/cgl/ - Cosplay & EGL

How has the coronavirus been affecting you guys and sales/traffic at conventions you've been to? I have a con soon and thinking about what precautions I should be taking and worrying about if fewer people will be going than usual.

>>10351549
I’m a bit worried but I’ve brainstormed a bit, having a sign that asks customers to look, not touch, having a bottle of hand sanitizer for people to use ..

Got this message from etsy today. weird since it was a regular message in etsy, not an email. wonder how many they sent it too. either way
>we have taken everyone's feedback seriously
>"so you'll be removing the forced participation in ads?"
>no.

>>10351549
My first con of the year is coming up in weeks and I was JUST thinking about this. My checklist was to get some hand sanitizer and lysol to spray down my table occasionally. Hadn't thought about what >>10351555 said about asking people not to touch. I may have to go that route too.

>>10351549
went to 2 different cons last weekend, both had lots of people, crowd didn't seem smaller than the year before. Only thing I did different was spray down all my stuff with disinfectant when I got home.

>>10351572
So what does "take on the risk and upfront cost" mean? Are at least waiving fees for the first month that they don't allow you to opt out? I'm not on etsy but this situation is so baffling to me.

>>10351549
At Katsucon people kept giving out soap and hand sanitizer. Traffic seems the same though. Corona Virus cant stop the power of weebs I guess.

So the last time I order charms from vograce (it was my first time ordering charms) they came out very washed out and pale. I’d increased the saturation of the files before ordering just to avoid something like that, yet some of them came out nearly paper white anyway. Has anyone ever experienced that? What do you think could have went wrong? It’s worth noting that I‘ve since used the same files with Acornpress and their colors came out fantastic. Do you think my first batch from vograce just so happened to be a fuck up?

>>10351601
normal ads you pay per click or per view, but these ads, they only make you pay if you actually get a sale from it. They charge an additional 15% fee for people making under $10k, and 12% for those making over $10k. People making over $10k per year can never opt out.
So if someone clicks an etsy ad that goes to your shop, any purchase they make in the next 30 days will have an additional 12% taken out in fees (this includes shipping costs too), making total fees (ad fee, etsy fee, card processor fee) to be 20%
A 12% fee is a huge amount to get randomly. I regularly sell items for over $100, with shipping as high as $60, so its a noticeable sum.

>>10351549
I made a Vograce order last week, they said it just meant that I would have to wait a little bit longer for shipping but I'm still concerned.

>>10351620
>15% fee for people making under $10k, and 12% for those making over $10k.
???

>>10351417
I love this OP picture.

>>10351656
people who make a yearly revenue of $10k or more pay less of a fee on the new ad thing.

what are the chances of ECCC being cancelled? It's gonna be my first con and I was really looking forward to the artist alley, but I'm seeing a lot of people/artists saying that they're cancelling and calling on ECCC to postpone/cancel the con.

>>10351610
>nearly paper white

(x) doubt

>>10351610
>>10351697
If I heard this from a customer my first question would be "are you sure you removed the film layer?"

>>10351610
This happened to me on an order (and ffs yes i took of the film layer). It also came out grainy. I pointed it out to them and they told me

>that's because we tested a new machine :)
so you sent me a test when i paid for finished products?
>no :)

I gave up and accepted what I had. Quality is super inconsistent. I had better runs after that. One order came out very green. Usually my customers don't see the problems I see anyway.

>>10351549
>>10351555
>>10351576
>>10351576
I've been hearing talk from the ECC vendors of wearing and or distributing disposable gloves. I think with all of the provided options combined, there shouldn't be an issue.

>>10351693
Different anon, but I think they're aware of what it meant, just expressing how ridiculous that is

>>10351695
Any convention has a very good chance of staying open unless the potential backlash would result in a bigger loss of cash than closing would be. Even with less attendees, anything in the green is okay. Pretty much unless someone forces a convention to, there's no risk.

>>10351764
Have you never heard of a volume discount? Why would they punish their high grossing shop owners by making them pay a higher rate? I'm against mandatory participation in the program and think this is a bad move on Etsy's part for sure but this complaint is a stretch.

>>10351768
Hey man, I have no stakes in this discussion, I was just clarifying a possible miscommunication.

Have any of you guys bought these?
https://www.storesupply.com/pc-12194-518-14-x-14-white-mini-grid-panel-30101.aspx

Genericon (small con scheduled to happen 2 weeks from now) cancelled due to coronavirus and I’m a little upset about it desu. I hope other cons don’t follow suit

>tfw babys first con coming up in a few weeks but had to make print order without any hard proofs in advance
There's probably not much to be done now but chances that they might all print out horribly? The original plan was to have everything done and ready to be printed by end of Jan to have time for exactly this but many unexpected things have been happening irl for me which prevented that unfortunately.

>>10352796
For simple prints (nothing with special effects such as spot gloss/holo/foil) I never bother with proofing and it always turns out alright.

As long as you formatted your files properly for printing (CMYK/>300 DPI) you should be fine and they'll be accurate to what you see on your screen.

Quality-wise, it's hard to say without knowing the printing company. If you've looked up reviews for that company and haven't heard any horror stories, you should be fine.

It's common to have a few out of the bunch with defects but it's rare a whole batch comes out like that.

>>10352774

You WANT to go out to a mass gathering of people when an air born virus without a vaccine is going around the world? Yeah ok.

>>10351658

Should put a mask over her mouth for the next one.

>>10352809
Considering I rely on cons for part of my income, yes I’m willing to sell at cons while the equivalent of a bad flu is going around. Besides, it’s going to spread regardless. It’s going to be everywhere in no time anyway

>>10352809
It’s not an airborne virus...

You get it from touching something someone infected touched. People can be infected an not know/ walk around healthy until they are showing and then they have to back track where they went and who they may have been around.

>>10352872
>People can be infected an not know/ walk around healthy until they are showing

Oh super. Then let's for sure go to a mass gathering of mouth breather nerds so >>10352855 can pay some of his bills.

I'll stay home, thanks. And this is coming from someone who HAS health insurance. Good luck to the rest of you who want to go to these things and just pray really hard you don't get the "bad flu." JFC.

>>10352806
Oh I see, this calms me a little bit. I used catprint to print them and did format them as best I could (exported as CMYK with at least 300DPI from CSP since no PS). I did have one print that I did make holographic though and while I hope it comes out alright, I'd rather that be the only one a bit wonky than the rest if anything has to be.

>>10352876
Unless you are very old or have health issues, then you are just as likely to die from any other disease you'd get any other year from a convention. The corona virus isn't especially dangerous, its just simply new.

>>10352887

The corona virus isn't especially dangerous, its just simply new dot dot dot that has no vaccine or cure.

>>10352887
Yes, you may not be at risk as a young, able-bodied person. You'll probably end up interacting with at-risk groups after the event, pretty selfish thought process that the virus isn't especially dangerous just because it's not especially dangerous to you.

>>10352892
>pretty selfish thought process that the virus isn't especially dangerous just because it's not especially dangerous to you.
I literally said "Unless you are very old or have health issues". I'm not old or unhealthy, and thus, thinking of others.

>>10352890
The flu doesn't have a either cure, and a significant amount of people don't get a flu vaccine every year.

>>10352852
Thanks for the laugh.

>>10352890
it is tho.

>>10352899
Not to mention that some years, they predict the wrong strains so the actual influenza virus that goes around doesn’t have a vaccine either.

>>10352887
>>10352899
The Corona virus spreads much more easily than the seasonal flu and is estimated to be around ten times as deadly. Yes, you’re unlikely to die from it if you are young and healthy, but you’re likely to infect over twice as many as you would with the normal flu and even for you it’s deadlier than the common flu. The virus mutates, there are two known variants, one aggressive variant which is what screwed Wuhan over this terribly, and it’s possible to have both variants at once.
Saying “oh we’re screwed, it’s gonna spread anyway so I’ll just go on as always” is retarded. Even your parents is at higher risk than you. I think hoarding canned food and toilet paper to prepare for the apocalypse is an overreaction, but limiting mass events or going to fewer crowded places like traveling is just the sensible thing to do now.

>>10352997
>Saying “oh we’re screwed, it’s gonna spread anyway so I’ll just go on as always”
i didn't say that. I am saying the odds of you actually catching it AND actually dying from it are incredible low. You are hundreds times more likely to die on the car or plane ride to the convention.
Only 340 in the US has gotten the virus. Thats 0.0001% of the population, and only ~5% have actually died from it. The flu has KILLED 100 times that many people in the past year.

>>10353033
>I am saying the odds of you actually catching it AND actually dying from it are incredible low.

I like how you're missing the point where the problem is that you can easily become a Typhoid Mary because it's so quiet. You could NEVER show symptoms but still be a carrier, and the more sensitive people around you will pick it up and immediately fall ill. Being younger and healthier just means you're a potential bomb. The virus may never *affect* you despite hanging around internally, but all it needs is a ride to the right destination.

And even if you do get sick, it may turn up as a minor cold a few weeks later. By then, you've shared airspace with tons of people.

I don't know how you don't understand that this is the point being made. tl;dr you still need to be concerned about being a carrier even if you have a healthy immune system.

Since the thread is completely coronavirus chat now, is anyone making any plans specifically to curb germs at their booth?

I mean I'm not worried about dying from it, but I don't want to help spread it around. I'm going to do my part and be diligent and considerate. Considering spraying down my table intermittently with alcohol since a lot of people will be touching/picking up items

>>10353037
>You could NEVER show symptoms but still be a carrier
so.... I should literally never leave my house, ever?

>>10353043
ntayrt but are you really trying to be this deliberately obtuse

>>10353049
you are literally telling me to not ever go out because
>You could NEVER show symptoms but still be a carrier, and the more sensitive people around you will pick it up and immediately fall ill.

>>10353051
No, they're telling you to avoid unnecessarily large gatherings of people if possible.

>>10353051
nah, just kys bro. it will probably cause world peace or something, idk.

>>10353057
So infecting people in smaller gatherings is fine?

>>10353033
If the only thing you're worried about is yourself getting sick you are both incredibly ignorant and selfish

>>10353066
what I said applies to everyone with a healthy immune system. Its unhealthy people that should avoid large gatherings, not healthy people.

>>10353033

that's because the us doesn't have enough kits.

there are people in the icu being denied testing because the cdc literally will not test people even when they swab negative for flu, because 'oh you're not from a level ii/iii country.' which is bullshit because now community spread was proven here.

>>10353078
that isn't how asymptomatic communicable diseases work.

>>10353033
>Only 340

Yeah, no. The CDC fucked up their first batch of test kits and are being really strict about who they test now because they don't have enough for everyone. The confirmed cases in the US =/= the actual amount of cases. I think Washington state is running their own testing now because they can't rely on the CDC.

Have of the artists here done any commercial work?
I'm looking for an artist to draw custom art for some dakimakuri that I want to sell.
Has anyone been approached for something like this? How did you respond? Charge a higher rate, or just don't want to do it?

>>10353078
Cool so you're literally retarded. Got it.

>>10353165

Youre in the wrooong thread my friend.
If any artist here draws art for a dakimakuri, its so that THEY can sell it themselves. All the artists here sell their own works and youre going to have a hard time finding someone willing to take on the commission AND sell you the rights to sell/financially benefit from their work.

I accept fetish comic commissions and when I sell the rights to a comic so they can sell it, the total comes out to $1550 for a 15 page comic because these guys make $2500+ selling digital copies of my comics each month.
So be prepared to pay an artist $250 to $800 for the art labor + rights to sell.

>>10353172
ntayrt but holy shit lowballing.

>>10353187

I know im lowballing lol
But usually these lowball prices are enough to scare someone like this off because if they cant even afford the lowball price, then they cant afford the average price.

Also this is in USD, not CAD or AUD

>>10353172
Someone making a piece of art large and detailed enough to but on a daki is gonna cost over $250 even for personal use.

>>10353041
Before ECCC, got canned there was a lot of talks on twitter about it.
>wearing sterile gloves to protect from germ transfer from money
>having sanitizer at your booth
>washing hands before eating/drinking/etc
>having a sign encouraging people to look, not touch
>maybe keep a box of tissues for yourself
>business card sign over physicals for people to take a picture of
>no physical contact when saying hello to friends. Wave, dab, elbow touch, whatever
>build your immunity before, during, and after the con

>>10353061
That's not fine either but the chances of spreading or catching the virus are less likely. It's basic math. If there are fewer people around and lower density, you're less likely to catch the virus and if you're spreading it then the numbers will be lower.
Did you miss how one sick cult woman managed to be responsible for most of the cases in the entire country because she kept attending mass while sick?

A lot of countries in Europe are already canceling events with more than 1000 attendees, because it's a question of risk in large gatherings of people. Same risk factor goes for small/big cons.

>>10353207
>sterile gloves
I saw info about how people aren't less likely to touch their faces with latex/nitrile gloves, so it ends up backfiring as a safety measure. People were recommending thicker gloves instead to deter touching your face.

If you use Square, you can also disable signatures for card payments, that way no one needs to touch your phone.

I'm not an artist, and I'm certainly not an AA artist. I once helped run a friend's table a few years ago and it was super fun. She let me sell some of my goofy key chains for fun, I made some pocket change and we just hung out and chatted. It was like an all day sleepover party. I think I spent everything I made that day later that night on a really fancy dinner at the hotel .

I can't believe some of you guys (to no fault of your own of course) are willing/desperate to figure out a way to keep an active virus at bay (hopefully) just so you can go sell some fan art because that's your only income.

tldr; I feel really bad for you bastards.

>>10353172
I'm not looking for people from this thread to do it, just general advice on how to approach people for this. I expect to drop a few k on this for sure. Thanks for the info.

>>10353210
you are missing the point. If last year you weren't scared of the flu, why are you this year scared of the corona virus?

>>10353207
>>wearing sterile gloves to protect from germ transfer from money
germs don't enter through your hands, so gloves won't help you unless you have an open wound.

>>10353311
Do you not receive any news outside of cgl or what? This virus is much more infectious than influenza. The flu has an average r0 of 1.3 and covid is estimated at at least 3, if not even higher. Even if everything else about the two were exactly the same, this alone is cause for concern and caution.

>>10353320
the flu is carried by MANY MANY times more people though. Unless things get much worse in the next few months, the odds of you getting and dying from the flu last year are significantly higher than you dying from the coronavirus this year.
Yea, its scary, but its currently nowhere near the point where you should be locking yourself inside and not leaving unless necessary.

>>10353311
>germs don't enter through your hands, so gloves won't help you unless you have an open wound.
Then why do they tell us to wash our hands so frequently? Wearing the gloves until your work is done without touching your face means less contact with surface germs,and less spread. Take them off when you're done and go wash your hands again before eating. Every little bit helps.

>>10353311
No, YOU are missing the point and has constantly through this entire thread.

I'll spoonfeed you. The coronavirus spreads much easier than the flu. The average person with corona will spread it to over twice as many persons as the average person with a flu. It's also ten times deadlier than the seasonal flu.
These two factors alone means:
1) Many more people will catch corona than the flu.
2) Among these people that get sick, a lot more will die than they would if they only had a flu.

Right now Covid19 is estimated to have 3,4% death rate. This ratio will likely go down because there's a lot of undetected cases due to many cases being very mild but also due to insufficient testing. Experts assume the death rate might be around 1% in the end.
Seasonal flu has a death rate of about 0.1%.

Many people are catching the virus. So far over 100 000 has, and barring quarantine and isolation you can't stop it from spreading.
So let's say 10% of the US population catches the virus. That would be around 33 million people infected. 1% of these dying would mean 330 000 people dead.
And 10% is a very optimistic number for the scenario where no one takes any precautions. You might wind up with a quarter of the population infected. For the US, that would mean 825 000 people dead.

I'm not personally afraid of dying of the virus. But getting infected means I could infect others who WOULD wind up dying from it. If you're not underage (and you very well might be, because you're dense as fuck), your parents are middle aged, are likely in worse health than you, and might have some other underlying sickness. You might have friends with poorer health or immune systems than you. You could kill your grandma.

This is why it's important to contain the spread. Please look up the Spanish Flu. We live in modern times with modern medicine and communication, and should be completely capable of avoiding something like that again, but it relies on people actually acting sensible.

>>10353330
>the flu is carried by MANY MANY times more people though
And if no one starts meeting less people, that will change soon. Do you not understand basic math? Do you even know how exponentials work?

>>10353331
>Then why do they tell us to wash our hands so frequently?
because most people touch their face, so if you have germs on your hands, and you touch your face, the germs can then enter through your eyes, nose, or mouth.

>Wearing the gloves until your work is done without touching your face means less contact with surface germs,and less spread.

There is the same amount of germs spreading whether you are wearing gloves or not.

>Take them off when you're done and go wash your hands again before eating.

literally the entire point of wearing gloves is so you DON'T have to wash your hands. Its more convient to some to just put on and take off gloves, than to wash your hands.

>>10353332
>1) Many more people will catch corona than the flu.

How do you figure this? ~340 people have the virus in the US. You think as many people will interact with the few hundred people with the virus than the over 22 million people who have the flu? The virus would have to be hundreds/thousands times more contagious for it to infect more people than the flu.

>So let's say 10% of the US population catches the virus. That would be around 33 million people infected.

So, a sudden 100,000 times increase? lol, ok.

>10% is a very optimistic number for the scenario where no one takes any precautions.

But they are. Washing your hands and staying home when sick are precautions. Never leaving the house to go to a large event is unnecessary.

>>10353333
lemme know when that happens.

>>10353224
That sounds accurate. I'd probably be one of those people. I guess the only hope is that people are more mindful right now. Thicker gloves is an interesting solution.

>>10353233
> It was like an all day sleepover party.
wholesome

>>10353311
>germs don't enter through your hands, so gloves won't help you unless you have an open wound.
I'm no expert, but I think it's more about reducing the amount of bacteria you come in contact with so that you don't inevitably touch your face, other people, or use them to eat with. So, bacteria transfer rather than absorption.

>>10353361
>it's more about reducing the amount of bacteria you come in contact with
what difference does it make if germs are on your bare hands vs gloves?

>>10353366
It's easier to throw some gloves into the trash than it is to run to a sink and wash your hands as often as one should be.

>>10353361
Nayrt but you come into contact with the same amount of bacteria. If anything, it has been shown that the perception of sterility actually makes it so that gloves are more unhygienic than bare hands. Gloves are good if you have abrasions on your hands and want to avoid infection via open skin. But they don’t magically make your hands cleaner or anything.

>>10353376
Perhaps when I said "reducing the amount of bacteria you come in contact with", it came off as me claiming that gloves are somehow more hygienic. It's not. I'm well aware that they don't provide any more protection against bacteria than bare hands do, it's like I said in >>10353370. Just about being able to dispose of them and put on a new pair easier than being able to find a sink.

>>10353353

I hope they cancel everything because of inbred morons like you.

>dddddddddddddddddduuur you guys can't convince me it's THAT bad. Here's a counter argument for everything you just said.

>>10353330
Again, if the only thing you're concerned about is whether or not YOU get infected, you're ignorant and selfish as fuck. Did it occur to you that maybe people are concerned about their loved ones who are older or immunodeficient? Even if I don't get symptoms, if I catch it I am almost guaranteed to give it to at least a few other people.

>>10353387
I agree. This is why we can't have nice things.

>>10353353
>Never leaving the house to go to a large event is unnecessary
>Never leaving the house
>to go to a large event

Nobody is fucking saying that. Never implies forever. And while this 2020 version of the Spanish Flu is kicking its heels and riding around all silly willy, maybe, JUST maybe, we shouldn't gather in large (no, more like massive) groups. And when I say "we" I mean the scum of the internet that are known for being very unhygienic and too obvious to actually wonder why everyone around them shrinks away after they haven't showered in three days.

>>10353353
>~340 people have the virus in the US
Lol no those are the people who have been TESTED and confirmed to have the virus. The US is waaaaaaaayyyy behind on testing. The real numbers are much higher.

>So, a sudden 100,000 times increase? lol, ok.
It's not some sudden increase because Covid19 IS NOT THE FLU. It doesn't have the same death rate nor spread rate. It's much more deadly and spreads exponentially faster but I'm sure you don't understand what exponential even means.

Whatever, this thread has been derailed for long enough. Either you don't understand basic numbers and logic or you just want to bury your head in the sand.

>>10353390
Nayrt but not everyone needs to consider everybody else's needs above their own, particularly in the case of income. It'd be nice if we lived in a balanced economy with less poverty and people weren't living paycheck to paycheck and finding work in weird places like artist alley, but we don't. I don't disagree with the cons' decisions to cancel at this moment but it's also fair for people to be upset at the money loss from the cancellation of those events. Service workers and low income workers are about to go through the same thing, and if you go around telling them they're selfish and ignorant for going to work when they MIGHT be sick so they can make rent, then you're a fucking cunt.

Omg I just thought of something. I hope those Jesus Save Fuckos go to these cons and then find out everyone is gone cause of this and go SEE TOLD YOU! into their megaphones at an empty lot.

The way I see it, we have a correlation but there are two stream of reasoning.

>influenza exists, and no one does anything
>but when coronavirus19 exists, the world go into a panic
Ergo, COV19 is a lot worse than influenza if the people go into a panic over the latter and not the former.

versus

>coronavirus19 exists, and the world go into a panic
>but when influenza exists, no one does anything
Ergo, people are overreacting due to the media hype because if influenza- a virus that kills millions- isn’t a big deal then neither is COV19- which has only killed thousands.

In the end, I do think that people should be cautious because it is a serious issue, but I don’t think COV19 is significantly more dangerous than SARS or H1N1 and that these policies are a bit overkill. But hey, I guess better to overkill it while the spread is still in its infancy rather than allow a chance for it to grow. Pinch of prevention, pound of cure, etc.

>>10353233
Have fun being a wage-slave while I make 15k in three days top kek

>>10353233
You a trust fund baby or something? Like so many people can just look at a 10-20k income for a weekend and be like 'yeah I'll skip it, no problem'

>>10353439

You know what. I just wrote a very long and very mean response to this. Then I deleted it and wrote it again and somehow made it meaner.

So I'll just say this instead. Good luck and I hope your con doesn't get cancelled. Don't get sick.

>>10353504
This is the most mature post I've read on 4chan in a long time.

>>10353414
>I guess better to overkill it while the spread is still in its infancy rather than allow a chance for it to grow.
This is the real gist of it. It’s more like the Spanish Flu than say, measles or the Black Plague. It’s dangerous mainly because it can easily infect so many people. You shouldn’t really compare it to SARS and the like anymore, because SARS had a higher death rate but was easier to contain the spread.

>>10353504
What a convenient excuse for a cop out, try harder next time.

>>10353624
Stay bitter, anon.

>>10353439

Did you mean to say 1.5K? You don't make 15K in a weekend. Your average joe non-English speaking wage-slave job pays 35K a year. Otherwise you would be close to a millionaire in as AA artist???? That don't add up.

Or am I wrong!? Are you guys making 15k a weekend??? I struggle to make back what I spend on hotel and table and my art is GOOD.

>>10353773
There are people who make 15K at big conventions. If you are barely making a profit, your art isn't as good as you think.

>>10353773
The person probably doesn't account for the cost of materials, travel, time, etc you know.. like a real business would. Maybe they don't even pay taxes. Who knows
It's easy to say your business is super profitable when you don't know business fundamentals

>>10353786

No way thats sustainable. There's just no way. Please post someone who does AA and makes bank all the time.

>>10353787

They HAVE to pay taxes...right? I do. Maybe I'm just a sucker/idiot.

But yeah I keep track of everything I spend vs profit and while I do make profit, it's not enough to pay my rent, car and travel.

>>10353773
>Or am I wrong!? Are you guys making 15k a weekend???

some do, yes. but thats a single weekend, not every weekend. the average artist at an average con makes between 1 and 4k

>>10353798
I can see some of the really big artists doing this, but I doubt that's the person posting this.

Idk you see this kind of in MLMs a lot - people thinking they made $60k in a year when really they literally made negative money because they don't keep track of anything properly.
I guess what I'm saying is I don't trust the business sense of /cgl/ randos.

>>10353804
>I guess what I'm saying is I don't trust the business sense of /cgl/ randos.

Ha, right?

>>10353570
It's in the same family as SARS, but yes, the propagation is more similar to influenza (hence why I also compared it to H1N1).

>>10353798
It's not sustainable in the sense that they're doing it every weekend, but for the biggest cons of the year, some artists do make that much. I'm not saying that anyone who makes less than that normally is failing, but you should be earning far more than the cost of going.

Earning 2-5K in profit is fairly normal if you do AA consistently or for a living.

>>10353773
I'm aware its difficulty to phrase this without sounding bitchy, but do you just not draw much fanart or something? my art is fairly ordinary and I don't have an interesting style, but I make 5k-7k at most large cons with about 50/50 fanart/original

>>10353894
No bitchness taking. No, I'm just too generic. I always get put next to stalls that have the same stuff I do and art is in the eye of the beholder, so they'll pick the cute Pikachu to the right rather than mine. I'm not too butt hurt about it, but to cover the ticket of the con I end up lowering my prices by the end of Saturday and then I break even at least.

Hey, sorry if this has been covered before but what's the general opinion on imitating famous/official art styles to make as merch and sell? Like Animal Crossing's style, kotobukiya's rubber straps, nitotan, etc? As long as the character doesn't already exist in that art style. Thanks!

>>10354010
Imitating Animal Crossing seems to be OK and widely accepted but I can't speak about the other styles since they're official merchandise and not a property. Those omanju thingies or whatever the mochi shaped characters are called are widely popular, so I'd imagine it's not a big deal but who knows desu

>>10354010
If you're doing it as a gimick/parody type thing I think it's fine, like if you made animal crossing style sprites of characters from other series and advertised them as such.
If you're just copying some official art style to a t and passing it as being "your artstyle" for everything that you do, not a fan of that personally.

>>10353773
Anon... I don't know how to say this without sound like I'm bragging but it's absolutely possible to make that much at a con? I've made 15-20k profit at Anime Expo for the past couple of years - meaning that's the number after subtracting costs (merch production, travel, paying my helpers, table fee, etc).

I know at least two artists who were able to buy houses with their AA money. And there are several people in my friend group who make 5 figures easy at big cons like AX. A lot of us do this for a living. I'm able to support my entire family on my AA income and I pay my taxes.

You might look into diversifying your fandoms or your products if you're struggling to break even at all your cons. Even some of my originals tend to sell really well so it seems like you need to think about your market and table cohesiveness.

It's totally okay to be making less than this - I understand that it's a hobby for some people and everyone starts somewhere. But it's not impossible to make 5 figures at big cons.

One thing that people tend to ignore is that those who make literal bank at cons have been doing AA for a while and know their market, know what sells, and know how to deal with huge conventions. I think the optimistic average is definitely breaking even after costs or maybe making some profit, but obviously there will be people who know what they're doing and are making a lot of steady profit. It's also probably a good idea to keep in mind that making so much profit off from AA is just not possible everywhere in the world.

I'm one of those people who live in a small country and there's three big conventions a year, of which the biggest has less than 5000 attendance. After following these threads for years now, it's very much clear to me that most gulls here consider that to be a small convention. The most successfull artists here have long since moved on to exhibitors hall and overseas conventions, because making a living off of AA alone just isn't feasible here. But even then obviously the people who want to do it for a living will find the means to do so, but it's absolutely not just "sit at table and make 15K", it never is.

TL;DR: Making bank at AA is possible, but at that point it's a genuine job instead of a hobby and it requires a lot more thought and effort put into it. It doesn't happen by accident, so if you're not making that much money (even though you want to), you're not trying hard enough.

What are your thoughts on these virtual cons popping up in place of cancelled conventions?

>>10354074
i agree. my first con i made close to 5k profit and i was just starting out and ran out of a lot of things.

>>10355216
I actually like the idea but I'd lean more on the side of them being a mess depending on who's organizing them

>>10355216

Whats the dif between that and...Etsy?

>>10355235
Etsy's full of reseller garbage dominating the sort and ad algorithms so there's that.

>>10355216
If it's a free or really cheap event, I can definitely see the value in it.

>get into AB AA again
>AB is my local con and super money maker
>MA in state of emergency
>schools shutting down for the entire rest of the semester

welp, here's to you, AB. rip my money.

>>10355302
They made an announcement just two days ago saying things would go on as planned, as of then. Fingers crossed desu

>>10355312
yea i know, but we didn't have SoE in effect then...i'm going to be pissed if they do cancel, 2 years ago i sold out by saturday afternoon.

Man this thread is so fucking dumb lol.

How bout those who decide to go to the con decide for themselves if they should go or not? If it gets to the point where it's dangerous for so many people, cons will be cancelled across the country. You're not gonna stop people from doing what they want by getting red faced and angrily pounding your keyboard on the other side of your computer screen. If it's so important to you, start a movement and quit your day job to advocate for it or protest lmao

>>10355314
Yeah, that and two days ago, the WHO hadn't declared it a pandemic.

>>10355741
I think it's just one or two anons who were yelling about that. Pretty sure most people in this thread would rather their cons not be cancelled, risky or not.

>>10355741

>>10355741
>You're not gonna stop people from doing what they want

Unless, you like, um, cancel the thing so, um, it, like, ...stops them.

>>10355775
Really? A sole random internet user cancelling the event by typing? You wish you were high up enough in the chain of command to actually do it lmao. Can't wait to see your dumbass attempt this, good popcorn material.

>>10355763
Well those two anons took up more than half of this thread arguing about this dumb shit. Had to scroll hard to get to the relevant stuff again. Man they should've made their own thread, that was ridiculous.

>>10355813

Anon, are you ok?

>>10355813
>relevant stuff
>this thread

>>10355822
Just peachy. And you?

>>10355839

You know what I mean lol.
Relevant to aa.

I was bored for an hr but now I gotta go back to important stuff and I don't want to contribute to the fodder. Ya'll can reply to my comment but I won't anymore. Later nerds. o/

>tfw con next week confirmed they aren't cancelling but many things across area seem to be cancelling/rescheduling
Welp. We'll see if this holds up I guess, especially since I doubt they'll be able to reschedule this year. This is going to be my first AA ever and I worked really hard these past few months for it so I'd hope it's able to go on just fine. If not, then I guess it's just yet another thing to add to all the life blocks I've been having for the past 5 or so months.

>>10355741
>How bout those who decide to go to the con decide for themselves if they should go or not?
You're a fucking retard. Not canceling these events is what helps the pandemic spread further. Europe is already getting fucked and different countries have started with forbidding and restricting events with a gathering over 1000, 500, 100 people. It's because of people like you this only will get worse. Enjoy your time in Burgerland, you guys are gonna get real fucked at this rate.

>>10355235

Hosts actually get to choose the "booths" so youre not stuck looking at mass produced knock off garbage you find in every exhibit hall.
Maybe vendors will offer free shipping to all couch con customers or some shit idk

>>10353773

You must not have a lot of experience. BIG cons bring in BIG money. My friend isnt a popular artist by any means, but she still brings in around $9k every year from her AA table at AX. She goes by YOVA and hasnt really drawn anything new recently.
But at small cons like ALA, she only makes a maximum of $3k. It depends on the con and the artist.

Artists like Finni are definitely raking in $10k - $15k at cons like AX.

I already make $4.2k every month from my art patreon, so i dont really see the point of hosting AA tables like my friends do considering the cost of materials, table fee, traveling, hotel, etc. The only benefit i see is possibly making one big chunk of change in a single weekend if youre lucky and a popular artist and if youre not hitting that big money at a big con at least once a year, then i dont think your art is as good as you say it is and should probably get more experience before hosting anymore tables.

>>10356127
>then i dont think your art is as good as you say it is
Or maybe it is good but they are trying to sell to the wrong crowd. Let's not assume it's poor technical skills when artists like Kimchi kawaii can make good money.

>>10356141

Bruh, if they havent had the experience of making big money at least ONCE yet, then chances are they arent that experienced in general and most likely dont have the artist skills too.
Also when have you EVER met an artist that said "uhh ac-shu-ally my art is really good" and it was actually good? Never lmao

>>10356143
I'm just saying there is more to making big money then being technically skilled and no offense but your friend's art is nothing to sneeze at either.

>>10356042
If you got into one AA anon, you’ll definitely get into another. Keep your head up!

>>10356064
It's 250 here in California as of yesterday

>>10356143
I've seen artists with absolute amateur shit in AA and getting major sales. I would bet my money that it's because OP is marketing to the wrong group or not enough groups.

>>10355216

Um...did anyone actually check the OP's profile/Twitter/2019 event/click the link?

It's a furry based event. I wonder if they'll make it open to others now, but yeah...furry. Imagine my face when I was like "YEAH!" and then..."O...I guess I should learn how to draw furries now." Anything for that rent money, man.

>>10356375
There are a bunch popping up. I just used that one image as an attention grabber.

>>10356161
That's reassuring to hear, especially since I never thought of it that way (though this con is a pretty small one so who knows). We'll see how it goes though, thank you.

AB is shit canned https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/gov-baker-to-provide-update-on-massachusetts-coronavirus-preparedness/2090477/

I didn't see this in the FAQ or other resources so apologies if it's already been talked about already but.....does anyone use a Cricut/Silhouette to make their stickers? I have a SC3 and it's great for decals, but I saw this at Michael's the other day and was interested.

Also anyone else's online sales taking a hit thanks to our buddy Coronavirus? What a bummer.

>>10351572
I’ve heard if you watermark your item images they won’t use them, so there’s that.

>>10357361
I don’t have an online store but I thought due to all these events being canceled, more people are staying home and shopping online.

>>10357552
Nope. People are losing their jobs and money in the stock market, so there is a lot of people saving their money worried their income will drop soon.

>>10357552
Some people are more worried about affording food and if they can keep paying their bills than prints and keychains atm.

>>10357565
>>10357574
>2009 all over again

>>10357565
>>10357574
This. I saw a reddit thread on one of the Etsy subs a few days ago where people where basically saying they'd seen a drastic drop in views and sales. I've also seen a couple of artists here and there on insta saying the con they prepped for was cancelled so buy their shit now. Not anyone's priority right now, but also I wonder if it has to do with people being nervous about mail traveling? I only sell online for beer money basically but I can't imagine how stressed AA people must be right now with cons getting cancelled left and right, especially if you invested a ton into getting all your shit printed and made for cons.

>>10357565
>>10357574
>>10357580
I've actually found the opposite to be true? I don't know if you're an artist who's been affected by the cancellations, but I've been using all the hashtags that are circulating right now and promo-ing as much as I can (a lot of big social media accounts are offering to boost artists with cancelled shows) and I'm on track to make as much as I did in person at ECCC last year.

According to Etsy, traffic has increased 233% for me this March and revenue has gone up by 652% compared to last year's March.

I highly recommend being proactive about pushing your online shops. Find out what hashtags people are using to boost artists from your cancelled events. Get yourself on all the cancelled show artist lists and tumblrs. Attendees are actually looking through them and spending money that way! But it really really depends on how aggressive you are with marketing yourself. Don't be afraid to retweet/reblog your own stuff. You need to be getting your art in front of people. Take advantage of all the resources people are pooling together!

>>10357580
yea, my etsy views and sales are very slightly down in the past ~10 days, but not by much. kinda hard to tell if its actually trending down right now.

>>10357581
I'd feel shitty using ECCC online tag if I wasn't planning on going to sell there.

>>10357600
Same! My next con isn’t until May and they haven’t cancelled yet so it feels shitty to promote myself as a struggling artist in these trying times.

>>10357600
>>10357613
Oh, I wasn't telling you to use the ECCC tag. I meant find your own tags for your cancelled events. Definitely don't use ECCCOnline if you're not an ECCC artist because that's scummy as hell. Wondercon artists are doing WonderconOnline and there are several artists starting their own for various cons.

It's time to organize with your community. Post on AANI, talk to your friends. You can do ToraConOnline, NakaConOnline, AnimeBostonOnline, etc!! The more artists you can get to join a hashtag, the easier it will be to gain traction and get your work in front of as many people as possible.

It's totally okay for y'all to promo yourselves in this time. I think it's noble that you're waiting til the weekend is over so the ECCC artists can get help. But I'd definitely jump into headfirst starting Monday! We're all in this together and as long as you're using your own tags instead of co-opting existing ones from other shows, you're totally in the clear!

>>10357642
>>10357613
>>10357600

You guys are weak. WEAK. Fucking pushovers. You're not selling the gold teeth pulled out of the Jews's heads by the Nazis.
Take advantage of this. MAKE YOUR MONEY. You're not in AA to make friends, your there to outsell your competitors.

>>10357643
The damage done to your brand when people find out that you actually didn't have a table at ECCC will be far greater. It's a stupid gamble to take especially on social media platforms that you use to actively promo your work. Imagine being labeled "the artist who tried to take advantage of a pandemic to make money because they couldn't be bothered to come up with their own hashtag".

Not only is that going to be a huge turnoff to customers, but your fellow artists aren't gonna take too kindly to it either.

>>10357643

>>10357646

I hontestly feel like you're thinking too emotionally. Ain't nobody care about that. They'll see your merch is on sale or whatever and if they like your stuff they'll buy it. You think your average fanart anon buyer remembers your store name???? No.

>>10357663
Yeah I can't even remember the name of places I really like and have bought from multiple times...

>>10357667
>>10357663
I actually get a ton of repeat buyers and a lot of customers have been reaching out specifically because they've seen me at cons before but regardless... I wouldn't risk the callout post. The last day of ECCC is tomorrow anyway, so it'd be better to build momentum around new hashtags.

>>10357361
>Also anyone else's online sales taking a hit thanks to our buddy Coronavirus?
No. It's actually been the opposite for me. Knock on the wood. I'm noticing a lot of my orders have been headed to Seattle, Everett, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. I'm wondering if the cities that got corona first and starting to get that cabin fever kicking in. A package is a nice, relatively risk-free way to shake up the monotony of being stuck at home all day.

As far as products go, I have noticed a lot of small impulse buys being made from my shop (1-2 enamel pin orders, sticker sheets, charms). I think customers are going on little mini shopping sprees on Etsy, so you end up spending $50 but getting packages from 4-6 stores. Hopefully that's helpful for someone.

>>10357652
I wish that was me. I don't have two dimes to rub together and that cocksucker is swimming in them? Damn.

>>10357670

It's just funny cause I'm seeing people now making toilet paper crafts/anime related prints. Anything to stay relevant and crossing your fingers something sells.

You poor bastards.

Ok speaking of hashtags/promo....has this ever happened to anyone before? I just recently decided early this week to make a separate insta to promote art and get more into the community....this was only going to be my 4th post but I'm suddenly blocked from posting? What the fuck? If I click on "Tell Us" all it does is says "Thanks for Telling Us" and then continues to block me from posting, no submission form or further info or anything. My last post was 1 picture 2 days ago, so it's not like I've been trying to mass-upload or spam shit or anything.

And it says it's going to expire on 3/15.....but it IS 3/15 in my time zone? Ugh.

>>10357740
New accounts get more monitoring to prevent spam accounts. Bots might have tought you as one. So wait few days and try again.

Can I ask yall some (maybe stupid) questions? I've been working up the courage to start selling some of my stuff, but looking through that IP Takedown doc really has me nervous. Is it pointless to even try if I'm not interested in selling at cons? Like....is it stupid to try and sell fanart stuff online only because it's that much easier to find and take down? Has anyone ever actually been sued or is it usually just DMCA or C&D?

Also how does a place like LookHuman get away with it? All of their products look like POD, but not user-submitted. They can't possibly have licensing agreements for shit like this, can they? A lot of the stuff they sell on their site is specifically listed as high risk/no fanart on that IP doc.
>Attack on Titan
>Dragon Ball
>Star Wars
>Pokemon
>Ghibli
>Disney

>>10358128
you might have to actually come up with your own original ideas instead of profiting off others'. Its rough.

>>10358128
They can do that because it's an obvious parody.

>>10358128
>oh is this convo again

It's a risk, so far I haven't heard of anyone getting sue'd into oblivion. But you could be the first, you probably won't be. But you need to decide if you're okay taking that risk.

>>10358138
oh shut the fuck up, let's not act like anyone is throwing pity party because poor lil underdog Disney is having it's lunch money stolen by big mean internet artists making fanart, jfc

>>10358149
>it's an obvious parody
what about the other 90% of their stuff? This isn't parody it's just straight up ripping off game content. So you're saying that if I draw a picture of Goku it's illegal but if I draw a picture of Goku at the gym that says "goku but like he's at the gym haha get it?" or I put the word "gay" in front of something then it's totally fine and legal?

>>10358159
>This isn't parody
Except it literally is. Which one exactly do you think isn't parody? They're all very clear jokes or parodies of the characters.

>>10358165
>They're all very clear jokes or parodies of the characters.
No they're not, have you ever played an Animal Crossing game? The Katrina one is just a thing she says in the game. "Nook's Homes" is literally what the building is called in the game. There's no parody at all there.

And they're not changing anything about the actual designs or art of the characters, all of that could just be traced directly from a screenshot.

>>10358166
The Nook's Homes one is parody because of the retro design. The Katrina one is the only one that isn't.

I'm not sure what you're whining about. If you want us to tell you the law, we're telling you. Some company with a bunch of lawyers bending the rules on one shirt doesn't give you a free pass. But if you want to take that risk, be my guest.

>>10358168
I'm not trying to break the rules, I'm trying to understand them because that doesn't make sense.

If all it takes to claim parody of pre-existing copywritten IP is changing a minor design component like a font, then how is any copyright enforced at all? Wouldn't all fanart fall under that then because that person is just redesigning it in a parody of their own art style? That just doesn't seem to be the case.

I'm just again trying to understand: if I draw an original piece of art of Goku it's illegal, but if I trace a picture of Goku from google images but then put "GAYku" on it, then it's legal and I'm free to make millions of dollars?

>>10358171
>all it takes to claim parody of pre-existing copywritten IP is changing a minor design component like a font
the shirt company you used as an example didn't do this, except for only the Katrina shirt which might honestly be illegal. All the other shirts are jokes or have different design components to make it a parody of the original work.
>if I draw an original piece of art of Goku it's illegal, but if I trace a picture of Goku from google images but then put "GAYku" on it, then it's legal and I'm free to make millions of dollars?
Yes, for the most part. Although tracing an exact image would probably not work in your favor if it went to court. Just like with child porn laws, there is no clear cut, objective way of determining what constitutes fair use. But the clearer you make it a parody (i.e. not just ripping the exact design), the better.

>>10358172
>But the clearer you make it a parody (i.e. not just ripping the exact design), the better.
But what if ripping off the design IS the parody, like pic related?

(Just pondering aloud at this point, not actually expecting you to actually have the answers)

>>10358174
That's a clear cut parody. I said the more different the better for you in court, not that it wouldn't be legal at all otherwise. This image here has changed the logo and character enough to make a clear joke out of a Brewsters Starbucks. If this still confuses you, consider reading legal documents or consulting a lawyer. Or just googling "fair use".

>>10358159
In my opinion, LookHuman gets away with it because they are a moderately sized company that is somewhat lucrative, and it's more risky for IP holders to challenge whether the content they create is parody. If the IP holder serves LookHuman a C&D, LH probably has the resources to counter it, and then the IP holder has to decide whether or not to take LH to court. Court is costly and an IP holder will only follow through if they're confident they can win the case, and there seems to be financial gain. They might not risk going to court with LH because a judge could rule that most of their items are parody. Taking them to court and winning on one shirt would not be worth the money it cost for the lawyers. They are a business and the choice to sue has to have financial value.

However, with small artists, a company will serve C&Ds and DMCAs left and right because MOST artists aren't going to counter them, because they're afraid of legal repercussions and don't have the money to go to court. The companies know this. They never actually take a small artist to court because the amount of financial damage a judge would award would be too small to be worth their time. It's also a detriment that most artists sell through third party sites; the DMCAs are actually being served to the site and the site wants nothing to do with it so they'll be much more quick to act against the artist, and are more likely to reject counter-claims from the artist if they try to claim fair use or parody. You're at much higher risk to get banned from the platforms and ruining your business that way, than you are to face actual legal repercussions.

This is why it appears that smaller artists face more scrutiny than companies like this. That and the fact that many similar sites aren't based in the US or beholden to US law.

>>10358159
Yeah, none of this stuff is parody and anyone telling you that doesn't understand fair use.

It's simply that most people who get hit are getting hit because they sell through a third party, and that company doesn't want Disney or another large corporation breathing down their necks. LookHuman sells on their own site, so they're only responsible to themselves. If they want to ignore a C&D, they can, and they can risk that.

>>10358197
This is a great explanation, thank you! I was just thinking something similar this after reading these last night. I would have thought the larger companies would be the easier ones to go after than small artists, because I assume it would be easier to prove this company made x thousands of dollars off of your specific IP. But I guess you're right, it probably comes down to not actually wanting to go to court and most artists are probably scared off enough by a C&D. LH and other places probably have a lawyer that can look at a big scary C&D and go "nah" as well.

>>10358307
>Yeah, none of this stuff is parody and anyone telling you that doesn't understand fair use.
Ok, well that makes me feel a little less crazy. From what I've read online, every single explanation of parody seems to emphasize the necessity of ridicule or social commentary.
>A parody is fair use of a copyrighted work when it is a humorous form of social commentary and literary criticism in which one work imitates another.
>The purpose of a parody is to mimic another work in order to comment on or criticize it. In doing so, a new work is created.
>While a parody targets and mimics the original work to make a point
And that Parody is Free Use, while Satire isn't. So the anons saying "IT'S A JOKE DUH = PARODY FAIR USE" seems completely wrong. What social commentary is twerking Elsa providing? What criticism or ridicule is "Gay Gay Slider" providing? I suppose it comes down to whatever a lawyer can come up with to argue.

A lot of those designs have been on their site for years, which I guess is also what's confusing to me. I bought their Jigglypuff workout shirt probably like.....4 years ago? I'm just surprised so many have lasted that long, but I do remember they used to have Harry Potter merch as well which seems to no longer be available. So maybe that's one that actually scared them off?

Any tips for setting up an online store and/or things to watch out for? The con that was supposed to be my first AA got canceled in the end and I'm a bit sad after working real hard for it these last few months(though health comes first 100% and at least I got experience in merch making from it). Luckily both the badge and table will transfer over to next year's con but any advice in the online realm of things would be appreciated.

Well Etsy has finally had enough of my bullshit and I’ve received a final warning for copyright infringement, so I guess it’s time to move. How does big cartel handle dmcas? Also how the fuck do so many artists get away with selling fan art complete with the shows name plastered in their listing title? Or at least it seems they do

>>10358588
Nothing to contribute here, but can I ask what IP you got nailed for? And which ones in the past?

>>10358588
Depending on the franchise, I think it's a gamble. Disney is always a hell no. No exceptions.

>>10358149
Something being protected for being parody is only protected in the sense it can not be removed/censored, not protected so they can profit off an IP lol wide spread myth parody makes it legal to profit on anything

>>10358614
It was jojos - 3/4 of my dmca strikes were jojos, and the other was naruto. I tried varying titles and tags to see what terms were acceptable, and at this point I'm wondering if just "jojos" on it's own is enough to set it off, but I don't have any strikes left to test that theory.

>>10358614
It just sucks because I actually tried to be vague with my titles and tags, and I was still hit, meanwhile other listing with the full title and character names are still up and fine.. Not bitter desu just confused.

So seeing as viz is after me over jojos merch, if I were to list new merch just titled "stickers" or "charms" with no identifying tags at all, is there any chance of them striking me?

>>10358875
meant to reply to >>10358789 for the second part

>>10358875
you need to be really careful on etsy about tagging anything. i'd recommend not using any tags or terms that reference IP or character names and just instead using generic terms and using the specific tags and stuff on other sites as advertising.

>>10358875
>3/4 of my dmca strikes were jojos
is that why there's so little independent jojo merch out there? big sad.

>if just "jojos" on it's own is enough to set it off, but I don't have any strikes left to test that theory.
if you were able to, I'd say maybe try 'JJBA', but that might be too on the nose too.

>>10358875
It's 99% the phrase "Jojo". For other gulls, I'd recommend what this anon said >>10358886 and go with JJBA. I got a DMCA takedown for Yuri on Ice forever ago when it was still popular. I listed with YOI after that and did not get hit. Character names are also fine if they're like... a regular Japanese name you can find anywhere. So you migh tnot want to say "Yuri Katsuki" for example but just saying "Yuri" is vague enough.

Generally, a lot of fans will refer to these titles with abbreviations in fan circles anyway (LOTR, HP, GOT, JJBA, YOI, OPM, BNHA, etc) so it still helps customers find the items while staying under the radar for copyright strikes.

Has anyone ordered hard enamel pins from Vograce before? What's the quality like?

>>10358875
I got hit with a takedown for Yuri On Ice even though I didn't use any character names or the title or YOI abbreviation in titles, description or tags.

I called it "Ice Skating Anime Poster" and eventually got a takedown for it around a year later without using anything identifying it. So they must be manually searching to do takedowns.

Has anyone ever been hit for TAZ before? Justin's original tweet about it was honestly very confusing. Because it seems like what he's talking about here is SOD mass produced Redbubble shit, but what does that mean for fanart or shit made with your own designs and your own supplies? Like prints or stickers or buttons?

Their fans are batshit anyways, they act like if you post anything you've made you're somehow ripping money out of their precious boys' wallets with your own 2 hands.

Sometimes artists will post "fanart" (merch) on the TAZ subreddit and you can see the them trying to placate big brother sooo hard so it doesn't get deleted. Dozens of people will comment "I want this!" or "I would buy this!" or "where do I buy this?" and the artists will just reply to every comment with something like "sorry the brothers don't allow merch :))) i would never sell this because it's not what the brothers want :)))".

It just bums me out to see because there's clearly a demand that they're not meeting in terms of merch that actual small artists (not people who throw something from google images on Redbubble) are willing and able to supply.

>>10359062
You sound so fucking entitled to someone else's IP.

>>10359062
>Because it seems like what he's talking about here is SOD mass produced Redbubble shit, but what does that mean for fanart or shit made with your own designs and your own supplies? Like prints or stickers or buttons?

Thats still mass produced if you are printing your drawings...

>>10359062
My understanding is that con sales and limited indie artist items don't bother them, and the problem is more Redbubble etc. and medium level companies feeling like it's free reign since little artists are getting away with it.

It's a small IP so I think it's fair for them to be more protective of it, but I agree with you that they're clearly not meeting demand and it sucks. There's so much cool fan stuff out there I would have loved to buy. Their official options are really limited, especially since I don't like the character designs they went with for the comic.

Honestly I still wouldn't do it if I were you, because the fans are more protective than the brothers themselves. It's not worth looking like an asshole for the few sales you'd get off their untapped market.

>>10359062
Personally I think they stopped being a "small" IP once they started selling out entire venues for their live shows and got an official graphic novel deal. But the people are very particular about their parasocial relationships on social media and a lot of people are ESPECIALLY are protective of the McElroys.

I will say that from what I know, opinion abt selling fan merch is actually different depending on WHO in the family you ask. I've seen Clint signal boost merch posts from fanartists and he actually bought TAZ fanmerch from my friend on Etsy. He saw me at a con and tried to buy TAZ things from me but I give them out for free anyway so I just gave them to him for free. I think it's mainly Travis and Justin who have a problem with it. It's totally within their right to feel that way though regardless of how we artists feel about the issue.

The best course of action here to do as the MDZS fandom does. Give it out for free for people who spend an X amt at your table. That's what I do and sometimes I even give them out for free to TAZ cosplayers. It helps you build positive interactions with the fandom, people still get the fan merch they want, and it incentivizes people to buy other things at your table. I've actually had a ton of TAZ fans come up to me and thank me for "not being one of THOSE artists" so even if you decided to sell your stuff, you might be met with really aggressive fans at cons who will confront you at your table or tell other people to avoid you.

>>10359084
> since I don't like the character designs they went with for the comic.
out of curiosity, what did you imagine the horny bois as?

>>10359072
I'm talking about a relationship where artists who are fans of the IP are making art that other fans want to buy, because the originators of that IP are not meeting that demand in the least. It has absolutely nothing to do with entitlement or IP, it has to do with the creators dropping the ball. Whining about it still won't make anyone want to buy your OC art, anon. Literally if you go onto any given post with "fantart" on the subreddit there's a dozen people saying they wish they could buy it and the artist saying they wish they could sell it.

Besides, I don't know if you've listened to any TAZ but in Balance almost all of the weapons are user submitted and the names of NPC characters are based off of people on twitter who tweeted about the show. This means they became one of the most popular and beloved podcasts of all time without have to pay a cent for advertising, while also getting paid to advertise on the show. They continued to use those weapons and character names in their graphic novels and safe to assume their upcoming animated series all of which they're profiting off of. Let's not forget that the entire premise and world is based on D&D IP in the first place.

I'm saying this as a fan. I enjoy the whole McElroy family of products. Griffin did a ton of work and made a really cool thing and they deserve money for it. I totally understand people wanting to protect their completely original IP -- but that's not what TAZ is. The show has essentially been 100% profit from day 1 and that's directly because of outside contribution. I think it's a little unfair of them to say "do this thing for us so we don't have to pay for it! do this thing so we can make money!" and then also turn around and say "now that this thing is popular and profitable because of that thing you all did for free, only WE get to make money off of it". Sorry, but I think that's really disrespectful to fans who got them there in the first place.

>>10359091
I actually liked the early podcast before Griffin took off with the narrative, so I pictured everyone a little trashier and more eclectic, with more of a mix of modern and fantasy costuming. The comic smooths out a lot of their rough edges and makes the world more coherent, and so it's just not as enjoyable to me. I'm just not a big fan of Cary's art style. I think it's technically solid and a good fit for the tone they shifted the story into in the third arc through the ending, and I think they made the best choice for what they wanted to make, but it's just not my taste and I don't want to own merch of those characters.

>>10359088
>>10359131
Apparently a lot of it boils down to the fact that people can't enforce control of their IP selectively. If they come out and say that it's okay for their fans to make and sell merch, then they can no longer go after larger companies that make and sell merch. This is the excuse that a lot of smaller creators give when they have to crack down on others selling fanart of their property, so I absolutely believe this is what lawyers are telling them. But then there are apparently other small companies who give permission for people to sell limited quantities of merch and don't seem so worried about those technicalities, so I don't know.

>>10359131
All I hear is you whining because you can't make money off something someone else made. Fans make things popular all the time, that's how things get popular in the first place. Dnd may be an IP but everything related to TAZ that makes them TAZ isn't DND exclusive. DND cant claim copyright on elves and dwarves. If they ask for fans to submit ideas for THEIR story then its safe to assume it'll belong to them later on. Fans submitted those ideas knowing that. I dont know what kind of excuse you are hoping to gain here to pump out merch when they clearly said no to it.

>>10359131
Are you this butthurt about Homestuck and Undertale too?

>>10359131
The best way I've seen this handled is that the creators work together with the artists in their fandom to create official merchandise, and actually pay the artists for the art they provide. So the fans get their merch and the artists get paid for it, but the original creators also get to profit off from the merch of their IP. Unfortunately doesn't seem like this is the norm, so you get these situations where creators (especially if their IP isn't 100% original like in the case of TAZ) end up taking advantage of their fans making free stuff so they personally don't have to deal with handling merch.
Although I definitely also agree with the post above that once your ~tiny indie IP~ gets an official publication it is no longer that small and helpless, but regardless of how big the IP is if the creator says no to selling fanmerch there's very little you can do about it without looking like an ass.

>>10359131
The McElroys are millionaires at this point in their lives. Make your fanart, sell it, and who cares if it hurts their feefees.

>>10359219
Sure, but don't bitch if you get hit with a takedown notice.

>>10358875
>>10358876
It seems that anime gets hit much harder than most game franchises. Viz and Funimation have always been very strict, so I'd definetly try the fan terms and see how long that helps you.

To compare my own experience, I mostly deal with more niche Pokemon merch and have only ever had it taken down when I sold on PoD sites (as in 'literally not long after making a few sales after it's collected dust for months otherwise'), which I don't bother with anymore. Also, it seems that if you make merch for recently announced Pokemon that are in a game or movie that's yet to be fully released, that will get them coming after you. They tend to calm down once the game has been out.

It's a gamble we take. On the plus side, once you learn the pattern the big companies use, unless they decide they can afford to hunt more people down, they rarely deviate from it.

>>10359196
I wish this were more commonplace. Even offering artists affordable licenses would be a great idea. Plenty (myself included) would take it up.

>>10359136
Understandable. I feel the opposite, but I'd be interested in seeing them created in your vision too. It did kind of peeve me to see so many changes in the graphic novel, but it's understandable that they can't 1:1 the podcast due to copyright and such.

>>10359219
I highly doubt it. Publishing doesn't actually pay all that much after costs. Plus everything they make is split 3-4 ways. I'm sure they're making comfortable 6 digits but I'd highly doubt they're in the millions yet.

>>10359381
Not from publishing alone, but from sponsorships, touring, YouTube revenue, etc. They stopped doing Jumbotrons (fan-bought shout outs, for those not in the know) on their two biggest podcasts, which at each spot being $200, was about $3600/month they stopped taking because it was too hard to give people a fair chance to get them because they were so in demand. That's over 40 grand a year they just didn't need, apparently. They're rich enough that someone can sell a pin with one of their characters or phrases on it and it's not taking anything from them.

>>10359062
>>10359084
I've been selling TAZ stuff for about 2 years now, and never ran into trouble with it. I have all my TAZ stuff up online, I just don't advertise it specifically, to avoid drawing too much possible negative attention to it. At cons people have been super happy to find TAZ merch and no one has ever said anything about it.

>>10358875
Is squarespace any safer to list items on? I'm starting out with my first shop online ever so I'm really struggling to figure out how to use it, but I definitely don't want to use Etsy. I tried it for 5 minutes and one sale, and hated it, and with all these takedowns I definitely won't be trying to use it in the future.

>>10358875
Is square/weebly any safer to list items on? I'm starting out with my first shop online ever so I'm really struggling to figure out how to use it, but I definitely don't want to use Etsy. I tried it for 5 minutes and one sale, and hated it, and with all these takedowns I definitely won't be trying to use it in the future.

Has anyone here applied to Anime North's Comic Market and know how long it takes to get the invoice after sending the contract? I've been waiting for a few days already with nothing and the deadline is this friday.

>>10359528
They send you an invoice after getting your contract. Took around a week last time I applied.

Anyone have suggestions for small run custom socks?
I am having problems finding options for orders of under 100 units. I understand the prices will be higher.

>>10359799
Are you looking for woven or dye sub?
I don't think you'll find woven/knit for less than 100 MOQ but looking for dyesub specifically there's a handful of alibaba factories doing low MOQ

>>10358950
I actually got a DCMA take down from VIZ on etsy just now and I used "JJBA" and first name/ last name as a separate tag for the past 2 years without having issues, so I don't know if they decided to crack down harder this month or what.

>>10359939
Maybe they’re running out of things to do.

Is there a preferred size to make prints? I know I personally like bigger posters (16x23+) and I wouldn't mind stocking up on larger prints, but does it sell? Is 11x17 the standard?

>>10359475
I don’t have any experience with those sites, I’ve only used Etsy, and I like Etsy because of the traffic it comes with, seeing as I don’t have much of an online following. Since I only ever see people complain about Etsy dmcas, I assume other sites may be a little more lax? Either way, I’m going to go the don’t-use-franchise-tags-and-just-shill-on-social-media route. I’ll have to work on my online presence, though.

This has been on my mind for a while now, and with cons getting cancelled it's probably a good time to bring it up. What makes for a good social media presence for an artist? Would only posting art suffice, or do people prefer seeing some casual day-to-day stuff as well? Is it super necessary to post often, or does quality > quantity work even in this case?
I have amazing interactions with customers at conventions which is the main reason I prefer tabling to an online store, but I am absolutely horrible when it comes to social media. I just genuinely don't feel like I have anything interesting to say, and most of my free time drawings are super unpolished doodles that I feel too embarrassed to post, so I can easily go for a month or two completely silent on social media. I do like and share stuff, but for some reason I'm way more shy online than usual so I hardly ever manage to comment on stuff or post anything myself. I don't really care to have a huge following or anything like that, but I'd love to be able to at least connect with people outside of conventions too.

TL;DR: How do you guys personally handle your social media, and are there any artists that you think do a good job with theirs? I'd love to hear more people friendly advice than the "how to market your brand" type, but obviously feel free to discuss that too.

>>10360113
>Would only posting art suffice, or do people prefer seeing some casual day-to-day stuff as well?

Some casual personal stuff is good, it brings a sense that a real person is using the account, and brings some confidence. But please, for the love of arceus, don't post too much personal stuff. Most people primarily follow artists to see their art. I hate it when someone's twitter is 90% random retweets and pointless day to day life stuff when all I want to see is new art.
I try to keep around 80% to 90% of my posts relating directly to my business.

honestly, the primary reason you should have a social media account is 2 reasons; 1, as a way to publicly archive all of your art, and 2, as a way for your customers and fans to easily message you. Using it as a way to gain followers and customers in secondary to me.

>>10360046
I'm pretty sure 11x17 is the most popular. Postcard prints are somewhat popular too I've found.

I'd also like to know the selling power of large prints like you mentioned, as I have a pretty good idea for one.

>>10360113
>>10360184
>>Would only posting art suffice, or do people prefer seeing some casual day-to-day stuff as well?

Only post it if it's relevant to your art/brand. I'm so fucking tired of seeing artist spam pics of selfies and food every day. Social media can be addictive, if you become dependent on it for validating your personal life as well as your artwork then it's incredibly dangerous, so keeping some distance is healthy.

>>10360198
people like this always come off as entitled. Let the artist post whatever the fuck they want, they dont owe you shit.

>>phone buzzes.
>>Order from Etsy.
>>...fuck. I have to go to the post office now.
>>I live in SF.

Never through I would not be pleased to see an order come through.

>>10360207
Not entitled, it just means they lose my follow and others when they post too much of it. Curating content is important for branding. You can have a second account if you're desperate for validation on your looks and leisure activities. Don't be sensitive about it.

>>10360113
I've talked about this before in these threads but it really depends on which SM platform you're talking about. This might get kind of long I apologize.

The appeal of Twitter is that it humanizes artists. People build parasocial relationships to artists they find relateable. Most artists I know post a mix of personal stuff and art on Twitter. OOTDs, food photos, fun outings, games they're playing, etc. It's a fun way for fans to connect with artists outside of art. I use their poll feature quite often to get feedback on merch I'm making (color decisions, different outfits if the char has several, etc) The platform itself doesn't lend well to being an art gallery so using it to interact with your followers is better for brand-building.

Instagram serves better than Twitter as a gallery but the fact that there's no built-in way to upload from your computer and their rigid algorithm are still a little wonky. IG is best for posting merch photos vs finished artwork I've found. Take advantage of IG stories to post WIPs of your work while keeping your actual posts for finished pieces/merch photos.

Tumblr is the best non-art-specific site for a gallery. High res uploads direct from your computer, tagging system, etc. It's what most artists use as a standalone archive of their art. Find a template for your tumblr that has wide post widths - even better if you can find specific templates geared toward artists/photogs. I will say YMMV on this but my engagement on Tumblr has dropped significantly so I post way more on Twitter and IG now.

Anon, I don't know WHICH social media platform you're on, but if it's Twitter... POST those doodles. It's much better for your algorithm to be a frequent poster. Twitter is the hardest platform to grow followers but try joining the /cgl/ Artist Alley discord. We have social media pods where we all boost each other's work to stay relevant w/ the algorithm on both Twitter and IG.

>>10360216
Also, to add - if you're wondering about which platform brings in the most money - it's Twitter, followed by IG. People on Twitter are adults and have money to spend. People on Tumblr are usually children with no spending money. IG, I've heard from my friends, can be super huge too - but I'm not currently there in terms of followers.

>>10360214
NAYRT and I get where you're coming from but from an opposing point of view, there are a lot of people who do stay because they enjoy personal anecdotes from the artists. Artists who post OOTD often tie it together with OOTD drawings, artists who often post about food might post illustrated recipes along with their food pics, etc etc. I've actually run a poll on this before (YMMV, obviously) but I didn't get a single person who voted for posting less personal content. At the end of the day, a lot of people know they're following human beings so they don't mind seeing personal posts. But you're totally within your rights to unfollow if that's something you don't wanna see.

>>10360212
I know this feel. Big order came in this week. Guess people are feeling antsy from self-isolation.

>>10360212
Just drop it off at a blue box

>>10360237

I have to pay for the stupid shipping costs cause I don't have my own little machine (side hustle for pins, not my real job)

>>10360212
just schedule a pickup

>>10360217
>I've actually run a poll on this before (YMMV, obviously) but I didn't get a single person who voted for posting less personal content.

well... yea anon... of course your followers are going to respond to a poll saying they like your content. They wouldn't follow you otherwise.

>>10360257
>just schedule a pickup

I CAN DO THAT!? Bless you, anon. You may have just saved my life.

>>10360255
You can print the shipping directly from Etsy.

>>10360263
yep, its free too. just have to have a shipping label on it.
my life got so much better when I learned how easy it was to print labels at home and schedule pickups.

>>10360214
Don't be such a bitter old cunt. Your follow isn't as important as you think, and people enjoy showing parts of their lives to an audience that follows them for it. You sound like the type of ugly fat hag that hates seeing people have fun, get over yourself.

>>10360303
do you normally get this angry when someone says they don't like something you like?

>>10360257
I mean Twitter polls are anonymous - if so many people are that upset by following artists who posted personal content I would have expected to see at least some people voting for art-only. out of a pool of 10k+.

>>10360237
Wait you can do that with prepaids?

>>10360305
Jealousy is a disease bitch get well soon!

>>10360305
>>10360338
Ladies you are both beautiful and will make tons of cash and followers.

>>10360305
Lot's of people do unfortunately. Wouldn't be /cgl/ without it.

Also lmao @ people using "CORONA" as a coupon code.

>>10360113
Any reason you don't want to have two accounts on a given site, one for personal/casual stuff and one for art? It's a bit more hassle, but then people who hate seeing personal life content have a option to avoid it.

>>10360391
>Also lmao @ people using "CORONA" as a coupon code.
please tell me you are making that up and no one is actually doing that

>>10360398
You're still going on about this?

>>10360425
Dude just accept that not everyone loves your slutty selfies and knock it off.

How did you guys come up with your artist handles/usernames? Foreign phrases? Food you like? Just random sounds put together?

>>10360426
You first you entitled uggo

>>10360425
Erm, what? Guess I should've put a DA at the front of my first reply, didn't know I was wading into a heated argument here lmfao.

>>10360217
>Artists who post OOTD often tie it together with OOTD drawings, artists who often post about food might post illustrated recipes along with their food pics, etc etc.
These are such a cute idea! I think I might give something like this a go, because it would feel less weird to post about casual daily happenings if I can still include drawings in them. Maybe it'll also help get over the anxiety of posting more unpolished doodles if they're as an extra on top of something else. Thanks for the great advice!

>>10360398
I'm a very private person and honestly just don't really care to share a lot about my life on social media, so if I were to post anything other than art it's pretty much solely to seem more approachable to people who might want to chat after meeting at a con etc. So if I had a separate account for personal stuff that'd be even more dead than my current one which is almost solely kept alive by posting art haha.

Thanks for the advice everyone! It's also really insightful to hear from those who don't like seeing personal stuff that much, and I'd actually be really interested in hearing more about what type of stuff spesifically most people don't care to see, or what they find the least offensive so to say.

>>10360461
I’m also the type who never post anything personal and isn’t very interested in other artists’ personal lives - but I agree that a degree of personal posts helps humanizing artists. I also agree with >>10360217 in that it helps just posting more personal art like doodles and art anecdotes. What I’m less interested in are a huge amount of random reblogs/text posts and pictures of food and selfies and whatever. In general it’s still the amount that’s the main factor. If I follow someone for their art and they almost never post their art I will unfollow them.

>>10360198
>>10360498
I can understand why constant IRL posts might not be you're thing, but what about fans sending fan-art? Like if you're following someone who draws original content, would them reblogging/sharing fan-art other people drew also make you less interested, or is fan-art alright? Need to know for future reference.

I wonder if these virutal artist alleys will be successful enough to become a recurring thing.

>>10360507
As in fan-art of the artists original works? I think it depends how much of it there is. If it's a relatively rare occurence then absolutely sharing it is fine and it'll make the fans feel like they're genuinely being appreciated. If it gets to the point where people draw a ton of stuff just in hopes of getting it shared by the creator, it's better to stick just to likes and comments. Obviously if someone goes above and beyond and makes something stunning or unique then sharing that is fine, but sharing everything for the sake of being nice can get tiring for your followers because at the end of the day they're there to see your art and not what your fans churn out. And it can also get pretty dicey if you start out sharing everything but then make an exception and skip something clearly low level or problematic, as someone might take it super personally and make a scene.

>>10360507
Generally agree with >>10360603. It’s charming as long as it feels genuine and doesn’t become too much.

>>10360507
>Need to know for future reference.
Someone's confident. Good luck anon!

>>10353439

have fun being hooked up to a ventilator for a week lmfao. that bill is gonna eat into your profits for sure!

>>10361112
>what is health insurance anon

>>10361458
Something you still have to pay the deductible of.

>>10361458
>thinking health insurance means you pay no hospital bill
oh anon...

Anyone know where you could get a cardigan like the ones CherryCheezy used to make printed/supplied?

>>10361467
Nwyrt
Anon, do you...not know how insurance plans work? You either don’t understand insurance or you’re not old enough to be on this site.

>>10361458
>Implying there are enough ventilators even for people with health insurance
Hope you have enough breath left to fight for those machines.

>>10361547
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/copay.asp

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/taken-ride-ambulances-stick-patients-surprise-bills-n824141

>>10361568
I’m glad you can google. My insurance plan is not at all like the ones you’ve linked.
My deductible isn’t that high, my copay isn’t that high, and...yea.

>>10361571
>My insurance plan
cool
some people's are

>>10361580
Your argument is your niche arbitrary understanding of *some* insurance plans. Not everyone’s.
Maybe come down from your high horse.

>>10361591
>MY insurance is different from everyone else's
NAYRT but just because your insurance is better than others doesn't mean it's the norm. There are almost always deductibles. Not like health insurance is going to help when the health system is quickly getting overloaded.

>>10361591
NAYRT, but you're also making a lot of assumptions based on your insurance plan. A lot of the full-time AA artists probably do not have great coverage from how common gofundme, kofi, and emergency commissions can be in the community.

>>10361602
>not the norm
I didn’t say it was like everyone’s, I’m saying you can’t assume someone’s insurance situation. It’s all different.

>>10361618
I’m not assuming, I may have explained myself poorly but my point is that it’s different for everyone.

Sage for off topic

>>10361618
pretty sure it's the law to be under some kind of insurance, otherwise you get a penalty

anyways isn't it super fucking petty to even argue about this

Does anyone know where to find where to buy these rounded star pin backs wholesale?
I've seen a couple people reselling them on etsy but I'm sure the prices are jacked up.

I attempted looking around on alibaba but could only find harsh edged star shapes.

>>10362258
Lol it's not the law to be under insurance. My friend forgot to apply for government health insurance in time and was uninsured for a year. The "penalty" if anything is that you have to pay your bills with no assistance.

>>10362258
>>10362534
The US tax law that assesses a penalty for not having health insurance is still on the books but as of your 2019 taxes the penalty has been reduced to $0. Maybe watch the news and try to learn some adult things sometime.

>>10362536
Mhmm and I'm guessing that you just googled that to make sure you didn't say the wrong thing and get called out, but sure you're just smart and on top of everything happening in the government and in the news. People who don't know that one single thing couldn't possibly watch the news or know anything about US government.

>>10362552
Are we really at the point where we're trying to throw shade at someone for making sure they're not spouting utter shit before speaking?

>>10362534
>The Affordable Care Act included an individual mandate, requiring most people to have health insurance, enforced by a tax penalty (also called a fee, fine, or individual responsibility payment). While the requirement to have health insurance remains, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act eliminated the penalty starting in 2019.

>If you could afford health insurance in 2018 but did not purchase coverage, you will likely have to pay a penalty amounting to either 2.5 percent of your yearly household income or $695 per person ($347.50 per child under 18), whichever is greater.

https://www.medmutual.com/For-Individuals-and-Families/Health-Insurance-Education/Health-Insurance-Basics/Penalty-Estimator.aspx
Retard.

>>10362552
My job is doing taxes and being informed on this kind of thing actually. Sorry you're so insecure about your ignorance. It's ok to admit you don't know something instead of blindly speculating.

>tfw second batch of charms ever came in today and I'm so proud of them but all of my march/april/may cons have been cancelled so nowhere to sell them

this shit better clear up by July

>>10362260
>>10362260
The chubby stars and a few other specialty shapes were designed and mass produced by a few artists together. I forget who. But the ones you see on etsy are the wholesalers

wow I sure love getting price gouging mask ads from shitty manu's in my email every other day

>>10362260
Seconding what other anon said about the artists being the designers and wholesalers. Magic_circle is one of them.

Is drawing FOTM stuff risky? I don't usually since I don't keep up with it on the reg but I watched BOFURI with some friends and really liked it so I wanted to draw stuff for it. But I haven't seen anyone talking about it so I don't even know if it's very popular. It is getting a second season, but maybe it'll just be like Log Horizon and not have much hype.

>>10364112
>really liked it so I wanted to draw stuff for it
This is all that should really matter. Just make it in smaller quantities if you’re unsure about selling potential.

>>10354010
I think it's also fine to cultivate your own style influenced by styles you enjoy or that are popular as long as you have your own twist on it. I learned to draw mimicking CLAMP, Sailor Moon, and art from shows like Slayers and Trigun. Now it's more my own style, but I always have little quirks I have retained because those are looks I find aesthetically pleasing. I love the oldschool anime look. If you like a style and can make it work for your own, more power to you! As a customer I love that kinda shit.

>>10356064
2 weeks later, you're not wrong *sob*

>>10364178
>Yelled about European countries restricting gatherings to less than 1000, 500, 100 people
>Now these same countries have restricted gatherings to 10, 5, 2 people
I didn't want any of this, I was so excited to do AA again for the first time in almost a decade. I had just gotten into two cons and started preparing merch and prints and now 2020 is cancelled.

>>10364315
ARYT and same, senpai. I lost my con the same week, and not so sure about anything else. :( Here's hoping we can find a way to make it work soon.

>>10357361
i have a cricut and would personally recommend anyone dithering between the two to get a silhouette, cricut is SO aimed towards craft mommies who use prepared graphics and shit.

blows my mind

>>10365075
Just showing my own age here, but I guess that's what happens when you no longer have to handwrite everything. I had a permanent bump on my finger from like grade five to university.

>>10365107
I still have my pen bump and I haven't been in school (or drawing all day) in five years.

>Want to support this one store because of the rona virus and because i like their designs.
>All their Medium/Large shirts are sold out

OKAY

>>10365200
its possible they are having a hard time re-stocking due to the virus. Factories in china were shut down for over a month (most open now I believe), and factories elsewhere are either shutdown or focused on "essential" good.

>>10365107
>>10365124

you're thinking of callus

Has anyone made those bag candy charms through Juno before? I want to make some but I would like to know how well a 4cm (their maximum size) acrylic charm sits in the bag, since I'm scared of the charm toppling over inside.

>>10366536
Never seen complaints about the charm shifting too much, apparently any glitter inside will static cling itself onto the charm tho

>>10360303
lol

Any of you have experience selling cosplay prints? I find it odd buying prints of random cosplayers... but a lot of people seem to do it.
Is it a worthwhile venture? Do cosplay prints sell at cons, or just online mostly?

>>10360303
>thinking people follow art pages for the artist
there's a reason why shit like pinterest is so popular. people just like pretty things and don't much care what the source is.

>>10366975
>people just like pretty things and don't much care what the source is.

Pretty much. Same reason why a lot of them don't care about art theft.

>>10366975
NAYRT, It really depends on the following that you cultivate. You might notice that a lot of artists with a lot of followers have more people who care about their online persona/personal life (pets, OOTD, food, family, etc).

If you're just churning out FOTM fanart without mentioning your personal life, you're probably gonna get a lot of "I want to see art only" types of followers. It's different for everyone and something that works for someone might not work them same way for you.

>>10366982
the reason artists with larger following have more people that care is because they have more people in general if 10% of followers care about the artist, of course it's more noticeable on a page with 5000 subs rather than 300.

>>10366986
This is a pretty chicken/egg situation though. A lot of artists with larger following have a large following because they have an engaging personality that leads people to care about what they say. See fandom 'big names' where their art might not be top tier, but they're engaging and them constantly spitting out content (whether it's artistic content or shitposts) is what cultivates their following.

>>10366986
Basically what this anon said. >>10367005

Artists with larger followings tend to be much more engaging than artists who don't have a ton.

To give some examples, Jen Bartel's brand is basically built on her love of girl gangs and make up. Alexisparade's brand is based on exaggerated caricatures of herself and shiposts about Tokyo Mew Mew. Both Babs Tarr and kaiami's OOTDs get a ton of interactions and their personal fashion sense translates into their artwork. Komunhorangi has talked candidly about her mental health and how that affects her work.

All of these people are talented artists, they've just found a way to connect in a more personal way that resonates with more people. If you're maintaining an online presence, you're selling people on an online persona to some extent. It's why a lot of relatable comics (re: mental health, cooking, cultural backgrounds, etc) get a lot of attention.

Even if you're just making stupid fandom shitposts, if you can create a positive connection between your content and how someone feels looking at your feed, you're doing a great job at marketing yourself.

Obviously, it's a fine balance since you don't want to scare away people who are majorly there for your art - but if you have an engaging personality online, it's much easier to grow and maintain your following.

So I decided that since I'm still getting paid to sit at home I would help other artists by making purchases. This week I made a small order (not much variety in the shop and I really only want things I actually want). It's been a week and my order hasn't shipped...should I just cancel it? They haven't made a post about shipping delays, or tried to reach out with a "sorry, but.." and are still posting art online.

>>10367141
Maybe reach out to them first and ask? I know that I'm only shipping out things once a week now so if someone purchased right after my shipping day, they would have to wait a week.

>>10367161
I'll try asking. I've been shipping out next day, but I know a lot of people don't know about scheduling USPS pickups.

>>10367167
I don't do USPS pickup anymore because the first time I did the fuckers lost 40 of my packages. Still missing to this day.

>>10367141
>I want to help artists in this struggling time because I have money uwu, but they’re taking too long to ship my order probably because they’re struggling! >:(
>I’m also not going to contact them first I think I should just cancel my order and get my money back so I can help other artists that are struggling with potential stay at home orders! >:(

God your virtue signaling is so disingenuous it’s sickening

>>10367184
NAYRT but holy shit you need to chill. No one knows how long this situation will last or how reliable shipping is nowadays, there's nothing wrong with wanting to help out artists but also be wary of being taken advantage of.

>>10367184
you okay bud?

>>10367167
I've been limiting my mail drop-offs to once a week or once every other week due to being in a heavily quarantined state. Make sure you look at their estimated delivery time (if it's etsy), it may be a long processing time. I have mine set to 1-2 weeks to make sure people know before ordering. Good luck with your order!

>>10367141
I'm going through the same thing, I ordered something near the beginning of the lock downs when cons were getting canceled and never got confirmation that it shipped. Artist isn't replying to emails but is still posting on social media (a lot of animal crossing). I'm trying to give it as much time as possible in case they're in crisis and I don't want to be an asshole, but... I don't know, I think if people aren't going to be able to fulfill these things then they shouldn't be taking orders right now even if they're strapped for cash, unless they're doing a lot of communication to let people know when things ARE shipping.

>>10367296
That's exactly where I'm coming from. If you can't ship now, I'll come back later when you can, but to leave people in the dark and still be on social media leaves a bad mark on your brand. People will understand if you can't schedule a pick-up.

>>10367245
We live in the same state, about an hour apart and there are no shipping delays with our respective cities. Since it was Etsy it was supposed to come today. I left a message so we'll see.

>>10367315
Try messaging them on social media! Sometimes people can miss Etsy notifications. I've had an issue before where Etsy specifically lost every single message that a buyer sent me and they were furious with me until I sent them screencaps showing that I literally had nothing from them. Obviously, it's not like a widespread issue but you never know.

>>10352887
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-01/coronavirus-in-young-people-ny-patients-skew-younger-some-die

lol think again. Its doing exactly what spanish flu did, fuck the old then come fuck us harder.

>>10353041
>Keep items behind a see through plastic screen like at many check outs now, keeps people hands and coughs off your display and you
>Mask, gloves, glasses. Fake fashion ones with decent coverage will work. Change often and properly, sanitize yourself between changes
>Minimize cash transactions. Maybe offer small discount like 5% to people who use venmo/cashapp/square etc to encourge cashless transactions
>Cans of lysol spray, the kind you just spray aand leave. Less you touch while cleaning the better
>Don't touch your eyes or mouth, wash up and eat in an area wayyyyy away from other people
>No Returns or exchanges

>>10353122
One woman tried flying back to China to get a kit cause her hosplital told her to fuck off unless she needs a bed (California). She knew she had it but just wanted to make sure you know. Dragged her husband and kid around the world with her. Got like 58 people sick from the airport and plane ride, including her family. Shes in jail now because that a crime. Basically knowingly giving someone AIDS, for what.

Selfish cunt.

>>10353224
You are supposed to change those everytime you change a task. Do these assholes think wearing the same pair of gloves ALL FUCKING DAY is what you're supposed to do. Might as well rub all over some hand rails and fuck your own ass with the same gloves while you are at it.

>>10353353
You have to be a troll. No one is this fucking stupid and not a boomer at the same time.

>>10353376
>>10353385

Gloves
>sterile
>disposable
>smooth and easy to asses for damage or possible breaches
>layer of plastic between you and whatever the fuck you touch
>when worn and disposed of correctly greatly mitigates the spread of germs to yourself and others (why are we even arguing about this)

Hands
>dirty little paper cut canyons full of germs that we can't keep from jamming in our mouths

What does wearing gloves properly mean
>keep in original box away from contaminants (don't just shove a handful in your bag)
>wash hands between changes
>change between tasks and about every 30 minutes while on one task
>Don't touch other shit that doesn't involve the current task (phone, food, face, new task)
>dispose of them properly

How to take off gloves without fucking it all up
https://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/pdf/poster-how-to-remove-gloves.pdf

>>10353404
Oh, I get it. So you're just a scared idiot. Everything is fine until something comes along to shatter your boring life. You are the backfire effect in motion. So desperate to believe its really not that bad that you will put yourself, and others, on the line just to make yourself feel better about it.

You are downplaying the risk to yourself and others because, economically, you have no way out of potential exposure. You can do all the safeguards and still get it. Isn't that scary. Why bother with it? Is it even really that bad? So now you have to keep lying and lying to make yourself feel less shitty about your own shitty situation.

At this point we should just stop arguing with you, not because you are not wrong. Because you are. Very wrong, gravely wrong. But because there is no use. You are a walking embodiment of cognitive biases, and nothing we say, or any evidence we present you, will be enough.

Have fun murdering a few dozen people because you can't be bothered to wash your fucking hands. I hope heard immunity kicks in soon for your sake.

>>10353414
Why are we comparing apples or oranges here.

It's Flu like but we should be looking more at the Spanish Flu, like many epidemiologists have been saying, to really get an idea of what to expect.

>>10353773
Think more like a gig economy than a 9-5

>>10356367
lol, just over 1,700 in SC as of today. RIP.

>>10358875
God this shit brings me back to the Anne Rice days of fanfiction.

>>10367468
Are you replying to the correct post because all I'm seeing is someone saying don't shit on people for worrying about their income right now lol also that post was from a month ago and not everyone believed it would get this bad

The worst thing about this whole thing are the prepper-mentality autists like you who are so excited they were right for once

>>10367504
I was mostly referencing the bitch from earlier basically saying fuck everyone its not that bad, it just the flu, even if I did get it it would be fine. Didn't know if it as you, but I just tagged of the end of that post because it was one of the last relevant things I saw of that conversation. I don't care that people have to work, but don't be a fucking retard and get everyone else fucked because they're to stupid to comprehend the situation.

>>10367504
People are right in worrying about their income but the ones still downplaying it as a regular flu even in March are retards. Even a month ago it was obvious that it would be bad, if the US had an administration that paid attention to the rest of the world and had issued some sort of sick income and job security earlier things wouldn't have gotten this fucking bad.

>>10367504
If it was just the regular flu, cities wouldn't be shut down for it.

A lot of people are asymptomatic, which causes it to spread very fast. It puts people on ventilators.

The US was all about muh economy from the start. They don't care about your sick leave and never will. If they could have gotten away with passing the CARES act without the 1.2K check to individuals, they would have.

>>10367685
Having a bit of schadenfreude right now. I'm very lucky. My works safety net is amazing. 80 hour of pto from them, another 80 from the state. I qualify for medical pto because I'm immunocompromised. When this shit started in my state (coastal with ports and lots of tourism and country clubs) we only had 5 cases in my county, with two in the immediate area.

Managers were scoffing at it and told us all to just wear gloves and keep coming. Then the state said, delivery/pickup only. They tried to keep going but its a country club, we set up a little commissary but no one really wanted anything. They just wanted to keep bodies in the building so people wouldn't draw on pto (even though half was funded by the state).

I got sick with a bad sinus infection right before it went down, I came back to work the day before the delivery/pickup order was in place with all appropriate paperwork. They tried to make me take unpaid leave because they said I had the coof. Luckily HR shut that silly shit down and not 10 mins after that meeting came up and gave me all 160 hours pto and said have a nice vacation. She's been an angel. Getting everyone she can to work from home. Sending vulnerable people off with pto. Managers couldn't give a fuck though.

>>10367718
>I’m very lucky to work for someone
>working for someone
When will these artist alley roleplayers please go
This is for people who are actually serious and do this for a full time job, no wonder why we sometime have these normie replies that shit up the thread

>>10367792
>This is for people who are actually serious and do this for a full time job
Well right now that would be absolutely no one you dumb fucker. Good luck getting benefits somewhere.

>>10367718
>>10367796
W-2 Chad owns lowly 1040 virgins.
You up on your social's lording your PTO status over the newly unemployed too?

>>10367958
What are you talking about? I’m doing fine, my job lets me work from home. I’m not here gloating about how I usually live off AA or get benefits. But these threads were never exclusively meant for people living off AAs you dumb cunt.

>>10368002
You're not the same person who "sold some stuff at a friend's AA table and made enough for dinner," are you?

>>10368043
>You're either doing AA full time or you're someone who did it once and mooched off a friend's table, nothing in between
No. Please chill down with your autism.

>second con scheduled for July
>haven’t had ANY time to prep because I’m an essential worker and my day job has been eating me alive

Fuck, I really planned on going hard and ordering a ton of new merch (Im assuming Chinese factories are still closed/back ordered?) making better prints and shit.
I’m also taking a risk still because I live with my parents who are both 60.
I’m really thinking of canceling even though it’s a few months off...

>>10368768
All of my manufacturers based in China are fully functioning now and taking new orders. If you're in the US, there's a very good chance July conventions won't even happen with how we're doing. If I were still living at home w/ my 65+ yro parents, I would avoid cons until the situation was under control. A lot of canceled cons are doing online promos for their artists, set up an online shop in case they do that instead. Stay safe anon!

>>10368790
Yeah, our city is handling it pretty well compared to other states, but even the slightest chance of bringing it home to my parents is enough to get me to cancel.
Sucks but at least I’ll have some more time to work on my merch for next year.

>>10367796
>what is online stores, the thing that the majority of successful artists have

Anyone ever use Vograce or any other Chinese Manu for stickers? How is the quality/MOQ? I was thinking of just throwing in some stickers as part of my order, but if they're a waste of money I'll probably just wait and go with a US manu instead.

>>10370165
In my experience, it wasn't worth it. Quality wasn't higher than the US manus I've tried, communication was iffy, and shipping was too expensive to make the cheaper cost of the stickers worth it. US manus were cheaper, communication was easier so I was able to ask for special design elements, and shipping was inexpensive.

>>10370165
vograce stickers are good and def worth doing if you're just throwing them in with your order. ive been doing stickers with them for over a yr now.

>AX saying "we're all in this together uwu, no we won't say anything about refunds because muh force majeure"
>AX sending out reminder emails about artist alley form
>implying AX will even happen at this point
feelsbadman

>>10370570
I’m convinced anyone who goes to AX just has Stockholm Syndrome.

I saw a tweet of Vograce's iridescent charms peeling off and I panicked because I sent to Juno the same type of charms. I talked to a friend who gifted one of them and she confirmed it peeled so she had to remove it all. Would it stop if I put resin on the back? Or I should discard them all?

>>10370733
Junos have not peeled at all for me and Ive been doing them with her for like 2 or 3 years

>>10370733
i've used both juno and vograce for iridescent, the juno ones are tons better so you should be fine with those! my vograce ones started peeling before even taking them out of the package, while my juno ones never have.

>>10370733
Sorry, your wording is a little confusing. Just asking for clarification, you bought iridescent charms from Juno and you're worried that they'll peel because you saw a tweet about Vograce's iridescent charms peeling. Plus you talked with a friend and your friend confirmed that the charms they got from Vograces peeled? Or do you mean that your friend confirmed that Juno's charms also peel?

>>10370730
If I made the same amount at every con I went to, AX would not be something I would even try applying for.
Does anyone else actually like tabling there if you're not taking pure profit into consideration for how "good" it is?

Has anyone gotten their Anime Boston table refund yet?

Does anyone use flat mailers for their 11x17s or is that just a disaster waiting to happen? Or is the general consensus that tubes are the best way to ship?

I'm looking at reviews on someone else's store and all the pictures of their prints look pretty much perfectly flat. The posters I've received before (from other people) have basically never fully recovered from the rolling in the tube....is there some secret way of flattening posters that I'm not aware of?

>>10371341
The problem is that it varies by postman and by their mailbox situation. You can put as many "do not bend" stamps on there and as many cardboard inserts as you can fit and it takes a hurrying mail guy a second to ignore all of that to fold it into a small box. You can't fuck up a tube that easily.

>>10370838
>>10370844
Sorry, false alarm. After confirming with my friend, it turns out it was the clear protective film on the back(Which I thought I already removed before sending) Good to confirm Juno is indeed reliable with that.

>>10370877
No, the ones I ordered were from Juno, but since the tweet of the Vograce featured the same type of charm(clear with iridescent backing) I thought it would happen to the ones I had too.

>>10371341
How big are the tubes you're getting from other artists? I've generally found bigger tubes help with the unrolling and artists honestly shouldn't be using anything smaller that a 3" diameter to send out 11x17 prints.

>>10371341
>Does anyone use flat mailers for their 11x17s or is that just a disaster waiting to happen?

someone sent me a 11x17 print today mailed flat and it got bent at some point :/
mailing flat should be fine as long as you use very rigid cardboard or plastic backing, not just standard cardboard.

Is AX not doing table names this year or am I a dipshit? I don't see it on the form.

Maybe this is a dumb question but it didn't answer it in the FAQ. Companies won't sue you for copyright when making fanart?

People do it at cons AFAIK but I here a lot about people getting trouble on etsy getting cease and desists for using copyrighted fabrics, etc.

>>10375563
Only if you continue selling work you have already been told to stop selling.

>>10375563
You could literally read through this thread for answers to this. It's discussed frequently.