Friday Thoughts (Ep. 30) Convention Edition!

 Helloooo Patrons and friends! Happy November, and happy Friday! I come to you finally, FINALLY, filled with joy, pride, enthusiasm, and energy! After what felt like a month of negativity, I feel like I had a great win! Get ready for a long update because I have lots of pictures and lots of thoughts!

Last weekend I... drum roll please... tabled at my first convention! I achieved my largest goal for this year, a goal I didn't think was possible to reach! 

I've definitely mentioned this before, but in January I purchased an agenda called the Passion Planner. The planner encourages the user to make large goals and then break them down in to smaller and smaller goals. It asks you to make goals for your lifetime, five years from now, three years, and one year from now. When I first started allowing myself to dream about making a living as an artist, my biggest goal was to table at a convention within this year. But when I wrote that goal down on paper, I was TERRIFIED. I told myself there was no way I would be ready for a convention this year, there was too much to do, too much I didn’t know. I said, ‘meh, maybe in five years.’ The convention was the peak of the mountain, and I was standing in the foothills. 

But between January and last weekend, I started taking steps. 

Steps that you read about every week here on Patreon!

Making, collecting, learning. Making a little more art every week. Selling art online, pricing, packaging. I applied for permits, licenses, and bank accounts. I did smaller art walks and markets. I APPLIED to a CONVENTION! All small or not so small actions I did day by day throughout the entire year, all small steps that brought me closer to my goal, whether I realized it or not. Steps that sometimes felt big and scary, but that made me stronger, smarter, and more prepared. All of the work I did this year brought me further up the mountain, closer to my goal. So that by the time I came to this hurdle, this peak that seemed so unachievable, so impossible in January, it was easy. It was just one more step. 

A WORD ON CONVENTIONS:

Markets, Art Walks, Artist Alleys at Conventions. There are a lot of ways an artist can sell her creations directly, in-person to the customer. For illustrators like me a very popular market is at Conventions; Anime Conventions, Geeky Pop Culture Conventions, Game Conventions, and Comic Conventions are some of the most popular genres of conventions right now. There are vendors selling hats, shirts, books, prints, art. There are cosplayers, lectures and games and talks, parties, meet ups. Some of the most famous conventions are San Diego Comic Con, New York Comic Con, Penny Arcade Expo, Emerald City Comic Con (here in Seattle!) 

Seattle has Emerald City Comic Con, Tacoma has Jet City Con, Portland has Rose City Comic, Vancouver has Vancouver Comic Arts Festival. 

Achievement Unlocked! One very happy business woman at the end of the convention!

 Geek Girl Con is a niche con in Seattle "celebrating the female geek." It was the perfect convention to have as my first. Not so many people that no one could stop and talk or look at my art, not so small that I took a loss.

It was absolutely ideal.

Setting up for the convention. 

Tori and I were some of the first to arrive to set up at the convention. And this was after going to the DMV, waiting in line to apply for our Washington State Driver's license, then walking to the local Election Office to register to vote! It was a busy day.

Pointing at the location of our table on the map! Can you sense the joy?

All set up and ready for the first day of the first con!

My biggest issue was that I had a bit of a cold going in to the convention. I loaded myself up with decongestants and tea the night before and morning of, but I think you can still sense the cold in the above picture haha.

Zach came along to ring up purchases on my iPad POS, fetch coffee and lunch, and fill in when we needed a break.

Above you can see almost all of my offerings. The item that brought in the most money was the original Inktober that I brought, and sold at a range of $40-$60. Perhaps too low for the future, but I did sell a surprising number of those original drawings!

Behind the scenes of the table!

We stored all of our back stock, plastic sleeves, extra tools, iPads, and cash box under the table. I'd say the most useful item we brought with us was clear scotch tape. We used an entire roll through the weekend. 

We also opted not to pay $200 for internet services at the con, instead used our POS app (Square!) on "offline mode". I think we both had one transaction end up being declined, even with the single decline the internet services wouldn't have been necessary.

A close up of my table set up!

Stickers ended up being very popular with kids/tweens, or parents buying for kids. I had a few people come up specifically asking for pins or buttons. The handmade pins I did have ended up being very useful in trading with other artists!

The earrings were also a big draw! People would laugh and come in closer to look at the produce earrings.

My beautiful table partner!

I split the table with my friend/DnD buddy/ art coach Tori . This was also her first convention, and it was so helpful to get to work together on planning, organizing, moral support, and splitting the cost of the table!

She debuted her first self-published book/zine: For Here, a Travelogue of Seattle Coffeeshops with beautiful marker illustration/works of art accompanied by journal-like musings. She had an adorable number of kids stop by to pet the stuffed bunny toys she brought, or read her Boople Doodle comic strips. (P.s. she's on Patreon too!)

One of the cutest visitors to our table!

A Yasha cosplayer from Critical Role, the Dungeons & Dragons online show that Zach and I watch every Thursday! 

So I think I'll make that all for now on my convention experience! Perhaps if I do a few more conventions I'll make a how-to article answering any questions on tabling at an event like this. Because once I got there, it truly felt SEAMLESS!

I'm HOOKED!

Okay! Moving on!

I also (mostly) completed Inktober this year! I thought I'd bring them all together to show you the full collection! You can see they get simpler and simpler as the month goes on, and I get busier, and busier... and fall further and further behind... It's fine, I'm still very satisfied. 

I loved working in this medium and style, got a lot of fun Halloween content, surprisingly doubled my follower count on instagram, and got a few of my most popular pieces to date! I also achieved my goal of learning to make traditional process videos using a phone holder and editing software. I think those videos are what really made the difference in viewers.

 I sold almost half of the originals for these Inktober pieces, but if there are any left you can find them on my Etsy! 

LAST THING, and a big preview! Remember my first pin design that I made and ordered at the beginning of the month? Last week I received the preview photo from my manufacturer and I am SO EXCITED to receive them next week! They're shipping all the way from Australia!

Bad picture but so exciting!

Okay friends, I've talked enough for 1,000 years at this point!

Thanks for following along on this journey with me, you all are a part of the process from the beginning until now. We are growing, learning, and making together. And I love you.

xoxo

Ragon