last one in autosage: >>7995795
What are your plans/goals for 2015? New merch ideas? Trying more cons? Trying a new art style?
Resources: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1l-9tZn_PaqsZWkb5SB_aqwh7uvURyoLgdsQiuz_Ty08/edit#gid=0
>>8043635
>still that image
A-All of the above. We are going to out of state cons with another artist friend.
I will be experimenting with a new way of binding books to make them more accessible to all price ranges by cutting the time spent binding them. As well as a slew of other unique-to-AA items that I rarely see sold.
As for new art style, my partner who does mainly posters will be practicing a more lifelike style. We had comments from anons here that our previous works were odd, looking back on it, I would have to agree that we are not at the point we want to be artistically.
>>8043703
>As well as a slew of other unique-to-AA items that I rarely see sold.
Such as?
my plans for fanime and anime expo
>overcompensating
also, does anyone here table by themselves regularly and have any tips?
>>8043782
I will post them when finished, but I don't wanna get any hopes up for if they cant be made. 4 months to go!
>>8043635
I am desperately hoping to get into some closer cons like akon and san japan. I got wait listed on a lot of cons I was hoping to go to but there are still plenty I can apply to. I have a goal to try and get into some larger out of state cons, I do not live in the right state to do AA.
I'm going to be investing in and testing a capsule toy machine that I will fill with stickers, buttons and charms. I'm hoping it goes well and I plan on putting in shiny pokemon as a sort of gimmick, along with other popular series. Fingers crossed that it goes well and I won't have to return it.
Working on all the things. I'm applying to more out of state cons and ones with juried applications. Also want to do more comic cons then anime this year. Replacing some older fanart prints also
I'm working on more merch including an acrylic keychain line.
I also want to launch a webcomic this year.
>>8043703
Sorry, I think it's become the official AA thread image ^^;
>>8043803
I love that table setup.
>also, does anyone here table by themselves regularly and have any tips?
I started to in the last half of 2014. Here's what I can think off of the top of my head:
If you get a second ticket for your table, offer to a friend you know you can rely on to cover your table when you need a break.
If not:
-bring your own food so you don't have to leave the table as often
-make friends with the artists beside you just in case you have to take the inevitable pee break/need change scenario
-try to pack as light as possible, you'll only have yourself to carry your stock/display supplies
Just plan ahead in general and you should be fine :)
>I'm going to be investing in and testing a capsule toy machine that I will fill with stickers, buttons and charms. I'm hoping it goes well and I plan on putting in shiny pokemon as a sort of gimmick, along with other popular series.
I love this idea! Where can you buy decent capsule machines? And are they allowed at cons?
>>8043904
I can't get over how cute that Dedenne charm is <3 I love your work
>>8043904
Hey! I remember your miku memo pad. Did you make them in the end? Cute style!
>>8043904
Cute style and I hope you do the webcomic too!
>>8043904
SHROOMISHHHH You are the bestttTTT
Good luck with your apps and with the webcomic!
Anyone have experience with Wonder Con? I thought it was primarily for comic/print artists, but I recently got accepted (surprised me since I mostly have miscellaneous goods). Are they really strict on how you setup your booth? Are there any restrictions on table sharing?
While we're sharing stuff...
I'm excited for these.
I'm gonna make 1D my niche.
Come at me.
I applied for Hanadokicon when it was open and now I'm thinking about doing Anime Conji too. Did anyone sell there last year since the venue moved? I'm wondering if the change maybe deterred people. I guess I just want to know how good the traffic was and if you broke even at least.
>>8044118
From what I've heard, Conji is only really worth it if you're in the area. It's still a fledgling con, so there's always promise for growth, especially if you establish yourself as a local, but I haven't heard of anyone doing super well there yet.
Just getting some opinions here...I was thinking about printing some small runs of little coloring books/jokey "activity books" to sell at cons. I'm not sure what price I would sell them for (It would probably depend on how much it costs to print them.) I'm just wondering if that kind of thing would sell at all.
I'm applying to more out-of-state cons, and adding new merch to my line.
Right now I sell mostly buttons(online) but I just put an order in for pencil bags last week(pic related) and got a Silhouette cameo so I'm hoping to offer stickers and maybe stationary sets soon?
I'm working on a comic I've wanted to do for a bit as well..
And I kind of want to do themed valentines this year since those seem really fun!
I have a lot of time on my hands due to issues with school so I want to make the most of it for sure.
>>8044101
Gurl rly
>>8044430
anon this is so cute 10/10 would buy
>>8044471
Thank you!! I still need to make buttons of all their bishounen forms but I wanted something a little more subtle for the pencil bag!!
>>8044430
>silhouette cameo
DUDE why haven't i heard of this product until just now
>>8044482
I haven't used it yet but I'm really excited to!
>>8044101
you sure that niche will be profitable? the type of pre-teen/teenage girl that frequents anime conventions is usually the nerdier kind that eschew mainstream pop culture in favour of anime/cartoon culture or obscure subcultures and bands
>>8044815
Seconding this. If you REALLY want to sell 1D merch at an anime or comic con, I'd suggest making a limited run just to see if they sell first.
>>8044815
Tim legit likes 1D for some godforsaken reason.
I can get enjoying the music as a guilty pleasure but actually getting into the "fandom" is a little disturbing for an adult woman.
>>8044101
Only dumb if that's exclusively what you sell. My gay bff loves 1D so maybe he would dig these. I think they would hold up decent for the morbidly curious friends of weebs who tagged along for the cons or those whose powerlevels are still low. Where do you get wipers made?
>>8044101
I'm glad you drew my husbando Zayn with short hair and NOT THAT FUGLY-ASS LONG hair he has now.
But anyways make some Kpop boyband ones and you'll profit.
>>8044915
kpop bonus: since there's so much plastic surgery on korean idols you only need to draw like 3 guys and change the backgrounds a bunch
>>8044924
It's basically sameface syndrome irl.
If it works for Korea, it'll work for artist alley.
Will this sell
>>8044979
I wouldn't buy
>>8044979
undoubtedly. Miku fans will buy / do anything involving this severely overrated character.
>>8044430
May I ask where you'll be getting them printed?
>>8044981
Not really. The market is saturated enough that they can get their pick of the best shit.
>>8043919
Not that anon, but sometimes you can find them locally for pick up on ebay.
Does having a good online following really help sales that much?
>>8045214
Only if you're extremely popular.
However, if you can get people to follow you after the con they might be more likely to buy from you again in a future con.
>>8045214
what do you consider a good following?
at the time of my last con i had around 20k tumblr followers and maybe 3 people seemed to recognize me during the convention.
>>8045238
I have about 1.1k followers and have usually been noticed by about 5 or so each time. Maybe they're just intimidated and don't mention it? There's no way that few people know you!
I wanted to ask this since digital art is more popular with fan artists, although this is kind of an unrelated question, but I wanted to know how you guys tended to practice/started out with digital painting. I know most artists say to "practice practice practice!" but was there anything else that really helped with getting into the hang of it
Same with the non-digital artists actually, how did you get into it and decide to do fanart
Sage because this is kind of off topic
>>8044915
I....I think his long hair is pretty majestic but baby Zayn with the fade will always have my heart
>>8044815
Hahhh I dunno. Probably not, but I really like drawing then so I'm gonna add some to my inventory. I do well enough with what I have (mostly vidya, comic, cartoon, and some anime fanart) so if this is a bust, nbd. I sell maybe one of my gltas prints every three cons, but it's no hard feelings because the money from selling 5 pairs of young justice prints every two hours works as a bandaid
>>8044843
I'm hesitant to actually join the fandom. It's kind of fucked up, from what I've seen, and it looks like shipping fanart does the best/gets the most popular. Rpf is weird as hell and I don't want to really be associated with people who will tell the boys to their faces that they're gay or whatever.
But hey, whatever, I do what I want so fuck you buddy
>>8044889
Getting then done by Jimi agency!
>>8044915
I have a friend who dominates that nice, so I don't want to step on her toes. Also, at most I would just do Big Bang. Can't bring myself to care that much for many others.
>>8045332
It helped to have a community to draw with. I used to drawfag for /co/ and I felt like I grew a lot while I did. It just kept me drawing and made me draw stuff I wouldn't have otherwise.
Same for Gaia, Flight Rising, etc. I'm a relatively social person and like getting feedback or components, so if I know people are watching, I'm more inclined to draw, and the more I draw, the better I get. It's important to find what you like about drawing and find an environment that nurtures that.
Have any mid-tier artists found it profitable to switch to having acrylic charms made?
I'm not really well known, but I always make at least a couple hundred into the green when I go to conventions. I'm not sure if I can bring myself to blow a minimum of $90 for something that might not sell well.
I never want to make another laminated charm again, I have seen the light.
>>8045708
I'm about to experiment with shrinky dink charms and I wanna know more about acrylic charms too. Bumping this.
>>8045967
I know places like zap creatives offers multiple designs with larger orders. I think if you order 50 you can submit up to 5 designs, giving you 10 of each so there's less of a risk of you having overstock.
>>8045967
I think the biggest thing for acrylic charms, at least in terms of design, is having a cohesive set. Stick to one fandom (i.e- Pokemon, Love Live, Free, etc.) and do sets so that people buy more.
Most of my friends price their charms at $10-$15 each, 3 for $25, 2 for $20 or something to that effect. It might take a while to break even on charms, but they're definitely a solid enough product to be worth investing in for both the artist and the buyer. I also think they sell fairly well online because shipping is usually so cheap for them.
...Ithinkpeopleshoulddodigimoncharmsjustsayingnewseasoncomingoutpokemonisoversaturatedasfuckandilovedigimon;_;
>>8046403
... Sorry, I just did the math on that and it came out wonky. I think $7-$12 is a better estimate for individual charms. Up to $15 if you're adding fancy stuff to them (wrapping, bells, etc.)
>>8046403
>>8046405
>>8046411
I want to do the zap creatives clear! I think I'm going to spring for a hunter x hunter set when I'm caught up. I need to get a better feel for whose important but maybe Gon, Killua, Kirupika, Hisoka, Illumi?
I'm at the dodgeball fight with laser right now so only about halfway.. things could change..
Can one assume that, say, headshots of characters in a particular series would work well for buttons versus a handful of assorted ones, much like charms? I'm furiously getting things together for a con this Spring.
>>8046496
It's good to have a mix of both, but having a bunch of characters from a series encourages people to buy more instead of just individual buttons
>>8046411
Their wood charms are super underrated. The clear acrylic and candy coat is nice, but there's something just classier about the wooden charms. Also, lighter so less likely to damage your phone/ds/other device when you're swinging it around
How do you guys feel about artists with a huge following charging $25+ per character for a commission and then giving you sub-par work? Do you think they can get away with it because they're popular (and have a bunch of attack drone fans) or should we just name and shame them regardless?
>>8046755
I think the adult thing to do would be to talk to them first and let them know you're dissatisfied for whatever reason, even via email after the con. If they're a big enough artist they'll have business sense to likely offer a refund/redo.
It would have nothing to do with their "attack drone fans" because if you named and shamed without contacting them first they'd just be able to say something like that you made absolutely no mention of not liking the piece and then their inevitable refund/redo offer would be public and you'd just look like an asshole.
>>8046755
anon, 25 dollars for a character is not that expensive
>>8046771
Yet it was okay to name and shame the guy that drew that Aigis picture a couple threads ago.
>>8046755
20 a character is cheap as fuck, anon. I agree with >>8046771 and you should talk to the artist saying you're dissatisfied, and see if you can get it fixed.
But considering most professional artists (I use this term for people working in the comics industry, mostly) charge 100+ a character, 20... isn't outrageous. By any means. Shit, I'd jump at a 20 dollar character commission
Showing off the couple things I've made so far for 2015.
Notepad and charm wipes so far, hoping to try out some cosmetic bags too.
What would you guys pay for a notepad or charm wipes?
I was considering $5 each for the notepad and for the charm wipes. Worried that may be too much.
>>8046965
Dude I'd instabuy that Sakurai lion.
>>8047042
oh geez, that makes me really happy to hear, you have no idea. I'm trying to do more original art and I'm worried no one would like it.
>>8046965
>working on my notepads past deadline
h-heh
These are super cute!! Mm I usually do my charm wipes for $3, 2 for $5, but I feel like that's also underpriced. They're relatively obscure/less common fandoms too so at that point I'm just happy if people buy them haha. I'll probably do my 1D ones at maybe $5 each, 2 for $8 or the set for $20
I was thinking $7 for notepad, 2 for 10? I'm also doing mine as matching themes to give people more incentive to buy them together.
>>8046755
Echoing the other anons, 25 is not that much.
Unless they like insulted, harmed, or scammed you directly, I don't think there's any reason to shame anyone. Keep in mind also that commissions are a little bit of a crapshoot. A lot of factors come in the way of a commission coming out decently (artist taking on too many, complications at the con, etc.) and "subpar" is extremely subjective. Unless you gave them a very specific criteria to draw to (i.e- "Make it look as on-model as possible," "I want it to be in the same style as that picture you drew" etc), a "subpar" quality commission could most likely be a mishap. For all you know, the artist might have been super pleased with it, I dunno.
in general, I feel like commissions are more of a way to show support for the artist, not necessarily a guarantee of a perfect product. If you ARE expecting a certain kind of quality, it's really important to make sure you communicate that to an artist.
Sucks that you had a bad experience with one, though.
>>8047114
It's cool, you have until tomorrow, right? This is my first time with JiMi so I made sure things were there days before the deadline, I hate being late for anything.
I think I'll try pricing the charms at $5 and see what happens. I may drop them to $3 if they don't sell well at my next con.
>I was thinking $7 for notepad, 2 for 10? I'm also doing mine as matching themes to give people more incentive to buy them together.
Good plan. Maybe I'll make my next notepad sea creature themed? I might just go with vista or artscaw for my next set just so I can get some made sooner.
>>8047152
Yeah. Or even just like.. monster/creature themed (Nagas, centaurs, etc). I feel like that's usually a pretty popular theme.
Let us know how it goes with Vista/Artscaw! It'd be interesting to see the quality/differences between the three companies.
>>8047157
my friend did a couple of the larger ones through artscaw and loved them.
>monster/creature themed (Nagas, centaurs, etc)
yeeeeees!
>>8047181
not sure, I'd have to ask my friend.
I'd like to get into AA one day, but I don't really know what I should do as far as art and networking. Does anyone have advice for someone just getting into selling and networking their art? Here's an example of my work if you want to critique that too.
>>8047229
Wow that's great!
Just a random table pic
>>8047242
she did mention that "there is a front page with like promo stuff, but you can take that off"
Also, I love that artist! When my niece gets older, I'm definitely getting her one of those stegosaurus.
>>8047167
Wow this looks nice! There is a promo now until March for 2 large memos for 6 and something bucks. I read though, that first page comes with a print of the promo...I gave it a try and now I'm waiting for them.
>>8047257
Ahh good to know, thank you and your friend for sharing the info!
>>8046849
OP of that incident. It was a commission for someone else who couldn't be there, so she couldn't complain in his place since she didn't know how he would feel about it. Call it secondhand unsatisfaction maybe? Art quality aside, he also told her to pick it up at a specific time the next day and when she came by it wasn't even ready and was told to come back later.
As far as stationary goes...
I was thinking of getting a few different notepads printed, each featuring a different character, then taking them apart to make character cast sets, say sets of 5-6 sheets with each sheet featuring a different character from a particular series along with some envelopes. Is this kind of thing considered okay to do?
>>8044979
i would buy
Has Storenvy been fucking up for anyone else lately?
Sometimes I'll get an email of an order, and I'll have the money and info in paypal but it won't show up in my store. Sometimes it shows up in shippingeasy but not always.
I emailed them about it a week ago and no response.
>>8047618
I will do the same anon, it was discussed some threads ago if you want to check that out. Most people include stickers too to seal the envelope. The usual is 5 items of everything, as far as I looked out the other week. Also the price goes in almost all cases to 8 bucks. (Like the picture I'm posting, not mine but I found it cute)
What's going to be the hot new animal this season? Alpacas seem to be phasing out. My guess is Deer/Fawns
>>8049050
I've been getting an insane amount of likes on my sloth charm wipe.
I'm thinking sloths, shiba inus, or owls.
Pugs are still pretty popular too
>>8049050
parakeets and other small birds too. I'm still thinking on this now
Been trying to find good prices for the metal cages/stuff for stands. Anyone have any places/shops they preferred to buy from? or had some good deals?
>>8049050
It's the year of the sheep, duh.
>>8046403
can I ask which digimon are your/your buddie's favorites? I love digimon too and I would love to make charms out of some but I can't afford to do the entire season 1 cast. At least not now anyways.
Doesn't have to be season 1 could be any season
