|
What I mean is sign up for the thing, pay for a table, sell your work and then meet your peers and build good networking connections. If you make a comic you have to go out and become a face at some point. Go make friends and sell minis.
|
#
?
Feb 12, 2016 05:45
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 17, 2024 02:09 |
|
|
I see. I'm curious -- do you actually break even with that sort of thing? I can't really see anyone making decent money off of that unless they're already well-known. Or is it more beneficial purely due to making connections? I mean, I can see the value in it if you're really serious about trying to make a career out of comics, but personally I'm just a hobbyist.
|
|
#
?
Feb 12, 2016 07:45
|
|
|
When you start out you might not make back your travel, hotel or table costs entirely but people do buy things they've never seen before and being at least a passable salesperson helps (know how to engage people and not overwhelm them). The real value of it is making contacts with your fellow artists and becoming a part of the scene, a face you see in one corner of the country or another and people recognize you and associate you with their past experiences of you. You might start out just meeting up with other artists you meet online but you invariably meet other people. During con hours you're there to make up your expenses but after hours you make friends, have a drink, strike up conversation and eventually get dinner with people and then you become Someone. That's the real value of the investment is the social connections you build. You're not going to make back your costs on trip one, absolutely not, but it's the first step in the road towards turning a profit. Everyone has to pay their dues. If you're not actually interested in professional contacts or stapling minis together the above link might not be for you, that's really a big thing for people trying to make their art their career. Also, I guess since I'm talking about socializing, it's important not to be intrusive or try to get buddy-buddy with people who don't actually know you. Those connections form naturally but if you spend like 20 minutes hanging around another artist's booth or inviting yourself to their groups you're gonna leave a bad first impression. Be cool and people will recognize you as cool.
|
|
#
?
Feb 12, 2016 08:52
|
|
|
Reiley posted:What I mean is sign up for the thing, pay for a table, sell your work and then meet your peers and build good networking connections. If you make a comic you have to go out and become a face at some point. Go make friends and sell minis. I'm not sure you have to become a face. I understand it's popular for some creators to lead with their personality though... it just doesn't seem like a requirement to make a comic to me.
|
|
#
?
Feb 12, 2016 09:05
|
|
|
i'm a face. i gaze sagely out between the bulbous fleshy lips of my shell. your eyes meet mine across the crowded convention hall. i beckon you hither with my swan-like and graceful clitoris. come hither. buy my surfing cartoon nipples
|
|
#
?
Feb 12, 2016 13:09
|
|
|
It's not a requirement, but it helps a lot to get your name out there. And it's not like you have to be a "face", you just say hi to folks. It's the irl version of making online friends who link to you- not 100% necessary, but helpful, and also fun! Cons make up the backbone of my income, kickstarters aside, but it's taken four years of consistently visiting the same 8-12 cons with a new, professionally printed book each year. I'm no salesperson but I've got my short pitch and a smile, which seems to do the trick, and I definitely don't go out of my way to be a "face", but have made friends regardless. There's also no small amount of filtering required to decide which are the right shows for you, which has the right vibe, the right audience, your genre being sold. I've peeled it down to about 6 shows a year that I make a good chunk of change at, and that's my comfortable level. So yes, it's possible to do very well from cons, but definitely tricky.
|
|
#
?
Feb 12, 2016 13:20
|
|
|
I've made some decent money doing cons and I just do prints and tshirts at the moment. commissions are also good money. the definite main reason to go is to network and hand out your business cards to absolutely everyone and talk to people in the industry. you're kind of paying for the privilege to do that. got my first real comic job that way. the whole idea behind art being a thing you can make it off of just your online presence is a very new idea. some people may be able to do that but to think everyone can and will is pretty naive. it's a big rear end art ocean out there and you need to take advantage of every possibility you have and sell yourself whenever you can. meeting people in person makes a huge difference.
|
|
#
?
Feb 12, 2016 13:53
|
|
|
I would love to go to cons (I have so many ideas for fun things I could hand out!) but I feel like I'm probably not enough of an extrovert to get anything useful out of it. It doesn't help that every con within a reasonable distance is billed as a "pop culture expo", which I'm pretty sure means "place people visit to get Lou Ferrigno's signature".
|
|
#
?
Feb 12, 2016 14:33
|
|
|
I think I might be able to pull off SPX this year. I've got several friends in DC so I can probably find crash space, and I've got two graphic novels and by September I'll probably be done with the one I'm working on. Ironically the biggest problem would be travel. Trains and flights from Boston would be about the same price as a half table and a bus would only be marginally cheaper. Might be able to bum a ride with one of my friends, though.
|
|
#
?
Feb 12, 2016 14:58
|
|
|
I've turned a profit on all but a couple of cons I've gone to. Most of the money came from My Little Pony commissions, but it paid for my table, and I managed to sell some comics too! It's a great experiences if you get a chance to do it. If there's a con that's local, check out the local artist groups and see if someone would like to split a table with you. Depending on the size of the con, tables can be pretty expensive, so I know a lot of people who share one with a buddy. Sharing a table also makes it easier to go around the convention floor and do other stuff, since someone else will be at the table to watch your stuff and answer questions, and you'll do that same for them. Eating and bathroom breaks are kind of necessary. My local comic creator group always requests that our tables are next to each other, so we'll always be next to people we know.
|
|
#
?
Feb 12, 2016 15:02
|
|
|
I table at multiple conventions every year, it's honestly not a bad thing to do at all. The key thing is that the convention community is a pretty good network, a lot of people know each other. Word travels fast. Conventions aren't really full of smelly nerds. Yeah, there are some, but you'll sell and talk to people of all stripes. The real obnoxious people exist, but they are a rarity, and good conventions have staff that will get rid of them. Especially when you're first starting, it's kind of an investment or gamble. And for god's sake, get a Square or some other method to take cards!Kojiro posted:Cons make up the backbone of my income, kickstarters aside, but it's taken four years of consistently visiting the same 8-12 cons with a new, professionally printed book each year. I'm no salesperson but I've got my short pitch and a smile, which seems to do the trick, and I definitely don't go out of my way to be a "face", but have made friends regardless. This is also basically me. It's tough to do shows sometimes because it really feels like gambling sometimes. I'm in no way a name, and sometimes my fan poo poo sells more than my original poo poo, but that's what you got to do to make money. And it's STILL not enough for me to be able to quit my day job. I'm trying to do costume photo booths instead of my art at a few shows, and while it works, having to split the income with my photo partner really puts a crimp on the final take. But I find it massively enjoyable, far more fun than trying to repeatedly convince people to buy my book or prints. Unbelievably Fat Man posted:I think I might be able to pull off SPX this year. I've got several friends in DC so I can probably find crash space, and I've got two graphic novels and by September I'll probably be done with the one I'm working on. Ironically the biggest problem would be travel. Trains and flights from Boston would be about the same price as a half table and a bus would only be marginally cheaper. Might be able to bum a ride with one of my friends, though. Carpool if you can, split hotels if you can, anything you can do to cut your costs. Boston to DC is at least drivable.
|
|
#
?
Feb 12, 2016 15:03
|
|
|
When you speak of commissions at a con, how does that work exactly?
|
|
#
?
Feb 12, 2016 16:26
|
|
|
someone tells you want they want you to draw, you draw it and usually give it to them before the con is over. I usually price my stuff around $30-$40 flat rate with an extra $10 for more characters which is fairly pricy for a con if you're not well known(you're gonna be competing with other unknowns charging like $5 a piece because people undersell themselves. big names will go up to $100 a piece) but people pay it and I make the pieces big and detailed and I haven't had a dissatisfied customer yet. uninked sketch stuff usually goes for less.
|
|
#
?
Feb 12, 2016 16:50
|
|
|
Actually, doing commissions at a con sounds kind of fun. It'd be a big motivator for me if the person was waiting there and you could see their reactions live.
|
|
#
?
Feb 12, 2016 16:53
|
|
|
DrSunshine posted:Actually, doing commissions at a con sounds kind of fun. It'd be a big motivator for me if the person was waiting there and you could see their reactions live. No one actually wants to wait for their drawing when they could be attending a panel or getting autographs. Generally, they just ask how long it's going to take, or they'll stop by on their way out. My drawings only take 20-25 minutes, so I tell people to come back in half an hour. Also, make sure people pay upfront, because people will not come back for their drawings otherwise.
|
|
#
?
Feb 12, 2016 20:19
|
|
|
I usually do half upfront half when they pick it up and make sure to get their phone number so I can contact them when it's done
|
|
#
?
Feb 12, 2016 20:22
|
|
|
Aaah, so we are talking partly about what I'm most miserable at: Drawing right infront of other people, start to finish.
|
|
#
?
Feb 12, 2016 21:17
|
|
|
I've only had one person ever stay there the entire time watching the drawing and it was a preteen who wouldn't shut up about her homestuck OC sometimes people come and check up on the process but having someone stay the whole time is super rare
|
|
#
?
Feb 12, 2016 21:21
|
|
|
Commissions are great for those who enjoy creating them, and I hear overwhelmingly of most people being kind when it comes to buying custom art. I don't do commissions at cons, because I'd have to underprice what I get for contract work, plus it's apparently impossible for me to reliably mail out pieces or follow up and it's just ugh. I prefer tinkering with small press merchandise so that once something sells, it's out of my life for good. 
|
|
#
?
Feb 12, 2016 23:08
|
|
|
I definitely undersell my commissions at cons (usually I charge by the hour) but I just try and think of it like they came out to see me in person so they get a special for that weekend only discount
|
|
#
?
Feb 12, 2016 23:30
|
|
|
I'll be doing my first con in May here. I'm sharing a table with a friend and I'm already stressing out about getting everything organised for a table. I've never done it before, and I'm terrified about a whole number of things. The plan so far is to sell prints, keychains and some stationary (I really, really want to take some notepads for sale with custom covers because that's what -I- like buying). For those of you that are con table veterans, what are your most popular items?
|
|
#
?
Feb 13, 2016 20:53
|
|
|
Sharing a table with a friend is a great way to offset the cost and also have a core social group to work with, I've only had I think one show where I wasn't next to someone I didn't know and I ended up making friends with that person anyways, it's great to have someone to talk to in the downtime. The one big thing I would point out not to forget is: bring your own tablecloth! Cons don't really provide those, it makes your table look nice and presentable, the hangdown in the front means you can store boxes underneath the table out of sight and at the end of the day you can flip the ends up overtop of your table to cover your stuff so the next day when you come back you just flip them down and your display is half-assembled already.
|
|
#
?
Feb 13, 2016 21:17
|
|
|
Operation Juicebox posted:I'll be doing my first con in May here. I'm sharing a table with a friend and I'm already stressing out about getting everything organised for a table. I've never done it before, and I'm terrified about a whole number of things. The plan so far is to sell prints, keychains and some stationary (I really, really want to take some notepads for sale with custom covers because that's what -I- like buying). For those of you that are con table veterans, what are your most popular items? My most popular items have been my pony commissions, but that's catering to the brony market. Beyond that, buttons do fairly well. Cheap wearables are great impulse purchase at cons. As a person who is always extra prepared for conventions, here's some tips! Cash-box. Make sure to bring plenty of change for all the people who want to buy a $3 keychain with a $20 bill. Business cards! Even people who don't buy something might still want to take a business card. Mine were quite popular because I had a bunch of different designs on the, that people liked to look through. Signage. Slap colourful price stickers on everything and if you're doing commissions, have a sign that says so and for how much. Otherwise, most con goers won't ask if you're taking commissions. Pick up one of those plastic displays from an office supply store to serve as a nameplate. Include a bit of info about you and what you do! Bring a notebook to track all your sales. This way, you can easily track which items are your best sellers and let's you easily tally how much you made each day. Tablecloth. Some larger cons will provide them, but it's nice to have one in a unique colour to make your table easy to spot. I just use a cheap plastic one from the dollar store, but it's checkered in teal and white and fits my overall theme. A display. How are you going to show off these key chains and prints? Take your table size into account. I use a spinning earring rack to hold my buttons. I picked up a children's "fairy castle" to hang my prints on. It's like a giant, plastic, tinker toy set. Easy to set up and take down and can be configured for a large or small table. My prints are hung using binder clubs and binder rings. Find something that works for you. I know some people who use a room divider with their prints tacked onto it. Those buildable wire basket displays are popular too. Snacks. Always make sure to bring some food and beverage with you in case you don't get a chance to leave your table for a while. It's also a good idea to bring a plastic bag to keep under the table to hold garbage. Bags and envelopes are good to have as well. Post-it notes, scissors, paper clips and tape. You never know when you'll need them. Throw them in your cash box. Also, dress to impress! Look professional! You're there to not only sell your stuff, but also to sell yourself as an artist. The person talking to you about your art could just be a comic fan, or they could be in publishing, looking for an artist for a children's book. (I did have that happen once, though the project fell through.) And most importantly, make eye contact, smile and talk to people! You will get way more sales if your table looks friendly and inviting than if you have your head down drawing the whole time. Even if you have nothing to do, try not to look bored. You can doodle and look busy, but just remember to keep your head up and be sociable. Hope you have fun! 
|
|
#
?
Feb 14, 2016 01:31
|
|
|
Which con is it? They have really different audiences, perhaps someone has done that one before and can help.
|
|
#
?
Feb 14, 2016 01:40
|
|
|
I've only tabled at one of the big Wizard World Comic Cons and at a couple smaller shows, both of the small ones were billed as indie comic/zine expos but attracted pretty different audiences. At the big Con I made most of my money off people commissioning me at my table, but at the two smaller shows I sold way more of my own books. One of those shows was free, so my best seller was a mini comic I was selling for $1 while my pricier stuff was passed over. I assume at anime cons you'd want to bring lots of prints and buttons and such. I'm still a newbie to the whole thing myself but I'd say it's important to keep your audience in mind when deciding what to sell.
|
|
#
?
Feb 14, 2016 07:49
|
|
|
Cash is for drug dealers and old people, get a square card reader and not have to worry about cash ever again That's not entirely accurate but it can cut down on how many millions of singles and fives you have to bring since 20s are like the most common bill you'll see
|
|
#
?
Feb 14, 2016 15:29
|
|
|
yeah if you don't have a card reader you're gonna miss out on a bunch of sales
|
|
#
?
Feb 14, 2016 18:25
|
|
|
I suppose it depends on where you are and the prices of your stuff. I'm in Canada and only know a couple of people who have card readers. I've never had a customer not have the cash on them, but there's nothing at my table that costs more than $10. Either way, a card reader is a good thing to have.
|
|
#
?
Feb 14, 2016 18:35
|
|
|
Kojiro posted:Which con is it? They have really different audiences, perhaps someone has done that one before and can help. London MCM Expo. I'm prepping video game and anime fanart stuff to take. Steven Universe. Ponies. Etc. I expect those to sell far better than any of my comic related stuff. My friend is sorting all the card reader stuff and she's a veteran so she has a lot of things already down and sorted in terms of display stuff, cash box etc. But she sells props and prosthetics mostly so her stuff can run into the hundreds of pounds. Buttons are a really good idea. Maybe even magnets? Operation Juicebox fucked around with this message at 18:51 on Feb 14, 2016 |
|
#
?
Feb 14, 2016 18:49
|
|
|
I've been sort of lurking in this thread.  I have some downtime from work and I thought I'd try to get back into comics and sequential art.I also just bought Manga Studio and holy moly the inking is so much nicer than Photoshop from what little I've messed with it. I'm still a bit awkward at the program though, do you guys have any favorite tutorials or anything you can recommend?
|
|
#
?
Feb 14, 2016 19:23
|
|
|
Operation Juicebox posted:London MCM Expo. I'm prepping video game and anime fanart stuff to take. Steven Universe. Ponies. Etc. I expect those to sell far better than any of my comic related stuff. Ah, I've done MCM a couple of years now! As a warning, if you have a Comic Village table, they don't allow fanart sales, but you're fine if you're sharing a dealer table with your buddy. Trinkets go very well at MCM, it's a lot of teenagers after anime bits and bobs, they always head directly to keyrings/buttons etc as if magnetised. Sounds like you've got a friend who knows the ropes but if there's anything else you need to know, I may be able to help! If anyone's in the UK and interested in taking debit cards at cons, Square isn't an option for us, but I've had a lot of luck with an iZettle reader- the cheap one that comes with a wire which plugs into your phone's headphone jack, since the bluetooth connection on the fancier ones gets a bit confused in a big con hall with a lot of other bluetooth devices around. That might just be my old phone being old again, but still, worth mentioning.
|
|
#
?
Feb 14, 2016 20:22
|
|
|
Kojiro posted:Ah, I've done MCM a couple of years now! As a warning, if you have a Comic Village table, they don't allow fanart sales, but you're fine if you're sharing a dealer table with your buddy. Trinkets go very well at MCM, it's a lot of teenagers after anime bits and bobs, they always head directly to keyrings/buttons etc as if magnetised. Sounds like you've got a friend who knows the ropes but if there's anything else you need to know, I may be able to help! Yes! We have a regular dealer table, not a comic village table! I'm going to print some little like £2.00 or so mini comic booklets to pop on the table and I'd love to chat to people about it, but by then I don't think I'll have more than 20-30 pages and it wasn't enough to warrant a whole comic village table to myself. We realised Square wasn't available in the UK pretty quickly, but my friend has a similar reader and I have now had to endure half an hour of 'IT'S SO COOL IT EVEN TAKES CONTACTLESS' so I'm happy. I think I'm mostly just nervous that no one's going to like my art and that I won't make any sales. Which I guess is a fear most first-timers have. If you attend yourself though I'd love to say hi!
|
|
#
?
Feb 14, 2016 20:58
|
|
|
Operation Juicebox posted:I think I'm mostly just nervous that no one's going to like my art and that I won't make any sales. Which I guess is a fear most first-timers have. If you attend yourself though I'd love to say hi! Every con I sit at my table for the first ten minutes thinking, welp, that's it, this is the con where I sell 0 things.
|
|
#
?
Feb 14, 2016 23:55
|
|
|
I enjoy reading about all these deepseeded fears. They're like vaccines.
|
|
#
?
Feb 15, 2016 00:24
|
|
|
QUEEN CAUCUS posted:I've been sort of lurking in this thread. I just bumbled my way through it, honestly, but it was my first digital art program so I didn't have to unlearn anything from Illustrator or Photoshop like other people. It might be easier to ask or look around if you have a specific question or something you're trying to accomplish? Also look into Frenden's brush sets, they're really nice for inking.
|
|
#
?
Feb 15, 2016 01:17
|
|
|
Does anyone do their inking in Illustrator?
|
|
#
?
Feb 15, 2016 01:20
|
|
|
QUEEN CAUCUS posted:I also just bought Manga Studio and holy moly the inking is so much nicer than Photoshop from what little I've messed with it. I'm still a bit awkward at the program though, do you guys have any favorite tutorials or anything you can recommend? The official tutorials on the Smith Micro site are actually really good for learning your way around the program. I'd suggest watching them all because there are a lot of tidbits that aren't immediately apparent.
|
|
#
?
Feb 15, 2016 01:28
|
|
|
smallmouth posted:Does anyone do their inking in Illustrator? I've found Illustrator to be at its best for the following comic purposes: -The lineart needs to be uniform in weight -I need a specific pantone color in my artwork for printing -I need to define a die cut or other dimensionality for a printed object -I need to pixel-perfect lines for digital display. -I need a single perfect shape to repeat itself according to a line I draw -I need a fill with a seamless repeating pattern I've found that Illustrator requires pre-production to be remotely efficient. In general, it does a thing precisely correct in one fell, tedious swoop. The inking style is very different from doing something with a brush, a pen, or even Manga Studio or Photoshop.
|
|
#
?
Feb 15, 2016 02:08
|
|
|
smallmouth posted:Does anyone do their inking in Illustrator?
|
|
#
?
Feb 15, 2016 02:13
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 17, 2024 02:09 |
|
|
smallmouth posted:Does anyone do their inking in Illustrator? Used to back before I had a tablet but ended up switching over to Photoshop, then Manga Studio as the process of inking in Illustrator and making it look good is really, really tedious. Illustrator in general I find isn't great for stuff that uses line (ironically enough) because it doesn't really allow you to vary the width of a single line without jumping through a lot of hoops. I feel like it would be better suited to simple, single colour, lineless illustrations than to anything with actual lines. Also after almost a year of doing nothing except writing I'm finally drawing comics again and want to shove this fact into the face of anyone within shouting distance... 
|
|
#
?
Feb 15, 2016 03:28
|
|
