I don't endorse people making merchandise of indie content without explicit permission, just to be clear.

Anonymous Tue Apr 11 01:17:49 2017 No.9429846

>>9429833
Obviously doing merch for small IPs is not the same as doing merch for big IPs but honestly I was addressing her aggro behavior toward other artists (which fits in historically with how she's treated other artists in the past) and not disagreeing with the stance as a whole. The critique is for her execution.

I think we can all agree that exercising caution is common courtesy re: indie IPs. A lot of people get swept up in the hype before stopping to think about how it might affect the creators.

Anonymous Tue Apr 11 01:22:28 2017 No.9429850

>>9429842
I've had an experience like this as well! I did a print for a podcast series because they had a panel at a con I was tabling at and I wanted to get it signed. The creators actually went around the AA and bought every single fan print/merch they saw and a handful of fans ended up buying the poster from me for the panel as well. I actually ended up (brielfy) on an episode of their podcast because of the panel.

Obviously, every indie creator is different and I don't want to lump them all in as one but there have been positive receptions to fan merch.

>>	Anonymous Tue Apr 11 01:34:43 2017 No.9429865 >>9429846 I see your point. Tbh I get pretty aggro about it too, I just don't put all that aggression on twitter for everyone to see. She should be doing it on anon like a respectable person.

>>	Anonymous Tue Apr 11 01:39:34 2017 No.9429872 >>9429865 It's Thumbcramps, she's pretty fucking heinous and thinks her opionions are fact always

Anonymous Tue Apr 11 02:43:56 2017 No.9429919

>>9429865
Yeah lmao - there's a distinct difference between disliking it & venting privately (or reporting that shit to the con heads if the creators have said no) and specifically going after people online and leaving them rude comments on their posts. I think she gets off of being on the moral high horse. Even with her past behavior re: stuff like SU characters, all she had to do was nicely say "Oh, I think Rose is drawn a bit larger than this in canon" if she really wanted to say something instead of saying "Why did you make Rose skinny?" and being argumentative right off the bat.

>>	Anonymous Tue Apr 11 05:32:51 2017 No.9429984 RIP Sakuracon artists

>>	Anonymous Tue Apr 11 08:07:48 2017 No.9430054 >>9429984 >AA split into two floors Can't believe someone thought of such a stupid idea.

Anonymous Tue Apr 11 08:10:32 2017 No.9430058
File: 100 KB, 640x640, image.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

I have a question for everyone that does AA full time, how do you guys manage to survive off the money you make from cons?
I quit my job a year ago and decided to sell at cons full time, now a year later I find myself wanting to do less conventions and find another job again becouse the money I make at cons isn't enough to live off of.
Most of the money I make at conventions goes back into taxes,more tables,flights,merch etc... And I barely have enough left for food,student loans and rent (and that's if I really budget myself with groceries and eat ramen at least once a day). I used to be able to consistently buy things I wanted and afford to go out with friends and eat better when I had a part time job and did one con a month but now I really struggle.
Any advice?

>>	Anonymous Tue Apr 11 08:16:33 2017 No.9430062 >>9430058 For reference I do cons 2-4 times a month and make around 2-6k profit each time unless it's a small local 1 day con, then it's usually 500-1000. This excludes merch costs of course.

>>	Anonymous Tue Apr 11 09:17:47 2017 No.9430096 Why is shipping from US to Europe so damn expensive at random. One etsy store will offer like 3-5 usd shipping options and others start at 12+ usd while shipping from the same state. I want to buy more merch from overseas but it's just crazy..

Anonymous Tue Apr 11 10:16:04 2017 No.9430151

>>9430054
Funny enough, I was talking to an AA artist I work with yesterday that works at a con hosted at the same college as in the OP picture (event in picture was a one day mini con that's run by the cosplay club, we were discussing the AA at the longer-run 2 day con hosted by the anime club) and few years they had the artist alley split up into different rooms. One year in particular, it was split up into 4 rooms in a completely separate building from the convention (a lot of people missed it because they didn't know it was in this out-of-the-way building), because the classrooms were so small you had to wait outside in line 4 times to go through the whole thing, and the hallways were narrow so it was really hard to get people to go through, find the end of the line, etc. They've moved both AA and vendors into the gym over the past few years, but while that's more convenient and gives them more space, they still had other problems (university continuing to use half the gym and artists having their displays knocked over by rogue basketballs is one she told me of, also they gave her misinformation about how they were picking the artists for this year based on seniority and then they changed it to a lottery and she got knocked out).

I know it's student run and the college hates the convention, but they really need to figure out how to run their artist alley.

Anonymous Tue Apr 11 11:21:33 2017 No.9430197

>>9430062
>I do cons 2-4 times a month and make around 2-6k profit each time

lol, what? That means you make around $10k profit a month, right? I live off less than $2k a month. Be more frugal. Not including rent or AA supplies, I only spend around $400 a month total for things like food, internet, etc. I don't have student loans, so idk how much that costs people.
Only real advice I can give I guess is to buy less supplies and just focus on stuff that you know sells. You don't want to end up with a bunch of inventory sitting around.

>>9430096
I ship things that weigh less than a pound and it costs $10 minimum. Who ever is charging $5 for shipping overseas is losing money.

Anonymous Tue Apr 11 11:26:57 2017 No.9430202

>>9430058
>>9430062
If you're making a minimum of 4k profit a month and yet can't afford things either you're not at all frugal or you're miscalculating expenses. Your plane tickets, transport expenses and the like all count, what's left after all money spent pertaining to your business is your profit. 48k+ a year isn't comfortably livable for you?

Anonymous Tue Apr 11 11:51:45 2017 No.9430231

>>9430197
>>9430202
I pay $1375 a month for student loans alone and around $1500 on rent and bills after that (I live in a major metropolitan city on the east coast). Art school was the best and worst decision of my life I'm sure those expenses must be on the higher end.

Anonymous Tue Apr 11 12:08:06 2017 No.9430254

>>9430231
I make about 42k a year gross and my rent and bills are around yours (I'm supporting my family of 4 by myself, so it's probably around 1800+) a month, but the repayment for my husband's student loans are wayyyy less than yours each month. Like, holy fuck.

Anonymous Tue Apr 11 12:19:59 2017 No.9430263

>>9430254
Congrats on being able to support a family anon, that's really impressive.
Do you have kids?
And yeah I decided to go to my dream school even though my family was against it and refused to support me financially...now I'm stuck with the burden of paying off my loans for four years of tuition + housing but I don't even talk to my family anymore and haven't had to ask them for any help since I graduated.

>>	Anonymous Tue Apr 11 12:20:05 2017 No.9430264 >>9430231 sounds like you should maybe move outside of the city rather inside

>>	Anonymous Tue Apr 11 12:48:12 2017 No.9430289 >>9430231 You know you can usually call your loaner and set up a payment plan so you pay less each month? Sure you'll be paying it off longer, but if $100/month is all you can afford, then so be it.

Anonymous Tue Apr 11 12:55:23 2017 No.9430297

>>9430231
Well, you just pointed out a huge factor on why you're having a hard time getting by.

I'd suggest to move somewhere with lower rent. 1.5k is ridiculous. If you don't want to move, do you have a roommate? If not, find one. Maybe two. If you can find two roommates, that will cut your rent cost by a ton. You'll find yourself with an extra thousand or so per month if you can nab two roomies.
If 1.5k per month is after roommates, then hell, you need to move.

There's not much you can do about the student loans. If you're wondering /why/ you're having a hard time getting by when other people seem to be able to easy, a lot of people don't have student loans that are that steep/any at all. Sorry you're stuck in this position, good luck.

Anonymous Tue Apr 11 12:58:53 2017 No.9430299

For those of you who make thousands of $ at each con you do, did it take you a long time to reach that level of profitability, or were you making tons of sales from the start? I'm almost at the end of my first year doing cons, but I've never made more than $800 at a con and trying to figure out if it's normal to take a while to get to that level of profit or if I'm failing massively.

Anonymous Tue Apr 11 13:00:45 2017 No.9430304

>>9430231
Man I feel you, I pay 2k a month on my loans but my rent and bills come out to about 1100 or less a month. Find a roommate to bring rent/bills down if possible?

It's shocking how every 100 really begins to count when you're doing this sort of balancing act.

>>	Anonymous Tue Apr 11 13:10:51 2017 No.9430314 >>9430299 I didn't start making $1k until my 2nd year, and didn't make over $2k until my 3rd year. I'm a craft artist though, and might have made over $2k in my 2nd year if I had enough inventory.

Anonymous Tue Apr 11 13:18:45 2017 No.9430326

>>9430299
I was making a good profit level from my first convention.
It's important to note I already had a decent following on social media prior to doing my first table (around 13k followers across all my social media), and I have relatively proficient artistic abilities. The only thing I stocked at my first couple conventions was 11x17 prints, so it wasn't about merchandise variety.

I wouldn't say you're failing, per se, if you're making 800 at small cons. However if we're talking 800 at something like Anime Expo or Otakon, then you might want to take a break and start honing your abilities.

The best advice I can give you is just to improve your art. Hit the books. Really find what style you want to go for and kick your own ass getting good at it. If you REALLY want to get better, there is zero room for "this is my style" or "i just do it for fun"- You need to draw so much that your hand starts to hurt.

There's plenty of other things I can tell you which are relative fixes like "expand your merchandise" or "be creative with your table display", but if we're being honest here, the surest and only 100% true and tried way to start making more money is just to get better. Good luck anon.

>>	Anonymous Tue Apr 11 14:07:40 2017 No.9430366 >>9430231 Let me guess, you are in New Jersey.

>>	Anonymous Tue Apr 11 14:12:54 2017 No.9430371 >>9430197 I can't imagine one keychain(lets say acrylic) even with packaging coming anywhere near a pound though, let alone ordering print and receiving them in bubble mailers(which happened quite a few times for me) that also cost 10+ for shipping.

>>	Anonymous Tue Apr 11 14:29:54 2017 No.9430397 File: 19 KB, 495x378, Japan.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>9430371 It does. I send 3 ounce items in bubble mailers that cost $9 to ship to Canada and $13 to ship to everywhere else. Cheapest option too.

Anonymous Tue Apr 11 14:33:55 2017 No.9430401

>>9430197
>Who ever is charging $5 for shipping overseas is losing money.
no, they're probably just shipping things with the wrong mail class postage.
you can save a few bucks by shipping parcels as flats but it increases the likeleyhood that the post office will return to sender for insufficient postage.

>>	Anonymous Tue Apr 11 14:38:03 2017 No.9430407 >>9430096 The dimensions of a parcel affect the cost, if an item is more than like half an inch thick then it's automatically bumped up into package class and it costs more.

Anonymous Tue Apr 11 14:40:53 2017 No.9430409

>>9430397
Here I thought my options are bad, jikes.
But still, it feels like such an odd difference in price from seller to seller. I've ordered quite a bit from all over the world in the last couple of years but it's always the USA that is mixed in the shipping price range. I am lucky to say I've never experienced a package not arriving which also means this >>9430401 doesn't entirely hold up, or I've had supreme luck but with over 50 packages from there it'd seem unlikely. Has the price of shipping risen really badly for 2017 or something maybe?

>>	Anonymous Tue Apr 11 14:48:05 2017 No.9430424 >>9430263 Yep, it's me, my husband, and our two kids.

>>	Anonymous Tue Apr 11 15:23:24 2017 No.9430462 >>9430366 Yes lol

Anonymous Tue Apr 11 15:41:50 2017 No.9430487

>>9430401
meh, I've accidentally marked an international package wrong once and it was sent back. I wouldn't take the chance.

>>9430409
Prices have been like this since at least 2013. Only slight changes over the years by a few pennies. Unless they have some special network or distribution system set up, its gonna cost $13 to ship overseas.

Actually, just checked, a normal letter that is completely flat costs less than $5 to ship. If it is even half an inch thick, it costs $13+. Etsy doesn't give the letter shipping option though for some reason. A small charm/keychain might be flat enough.

>>	Anonymous Tue Apr 11 15:54:37 2017 No.9430503 >>9430462 County? I've been looking for an artist friend or someone to just draw with and chill.

Anonymous Tue Apr 11 16:01:50 2017 No.9430509

>>9430487
Oh that sounds like the explanation actually. The ~5ish packages are always the very flat kind with subtle protection for the item, most things are not thicker than a centimeter, which is 2/5th inch.
It's too bad though. I sometimes wonder if I could maybe ask sellers if they've got a better shipping option but I also don't want to come across as shallow. I don't mind $13 when I get 2-3 items but with 1 item $13 shipping is often more than the product I'd be interested in buying.
The european convention merch scene is in it's baby shoes atm so USA is often the only option for a little variety.

Anonymous Tue Apr 11 16:08:13 2017 No.9430517

>>9430326

Thanks for the input, anon. 70% of my sales come from non-print items, and I wish it were the opposite. I am working my ass off trying to get better at art, but I am constantly full of doubts that maybe people just hate my style because it's not very animu, and getting better won't necessarily help that. Like it's hard to believe when people say that just getting better at art will help when I see people who make crazy money selling nothing but generic bust-up portraits of cute anime girls on white backgrounds.

Anonymous Tue Apr 11 16:37:02 2017 No.9430546

>>9430517
My art's not very anime either but I pull in pretty consistent numbers, anon. ($6-8k as a norm.) It took me a couple of years to really find my niche but having a non generic art style can really work in your favor because it has cross-genre appeal. I do well at both anime and comic/pop culture cons because my work isn't overtly anime. It's just a matter of finding your audience and fandoms.

I do fanart for a lot of underrepresented fandoms in the AA and specifically sign up for just as many comic cons as anime cons. I also try to stay on top of trends and picking 1-2 popular things I'm genuinely a fan of to do merch for in addition to the more obscure stuff. Think about how you can play your style to your strengths!

Style and technical proficiency do have a hand in your sales but so does knowing your audience and keeping up with popular trends. I try to finish 1-2 new things for a con unless it's a con i've never done before or a small local con I'm going to to unload stock. If you bring the same set of prints/merch to every con, your sales are gonna plateau and decline.

Don't feel too down, anon. If you want genuine critique re: your art, feel free to post in this thread. You'll get there eventually if you keep working hard!

>>	Anonymous Tue Apr 11 16:41:16 2017 No.9430552 >>9430517 Your salt is showing. Sure, maybe their art is generic, but it's probably also good. No one wants unique if unique looks like shit. Get over yourself. Your shitty attitude isn't going to help your money making issues one bit.

Anonymous Tue Apr 11 16:41:55 2017 No.9430554

>>9430517
People like all kinds of styles. I have half anime and half semi-realism at my booth, and the semi-realism sells better than the anime (though not by a significant margin.)
Getting better will help your sales. Good art sells. There could be some weird exceptions, but I see art quality always being the best way to improve your profits.

For these generic bust up anime artists, do you have any names in particular? Medicore anime art can sell if it pinpoints the right fandoms, but I think that the idea that a ton of people are making money off of subpar plain busts is kind of a false statement. All of my friends who make absolute bank either have 1. a huge merchandise selection using a unique style 2. are downright badass print artists or 3. create incredibly cute art. I do know people who do the generic busts, but they don't make nearly as much as you would think. Of course, personal experience, so take with a grain of salt.

Anonymous Tue Apr 11 16:44:52 2017 No.9430558

>>9430517
Different anon, but developing your art into a unique style and brand will definitely help you stand out from the generic bust up anime girls, give it time and invest in your skills, you'll pull out ahead when people get tired of the generic anime and look for something new.

Anonymous Tue Apr 11 17:09:08 2017 No.9430605

>>9430552

I don't have a shitty attitude, and you're reading way too much into my post looking to pick a fight for no reason. I don't mind that people are successful doing what they like, even if it's not my thing. I was just using that as an example of how I can see something that's not very skillful/minimal effort be really successful, so it's hard to think that skill is all that matters. You need to chill out.

Anonymous Tue Apr 11 17:53:22 2017 No.9430663

>>9430517
Regarding your doubts - are you strictly measuring your level of improvement based on feedback from others in the form of profit? Because the thing about improvement is, there are times when you end up doing shit like taking two steps forward and three steps back and then there are other times when you end up running forward in a burst. Shit's not always 100% a consistent curve upwards depending on your style of learning and practice.

Do you just want to get to a point where you have a satisfactory amount of sales and you don't need to improve anymore? Or do you want to genuinely be good at what you do and keep getting better at it as you mature in your skillsets?

Anonymous Tue Apr 11 18:07:27 2017 No.9430677

>>9430462
I'm in NJ too, you should really find a roommate like everyone is suggesting. My monthly rent is $1375 for a 1 bed/1 bath, the only way it's working for me is because I split rent with my boyfriend. What cons have you been going to? Small local conventions could be a factor as to why you're not doing as well.

>>	Anonymous Tue Apr 11 18:54:22 2017 No.9430729 >>9430054 ouch... expect to see a 50% attendance of whatever it was before...generously could be in the 30-40% rate but still... anything in the negative floor traffic will hurt the alley.

>>	Anonymous Tue Apr 11 18:58:58 2017 No.9430735 >>9430729 It gets better. One floor is ground floor in the building everyone will have to walk through to get registration. The other floor is a basement level that can only be reached through a side staircase instead of the main escalators.

>>	Anonymous Tue Apr 11 19:20:25 2017 No.9430754 >>9430677 NJ gull too. I looked for apartments and even a studio in Camden is out of my price range. Luckily I have a nice job interview tomorrow.

>>	Anonymous Tue Apr 11 20:26:06 2017 No.9430809 File: 54 KB, 500x500, 1485971288537.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>9430054 I hate it

Anonymous Tue Apr 11 20:29:06 2017 No.9430811

re: shipping talk, the reason first class mail is priced higher is because those packages/envelopes aren't fed through the narrow rollers that squeeze items along on a conveyor belt in a mail sorting facility. if your item is too thick or rigid, like an acrylic charm, you can try to send it the cheap way through there, but even if its not returned, it might become damaged or break. its your choice whether or not to risk it as a seller, but its not worth the potential hassle for me.

>>	Anonymous Tue Apr 11 20:31:14 2017 No.9430816 >>9430809 Sucks to be you if you're in the basement and don't have a large online fanbase.

>>	Anonymous Tue Apr 11 21:38:08 2017 No.9430876 >>9430816 I'm praying the fact that there are panel rooms down there might mean it's going to get some foot traffic despite being ridiculously out of the way.

>>	Anonymous Tue Apr 11 22:22:24 2017 No.9430922 >>9430503 Damn, I wish you live close to NYC to join the small draw meet group.

>>	Anonymous Tue Apr 11 23:28:59 2017 No.9430997 >>9430816 >large online fanbase. that actually would help the AA.. I myself would be drawn to certain people at a con but I also explore once there as I like to find some gems in the rough everytime I go to a con.

Anonymous Tue Apr 11 23:58:53 2017 No.9431045

>>9430299
Honestly, it kind of came to me at once. I did Sakuracon one year on a whim and introduced a couple new prints. They did really well there desire not being anime-related. They weren't doing well at local cons, so this took me by surprise. From then on, I focused on more comics stuff and started pulling in more consistent profits

Anonymous Wed Apr 12 00:15:15 2017 No.9431083

>>9430326

So has anyone else experience consistently getting better with their art but their sales are flat lining or even going down? I know last year was shitty across the board but I've been really trying to make better prints and I've still not made the same amount I made my first year tabling. I've been doing AA for three years now. I'm curious to see how this year goes since it's my first year outside of grad school and I have dramatically more time to devote to art.

>>	Anonymous Wed Apr 12 04:00:03 2017 No.9431267 Anyone here tabled at Matsuri this past weekend?

Anonymous Wed Apr 12 04:01:24 2017 No.9431268
File: 17 KB, 478x141, Captura de pantalla 5.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

So i decided to ask Vograce about getting some samples and they requested me to pay trought paypal.
The problem is that the e-mail they gave to pay is very weird (only numbers) and it doesn't inspire many trust. Is this normal?

Anonymous Wed Apr 12 04:35:15 2017 No.9431290

i was put on the waitlist for fanime AA and i've gotten no emails (junk or otherwise) since december. i contacted them to ask if i can expect some kind of email confirmation that i wasn't selected, but they replied saying those were sent out already

i'm kind of at a loss because i don't know now if i got an acceptance email and missed it, thus forfeiting it? or if they skipped over me somehow? or if a lack of a rejection email means i have some sliver of a chance at getting in still?

>>	Anonymous Wed Apr 12 04:40:54 2017 No.9431297 >>9431290 I'd say be cynical. Table and badge payments are happening already, so the chances are getting slim.

Anonymous Wed Apr 12 04:51:46 2017 No.9431313

>>9431297
yeah, i'm not holding my breath.
i just wish i knew what happened to the emails they supposedly sent out? i'm willing to accept that i overlooked the one that would have gotten me in, but if they also sent out rejection emails, i definitely didn't receive one.

>>	Anonymous Wed Apr 12 08:39:13 2017 No.9431492 >>9431268 yeah. As long as Vicky or Coco are giving you that e-mail it's fine

Anonymous Wed Apr 12 10:11:46 2017 No.9431558

>>9431267
I did Anon, I did better than last year by an extra 1.4K in profit but only because I had a somewhat decent location facing the dealers but no where near the numbers expected for a con this size, I'm local but this con is barely worth the four hour drive let alone a flight.

Anonymous Wed Apr 12 11:06:56 2017 No.9431606

I'm trying to find some pictures of stickers, so I can know what size, pricing, style etc is usual, but I can't figure out what words to search on google images to find them. 'Convention stickers' isn't getting me anything for example. Could someone suggest some phrases please?

Also thank you to the anon last thread who made the imgur albums :)

>>	Anonymous Wed Apr 12 11:27:24 2017 No.9431621 >>9431606 go to etsy and type in anime sticker?

>>	Anonymous Wed Apr 12 11:51:19 2017 No.9431633 >>9431268 Yeah I just finished an order with them and they used the same email. It's definitely them.

>>	Anonymous Wed Apr 12 12:25:47 2017 No.9431656 >>9431313 You should probably contact them again for a definite answer whether you were accepted or not.

>>	Anonymous Wed Apr 12 12:44:23 2017 No.9431669 http://50-shades-of-nico.tumblr.com/post/159458556806/need-to-split-table-in-artist-alley-asap This is pretty pathetic

>>	Anonymous Wed Apr 12 12:55:03 2017 No.9431673 >>9431313 I don't think they sent a proper rejection email, just one on Dec 23 basically saying "if we didn't already notify you that you're on the top of the waitlist, you're probably not in, sorry".

>>	Anonymous Wed Apr 12 12:58:28 2017 No.9431678 >>9430922 not that anon but I live in NYC and would be interested in attending a draw meet.

>>	Anonymous Wed Apr 12 13:12:29 2017 No.9431689 >>9431669 Wait this person posted here for concrit a few threads ago: >>9399340 We all told them to work on their fundamentals and that they'd probably only make money at furry cons

>>	Anonymous Wed Apr 12 13:19:22 2017 No.9431694 Vograce is asking for my telephone number. Is that normal? I'm worried they'll sign me up for an endless number of telemarketer schemes.

>>	Corky-Lunn !CorkyloMxc Wed Apr 12 13:29:14 2017 No.9431713 >>9431694 >>9431268 adding these questions and answers to the FAQ. >>9431694 Yes. They're asking to give to DHL/UPS/etc to use on the mailing address as a way of contact when they mail your merch.

Anonymous Wed Apr 12 13:56:15 2017 No.9431738

>>9431669
Yikes, I feel bad for her. The idea of getting help via AA table space is a bit roundabout though, it makes more sense to just ask for money. I think most artists (myself included) would rather just pay her than give up some of our precious table space.

>>	Anonymous Wed Apr 12 14:07:43 2017 No.9431750 >>9431669 Holy shit! It's the anon with the shit art from last thread. >>9431689 linked to their "art".

Anonymous Wed Apr 12 14:13:53 2017 No.9431754

>>9431673

Like, I don't doubt that crazy shit like this really happens, but it sounds so fictional. And there are better ways to earn money than artist alleys, if you're really so desperate? She has a BF and friends but can't get someone to help her out of such a serious situation? How do you view someone's whole criminal record with their phone number? It honestly sounds like a fabrication just to get space at some big AAs...

Anonymous Wed Apr 12 14:19:28 2017 No.9431758

>>9431754
She may have been able to get full name and details from the number and then further information from that.

I'm with you on the better ways to earn if you're in a hurry. AA is decently viable as a second form of income if you're properly planning for it, have the skills to sell and you also have enough cushion to weather the ups and downs of it especially if you're just starting out.

It's not the sort of thing that functions as a last-ditch resort for money at all, nor does it work well in anyone's favor if they don't have the capital to start it without putting themselves in a tight spot.

I have no idea why she doesn't try to start with commissions or selling her remaining prints on etsy or something.

Anonymous Wed Apr 12 14:34:06 2017 No.9431776

>>9431669
>a friend or my bf
Idk, I sorta feel like when you have local friends and bf you shouldn't be begging strangers for things. Move in with one of them for a little while while you look for a job. I really don't understand what she thinks getting an AA table will do. great, you have an extra $300 or so, now what?
>>9431738
they probably want to be able to go to a con too. I have a friend who is always asking to share tables with me. She wants to make money and be able to hang out with friends.
>>9431689
I thought it looked like it.

Anonymous Wed Apr 12 14:37:25 2017 No.9431781

>>9431776
>they probably want to be able to go to a con too. I have a friend who is always asking to share tables with me. She wants to make money and be able to hang out with friends.
If that's the case she needs to talk to her friends about them helping her, then. If you're at a table in AA there's not really much time for "hanging out with friends". Unless she's asking the person she's already mooching off of to watch her stuff, too.

Anonymous Wed Apr 12 15:07:20 2017 No.9431802

>>9431669
What kind of boyfriend isn't willing to help you out in a situation like this? I don't live with my boyfriend just because we both like having our own separate spaces, but I know we'd both put that aside to help the other out if there was a rapist stalker involved. Ask your boyfriend to help you out. I know you're reading this thread. No one wants your trash art at their table.

>>	Anonymous Wed Apr 12 15:58:44 2017 No.9431844 >>9431802 >No one wants your trash art at their table. That's a bit harsh anon, but I do agree she needs to find a job and work on improving art in the meantime. If she spent all that time in japan just for nothing, then she needs to grow up some.

Anonymous Wed Apr 12 16:23:59 2017 No.9431880

>>9431083
Sort of. I paint in a pretty realistic, western style, and despite getting better skills over time, sales weren't getting any better.

I decided to make a big change and switched over to doing simplistic chibi art instead, and my sales have been way up. It's a really shitty feeling that people don't like art I put skills and time into but, but I am aiming to keep a small portion of products in my actual style in hopes that some day I can find an audience for that.

>>	Anonymous Wed Apr 12 16:51:10 2017 No.9431905 >>9431669 what would a quarter of a table even look like? do people do this?

indie anon !!gduXTuPrAo+ Wed Apr 12 17:26:22 2017 No.9431950

>>9429536
Yeah, I made the list! Anyone can edit and add new cons, I honestly don't know many Canadian cons besides the big ones. Just make sure to only add cons with attendance greater than 3000 people (smaller cons can be found in the general animecons.com database)

>>	Anonymous Wed Apr 12 18:08:53 2017 No.9432001 >>9431558 Thanks for the feedback anon! Heard it was super bad for people who were on the sides though.

>>	Anonymous Wed Apr 12 19:07:28 2017 No.9432091 >>9431669 took a look at their art and good on them for trying but some of this is god awful

Anonymous Wed Apr 12 19:27:57 2017 No.9432120

>>9431083
I don't have personal experience but I have a friend who's sales have plateaued since starting AA despite increase in skill. In his case, I think it's a matter of him branching out to big cons before he got good enough? Although his new stuff is a definite improvement over his old stuff he's still solidly in that low/middle tier of AA artists. But now his costs are higher because of travel and he's competing wih artists that are way better than him. Before, he only used to do local cons in his state and was able to make a lot of money because most of the cons he attended didn't have younger artists so he had monopoly on younger con attendees. There are more potential customers at bigger out-of-state cons but also way more competition who are technically more skilled than him.

Another thing I've noticed as a bystander is that even though he's getting better with his art, he's started to copy style/composition elements from artists who do better than him. He's not tracing or anything like that but you can see the heavy influence from some of the artists he's friends with. He's trying to mix and match a bunch of different things he thinks other artists are doing well which makes his table seem less cohesive - not to mention that he doesn't have he skill to blend the different styles together. I think when he had a more distinctive style even though his skill was lacking, it appealed more to the consumers rather than having a hodge podge of ill executed but technically "better" work

>>	Anonymous Wed Apr 12 19:28:55 2017 No.9432122 >>9431905 I know someone who once shared with six people. It was hilarious to see such a cluttered table. Anything above three people is just unreasonable.

>>	nycdrawgroup@airmail.cc Wed Apr 12 21:00:47 2017 No.9432206 >>9431678 Dropping my email. Hope to speak with you soon.

Anonymous Wed Apr 12 21:16:39 2017 No.9432230

I'm tabling at a small convention in June. I kind of jumped in without looking real hard, it's been something I've been meaning to do for a long time. I have markers to bring to do comissions with, but I also have been trying to get some cohesive anime art together to sell as prints. So far, I have three anime related pieces in the works that are large enough to be printed rather large, and then the rest of my portfolio is more for small prints.

So here are a few questions:

It's my first time tabling. Based off of your collective personal experiences, how many different prints is a good number to start with?

second question is a bit random...
I have a 2 1/4" button maker, have those larger buttons done well at cons in anyone's experience?

Anonymous Wed Apr 12 21:34:46 2017 No.9432253

>>9432001
Yep, I heard the same thing. A lot of artist also opted for a dealer's table this year so many people didn't realize there were more AA tables after the dealer's area. They even had some artists next to the jumpy houses I felt so bad for them, AM has notoriously bad layouts for the AA.

>>	Anonymous Wed Apr 12 21:42:40 2017 No.9432263 >>9431776 I think a lot of people are under the impression that AA is like a get-rick-quick scheme, but that only really works for people who have the right merchandise, an appealing style, a decent level of skill, and or/a variety of work.

>>	Anonymous Wed Apr 12 21:51:22 2017 No.9432275 >>9432263 I don't get why people think that. There's so much money that goes into AA...I've always viewed it as a gambling process to see if you even break even ahahaha //cry

Anonymous Wed Apr 12 21:54:12 2017 No.9432279

>>9432230
It's really up to you, my first con I split with a friend and I had 2 11x17s, and 2 8x11's, along with some postcards, 1 sticker sheet, 1 button design, and 3 bookmarks. I made quite a bit of profit with that, so that that as you will.

I also have a 2.25'' button maker, I just like making big buttons. They do pretty well I think!

>>	Anonymous Wed Apr 12 21:56:10 2017 No.9432281 >>9432279 Different anon here. How much do you price your buttons at? I recently got a maker in that size and I'm not sure what the average price is.

Anonymous Wed Apr 12 21:58:38 2017 No.9432286

>>9432275
From my impression seeing as how other people reacted when I went into AA and made $$$ (but I carefully researched and planned this out for at least a year beforehand) they think that anyone can go in and do it. They don't realize you have to have some capital for table, merch, and travel costs, and some don't even realize you might not break even on the first couple tries. (I'd say it's also highly dependent on style appeal and skill level and etc.)

Some folks in my social circles tried to jump into AA without really looking into it, and they flopped. Only 1 person I know succeeded in making bank but she already has 10x more followers than I do and she has an indie game under her belt, so she had an audience to purchase from her already.

>>	Anonymous Wed Apr 12 21:59:39 2017 No.9432290 >>9432281 I price them for $3. Combo deals like 2 for $5 or $5 for 10 work well too.

>>	Anonymous Wed Apr 12 22:02:03 2017 No.9432292 >>9432290 woops I was supposed to write $10 for 4 my bad

>>	Anonymous Wed Apr 12 22:23:28 2017 No.9432323 File: 340 KB, 288x192, tumblr_mt6uz8F7tT1sipugqo1_400.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>9432279 >>9432290 Thankyou anon! Super helpful! wish me luck~ (and yes $4 for 10 makes more sense aha)

Anonymous Wed Apr 12 22:26:33 2017 No.9432328

>>9432263
I've seriously been feeling this lately. I mentioned once or twice casually that I do tables as my primary income, and some friends have latched onto the idea that if they do tables people will throw all their money for their subpar busts facing left, and they'll be able to live off of it. Wouldn't be so annoying, except they have below average art skills and nearly break down if they have to do anything independent, like book a hotel.

And of course, being the person who does do tables, I become their information fountain. Having to deal with "What do you MEAN keychains cost a dollar fifty EACH?! That would cost $150 to make a hundred! I don't have that kind of money!" is beyond annoying.

Anonymous Thu Apr 13 01:20:34 2017 No.9432475

>>9430058
Hey anon, I replied to your post yesterday, but since then I brought up the topic of not being able to get by while running an independent business with my father (who works in taxes) and he said something pretty interesting. (Pardon if I get terms wrong, it was over lunch and I was pretty focused on eating.)
Anyway, what he said is you should try to get some tax write-offs on your expenses. Consider your car a "business vehicle" since it takes you to conventions, deduct all of your rent as a "workspace expense", and even deduct some of your bills required for your business like phone and electricity (need a computer to make art!)
Googling "business tax write-offs" will give far better and more detailed information than I will ever be able to provide, but I wanted to throw that idea out there in case you haven't tried to do this already. Good luck anon.

>>	Anonymous Thu Apr 13 01:54:31 2017 No.9432499 >>9431492 >>9431633 Thank you! I just paid them. I used to be loyal to Zapcreatives but now with the Brexit I want to contemplate other options in case of comerce conditions becoming too unfavorable.

Angel !!b54Js4RqEVd Thu Apr 13 03:03:23 2017 No.9432540
File: 215 KB, 876x787, tutu wip.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

This is a question on buying preference.
When getting prints are you more likely to buy pieces that are aesthetically pleasing but overall generic? I mean a character cutely posing as a simple piece of merchandise because you like what its from and the art is good. Or do you like seeing artwork that tries to capture a feeling or express and emotion related to its original work?
I'm sketching this up and I dont know if its worth finishing it as a print or if id be better off just doing something simple and pretty with both girls smiling.

Anonymous Thu Apr 13 03:39:42 2017 No.9432567

>>9432328
>nearly break down if they have to do anything independent
one can't start to be an entrepreneur without a backbone of responsibility in themselves. the other things mentioned are all obvious signs they are in awe of your shiny dreams and want a piece of it. Break it to them they just need to wait it out, save up, work, stop copying you lol, and after a few months they have something to show and are still interested they can try some smaller affordable con by themselves.

Anonymous Thu Apr 13 03:51:32 2017 No.9432579

>>9432540
It's not so much generic, but people tend to like happy or peaceful pieces for display purposes so they'll lean towards buying those. Personally, I really like melancholic pieces as well! Your WIP seems like it might be too sad/emotional for my taste, but it really depends on how you'll present it.

Anonymous Thu Apr 13 06:50:20 2017 No.9432671

>>9432540
I would like and appreciate this pic if it was a standalone pic on the internet, but I'm not sure if I'd enjoy it as a print context.

The idea could work but you'd probably have to revise the composition. The current one isn't pushing the emotions hard enough.

Anonymous Thu Apr 13 07:32:55 2017 No.9432699
File: 1.70 MB, 1513x625, sampling.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

I do a decent amount of illustration stuff for fun but have considered trying to make it at least a little for profit. How could I polish my style more to sell maybe at cons (being a traditional artist?) Would prints in my normal style sell at all, or should I consider alternative stylings? Maybe I can work around being messier/more realistic if I pick my fandoms right? Also concrit please, I'd appreciate it.

Anonymous Thu Apr 13 08:23:29 2017 No.9432722

>>9432699
OT because nobody at a con is gonna give a shit but while I really like the pieces on the right and especially the one in the middle, you might want to work on your clothes and the way they drape and fold. It doesn't look natural which kind of distracts from an otherwise nice piece.

Anonymous Thu Apr 13 08:51:30 2017 No.9432734

>>9432540
Oh man, Princess Tutu. I actually haven't kept up with that like I meant to way back when I first discovered it. Whoops.

Seeing as I'm ignorant of the plot, my opinion is going to be a little more broad.

So as far as fanart stuff goes, I've always liked the idea of buying art that captures the soul of a ship, character, scene, show, etc. I've loved even more finding alt reality prints that coincide with my own OTP of whatever. Do stuff that makes you feel things, and I feel like as a buying I'm more likely to buy that. Some people don't feel the same way, though, and just want the generic smiling prints. So maybe do both? As for this I'm actually super in love with it...but yeah like previous posts, maybe don't display it front and center? idk? it's a little sad? (but wonderful omg)

Anonymous Thu Apr 13 09:54:16 2017 No.9432769

My friends and I are working on a game and we're eventually going to have a booth for it where people can play the demo.
I'm main artist, and I'm interested in making+selling prints, or some kind of merch, to raise funds for us to make the full version.
My original idea was prints of the characters, but I know selling original work can be an uphill battle. Is that a good idea or are there better options here?

Anonymous Thu Apr 13 10:22:58 2017 No.9432793

>>9432769
The base question that matters to a lot of us here is if you're going for dealers hall or AA. Stuff like that is common in dealers, but I can see it getting annoying for people in AA, especially if you have a demo at your table (in dealers people can walk into your booth, but in AA having a demo at your booth can cause crowding+hall clogging)

>>	Anonymous Thu Apr 13 10:29:20 2017 No.9432799 Sorry if this is a noob thing to ask, but where might I find a good printer of custom sketchbooks? I'm seeing a lot of lovely sketchbooks pop up in artist alley and I would like to get some made as well.

Anonymous Thu Apr 13 10:45:09 2017 No.9432815

>>9432793
OOH forgot about that. Around here cons typically have game demo areas in the exhibit hall, but set away from the dealers and artists, or outside of the exhibit hall altogether. I don't think we would even dream of using AA space for that because it's not AA.

Anonymous Thu Apr 13 11:27:28 2017 No.9432840

>>9432815
Well, if theres a game hall type thing at the cons you are doing this for, then go for it. Just don't expect to make a killing. Original prints are already hard sells in crowds interested in art, they'll be even harder when the browsing crowd is interested in game demos. A lot of how well you'll do also is determined by how good you are at drawing, and how interesting the demo for your game is.
I attend gaming conventions and anime/comic conventions pretty regularly, and while I come home with merch every single anime and comic con, I only ever bought something from a gaming booth once. It was at Game Developers Conference 2015, I bought a playmat/button set of their featured game, and it was basically because I was networking to potentially find a job and needed am excuse to talk for longer.
So ultimately, what I'm saying is it'll be a hard sell, but if you're trying to promote your game... Why not?

Anonymous Thu Apr 13 12:21:26 2017 No.9432879

>>9432263
>>9432328

Artists have only themselves to blame for perpetuating this idea. Just look in the past couple of threads to see people saying you should be making profits equal to twice your expenses right away, if you're not very profitable after 4 shows you should quit, etc etc. That's pretty clearly giving off the idea that AA should be immediate profit.

My day job is in accounting, and a ton of small businesses I work with experience losses in their first year or expect to, even if they're successful later. And this isn't a bad thing or unexpected. It's why the tax laws (in the US, anyway) are set up to help give small businesses a break for an initial year or two of losses.

It's only in AA that I see artists telling other artists that you need to be/should be profitable right away. In any other business this would be a totally ridiculous way of thinking as it is, and it's even crazier when it's about something subjective like art.

Anonymous Thu Apr 13 12:48:40 2017 No.9432895

>>9432879
Agreed, especially considering how vastly different conventions can be. I'm made $3,000 at a con, then next con only make $200, and then $1,500 and the next. Being new, you could get unluckly and get into a lot of bad cons, or cons that don't fit what you are selling.

Anonymous Thu Apr 13 13:50:46 2017 No.9432944

>>9432540
For some series, it's just...bizarre (?) to have a happy print. Princess Tutu is one of these series. It would be like coming across a really peppy Texhnolyze print. I'd wonder if the artist actually watched the show.

I do have to agree with >>9432671's critique of your print specifically, though.

Anonymous Thu Apr 13 14:04:13 2017 No.9432961

>>9432879
THANK YOU. you're not going to start out making thousands of dollars and it's unrealistic to expect that going into any kind of business venture. There is no way to really predict how a certain event might go for you, even if it's something you've done in the past. You can sell a lot one year and barely anything the next . it fluctuates. Most of selling art is trying and failing a bunch of times before you find your niche.

I usually tell people to be realistic and persistent if this is something they really want to pursue because it's not easy money.

Anonymous Thu Apr 13 14:56:26 2017 No.9433037

>>9432699
My favorite out of the three is the rightmost one, I think if you did style something like that and gear it towards a fandom it might work. However I'd work on contrast since your linework is so sketchy, you'd need something that will grab attention among a lot of colorful prints. Even using a bit of digital color or a bolder line helps.

I actually do traditional inking for my prints now but I color them digitally and I enjoy that workflow more. It can work, you'd have to find your niche which is just something that everyone figures out with trial and error.

Anonymous Thu Apr 13 15:05:21 2017 No.9433054

>>9432944
Longtime Princess Tutu fan here to politely disagree, I would love to have a happy Princess Tutu print and would not find it terribly odd. Sometimes when a series crushes your heart the thing you want to have hanging on your walls the most is the characters looking happy, because they deserve it. Plus having depressing shit on your walls is sort of a bummer in general unless it's super artsy.

Anonymous Thu Apr 13 15:17:03 2017 No.9433068

>>9432944
>>9433054
Was princess tutu really that sad? I remember it ending on a pretty bittersweet note, the only think that had me in tears was (blank) turning back into a (blank), but even that was sort of like a resignation of "this is how its meant to be."

Sorry for OT, heres my input on the work. I think people would buy it- A specific kind of person. My friend once bought a picture of Madoka and Homura hugging each other and crying (in space) and she told me she liked it because it made her feel like crying from happiness. The composition was rather basic, like yours, but she still enjoyed it because of the emotions invoked. Though imo it won't appeal to surface level fans of the show, it will have appeal to people who the show really touched/people who ship that pair.
I'd personally like to see a more adventurous composition, since I don't buy works that don't have some kind of movement/intense perspective going on. But that again, is my personal input.
Good luck.

>>	Anonymous Thu Apr 13 15:19:38 2017 No.9433073 File: 359 KB, 480x319, file.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] I love packaging and want to save more images of nice packaging (generally artist alley items) Post packaging you like!

Anonymous Thu Apr 13 15:19:46 2017 No.9433075

>>9433068
>since I don't buy works that don't have some kind of movement/intense perspective going on
There we go. That's what I've been trying to word. These days, AAs are full of keychains, charms, pencil bags, etc. That's where boring/generically cute poses should go. I want the prints I buy to be something more than that, though.

Anonymous Thu Apr 13 15:23:17 2017 No.9433079

>>9432699
I agree with the other two anons on drapery and definitely with contrast. I almost didn't see Agro and I can't tell if Wander is riding her.
A popular fandom you get into with your style would be Zelda, specifically Twilight Princess, since Shadow of the Colossus gets compared to it.

Anonymous Thu Apr 13 15:25:48 2017 No.9433083

>>9433068
Depends on how you look at it. I agree with you, it's bittersweet and my OTP got delivered, sorta, so I was peachy mess of tears at the end of the series.

And to add properly to the convo, I've had a lot of people who have seen my prints and have been like OMG THAT'S SO SAD and it's almost always the print that sells out. As long as people experience some sort of connection with your work and it's the sort that they want to have with them at home it'll move.

>>	Anonymous Thu Apr 13 16:04:02 2017 No.9433125 >>9432540 the hands/arm/feet are really awkward. you might want to just re do the whole thing

>>	Anonymous Thu Apr 13 16:21:07 2017 No.9433144 File: 2.62 MB, 400x327, gw-itcrowdmosspopcorn.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >tfw watching people on AANI freaking out about the 'new' Etsy direct checkout rules

>>	Anonymous Thu Apr 13 19:28:34 2017 No.9433316 >>9433144 what changed?

Anonymous Thu Apr 13 20:19:42 2017 No.9433364

>>9433316
They're requiring it to be enabled in order to sell there now. Only makes since now that guest checkout is being allowed on etsy going forward. Only ones complaining about it are kids without bank accounts to link-- or people so in debt they cant open an account.

>>	Anonymous Thu Apr 13 20:20:24 2017 No.9433365 >>9432840 So playmats and buttons appeal to people? What else did that booth have? I've done AA before, I'm just looking for merch ideas that work with this particular situation.

>>	Anonymous Thu Apr 13 20:38:21 2017 No.9433377 I'm not an artist, I just love buying art. Is it too soon to ask what you guys are bringing to A-Kon? Should I come back next month?

Anonymous Thu Apr 13 20:43:44 2017 No.9433382

>>9433365
Well, I don't know if that in particular would appeal. I just bought it because it was the only thing they had- They also had a poster, but I was flying in from elsewhere so I didn't want to get that due to difficulty of transportation.

I'd say more physical merchandise definitely appeals more to a gamer crowd. But things that they can use- Like mousepads, or card sleeves, and even buttons are okay. Acrylic charms are something I'd stay away from because it is something perceived with a low "value"- The same as a button probably, but they can buy a button for a dollar or so, so they don't care. Playmats might be a little too much of an investment so I don't know if I can recommend it, but that's another "usable" piece of merchandise.

Another thing to keep in mind is a lot of these booths give out things like shirts, buttons, pens, notepads, etc for free (At least at the gaming cons I go to, not sure what it'd be like on a smaller scale.) So you have to think about how you can compete with that.

>>	Anonymous Thu Apr 13 20:50:16 2017 No.9433389 >>9433377 Is there something in particular or a series you're looking for? People will most likely start posting their maps and stuff on social media next month

Anonymous Thu Apr 13 20:56:40 2017 No.9433393

>>9433389
I mean if you've got Kaitou Saint Tail merchandise, I would absolutely love to stop by your table. I keep up with currently airing anime, so I don't really have a problem finding merch other than the one or two older shows I get into every year (KTS being one of them).

I was mainly just looking to see what everyone was going to bring. There's nothing more painful than seeing the perfect keychain with a sold out sign next to it. I like to spend the first day going through the artist alley to find the best pieces, so it helps to plan my shopping in advance. I'm think I'm a little too excited about this year's giant AA though. As far as I know, artists only just recently got their confirmation, so I probably will ask again next month.

Anonymous Thu Apr 13 21:08:50 2017 No.9433402

>>9433364
I went on AANI and seen people complaining, but I don't understand the problem. Just seems so weird to complain about it. You can't run a business without a bank account. I guess it will keep some low skilled people out, which is honestly good.

>>	Anonymous Thu Apr 13 21:24:53 2017 No.9433416 >>9433402 My same thought. It will keep the kids who still only use paypal as their sole account away from shitting up etsy with their 'crafts'.

Anonymous Thu Apr 13 22:46:27 2017 No.9433498

>>9433377
I don't even know if I'm going to put a lot of effort into getting new stuff done for A-kon because I'm at the bottom of the list and in the worst table spot, so I feel like even if I do my best I can't compete in terms of location and quality so it'd be a huge waste of time and money trying to get new merch made instead of bringing leftovers.

>>	Anonymous Thu Apr 13 22:53:47 2017 No.9433502 >>9433498 You can always forfeit your spot to let in someone who gives a shit.

Anonymous Thu Apr 13 23:06:06 2017 No.9433511

>>9433502
And you could try not assuming that I don't give a shit just because I'm trying to figure out the best way to minimize my expenses since it doesn't seem likely to be very profitable for me. Of course I want to make new things and present my best stuff, but it would be dumb to do things that would really drive up my expenses when nobody's going to come to my table. No need to be an asshole.

>>	Anonymous Thu Apr 13 23:34:59 2017 No.9433532 >mother only has $20 to spend >cheapest version of the thing the daughter wants is $24 >tell them this >little girl starts crying >what do

>>	Anonymous Thu Apr 13 23:45:22 2017 No.9433546 >>9433532 Ask her why she's taking her poorly behaved daughter to cons.

>>	Anonymous Thu Apr 13 23:58:00 2017 No.9433558 >>9433532 Apologize, suggest an alternative, the end. People have been known to scam like this, they use the kid to either get cheap prices or they use the kid as a distraction so they can steal.

Anonymous Fri Apr 14 00:07:21 2017 No.9433560

>>9433546
brutal
>>9433558
This time I had one last item (that I normally don't have) that I normally sale for $22 and sold it for $20. If I didn't have that one, not sure what I would have done.
I did feel like she could have just been using the kid to get something cheaper, idk. I do usually not lower my prices unless its old stock or something, but wow its awkward when a little kid start crying after saying no.

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 14 00:39:38 2017 No.9433615 >>9433532 This is why I'm glad I table with my bf, he loves to shut down hagglers.

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 14 00:48:58 2017 No.9433628 Hey guys, how long does it usually take for AcornPress to respond? I have a deadline coming up soon and their lack of response is worrying me;; I've turned to vograce but I'm guessing that shipping probably takes awhile...

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 14 00:52:17 2017 No.9433637 File: 436 KB, 640x459, 591e4851eaec05f81c78a65f08e0a49559d5bd70.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>9433073 I have this fancy ones.

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 14 00:53:53 2017 No.9433639 File: 369 KB, 640x490, 83ae7c811657b4ee5250d7369be7fd8b23c8c7f8.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>9433637 Love this one!

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 14 00:55:39 2017 No.9433643 File: 292 KB, 640x460, dc982fa264ec491ec13d0ebf9481165e7aedb46f.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>9433639 By the way, these are from Minne or Creema I can't remember.

Anonymous Fri Apr 14 01:01:18 2017 No.9433654

>>9433628
Shipping from vograce shouldn't take too long. I think shipping only takes a week, it's usually like $15-20 which is why it's pretty fast.

I'm also still waiting on AP after I paid my invoice. Some people said they've been waiting for their order since early March too.

Anonymous Fri Apr 14 01:05:06 2017 No.9433660

>>9433654
>>9433628
I got and paid my invoice last week as well (took about a week for them to send the invoice after I had placed my order). Do they usually say something after you pay it? I shot them an email a day ago and am still waiting for a response.

Anonymous Fri Apr 14 01:49:51 2017 No.9433684

ugh

an artist had really great art at a recent con, but their prints were REALLY low quality, like you could see the vertical lines from their printer on them and the washed out ink

why even bring prints that are lower quality than I can make with my 7 year old printer at home?

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 14 01:50:57 2017 No.9433686 >>9433684 because not everyone knows about your 7 year old printer, anon. everyone starts somewhere, have some damn chill.

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 14 01:58:32 2017 No.9433692 >>9433654 thanks so much! yeah idk i'm getting a bit worried, so I messaged vograce and hopefully I get more success with them than AP right now

Anonymous Fri Apr 14 02:35:36 2017 No.9433715

>>9433686
t. someone who gets their merch printed at their local library

>>9433684
I see this a lot. I think it's worth bringing up to the artist if you don't see them making any sales. Keep in mind that a LOT of customers don't actually give a shit one way or the other though, so they might still be making sales despite the shit quality of prints. Could you at least get a commission from them?

Anonymous Fri Apr 14 02:43:19 2017 No.9433723

>>9433660
I never received an e-mail telling me that my invoice was received or that my charms were shipped, they just arrived one day without notice. My order was early February.

I was hoping to use them again since I like the colors but this sounds more hassle than it's worth.

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 14 02:46:55 2017 No.9433725 >>9433723 That's so strange.. Does anyone else know if they usually do this? Also, about how long did your charms arrive after you paid the invoice?

Tim Fri Apr 14 03:14:18 2017 No.9433745
File: 378 KB, 424x492, Screen Shot 2017-04-14 at 12.13.15 AM.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

Hey guys, so I went ahead with a small cushion order for me and a friend. Idk if the people who emailed me will see this, but I sent an email out and didn't get a response so I just proceeded with the order. Also attaching my name so vendettachan doesn't have to make a point about it again.

The cushions were awesome quality and way bigger than I expected, which is great! I'd say a bunch were closer to 50cm even though the manufacturer said that their max was 45cm. They also shipped them to me unstuffed, which saved a ton on shipping (almost half!)

I think it's important to consider the other anons' feedback, though. I may have lucked out, and if other people have had issues with quality consistency and shipping deadlines with this manufacturer, it's likely to happen again. I just wanted to chalk up this time to good luck and maybe the manufacturer putting his best foot forward to secure a new business relationship.

Anyway, if people missed the last couple threads, tl;dr
>cushions done with Wuhan Yi Bo Digital Textile Technology on Alibaba.
>pros: quality is great, you can make big cushions
>cons: reports of inconsistent quality, service, and shipping. Use at own risk

Anonymous Fri Apr 14 03:56:01 2017 No.9433761

>>9433745
Ahhh that's awesome, thank you for your thorough review! The cushions are pre-sewn except for a hole left open for stuffing, is that right?

>and maybe the manufacturer putting his best foot forward to secure a new business relationship.
I can see that. I guess if you order from them the second time around, there may be different results? Hopefully nothing too drastic.

Tim Fri Apr 14 03:58:58 2017 No.9433762

>>9433761
Yeah, there's an invisible zipper in one end that you can use to close up the cushion.

Also, one of those 20 pz bags of fiberfill from local craft stores filled up about 4-5 of my cushions (I ordered 40 hahaha rest in fucking pieces) so if you're going to fill them yourself, it's better to buy stuffing in bulk.

Anonymous Fri Apr 14 04:26:57 2017 No.9433776

>>9433628
>>9433654
>>9433660
>>9433723
Between this and all the anons in the Discord who haven't received their AP charms, it makes me really wary of using them.

I've gotten a spiderburger charm from Fera before and she came by during AX to promo her charms - she seemed nice but nice doesn't make a good business. It's a shame too, I really wanted to try out their light up charms.

Anonymous Fri Apr 14 04:36:51 2017 No.9433781

>>9433637
ugh I love the look of gold foil. I'm working on packaging ideas for my new merch and have been googling different places that offer foil for packaging for the past couple of hours

does anyone else have more gold foil packaging inspo they care to throw my way??

>>9433377
i'm going to be bringing lots of overwatch stuff but that's to be expected from most artists this con season. look out for an oversaturation of ow and yuri on ice.

>>9433498
that's defeatist talk, anon. my friends were all the way near the back last year at akon and still made a decent profit. if you work on your products and promoting yourself online before the con, you'll get a lot more traffic that you think you would.

Anonymous Fri Apr 14 06:11:13 2017 No.9433818

>>9433776
Personally, all my experiences with AP have ended positively with each order came in time for my con dates. The only negative experience is long response times which is very typical of AP.

It's quite normal to send in a request and getting an invoice/response a week later and waiting *another* week or two to have the charms delivered.

From my experience, AP's turnaround time (10-15 days + shipping time) is only accurate from the point of when the invoice is paid, NOT including the time to reach out to the company. It's why I completely recommend folks to only contact them at least 4 weeks ahead of the event if you need it on a short notice.

I've ordered recently as well and this is my timeline of events
>sent order on 3/16 with con date of 4/7
>paid invoice 3/19
>messaged them 4/4 since it was nearing con date
>they admitted a printing mistake and upgraded shipping
>recieve package 4/6

Anonymous Fri Apr 14 06:28:02 2017 No.9433823

>>9433558
>or they use the kid as a distraction so they can steal.
well Idk if this girl stole anything, but the mom/someone had these 2 girls roaming super close around artist tables to the point they would playfully pick things up and walk away all cheery or accidentally walk around behind into your table area. I kept my money bag hidden away from the top (not using those obvious cash drawers) as she did find her way into my table walking closely in, but I stood in the middle so I definitely block her exploring attempt.
I later walked around to see this group getting told to return stuff and act all innocently giving it back. crazy.

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 14 06:36:15 2017 No.9433824 >>9433776 I'm one of the discord people, so you might be getting overlap. I think as long as you order with ample time before con crunch you'll be fine. If you're not looking to pay rush fees on orders a month before big con dates, I'd go with vograce.

Anonymous Fri Apr 14 08:29:47 2017 No.9433869

Oh wow I messaged AP with my inquiry 2 days ago and I need these charms by the end of this month. I don't want to risk not having it made in time...so I messaged Vograce and they responsed 2 hours later which is awesome! Only thing is...do you guys think it's possible to have the charms by the end of this month???
I wish I could've sent it in earlier but I'm sharing the losd with friends and they didn't finish their charms until a couple days ago;;

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 14 14:38:04 2017 No.9434200 Can't wait for all these people to close their etsy shop. Maybe i'll see a boost in traffic and sales with less competition.

Anonymous Fri Apr 14 14:47:35 2017 No.9434213

>>9433715
I bought a print from someone on plain computer paper that wasn't the best quality because I liked the art style and could tell she was just starting. People will learn and get better but not by someone being an ass because someone doesn't know where to get better prints/has a shitty printer

Anonymous Fri Apr 14 16:06:18 2017 No.9434300

>>9433869
It seems they got better shipping and now the charms should get to you 4 days after being sent out if they're not held up by customs. I would ask whichever Vograce representative you are talking to if they can do expedited shipping. It will cost more but I think that's the only safe way to get them by the end of the month if you only started messaging them today.

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 14 16:20:28 2017 No.9434321 >>9433776 light up charms?

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 14 16:24:30 2017 No.9434324 >>9432879 This, it's not so hard to find people thinking it's easy to make money in AA when you have anons saying they made 10k profit at a single con

Anonymous Fri Apr 14 16:49:11 2017 No.9434352

>>9434324
That's not what the anon you're quoting is saying though. There's a difference between sharing your numbers anonymously and telling others that if they don't meet a certain level of profit margin by their second convention, they're doing it wrong. This just makes you seem salty that you don't make as much as some of the anons in this thread?

>>9434321
I can't find examples on their tumblr but they posted about it on AANI and also came to show people at AX. There's basically a small light affixed to the top part where the charm meets the keychain attachment. You can click the button on the attachment to light up the charm. You can also unscrew the cap and change the batteries. It's an added cost of like $1 or $1.50 extra per keychain, I think? But it seems really cool. I'm not sure how I'd price them if I did end up making them just because of the extra added production cost.

Anonymous Fri Apr 14 17:55:21 2017 No.9434435

>>9433725
I paid for the invoice February 1st and received them the 16th of the same month. I wasn't in any rush, I just wished I was told when they were shipped out. I also appreciated how helpful they were when I needed help assembling it, and they were fairly quick about getting back to me during the set-up period before the invoice was sent.

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 14 18:42:40 2017 No.9434503 How common is theft? I'm worried that I won't be able to catch people that may steal from my table.

Anonymous Fri Apr 14 18:55:06 2017 No.9434518

>>9434503
Uncommon but not nonexistent. You're allowed table helpers for a reason. Get some and use them as your second/third set of eyes. Don't put your merchandise out on the table- just samples. Keep your actual stock behind the table. You have a giant flag that says "PLEASE STEAL FROM ME!" when you just have a bunch of buttons, charms, and keychains scattered on the table. It looks sloppy and you're getting shit stolen.

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 14 18:59:16 2017 No.9434527 >>9434324 It's also what gets IP owners to begin cracking down on fan merch, imo. Imagine being someone from a company and thinking that each person with a table represents someone regularly making 10k from your IPs...

Anonymous Fri Apr 14 19:18:05 2017 No.9434552

>>9434352
>This just makes you seem salty that you don't make as much as some of the anons in this thread?

Well I'll admit I did read it wrong, you're also right about that. Fuck me I could never make that much where I live lol. There's no way someone here could go to anime cons doing AA for a living.

>>9434527
That saddens me. I think it's a nice way people can make some money and fans can get merchandise of their favorite characters. But companies are seeing people make honestly absurd amounts of money off franchises they do not own.
Which let me be clear, doesn't mean I don't think they shouldn't do it. If I could do it I would do the same. They themselves aren't to blame, but it still amazes me people can make this much money at cons. I applaud them.

Anonymous Fri Apr 14 19:32:07 2017 No.9434573

>>9434527
I've worked for a company that does licensing. They honestly don't really care about artist alleys - they all think we make like a grand at the most. What they're way more concerned with is policing online sales and bootlegs in dealer's hall. That's one of the reasons I don't necessarily agree with the "you should get a dealer's table if you make a lot of money" sentiment because while they turn a blind eye to fanmerch in AAs, as soon as you set foot in dealer's, you're in bootleg territory in their eyes.

Anonymous Sat Apr 15 00:18:56 2017 No.9434868

Here's a question for those of you who do buttons with metal pinbacks, what do you do if you have quite a few duds?

A couple years ago I paid a friend with a button machine to print and punch a handful of buttons for me before a convention, but when I got them, the color quality was horrific, I think one of her ink cartridges was running low, and they're basically unsellable.

It's all of one design too, so there's no real variety to do a bargain bin thing either, and I can't find out if there's a way to recycle these things. Any advice?

>>	Anonymous Sat Apr 15 00:24:40 2017 No.9434873 >>9434573 I've always wondered why these companies don't just have some really basic online form to license people for really tiny sales and have legallese so that everyone gets to be happy?

Anonymous Sat Apr 15 00:32:21 2017 No.9434881

>>9434868
Buy your own button maker. The investment is 200-300, but you'll pay it off in no time if you have a good stock of buttons. Parts are seriously cheap, and you can go to your local staples to get color pages for 99cents(with like 25 of each design per page) and order like 1k parts online for 50 dollars or so.

For the ruined buttons, I think you could still do a bargain bin thing, but ultimately I think you'll need to throw them out. It's unfortunate, but if it's just a "handful" it shouldn't be too bad.

Anonymous Sat Apr 15 01:49:33 2017 No.9434947

>>9434873
Licensing is actually way more complicated than you seem to think it is. If you're talking about most anime, then not only are you going to be going through their US branch but also the Japanese license holders as well. Which means if you have any products in mind you need to get approvals for both concepts and pre-production samples from both the U.S. branch and the Japanese copyright holders. The approval process itself can take up to months due to the fact that most IP holders want to see physical samples before final approval - so you're spending money overnighting things to Japan and waiting for them to process your samples. More often than not they'll ask for a ton of revisions (a lot of companies are particular about color tones down to hex codes, you're gonna be fixing proportions, facial feature placements, etc) until they're satisfied with it before you can even okay full production for whatever it is you want to sell.

In our case, it would take probably 1.5 years for an item to even hit the shelves from a concept image. Because the approval process is so lengthy, they're not gonna want to cut deals with small fry convention artists. You don't have anything to offer them. Not to mention your personal style most likely aren't representative of what they're looking for. (The only time we were given free reign over the design was for plush creation. For other things like shirts, pencil cases, wallscrolls, etc - they wanted to use the official licensed images they had available. So in a lot of cases your "design" is just you arranging some chibis into a pattern.) A lot of the times, my boss had to make group deals with companies to take on smaller IPs that no one cared about in exchange for getting the rights to bigger name animes. Licensing fees cost a ton and I doubt anyone in this thread would have the cash to broker a deal with any of the popular animes, esp if you had to pay for the shitty ones too.

>>	Anonymous Sat Apr 15 02:57:27 2017 No.9434997 >>9433715 What is this "t. name" meme I keep seeing everywhere now? Polite sage for OT

>>	Anonymous Sat Apr 15 02:59:34 2017 No.9435000 >>9434200 ? What

>>	Anonymous Sat Apr 15 03:03:10 2017 No.9435002 >>9434997 >https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/4seari/what_does_t_word_mean_on_4chan/ Here you go, anon. This was really useful for me. Inb4 Reddit. This sub is actually useful.

>>	Anonymous Sat Apr 15 03:15:45 2017 No.9435008 Tips on how to keep your neighbors from talking to you without appearing like a super cunt?

>>	Anonymous Sat Apr 15 03:19:22 2017 No.9435009 >>9435008 Work on commissions/draw something. Usually my neighbors don't bother me if they notice I'm drawing since they're all artists and don't want to be bothered when they draw either.

Anonymous Sat Apr 15 03:38:29 2017 No.9435019

>>9433402
>>9433416
>>9433502
What does it honestly matter to you people if there are "bad artists" on etsy or in aa's or whatever? Why would it affect you? What difference would it make in your life. If someone has lesser skill then that's for them to deal with. It shouldn't effect you if you're that much better than them because it means the person will buy your art and not theirs, right? So why even give a shit if the present is in your line of sight or not.

Anonymous Sat Apr 15 03:46:35 2017 No.9435021

>>9435009
I try this and it never works. I think I might be something people want to talk to for some reason, but it really annoys the hell out of me, because usually they are really snobby or just stuck on themselves. Like what some people were talking about before with how artists in AA like to...boast about sales and making all this $$$$... Good for them, but I really don't like listening to people brag and trying to tell me how to sell "properly" when I do fine...just because I don't feel comfortable sharing how much I make or lying with some bs 10k number.

Anonymous Sat Apr 15 03:51:41 2017 No.9435023

>>9435019
Not any of the anons you're replying to but generally for me it's a minor annoyance, but still an annoyance, especially for AAs where my pro-level friends were also trying to get tables and instead some middle school tier How To Draw Anime artist got in instead.

On top of that it sort of lowers the overall "look" of the AA and gives the impression that literally anyone can successfully sell at an anime con, or it gives a poor impression to someone cruising by quickly to see if there's anything good in the AA.

Plus it's almost a guarantee that someone who's trying to sell their stuff without really being ready to do so is going to be awkward. Also if they don't sell well, they'll probably bitch about AAs being a scam to their friends and how you can only do AAs if you're Internet Famous.

It's all minor annoyances, you see, but I can understand getting tired of these people.

Oh, and they'll see other artists doing print trades and want in on it, and then you're given the unpleasantly awkward task of either denying them, or actually trading with them and getting something you don't want.

Anonymous Sat Apr 15 04:00:26 2017 No.9435028

>>9435023
But then you have people who think person A's art sucks compared to person B, then the next person will think A is amazing and B sucks. What about jury aa's? I have seen people complaining about "bad artists" in those too. It just seems very pointless to give a shit about it/the other "lesser" artists imo

And then the people wanting others off etsy who they deem inferior? The AA situation, I could maaaaybe understand, but why care about a site that has tons of users if little Bobby can't do backgrounds like you can.

Anonymous Sat Apr 15 04:04:53 2017 No.9435030

>>9435021
That was quite the tangent you just went on, anon.

Anyway, what I do is just state simply "Hey I'm really tired and am trying to conserve energy for customers so I'm gonna keep to myself, sorry if I appear grumpy and hope sales go well for you."
I guess it borders on dickishness, but I guess I'd rather slightly offend the person and have a calm rest of the con than have to deal with a pestering neighbor.

Anonymous Sat Apr 15 04:05:20 2017 No.9435031

>>9435021
Don't be socially inept and just tell them something like "Sorry, but I'm a little busy working on this right now." And they'll get the clue. There isn't just a magical way to get people to stop talking to you short of you offending them.

I usually notice that AA artists are way more reticent to discuss actual numbers in person. I only really talk hard numbers with my friends at dinner/after the con or on here anonymously. If you don't like discussing money then just tell them that. All you have to do is say "I don't feel comfortable discussing my profit margins with you."

Also why are you assuming that people making a lot of money are automatically lying about their numbers???

>>	Anonymous Sat Apr 15 04:15:21 2017 No.9435036 >>9435031 Maybe I should have mentioned brony conversations...

>>	Anonymous Sat Apr 15 04:26:03 2017 No.9435042 >>9435030 Bronycons...

>>	Anonymous Sat Apr 15 04:34:52 2017 No.9435045 >>9435042 I don't know what to tell you? A bronycon is no different than a normal convention, other than having a slightly weirder crowd. I'm not sure what you're trying to communicate to me.

>>	Anonymous Sat Apr 15 04:54:57 2017 No.9435056 >>9435023 >, especially for AAs where my pro-level friends this is your real issue.

Anonymous Sat Apr 15 04:56:45 2017 No.9435057

>>9435028
Shrug, you asked and I listed off some reasons that I can personally see why that might be annoying. I didn't claim to speak for all anons everywhere, I just gave you some reasons.

You seem to be under the impression that being annoyed by something is an easily controllable thing that people do intentionally. It generally is just subconscious.

The etsy thing is a whole different can of worms. There is a reason regretsy threads exist (and regretsy the site existed).

>>	Anonymous Sat Apr 15 04:59:09 2017 No.9435058 >>9435056 Uh oh, please don't tell me you're one of the people who thinks pro artists should be banned or something.

>>	Anonymous Sat Apr 15 05:25:46 2017 No.9435072 >>9435058 not the pro-level part, the friends part. You're clearly butthurt about your friends not getting in.

>>	Anonymous Sat Apr 15 10:23:04 2017 No.9435266 >>9435000 https://www.etsy.com/teams/7722/discussions/discuss/18325480/page/1 >>9435019 Its just fun to make fun of incompetent people.

Anonymous Sat Apr 15 11:30:44 2017 No.9435324

>>9435266
Huh I am missing what is interesting about this?? All I am getting from this situation + this thread is that there are many artists who are just mean? That you guys enjoy watching others struggle? It's rubbing me the wrong way...just how many artists are actually petty like this when they are anonymous? Because I would absolutely love to buy commissions at cons. It's the main thing I go to cons for! But reading over the past few threads is really making me think twice now. I don't want to support people who indulge in others struggles or make fun of others art. I don't care how amazing your art is, I won't buy from someone if I am familiar with them online and they have a bad attitude.

Now I'm wondering what personality types most artists are. So I guess question to the chill anons here: Do you find most artists are cool or petty and drama thirsty with vendettas or some shit??

>>	Anonymous Sat Apr 15 11:42:46 2017 No.9435338 >>9431905 I've sold out a quarter of a table to my friends who write novels. It's basically just giving them a corner of the table to display their books.

>>	Anonymous Sat Apr 15 11:55:18 2017 No.9435349 >>9435072 What part of "minor annoyance" means butthurt?

>>	Anonymous Sat Apr 15 11:56:37 2017 No.9435351 >>9435324 All Artists Must Be Lovelies! the hot new sequel to All Lolitas Must Be Lovelies!

>>	Anonymous Sat Apr 15 12:02:52 2017 No.9435354 >>9435351 Sorry dude, I'd just rather give my money to a nice person than to someone who takes joy in watching others suffer. And if most of you all are like this, then well...

>>	Anonymous Sat Apr 15 12:12:13 2017 No.9435364 Got waitlisted for Hazard Con's AA. Did anyone here get accepted?

>>	Anonymous Sat Apr 15 12:12:32 2017 No.9435365 >>9433377 Bringing a ton of Yuri!!! on ICE, some Captive Prince, Arslan, and just more BL stuff ranging from classics like Gravitation to newer stuff like Twittering Birds and Don't be Cruel. I might try for an ACCA print and some new Free!

>>	Anonymous Sat Apr 15 12:18:28 2017 No.9435373 >>9435354 lol anon you are reading WAY too much into one person saying they want someone to close their etsy shop.

Anonymous Sat Apr 15 12:21:48 2017 No.9435378

>>9435324
We aren't laughing at the 16 year old trying to make it in the art world, we're laughing at the people who make awful art and expect to bring in $1000s. People who think AA is easy money.
With Etsy, its making fun of the people who think they can run a business without connecting their bank account. Mainly just making fun of adults acting like children. There is a very clear difference between new people getting into AA/etsy, and people who think their art is the best and should bring in loads of money.

Anonymous Sat Apr 15 14:55:07 2017 No.9435518

I know that having a table helper is the best option, but does anyone have advice for doing an AA table solo? I want to try for my first ever AA table at a small nearby con next year but I really don't know anybody who would want to help me man it. The con's AA hours seemed fairly short this year (4 hours) and I might be able to pull it off if it stays the same, but if hours end up expanding would I be SOL?

Anonymous Sat Apr 15 15:50:14 2017 No.9435551

>>9435324

Anon, unfortunately you can't really tell in person because most artists at least have common sense and basic decency when you're face to face. For example, I recently met a couple of infamously nasty artists, and they were super friendly to me in person, to the point where it was hard to believe it was the same people who constantly say really offensive, mean shit online.

In my experience, most artists are nice in person but tend to have kind of a petty, clique-like attitude when it comes to other artists. But that's just my opinion as an artist who unfortunately doesn't have a lot of friends in AA.

>>	Anonymous Sat Apr 15 16:07:20 2017 No.9435568 >>9435365 BRO I AM COMING FOR THAT TWITTERING BIRDS MERCH I was also considering doing merch for Twittering Birds because I love that series...

Anonymous Sat Apr 15 16:07:39 2017 No.9435569

>>9435518
Bring a decent variety of snacks and water and offer some to your neighbors, try friendly small talk with them. Then see if later they're willing to watch your table when you go on bathroom breaks or something.

You might be next to someone like >>9435008 who simply doesn't want to talk so that option might not be the best, but personally I find snack bribing to be a good ice breaker, especially in smaller, slower cons.

Anonymous Sat Apr 15 16:09:32 2017 No.9435573

>>9435518
Bring your own drinks and snacks. Not too many drinks since you won't be able to leave to pee. Make your setup really easy to break down (like it all fits into one suitcase) so you can easily take it with you if you do need to leave. Alternatively, ask someone at a nearby table if they could just tell people you'll be back in like 5 min or whatever if you need to go to the bathroom really quick. Don't expect too much, though, obviously they're there to sell thwir own stuff, not watch your booth. Depending on the con, sometimea you can get a volunteer to watch your booth for a few minutes. Good luck.

Anonymous Sat Apr 15 16:12:39 2017 No.9435576

>>9435551
Aren't there also some artists who are infamous for not being so lovely in person either? Like super cliquish and not paying attention?

I heard Omocat is kinda like that. Then again she's the same person that made tweets about how suffering it is to have to send out emails.

>>	Anonymous Sat Apr 15 16:15:50 2017 No.9435584 >>9435324 Are you lost? This isn't AANI. It's /cgl/. Sorry we're not all about asspats and positive energy around here. Forgive us for not being a smiling face of sunshine for you 24/7.

Anonymous Sat Apr 15 16:19:06 2017 No.9435588

>>9435576
I hung out with omocat one year because she's friends with some people I was going to dinner with. I thought she was standoffish immediately but usually people warm up once they get off the con floor and get a chance to breathe. Not the case at all with her; she was pretty rude the whole way through the evening.

>>	Anonymous Sat Apr 15 16:23:02 2017 No.9435595 >>9435588 When I was reading I honestly expected you to say she was nicer once off the con floor. But what you've said pretty much aligns with the stuff I've heard about her. Even just from her tweets she always comes off as rude to me.

Anonymous Sat Apr 15 16:24:20 2017 No.9435596

>>9435518
Seconding what all the other anons have said. Bringing your own food/snacks and offering some to your neighbors to break the ice will make it much easier for you. I generally don't mind watching my neighbor's table for them if they need to go use the restroom. You can make a little sign that says "Be back soon! Using the restroom!" and leave it on your table and ask your neighbor to just keep an eye out for possible thieves. It lets interested congoers know that you'll be back in a couple of minutes if they want to buy anything and it takes a load off of your neighbor's shoulders so they don't have to make sales for you.

>>9435576
>>9435588
Yeah, omocat is pretty rude IRL. I was treated poorly by her even as a customer and I have some artists friends who got snubbed by her too. That doesn't mean most artists will be rude to you in person though.

Anonymous Sat Apr 15 16:33:50 2017 No.9435609

>>9435576
>>9435588
>>9435596
I have a friend who went to uni with her and for her senior wall project she just hung shirts from her internet store up on the wall.

Context: the senior wall project is where you're supposed to show off everything you've learned and it's kind of a show of respect to the school, your teachers, and your classmates. Plus I think some big wigs come around and look at them? Apparently she pissed a lot of people off by doing something so lazy for hers.

>>	Anonymous Sat Apr 15 16:37:25 2017 No.9435612 >>9435609 The fact she seems to be able to act like such a cunt often and get away it it still amazes me. Can't wait to see how Omori ended up after all those delays.

Anonymous Sat Apr 15 16:54:56 2017 No.9435631
File: 356 KB, 2048x1262, ac.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

as shitty as omocat is - I guess she's doing her own stuff for her brand at the very least? (doesn't excuse her rude behavior)

is anyone else tired of "artists" who branch out into being full time vendors and then doing stuff like this? just putting a word on some apparel is lazy as fuck and building an entire "brand" around existing IPs is shady as fuck. selling fanart in AAs is one thing but when you start mass producing and doing vendor halls with stuff like this, it gives fanmerch a bad name.

Anonymous Sat Apr 15 16:57:05 2017 No.9435638

>>9435631
>I guess she's doing her own stuff for her brand at the very least?

While I don't doubt she draws the stuff, I wonder how much help she gets. She doesn't exactly come across as someone who is knowledgeable about all the logistics surrounding her own brand, let alone being able to be professional enough to work with official collaborations.

>>	Anonymous Sat Apr 15 16:58:28 2017 No.9435640 File: 3.38 MB, 640x901, aclion.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>9435631 not to mention her shirts are just straight up traced from an official voltron image

Anonymous Sat Apr 15 17:03:53 2017 No.9435649

>>9435324
Alright, I'm going to speak to you on level terms, as an artist who loves to encourage new artists to step into the Artist Alley, and as someone who tries to be civil whenever possible.

There ARE many artists who are just mean. There are many /humans/ who are just mean. Artist Alley, like any other community, is diverse and full of different kinds of people. Kind, petty, gracious, salty, everything. It's just like a choir club at school, or a church group, or classroom. You cannot make blanket artists like "are all artists like this?" when the topic at hand is about the human condition. Before stepping into the Artist Alley circle, I was in game developer communities(Not art- Programming), and there were plenty of unkind and petty people, just like there were kind people. Communities are communities.

Also, you're on /cgl/, not a local artist support group. Of course this is where the most malicious comments are made, people are under the veil of anonymity. Go to any other thread on 4chan, this thread incredibly tame compared to those. And I don't think that these anons on this thread should be silenced in their complaints/concerns, either. If they want to bitch about the newbies on etsy, so be it.

To answer your question, I have met some of the nicest people in Artist Alleys, and they are my closest friends. I have also met some equally rude people, but nothing compared to the real harmful malice of other people I've met in my life.

Anonymous Sat Apr 15 18:33:55 2017 No.9435746

I need to vent and cgl is the only place I can vent and not loose all of my friends.

Before I make a new product I ask my friends or show them the new product online. I get tons of comments,likes and shares with friends claiming they want whatever it is that I had just shown, they are putting money away right now, they will get it in this size or other general questions etc. Then after I make the item for public sale online, they all completely disappear.

I want to make a post addressing how frustrating it is to me when they hype the idea up and then leave, but I don't want my friends to think badly about me and never buy things from me again. I know were all adults and have responsibilities, but I'd prefer they "like" it and run instead of giving me false promises.

Does anyone else have similar friends? General advice?

>>	Anonymous Sat Apr 15 18:44:40 2017 No.9435761 >>9435746 I mean if they're basically saying "omg I"m gonna buy it!!" then yeah that's a dick move.

>>	Anonymous Sat Apr 15 18:50:33 2017 No.9435773 >>9435631 Yeah stuff like this is just boring and lazy to me

Anonymous Sat Apr 15 18:57:30 2017 No.9435782

What do you guys think of AAs that charge artists more for tables if they make acrylic charms, enamel pins, and non paper goods, regardless of it being original or fanart?

Salt Lake city comic con started doing it and now Kawaiicon is too. SLCC is double the table price.

Anonymous Sat Apr 15 18:59:52 2017 No.9435791

>>9435761
They are. Stuff like "take my money". "I'm going to get this" etc when they were the main ones suggesting that I make this product in the first place. I opened the product as a MTO so I don't waste a lot of money upfront, but I'm still pretty blown.

>>	Anonymous Sat Apr 15 19:02:36 2017 No.9435798 >>9435746 My advice is get better friends to show your examples to. These ones just seem like the type to hype anything up, even if it's shit. Pitch your ideas to previous customers and fellow artists. Hell, pitch it to us.

Anonymous Sat Apr 15 19:24:54 2017 No.9435827

>>9435746
Sounds like a case of friends who show their emotions way over the top. There's a lot of customers like that, who scream "I NEED THIS OMG!" and then proceed to walk away from your table.

The only advice I can really give outside of expanding your friend group is to not show the final piece until you're ready to take orders for it. No previews. That way, the excitement of seeing something new and shiny also aligns with being able to spend money on something new and shiny.

>>	Anonymous Sat Apr 15 20:01:21 2017 No.9435866 >>9435782 I won't be returning to Kawaii Kon for this reason I heard that with SLCC, you can get away with charms but not much else. I hate this rule especially since there's a recent trend of congoers preferring 3D goods to paper goods.

>>	Anonymous Sat Apr 15 20:15:10 2017 No.9435873 >>9435782 I don't even understand any other basis for this except "These people will earn more money, charge them more." And fuck charms take up less space on top of that.

Anonymous Sat Apr 15 21:14:20 2017 No.9435926

>>9435576
>>9435588
>>9435595
why you all gotta say this? I just discovered her last month and got a shirt last week and feel in love. ugh.

Anything shady she does? I don't care about someone just being rude so much.

>>9435746
Find people who will actually tell you that they don't like something. I could just draw a blue circle and most of my friends will say it looks good.

>>9435782
That doesn't make any sense. How many people even have prints only tables?

>>	Anonymous Sat Apr 15 21:45:43 2017 No.9435958 >>9435926 I guess that depends on what you define as shady. Personally I think the way she dealt with her kickstarter game so far is embarrassing to say the least.

>>	Anonymous Sat Apr 15 21:50:43 2017 No.9435961 >>9435958 explain

>>	Anonymous Sat Apr 15 22:31:11 2017 No.9436016 >>9435596 Even better than saying "Be Back Soon," make a laminated sign that says "Be Back at _____" and write a time on it with a dry erase marker. People are more likely to hang around and make purchases when you get back if there's a set time.

Anonymous Sat Apr 15 22:46:11 2017 No.9436042

>>9435926
Right? It sucks about omocat. I was in love with her stuff and saw her omori kickstarter but didnt back it (i literally will never back a kickstarter since getting scammed is way too common) but I was really hyped seeing all the stuff for it. Too bad she turned out to be such a cunt though. Now I will never be a customer of hers.

If you love the shirt though just keep it and wear it, most normies arent caught up in this internet drama and she still has tons of fans out there.

>>	Anonymous Sat Apr 15 23:03:33 2017 No.9436069 >>9435782 This sounds horrible for people who make non-print items because it seems like prints have way bigger profit margins.

>>	Anonymous Sat Apr 15 23:25:03 2017 No.9436104 How do yall feel about copying someone's style. Where is the line between inspiration and being able to tell someone is trying to do what x does?

>>	Anonymous Sat Apr 15 23:35:21 2017 No.9436117 >>9436042 looked it up. Same thing that happened with yogscast's game kickstarter too. hmm

>>	Anonymous Sat Apr 15 23:59:02 2017 No.9436156 >>9436104 I don't think there's anything wrong with copying someone's style in practice to improve aspects of your own, but if you're selling prints and merch and it's clear you're just copying a person, no thanks.

Anonymous Sun Apr 16 00:01:56 2017 No.9436162
File: 594 KB, 422x596, polnareff.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

>>9436104
I think there's a very thick line between inspiration and straight up copying. Like I see a lot of rei copiers (Pic related- I don't see her copiers in artist alley actually, just online, though rei does have booths at AAs), who copy everything straight down to color picking and her choice of motifs with the character in the same poses. However, there are also plenty of people who take inspiration from rei, borrowing her soft shading methods and muted color choices, things like that.

Basically if you have to double take to see if the original artist (in this case, rei) did an especially shitty piece is when I think it gets into a moral gray zone.

When it's just posting works online, I don't really care. But when you breach into the area of AAs, it gets kind of morally wrong to be trying to market a style you took from someone else. Of course then this opens up a ton more questions, because there are a lot of people in AA who copy official styles (I'm looking at you, Osomatsu) and then I can't give any straight answers.

Anyway, I guess to sum it up, if someone is in AA copying someone else's style, I just won't give them business- But that's where I stop, I'm not about to go run off and send them passive aggressive messages about it. However other artists deal with it is up to them. This all again, is just my personal opinion.

Anonymous Sun Apr 16 00:11:02 2017 No.9436177

>>9436016
>>9436016
I actually stopped doing this because people would wait at my table until I got back and sometimes I would be a few minutes late and they would actually be angry at me.. once I had to make a run to get extra prints I sold out of and there was a CROWD waiting. I was so embarrassed because they were blocking the wholeFREAKIN isle and other artists booths. I felt so bad :(( so I don't put times on my BRB signs anymore.

>>	Anonymous Sun Apr 16 01:31:16 2017 No.9436251 >at the con >downtime/slow sales >get bored, decide to take a bathroom/walking/food break since fuck all is happening >"oh dude anon where you been like fifty million people came by wanting to buy your stuff" Every. Fucking. Time.

Anonymous Sun Apr 16 06:19:13 2017 No.9436417

I tried doing 'lucky eggs' this convention since today is easter and its amazing how powerful peoples urge to gamble is. I'm charging $3 per egg, or 2 for $5. Inside each is 4-5 buttons and the chance for a special star button which would get you either a free print or a bust up sketch commission. I saw this as a good way to clear out old pin designs that dont sell anymore but they were doing better than selling buttons individually (a bit lower profit though) so I just started filling them with some of my regular selling designs. There was the bonus of not having to sit and grab each individual pin a customer wanted, and just get a quick $3 sale. I even had one girl buy 4 eggs trying to get the star when a sketch or print would cost her $10-15 anyway.
Not really a question, just wanted to share an experience.

Anonymous Sun Apr 16 09:02:13 2017 No.9436487

>>9436251
This happened at an art show I was at last weekend. I stayed by my work for most of the night but the second I went to get a drink, a bunch of people came by. Thankfully, my stuff was visible but that just led to me rushing to get back before people left

>>	Anonymous Sun Apr 16 09:32:53 2017 No.9436503 File: 25 KB, 552x412, FB_IMG_1492349507964.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] How are these people serious?

>>	Anonymous Sun Apr 16 09:39:01 2017 No.9436509 File: 34 KB, 500x466, tumblr_inline_mgjwpoiMVZ1roqm64.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>9436503

>>	Anonymous Sun Apr 16 10:12:09 2017 No.9436526 >>9436162 I recently discovered this artist and really like there stuff. Do you have examples of artists coping her? For curiosity's sake.

Anonymous Sun Apr 16 10:14:32 2017 No.9436529

>>9436162

>because there are a lot of people in AA who copy official styles (I'm looking at you, Osomatsu)

Ah Osomatsu. I'm making items for Osomatsu and trying to avoid straight up aping the show's style. Harder than it looks considering they are already so stylized that changing the style up a bit will make them straight up unrecognizable.

Anonymous Sun Apr 16 10:40:37 2017 No.9436556

>>9435798
Agreed, I just really hate to show my work to other artist because they don't really give advice its just "omg where did you get that made" granted the product is easy to find, it's just annoying when everyone is asking the same question. It's like no one even sees the work anymore.

What I was trying to say is they love the design and ask me to make stuff with it, but when I do it's just the distant sound of crickets in terms of buying it. I feel like most are waiting til they see me at a convention which isn't for another few months.

>>9435827
I think I will start doing this now. That way I can reply to all the "I NEED IT" comments with "hey it's already for sale so just use the link to buy it". It'll be easier to call people out that way

.>>9435926
Thing is they DO like it. They have been asking for it etc and now that it's there it's silent.

>>	Anonymous Sun Apr 16 10:46:42 2017 No.9436562 File: 348 KB, 1304x582, wat.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] I certainly hope noone's going to a tattoo convention to buy undertale porn...

>>	Anonymous Sun Apr 16 10:50:07 2017 No.9436567 >>9436562 Yeahhh....and it doesn't seem like they quite grasped the concept of MAYBE THIS WASN"T THE RIGHT CONVENTION FOR YOUR SHIT

>>	Anonymous Sun Apr 16 11:02:18 2017 No.9436589 >>9436562 Mind if I get some context? I'm don't use Facebook. Did this artist go to a tattoo convention, buy a dealer booth to sell bootleg Undertale merchandise and other weeb goods, and then bitch about it not being like an anime convention?

>>	Anonymous Sun Apr 16 11:07:43 2017 No.9436593 File: 92 KB, 487x311, wat2.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>9436589 That's pretty much what happened,

Anonymous Sun Apr 16 11:10:05 2017 No.9436598

>>9436593
Thank you for the clarification. I love how this Sega person just ignores everything the other person is saying. Yes, it's the CONVENTION'S fault that you only sold three pieces of fan art. Certainly not the fact that you decided to bring this thing to a tattoo convention.

>>	Anonymous Sun Apr 16 11:38:31 2017 No.9436630 >>9436593 wtf? How do you think that is a good idea?

Anonymous Sun Apr 16 11:56:50 2017 No.9436651

>>9436593
Is it just me, or when "no name" artists get posted/talked about here, it reeks of personal vendetta...especially if they are blocking out the name of one person and not the other. How obvious is it that the poster is clearly trying to get the person harassed or some shit. It's dumb. I could see if the person was a big name fan/artist, but who cares what some no name does.

>>	Anonymous Sun Apr 16 12:01:24 2017 No.9436657 >>9436651 By that logic anyone on AANI is a no name

Anonymous Sun Apr 16 12:01:45 2017 No.9436659

>>9436651
or, you know, just sharing general stupidity for the LOLz. If you actually read the thread on AANI, you would see that people were sympathetic and also just pointing out that the con might have not been the best choice and to be careful in the future. This has really gone over OP's head.

>>	Anonymous Sun Apr 16 12:11:25 2017 No.9436682 >>9436659 Maybe I'm playing devil's advocate, but I could somewhat understand their logic. Tattoos are about art, and people want tattoos of loony toons and Sailor Moon and shit, so maybe they thought people would be interested.

Anonymous Sun Apr 16 13:04:23 2017 No.9436731

Has anyone else noticed a bunch of artists on twitter suddenly all talking about art theft/reposting again?

One of them made the glorious analogy that saying if you blame an artists for their art getting stolen, it's the same as blaming a rape victim.
I hate art theft as much as the other person but how does anyone think that's a good comparison?

>>	Anonymous Sun Apr 16 13:08:18 2017 No.9436735 >>9436731 1) Who is blaming artists for art theft in the first place? I've legitimately never seen that. 2) I agree with you on the analogy. Talk about a bad choice of words.

Anonymous Sun Apr 16 13:11:57 2017 No.9436741

>>9436735
I'm not sure if I should give out names but there's several artists responding and posting images of people saying exactly that. Trust me I've seen people told often enough they shouldn't post online if they don't want their art stolen.
It happens, though at this point I'm certain there's a few trolls involved.

As for the second part, yeah it's pretty bad. I love that artist but wew that was the worst tweet she's ever made by far.

>>	Anonymous Sun Apr 16 13:21:43 2017 No.9436751 >>9436651 Or it's just a screenshot from AANI like plenty of others

Anonymous Sun Apr 16 13:30:39 2017 No.9436755

>>9436731
I have one friend who has complained about art theft for the past 8 years I've known her. Some people have nothing better to do than to complain about everyone stealing their art and OCs. "This person made an OC that uses the same color scheme as an OC I made 5 years ago!!!!".
I just ignore people who complain about art theft unless it is someone actually stealing artwork and re-selling it.

>>9436741
>they shouldn't post online if they don't want their art stolen.
wut

>>	Anonymous Sun Apr 16 18:14:06 2017 No.9437102 Gulls, do you have any favorite heart shaped button designs? I want to do a button featuring a popular ship but I don't know how to approach it, whether I should do kissing, snuggling or something more lowkey.

>>	Anonymous Sun Apr 16 18:22:30 2017 No.9437108 >>9436417 i read that when people hear the word 'free' their common sense and perception of how much they're actually saving jumps out the window.

>>	Anonymous Sun Apr 16 18:37:48 2017 No.9437119 >>9437108 This is why I put buy 2 get one free instead of 3 for $30. Same price but sounds like a better deal.

>>	Anonymous Sun Apr 16 20:44:42 2017 No.9437330 Holy shit did anyone go to hanadoki con? The artist alley staff were the best i've dealt with but it was the absolute worst con ive sold at

>>	Anonymous Sun Apr 16 21:40:33 2017 No.9437393 >>9435568 Omg someone else who loves this series! I'll be the actual BL table.

Anonymous Sun Apr 16 21:52:59 2017 No.9437410

>>9436562
>>9436593
>>9436589
I've wanted to go to tattoo conventions (I sell alternative fashion) but talked to a tattoo artist friend of mine first, who mentioned that these places really prefer actual tattoo artists and tattoo artist related items, so I didn't go. Guess this person didn't get that memo.

>>	Anonymous Sun Apr 16 22:16:33 2017 No.9437442 >>9437330 I did Hanadoki last year. I made okay-ish money for a con that small but it honestly wasn't worth going back for.

>>	Anonymous Sun Apr 16 22:19:18 2017 No.9437446 Is anyone here going to Cpac?

Anonymous Sun Apr 16 22:30:24 2017 No.9437464

Question about charm pricing. I've been using Vograce for years to do my 2" double sided charms. I'm still using them to reorder popular designs and some new designs I'm okay with being on the lower end side for quality. Mine contain two characters and I charge $8 each or 2 for $15. Recently though, I've started doing charms through AP on specialty acrylics and upwards of 2.5" but single sided. All of my Vograce ones come with a matching color lariat strap and star bead, but my AP ones have more custom charms though still the same style of colored strap.

What would be the best price for these larger, specialty (but double sided) charms? And do y'all charge differently if you do a keychain attachment vs. charm strap?

I know charm pricing gets asked a lot, but with the newer acrylics and sizing I've been seeing I'm out of the loop on market standards.

Anonymous Sun Apr 16 22:57:43 2017 No.9437496

>>9437464
I recommend $12+ for 2.5 inch or higher designs, especially if its on a specialty acrylic (single sided is fine.) The price me, and most of my friends, have for 1.5inch double sided clear acrylic (with a single character) is $10 and our 2.5inch or higher run between $12-14. I do not charge differently depending on the strap type.
I personally have bought a 3 inch double sided clear acrylic charm with two characters for $15 before, and felt that the price was fair.

Anonymous Sun Apr 16 23:40:00 2017 No.9437550

>>9437464
Generally I do 1.5" for $10, 2" for $12, 2.5" for $14 and mess with it based on artwork/specialty materials. I have a set of 1.5" charms that have different art on the front/back and come with star accessories that I sell for $12 each. Those prices are for my AP charms. When I used vograce I lowered all of my prices by $2.

I don't really factor strap/accessories into pricing because they're not expensive when you figure out the cost per charm. None of the extras cost more than like $0.30 individually.

Anonymous Mon Apr 17 02:02:46 2017 No.9437690

How do you guys feel about your table partners selling merch of the same series at a lower price?
I don't mind so much having same-series stuff but my table partner at my last con refused to up her prices while mine were at $10 (with a multiple item deal). We were both selling 2.25" double-sided charms so I thought my prices were pretty fair and not only was she underselling, but almost all of the purchases for that series went to her (and it's not because my art was mediocre--lots of customers squealed over both and then saw her price sign). I tried to suggest raising her prices but she just wouldn't listen. How would you guys deal with that, if at all?

>>	Anonymous Mon Apr 17 02:10:54 2017 No.9437699 >>9437690 Is it your table? Tell her to raise prices or you'll find a different partner that doesn't compete with your stock. Is it her table? Lower your prices to hers.

>>	Anonymous Mon Apr 17 02:15:23 2017 No.9437705 >>9437690 I agree with >>9437699 if she won't compromise, find a new partner or start tabling solo. $10 for 2.25" double-sided charms is already on the cheap side imo, I can't imagine what her prices were. Is she new to tabling or something?

Anonymous Mon Apr 17 03:03:12 2017 No.9437735

>>9437330
hanadoki's always been pretty bad... and the people who say otherwise have ties to the con. I'm not surprised that to hear that it was the worst con you've sold at.

>>9437496
i'm glad you think that price is fair, I sell charms (specialty materials, 2-3", extra charm attachments) around the $12-$15 price range and I've had people try to haggle

>>	Anonymous Mon Apr 17 03:20:14 2017 No.9437746 >>9437699 Exactly what I was going to say. The table owner sets the rules.

Anonymous Mon Apr 17 03:50:38 2017 No.9437757

>>9432475

Warning for anyone considering this: talk to an accountant first before considering it. Alot of the deductibles mentioned are things the IRS scrutinizes closely and if they're not done correctly you will be audited.

For example, if you use your personal car for business you need to keep a mileage log for how much its used for business. Also you need to account for the gas and tolls used during these trips and make sure they line up with the mileage log. There are also minimum amounts of mileage you have to claim before its even able to be counted as a deduction.

Anonymous Mon Apr 17 07:44:14 2017 No.9437922

For those who sell apparel, which option is wiser:

> start off using a print on demand service online, then ditch that and buy your stock in bulk once business picks up
> just save up all your money and buy in bulk at the risk of having it potentially sit in your house collecting dust
> buy silksreens and DIY the simple 1 color designs and expand options later

Anonymous Mon Apr 17 08:23:55 2017 No.9437940

>>9437922
as a person who makes apparel... 1 or, if you have access to a local hackerspace/shared equipment, 3. screenprinting really isn't that hard to learn, but anything to help offset the cost will let you make more designs faster and more easily. even on the low end of quality, buying in bulk will set you back way too much money if you're not sure your designs will sell.

Anonymous Mon Apr 17 09:07:07 2017 No.9437968

NOOB QUESTION ABOUT GET MEDS

I was considering using them for products, but when I look up the info for the products, they mention important due dates? I sometimes see tweets and other posts from artists mentioning how they ordered from them well past these deadlines though. Is it just a matter of them not updating their social media/website or am I not able to order products from them past these due dates anymore?

Anonymous Mon Apr 17 12:37:27 2017 No.9438210

>>9436104
I understand using it to learn from them, but a lot of people aren't actually learning anything and are just using it as a style shortcut. Artists who have distinct and interesting styles have generally spent years developing that style, experimenting and discarding and learning and growing, to get to that place. Someone who just lifts it from them doesn't go through all of that and will never absorb all of that knowledge just by copying the visuals. Making style studies a part of your own personal growth can be fine, but yeah, when someone hijacks your style and decides it's going to be their main thing now, even if they're just posting online, it kind of sucks.

Once I had someone start copying how I was drawing some particular fanart characters and use it in an original comic. That really sucks. Basically they swiped how I had been drawing something I really cared about but could never legally own completely, and used it in IP they would legally own. Luckily it didn't seem to go anywhere but it's really turned me off to style copying altogether.

>>	Anonymous Mon Apr 17 12:52:03 2017 No.9438226 >>9437968 Anon, why are you asking that here instead of asking med directly? She is the one getting $ to do this shit, not us, so she has way more of an obligation to tell you.

>>	Anonymous Mon Apr 17 13:01:22 2017 No.9438231 >>9437922 Choice three

>>	Anonymous Mon Apr 17 13:10:01 2017 No.9438241 >>9437757 Seconding this anon, don't get yourself fucked up by the IRS over something you saw online. Also this book is helpful https://www.amazon.com/Self-employed-Tax-Solutions-Money-Saving-Recordkeeping/dp/0762730714

Anonymous Mon Apr 17 13:16:23 2017 No.9438244

>>9437690
While I didn't have same series merch, at one con my table partner kept lowering her prices throughout the weekend because she was panicking about her sales. It got to the point where 2 of her prints were half the price of one of mine.

Only solution for this sort of bullshit is to never table again with that person.

>>	Anonymous Mon Apr 17 13:35:08 2017 No.9438261 How much of a market is there for prints, posters, and stuff related specifically to older anime series?

Anonymous Mon Apr 17 13:44:37 2017 No.9438275

>>9438261
Are they older and loved or just old and obscure?

I have a soft spot for anime from the early aughts because that's when I really got into it, so I love buying stuff from that era. However, I know that a lot of the younger crowd at cons now have never seen any series from then (besides anything brought over by 4Kids), so they might not do well.

If you really have love for what you're drawing, I say do it, and bring a handful, especially if you know the target demo of the con skews a bit older.

>>	Anonymous Mon Apr 17 15:02:15 2017 No.9438366 >>9438275 I was mostly thinking of stuff like Fist of the North Star, Macross, Megazone 23, Bubblegum Crisis, Cutey Honey, Lupin, Cobra, and maybe some other, perhaps more obscure stuff

Anonymous Mon Apr 17 15:14:14 2017 No.9438378

>>9438366
I think some of those are definitely common enough to get some attraction. Fist of the North Star, Macross, Lupin are all widely known shows that I think even being in the anime community would be enough to recognise them.

If you want to do those (and I honestly think you should), I'd balance them out with some newer shows to be able to cover the whole age group, especially if you don't know the age demo of the con. I know I bring specific things to cons I've been to before where I know the average age skews higher or lower.

>>	Anonymous Mon Apr 17 15:30:17 2017 No.9438399 >>9438261 It will sell for the very simple reason of no one, including people in the dealers' room, stocks merch for older series. Except Lupin. Everyone loves Lupin.

>>	Anonymous Mon Apr 17 15:50:58 2017 No.9438426 >>9438261 I feel like it would sell especially since everyone has that "nostalgia craze" lately. I want to make something Trigun, mainly for myself, but I hope others will like it too.

Anonymous Mon Apr 17 16:16:27 2017 No.9438467

Lots of booths selling art on clothes at Sakura-con this year. Anyone know any good merchandisers that do this? I'd like to start making art on clothes, but for my friends or like squad shirts. Most places I've looked up for color sublimation seem really expensive. Maybe it's worth to just screen print?

>>	Anonymous Mon Apr 17 16:18:53 2017 No.9438472 >>9438467 cafepress

>>	Anonymous Mon Apr 17 16:20:58 2017 No.9438476 >>9437968 protip about meds: dont fucking use meds its literally a college student with a full schedule "trying"(see:failing) to run a business. there are services out there that are cheaper, more reliable, and do the same fucking job

>>	Anonymous Mon Apr 17 16:25:48 2017 No.9438482 ive been trying to find a taobao agent that will ship items longer than 120 cm, does anyone know of one? i can read chinese too if that broadens the amt of stores

>>	Anonymous Mon Apr 17 16:31:58 2017 No.9438497 >>9438472 Don't be an ass, you could easily not answer

>>	Anonymous Mon Apr 17 16:40:27 2017 No.9438506 >>9438476 Med's not the most professional, yeah, but the only other option for similar products if you don't have friends doing group orders is Jimi, which is even more expensive.

>>	Anonymous Mon Apr 17 16:42:12 2017 No.9438509 >>9438497 Or you can read the faq or do a google search. Don't be mad when you get denied being spooned.

>>	Anonymous Mon Apr 17 16:46:11 2017 No.9438513 >>9438472 >>9438497 >gets legit suggestion >gets butt mad

>>	Anonymous Mon Apr 17 17:00:39 2017 No.9438541 >>9438506 Nayrt but that anon is right though? If people just put in a little legwork re: reaching out to suppliers on Alibaba, they can get the same products w/o paying extra for subpar service.

>>	Anonymous Mon Apr 17 17:06:31 2017 No.9438551 >>9438541 That's why I just said you need friends doing private group orders? The MOQ on Alibaba suppliers tends to be way higher than one person could possibly reach.

>>	Anonymous Mon Apr 17 18:33:05 2017 No.9438661 >>9438366 oh god, please do macross stuff, i'm starving for decent fanmerch

>>	Anonymous Mon Apr 17 18:34:34 2017 No.9438664 >>9438551 You don't necessarily need friends when you can open up orders to other artists online. Also the ability to meet MOQs by yourself really depends on the supplier and your need. I've met MOQs by myself pretty easily.

>>	Anonymous Mon Apr 17 19:01:20 2017 No.9438703 >>9437940 This comment right here. A lot of AA people started with Redbubble or Spreadshirt at first and then expanded to buying in bulk. If you have the time and space to screenprint everything, then you can cut down some of the costs.

>>	Anonymous Mon Apr 17 21:47:27 2017 No.9438925 >>9437699 >>9437705 Yeah, it was my table. She's a junior of mine at school and wanted to try tabling so I let her join me. Don't get me wrong, it was fun with her, but that part was frustrating.

>>	Anonymous Mon Apr 17 22:30:57 2017 No.9438966 >>9438925 It's your fault for being a pushover. If it was your table, you tell her that either she can raise her prices or she can leave. Don't complain about this sort of stuff when you do nothing to stop it.

Anonymous Mon Apr 17 22:57:17 2017 No.9438995

>>9436731
It's gotten the rounds on twitter again via kidchan/cyanparade, most people have a no reposting policy, even adding "no repost" to their watermark. Twitter is even harder to track reposts of art since people don't often tag or even credit via Twitter handles.

>>	Anonymous Mon Apr 17 23:06:48 2017 No.9439006 How was Sakuracon this year for people?

Anonymous Tue Apr 18 00:01:36 2017 No.9439062
File: 394 KB, 800x808, MaskIdea.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

I got inspired by this kickstarter:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/184103633/see-no-evil-chain-connected-enamel-pin

and thought I would try to make something cute like that?

Anonymous Tue Apr 18 00:13:37 2017 No.9439069

>>9438995
honestly as an artist who gets their shit reposted all the time, a random person using my art as an icon without credit is the least of my problems. The real issue is when people use my illustrations for monetary gain.

These people getting triggered over people using their art for banners/icons/rp shit is seriously misplaced, stupid, and honestly a waste of energy.

>>	Anonymous Tue Apr 18 00:14:40 2017 No.9439070 >>9439006 surprisingly good despite the new location and splitting the AA into two separate areas. hope i get in again next year

>>	Anonymous Tue Apr 18 00:38:35 2017 No.9439090 >>9439062 This looks like garbage. If your ideas are like this, you should probably stay far away from expensive materials.

Anonymous Tue Apr 18 00:46:38 2017 No.9439097

>>9439090
Maybe add some constructive criticism, anon?

>>9439062
Unfortunately, the design you have right now is too cluttered, and wouldn't read well as an enamel pin. The elaborate designs in the black won't pick up at all, and quite possibly wouldn't even be able to be printed.
Also, I'm unsure of the hierarchy you're trying to communicate here, as the mask seems like the focal point, yet it is smaller than the less elaborate eye mask(I'm assuming?) in the back, and confuses the viewer. Not only that but the object in the back has a very vague shape, so adding some identifying shapes to the silhouette would aid the design a ton.
Also, the emotion this gives me is "unsettling", not cute. Unsettling is not bad (a lot of people try to go for it with gorey pins), but it doesn't seem to be the tone you're trying to achieve. You'd have to cutesy up the face mask, a realistic rendition will usually creep out the viewer.
Good luck.

Anonymous Tue Apr 18 00:55:20 2017 No.9439102

>>9439062
as other anon said, it's way too cluttered. The angle is bad for the hat look - from a distance it's just this blob on top of a face.
The other pins are cute because they are well-stylized and simplified.

aside from that, I don't really 'get' it. Is it a reference to something?

>>	Anonymous Tue Apr 18 00:58:59 2017 No.9439104 >>9439062 >$7,668 what the fuck, what do people even use pins for

>>	Anonymous Tue Apr 18 01:07:49 2017 No.9439112 >>9439104 are you new? what do people use prints, charms, badges, etc for?

>>	Anonymous Tue Apr 18 01:10:48 2017 No.9439114 >>9439062 That is not at all how enamel works, you cant put a fucking texture on a fill jesus christ.

>>	Anonymous Tue Apr 18 01:57:51 2017 No.9439152 Does anyone on here work in 3D mediums like balsa or cork?

>>	Anonymous Tue Apr 18 07:17:23 2017 No.9439354 >>9439062 1. Your's isn't cute. 2. Did you research enamel pins?

>>	Corky-Lunn !CorkyloMxc Tue Apr 18 12:22:28 2017 No.9439508 new thread >>9439506

>>	Anonymous Tue Apr 18 18:01:12 2017 No.9439802 >>9439104 > when a KS literally has an example of how to use them but people are still too dumb and ask

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/cgl/ - Cosplay & EGL