When I went two years ago the "Artists Alley" was only two sketch artists doing different things and Winter Powell premiering her new Bloodcross graphic novel. This year there were seven sketch artists, mostly doing similar things, Brett Uher premiering his Daemonology graphic novel, Katie Tiedrich as a guest speaker selling her Awkward Zombie tpb and doing sketch work, and Winter Powell selling t-shirts and prints from Bloodcross and doing sketch work. I had to kick and cajole Winter into coming this year, she had dropped her publisher and was despairing a bit. I and others there helped her get set up and she felt a lot better once she had pencil and paper in front of her. There were also a half dozen vendors selling anime and manga paraphenalia for top dollar, and they did all right. It was the small artists that I felt bad for; too much similar competition in a small market.
Cd's would have sold well with this crowd, definitely on the agenda for the next one, they will work well with the printed catalogs too.
Things I learned-
-Need a banner to improve visibility
-Battery operated led lights for the display case for better lighting. The convention hall was a bit dim.
-Pop culture hook is great for stopping passerby. The Eagle V model got lots of love and got people to stop and look at everything else.
Some notable quotes;
"My dad would love this"-young girls
"Are these collectable?" - many people. And the variation, "I'm sorry, I don't collect those."
"I'm not ready to get into an expensive hobby."-some guy in a Furry outfit missing his head, which I'm pretty sure is a violation of the Furry Code of Conduct.
"Are these for World of Warcraft?"- many times
"They're cool but what would I do with them?"
"They kind of look like stained glass."
"It's all geeks and nerds here!" to which I replied, "Then I'm in good company."
"These are old-school: back before metal or plastic minis everything was like this."-Link explaining my booth to Zelda
"These are all from games (the steamtanks), I just don't remember what right now." -some dude trying to sound knowledgeable in front of his buddy.
"If I have five dollars left later maybe I'll buy something."-some guy who kept coming back
"Are these for a game?" / " What game are these for?"
(overheard) "I wonder what else I can spend money on?" Oh miss? I have an idea!
I should develop a game for the steamtanks, would make for a fun demo if nothing else.
Here's my booth;
