Artist Alley Thread Generally the same

[Corky-Lunn !CorkyloMxc No.9902654]

Previous Thread: >>9894554

>Please read the FAQ before posting in the thread (always updating)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PpDyjw2LDxbupdvHMNsBUOBVB66Lzwf44RM1You1GDA/edit?usp=sharing
>Resources
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10uNmynwRn6CRc-OMqCeXmJwCNnEnd-vYi-7AQzSx74I/edit?usp=sharing
>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 (always WIP)
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13o7hD5xS3sDqVptnTVGUlRae3ovEE-vPPST_QOrQwtM/
>IP taketowns (based on artists contribution, may or may not have been a one time thing, use as a guideline)
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1696MDhNPhrZ0ySZhXkoJnGxb7l1OjW4JsVhu1wKvaWE


We have a discord!
If you want into the CGL AA discord, email [e-mail] with a picture of your table or merchandise. It is not a jury, just to make sure you do cons.

Let's get it on! How are the summer cons treating you seagulls?

[Anonymous No.9902693]

>>9902654
Why do so many tables in AA continue to peddle anime goods and wares when so many of thr artists in AA havent watched any anime in years, hate weebs, and dont even do anything at cons besides the AA?

[Anonymous No.9902714]

>>9902693
So are you saying those two groups are the same people or what are you bitter about exactly?

[Anonymous No.9902735]

>>9902693
I was under the impression you can’t really leave your AA table at all so that would explain why they never do anything else at cons expect for artist alley.

[Anonymous No.9902754]

>>9902693
If you draw and sell stuff you're not interested in to people you don't like, then you're clearly doing it for money. What is it to not get?

[Anonymous No.9902758]

>>9902693
I don't care if you never even saw Pokemon. If the art is good, I'm buying. I don't want to make friends and have like omg everything in common desu with every artist I purchase from. I'm trying to buy cool art. If we happen to have common interests, that's great. Otherwise, who cares?

[Anonymous No.9902799]

>>9902693
>tables in artist alley
>hate weebs
They must be pretty self-loathing then too.

[Anonymous No.9902804]

I looked through a bunch of previous threads and the art gulls posted here is not good. Would most of you honestly consider yourself novices or younger? Do you break even at tables with art like that? It just looks like a lot of deviantart and that sloppy tumblr anime style.

[Anonymous No.9902808]

>>9902804
It seems like the artists who are pretty good-to-great tier never post here out of fear of harassment or being "found out" or something like that. I'd rank myself as pretty good at least but I don't post here because I'm still in the process of making merch and don't have anything to even show yet.

[Anonymous No.9902818]

Sorry, I'm sure this question has been answered before but I'm still confused. Looking to do Anime North in the future now, but is it ZERO charms/buttons in the normal artist alley? Like literally print only?

[Anonymous No.9902820]

>>9902804
Those who post are the ones who want advice, concrit or are unsure of themselves. Artists whose prints move well don't need to post themselves and ask if their art is good enough.

[Anonymous No.9902823]

>>9902808
>>9902808
That's probably true. It feels like once you get big enough, people actually try to find any reason to tear them down.

[Anonymous No.9902830]

>>9902823
It's also that it just comes off as showing off.
If you're doing fine, you think your art is fine, and there's nothing specific about your art you want advice on, why post yourself?

[Anonymous No.9902835]

>>9902808
I like to consider myself in the good tier. I do post a bit mostly helpful things, although sometimes I just lurk. Also I am a huge closet weeb, and 95% of my fan goods are things I am very into.

[Anonymous No.9902840]

>>9902823
I have seen friends named in these threads for the dumbest reasons so yea, no one wants to draw attention to themselves or be known as possibly being one of those people shit talking artists they don't know at all / or be known as someone who tolerates that.

[Anonymous No.9902866]

Has anyone here been affected by the string of thefts at cons in Canada recently? Watch out for a Hispanc guy and his accomplices that will distract you. This is really alarming as it seems that they intentionally targeted people without helpers at their tables!

[Anonymous No.9902876]

I've had a couple customers ask me about Game Grumps stuff at my table and if I would ever make anything from it. I can't find anything about GGs rules/stance on fan made content for selling.

Does anyone know if it's okay to make things of the GG crew?

[Anonymous No.9902879]

>>9902654
> ALA
> No proxy selling
Does this mean the artist has to be there at all times?

[Anonymous No.9902882]

>>9902879
...yeah, that's literally what it means.

[Anonymous No.9902887]

At anime expo I want to sell double sided, 3” charms. Obviously 3” is pretty big, so I want to ask for at least $13 each.
Is that too expensive for a charm? Is this normal tier price? Will people be turned off when the see $13 as the price? I’m just nervous I’m asking too much for them.
I’m going to have around 200 designs estimed for sale if that gives you anymore insight.
I just don’t want to seem like a money hungry idiot but these charms are expensive to make..

[Anonymous No.9902904]

>>9902879
ALA's staff barely even managed to get people their badges this year, I don't think you need to be too worried about that rule

[Anonymous No.9902932]

>>9902882
But what if they want to explore and let their assistants take over?

[Anonymous No.9902955]

For those who print postcard size prints on 11x17 and trim yourself - have customers complained about uneven borders? I tried printing and trimming my small prints on 11x17 and i kind of messed up on all of them. Like none of them are cut straight but I still sold them but without advertising the size. Can I still sell these or should i stop selling these.

[Anonymous No.9902967]

>>9902932
oh, I get what you mean. Assistants are ok, what they don't want is for you to leave the con/not show up at all.

[Anonymous No.9902970]

>>9902887
Depends on your art but honestly I’d say you could sell for $15 at least. I have seen 2.5” charms sell for $12 and higher. Make that money Anon, get what you deserve.

[Anonymous No.9902983]

>>9902887
seconding >>9902970 3" should be $15+ imo, everyone selling for cheap is spoiled by vograce prices but imagine if you were buying from inkit or zap, you'd have to charge $15 really so do yourself a favor and just go up to $15. It helps everyone all around and customers will not think anything of you other than wow these are nice big charms haha.

[Anonymous No.9902988]

>>9902983
Yeah, I order from Zap! Creatives, so it is a lot more expensive than vograce.. I just get so stressed with pricing I feel like people are going to be like “that’s too expensive for a keychain”.

[Anonymous No.9903002]

>>9902955
Sorry, but as a perfectionist, this makes me cringe so hard. If I went home and took a closer look at a print I paid $20 on and it had crooked edges, I'd be really bothered. At the very least, I think you should discount it and let the customers know that they're not perfect.

[Anonymous No.9903007]

>>9902955
>>9903002
Oh wait--sorry I'm a dumbass and can't read. I think what I said still stands though, unless it's not really obvious then eh.

[Anonymous No.9903038]

>>9902735
If there’s a couple things you want to see/go to/etc you can just leave your helper in charge, that’s another benefit to having one. Lots of folks do nip off and go to something they are interested in (the ones who don’t would find it to much hassle or don’t have a helper, rather than not liking anything at the con.) So another reason anon’s not making sense.

[Anonymous No.9903040]

>>9902887
Depends on your art but a few of my friends sell 2"-2.5" charms at $15.

[Anonymous No.9903049]

>>9902804
Artists in the upper quartile are unlikely to post because they just don’t need input on their art, at least not from this thread (some go on /ic/). Did you see the pic last thread of an anon’s print haul? People of that caliber will still browse the thread (and for that matter AANI) for resources and info, they just don’t feel like posting their art.

[Anonymous No.9903065]

>>9902876
People are wanting merch of LPers now.. what? Fucking bizarre

[Anonymous No.9903117]

Has anyone found blank hairclips that don't slide down the hair under the weight of cute bows, but are still economically priced enough to buy in bulk for crafting with? I didn't get any response in the last thread so I hope it's ok to ask again, I'm not looking to be spoonfed but at this stage I could use some advice.

I've bought a few of the cheaper listed bulk crocodile type hair clips from ebay and aliexpress for use in my crafts (I make loliable hairbows) and they all sucked so much that you could break them just by handling them, but when I started buying more expensive ones, there was no change in quality.
I don't feel like I can charge a decent price when these hairclips are so prone to sliding down in hair, and I'm sick of wasting money buying duds, I'm desperate really for any recommendations! I'm in the UK but I usually buy international anyway

[Anonymous No.9903128]

>>9903117
Try covering the clips with hot glue, cover the part that grabs onto the hair

[Anonymous No.9903134]

>>9903007
How do I say this, so it’s not super noticeable but say if I intended to make 5x7 prints, they are slightly smaller than 5x7. The edges are not jacked up but definitely not straight.

[Anonymous No.9903150]

>>9903128
That's a really good idea for salvaging the bad clips for using on myself, but unfortunately I don't think anyone would buy hairclips covered in hot glue. Thanks though!
It's the strength of the 'bite' of the clips and weakness of the metal that's the real problem. What I really need is a rec for alligator clips that aren't low quality.

[Anonymous No.9903154]

>>9902818
Rule changed this year and they're allowing charms now. Buttons were always okay as long as it was paper inside. They have a list of what you can or can't sell on their webpage.

[Anonymous No.9903163]

>>9903150
>>9903117
Stupid question but are you using ones with teeth? Flat seems likely to slide down under weight no matter what

[Anonymous No.9903168]

>>9903154
Why is AN so anal and detailed with all their shitty rules anyway? No other artist alley I know of has a rules list that fucking anal.

[Anonymous No.9903255]

>>9902804
I know lots of amazing artists that break 5-10k+ at cons who browse here and reply on occasion. There's just no reason to expose themselves or put their art out there when there is no possible critique most of us could give to help them improve- If they're seeking advice, they'd go straight to people at the same skill level as them.

Honestly the discord did a lot at pulling back the curtain to see some of the high skill level individuals in AA who poke around here.

[Anonymous No.9903282]

>>9902988
Ah yea, so all the more reason to go with $15 really. Of course you MIGHT get a jerk that says 15 is too much but by and large no one cares. If they want something they want it, jerks who think $15 is too much for a 3" charm will think 12 is too much, 10 is too much, 8 is too much. Basically anyone that vocally complains about your prices isn't going to buy your stuff anyway. Those who really want it either find a way or save up for next time.

[Anonymous No.9903294]

>>9903255
>Honestly the discord did a lot at pulling back the curtain to see some of the high skill level individuals in AA who poke around here.
Same, anon. There are quite a few people that are "internet famous" in the discord though they don't seem to talk much.

[Anonymous No.9903321]

Post your favorite huntress butts

[Anonymous No.9903363]

So let me get this straight. A-kon is a four day con, but the AA is only open for three days?

[Anonymous No.9903406]

>>9903168
It's bc everyone who works there is power tripping.

[Anonymous No.9903453]

I want to sales trace arts at cons. How do I go without anyone noticing? Of course I will sale them at low price. This is at small cons.

[Anonymous No.9903461]

>>9903453
Is my reading comprehension shit or are you really asking how to sell traced art without getting caught....

[Anonymous No.9903462]

>>9903453
You really couldn't put more effort into your bait than this? Really?

[Anonymous No.9903525]

>>9903363
A-Kon is a "four day" con. Events don't start until around 5PM on Thursday. Last year, it was actually a four day con. I wouldn't mind them going back to a three day con if they didn't keep saying it was a four day event.

[Anonymous No.9903525,1]

>>9903525
Wow. They need to flat out say events don't start until late in the day. Usually when a con says x amount of days they mean it.

[Anonymous No.9903622]

anyone here ever done conbravo? I got a spot but it overlaps with another event, so now I'm not sure about whether to go...

[Anonymous No.9903672]

>>9903363
Yep. I did this double take today too, since we still haven't received any information for load in or check in or anything else either.

[Anonymous No.9903701]

>>9902657
>someone would find a charm on the ground, decide it needed to go to its original maker for some reason, know it came from AA, and go to all the effort of tracking down the booth with that design? Has that ever happened anywhere?!

This has actually happened to me! Someone returned me a charm they found on the ground and hoped the original owner would come by again.

[Anonymous No.9903717]

There’s not going to be one true answer to this, but what are the factors other than just art skill that allow someone to become a full-time convention artist? Charismatic salesmanship? A sense of marketable content? Pure legwork? Art skill certainly helps and all of us should strive for improvement/seek concrit, but also I’m becoming more and more aware it’s not the determining factor. (pic related is a full-time AA artist and has actually had flight expenses to cons paid as a guest artist; the work’s intermediate at most.)

Like, i don’t think becoming a success through other hustle-related factors and not art is any “lesser” and only seek to learn what these successful artists are doing right to make it while still having art That isn’t the top of the line. But it’s hard to ask this specific question to someone because you’ll get fairly generic answers as you would from someone who was also more skilled and successful, and you can’t exactly press the point of “but your art isn’t very good, so how did you still make it?!”

[Anonymous No.9903720]

>>9903717
>bayleejae
she's popular because she caters to children and got in early on the youtube boon.

Getting big in the convention scene is maybe 30-50% your content and skill, and the rest of a random mix of luck, having the finances up front to immediately expand or knowing the right people. That's literally it. You can tip the scales in your favor a bit by constantly churning out FOTM stuff in a reasonable quality (see: rossdraws, sakimichan).

[Anonymous No.9903722]

>>9903717
I guess if they didn't become successful purely through skill, they might be heavily involved in their fandom communities and are perhaps a notable person due to their social work rather than their art work? Some artists do a lot of work for charity, or mod chats and forums, and or they may have a lot of connections just by doing that network hustle. I know a gal who I would say has alright/mediocre art, but has done official comic covers just by the people she knows and how social she is in her main fandom. Social skill is just as important as art skill in terms of getting yourself out there.

[Anonymous No.9903754]

>>9903717
Aside from pure skill? Wit / Reliability and hustle to make new content. There are two factors to purchasing, how good something looks and how relatable something is. If you severely lack one or the other you will lose sales, and you can make up for slight deficiencies in one with the other. A beautifully rendered print no one "clicks" with doesn't sell, but a mediocre print that's funny or sad will sell.

If you can figure out what's relatable to a wide audience, and provide new content every year you can make it. You don't really need charisma beyond baseline ability to smile and make a transaction, you don't need to do weird used cars salesman tricks, just be passably pleasant.

[Anonymous No.9903757]

>>9903754
Oh it's also important to separate fame and monetary success, they can be correlated but aren't the same thing so make sure you understand what you are aiming for.

[Anonymous No.9903758]

>>9903672
You guys probably won't be able to set up until Friday morning. That's how it is for exhibitors anyway.

[Anonymous No.9903764]

>>9903717
Just finding the right thing that sells. I have nearly 50 items on my etsy store, but the top 3 items make up over 50% of my revenue.
Make a lot of things and hope you luck out on one items being hugely popular. If you find the right niche that very few others are doing, then skill level doesn't matter as much since there is less competition.
You can have the best art in the world, but if you aren't selling the specific thing people want, then they won't buy it.

[Anonymous No.9903775]

>>9903720
>>9903722
>>9903754
>>9903764
Thanks for the input. These make a lot of sense for getting sales, but I am still quite surprised that actually being full-time can be achieved through things like that.

[Anonymous No.9903801]

>>9903764
>If you find the right niche that very few others are doing, then skill level doesn't matter as much since there is less competition.

This is definitely a huge asset if you happen to have the opportunity. Speaking from experience as being one of the only artists who makes above-average art for a series with a small but rather dedicated fanbase. I made a bunch of money in my online store just catering to them (since literally no other merch exists either).

[Anonymous No.9903809]

>>9903117
I dont have any rec for you but Im also a lolita and I just wanted to say my input.

I 100% prefer the clips with teeth, but it seems you are already going for those. I myself have really thin smooth hair so I often find most hair accessories wont stay put without extra support. If I wear a wig though its not a problem and it much easier for me to secure things to the texture of the fake hair and netting. Generally if I have an accessory I need to secure down I'll use bobby pins, clip it partially to the headband of my headbow, or use hair products and styling to make the hair more texture so its more secure.

Idk basically what I'm trying to say is that I think any medium to large hair clips will need some help and I think your customers would be understanding of that. I for sure would be

[Anonymous No.9903816]

>>9903717
people pay for this shit? looks like the free dressup game sprites

[Anonymous No.9903828]

>>9903717
I feel like a lot of AA artists I've come across are too shy to really sell their art to their max potential. Anyone who stops at your table is a potential customer and if you passively just let them eye stuff you're probably losing a number of sales of those people on the fence.

If you look at the relatively few male artists (especially if they're white) who do AA they really drive up the salesmen factor.

At LVL Up Expo I talked to this white dude in his 30's who told me that he's able to make profits even at the worst spots/cons because he will do his best to get people to stop by and then actively engage them to sell to them.

Another artist that frequents cons always stands and engages every customer that comes his way. He also does live drawings on a canvas setup if there's room to attract attention.

Taking into account setup is really important too. Having bigger banners of your most popular stuff is extremely important for attracting attention. You want people to see your stuff from far away, not just only when they get in close to start browsing. Attract people to your booth first, then get them to browse.

There's also stuff like pricing, logistics, branding, etc. All of these factors can affect how well you do selling at any particular convention. Some artists can get by just by sheer factor of their art skill but the a lot of artists also utilize these tools to give them the edge.

[Anonymous No.9903832]

So I want to do a set of four wood pins, all 1", would $20 be alright for that?
I'm kinda caught between knowing I see $15 for a 3.5" charm, and not being able to recall seeing anyone charge $5 for a single charm.
Hm, maybe I'd be better off doing two packs of two at $10?

[Anonymous No.9903861]

>>9903828
I used to do this. I REALLY went in as a saleswoman- calling people over and engaging in conversation, convincing them to buy stuff. It's how I did really well as a mid-tier artist years ago. But it came with issues- SO MANY booth barnacles (A lot of socially awkward guys took my questioning them as interest in them), and even using my best attempts at getting them away I'd have one or two per con who would just stand there to the side of my booth and say nothing even after I already said "Bye bye, I have to get back to work, have fun at the con!" It was inconsequential until one guy was really pushy and I was tabling alone, and tried to get me to go somewhere with him. He hung out until he had to get kicked out by con staff and was waiting outside for me (I told him I wasn't going anywhere with him but he wasn't taking no for an answer) so I went out through the loading dock area to avoid him.

I don't do the saleswoman thing anymore because I'm at a point where I can just sit there and sell out of stuff, but if anyone plans to take that tactic, be aware of the situations it might get you into. I still highly recommend it if your art skill is lacking because you can probably talk 500-1k extra worth of sales out of people over the course of a con, but make sure you have a helper or someone you can escape to if you need to.

[Anonymous No.9903892]

>>9903861
Yeah forgot to mention this is a lot easier to deal with if you're male. Ideally you want a male helper to back you up or even so the sales pitch for you.

[Anonymous No.9904008]

>>9903117
I haven't had any issues with alligator clips, I usually get the black painted ones. Maybe you've just been having bad luck with suppliers ):

[Anonymous No.9904009]

>>9902876
I haven't seen anything official but the grumps seem to like fanart of them. I guess just avoid using logos

[Anonymous No.9904035]

>>9903892
So I have a white attractive husband, how can I hoe him up the best? Didn’t know white guys bring extra attention. He’s body builder type, should I have him do all the talking and engaging? Fitted T-shirt’s to show off his muscles? Please teach me how to sell my husband to increase sales.

[Anonymous No.9904043]

>>9904035
>Didn’t know white guys bring extra attention.
Anon didn't say that, they mean guys can tell people to leave them the fuck alone.

[Anonymous No.9904052]

>>9903828
I know personally I'm way more likely to pity-buy from a mediocre or average artist if they really engage me in a nice way.

[Anonymous No.9904070]

>>9904035
Unless your husband actually has good muscles it won’t work. You’re better off cosplaying and showing a little T&A as that often will draw guys in to your table, especially a low cut top and if you lean forward while sitting. Just beware the creepy booth barnacles like the other anon said.

[Anonymous No.9904100]

>>9903828
I'm not shy I just HATE those kinds of people so i don't want to be one. I had to be one for my part time jobs in high school and no one likes giving those pitches and no one likes hearing them, minus the rare rich person who's aching to spend their money and they're obvious. Most people I know just want to browse in peace.

If you do this, you will earn more money but some % of them will probably regret buying from you because they felt convinced to and some % of people probably feel really uncomfortable being pitched to and want to get away. If someone looks like they need help, by all means speak up and help them, but my god anyone described as a "salesman" or "sales woman" makes me turn tail fast. If i REALLY like your art i'll come by after closing when you're not there to pitch to me (But usually those with really good art don't do this so it's rarely an issue, i will just leave you forever most of the time)

[Anonymous No.9904120]

>>9904100
What about plain old engagement? Asking if they're enjoying the con and so on? I find if I'm going up to the front of a table and the artist doesn't even say hello I'm way less likely to buy from them.

[Anonymous No.9904137]

>>9904100
I don't know about regular attendees, but if i sense you are engaging to try and push a sale I don't like it. As an artist, I know this usually a tactic to get a person to buy from you. Like the artist speaking to me as no bearing to what I'm looking for in their product. Unless they are outright RUDE to me, their demeanor doesn't change their physical product. Hell they might not even be the artist, it could be a staff member or a cousin that's sitting there for 5 minutes while the actual artist pees. Who am I to judge them not saying hello. If the artist looks bored and just wants to chat of course I'm more than happy to converse, but if i sense they are doing it to "get on the customer's good side so they are more like to purchase" then no, i will want to leave.

That's just me though, just saying these tips aren't universal and people have their own styles of running tables as well as how they enjoy alleys. What you might feel entitled to might turn other people off.

[Anonymous No.9904138]

>>9904120
I don't know about regular attendees, but if i sense you are engaging to try and push a sale I don't like it. As an artist, I know this usually a tactic to get a person to buy from you. Like the artist speaking to me as no bearing to what I'm looking for in their product. Unless they are outright RUDE to me, their demeanor doesn't change their physical product. Hell they might not even be the artist, it could be a staff member or a cousin that's sitting there for 5 minutes while the actual artist pees. Who am I to judge them not saying hello. If the artist looks bored and just wants to chat of course I'm more than happy to converse, but if i sense they are doing it to "get on the customer's good side so they are more like to purchase" then no, i will want to leave.

That's just me though, just saying these tips aren't universal and people have their own styles of running tables as well as how they enjoy alleys. What you might feel entitled to might turn other people off. What people perceive as winning sale might be losing them some and vice versa as well.

[Anonymous No.9904146]

>>9904138
Wow who hurt you, anon? You have such a terrible view of basic pleasantries and socialization.

[Anonymous No.9904154]

>>9904146
I'm sorry that saying "I judge a product by the product alone" and not expecting artists to stop everything they are doing to serve me is apparently terrible? If an artist just wants to chat, I'm open to it but I don't want to feel pressured to buy nor do I expect artists to HAVE to greet me. I'm just not going to walk away in a huff because someone is on their phone, that's all.

Behind the table, i let the customer lead. If they linger and I notice i'll say hi, if they ask me about the con i'll engage. But I'm not going to force a conversation on a person just looking to see if I have something they like.

[Anonymous No.9904161]

>>9904154
You sound like you'd be a real winner at an casual social engagement.

[Anonymous No.9904172]

>>9904161
Why do you keep reading what you want to read? Are you selling me something at "an casual social engagement?" No? Then there wouldn't be a problem.

Look you can greet people immediately and pitch all you want, I'm not here to stop you. Let me give people space until they want to buy something all I want. At the end of the day, the extra 1k if it exists isn't worth it for me and goes against the experience I prefer, why does that bother you so much?

[Anonymous No.9904176]

>>9904172
Meant to say "any" but was phone posting and it fucked up.

Anyway, just saying the experience you prefer seems unfriendly and weird. You do you though.

[Anonymous No.9904184]

>>9904176
What seems unfriendly to you is pressure free and peaceful to others. What seems friendly to you may seem intrusive and anxiety-inducing to others (not me personally but I have heard this a lot from other artists or customers).

I'm not saying one way is right or wrong, I'm only saying selling advice isn't universal and it's perfectly possibly so succeed to a very large amount without needing to be a "salesman" and that there may be unseen negatives to that attitude. Just as me not greeting every single person has it's negatives, i probably turn off people like you, but I also attract people who are like me so It's not as wide of a gap in my opinion.

[Anonymous No.9904187]

>>9904184
Fair enough, sorry for going so hard on it.

[Anonymous No.9904190]

>>9904172
To each their own, but you do sound like an odd one out so I wouldn’t go advising people how to booth based on what you dislike. It’s far more pleasant to browse and buy from a friendly person (even though I’ve literally been on the other end of that and know it’s partly motivated by sales) especially if you have some fandom or fave characters in common, and vice versa I’ve left booths because the person there just stared at their phone and didn’t look up at all or even make eye contact while i awkwardly hovered to browse for a couple minutes (there were no other customers), felt incredibly weird, and left (even though obviously that doesn’t affect the art.)

[Anonymous No.9904260]

>>9904190
Okay, different question then
Sometimes I'll say "hi" to someone when they walk up, but they don't seem to have heard it. They could have, of course, and just ignored it.

If they wait around for a while, do you hit them up with a "how is your con going", or leave them alone incase they're not the talkative type and you seem like you're being pushy by engaging repeatedly without a response?

Pls help I'm so awkward

[Anonymous No.9904279]

>>9903828
>>9903861

Also you guys forgot to mention this shit only works if you're moderately attractive or male. If you're female and unfuckable then most people will actively avoid you no matter how good your sales pitches are.

[Anonymous No.9904284]

>>9904190
I don't think anon is the odd one out. I do the same for my customers and I regularly break 10k at cons. Giving people room to breathe, especially at a con where a lot of people might have social anxiety is good! Obviously as you've mentioned, straight up ignoring customers is bad but going in hard with a sales pitch is tacky and annoying.

I've had a friend who does this and he consistently ends up chasing customers away because he'll say rude shit like "Please buy something so I can eat dinner" or try to steal his neighbors customers. I've also known another dude who does this (he sells only original comics and he's a writer not even an artist) and he specifically takes up spots at anime cons because he thinks it's an "untapped" market and will bully young kids into spending money at his table because they don't know how to say no.

Sure you might make more sales but those people aren't going to be returning customers and they'll have huge buyer's remorse afterwards.

The trick is to find a right balance. Acknowledge that the customer is there ("Hello, let me know if you need anything!") and just let them do their own thing. Sales pitches makes you seem desperate and pushy.

[Anonymous No.9904286]

>>9904172
>>9904154
>>9904138

If it helps you feel any better anon, I agree with you 1000% and the other anon >>9904146
>>9904161 comes off as borderline autistic. I also see through those sales pitch tactics and I'm fucking sick of it. I like to shop with no engagement from anyone as do many of my friends, including in real shops and not just AA. Pretty sure the people advocating sales pitches are likely losing many customers as well by being more socially aggressive but they'd argue those people wouldn't have bought anyway.

[Anonymous No.9904306]

>>9904100
>>9904138
>>9904154
>>9904172
>>9904284
>>9904286
A good sales pitch isn't supposed to come off as pushy. Or even like you're trying to sell them something.

The idea is to make a connection between you and the customer so they become your fan. Not just someone walks by and likes your pretty art.

There's a lot of ways of doing it. For example for my OCs often people will ask if it's X character or what is it from. I'll tell them they're characters from a story I'm working on and if they showing interest I'll start telling them details and my plans for them.

Or let's say they're wondering about how I did a certain technique. Since my entire digital setup is portable I could show them how I did certain thing right there. That often attracts people over who are walking by.

Sometimes people aren't sure I'm the artist because I have some things on a different style. If they ask I'll usually explain to them why anfew of my earlier items are done significantly differently in a amusing story ( at least gauging from their reaction) which then solidifies the fact that I'm the artist and creates a connection.

I think a good portion of people browsing don't always think the artist is there but if you can indicate you're the artist casually they're more likely to buy. I know I'm less likely to buy art if only the proxy was there ( I want my stuff signed)

I don't do cold call outs. But if they start browsing I sometimes just say hi and ask them I'd they're enjoying the con. I'd it seems like they're willing to engage further I'll go from there but if they want to be left alone I'll leave it at that.

A big part of the reason I like selling at cons is engaging with people who like my art. It just so happens that doing it also improves sales.

[Anonymous No.9904312]

>>9904306
What you’ve mentioned is what people in this thread say they already do? Instead of being pushy they’ll engage when the customer seems interested??? What’s your point?

[Anonymous No.9904355]

Wow, I'm >>9903861 and the topic seems to have started a fight overnight. I think there is a argument of what a "sales pitch" is, everyone seems to have their own personal idea.

If a customer pauses for a second and looks mildly interested or fixated on something, I ask how their day is going. If they say good I would leave it that, if they say something along the lines of "Good, I'm really eyeing that fullmetal alchemist print", then I'd go in and start talking about my inspiration behind it and my love for the show. Usually then that gets them talking about the show too and after a brief conversation, 70% of the time theyll go home with the print because I managed to push their interest in it over the edge with conversation. Thats what I consider a "sales pitch", explaining to them what my motivations were behind it to increase their mental value of the item to make it worth their money. If they leave thats totally okay too, and I smile and tell them to have a nice day. Sometimes even after that theyll come back and pick up the print after thinking on it.

A rude and annoying sales pitch would be calling over people from afar, telling them when the customer says they need to buy lunch saying "hey if you buy a pin youll still have money left over for lunch", convincing parents to buy for their kids by going "WOW the little guy really likes it, youre really not gonna get it for him?" Stuff like that. I dont advocate for these and find them annoying and pushy, and you can get people to beeline straight past your booth without even looking at your wares because they dont want to be yelled at.

A sales pitch is not good if your customer can tell that youre trying to sell them something. It should seem like a natural conversation over the value of your product, your goal is to get those few people on the edge of picking up your item, and convince people who find value/beauty in items from the work that went into them...(cont)

[Anonymous No.9904360]

>>9904187
np, i think we all get a little defensive because we feel like oh maybe someone is telling us we're doing something wrong but at the end of the day, i have to admit that it's almost impossible to predict how to do well (like even though i break 10k regularly i can not for the life of me tell you if a singular item will do well or not). It's absolutely not a science as much as we like to tell ourselves it is, i think that makes us antsy when in the end we are probably more similar than we think.

[Anonymous No.9904361]

>>9904355

And in a world where tons of people have similar prints of the same series, its good to get the customer interested in yours in particular. And if they leave without buying, they still feel pleasant because they had a nice conversation about a series they like. But at the end of the day, no matter how passionate you are about your work, youre ultimately trying to sell the customer a product which is why I refer to it as a "sales pitch."

Of course if you can sell your products no problem without conversation (like i do now, i just sit there deadpan and people line up to buy keychains) then theres no need for it. And if you just arent the talkative type, thats fine too. But I recommend being passionate and friendly about your work and starting active conversations if youre struggling to sell.

[Anonymous No.9904403]

>>9904312
>>9904306

The point others are making that even this level of engagement looks pushy and clearly reads as a sales pitch to those who are aware of it, or to people who are just looking to buy and don't really want to engage. If you like chatting with people, that's fine, but don't shit on others who prefer to let their customers make their own decisions on whether they want to buy rather than trying to guilt them into it by being friendly.

[Anonymous No.9904434]

>>9903828
>I feel like a lot of AA artists I've come across are too shy to really sell their art to their max potential.
You have to remember you are at a convention though. I agree overall, but you can't be *too* outgoing or you'll scare away a lot of people who get nervous around strangers.
Personally, I don't engage with everyone, but the people who show any interest in what I have, I give them my full attention and try to be super friendly. Heck, its not even because I am trying to sell to them, it is because I genuinely like talking to people who like my work.
>>9903861
>>9903892

>But it came with issues- SO MANY booth barnacles (A lot of socially awkward guys took my questioning them as interest in them)
I'm male and the same thing happens to me. A lot of socially awkward men and women will come by my table and just awkwardly try to make conversation for a while several times through the con.
They do this because they are awkward and they have trouble going up and talking to people, and the only people that come up to talk to them is us in artist alley, so we are the only people they have to talk to.

>>9904043
> they mean guys can tell people to leave them the fuck alone.
women can't?

[Anonymous No.9904440]

>>9904434
>women can't?
did you read the chain? anon had a dude stalk her.

[Anonymous No.9904458]

>>9904440
Telling someone to go away lowers the chance of them following you around.

[Anonymous No.9904459]

>>9904279
I mean maybe for over-the-top pitches, but....80% of AA regulars are females many of whom who tend towards unattractive, but I guarantee eye contact and smiling and a greeting of some sort/a compliment on their cosplay/ a remark or fact about the product you see them looking at are still going to go over way better than ignoring your customer

[Anonymous No.9904463]

>>9904284
Didn’t mean to generalize, but the reason i said they were an odd one out was that anon was earlier saying it had ZERO effect on them no matter what the artist said or did, they cared for “the product and the product alone”. For most people there isn’t zero effect from engagement/friendliness, there is at least some. I’m sure you know that, from what you wrote.

I think there’s a miscommunication in that a good engagement tactic like other people are suggesting will look nothing like the sales pitch which some obnoxious guys give (the anon upthread suggesting emulating them was off the mark imo, it’s not really right for AA) and leave quite a lot of room for people with anxiety (it helps to read body language, and to give folks space like you mentioned.)

[Anonymous No.9904466]

>>9904434
>women can't?
Won’t be listened to. Too many people only respond to a telling off when it’s a man.
How many stories I’ve heard that men won’t listen to “I’m not interested, go away” from a woman, but will instantly listen to “that’s my girlfriend” from a guy....and it’s probably even worse when you’re sitting in one place and cannot leave. Be careful at cons, everyone, and if you’re worried about this kind of thing see if you can get a guy friend as your helper.

[Anonymous No.9904476]

>>9904466
>Won’t be listened to.
if someone tells me to go away, I go away.

[Anonymous No.9904481]

>>9904284
Oh god I know someone exactly like this I almost wonder if it's the same person.
I was tabling next to this guy once and they were complaining about their lack of sales. Girl comes by, he starts beating his sales pitch into the ground, she clearly looks like she wants to leave. She says "Oh, I'll be back again after my panel!" So he asks her when her panel over and she says at 3. So he puts an alarm on his phone for 3. Once 3oclock comes, he puts on a timer. 30 minutes go by on this timer and as each minute passes he's getting more self righteous like "I knew she wouldn't come back" "don't say that shit unless your actually going to do it" like dear God dude.

[Anonymous No.9904485]

>>9904481
wtf. That man is a psychopath.

[Anonymous No.9904503]

>>9904476
Cool, you're a respectable human being. I've encountered a lot of people at cons that aren't. Conventions are particularly full of socially abnormal people, and using yourself as a standard for a lot of the creeps that can't take "no" for an answer is just unfair.

[Anonymous No.9904511]

>>9904503
How distorted is your view of men that you think most won't go away when asked to leave?
I don't even understand what you are arguing. Some people won't go away when you ask. ok? How does that equate to you can't tell anyone to leave?

[Anonymous No.9904516]

>>9904511

Stop twisting the conversation to suit your argument. Earlier anon specifically said they repeatedly told a man they weren't interested and the man was waiting outside the hall for her. Even one person not going away when you ask them to is too many. It just takes one fucking incel to decide to take his bullshit out on you. THAT'S the issue, not that women are afraid to tell men to go away. The issue is that when they DO, there is always the risk that they won't.

[Anonymous No.9904517]

>>9904481
I'm not sure if it's the same guy since there are a lot of self-entitled comic dudes but that sounds fucking terrible, anon. I'm so sorry you had to table next to someone like that.

The dude I'm talking about will literally shove his book into your hands if you stand even anywhere close to his table and immediately launch into his spiel like "Do you like monsters? I bet you like monsters - who doesn't love monsters????" One time, a friends and I were browsing the AA and he tried to pull that on us and we were like "haha, we're artists too and we should be getting back to our tables" and he immediately stopped smiling and treated us with disdain because we were no longer a potential sale in his eyes. He's also gone around the AA passing out flyers for his new book before the hall opened to attendees to pitch to other artists and tell them to come buy his book. My friends have seen him bully pre-teens into buying some of his cheaper comics because kids don't know how to say no to an adult man. He keeps posting in indie comic creator groups about how anime cons are an untapped market for sales and encouraging comic people to anime-only conventions. At another con he tried to get customers to pity-buy his comics for the weekend because he father had passed away right before the con. It was really unfortunate.

An unrelated dude at a con once tried to call out to me from across the aisle while I was walking back from the restroom. And he started off his pitch with "Hey you! Would you like to read a coming-of-age story about a young Jewish princess going on an adventure?" and then made it seem like I was somehow being anti-semitic/conservative because I didn't want to stand there and listen to him pitch his book to me.

I think we can sum up this thread by saying: "Don't be a pushy dick like these guys. Casually engaging interested customers and asking if they need help is fine."

[Anonymous No.9904521]

>>9904459

I'm guessing you're probably a moderately attractive person. You really have no idea how far back it sets a person to be weird looking. I'm always very friendly toward customers but I have an atypical appearance that I can't control, and it sets most people on edge immediately, especially men. My normal female friend watches my table sometimes and talks less than me and she makes more sales than me. You really can't imagine how far back it sets a person to look a way that makes normal people uncomfortable. Average people think it's really as simple as "just look friendlier" but you are never going to be able to grasp this unless it's happened to you.

[Anonymous No.9904525]

>>9904476
That’s good for you but a lot of people won’t. Maybe believe the experiences a lot of women tell you that they’ve had?

[Anonymous No.9904528]

>>9904521
I’m pretty unattractive but it’s not really relevant. An unattractive person *ignoring you until you hand them money* is going to make them both unattractive and rude. For gods sake just smile and make eye contact, and maybe say something if they seem receptive to a hello or have a cool cosplay, I’m not saying to climb over the table and dance with them.

[Anonymous No.9904530]

>>9904516
>The issue is that when they DO, there is always the risk that they won't.
...the risk? That implies telling them to go away makes the situation worse. It doesn't. 99% of the time, it makes it better. 1% of the time it just does nothing.

>>9904521
Do you dress up at all? It helps if you don't look like a complete normie who is just there to make money.

[Anonymous No.9904544]

>>9904530
my dude, you must not watch the news very much.

>>9904528
If you have a visual facial deformity or cross eyes or some other reason eye contact could make people uncomfortable then I can understand that it might be unpleasant for customers, maybe that’s the appearance problem anon mentioned. But otherwise I agree, as an ugly hamplanet who can’t do makeup or hair customers still usually smile back/say hi at me when I say hi. They’re not there to judge you or dare you.

[Anonymous No.9904553]

>>9904517
>he started off his pitch with "Hey you! Would you like to read a coming-of-age story about a young Jewish princess going on an adventure?" and then made it seem like I was somehow being anti-semitic/conservative because I didn't want to stand there and listen
holy shit

Protip: for the love of god NEVER shame, heckle or call out customers who are walking away/uninterested in something/etc, it leaves a bad taste and secondhand embarrassment for everyone who sees it and totally wrecks any chance of them coming back later (which does happen.) And it’s just fucking tacky.

[Anonymous No.9904559]

>>9904544
>my dude, you must not watch the news very much.
reply again, but this time add substance to your comment.

[Anonymous No.9904561]

>>9904511
Nayrt, but is it that hard to believe that in general, creeps will bother more women than men? I've met more clingy creepy dudes than girls too, and most of those clingy creepy men doesn't bother men since they're not interested. Having a male helper around a female artist helps in that they don't believe they even have a shot at any alone time with the girl.

[Anonymous No.9904565]

>>9904561
>is it that hard to believe that in general, creeps will bother more women than men?
No, and I never said otherwise.

[Anonymous No.9904568]

>>9904565
The original advice to be more forward if you were a male artist was because you're more likely to draw booth barnacles and uncomfortable creeps if you were a forward, female artist. All >>9904503 is saying is that she's met a lot of creeps at cons, and that forward salesman behaviour from girls encourages these people, not that "most men are creeps".

[Anonymous No.9904570]

>>9904559
>spoonfeed me
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=violence+againt+women+after+rejected+advances
damn, never thought i’d say this but i think i prefer the ppl who come in here wanting to be spoonfed manus

[Anonymous No.9904576]

>>9904568
>>9904570
Please stay on topic. I disagree with assertion that women can not tell men to go away, and that doing so will result in a negative. At most, it will result in a neutral.

Being able to be assertive is extremely important in business and just socially. If you can't learn to say no, then people will take advantage of you.

[Anonymous No.9904580]

>>9904576
Of course women can tell men to go away. The likelyhood of them meeting a man that won't go away if they tell them too is much higher than a man in the same situation. You cannot be so daft as to believe that men are equally intimidated by women than men.

[Anonymous No.9904583]

>>9904511
When did I ever say that I can't or don't ask anyone to leave? Unless you mistook me for someone else, because that was my first post in this thread.

I'm more of the assertive type, so I can and I do. However, I've also had to ask my friend to get security to remove someone from my table who was trying to get behind it to "hang out with me" and "tell me about his OC" when I repeatedly and clearly told him no.

I don't have anything against men, I have something against CREEPS of ANY gender. Me using "a guy that can't take no for an answer" was just an example that was relevant to the topic.

[Anonymous No.9904586]

>>9904576
“Please stay on topic” that’s rich considering everyone else was just advising each other how to a) pitch effectively in AA b) stay safe at cons, and you came in with nothing but disagreements m, in posts that didn’t even mention AA/cons (like the post I’m replying to) and were rebuffing some imagined generalization of men nobody actually made.

Look, if this stuff doesn’t apply to you as a guy, fine, just scroll past.

Don’t come forcing us to prove our experiences. Go work on your art or something.

[Anonymous No.9904591]

>>9904580
He actually does believe that, in another post he said 99% of the time they’ll leave when asked ...this dude’s got his head in the ground. Must be nice to go to the cons he goes to .

[Anonymous No.9904596]

>>9904576
>Please stay on topic. I disagree with assertion that women can not tell men to go away, and that doing so will result in a negative. At most, it will result in a neutral.
Yeahhh >>9904570 IS on topic to that, it refutes it. Go do some reading dude. Maybe you’ll get why we don’t like these situations after you read about a couple hundred “neutral” assault and murder.

[Anonymous No.9904600]

>>9904583
>When did I ever say that I can't or don't ask anyone to leave?
it was implied here >>9904043 and >>9904440
>I'm more of the assertive type, so I can and I do.
Good for you. Seriously. This is what I am saying you should do. I actually don't know why you are even replying to me?

[Anonymous No.9904601]

>>9904600
...hang on wait do you think that everyone disagreeing with you is one person?

[Anonymous No.9904602]

>>9904596
>Maybe you’ll get why we don’t like these situations after you read about a couple hundred “neutral” assault and murder.
I just don't get it. You genuinely think the type of guy who will murder you if you reject them will treat you well if you date them?

[Anonymous No.9904604]

Soooooooooooo

Would this be a bad time to ask about the worst customer you guys have ever had?

[Anonymous No.9904606]

>>9904600
Because you responded to my post where I never implied anything like what you're saying, and told me that I had a delusioned view of men as a whole because I achnowledged the reality that creeps exist. You saying that you're not a creep and follow basic human decency adds nothing to the conversation. A 1% chance of a creep can be hundreds and hundreds of creeps we have a chance of encountering every con.

[Anonymous No.9904607]

>>9904602
What the fuck are you even on about? It's not about girls not being able to say no, it's about the creeps who still won't leave after you've clearly told them to. And how girls have more of these encounters than guys. Specifically when they're trying to sell stuff at cons. What is hard to understand about this? It's not about most men being psycho stalkers, no one here believes that, so why are you being so defensive?

[Anonymous No.9904609]

>>9904602
What.
Why would I think that. What are you talking about. Where in the fuck are you getting the “would treat you well of you date them”.

The point of that lmgtfy is that sometimes telling men who are interested in you to lay off gets you attacked.

Why are you not getting this? Women telling guys at cons (or elsewhere) to leave them alone will work some of the time but the rest of the time be ignored or result in stalking or worse.

[Anonymous No.9904617]

>>9904606
I agree.

>>9904607
>It's not about girls not being able to say no
I replied to someone who specifically said that that was a problem since there was a risk for them to say no, which implies there is no risk to them if they don't say no.
>It's not about most men being psycho stalkers
except >>9904466 said otherwise by saying "Won’t be listened to."

>>9904609
>sometimes telling men who are interested in you to lay off gets you attacked.
Yes, and that is not a negative, that is a neutral.
I'll spell it out to you:
"go away" = attacked
literally anything else = attacked.
>Women telling guys at cons (or elsewhere) to leave them alone will work some of the time but the rest of the time be ignored or result in stalking or worse.
What is the alternative?

[Anonymous No.9904618]

>>9904528
I do that. I'm polite and I engage. I'm saying it doesn't matter. I can still clearly see the difference in how an average or attractive person is treated, because that's my life. I do make the effort still, it's just important to remember when giving this advice that it doesn't work for everyone.

>>9904530
>Do you dress up at all?

I'm not dressing like shit if that's why you're asking. It's unlikely that regular con goers are looking at my clothing and deciding not to buy from me because I don't look passionate enough about anime.

[Anonymous No.9904622]

>>9904617
>sometimes telling men who are interested in you to lay off gets you attacked.
>Yes, and that is not a negative, that is a neutral.

Can you get back to /b/ or /pol/ already? This is just absurd.

[Anonymous No.9904623]

>>9904576
>At most, it will result in a neutral.
Dude, even disregarding cons and sales pitches, this isn't true. I'm a decently cute girl, and I've had people that aren't really creeps hit on me in a way that still gets uncomfortable. I have no problems clearly saying no, but it rarely ends in neutral if the guy is persistent. You usually start with stuff like "it's been nice talking to you, but I am busy" and most people will take the hint and leave, but if they ignore all pleasantries then you just have to be firm, which instantly sours the atmosphere past neutral and it gets uncomfortable anyway. Sometimes I have to be outright hostile, because they don't find neutral firm enough.

The reason we're saying male salesmen will have fewer of these problems is that these persistent guys usually don't have any interest in the male artists. They're not stalker creeps, they just try too hard with girls and won't leave until the girl gets uncomfortably angry. Guys don't have the same problem with these people, since they're not interested enough to be persistent and will probably leave on their own accord anyway. There might be even less than 1% creeps, it could just be a bunch of guys getting too eager, you might only meet one of these at each con, but it's still no fun having to almost yell at people to leave.

[Anonymous No.9904624]

>>9904434
Dude I have literally had a guy follow me to the bathroom after I used the "sorry I need to pee" excuse. As a woman, I do NOT feel comfortable telling someone who doesn't understand obvious social cues to fuck off for multiple reasons. I understand that to some people, while being 'friendly' and 'polite' in our eyes, is a cue to pursue for them because they don't get any socializing in their every day life but even though we're selling fun happy anime wooby shit, people forget that this is still a business?

[Anonymous No.9904626]

>>9904576
Look. The original anon in >>9903892 said
>this [booth barnacles] is a lot easier to deal with if you're male
She means
>guys can tell people to leave them the fuck alone
You somehow jump on board here >>9904434 saying
> women can't?

You're misunderstanding the emphasis. Women can't tell booth barnacles to fuck off not because they can't physically speak up, but because the booth barnacles don't fuck off when they do. In other words, some people don't go away and there's nothing my tiny 5'1 ass can do to make them go away (apart from calling in stronger, bigger people to help, I guess). I could possibly be more aggressive in telling them off, but that runs at the risk of making them angry and I'm not physically fit enough to protect myself if they attempt to hurt me out of embarrassment/frustration. I'm not an intimidating person at all (which is good when I'm trying to make friends, but bad when I'm trying to remove booth barnacles).

[Anonymous No.9904630]

new prompt: what are your socially awkward barnacle horror stories

[Anonymous No.9904631]

>>9904618
I understand what you mean, anon, and I'm sorry you were dealt a bad hand in life. Being distinctly "weird" looking will unfortunately influence a significant amount of people, whether or not they realize it. Have you considered wearing a type of mask that might fit your tables aesthetic? Something from a medical mask that some Japanese artists or jfashioners use might work, or something else that wouldn't seem out of place at a con? I wore one of those big plastic magical girl masks for a cosplay once at my table and it didnt seem to negatively impact sales.

[Anonymous No.9904634]

>>9904617
Oh dear god. You’re really, truly not getting it huh....I think I’m done trying to explain what was meant.

We were trying to advise one another anyway (as women), you really should just ignore the advice that doesn’t apply to you as a man instead of trying to reconfigure other anons’ worldviews.

[Anonymous No.9904638]

>>9904618
>I do that. I'm polite and I engage. I'm saying it doesn't matter.
Eh I mean...there’s no way to know this but, in the alternate universe where you don’t bother doing that, your sales are probably worse.

>>9904604
I wish I had a good story but just smelly people, some relatively unalarming barnacles and attempted shoplifting.

[Anonymous No.9904640]

>>9904617
From personal experience, ignoring these types will make them persistant, but extreme action doesn't come until rejection. If you really think "literally anything else = attacked", then you really have never had any type of encounter with these kind of guys. There are definite ways they get set off, and definite "safer options" to take.

[Anonymous No.9904642]

>>9904630
I had a guy try to ask me out by commissioning me and on his character sheet he wrote his confession instead of his character description.

This was like after 3 days of him coming by my table several times a day to make "small talk" with me. I had only glanced at his character sheet before putting it away to finish my other commissions so I didn't realize it was a confession until after the con. He stood at my table for a good 5 minutes after he paid for his commission to try to gauge my response but I just told him "Thanks, enjoy the rest of your con!"

[Anonymous No.9904646]

>>9904640
You can sometimes physically see their gears shift from flattery/pursuit to anger mode, with those types. Scary shit. Some weird subconscious caveman bs going on there like “if you won’t propagate my genes, you won’t propagate anyone’s!” i get the FUCK out lmao.

....and you can’t gtfo from an AA table.

[Anonymous No.9904648]

>>9904642
Oh no. Ohh noooo fuck I’m getting so much thirdhand embarrassment.

[Anonymous No.9904649]

>>9904642
So there wasn’t an actual character description? What did you draw him, anon?

[Anonymous No.9904650]

>>9904648
Let me tell you anon... he came back to my table at another con and tried to ask me out again via commission. But this time he told me his confession in person because his previous method had failed. He was accompanied by a friend who was cosplaying from that one My Little Pony fanfic where Pinkie Pie is a serial killer???

[Anonymous No.9904651]

>>9904650
I'm not >>9904648 but I'm dying from the thirdhand embarrassment here too.

[Anonymous No.9904653]

>>9904650
oh jesus

>>9904649
....I’m imagining a big calligraphy ‘no’ with sparkles and roses

[Anonymous No.9904654]

>>9904649
He had a crudely drawn reference. He couldn't draw at all so I thought he wanted to supplement his image reference with words.

I was mistaken.

[Anonymous No.9904655]

>>9904642
>I just told him "Thanks, enjoy the rest of your con!"

Thank you for the laugh after this trainwreck of a derailed thread

[Anonymous No.9904656]

>>9904630
I'm just gonna take you up on this

Story 1: Be me at SacAnime. A guy walks by, I say hi, start a conversation about steins;gate. It's a pretty nice conversation, he's relatively normal. It's starting to go on a bit too long, so I tell him bye I need to sell to the customers.
He literally moves to the corner of my booth and stands there. For. FOUR. Hours.
Day ends, he leaves, I think "thank god that's over with"

Next day, he comes back. And stands there again. I try my best to get him to leave politely, he never moves. I'm like 17 and don't have the bravery to say "You standing there is making me feel awkward can you leave" so I just let him stand there. He eventually leaves after 3 hours. Not a bad guy just really fucking awkward how he just stood there.

Story 2: At Anime Expo. I met like 9 fucking booth barnacles my first year but this guy stands out at how socially inept he was. He pauses at my table, looks over stuff, tells me I'm good and asks how he can get into doing Artist Alleys. I tell him just go online and buy a table. He then takes out his massive portfolio and puts it over my merch and starts showing me his art and he won't stop. I haven't said anything, but he slowly starts to get pushed away from my table as customers start piling up, and he literally just moves his portfolio to the table next to me and starts talking to the artist next to me about his art without skipping a beat. I imagine he kept getting pushed down the aisle artist after artist in this fashion until he ran out of booths.

[Anonymous No.9904657]

>>9904642
>>9904650
Oh my god. I feel bad for laughing since he seems young and inexperienced, but that's hilarious.

[Anonymous No.9904658]

>>9904656
>he literally just moves his portfolio to the table next to me and starts talking to the artist next to me about his art without skipping a beat. I imagine he kept getting pushed down the aisle artist after artist in this fashion until he ran out of booths.
Fuck...i’m laughing anon this is comedy gold
(also holy shit did that other guy really stand for a sum total of 7hrs, jesus christ how horrifying)

[Anonymous No.9904659]

>>9904626
>some people don't go away
and some do, which is my point, which is, you should tell people to go away.
>and there's nothing my tiny 5'1 ass can do to make them go away
con staff, con security, 911, etc.
>I could possibly be more aggressive in telling them off, but that runs at the risk of making them angry
Ok, they are angry, now what? What do you think someone can do to you while surrounded by thousands of people? What is even the alternative to the situation? NOT tell them to go away so you have some psychopath hang around your table all day?
>>9904624
Again, for the 10000th time, I am disagreeing with the assertion that women can not and should not say no. I am NOT disagreeing with the assertion that women have never dealt with creeps. Heck, your example is great, if you told him to go away, he might have done so, instead you lead him on to thing you are ok with him and just needed to leave for a minute.
>>9904640
what is the alternative?

[Anonymous No.9904661]

>>9904658
This dude probably thought he was networking like a pro. Like someone was gonna hear about a job sometime and go “you know who would be perfect for this..? That dude who stood and blocked my table for 15 minutes with his bigass folio. Yeah, I’m gonna email him right now!”

[Anonymous No.9904662]

>>9904659
The alternative is to literally sit there and deal with it until they get bored and move on, like the others in this thread have clearly done through their stories. Because it's better to have some guy stand around awkwardly for a few hours then to have just the wrong person flip on you and lose their shit or find you after you leave the convention hall.

[Anonymous No.9904663]

>>9904659
go away dude

[Anonymous No.9904665]

>>9904659
It's so ironic how everyone wants you to go away and you keep not getting the hint and proving the point that some men don't know how to fucking go away when they are unwanted

[Anonymous No.9904667]

>>9904659
The point we're trying to make is:
If you have a man at your booth, you will probably not even reach the point where you have to tell a guy following you to the bathroom to fuck off because the situation will never get that far. Yes, we can always tell people to leave, to stop stalking us, to go fuck themselves and leave us alone instead of following us to the fucking girls bathroom, but we'd rather not be in this situation at all and if you're a man you're far more likely to never have to experience this.

[Anonymous No.9904668]

>>9904665
Damn

[Anonymous No.9904669]

>>9904665
You're right, anon. It really is some meta shit. It'd be really funny if it wasn't annoying at this point.

[Anonymous No.9904670]

>>9904665
ilu

>>9904656
Stories like that first one is why I’m now in favor of AA require you to be 18+, I feel really bad for an underage kid having to deal with that.

[Anonymous No.9904673]

>>9904659
>con staff, con security, 911, etc.
Hello 911 theres a weeb who won't shut up in front of my artist alley table

[Anonymous No.9904674]

>>9904665
RUINED

[Anonymous No.9904678]

>>9904673
fuck I’m rolling

[Anonymous No.9904680]

>>9904665
*WHICH IS LITERALLY PROVING MY POINT*
You have to say >>9904663 if you want someone to go away.

>>9904662
>a psychopath who is willing to kill me if I reject him will just go away if I ignore him
k

>If you have a man at your booth, you will probably not even reach the point where you have to tell a guy following you to the bathroom to fuck off because the situation will never get that far.
because I actually tell them to go away, not just give """hints""".

[Anonymous No.9904686]

>>9904680
Dude, just go away.

[Anonymous No.9904688]

>>9904680
>You have to say >>9904663 if you want someone to go away.
And yet you haven’t.

Go away.

[Anonymous No.9904691]

>>9904680
Man... let it go... I ain't even a part of this argument, I'm even someone who thinks both genders are subject to creepers, but >>9904665 demolished your ass so hard. There is no recovery

[Anonymous No.9904692]

>>9904680
No it's because you're a guy, some random heterosexual weeb twink won't even think of following you to the bathroom, they're interested in the nice girl selling cute stuff so you're less likely to be bothered in the first place. The nice girl can deal with people by being less nice, which is less fun for everyone, including herself and polite people who are able to take hints. Since you're obviously not capable of doing that, just stop and go away.

[Anonymous No.9904694]

>>9904659
>and some do, which is my point, which is, you should tell people to go away.
So if I tell the nice and understanding guy to go away, then the socially obtuse guy will go away too? Haha.
>con staff, con security, 911, etc.
Did you just ignore the part in parenthesis that came right after that sentence.
>What do you think someone can do to you while surrounded by thousands of people?
People aren't exactly rational when they're angry. There's only a flimsy table between us and it doesn't take much to cross it.
>What is even the alternative to the situation?
The alternative is to ignore or avoid the guy and, if it comes to it, call security to keep him away from me. Telling women to be directly confrontational no matter the situation shows you're ignorant of the risks that come with it. Maybe you only think that people listen when you tell them off is because that's the experience you've had with people. My experience with persistent men have been them treating my words as optional because I can't personally physically remove them.

[Anonymous No.9904698]

>>9904688
HEH.

[Anonymous No.9904704]

If i can borrow yall from #GoAwayDude2018 for a second, I asked earlier about things important to becoming full time convention artists, on that subject— how much would you guys personally need to be taking in (either yearly or monthly) before you would consider making it your main or sole income source? Just curious...I’d love to reach that point but I’m nowhere near.

[Anonymous No.9904708]

>>9904704
I'm a student in a low cost of living area (rent is $300/month, school is entirely paid for), so that'll impact my answer, but I live entirely off about $1-2k in online sales a month and then about $5-7k cons every couple of months. I know my income wouldn't be sustainable for a lot of other situations, but it's a far more comfortable life for me than when I was getting $750 a month working fast food while juggling classes.

[Anonymous No.9904713]

>>9904694
>So if I tell the nice and understanding guy to go away, then the socially obtuse guy will go away too?
if they are nice and understanding, yes, if not, then call security or police.
>Did you just ignore the part in parenthesis that came right after that sentence.
no. I was just re-iterating it.
>There's only a flimsy table between us and it doesn't take much to cross it.
Has there literally ever in the history of AA been a fight between an artist and customer? Such a weird thing to worry about.
>The alternative is to ignore or avoid the guy and, if it comes to it, call security to keep him away from me
ignoring them can still lead to needing to call security?....so how is that better than telling them to leave? More people will leave from you telling them to do so than not. Innocent socially awkward people don't pick up in ""hints"" very well.

[Anonymous No.9904714]

>>9904704
That depends on your living costs and other work options. How much do you need just to get by, how much do you earn in your other jobs, how lower than your current income are you willing to settle for? I don't think a personal estimate is helpful here, living costs alone will make this vary a lot.

[Anonymous No.9904717]

>>9904713
Shit man are you socially awkward or what? What does it take for you to leave? Obviously telling you to leave doesn't work, what other advice have you got then, smart guy? You are proof your advice is worth shit.

[Anonymous No.9904718]

>>9904714
I guess it’s not useful info... was mostly just curious about people’s goals and aspirations. You’re right though!
I wonder if AA people who have gone full time are more likely to be from certain areas.

>>9904708
It sounds like this is a way better arrangement for you than working fast food!

[Anonymous No.9904720]

>>9904713
go away dude

[Anonymous No.9904722]

>>9904713
I’m calling con security to remove this anon.

[Anonymous No.9904725]

>>9904717
i'm not responding to the anons telling me to leave, so it works great for them. try it your self.

Stay safe anons.

[Anonymous No.9904728]

>>9904713
>if they are nice and understanding
I mean, that's the point. Not everyone is nice and understanding, unfortunately.
>Such a weird thing to worry about.
Better to worry about it and prevent it. I don't really want the prize of being the first artist to be attacked by an angry nerd.
>how is that better than telling them to leave
Because I won't have to tell them myself. I'm not saying that you absolutely cannot ask people to leave, I'm saying that's not a realistic or feasible solution in many situations. It's also not my responsibility to teach socially awkward people how to socialize properly; I'm just here to sell my weeb merch and socialize with fans who can do so respectfully.

But yeah, I feel like all this isn't getting across to you. I suggest taking a breather and rereading this thread later or something. You claimed to be someone who can listen to others and understand social cues, but so far you haven't demonstrated such.

[Anonymous No.9904729]

>>9904725
Cool, back to your very first post in the thread.
>*I'D* leave them alone, so why wouldn't everyone

[Anonymous No.9904734]

>>9904725
That's literally like going to the neighbor booth and keep pestering the artist there when you're told to leave at the other booth. You still haven't learned anything. Go away.

[Anonymous No.9904735]

>>9904725
>i'm not responding to the anons telling me to leave, so it works great for them. try it your self.
Do you not know how 4chan works? There’s no way to be sure the person you are replying to has not also entreated you to go away in a previous post (it sounds like they did t b h.) Just go away man we’re not going to suddenly agree with you.

[Anonymous No.9904748]

>>9904713
>Has there literally ever in the history of AA been a fight between an artist and customer?
Someone literally shot up Zombiecon in Florida like 3 years ago. Artists had to hide under their tables. There was also the case where 2 people were going to shoot up a Pokemon TCG tournament. ALA this year literally had a bomb threat. Don't think that nerds will automatically be "nice" and listen when artists tell them to go away.

Anyway, go away.

[Anonymous No.9904751]

>>9904748
Phoenix Comicon also had an attempted shooting last year; guy came armed ready to shoot up the con but thankfully the idiot spilled his plan to some girl online and they arrested him on site with the weapons before anything happened.

[Anonymous No.9904756]

>>9904713
>Has there literally ever in the history of AA been a fight between an artist and customer? Such a weird thing to worry about.

a little unrelated but didn't ryan kopf fight a vendor a couple years ago? He got staff to make a fight ring out of chairs and then beat the guy down?

[Anonymous No.9904757]

(I don’t want to jinx it but I think he went away.)

>>9904704
I have the impression being able to break 10k at a few big cons a year (supplement by smaller ones and online sales) is what allows full time alley folks to stay afloat. How much exactly will vary like other anon said but hitting the big numbers at a handful of large events seems important.

[Anonymous No.9904765]

>>9904704
I never went into this thinking i'd do it full time and it really depends on where you live and your rent and how aggressively you want to save. I have the same standards from con and merch income as i would a regular job though otherwise i'd just pursue a regular job (I have a 4-year degree etc that i'm not using)

[Anonymous No.9904777]

>>9904756
I don't think it was an artist but fanime 2017 had a guy get sucker punched in one of the AA exits

[Anonymous No.9904785]

>>9904777
There WAS an artist that was given cookies with needles in them and injured herself on them

[Anonymous No.9904801]

>>9904665
10/10 I love it

[Anonymous No.9904811]

>>9904785
oh god I remember that, wasn't it over some undertale shipping shit too

[Anonymous No.9904824]

>>9904785
was over fandom stuff, not creep. Also think it was a woman? There actually have been several attacks and harassment against people in fandom wars. http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/zamii070-harassment-controversy
So yea, being attacked over drawings is a real thing. random creeps? eh..

[Anonymous No.9904838]

>>9904785
Oh god is that actually true? I thought/hoped it was just an urban legend.

[Anonymous No.9904841]

>>9904777
I was right there when it happened lol

A netflix and chill cosplayer punched an old man, apparently the old man said something that triggered the cosplayer and they were yelling back and forth a lot.

Old man said he broke his hip but emt came and nothing big, just fell is all.

[Anonymous No.9904843]

>>9904824
The topic being discussed was just whether anyone gets attacked/fought with in AAs, though, not just by “creeps” (although a needle-in-food giver is kind of peak creepy imo but ymmv). For that same reason, most of those other cases aren’t relevant , though maybe other con/fandom horror story threads on /cgl/ will like them.

[Anonymous No.9904844]

>>9904785
wasn't this in asia or something though? I know it was ship related but I don't think anyone in america is that ass crazy, they'd be confrontational about it not lowkey

[Anonymous No.9904846]

>>9904824
>zamii
Oh christ i thought this got debunked. Look, she had a lot of other issues; I do feel bad for her but it wasn’t an unusual level of fandom hate/harassment/threats that caused it, she got as much as many BNF artist do — it was her own mental illness, and the specific trigger could have as easily been any other source as douchey anons.
And that’s not the sort of thing that will suddenly happen in an AA at all.

[Anonymous No.9904847]

>>9904844
>I don't think anyone in america is that ass crazy
I want to move to your America....take me with you anon....

[Anonymous No.9904854]

>>9904838
>>9904844
It was just last year, in Taiwan. https://www.plurk.com/p/m80zjc

[Anonymous No.9904863]

What's the popular size for large buttons? 2.25 or 3 inch?

[Anonymous No.9904875]

>>9904863
2.25 more common imo, three is fucking huge and i feel like i never see anyone with that

[Anonymous No.9904877]

1.5 and 2.25

[Anonymous No.9904882]

>>9904875
Let me amend 2.25 is already pushing it, I think the most common sizes throughout AA are 1” small at 1.5” and 1.75” as larges

[Anonymous No.9904898]

>>9904854
Yikes!
>On the same day, many people I didn’t know directly gave me snacks or stuffed them into my pockets, both on and off the field. So I really couldn’t finish it. I didn’t want all those who gave me gifts to be treated as suspects.
This part makes me think they never found out who did it or why, so the anon who mentioned undertale must have been thinking of some other case

[Anonymous No.9904915]

>>9904704
I'd say take your monthly rent and triple it. That should generally be enough for rent, food/fun/savings, and taxes. Unless you live in an area that's dirt cheap, this will definitely let you live pretty comfortably with AA/freelance without needing a second job.

YMMV but I'd also say you should be making more than your previous job like >>9904708
OR a job you could easily get like fulltime min wage, or office/temp work(a couple dollars over min wage). Some people are fine with making less but being more fulfilled doing AA fulltime which is fine too, as long as you can take care of yourself

[Anonymous No.9904933]

Not to relight a fire, but every single con I do I get the same issue with "parent-children" booth barnacles.

I've only been tabling for a year, and it doesn't matter if it's a 1 day library con out in the middle of nowhere, or a 3 day con with 6k people.

I draw a lot of cute animals and unicorns using bright and pastel colors, so naturally I attract a lot of little kids. I've been told I'm a patient person, but the last con with this really got under my skin when they were giving the kids cookies and they had chocolate all over their hands and touching my display. I lost it at one point and actually grabbed the kid's hard to keep her from smearing more chocolate when she wouldn't listen to grandma for the 4th time to stop touching everything. I thought for sure I was going to get in trouble...

But I got too many fucking parents with their 5 year olds "dazzled" by my art because little Timmy and Kelly want to be artist too when they grow up! So they linger around my table for sooo long asking me to give their kids tips or tons of questions on how I made this or that.

At first it was cute and I felt good being able to help "inspire" children, but after the 28th time of them NEVER purchasing anything and me constantly having to fix my table after they leave, I'm fucking sick of it. Half of them always come back 5 times throughout the day to chat more, but still never buying.

Actually, once I had a moo buy something in one of these situations. Her kind really wanted one of my unicorn prints, but mommy didn't want to get it for her because it was "too big" (8.5x11)... Which I also had marked at a whole $5. She asked me what I had of a unicorn that's smaller, so I show her my $3 4" stickers. The kid is begging her for it, and she finally gives in. Then as they are about to leave, the kid sees one of my MLP buttons and wants that. The mom sees the $2 tag and looks me straight in the eyes and says, "Oh I should have gotten that for her instead because it's cheaper."

[Anonymous No.9904939]

>>9904933
I may not be thinking straight but if i were in your situation i would straight up set up a FAQ page on my website (or tumblr or whatever) and give them your card and say you have all this info there so they should browse at their leisure after the con

[Anonymous No.9904968]

>>9904933
>At first it was cute and I felt good being able to help "inspire" children, but after the 28th time of them NEVER purchasing anything and me constantly having to fix my table after they leave, I'm fucking sick of it. Half of them always come back 5 times throughout the day to chat more, but still never buying.
Oh christ....
If you don’t feel good directly asking them to leave or saying you’re too busy, at some point you are entitled to get a bit snarky or pushy. drop a “so are you interested in making a purchase today? I can suggest this one! :)”. or start giving one word answer or no longer smiling when you talk to them. You sound a little too nice to do things like that though so you have my sympathy.

[Anonymous No.9904969]

>>9904933
>a moo
I know it’s a typo but lmfao

[Anonymous No.9904973]

>>9904875
This isn't about buttons, but are 2.5 keychains/charms common as well? Do people normally charge $15, or is that too expensive?

[Anonymous No.9904974]

>>9904973
There was a discussion about charm price for large sizes farther up the thread that might be useful, I think the gist was that 15 range is okay for a large one if it’s appealing

[Anonymous No.9904979]

>>9904974
Thanks. It was lost in all of the discussion. I just want to avoid the embarrassment of lowering my price if people complain $15 is too much for that size.

[Anonymous No.9904981]

>>9904933
Oh man. I'm so sorry anon that you attract the same type of people. If it's a slow con, maybe explaining for a few minutes and then cutting off/ doing what >>9904939 said of handing over your card with "I have a FAQ here too about it!" will be a good compromise of interacting nicely with customers but not having them monopolize your time.

>>9904630
Someone came up to me and asked me if the character on the body pillow I drew was (character from a different anime). When I said it wasn't, they proceeded to show me all the screencaps and fanart of that character they saved on their phone while remarking how sexy he was. How horny they were for him. I don't even go here. Why are you showing me this.
Then they asked me what type of hentai I watched and went into detail about one of their favorites. I noped out to the bathroom after that.

>most FeelsBadMan.jpg
At Sacanime, I had a dude ask me if I went to art school and I mentioned I just graduated. He then proceeded to ask me extensive, easily googled information about the classes, what type of courses did you have to do, etc etc. It wasn't even a conversation just a barrage of questions. It was my first year doing conventions and I felt like I had to be nice and help him because he seemed indecisive, so I answered all of them for at least half an hour. Then at the very end he goes "Well, I looked at all the artists here and the only one I think who draws even good enough didn't even go to art school."
He's lucky there was a table between us because I actually think I would have punched him at that time.

[Anonymous No.9904997]

>>9904981
>talk to artist for half an hour
>finish by telling them their art isn’t good
what the FUCK
all i can assume is that it was negging (which is a stupid concept because as seen it just makes people angry). don’t fucking tell people their art is bad, what in the hell....

[Anonymous No.9905184]

Do you pre-sleeve your prints and store them that way? I was thinking I have so many plastic sheets that I might as well because I feel awkward when I'm struggling to get a print into its sleeve (especially the larger ones). Don't know how it would store though, if it would slide around too much or something.

[Anonymous No.9905204]

>>9904933
I had a kid pick up a plush dog bone at my table and bite it.
Other than that, i've only had one or two other instances of kids being annoying by not leaving the table or whatever.

[Anonymous No.9905208]

>>9905184
I do. I only have displays out on my table and I have everything else stocked and packaged in the back. Prints in sleeves, acrylic charms in the packaging I made for that, sometimes I sell jewelry so that has its own package. At a busy con, you just don't have the time to be struggling with packaging everything up. Do all of that beforehand.

What did you mean by sliding around, though? Are your sleeves not in the size of your prints? There shouldn't be any sliding around in the first place.

[Anonymous No.9905217]

>>9905204
i feel like i remember that story and it still makes me go "?"

[Anonymous No.9905268]

>>9905184
Usually people buy multiple prints (buy 2 get one free) so I don't want to pre-sleeve things individually. I'm used to struggling for it at this point, or I give it to my helper and I talk to someone else while they take the time to sleeve.

[Anonymous No.9905284]

>>9905217
Yea, I mentioned it on here right after it happened a year and a half ago. Luckily the mother was nearby and was actually extremely sorry that is happened. I guess as long as she didn't damage it, I can't be upset ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Anonymous No.9905292]

>>9905184
I have a friend who does and he says it's because he hates awkwardly fumbling with prints, which is fair. I think he just makes a grid cube at his table and labels print (ie. this is the Voltron print section, this is the Naruto print section, etc) and just stores them there so he can flip through.

I don't personally because if somebody gets multiple prints I'd rather put them in one sleeve to cut down on plastic waste.

[Anonymous No.9905307]

>>9905184
No way, i have too many prints and sell too many prints to ever be able to predict which prints to bag. and which would be a waste of time. I use poly bags that are about 1" larger than my prints so the struggle is never that real. Also customers are used to it, it isn't weird at all. If you have less product variety or move less product over all it's a good idea though.

[Anonymous No.9905308]

>>9905284
god was it really that long ago? doesnt feel that long at all. time flies when you're screaming from stress i guess.

[Anonymous No.9905736]

Someone from Mattel ordered a fox tail from me 2 months ago. Just now someone else from Mattel *ordered 30*.
Am I dreaming? I am so excited

[Anonymous No.9905787]

>>9905736
corporate furry party

[Anonymous No.9905839]

>>9904630
I had a fan come visit during a convention, and she ranted about how there's not enough art of a ship she loves (I don't have any art of the pairing and told her I'm not super into it). I just tried to be polite while working on my own stuff, but she stood at my booth for over an hour and a half talking about this ship.

She didn't have any social awareness and spoke like half-talking, half-yelling about how much these two guys "need to fuck, they're super in love." Insanely embarrassing to have someone loudly talking about a controversial ship explicitly fucking at your table, and you can't escape.

[Anonymous No.9905872]

>>9904630
I'm table neighbors with two long-time artist alley friends. This guy keeps going up to my neighbor's bumbling and talking about a "Kelly" and gesturing toward my booth. Both friends are confused and tell me about this. I don't know this guy. Neither do they. But this guy is carrying on conversations like they've known eachother for years. This happens all throughout the weekend, but he never comes to me specifically.

Finally on Sunday, he comes up and starts saying "Oh, Kelly is packing up isn't she?" while tugging on my display so that it's just swaying. And me knowing that this dude was asking for Kelly all weekend, I ask, "Who's Kelly?" to which the socially awkward guy says "Kelly runs this table."

Me being the asshole I am says "This is my table, and I'm Anon." while pointing to my banner that clearly has my name.

Come to find out this "Kelly" does artist alley who carries a similar product to me but she wasn't here this year. But he kept coming to my table and paid no attention to my banner and just harassed my neighbors.

I don't know man.

[Anonymous No.9905935]

>>9904915
I'd add that you should be setting savings aside as well since none of us are going to want and/or be able to do this forever. The sooner you think about where you want to be far down the road, the better.

[Anonymous No.9905962]

>>9905935
Do you have any tips for saving as a full time artist? So far I’ve just been hoarding cash but I’m interested in investing and retirement but don’t know where to start.

[Anonymous No.9905968]

>>9904630
i'm an identical twin and there is a guy who is at almost every convention we table at who will hit on and try and flirt with both of us, usually with the other one present. Apparently he doesn't quite understand that it's not a turn on to be deemed indistinguishable from my sister

[Anonymous No.9906021]

>>9905962
Its good to to have some cash on hand for emergencies, but you're basically losing money to inflation over time.

First off you should pay off whatever debts you owe. You don't want to still have student loans 10 years down the line when you're thinking about 'retiring'.

Anyways, there's actually an issue here with AA and saving that most people probably don't realize. You're probably not reporting your cash income right? That saves you on taxes but it also prevents you from using that cash for any kind of long term investment without triggering flags.

You cannot just take the 20k cash you've saved up from cons and decide to put it in your bank account or open an IRA with it. It's gonna trigger flags and when you tell them its your sales from previous years you can get in trouble with the IRS.

So what you should do is, spend as much of your cash as possible for your everyday expenses, and invest the money you've gotten from credit card sales into a traditional IRA or Roth IRA depending on your current income vs taxable income. Try to use a company that allows you to select from a variety of investment options and invest in something that's relatively stable long term, such as index funds or something with good history like Vanguard. You'll need to do your research on this, or at least have someone you know who's in this line of work help you.

This is sort of your retirement baseline. It's stable (on average) and as long as you are consistent it'll be a sizable amount when you do need to retire.

Now if you have leftover income you want to be more adventurous with there's definitely opportunities for high risk high reward, but you'd have to put in a lot of time to make them worth investing in over just your standard funds.

You'll also way to try to save as much money as possible, look into r/churning for some basic credit card utilization that can save you a good 5-10% of your total expenses per year.

[Anonymous No.9906063]

>gained a bit of weight since starting birth control
>too insecure to cosplay now, no plans for my future cons
>losing motivation to work out and eat right since I only stayed in shape to cosplay and I stopped doing that
>rinse repeat etc

[Anonymous No.9906077]

At a small con I tabled at last year a girl around 8 was walking up to each table and begging for free stuff. And that isn't an exaggeration, she was legit begging. Her Mom was standing right behind her and letting her, only telling her to move on to the next table when inevitability every artist said no. It was insane and super annoying.

[Anonymous No.9906083]

>>9906077
I had a girl do something similar, super small con, like 10 AA booths, girl went around both days asking if artists would take her 'coupons' in exchange for stuff. I said no the first day really politely, she came back the second day, thumbed through the bucket of buttons I had at the time, held up her coupons and only then I guess she realized I wasn't a new person at the table ?? immediately goes "oh...its -you- " and walks away.

More bizarre, her mother came by later with her and asked if my art was "adulty" but started backing away and apologizing before I could ask her to clarify wtf she meant.

[Anonymous No.9906095]

>>9906077
>>9906083
What the actual fuck, this shit makes me so mad. Moreso at the mom than the girl, of course the kid isn't going to have manners if you're condoning her running around like that. Jesus christ.

[Anonymous No.9906146]

>>9906083
Coupons?

[Anonymous No.9906303]

Can someone help me with filing taxes with CA BOE? I tried to log in to do taxes and the website is saying my username and password did not get tranferred to their new website. How can I even reset my password or retrieve my username when nothing is in there system? Do I need to make a new account? I am so confused...

[Anonymous No.9906395]

>>9906303
Yah, you need to make a new account, they basically did an account purge.

[Anonymous No.9906450]

>>9906303

You make a new account using the express ID or whatever they're calling it now. Your permits will be transferred into the new account. Do it soon because they have to send you a physical mail with a code in order for you to complete registration and get access.

[Anonymous No.9906561]

>>9906146
they looked like orange magazine clippings? idk what they actually were really, she just called them coupons

[Anonymous No.9906691]

Hey crunchyroll I thought you were supposed to get back to us 6 days ago not just barely start going through submissions

[Anonymous No.9906718]

anon from >>9905736
I spent all day making tails and ordering more fabric, now they want to change the order?? They sent me a very confusing message on what they want, including wanting a different amount of tails. When I asked about it, they were just like "idk, just what I was told to ask for". ??????

...I... think I know what happened. Someone told the ordering manager to buy some red, blue, and pink fox tails, but instead of ordering some red tails, blue tails, and pink tails, they ordered red, blue, and pink rainbow tails.....

I'm waiting for them to get back to me to figure out exactly what they want... but I'm kinda frustrated if they don't actually buy any of the rainbow tails since I spent the entire day working on that and spent $100 ordering more fabric........

[Anonymous No.9906719]

>>9906718
I was right, they don't want the rainbow. They want the separate colors. Literally kill me.

[Anonymous No.9906733]

>>9906719
Well on the bright side if you need to fill an order of a trillion rainbow tails you have a ton of fabric? Jokes aside, that sucks anon. I get really pissed when people message me after I already packaged an order canceling it or asking for changes, can't imagine how upset I'd feel about an actual company failing an order of 30 products from me lmao.

[Anonymous No.9906764]

>>9906718
Charge them an extra service charge because you bought the rainbow fabric already?

[Anonymous No.9906781]

>>9906691
They were too busy inviting their own founder as a guest to remember AA

[Anonymous No.9906809]

Has anyone sold dakimakuras before? If so what's your experience on them? Was just thinking of making a few for my friends and then offering them on a pre-order basis.

[Anonymous No.9906832]

>>9906809
If you want to sell dakimakuras, having decently good art is pretty much a requirement unless someone REALLY wants the character on your daki. It's a steep price point item, so while someone with low-mid tier skills will definitely have customers who will shell out for charms, pencil pouches, lanyards, and maybe even a print, most people only own 1 or 2 dakis so they're going to be picky with what design they buy.

Of course, just my anecdotal experience, just try the preorders first and see how they do for you.

[Anonymous No.9906883]

>>9906832
I don't think good art I'd a requirement, just fappable art. There aren't enough dakis in the AA for people to be too choosy and most of the dakis i see in dealers don't see to be done in a more modern anime style ( feels like the artists are from the 2000s)

[Anonymous No.9906930]

>>9906832
What's a typical price point on them? A cursory search of manufacturers seems like they can run as low as $10 each for production at least.

[Anonymous No.9906943]

>>9906719
Aw geez....
Could you put the alreadymade ones up for a slight discount and advertise it as a flash sale to move em quickly? (Also i have to say it sounds like the speed you work at is really impressive!)

[Anonymous No.9906950]

>>9906930
Most in artist alley run for 60-70 for double sided

[Anonymous No.9906984]

>>9906733
Well, luckily they haven't fully canceled yet, just wanting a different item instead, so its not all for nothing.

>>9906764
I was actually able to cancel the fabric order. I had enough on hand to make half of them, so thats what I was working on.

>>9906943
Well, they aren't fully made, about 18 are half way made. I guess i'll just set them in a pile and finish making each one as someone orders one, which might take awhile.

[Anonymous No.9907236]

First time using Alibaba outside of vograce, anyone have any card problems (like random charges to your card, fruad, etc.)? Most manufacturers don't take paypal.

[Anonymous No.9907259]

>>9904756
>>fight ring out of chairs
That's hilarious, but no. His staff was blocking the guy's booths because he had been asked to leave several times, officially kicked out by Kopf himself, an the vendor was still selling his bootlegs. Kopf called the cops, the vendor (a foot taller and 60lbs on Ryan) got up in his face, Kopf threw the first punch and there was a fist fight in the vendor hall.

[Anonymous No.9907261]

>>9906077
Kid came up to my table at ACen a few years ago and demanded, "What's free!?"

Uh, nothing? I'm working GTFO

[Anonymous No.9907266]

>>9907261
"an anime about boys who swim"

[Anonymous No.9907738]

>>9906984
update. They decided they didn't want 30 rainbow tails, they want *60* white tails.
They paid full price too.
I really do wonder what they plan to do with them. I'm going with >>9905787

[Anonymous No.9907743]

>>9907738
Or staff/helpers/gifts at some kind of event where the toys being promoted are a line of animal or anthro characters?
That's wild.

[Anonymous No.9907847]

>>9907738

I feel happy for you that you're making this sale, but it's wild to me that a corporation that more than likely has a lot of manufacturing ties didn't just get this job done in china rather than putting an indie artist on etsy through the ringer like this lol.

[Anonymous No.9907873]

>>9907847
It was probably too short notice and too low of a MOQ for whatever they're using it for. They're probably using these tails for promotional purposes or that corporate furry party anon mentioned earlier.

[Anonymous No.9907877]

>>9907847
Seriously. Idk why they chose me. Makes me feel super special. Guessing it is partly because my tails are unique? Mine have LED lights in them, which isn't something generic you can buy.
Though, they could have easily just bought one, took it apart, and then had some china manufacture copy it and possibly even resell it.

[Anonymous No.9907917]

So seagulls how did you first day at akon go? For me it was very slow this morning (then what im use too) but I made my usual that i do on the first day near the end.

[Anonymous No.9908034]

Is making around a grand/day at a con considered a success or not for out of state artists? Is it even worth it?

[Anonymous No.9908040]

>>9908034
I do out of state constantly, and for me personally I consider this a passable day. Also depends on the con- If it's a four day con making a bit less per day is fine. But I'd say for a three day that's about the minimum I'm okay with.

[Anonymous No.9908072]

>>9908034
Depends on your on standards. 1k a day was great when i was starting out, like the first year or two. if i was only making 1k a day now though it would not be worth my time at all.

[Anonymous No.9908146]

>>9907917

Kind of piggybacking off this question, but how much is passable for a multi-day instate con?

[Anonymous No.9908195]

>>9908034
I would say a grand a day is probably about standard for your average artist alley artist (who only carries like, prints, charms, badges).

[Anonymous No.9908228]

>>9908034
Depends on how big the con is. (also obviously your personal factors — how much you usually do in sales, how much you spent to attend etc)

[Anonymous No.9908258]

What kinds of prints do you guys buy? Would any of you be willing to do a post like last thread of that one anon's fanime haul?

About three years ago I just got into AA and 100% of my sales came from prints. I would make about 150-200 print sales per con, and it was great for me back then. Nowadays I'm making quadruple what I did in the past, but 99% of my sales are from charms. I sell maybe 2-5 prints per con. Yes, that little. I haven't drawn a new print in three years, and I want to start from the ground up making new print stock. Thanks for any advice.

[Anonymous No.9908273]

>>9908258
I don't buy as many prints as I used to, but this is my print wall. The Gangster Squad is my most recent purchase, I got it at a show less than a month ago. The Pokémon print is the only official merch up there, the rest is artist alley or indy comics.

[Anonymous No.9908281]

>>9908072
For any kind of travel yeah 1k a day is way too low, but if its local (< 30 minutes driving from where I live) and I basically have no costs I'd still do it if I didn't have any other plans.

[Anonymous No.9908289]

>>9908258
Well I'm a guy so I mostly buy anime girl prints, both artsy/tasteful as well as ero-ish. Unique styles are a plus but the aesthetic still needs to be there.

Anyways, the competition for prints is fierce, everyone has really upped their skills and even with Fanime cutting so many god tier artists from this year the ones that went were still pretty ridiculous.

Not to mention you have all the famous Asian artists who fly in like Rei17.

Of course if you can figure out an under served niche or get in on a super hot trend before everyone else that helps a lot too.

There was so much Zero 2 at Fanime that some of the really popular artists I talked to didn't sell that many Zero 2 compared to some of their other prints, while other artists I talked to said their Zero 2 was probably their top seller.

Anyways, here's a list of artists I bought prints from at Fanime, you can go look them up to see what print focused artists are doing nowadays:
minsgraph, softmode, asuka111, pictolita, lucidsky, einlee, kanekiru, christian-angel, krazeh-kai, kyuriin

[Anonymous No.9908309]

>>9908273
Thank you!

>>9908289
Thanks!! Also i heard rei17 was american who just is involved in the jp scene through twitter? (A small matter though, shes kickass either way)

I understand the print market is super competitive, Im definitely not looking to shift my stock focus but I'd like to maybe start making 2-3k regularly on prints (like i did in the past) as an addition to my current stock. Id consider myself advanced, though not as good as the people you posted. Definitely not looking to entirely compete, just maybe snag some of that market.

Tbh this revelation came to me earlier this year, I thought prints were dying, but then I tabled next to a guy who did only pin ups (he was advanced, but i also wouldnt consider him as good as anyone you listed) and he broke 10k easy. So clearly there is still money there... I just have to find what works for me. I appreciate the help.

[Anonymous No.9908312]

>>9908309
Oh is she? Actually now that you mention it I think she mentioned she lived in Orange County when I asked her a couple years back...but that might have been Pictolita...

Anyways, you don't have to be as good as these people as long as you have a niche you cater too. Like at Fanime there was maybe < 10 artists who did more lewder works, so anyone looking for lewd art of their waifus had a lot less to pick from.

I was tabled next to a guy who had a folder with his 18+ art, and a LOT of people were interested.

Having an unique art style that stands out also makes it easy for you to attract people's attention, especially for normal families who might not be too interested in anime style art but would enjoy something aesthetic that they wouldn't mind having in their living room or kitchen.

Anyways, good luck and don't be afraid to experiment a bit. I've had a few duds here and there with prints that I thought would get really good reception do really poorly, and some prints that I didn't think would find much traction surprise me, and I'm still surprised at the reception of my prints overall.

[Anonymous No.9908325]

>>9908258
I like well-rendered art and will shamelessly admit that I do gravitate towards pinup types but anything that looks cool gets my attention.

[Anonymous No.9908349]

Does anyone else think it’s a little odd people are trying to sell larger prints like 11x17 at the same time so many attendees are complaining they don’t have wallspace left for prints?

I’m still able to move stock of my smaller prints along with my charms, but I’ve never done postcard sized prints. I’m planning separate designs for some of my postcards to not canabalize my other sales but what has your experience been with postcards?

[Anonymous No.9908352]

>>9908289
I often wonder to myself what's even the point of trying when these artists exist? I don't event want to know how much of a difference our sales are. It's hard not to get depressed about this.

[Anonymous No.9908354]

>>9908349
I'm one of those that only sell large prints. I'm sure it has affected my sales negatively, but going into the merchandise business seems too intimidating. Prints just seem easier.

[Anonymous No.9908355]

>>9902693
well to address your last point, when you get a table in AA you are pretty much committed to spending the entire con behind your table. You get there early, you have to staff the table all day, when the alley closes you typically have only a few hours of con time left for late-night events, but you're also likely going to go back to your room and try to get some sleep so you can spend another 12 hour work-day in the alley.

Working AA is a big time commitment. I actually don't want to get a table at an alley if I actually want to attend any of the events.

[Anonymous No.9908356]

>>9908352
Nah you only need to think like this if you’re going to one of the ultra-large cons which will attract many god tier artists. If you’re going to a local con or even a bigger one that’s not extremely huge, AA will actually give you a far better chance to make money off your art than the internet (which is teeming with extremely good artists because well, who isn’t posting their art on the internet?) because only so many people will have shown up to an alley, none will have the exact stuff as you, and if you’re even somewhat competent then your stuff will appeal to some folks there. AA is about who shows up and you’re unlikely to have all these famous ones sdo so.

[Anonymous No.9908363]

>>9908258
1/2; I'm very particular about the prints I buy, but I tend to like watercolors. Ignore the llama.

[Anonymous No.9908376]

>>9908363
2/2; I'm the kind of a repeat patron that will drop loads of money if you cater to my niche desires.

I do see a lot of aesthetics I like but they don't carry my series. Like for example there's this one shoujo artist that works with watercolors I really like at Fanime, but I can never bring myself to buy the art since I'm not a huge fan of those series.

There's also alot of male artists who draw in styles I love but they mainly draw single characters when I'm more into ensemble casts and then we have the opposite where someone draws an ensemble cast but I'm not too crazy about the art. But I always pick up a small little something from booths if I really like the art.

Tbh, I treat artist alley more like an art gallery than anything else and I like to keep an internal tally of what's hot; which booths carry what; which genre of booths are which.

Also is it just me or has there been an increase in pastel booths the past few years to the point where its all blending together like unicorn mcflurry,

[Anonymous No.9908382]

>>9908363
>>9908376
The prints that came from artists who attended Fanime of this year and/or last year are the all the Nier Automata, the Ib, Kaworu w/ piano, Bravely default, Kingdom Hearts items and Gilgamesh/Enkidu sleeping.

[Anonymous No.9908424]

>>9908258
I tend to buy creepy stuff or cute stuff with a creepy theme with rare exception. The only fanart I've ever bought was an Over the Garden Wall print.

[Anonymous No.9908522]

>>9908034
500 a day is a success to me. Literally any profit is worth it.

>>9908349
I exclusively buy larger prints. I like large prints and 11x17 is just small to me.

[Anonymous No.9908530]

are there any overused things that the market is saturated in? pic related

[Anonymous No.9908689]

>>9908352
AA isn't like all or nothing though? These artists could make 20k a con but you could still make 10k or 5k or 7k or 2K or any number, why do you think you have to have the same success as them?

Further more, not everyone likes the same style, the art other anons have posted are nearly as technically good but someone still bought it. No one has posted my art but i still make 10k+ at cons and i'm also not as good as those people. You don't have to be the best, you just have to show up.

[Anonymous No.9908692]

>>9908349
Attendees have been complaining since 5 years ago. They will learn to cycle out their prints or to buy a portfolio and put new prints into the portfolios to make a coffee table art book (This is actually what i tell people, not to sell my art but to alleviate that pressure for them. Older attendees actually thank me because they aren't saying the wall thing as a cheap excuse, they legitimately want more art but don't know how to display it)

[Anonymous No.9908696]

>>9908352
Remember people dont show up to a convention for those artists... they show up because they like anime/video games/etc. Theyre good but a customer isnt going to pick their amazing print of whatever series over someone elses that has a series they care about. I buy mediocre prints all the time just bc they had a series im passionate for

[Anonymous No.9908700]

>>9908530
Boku no hero, nier. However neither of those are nearly as bad as overwatch. And overwatch still moves in my stock so its clearly not at critical mass yet...

As for stuff that just doesnt move and artists have a ton of, Id say yuri on ice. My friends have been close to giving away their stock because it isnt selling.

[Anonymous No.9908724]

>>9908692
Holy shit, thats a fantastic idea. Hope you dont mind if I steal it and start recommending it to customers.

[Anonymous No.9908742]

>>9908700
>tfw want to test the AA waters but 80% of what I have is yuri on ice print-style artwork

I guess it's time to reconsider

[Anonymous No.9908745]

>people ask me all the time on my Instagram for art tips, ask where I make my acrylic charms
>try and help them and be nice
>this one girl has been asking me a lot
>sends me a picture of one of my top sellers, saying she’s trying to make a keychain of that character too
>”Hey I’m going to steal your idea can you help me steal it” pretty much
....And I literally won’t be helping anyone ever again. It’s I don’t want to be rude but I don’t want people blantently stealing my ideas because they see they get popular?

[Anonymous No.9908746]

>>9902799
I mean, I had a a friend who sells her work at a bunch of artist alleys. Once I came out as gay she started being super shitty and spouting a bunch of homophobic bullshit - yet she still to this day sells shippy pictures of Voltron or various anime because she wants to be popular and make money.

[Anonymous No.9908747]

>>9908349
I've heard these complaints but large prints are still my #1 seller so until I see those numbers actually start to shift I'm probably going to keep making them. They're also my favorite format though for my art since I like to do full illustrations so I think the extra effort shows when compared to my other merch.

[Anonymous No.9908799]

>>9908700
>YOI
Fucking rip
Yuri on ice is going into a purge rn since it's popularity is dying

[[e-mail] No.9908817]

>>9908530
taking completely random objects and drawing them in a chibi style with a face and mouth. Though, I am guilty of buying some in sticker form like a computer tower with a face....

[Anonymous No.9908818]

>>9904933
Kids under the age of 13 should be banned from entering the AA honestly, I feel like this shit happens way too often and for some reason the parents are always just as bad

[Anonymous No.9908824]

>>9908799
YOI on ice also has every type of merch under the sun already, you're competing with waaay more than just other artists.

[Anonymous No.9908836]

>>9908258
I'm very picky about prints these days, no more fanart prints unless it's based on a game I like, and I mostly purchase what would look good in my apartment so likely it's some normie print (ie food, mushroom, plants, etc).

>>9908273
I love Sakana comics!

[Anonymous No.9908890]

>>9908349
IMO postcards has just not been worth it. I had a huge stock when I started feeling self-conscious about printing pictures i didn't think were worth it as 11x17, and the amount of time people spending standing in front of your postcard display/bucket looking through it to buy like 10$ worth of stuff is not worth it. They're blocking the way that another passing customer could have seen my charms or whatever and taken interest in them.

Of course, not a bad idea if you don't have a lot of stock. For me though, not worth at all.

[Anonymous No.9908921]

>>9907917
A-kon is just sucking for me. I made back costs finally today but its soooo damn slow. There are a lot of people but they walk by or browse lightly before moving on. I'm doing 1/3 of what I'd usually make at a con this size.

[Anonymous No.9908949]

>>9908799
It's not dying popularity so much as oversaturation (like what's happened with 02 prints -- she hit that point way quicker...) YoI got one of those rare loyal fujo fanbases likeTiger and Bunny, but they already have tons of merch to choose from.

[Anonymous No.9909032]

>>9908289
Yeah, my Zero Two and Franxx prints were easily my best sellers at Fanime (I think I hit my record for most copies of any print sold at a single con with them), but another artist who's art level was similar to mine hardly had any of his Zero Two move. The purchases were a lot less enthusiastic than I'm used to for my best sellers though. Rather than something like:
>Wow, I really like this print! I need to have it!
It felt more like everyone was thinking:
>After careful consideration of the million different Zero Two prints I've seen today, I think I've decided on this one

[Anonymous No.9909045]

>>9909032
Was your Zero Two lewd by any chance? =D

I feel like the lewder ones were more popular.

[Anonymous No.9909055]

>>9909045
Not at all, actually.

I also did wait until the very last minute to draw them though, since I wanted to watch the show as much as possible before I did the pieces while still getting them out for Fanime, and I think that really helped.

[Anonymous No.9909060]

>>9908724
Steal away, the more people who know the better. Both for customers who want to have an excuse to buy more art and for print artists to sell more art.

[Anonymous No.9909135]

>>9908949
>It's not dying popularity so much as oversaturation
That's fair but I know quite a few people trying to get rid of their YOI merch, it's inevitable these days with bandwagoners
just waiting on the next hot new anime

[Anonymous No.9909230]

On the topic of income per day, I'm basically doing my first AA at AnimeNext. I think there's 12k-13k people?
Friday I made $120, today $240. Is that bad for your first con of this size (print artist only)? Im feeling so small with the amount of mind-blowing amazing artists here, and I'm just feeling like I shouldn't even try anymore.

[Anonymous No.9909251]

>>9909230
This is your first AA. Take it as a learning experience. From kiriska's survey, it seems it is possible to make decent numbers at that con.

What I'd do if I were you is take a step back and look at your stock. If you are solely a print artist and aren't as good as the competition, you need to expand. Look into charms, start poking around alibaba, group orders. You need merch that people will buy without jaw-dropping art, but rather good design sense.

Start producing that merch and improve your print work in the background. Don't drop prints, you'll need those, but try to go do actual studies and ask for critique of your work and try to make your new prints impressive in some way- Great graphic design is a good way to get people to purchase your prints without being amazing at art. Make people laugh or cry, feel some kind of emotion. Don't just draw pin ups, people can make pin ups work but they're generally really good at rendering. And completely dump the characters facing left on a background if you have any of those.

Good luck. Don't give up, put your energy into improvement. Making money in AA takes time, this is your first con. You can get there.

[Anonymous No.9909257]

>>9909230
That is sorta low. For your few 2 or 3 cons, you should focus more on what people like and don't about your booth and what sells rather than profit. take this time to learn as much as you can. Take the time to talk to other artists and get connections and tips.

[Anonymous No.9909272]

>>9909230
That’s not at all terrible for your first con. Just breaking even alone is considered great on your first try!

[Anonymous No.9909333]

>>9909230
It’s frankly low (I’d you post any of your work we might advise if it’s an appeal issue or you’re just getting outconpeted by the experienced and super skilled ones) but as everyone has been saying first con is a special case where just breaking even is a success and you learn for next time.

[Anonymous No.9909463]

>>9909333
>>9909272
>>9909257
>>9909251
Thanks. Yeah I thought it was a bit low. I've been trying to work with humor too with my products, and many people are laughing at the jokes and bringing their friends over but not buying. I was also the anon from the previous thread who charges super low ($10/tabloid and $3/card) because I don't feel confident enough to have higher prices, but I'm not sure if that is a factor or not since I feel like I wouldn't be making even less if I was charging more.
Strangely enough it's my pin ups that have been selling rather than my scene/composition pieces. I haven't sold one of anything other than my pinups.

[Anonymous No.9909474]

Has anyone come across a 3x3 sticker that's $5 and is actually worth it? I saw that most people charge $3 for one but I'd rather not. I just don't know if I'm skilled enough to pull it off. Examples of what's considered a great chibi would be helpful.

[Anonymous No.9909692]

What's going on with catprint?

[Anonymous No.9909934]

>>9909692
I dunno, IS there something going on with catprint?

[Anonymous No.9910057]

>>9909474
People are mainly pricing it at that because of the material. It’s vinyl and weatherproof = more expensive.
But if it’s homemade stickers hardline at $3 each.

But to go back to your question no. I don’t think it’s worth it at the price and don’t buy myself but attendees sure do.

[Anonymous No.9910071]

>>9909474
>>9909230
Both you guys post your art so we can show you how you can improve.

[Anonymous No.9910075]

I can only draw chibis... do you guys have any suggestions on what I can put chibis on merchandise-wise? Charms are obviously my number one, but the only other thing I can think of is maybe stickers or buttons... chibi proportions look kinda bad on prints.

[Anonymous No.9910080]

>>9910075
If you're really good at chibis then there's no reason to not just churn out charms, stickers and buttons. Merch wise, chibis are the easiest to put everywhere. If you do a group picture with a good composition and a matching simple background, then there's no reason you can't put it on prints too.

Personally I'm not good with chibis, I'm trying to go more for busts and half-bodies for my merch since it suits my style better. I have a hard time designing good merch.

[Anonymous No.9910119]

whenever I see this chick post i get the most disgusting aftertaste of 2006 in my mouth

[Anonymous No.9910123]

>>9910119
somehow i was zero percent surprised when she started talking Voltron

[Anonymous No.9910124]

>>9910119
I talked to this person once at a con and they were extremely nice. But oh god. This is fucking fullbody cringe.

[Anonymous No.9910131]

>>9910119
Who the hell is this person? She gets my blood boiling.

[Anonymous No.9910160]

>>9910124
I am sure she is nice, in that over the top 'im a con mom!' awkward nerd kind of way, but her yaoi no-nose, over the top red blush, and shiny white highlighted art (and her way of presenting herself online) gives me hives

[Anonymous No.9910165]

>>9910160
Who is she???

[Anonymous No.9910242]

So >>9909230 here. After today at AN, I made a total of $597, which is basically just breaking even. It feels really disappointing just because I've spent months preparing for this con and drawing to the point where my hand would hurt. It just kind of all feels pointless of spending money and working just to be back at square 1 from not making profit.

Any other gulls that were at AN mind sharing your number? I'm not sure if I was in a bad spot too. The girl next to me told me she only made around $400 and this was her tenth con.

The girl diagonal of me was a real riot to watch with her cons throwing tantrums about not making enough money. Her art was really good, but her attitude was bad. This was her 3rd year conning or something and she was going on in saying how she usually gets around 3k/con but she didn't even make $1,000 at this one. She ended up rage quitting half day today and either there was no one at her table or some random dude was sitting there looking miserable.

[Anonymous No.9910244]

>>9910242
This is odd that three people in the same area had unexpected low profits. Was the location out of the way at all...? And could you post some of your art (doesn’t have to be from your sale pieces if you’re worried about being recognized)? I’m extremely curious now.

[Anonymous No.9910259]

>>9910165
they're jenovasilver on instagram and tumblr, I believe, but they pretty frequently post cringy essays on AANI.

>>9910242
I would honestly suggest you do a couple more conventions to better judge whether its you thats the problem or it happened to be an off con. It's really hard to work off a sample size of one.

[Anonymous No.9910277]

>>9910259
Oh their art actually looks fine, I was expecting something much tackier from the other anon’s descrip. Christ that persona and typing style though

[Anonymous No.9910364]

>>9910277
>their art actually looks fine
Anon.

[Anonymous No.9910366]

Anyone have any information on Animanga Expo? Artist Alley tables are FCFS and up for sale right now.

[Anonymous No.9910371]

>>9910364
OH MY GOD IT'S HER

[Anonymous No.9910375]

>>9909474
my partner and I do 3 inch holo bug and reptile stickers and they sold really well for 4$ each at Anime North. We actually sold out of our geckos.
as a customer I wouldn't ever pay more than $4 for a sizable non-holo sticker, and it'd have to be pretty baller art. My partner likes big weatherproof stuff for her car when she can get it and tends to pick those up whatever the price.

[Anonymous No.9910399]

>>9910364
I didn't look that closely and just saw the non blushy chibis and shit. Those are...pretty bad yeah.

[Anonymous No.9910400]

>>9910364
>Rights of Spring
...does she not know the thing she is referencing is 'rite' or...is there some kind of bug person rights theme in the story

[Anonymous No.9910479]

>>9910242
>It feels really disappointing just because I've spent months preparing for this con and drawing to the point where my hand would hurt.
The nice thing is that all of that art prep will carry over to your next con. You only have to make as much new art as you feel up to for each con from now on (+ reorder stuff when needed, as well as looking into new products once in a while )

[Corky-Lunn !CorkyloMxc No.9910531]

new thread: >>9910530