/cgl/ - Cosplay & EGL

I'm just super salty about how Katsucon did it. Like asking if you want two tables in the acceptance email is just a super shitty way to doing it. I feel like the alley is going to be overrun with a bunch of two table artists or of people getting two tables and giving them out to friends.

Is 25 too old to get started in AA, especially if you're still working on improving your art and abilities?

After nearly a decade of pretty crippling depression, during which I did basically nothing, I have rediscovered my love for art, crafting, and cons.
My skills have suffered, though, and I already feel old to be so inexperienced.

Is Anime Mid Atlanta worth it for being out of state and needing a hotel? I'm not looking to make tons of money, but would getting at least 1k be possible for an unknown print artists? I'm not too terribly skill wise, but I have very low active social media because of a time consuming day job and family.

>>9701337
Same... And some of the people who got in too? I know there's still a second wave, but I know a lot more skilled artists who didn't hear anything compared to some of the people I see gloating. >>9701342
Same here too, except I'm 30...had the whole depression thing eat up my 20s.
I will say I've gotten rejected from every single con I've applied to this past year+ while I've seen worse artists get in. I don't know if it's because they don't want "old people" in the AA.

>>9701342
It's not too old to be starting now. I was 24 when I had my first con and I was dealing with post-college depression before hand. Drawing again helped lift me up and now I frequent a couple of cons. I'm 26 now, and I have a lot of AA friends that are my age or around the same age group.

>>9701354
No one on the AA jury gives a shit about your age, or even pays attention to it when flipping through pages and pages and pages of portfolios.

Art likely isn't being judged strictly on quality - they're also going to be looking at the variety of fandoms and kinds of merchandise an artist does. No one wants an entire alley of sakimichan print walls for flavor of the month shows, boring for the attendees and guarantees bad sales for the artists due to high competition for the same type of product.

But I'll hold the rest of my salt, it's not really aimed at you specifically just that everyone does this. I know bitching about jury results is a part of the game for AA, but as someone who works both sides of the table as an artist and a staffer I really hate it.

>>9701413
>No one wants an entire alley of sakimichan print walls for flavor of the month shows, boring for the attendees and guarantees bad sales for the artists

Then why do the sakimichan type artists make thousands per month on their patreon, and always have a full commission list on da?

>>9701342
I'm 24 and even though I've been drawing regularly, I'm still probably way behind on what I could be. I decided I wouldn't be afraid, though.

I haven't done a single AA yet but I'm determined. I opened an online shop recently and it's doing well, and my patreon isn't too shabby either. Stop letting fear hold you back and just go for it!

>>9701457
Just because their bad sales are better than your good sales doesn't mean it would what they consider a high profit con.

Commissions and Patreon =/= vending at a physical event. People at the convention have a limited budget. If there are ten highly rendered painting style portraits of the Yuri on Ice cast people who want to buy painterly YOI art are only going to buy one or two of them, not all ten from every artist. Meanwhile, a customer looking for retro anime keychains finds nothing that they like, and buys nothing or spends their money in the dealers hall instead. Everyone suffers. The highly rendered print artists get fewer sales, the keychain artist didn't get to vend at all, and the keychain fan didn't find what they were looking for. The YOI fan would have been just as happy if there had only been one or two booths with their preferred art style, since that's all they bought anyways.

>>9701497
I'm not trying to be confrontational, but this generally confuses me. Because what about the idea that conventions try to get vendors/artists at their con who are popular and have a large social media following since they see it as free advertising?
Don't they purposely try to get high profile artists in since they think it will draw the lot of artists fans to the con? Or is this starting to change now.

How do you guys keep up with the FOTM? I feel like I don't know shit since I'm just over here watching SM reruns.

>>9701366
Thanks for the encouragement. Drawing is helping me, and for now I'm trying to focus on enjoying the process rather than fussing about the finished product. I'll keep working and give AA a go.
>>9701413
Thanks for your reply, anon. I didn't mean too old for juries so much as too old in general. A lot of the artists I follow seem to be early-mid twenties and have been at this for a while, though I know there are older artists out there.

>>9701474
I'm glad to hear this! I'll definitely keep doing my best, and maybe I'll open up an etsy or something before I dive into AA.

>>9701532
Now I feel bad about being an asshole.
Honestly, don't compare yourself in terms of age to the other artists. It doesn't matter. If you're enjoying it and finding a way to turn a profit, that's all that matters. It's a fun community to be in, and if you focus on the parts of the hobby you have in common and having a positive and fun experience any self consciousness about the age difference will melt away.

>>9701519
I've practically given up on enjoying FOTM. Once in a blue moon (like, every 3 years) I'll end up super enjoying something that's really popular, but most of the stuff I like just ends up being not very popular at all. And while I probably could make a lot of money by pandering and drawing stuff I don't like/outright hate, I'm not at that soul-crushing sellout point yet.

>>9701519
I try making it a habit to watch the first episode of new animes that come out on crunchyroll, and if i like it, just add it to my watch-list to keep up with.
Paired up with the fact that I keep a regularly updated art blog and doodle from the shows I watch makes it easy to keep up with FOTM especially if one of the shows I decided to keep watching ends up popular.

Doesn't hurt to actually enjoy watching anime too.

>>9701342
Anon, I started just before I turned 24, when I was coming out of years of depression. It was the best thing I ever did. I'm enjoying it so damned much, even if it doesn't earn nearly as much as the AAA game development job that landed me my depression in the first place.
If you condemn yourself to feeling too old to start something new, you'll let your depression rule your future as well as your past. Don't let it.

>>9701337
you cant give them out to friends though, sharing means auto ban

>>9701697
NAYRT and while what you say is true, it's interesting that the line that specifically prohibits sharing seems to have been removed from the 2018 rules (why, I cannot say... since I doubt that the rule has actually changed?)

Pic for comparison; left is 2017 AA rules from Artist Alley Info Packet, right is what's currently posted on Katsu's site. Most of it is word-for-word the same.

>>9701337
I feel that salt as well. Even IF every artist is acting in good faith, I still don't think it's fair to offer pick of number of tables at this point to artists after they've been accepted. (I realize I'm being a bit irrational when I say "it's not fair"- there technically isn't anything unfair about it? I'm just grumpy, and anxious because I'm waiting to hear back myself).

>>9701746
AFAIK one of my friends who got in emailed and asked about this and they said no sharing is allowed.

Also, I figure that since Katsu is a jury, they are handling this as they always have by checking peoples’ portfolios to see if their stock warrants 2 tables. They only have a limited amount of 2 table slots and probably aren’t gonna give it to everyone who asks. I’m making a lot of assumptions here but it’s most likely they went down their juried list in order (perhaps even by which accepted artists may need 2 tables based on their portfolios) for their first wave.

But then again, I might be pulling shit out of my ass since I got accepted and I’m definitely onenof those artists who has trouble fitting everything into one table. I know I included photos of my two table set ups at other cons in my portfolio.

Carry over from the last thread-

Is the Silhouette Cameo 3 or Cricut Explore Air better for sticker sheets? Just a general opinion, as I know the both will technically work fine.

Getting one during Black Friday sales and they're the same price right now. A couple comments last thread seemed to lean towards the Cameo, but I wanted to see if anyone had any additional opinions.

>>9701781
Ah okay I see- I'm making assumptions too; I was under the impression that they were granting second tables to anyone who asked (and paid).

>>9701342
I did my first con at 27, although I'd been running an Etsy for a couple years before that. Everyone moves at their own pace!

Something I've noticed is that some popular artists who clearly have been doing this for a while only seem to display a couple of prints? My displays always feel so crowded and I'm just starting out. How many different prints at a time do you guys bring with you to cons?

>>9701746
I emailed back when I applied about table sharing and they said it's prohibited even if you applied together for the jury process. They definitely won't allow it after they've already sent acceptance emails out.

>>9701853
I feel like large print displays are meant to grab attention to your table and attract customers, but if you're already well known and expect a lot of table-traffic, they dont have to worry about it as much?

>>9701354
>I will say I've gotten rejected from every single con I've applied to this past year+ while I've seen worse artists get in. I don't know if it's because they don't want "old people" in the AA.
You sound insufferable. News flash: It's probably a combination of you somehow sucking even more than you thought you did and your portfolio not being well-rounded enough to get into an AA.

>>9701519
Don't fall for the FOTM meme. Remember, when we're all drawing the same damn thing, no one wins. If what you like happens to be a FOTM, fantastic! But don't draw what you think will sell. It usually doesn't sell half as well as you'd think (unless you were one of the first artists to have merch out) and what you don't think is going to sell sells out instead. I try to keep my merchandise in line with recent series, so I just draw fanart from whatever anime I've been watching lately (usually what is airing).

>>9701853
Display a few awesome prints and have a binder with the rest. You want your table to be inviting, not overwhelming.

>>9701342
>>9701354
I started doing cons this year and I'm 30. Well I've been working on my art for a while so my art actually is competitive at the conventions I've been at.

At comic conventions you see tons of 30-50 year old white dudes sitting behind artists tables.

Age doesn't really matter.

from last thread:

i was thinking about having a series of prints with a quote from other things that would be relevant to the character. like a print version of putting song lyrics underneath a picture on tumblr. do you think that would work, or could it alienate people who don't get the 'inside joke'?

>>9701781
I was also accepted first wave but all my example displays were half table setups. DESU the fact that we haven't heard back from katsu leads me to believe they didn't realize how much of a problem offering first wave artists two tables would be if we all accepted the opportunity. They probably weren't expecting a mass amount of people to request it and there can only be so many premium tables, you feel me?

>>9702089
I have a few song lyric prints. One of the songs is fairly well-known, so people do get excited when they recognize it and connect it to the character, but if the words make sense and sound nice on their own, and if the print is otherwise appealing, people will buy it regardless. If they don't know the song, I tell them the title and artist so they can look it up later.

>>9702146
>there can only be so many premium tables, you feel me?
This is exactly what I was saying though. It doesn’t make sense for people to get pissy about Katsu asking the 1 or 2 table question after acceptances because there’s ALWAYS been a limited amount of 2 table slots. Not everyone who asked for a 2 table slot in the first wave will get it. Essentially, it’ll just be like their old process where they look over portfolios to determine who needs a 2 table spot which is why they needed time to get the second wave out since they need to recheck first wave’s portfolios again to assign the limited amount of 2 table slots.

>>9702146
That's working under the assumption that they are limiting the number of double tables. I know thats how the selections for alleys usually works but the head of the alley this year has never run one before, which is why it took so long for them to get back to people.
I know I'm also working under assumptions about the head but I'm really just not hopeful about their ability to run a alley so large with so little experience.
Also with the table sharing thing, it's not allowed if you get caught. I know people that have gotten away with it before and who will probably get away with it again.

>>9701509
You're not confrontational, it's fine! Myself and another staffer for my con put our heads together and wrote the jury process we're still using, so it's something I've thought long and hard about and am happy to talk about, too.

The short answer is: No, because that's not what the AA is for.

The long answer is, of course, more complicated than that. This is probably different with for-profit cons, but mine is a registered 501(c) nonprofit who takes our mission statement about creating community, etc, very literally and to heart. The purpose of the Artist Alley is to create a vending space where artists can sell their art and attendees can purchase art. In order to create a thriving community that enjoys the experience, and has LONGEVITY, that requires variety. Attendees will be sad about "boring" AAs if everything is very same-y.

We do invite artists with major followings who are in the AA to boost attendance, but they are invited as Guests, and treated like guests both in their contract and in how they're handled. They don't pay to attend the con, but are required to perform some kind of programming - typically a certain # of hours of panels or workshops. They're also in a separate area of the AA (think like, a pro row, but its not labeled) so that their foot traffic doesn't block off other artists. And that's because this is the purpose of Guests - to increase attendance and provide a service/programming/whatever that attendees want to see and will travel for. We invite high profile cosplayers as Guests for the same reason, and they are always extremely popular with HIGHLY attended panels. And all of this isn't to be confused with Guests of Honor, who get bigger pictures in the booklet and are typically industry professionals such as voice actors.

We do it this way because the convention isn't a money making machine, and our artists aren't a source of profit for us. It's against the spirit of the thing and causes bad blood to treat them as one.

>>9702341
It's literally in their rules, anon. I know we're all salty but premium spaces/double table packages have always been limited at Katsu.

Is deviantart work posting pictures to? I've been using instagram for almost a year now, but got a nice camera recently so I hate how instagram compresses images and want somewhere else to upload to.
Is deviantart the best place to get exposure that actually has decent quality uploads?

>>9702897
If you're from 2007, yes.

In all seriousness, the quality of art on dA has diminished so much over the years, you're better off on instagram or tumblr if you're looking for exposure.

>>9702906
does tumblr have decent image quality, or is it super compressed like instagram?

>>9702915
Honestly people hate tumblr and I've already started seeing more and more people moving away from it

>>9702915
its better than instagram and twitter desu since neither of those allow transparent pngs (unless you do some weird single pixel shit on twitter)
but the site favors vertical images over horizontal.

>>9702961
This is true (desu I've never even used it because I hate it lol), but I still think it's better than dA.

>>9702961
when do you think tumblr will die? i'm assuming it will at some point, like it helped kill livejournal.

It bothers me so much that fucking twitter and instagram has started to become top dogs for art somehow. I hate using both, and they are both shitty for art. Tumblr wasn't perfect but it's a lot better than those two. Instagram does like what anon says and compresses, and it has still the reputation of "only for food and selfies" and twitter's 140 character limit is balls if you want to say anything about your art at all.

I guess I have to wait for dA 2.0 type website to show up.

>>9703392
Twitter limit is 280 now or something.

>>9703400
that's just for some people, idk how they choose it

>>9702961
I think what also contributes to people moving away from tumblr is because of what it's become and it's kind of made a bad name for itself.

Instagram is good for showing off your artwork but it's not as good as old tumblr when it comes to trying to get noticed

>>9703392
so can we all just go back to DA? There isn't anything wrong with it and it is more active than some people here imply.
I just now made a new account to post my etsy stuff there, I just don't really know how to get noticed there.

>>9703609
A couple months ago I remade my dA account and started posting on it. It's awful. There's no easy way to interact on it and while it works on a gallery-level, that's about all it's really good for. The way new art shows up in your inbox basically gives you no incentive to click it too, not easy to browse people you watch. Terrible statistics. Generally it looks like it's only good to reach out to furry groups if you do furry art or something.

>>9703610
guess i'll just use it as a secondary account for if people want to see a higher resolution image.
>Generally it looks like it's only good to reach out to furry groups if you do furry art or something.
eh, thats what furaffinity is for.

>>9703610
>No easy way to interact on it

I thought that dA was one of the easiest to interact on it. I always thought it was twitter and tumblr was really crappy for that. There is no "good" way of replying back without it being in a stream of comments, or have the whole post reposted on your blog again.

Personally even though it's not as used anymore, I like dA's structure the best. I hate the stupid "feed" thing that they put on people's pages though.That was a mistake.

>>9703392
Is there anything stopping you from posting on multiple social media platforms?

A lot of artists use different platforms for different reasons, and it's not unheard of to use several. The IG crowd is very receptive to short process videos (this can be you sketching, painting, whatever) and merch like pins and patches. It's also a good way to keep track of your convention appearances and post photos of your tables. Twitter is generally more reserved toward interacting with other artists as well as your customers. This means things like posting WIPs and asking for feedback, etc. Online store promo posts tend to work well here if you have a network of people willing to RT for you. Tumblr works most like a traditional gallery out of all three so I generally only post finished pieces here although occasionally I'll post WIPs if I can't decide which direction I want to take a certain piece.

It's advantageous to you to use all three platforms and cater what you post to the audience on each site. As a breakdown:

- Instagram: a lot of normies, love "artsy" things like process videos set to house music, appreciates "environmental" photos (a.k.a. - photos of your workspace, photos of your sketchbook at a cafe)

- Twitter: casual environment to interact with peers and fans, fastest way to cultivate a following since people find artists on Twitter to be more approachable

- Tumblr: works as a de facto gallery/informal portfolio with occasional fan interaction, works best if you separate your art tumblr from your personal tumblr

>>9703415
nah it's everyone now.

the bad part about image sharing on twitter tho is that it compresses images really badly.

>>9703609
The best way is to join groups for whatever your art is about, and post to a bunch of them.

>>9703660
No I suppose not. It's just that I'm pretty bad about posting to social media. Even for personal ones, I often become "busy" with something, and get out of the habit of posting for long sections of time. (Ironically I like cgl because I never felt guilty for not posting, or felt like I had to). So for me, having a lot of accounts but being shit at it is worse than having one and being moderate at it. It is something that I want to work on, as online shopping is being a bigger and bigger thing as time goes on.

That being said, this is very useful advice, and thank you so much for typing it out. To be honest, I never used instagram, so I didn't have much of an idea what would work and not other than "finished stuff is probably okay", and twitter I never got the fuss about it so I never used it much, even though I knew that informal stuff like WIP's would work better there.

>>9703655
dA doesn't have any good way to share shit and get people to see it, aside from clubs I guess but it's still not great. Reblogging/retweeting is far superior

>>9703372
As far as I know everyone is just waiting for something better to come along. Pretty sure everyone will ditch tumblr as soon as that happens, leaving it as a containment board for kids and sjws until they eventually move on from there

What do you do, when one of your prints turns out to be problematic, but it is your best selling print? I feel really bad that i offended some people, but i can't just throw my copies of the print away..

>>9704091
keep selling it? Why do you care some people are offended?

>>9704091
Problematic according to whom?

>>9703797
No worries, I get social media anxiety too. I'm most often active on Twitter because it is honestly a lot of work to maintain multiple social media sites at once - but maybe look into those programs that will let you crosspost your content with one click so you can just post once and forget about it. I think a recent trend I'm noticing as of late is the disconnect between what fans/consumers want from an art site vs what artists want. A lot of fans seem to prefer an informal setting with a "behind the scenes" look into the artists' life. So for example they want to see WIPs, process vids, workspace photos, little life updates - something that makes the artist feel more approachable. You're essentially marketing yourself as an artist persona in that case. But artists seem to want something more removed from them personally with a focus on their art alone (i.e. a standalone gallery like DA). I wonder if there's a way to come to a compromise between the two to find something that works for both consumers and content creators.

>>9704091
Can you elaborate? "Problematic" how? It really depends on the severity of the situation. Is it actually tasteless and rude or is it something people overreacted to? In either case, is the drama something you want associated with your brand?

You can always put them in blind/grab bags or give them out for free with a purchase. I know that's what a lot of people do with merch from fandoms they can't sell like Homestuck.

>>9704091
artist alleys have lots of social justice minded people, it might put them off buying your other stuff

but ofcourse, it depends on how it is offensive. could you elaborate more?

>>9704103
>>9704104
>>9704107
>>9704117

I just don't like the fact that people feel bad when they see my art i suppose.
It's a woman wearing a native american headdress. I never heard that this is an absolute no go (maybe because i'm from europe) otherwise I would've never drawn it.

>>9704091
If it sells well, what's the problem? Your European audience clearly doesn't give a shit, maybe just don't post it online and darken the girl's skin before you print it again

>>9704121
Oh yikes - I'm sure there are a ton of people on this board who disagree with me but if I were you I'd probably stop selling that print. It's not as bad as I thought it would be but I do agree it's a bit tasteless to profit off of Native American imagery given how indigenous people have been treated in the context of U.S. history. In the U.S., there's the Indian Arts and Crafts Act so claiming your artwork under a specific tribe name if you're not a part of that tribe can have consequences. (I think a couple of retail stores have been sued over this - specifically Urban Outfitters?)

I can see how you might not have known because you're from Europe. But now that you do know it's culturally insensitive, it's up to you to decide what to do.

Being 100% honest here, continuing to sell the print will probably not impact you very much in anyway. You're based in Europe so chances are that your audience (also European) won't know that it's a faux-pas. Native American headdresses have been co-opted by the hipster music festival scene so a lot of people won't see a problem with what you're doing. Let's be real, a ton of artists draw "native-inspired" pieces all the time and get away with it so the likelihood of you being negatively impacted by this is very low.

However, if there are already some customers who brought this to your attention, they might feel as if you are being willfully obtuse if you do continue to sell the print. You might lose a couple of customers this way. There are artists who have done worse and more outwardly offensive shit (like ohnips) that still have huge fanbases.

It really comes down to a moral decision here then since it likely will not ruin your business. Is the association with cultural appropriation something you're comfortable with (even if you might disagree that it is appropriation)? Are you good with building your brand around this particular print knowing that it perpetuates something that you now know hurt people?

>>9704137
w-what did ohnips do?

>>9702279
thanks anon.

>>9704143
She's pretty much straight up racist. There's some other shit about her too if you cared enough to look it up.

>>9704137

>However, if there are already some customers who brought this to your attention, they might feel as if you are being willfully obtuse if you do continue to sell the print.

The thing is I only got comments (two as of right now - i'm not really online famous haha) about it online from americans. At conventions nobody ever says anything about it. I'm just really conflicted right now I guess, it's one of my favourite prints but knowing that it's considered offensive.. I don't know. I can't even find articles about that issue in my native language so >>9704136 is probably right that my audience here doesn't really seem to care since they don't know about it too.
I would feel bad either way I think, I don't want to throw my print away but neither do I want to hurt people. Maybe I just hope that the copies will be sold out soon so I can discontinue the print or something.
But thank you guys for your responses, I appreciate it.

>>9701125
I read the FAQ and i have eyed some stores on vograce but where do i find the option to order more than one desing? Its my first con and no one i know wants to help me or tell me where do they order because "muh secret stores" and i dont want you to sell bullshit and im angry as fuck

>>9704121
>I just don't like the fact that people feel bad when they see my art i suppose.
Then stop drawing. Right now. If you think you can make everyone happy doing literally anything in life then you are wrong.

>>9704137
go take your xenophobia back to tumblr. People can wear whatever they want.

>>9704189
you just tell Coco, Vicky, or whomever you're talking to that you want multiple designs.

Let them know how many total keychains you want, how many designs, and what type of keychain you want for the initial quote.

eg. "I'd like to order 350 keychains, 10 designs, in the double acrylic double sided type"

>>9704189
Read the FAQ again. Literally there's a "how to order from Vograce" google doc. Anon, please. Vograce is a manufacturer on Alibaba. You would not be "eyeing store on Vograce." It's less about "muh business secrets" and more about you being so incompetent that you can't even do basic research.

>>9704191
We don't have to agree, anon. I stated as much in my reply. If you don't understand the difference between xenophobia and respecting cultural boundaries given historical context - that's on you.

>>9704198
Yeah im pretty much retarded for this things, but i can't understand why a friend wouldnt just give me the name of the store, but this is just my shitty friends and me being an autist thanks for your time

>>9704196
Thank you sorry for the spoonfeeding

>>9704198
>If you don't understand the difference between xenophobia and respecting cultural boundaries given historical context - that's on you

Its always so pathetic when people try to justify their racism. Just come out and say you are a racist who think everyone should just "stick to their own kind" rather than skirting around it by saying its "respectful" to not mix cultures.

>>9704191
>If you think you can make everyone happy doing literally anything in life then you are wrong.

What? I'm not sure where you've got the idea from my posts that i think that way. Sorry if I made myself unclear. I'm not talking about drawing a ship that someone dislikes or anything like that. And I'm well aware that not everyone can be satisfied with everything I'm doing. But if people go out of their way to kindly tell me that my drawing may not be appropriate - I think it's the least I can do to think about it why that is so.

>>9704233
We need more people like you in the world, anon. Thank you for taking everyone's comments in stride and trying to be considerate to other people.

In other news - when will Anime Boston and ACen acceptances return from the war? Didn't ACen say acceptances were going out at the beginning of November?

>>9704233
>I'm not talking about drawing a ship that someone dislikes or anything like that.
whats the difference?

How much is too much advertising for this weekend?
I put out a post yesterday afternoon for my Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale, and I made a decent amount of sales but impressions were meh. Should I bother reposting today or Monday? I don't want to feel like I'm spamming them.

>>9704309
Self-promo as much as you can, anon. I’d RT/reblog today and Monday. If you frame it as “don’t forget sales end soon!!!” people are more likely to be receptive to it because it sounds like you’re just sending out a friendly reminder.

Also, what are everyone’s BF/Cyber Monday sales goals for this year? I’m hoping I can break last year’s record!

>>9704137
I think the term cultural appropiation is bullshit i can understand some things are plain rude and offensive, but you cannot buy a dreamcatcher or have a kimono or eat certain food and celebrate certain things, for me is more racist to tell people to only stick to their own race and things instead of travelling and enjoying diferent cultures

is there a type of merch you would like to see more of? pic unrelated

>>9704430
not sure of more of, but I know I would like to see less edgy weeb shit. It's so tryhard at this point. And less tumblr style artwork because red noses.

>>9704513
I mean AA is more or less saturated in weeb shit, can you be more specific on what constitutes edgy weeb?

>>9704121
Native here. It's cool, you didn't know. I'd personally say, finish selling the current ones you have, if you want. You being in Europe, it probably won't offend anyone. If you're up to it, redoing your current one, so she is Native be super cool. Like full regalia would be amazing! I love seeing Native people in media, we don't get it that often.

>>9704530
NYART but I assumed they were talking about stuff like those acrylic hats that say HENTAI and the thousand weebcore apparel brands springing up that are just like ahegao faces or blurred out anime porn on shirts.

Curious how online merch does during the holidays for y'all. Do you generally make more then usual since the holidays and ppl are buying gifts? Or are people broke around this time because holidays?

>>9704430
Maybe some people think pins are overdone, but I was pretty excited when they were first a thing and still like them.

I’d like to see more... mature(?) kinds of merch like that.

>>9704552
I do slightly better.

>>9704552
Way better - like 3-4 times my usual traffic. You have to be good with how you promo yourself though if you want to see huge leaps in sales.

>>9704642
Got any tips with this?

>>9704552

It's a boost. People get their holiday bonuses, christmas card money, or they just feel like spending more because they wanna feel nice. It's usually my best sales of the year.

>>9704304
One has a historic background and the other one is "just" a personal opinion.

>>9704531
Just looked up what a regalia is, beautiful! Thank you for the inspiration and your response.

>>9704884
>historic background
irrelevant.
> one is "just" a personal opinion.
that people have attempted to murder others over.

>>9704430
someone i saw once had funny socks. i thought that was really unique in a sea of zines

How’s the quality of UPS prints? If I run out of prints during a con, would UPS be a good option for 11x17?

>>9705025
...an "irrelevant" historic background that involves forced acculturation (read: wiping out various tribes' cultures by educating them as Proper Christians), forced relocation, and various violent conflicts and massacres -- that is, multiple, actual murders -- over a span of some 200-300 years. And even to this day the government disregards their right to the land that we "graciously" allowed them to live on, which they were living on first.

It's not okay for people to cyberbully and make death threats, but come on now.

>sage for off topic

>>9705025
Stop derailing.

>>9705091
UPS prints are just "alright" although that largely depends on the specific store and how competent their employees are. If anything, I'd recommend looking to see if there's a Minuteman Press nearby instead. There's usually one in every city I've been to, and it's a franchised print shop so they'll be much more equipped to handle your order vs a UPS store that people mainly use for shipping. It'll be way cheaper than UPS too - their prices wildly vary by store. I've had some stores charge me $1.50 per print and other stores try to charge me $4+ per print. Minuteman Press tends to have consistency when it comes to quality and pricing so I prefer using them. I've only had one bad experience with MP and it was in a really busy location in Seattle during the con so they were swamped with reprints for literally every artist and exhibitor.

How are Black Friday sales going for everyone? I'm close to breaking $1000 in sales already only after a day. Usually, I don't sell a lot of prints so I don't put them up but I've gotten people messaging me out of the blue to ask why some of my prints were listed. It's so weird how print sales only spike during the holidays.

>>9705205
I got a ton of etsy sales yesterday and didn't even post any sales/ads. I think people were just on etsy looking for stuff in general because of black Friday.

>>9705205
I've had dismal sales ever since I've changed up my listings so as to not get flagged by Funimation etc., so this holiday season is doing a lot worse than I had hoped :(

>>9705446
Have you considered changing your listings back just for a brief period of time? Like make it searchable just for Cyber Monday to get sales and revert them to how you have them now afterwards?

Are you advertising your store/sales on social media?

>>9705540
I would, but it feels like everytime I have I either get flagged or hear about some wave going on, so I'm just really paranoid now (especially because I think I'm on my last warning). So I guess better less than nothing at all--my social media isn't doing much for me because I'm not popular, so the exposure I get from Etsy is more than I'll get on any other sales platform.

Anyone awake? It's super late and I thought it would be cool to get a crit on my thing? If not I'll just save it for the AA Discord.

>>9705625
i'm here.

>>9705628

Give me your two cents if you wanna be cool at 3 in the morning.

Let me know what you think! Second time painting something like this.I think her front leg/foot/heel looks like a penis. Maybe I've been staring at it too long.
I think I would call it like 95% done? (for this side, my other side is different). I know I need to clean up the hair but I'm tired. I guess I'm just fishing around to see if this looks cool, becasue if it does, I'll be sure to make the other 12 in the same style.

Thanks!

>>9705636
oh man, i feel like a fraud right now because i have never made a charm and i don't know what the rules are. i guess i can crit it just as an art piece? gimme a minute, i'll draw you something

>>9705642
dude, for your second time painting something like that, that's awesome.
i mean it depends how much you want to change it? i am used to crits on/ic/ where you redo the whole thing, but i think people here just do minor tweaks. feel free to ignore lol

her hair cones look flat, if that's intentional cool, i'd stylise it a bit more

foot is an easy enough fix too...i wouldn't have it looked like a dick, but more streamlined might compliment the rest of the style more.

it looks like her head is tilted forward in your thumbs, but here, her ears are straight on. kind of makes it look like they are too far up. that's an easy fix though.

the body might benefit from a bit more shape-stylization. like segmenting it a bit more. from the pictures she looks like a bombshell type with a nipped in waist? that's hard to see in your picture

if you draw the arms away from the body, it might make for a stronger silhouette, but that's just a future reference thing

>>9705636
Honestly the only thing that bothers me is the forehead size/head shape??its a little too boss baby right now

>>9705636
I'm not sure if its helpful but I think for the future that you should keep two things in mind: shape design and subtlety. Your rendering is so good and I really think it looks great in most of the drawing, and the hands/guns look awesome! Most of what looks off to me immediately is the forehead, the hair, and her bust. Those are easy fixes so long as you think about shapes maybe a little bit more? I think the rest speaks for itself though, just try to be more subtle with some of your choices in shapes (i.e. the forehead and crazy hair.) This is probably more of a personal choice with the hair but composition wise i really don't like the shape of it and the kind of silhouette it gives the figure. I also find the strong black lines on her eyes and eyebrows to be off putting next to such a painterly style in the rest of the figure. This is where subtlety comes in again, only more with color choices and intensity than with shapes. I also changed the orientation of her face because the pose feels a little awkward (but that's personal taste again too, just thought I'd include it since sometimes seeing a different perspective of my own drawing helps me!) Good luck and I hope it helped!

>>9705636
Nice! Very, very nice! I actually kinda love it. At first I was like, that forehead is just too big, but the longer I look at it, the more I like that it looks "fan made" rather than something the company printed off the official art. It has it's own flare. Really digging it. And that paint job is very refreshing. Maybe because it's not so cell-shaded? It's very breezy and brushy and I really like that.

That being said, I think any crit you get is going to be up to your digression, because nothing if WTF worthy or too off. I also say this as someone who does NOT draw. I can just give you my two cents on what I THINK, not what I KNOW. But going off what the other anons said;

>>9705649
You said it wasn't totally finished yet, but yes, more shading to her hair cones. They look flat. Also maybe add some high lights to the hair? MAYBE. It might take away that painterly feel.

As that anon doodled over, I think it will help to cinch in her waist a little. Right now it looks like she's just boob (and yes, Ino is like a triple D but she needs a waist!)

>>9705688
Well shit, now I can't get that out of my head.

>>9705731
Things I agree with this anon (nice redraw btw)
-Give her a more butt/leg meat.
-I really like these eyes. They look more bitchy.
-Turned head? Maybe. Try that out.
-Give her blond and shaded eyebrows. They look drag-queen painted on right now lol.

Things I don't agree with-
-Giving her raised eyebrows. She should be scowling (I only say that cause as a fan of the show, I just know how awful she is and I love to hate her cause she's just SO bad).
-That hair design.

Can't wait to see the dead side. I saw your sketch post here.

I seem to be in a talky-crit mood. If anyone else wants to share art today, I'll be sure to give you my thoughts! It might be due to the fact I broke my leg and I'm stuck in bed for the next forever and got nothing else to do on this lovely Sunday.

I like >>9705636 better than >>9705731

The original piece pushes the pose and expression much better, creating something with more visible personality from the thumbnail. That is really important for charms/buttons/etc because the final print size is so small. It's not that the redo is bad, it's just generic.

Agreed though that the bust is weirdly lumpy upon closer inspection, but at this late of stage in rendering it's not going to kill you to leave it as is. Adding stronger contrast to the shading in her skirt and tweaking the shape a bit for stronger shapes would also absolutely help, as I think the skirt section is the weakest part of the original art.

>>9705636
I agree with the other anon that the ears should be moved down or the face moved up.

Boaranon here. Hi, I just woke up. Thank you all, that was the crit I was hoping to get. And thanks for the redraws! Did not think >>9705731 would put so much effort in that. You da best.

Glad to hear nothing sticks out too badly. But I will take the advice of what everyone suggested. Less forehead, more waist, more hair shading, bring up the face, and render out the shoes and skirt better.

Last question. I was thinking of making these suckers kinda big. Like maybe a little smaller than your palm in diameter? Maybe that's too big. But I just recently got this charm, see, and it was of my husbando, and I actually didn't know what size it was. That's because I did a bundle order with my friend and I didn't care for the size, it didn't cross my mind, because the art was so good. Then I get this tiny envelop in the mail and the key chain is no bigger than an INCH tall. I was very miffed about that. Such a cool design of my husbando but if you stand more than a yard away it just looks like a smear of color. No way could anyone look at it from far away and be like oh it's that character! Cool swag.

I want it to be big enough that when the charm swings over to the gore side, people can see it clearly and raise an eyebrow.

Thanks again, gulls.

I've heard a lot about Sakura Matsuri in DC/NY. I'm still new to the scene, so I'm wondering if it is "okay" to be an Artisan or Ginza if you're not Japanese, and if it's like anime AA stuff?

>>9705956
The big sakura matsuri in NYC is very very strict about what they let in and it's not really artist alley type stuff. The sellers are handmade but there is no fanart or prints being sold. It's handmade crafters that fit a j-pop aesthetic. There also isnt an open application process you are basically recommended by someone and go through an approval process. I don't know about the DC one.

>>9705956
I've been to the DC one and it's really... not for AA type stuff. A lot of it is food vendors/food trucks and their non-food vendors are definitely actually dealing with cultural Japanese items. I know the year I went they had guest drummers/dancers from Japan for the parade and there were kendo and judo demonstrations at the stalls. There were maybe like 2 people in cosplay that I saw the entire time I was there and it seemed super embarrassing since it's not the correct time or place for anime.

Honestly, unless you are a Japanese artisan or specifically dealing with cultural Japanese items, I don't think a matsuri festival is the right venue for your work. Don't be THAT weeaboo.

>>9705636
Maybe I'm crazy since nobody else seems to have pointed it out but the arms are bothering me, I imagine it's meant to be from perspective but the front arm just looks like it actually is longer than the back one to me. And too long in general also, like if she stood up her hand could reach her knees? Maybe I'm not looking at it properly though idk

Has anyone ever had Etsy calculate your fees wrong? I’ve only made about 10 small sales this month so far and they’re telling me my fees are already $50 :(

>>9706113
Maybe ads got enabled somehow?

>>9706113
That's probably because the shipping gets listed onto your Etsy bill. Your Etsy bill isn't just the listing and transaction fees, it's also the shipping fee as well if you use their built in system to ship your orders. You already received money for the shipping from your customers so it should even out. Check your total balance.

>>9705636
outlines are too harsh - face, rose etc
shading have no sense of direction
leg is awkward, fix in the fold of the dress
hair feels like spaghetti noodles instead of hair
forehead too big, eat too puffy
boob shape too awkward, smooth it out
hair too close to the border
Pig wording looks like chicken scratch, smooth that out as well

>>9705636
Agreeing with other anons that the black outlines are waaay too harsh. And some of your coloring is skewing muddy. Generally though, I tend to overlook a lot of wonky chibi anatomy as long as the facial proportions look fine. Maybe something more like this with brown for the eye outlines rather than black to soften the features/make it look more painterly? The ears definitely need to be moved down a bit. You could try throwing on some overlay gradients or something to smooth out the muddyness of the hair.

>>9705923
3-inch charms are the largest size that is standard in AA, and about what I think you're going for. I'd recommend printing out a copy of your charm on the 3-inch charm template to size, just on a piece of printer paper, to see how it looks and feels at that size.

Some people love big charms, some people hate them. Personally I adore big charms because I have an itabag for my husbando and a cork board to display the rest - the bigger the better! But a friend of mine vastly prefers 1" charms and won't buy anything over 1.5" because she puts them on her phone or 3DS and thinks big charms are unweildly.

>>9706129
>>9706157
>>9706174

Yes, double yes, and great.

Thank you!

>>9706116
Yes, I know shipping is included. But that still doesn’t come close to $50...

>>9706216
Have you always paid your bill on time to them? They have interest attached to your bill if you don't.

>>9706216
Check your statement? What's adding up so much?

>>9706222
Pretty sure this is untrue. Unless you mean your balance carrying over from a precious month.

>>9706228

Oh wait, you're right. I think my balances just carried over. Lol. I wondered why it went from 97 cents to $3.45

>>9701793
Not the anon who posted this, but I had the same question. I have been looking at the Silhouette Cameo. Do you guys know if it also cuts stickers as die-cuts, or only kiss-cuts?

Thanks in advance for the help.

>>9701793
>>9706968
I have a cameo and I love it! You can do kiss cut and die cut, you just have to adjust the cut and blade settings in the program

I would rec the silhouette over the cricut. I had a friend who got the cricut and it frustrated her so much she sold it and got the cameo afterwards. The only problems I have with my silhouette is that sometimes it won't read the registration marks that only happens every so often. Protip: don't place blue colors near the registration marks for silhouette crafts. The blue fucks with the scanner reading them

>>9707079
Ahh that happens to me too! You probably already know this, but it took me so many tries to fix misalignment/can't read problems only to find out that NOTHING should be touching the hashed lines at all...

Why
Why do I get a huge commission request on etsy right before I go on my 6 day work-vacation?
I have 1 day to get 3 day's worth of work done
uuggghhh. I'd feel like trash passing this up.

>>9707340
Have you already asked them if it's on a time constraint?
I mean, if it's only needed before Christmas or something you can be upfront that you have a scheduled period coming up you won't be able to work on the comission, but could have it done by X date.

What do you do when a customer isn't replying to your messages? They placed an order, but I don't have enough stock for the style they want. Plus I think they mistook white acrylic for clear acrylic since the images were photographed on a white background rip. Do I refund them everything? Do I refund just the keychain that's missing and ship out the other ones?

>>9707386
>Do I refund just the keychain that's missing and ship out the other ones?
i'd do that.

>be on the AA discord for the first time
>decide to check out the crit board
>girl posts super sketchy sketch of print
>give her a lot of crit, her anatomy is all wrong
>she posts inked version next, didn't take any crit
>said ok, well if you won't change everything I pointed out cause there was a lot, at least change the huge problems that are very distracting
>other person also agrees that she should at least fix the fucked up legs and pose
>I even do a red draw over cause maybe she doesn't get what I'm trying to explain in text
>post colored version next, no changes

....God I hate AA. You guy are bitches, but at least you're not fucking retarded.

>>9707414
This is clearly not the cgl AA discord, so I'm curious which one it is? Drop a link?

>>9707414
Are you talking about the AANI discord maybe? The /cgl/ AA discord hasn't had any sketchy print wips recently.

>>9707414
Are you "Nobody"? God, your redraw of that one person's business card was fucking terrifying. Maybe you're not as good at art as you think, lmao

>>9707414
>>9707465

oh boy

>>9707414
Yes, I agree, why go into a crit channel if you're not going to take crit? However why are you taking it so personally? It's not as if you get paid for every person that listens to your (flawed) advice or this person's artistic growth will affect your life. Focus on improving yourself before you try to improve others.

>>9707475
Different Anon, but I get why they take it personally, cause I do sometimes. I just get a bit miffed when I spend the time to crit something that's in the crit corner and then it goes ignored. Like yeah, why do I care? let them make shitty art and then make a buck off it. Better for my sales lol. But then I'm like, bruh, I'm trying to help you? Don't ask for my tips and then not use them? I have better things to do (no I don't) then waste my time typing my thoughts out on this.

>>9707465
Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I mean it's kinda an improvement? I can see what they were trying to "improve". Their little hear is in the right place.

>>9707483
Dammit! Dropped pic.

I've sold an item to this one guy twice now, and both times had the item "returned to sender". However, he's repeatedly verified that the address is correct and doesn't know why it can't be delivered.

The first time it happened, he told me to send it to an alternate address, but it was a significant distance away (a completely different state, like 750 miles away).

This second time, he provided the same address, and I've messaged him repeatedly but haven't received any response. Should I just go ahead and send it to the alternate address? If it was somewhere nearby his actual address, or a PO box, I wouldn't be as hesitant, but with it being multiple states away I'm not so sure.

>>9707498
That's likely an online friend or distant family member they're routing the package through who will receive it and then mail it out again. I wouldn't send without verifying, they might not be on close terms with that person anymore, or they may have moved.

>>9707475
>>9707481
Reminds me of one time I went to /ic/

>got only one response on my WIP
>vague critique that a body part seems wrong
>redraw the body part, but it wasn't a significant change - just some tweaking since I wasn't sure exactly what anon thought was wrong
>post update
>"Why are you even posting here if you're aren't going to be taking anyone's crit"
>mfw

I only post like once a year so I know it wasn't them referring to a pattern of me ignoring crit in the past, which I haven't done regardless.

>>9707483
>it's kinda an improvement
I beg to differ anon. Why take something so obviously stylized and then try to add realistic feathers to it (badly)? The original artist wasn't even asking for crit on the character anyway. They were asking for text/graphic design help on the other elements of their card.

I only checked the WIP channel on the AANI discord because I saw anon's post and honestly the anon kind of came off annoying. Also the D.Va artist they mentioned here >>9707414 actually did take some of the other advice given in the chat? They moved up the figure like a bunch of people pointed out and changed the hand position, etc. Like... there's only so much crit can do if that person is on a con crunch and trying to finish a print for a deadline, not to mention that person's skill level can dictate what they can actually execute re: the advice given.

Anon needs to stop micromanaging other people's art. Like what was the expectation with >>9707465? That the OP would entirely redraw the owl in anon's style for their brand? Like if their heart was in a good place they wouldn't be bitching here so. If you're so asspained about people not following your crit to a tee then don't give people crit?

>>9707515
Well I guess when you put it that way, yeah. Good points.

Meh. Guess anon was on a power high? Gave some pretty good crit for the D.Va and then went mad with power and jumped on that weird owl thingy?? lmao.

>>9707503
>tfw I post on /ic/ and get only 1 response every time

They're always positive but
I'm not that good and I just want some honest crit, but I feel /ic/ is a hit or miss since a lot of the board is just shit posting

>>9707498
I've never run into this personally, but is your item of a, ahem, sensitive fandom? I've heard of crazy anti-bitches wasting their money on things just to make the seller waste their time shipping things to nonexistent addresses.

>>9707515
I actually went and checked as well, and it did look like they made a bunch of changes, just that it didn't ~exactly~ fit what anon was looking for. Yeah, they have anatomy problems but sometimes people still can't see it (it takes a trained eye) so you can't expect them to draw what you're saying to a T (especially if there are some flaws in the advice).

>>9707498
I've had this happen with anti shippers. If he's paying everytime to a new address, then send it out, but if not just cancel and refund the order. no amount of money is worth messing with idiots.

>>9707553
>>9707557
I really doubt it desu. The first order was D.va and the second was Yoko. Nothing controversial about them. And my customer base is mostly /a/nons and casual waifu-fags, who I haven't really ever heard of pulling that kind of stuff.

I'll hold onto it until I hear from him again, then, and if it takes too long then just refund. It's still such a ridiculous thing to hear that people would willingly give someone money for something they're so against though lmao.

>>9707553
What the fuck? What is that even supposed to achieve, really? Seems like they're just wasting their own money. Even if they get refunded, they still paid for shipping.

>>9707498
you aren't an idiot and paying the shipping yourself, right?
Ship it as many times as he is willing to pay for it to be shipped. Don't think too much about it.

>>9707340
>>9707350
update;
That person ended up canceling
today though, someone messaged me about ordering $1,200 worth of merchandise.
This is the biggest single order I have ever had. At least I have a longer time to get this one finished, but still, omg I'm gonna have to work 24/7.

The biggest order in my history of Etsy, I get right before my vacation.

>>9707971
call me stupid, but who would want that much merch and why? or are orders that large common?

>>9707971
Why do I feel like they want that much merch for resale?

>>9707992
Maybe anon is a crafter and does commissions/custom orders? I can see things like cosplay commissions or fursuits running that high. Custom plushies can run around $200~$300 too depending on the complexity and quality of materials used so if they got multiple commissions it could definitely add up to about that much.

>>9708000
I mean, is that so much of an issue? Anon gets paid their asking price and gets to move a thousand dollars in a single sale.

>>9707992
>>9708000
I sell cosplay accessories and its a hotel/resort buying a lot of deer tails for reindeer costumes for I guess their staff to wear.

>>9708023
Well congrats on that, anon. You should put aside 10% after it's all over and reward yourself for the extra push you've made.

>>9707576
etsy makes you give all of it back, even shipping.

>>9708023
That’s pretty funny. It’s definitely worth doing if the staff tell other people about where they received their tails from.

Hope this is ok to ask. I want to start getting into doing AA, but I can’t figure out when registration is? I checked their websites and I read the google doc but no real info.

Can any AZ anons tell me when I need to have my shit together by for conventions next year? Especially the fall ones since I may be too late for the earlier ones.

>>9708410
They might not actually have the registration date set yet, especially if it's fall of next year. Registration dates are almost always big, bold, and in your face. If it's not there, it's probably not picked out yet.

I have no idea if any AA gulls have experience with this, but it doesn't hurt to ask. What sites would you recommend selling art originals on? I'm not talking giant canvases, just watercolor illustrations and some of my more refined Inktober drawings. I was thinking Etsy but I wanted to see if maybe there's a better site that I don't know about.

Do any of you guys sell blind boxes? I have some generic cutesy cellphone straps that I was thinking of selling in them, but I'm not sure if it would be better to just sell them normally.

What's everyone's net and profit? And what do you sell? Just curious because I'm not sure if my numbers are normal

>>9708699
Because there are so many factors, such as art style, topic, types of cons, types of people in your area, economics of your area etc. it would be useless to tell you the numbers and have you judge what is normal for you, even with the type of merch. You kinda have to go to the beat of your own drum.

>>9708699
I personally know people who average $300 profit per con and people who average $6K. It depends on so many factors it's really not feasible to say what the "normal" is for AA.

>>9708655
I don't carry them normally but I do them seasonally to clear out old stock and they've worked really well for me. I had people bring their friends to buy more so they could trade if they didn't get the characters they wanted. Just price them reasonably and people will probably buy multiple packs.

>>9708699
What ARE your numbers? How long have you been doing this? Since "normal" is relative to every individual artist it's better if you gave us that information so we can actually make a judgment call. I've broken 10k profit (not just gross revenue) several times this year at different cons and for certain conventions anything less than 6k is not "normal" for me. I have friends that regularly make $5~6k profit at each con but I also have friends who regularly make $2k and friends for whom $1.5k is a record goal. It really depends on your style, how you promo yourself, and how established you are. It's different for everyone. I wouldn't expect someone who just started doing cons to be making as much as someone who's been doing this for years. If you want an actual answer, list your margins and how long you've been doing this.

>>9708699
>>9708789
It also depends on the end goal, too. Some people make this their primary source of income and pour a shit ton of time and effort into cultivating and establishing both their merchandise base and their online presence. Personally, for me it's a way to make it feasible to be able to travel and stay in the con scene without paying to do it, and to make and keep other artist friends. I'm satisfied with numbers a lot lower than someone trying to pay bills, so I spend less time on it and don't always push for more sales where I could (by making more merch for cons, or posting as regularly to my twitter, etc).

>>9708813
This, exactly. I do cons because they're fun, but I don't WANT to stay on this track and grow into a full-time merch designer. So I make enough cute fandom stuff to pull in a few k per con, but devote the majority of my time to original work that doesn't make me much money but will build a more solid foundation for my career as a content creator.

The only time I really side-eye anyone's numbers is if they make it sound as if losing money on a con is a fairly common occurrence. I don't understand why those people keep doing it... but then again, somebody who averages 10k might not understand why I keep doing it either. Follow your heart uwu etc

>>9708976
Same boat as you, good luck on your original content!

>>9709104
Same to you! We got this!!!

>>9708655
yeah, i always sell out. people love lucky bag/blind box shit. Sold maybe 300 lucky bags and only have one person VERY mildly complain about getting stuff they didn't want.

Is a ko-fi account worth getting?

>>9709633
its nice if you aren't comfy making a patreon, but still have people who wanna contribute.

does anyone here put their kofi link on their business cards?

For people with a huge inventory, how do you bring all your shit to cons? Do you ship it to your hotel? If so, how big/heavy of a box can you have them hold for you?

>>9708587
So I just have to keep checking the websites every day?

I’m mostly concerned because apparently saboten opened registration next year the month after the con this year. I guess that’s not common practice, though.

>>9709854
I get stuff shipped to ups/FedEx office locations.

>>9709923
>So I just have to keep checking the websites every day?
I would hope not! There should be an artist alley email list that will periodically send you information about important dates. See if you can find any contact email on the con's site and just ask them to give you the email for the artist alley. No con worth attending would ever make you just check the site every day for info.

>>9701125
Okay, what is up with artist hiding where they print their art? I've been looking at making some enamel pins but :/

>>9710036
Sometimes we have to do a lot of research and take a lot of risks going with certain suppliers. Lord knows I've lost hundreds of dollars on subpar items. For some things, you can't just roll up and ask where x came from.

Hell, it's widely known that a lot of artists go to vograce for their charms, but we still get several people in every other thread going HOW TO ORDER FROM VOGRACE IDK.

Protip: make friends with other artists and do your own research on where to get things made. Try to find a supplier that does something unusual. If you share that information with others first, then they'll be more likely to share with you. Many of us are just really tired of spoonfeeding new/lazy people.

>>9710036
Also holy shit just google custom enamel pins, a bunch of suppliers come up immediately. Are they the best for you and your needs? Who fucking knows, go find out.

>>9710036
What's stopping you from googling enamel pin sources and emailing the company directly for quotes? That's a part of getting enamel pins made. Since quotes are highly dependent on your art (# of colors, size, # of cutouts) as well as material (soft enamel, hard enamel, glitter, screenprint) what would you gain by knowing another person's source? Your quote is likely going to be much different from another artists' anyway.

>>9710051
>Protip: make friends with other artists and do your own research on where to get things made. Try to find a supplier that does something unusual. If you share that information with others first, then they'll be more likely to share with you. Many of us are just really tired of spoonfeeding new/lazy people.
This is such good advice, anon! I am much more likely to share my sources if someone reciprocates. No one owes anyone anything. I've never seen the people who whine about how stingy other artists are actually share their own sources. Just be honest with yourselves, you're mad that other people won't share. Stop treating people like they're your personal encyclopedia and actually go do the research and share first if you really want to foster a sense of community!

>>9710016
Thanks, I know this is all horribly noobish. I was confused because while some con sites do have an email list, others don’t? In fact the sites don’t seem very well put together in general. I’ll check them again and see if they can find some sort of contact information to try and ask someone.

>>9710062
NAYRT but I've gotten salty over someone (a friend, not just some rando) who refused to share their supplier with me after I shared with them LOL. I'm over it now though haha since I totally figured it out anyway, and you're right--no one owes anyone anything.
Since then I've become a little more stingy with my resources, but whatever; they're really not that hard to find if people would just sit down and do an hour or two of proper research.

>>9710075
I've had a similar experience. Someone baited me by offering to let me in a group order for a certain item if I let them in one of my group orders for another item and let them know the supplier. I was happy to do so because I considered her a friendly acquaintance and she ended up ghosting me for over 3 months after I had sent her all my designs. I'm not sure she even had a supplier for said item in the first place because as far as I know, she never ended up making them. I'm glad I didn't send her money because I'm sure I never would have seen it again. She never even apologized to me when I asked her what happened in person at a con. Apparently she's also ghosted customers and last I heard she was being accused of scamming customers and never sending them their items. Every time I see her selling at cons I get super salty because I know she's a shady person but ah well live and learn I guess.

I've definitely gotten a lot stricter with who I tell my sources to after that so I definitely understand where you're coming from.

>>9710051
Yeah I get that, I guess im just indifferent? Ive gotten stickers printed before and dont mind telling people where

Im also working with vogace right now, I guess pins was an example

>>9710106
It all depends on the person. Sometimes if you've done a LOT of research for a particular item and someone just tries to get it out of you without any work themselves, it's easy to get offended. Also, not quite for this case, but some people do really unique items and as soon as they let their supplier out, it's likely that the whole of AA will catch on and take over the market. For easy as shit stuff like prints people don't really mind, but remember that everyone who asks is basically more competition.

>>9710106
I don't mind sharing for sources for stickers, prints, and charms either. That stuff is all very public knowledge.

You're also forgetting that a lot of artists get source questions constantly. I've been harassed online about it as well. And if you look at >>9710075 and >>9710095 as well as similar stories shared in previous threads - a lot of people have been burned by shitty people only using people to get sources. It's natural that a lot of artists are so wary. You're probably not the first person to have asked them this question and you probably won't be the last. Also if you don't actually know this person and all you do is mine them for sources instead of getting to know them and building a genuine connection, you can see how you might be coming off as rude.

>>9710051
Agreed on the friend thing - I don't share my sources with strangers but can I just say, if you're making friends just to get sources, reevaluate - or don't make it obvious. I've had instances where new acquaintances get sources and then ghost out so I'm very apprehensive.

>>9710066
Most cons in my experience don't actually send out an email, and you do actually have to check back at the site often. I have a note file on my computer that's a list of cons, their selection process, and roughly when they open. Once a week, I take a few minutes to glance over it, check the websites of cons that should be posting info soon, and add more details as they're posted. Pain in the ass? Sure. But very few cons will actually do you the courtesy of actively letting you know.

>>9710051

I've had friends share suppliers and then those suppliers get bogged down and their quality drops. Look what happened with acorn press. A friend experienced the same thing with enamel pins from a particular supplier too. And our favorite place for prints got around and now they have more business than they want and we have to schedule way in advance. So yeah, not just salty about putting the work in, some artists are legit trying to protect their own business.

>>9710203
Sorry meant to reply to >>9710036

Can I expect to pay customs on every order from Zap? I did a tiny charm run, but customs is charging me 20$ through fedex /: it was my understanding the suppliers normally paid customs...

>>9710499
>it was my understanding the suppliers normally paid customs...
literally never happens.

>>9710503
The last time i was charged customs, the driver told me it was normally factored into a purchase cost by a supplier (i was arguing with him because it was an old laptop being mailed back to my girlfriend from a friends house where it had been forgotten).

>>9710506
lmao, you shouldn't be getting customs advice from a driver, anon.

Why the hell is Anime Boston taking so long to send out acceptance emails. It makes me think this isn't actually FCFS. If it's true FCFS, there should have been s cap to auto stop the system acceptance at a certain number of docs.

TP kickstarter bat plush is hot garbage. Any other cringy things floating around?

>>9710571
I dunno, I think they're cute. What are they supposed to be?

>>9710571
whoaaa that dragonfruit bunny is not only ugly but a total ripoff of the dragonfruit dragon...Also these would all look better without that ridiculous hair thing on their heads.

>>9710571
eh, most of these are ok, although they've got way too many bits stuck on. the bunny (?) is hideous and nothing about it besides the color scheme even says dragonfruit.

>>9710571
Top 3 are cute but the bottom 2 aren't great. The shiba is just so generic and the 'bat' reads more like a bunny to me.

>>9710499
>suppliers normally paid customs
no

also, you've just got bad luck. i ordered like 5 lbs worth of charms from them a few weeks ago and got hit with no fees

Cringy.jpg

>>9710571
Jelly of their success?

>>9710761
There have been far worse pin designs. I imagine they'd appeal to more normies because they're generic.

>>9710568
You are very likely over estimating either the technical prowess or availability of the the web developer volunteering their time for free to set up the system that took your application

>>9710571
I always forget how much weebs/furries love plush animals
like they're cute but those things take up too much space when you start to accumulate them

>>9710571

They're not the worst, but I could do without the gendered bullshit.

>>9710798
...are you upset that one of them has eyelashes, despite most of them having unique eye shapes?

>>9710791
I have toy hammocks and vaulted ceilings in my bedroom, I refuse to downsize. But I think for a lot of consumers it's because they don't really think about where they're going to PUT it when they buy it. Like with prints, you're actively thinking about display space, but with a plush it can just get thrown wherever.

>>9710809
not them, but it's the only pink one too, and looks like it has the stereotypical cutesy girl personality archetype.

imo that's...like, the least of the problems here...

>>9710809

Upset isn't the word I'd use. More like I was about to defend the designs on the top because I thought they were kinda cute for a second but then noticed the typical eyelash/pink combo and decided not to give a fuck. If there wasn't a pink one with eyelashes, you could assume they were any gender, but having a clear feminine one makes the others look masculine. It's a bummer when indie merch still falls into the same garbage dump as mainstream merch when it comes to girls vs boys.

For anyone who has done art raffles before:

Do they actually help increase your follower base, or do most people unfollow after? Thanks in advance.

>>9711109
You get a bunch of people who will follow you specifically for the raffle, meaning they will unfollow you the second it ends. Some people stick around, and it is a nice way to get your art spread around at least. I do raffles regularly with my old merchandise, and I've even done a few raffles with MISPRINTS and people still ate it up. Everyone loves free stuff.

>>9711109
I did a giveaway recently and I ended up with 200+ more followers than I had before. It's been about a week or since the giveaway ended and I haven't had anyone unfollow me yet so fingers crossed.

>>9711109
I got 200+ with the first one I ran and a majority stuck around, it probably also matters how long the giveaway lasts and what else you post on the place you hold the raffle.

Does anyone find it odd that Animanga sent out an email today saying-
"Apologies for the delay. We have received your application for Animanga Expo 2018, but our application process has changed. The good news is that we’ve lowered our prices thanks to newly formed partnerships. Please fill out the application available on our website to apply for Artist Alley or as an Exhibitor."

But, when you go to fill out the new application, it just brings you to a page to buy the table right there? Doesn't that defeat the whole purpose of having people apply if everyone gets automatically accepted? is it that small of a con?

Also, a few weeks ago, I noticed Animanga's twitter suddenly started liking a ton of my retweets. It was super weird because I don't even follow them on twitter, I didn't even know they had a twitter. Then 3 minutes later I saw them un-like the posts. Like they were secretly stalking my page or something and forgot they were on there.

Idk. This con is a easy 20 minute drive for me but I think I'm going to have to pass. I've vended at a lot of small conventions but I've never seen anything like this before?

>>9711109
They do. I have a very large instagram following because of this! Some people leave but most don't. If they like your art they'll stick around for it anyway.

>>9711185
I'm new to Instagram and wanted to do a giveaway of a free drawing for a random person... How would you go about picking the winner? Would it be a smart idea to have one of the rules as something like... Take a screencap of one of my uploads with my url showing, and post it on your own Instagram as one of the rules? Since there's nothing like a reblog feature as far as I know.

>>9711214
I think most people just post the photo they want reposted on the giveaway post, but having followers highlight a piece they like seems like a neat idea.

Just make sure you get them to tag you in it/use a special hashtag so you don't miss any entries.

Anyone hear back from Katsucon yet? My friend was lucky and given one of the premium spots. Apparently they only had 24 of these.

>>9711257
I just want to know when to expect the second wave to come out so I can finally stop caring. They really fucked up this year, the convention is only like two and a half months away and they’re still not finished sending emails out.

Was yesterday's zap deal for enamel pins?

>>9711214
I'm the anon from before, basically what >>9711239 said. Put some kind of rule for how often they can post it or else they will spam. I usually do once a day. Also make sure to say no private accounts (because you won't see the post) and no giveaway accounts. Giveaway accounts are accounts made just for giveaways. They have no followers usually and don't promote your art at all, defeating the whole purpose of the raffle.

For your original art, do you tend to brand yourself by style or specific characters/themes? I'm working on developing more original art, since I find it a lot more rewarding than a lot of fan art, but I'm struggling with figuring out how to brand myself as an original artist, I guess.
A lot of my favorite artists feature recurring characters/mascots or themes, so I feel skewed that way.

>>9711506
I think it's kind of similar to fanart in that you should draw what you love. As an example, I grew up reading fantasy novels and have always loved the fantasy genre in general, so I do a lot of fantasy art.

What sort of genres or themes are important to you?

>>9711549
Art you love doing and you're having more fun making is going to look better as well.

>>9710571
Most TP is hot generic garbage desu

>>9711283
Same. I'm looking at timing from last year (I'm... prettttty sure I was second wave, if I recall correctly), and I had gotten my email in September. I know there are bumps every year but honestly- what happened? Last year seemed to go relatively okay, why do things feel so poorly run this year?

>>9711506
Take a step back and look at your recent original works. I promise you there's some sort of theme going on, without you even having realized it. Now work on perfecting that.

>>9711871
Yeah at this point, my expenses for Katsu are gonna be higher than I want since all my planning is getting pushed back due to their delays.

>>9711257
Have they responded? I was accepted first wave and they still haven't given me any reply or confirmation wtf?

>>9712109
Ugh, you haven't heard back after the initial acceptance either? I heard from a friend they sent out a payment link to a bunch of artists but I didn't get one despite being accepted?

She said it looked like they mailed it to like an AA mailing list and not individual artists so I was concerned that somehow my email got left off. I emailed them to see what was up but they haven't responded.

>>9712109
>>9712130
I received my email already and paid. Maybe they're going in order of what type of spot you requested? I asked for 2 tables.

i also got a payment link but it was for 2 tables. they are probably doing those first and then will move to singles

>>9712276
i also got a payment link but it was for 2 tables. they are probably doing those first and then will move to singles

Anyone have screen caps from that disney art post on AANI that went nuclear? I saw the post right when it was posted, and saw the first comment that said something along the lines of " my race shouldn't have to be brought down to bring up others" or something pretty tame like that, but apparently the comments exploded since the AANI mods had to make a non-bigotry post. lol

>>9712460
I missed the original thing but I see they just posted a follow up. Pic related.

>>9712483
of course I would miss the picture. lol

>>9712460
if i had to wager, knowing these types its something like pocahontas with an anti-white sentiment.

>>9712483
The picture missing had Tiana and Lottie from frog princess. Tiana was wearing a standard BLM shirt, and Lottie was wearing one that said "white lives matter too much" hence the controversy and the "dont put me down to bring others up" post.

>>9712276
>>9712326
>>9712130
>>9712109

I was accepted first wave, received my payment link on Nov 30, one table.

Whoever gets accepted for second wave, can you please post here so we know they've started sending them out?

I feel like Katsucon's communication is awful this year. The more the AA head posts on facebook, the less confident I am that they're going to be timely about getting the rest out.

>>9712520
Holy shit this is so unprofessional.

>>9712326
>>9712276
I also asked for two tables as it's pretty much impossible to fit my entire stock onto one table. AFAIK I was one of the earlier people to get an email acceptance (at least at Anime NYC) so I'm kind of curious what order they're going down in. Especially since one of my friends who asked for 1 table ended up getting a 2 table link. She's been trying to contact them to fix their mistake but they haven't responded to her in days.

>>9712489
yikes. they couldn't think of a single positive sentiment for charlotte? i'd think bait but probably not

>>9712598
It would have been so easy to put them both in blm shirts.

>>9712489
>>9712613
Or something about girl power blah blah friendship blah let's empower each other. But no, this dumbass artist is using an existing ip to get easy money from tumblrites. Actually I take it back, they're pretty smart lmao

>>9712484

Who in the flying fuck is this for? Is to to gain followers? I'm sure she did after this with a bunch of people who would describe this as powerful and moving. Oh Jesus I just threw up in my mouth.

Does she want to make prints of these? Will people buy them? They look awful, first of all and seeing Mulan as some pro dyke with Shen as some queer support Chinese mythical characters REALLY rustles the jimmies I thought I never had.

>Make a stupid little "Here are my two cents" comment on something on AA
>You would think I would learn my lesson by now...
>Say nothing about the art itself just that A-The character, who is a naked body pillow character, has a VERY dead/has been murdered looking expression and face.
>Also say that if this is the character I think it is...She needs nine tails. Not one.
>other people in thread also confused on who it is because she as ICONIC nine tails.
>Get reply "To be fair, it's their first time drawing a female and she is not familiar with that character. She just drew it based on a poll she had?

BITCH. You type in that character's name into Google and all 500 images of her show the nine tails. And again. BITCH. It can be her one thousandth time drawing a character. You don't give her a slack jawed, open mouthed, eyes kinda crossed expression of being dead for six weeks now if you are going for sexy.

tl;dr For some reason I still comment on people stupid and bad drawings on AA. For SOME reason everyone gets super defense when you say anything besides OMG I NEED ONE SO BAD XD!!!

Also, I'm a coward. I was going to reply to that comment, but I deleted mine instead.

>ALA doubled its tables from 100+ to 200+
That's cool I didn't want to make money anyways

So which ALA tables are in the front? Their map is dogshit.

>>9713028
the ones towards the right are near the front, the one at the bottom are facing dealers

>>9713063
So which one is closer to the entrance? 1xx or 8xx? How hard is it to put fucking arrows in their document?

>>9712997
is this about that one post with the stupid looking body pillows lol? the one with dva, deadpool, and mercy? it's ok anon, rest assured that barely anyone will want their dead looking characters anyway and they're just gonna be wasting money on merch they won't be able to move. people who are sellouts and draw things they don't even know about are the bottom of the barrel.

>>9713110
>dva
I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be Anri lol.

>>9713110
>>9712997
>that cold-near gre shading on skin
>on a fucking daki
You guys weren't joking about the corpse thing.

>>9713117
i dont know how big the market of dakis for nechrophiliacs is, but this girls certainly got it.

>>9713115
Oh whoops don't know why I typed out Dva instead of Ahri. Wouldn't put it past them to make one for dva too though, equally as dead looking.

>>9712997
I just went and had a look and saw the one you're talking about anon, it's AWFUL. You were right to give them concrit.

Did anyone see those 'Disney Resists' works that were posted in AA?

Not to mention the all round cringe of the second post that got taken down, but if they're looking to sell these I would imagine a lawsuit from Disney would be pretty swift.

>>9713205
Read up on the thread before posting senpai

>>9713117
>>9713128
Post em dakis here

Ugh

>>9713229
That face is so unfortunate...

>>9713229
....hey wait a second. Those aren’t bananas or flowers on the wallpaper background she’s on. Those are nine tail foxes!! That lying whore.

>>9713229
The guys look okay, but the girls look so half-assed. Straight-forward case of "don't draw things you're not actually into just for the cash"

>>9713229

I don't care to comment on the train wreak as a whole, but as someone who is a big fan of LoL champ merch, because it's so rare, that's not what Ahri's hair tie looks like.

>>9712484
>>9712990

Personally I think it's a little tacky and cash-grabby to make prints of characters in a political movement that the artist isn't actively working to support, and the fact that they're going to be making profit off of the suffering of minorities makes me uncomfortable.

But the graphic design on these isn't bad, it's set up as a cohesive set so people will want to buy all three, and the art style is a nice medium between original and recognizably disney characters. Shang as bisexual and Mulan as some kind of not-cisgender are very popular readings of the characters in the tumblr crowd.These prints will likely sell very well among a market of people who want to feel and be seen as progressive more than they actually want to be politically active or progressive.

>>9713254
Wait, the artist isn't at least making a donation from a portion of their profits? That's hilarious, I can hear tunglr sharpening their pitchforks already.

>>9701342
>come here on a whim
>literally about to post the same question
Sorry for the incoming rant.

Always wanted to do AA, but I've always struggled with animu/digital drawing.
I've recently realized I only want to draw animu/illustration, and not the "Fine" art shit that I've been trained in, but damn is it hard to switch from purely observation/hours long plein air sessions to anime line art. I'm constantly struggling with "I can bust out a decent live model study, but my animu just comes out so mediocre. Might as well give up if I have to retrain myself at this point and compete with people ~10 years younger than me who are near pros at digital illustration"
I'm hoping once I get into color/painting it won't be too much of a jump from analog painting, but does anyone have a similar background?

Pic related is my current wip for something that can be "print quality".

>>9713229
>Mfw

>>9701342
>>9713264

Dudes, I'm almost 30 and I STILL haven't had a table yet. It's a curse of my own ADD and laziness, but I still hope one day to make like 12 prints and some charms and do it for fun. I don't have my livelihood stacked on this though. It's just fun.

Last time I checked, there was no age limit to draw fan art and go to AAs at anime conventions. Lol. Can you imagine.

>>9713275
Nothing like snuggling up to that pained expression of rape.

>>9713264

If you don't like lineart, don't do it. Use your training to your advantage, there's plenty of people who don't use lineart in AA?

>>9713264
At least you're classically trained to some extent. My art is very poor in general. Thank god I have some self awareness.
>>9713275
This would give me nightmares.

>>9713254
The anatomy is so bad - the raised arm is soooo short. The elbow is lining up with her eyes.

>>9713077
You didn't get what anon was saying. 101-801 are the tables closest to the entrance, 125-825 are in the back wall by the restrooms. Row 100 is facing dealers and row 800 is facing the side wall. The entrance is to the right not up or down. Here's a quick mockup to show what I mean.

Of course this is based on the assumption the layout will be the same as the last two years.

>>9713337
I guess it's the style I'm trying to emulate and having problems with.
When I was in high school I did a lot of digital anime stuff, then stopped because I thought it wasn't worth my time and wouldn't lend itself to getting gud etc etc.
Now all I want to do is git gud at doing typical doujin looking stuff.

>>9713077
okay look, ALA is a chill con and the organizers are lax, you can always just email them instead of getting mad and asking here.

>>9713561
Since you've been walking down the fine art path through the art forest for quite some time, you'll have to fight through a whole lot of brambles until you reach the animu path, but once you get there, you'll be more powerful than someone who's just been striding along the animu path all along.

I think the surface style of your wip is looking good, but the proportions seem a bit off. The torso seems much too tall for the arms and legs. But your line quality is pretty nice and this certainly isn't worse than a lot of things I've seen for sale in AA.

>>9701125
Okay, I didn't see this on the FAQ - Those cute little star/hearts or any type of charm really that hangs off the chain itself -where would you get those? Aliexpress? Taobao for bulk? I dont know if Im putting in the wrong keywords but Im not getting what im looking for.

>>9713583
Thank you kindly for the input anon. I'm hoping I can shake this filling after a few more months of focusing on animu stuff.
I'll try fixing up that mid section a bit.

>>9713632
>filling
feeling
Watching too many holiday cooking shows.

>>9713264
If your used to painting, paint the anime style. Nothing saying it has to be inked/cel shaded. All my most recent pieces were painterly. The onnnnnlyyy difference is the simplification and style of the anime styled head. I've even seen artist do realistic style with anime characters and do very well.

>>9713229
there are so many high quality (art wise, anyway) ahri bodypillows already tho

fanime apps around the corner, you guys ready?

>nyan cat video on temporary application page

fuck you fanime staff, just get your shit done on time, don't try to be quirky and relatable with dated memes

>>9713616
Do you mean beads? Delishbeads is a popular supplier
https://www.delishbeads.com/

>>9713792
I was starting to wonder if they were ever gonna put them up...

A fanime app newbie here. How do you apply with friends? It says you can’t add another artist after applying. And you can only submit 4 pictures. Can one picture contain multiple merch? Thank you in advance!

>>9713978
Short answer, yeah you can make collages if you want.

Long answer: Careful, if you apply with someone, it's basically all or nothing for the judges. You said "friends", but I'm hoping you meant just one other person. One of you might cause the application to be rejected. Unless you both are super confident in your art enough to not fuck it up for the other person, I would recommend applying separately if you have enough material to do so and hope one of you gets in. It's still competitive and therefore hard to get into Fanime. Fanime staff is pretty lazyv when it comes to the actual con days, so they don't actually check if all the artwork you have on display is yours. "Illegal" table sharing always slips by. But taking this risk is up to you, just wanted to make the point that this con is still cutthroat and it's harder for *~all my friends and I are sharing one booth uwu~* applicants to get in.

>>9713701
Yeah, I kinda wanna aim for something like this,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cy1i0Ka6MYk

Although I'm curious if anyone here knows what he means by "adding shadows on an overlay layer"?
I'm used to doing really typical blocky cell shading by just clipping layers to base colors. Is it normal to just have one layer designated to blending/shadows for a painting style like this?

>>9713978
you both apply with one application, and you each have your own section where you put all your info and links to your artwork. And yes, any of your 4 submitted photos could be a collage of multiple pictures.

>>9714096
Literally do your shadows on an overlay layer. I find it useful for adjustments, though of course, some artists prefer to just paint on a single layer. Personally, either I end up doing the actual painting on a layer over the base colours layer and shadow layer once I'm satisfied with how the shadows look, or I end up merging the base layer and shadow layer and painting on that.

>>9714117
Do you use product photos for the collage or digital files?

>>9714184
both I guess. For my charms I do a collage with the artwork next to the finished product photo. For prints I obviously just link them the artwork.

>>9713802
Something like that!! This is a good website, thank you.

But something like this I meant! https://gyazo.com/b1f440499238901bd6c56bef457c3e68

>>9714315
Ebay, my dude

Fanime newbie here, what's the expected table pricing this year? Sans badge, that is.

How often you you see just BAD art? Not "not great", not "could be better", but BAD art at the AA?

>>9714407
Last year's was $150, so around that ballpark. Might go up this year, who knows.

>>9714451
In the middle of midwest nowhere with only one large area convention a year.. often.
At least one at every smaller show.

>>9714451
On a similar note, any good horror stories/examples of what i shouldn't be trying to sell?

>>9714451
Almost every con I have been to has had at least one BAD artist. Like, 20 year old whose art never progressed past age 12 bad.
Small cons let almost anyone in, and large cons always reserve a few spots for newbie artists.
People actually buy from them though. Mostly ~12 year olds though.

>>9714451
I mean this is entirely subjective but... agreeing with the other anons that there's at least one every con.

One time I tabled across from this one girl whose prints were literally just black and white photos of her drawings on lined paper. She didn't even photoshop the lines out or anything. Everything was How To Draw Manga tier. And every single print was on 4x6 glossy photo stock. Like she literally just took photos of her lined paper drawings and had them printed out at the nearest Walgreens or something.

She didn't sell a single thing the entire weekend. She got really anxious about not selling anything so she decided to stand in front of her table and start yelling at people to come look at her art? It was pretty embarrassing.

She was young-ish but I had also just graduated high school at that point - so she was probably my age or older. I wonder who bought the table for her... surely not herself considering AX tables were still pretty steep back then.

>>9714451
Years ago, I knew a girl much older than me who got into a lottery convention where the tables were like $250. Her art was really, really terrible. Like, worse than a 12 year old despite being 21 and in art school. She told me at the end of the con that she literally sold nothing. I was totally scared to table at conventions for years because I thought the same would happen to me lol

>>9714451
yeah, theres a couple dudes who have godawful tier art but they do like a billion badges and stickers so they make at least even by ppl just buying bc favourite character or whatever.

I had one kid - maybe 14 or so - who had a TON of art and comics, all printed on printer paper. Priced at a few cents each and STILL didn't sell anything. Was tabled right next to me and spent the latter half of the convention staring at me and sniffling every time I made a sale.

>>9714528
if you're going to sell homemade printed stickers, make sure it's sealed and the ink can't rub off

i didn't realise till after the con. at least they were super cheap and i only sold like four. i still feel the guilt spectre descend upon me at random times.

Anyone stressing about their fanime apps?

I've gotten in every year except last year. My job is working at a graphic design company so that rejection really kicked my confidence in the balls.

>>9714750
I never get in, been applying for a few years now. I get into other juried shows but I think fanime just hates my style. Still worth putting an app in though if the worst that can happen is you get rejected.... you can still sell at one of the other 5 conventions going on the same weekend.

Where do people go for feedback on their art?

>>9714906
You've arrived at your destination.

>>9714939
Oooh okay, sorry I wasn't sure if I could straight up ask for art questions ITT.
I asked on /ic/ but haven't gotten anything back so I guess I'll ask here as well.
What do you do about multiple blocks of white figures in a painting? Ouma's pants and the horse are both white, is it a better idea to make one figure a different tone of white or keep everything the same base white? (Does it even matter? I guess it's sort of a color theory question.)
Would it just work better if I just made the horse gray?

>>9714451
I remember seeing this artist at AN and Fanexpo, her art was all traced on newspaper, there was nothing but that from the looks of it. It was ... bad, her non traced artwork was bad too. Im surprised ive seen them at 2 cons!

Why the fuck did it take so long for AB emails to go out when all we did was fill out a form and no portfolio review? Why are they not being sent out all at once? Why is the pro row filled with questionable artists? Anime Boston's artist alley team is compromised of fucking morons.

>>9714750
I've never gotten in, it seems to be kind of a crap shoot though.

>>9714948
(pic of op's reference for the lazy)

you could also differentiate them through shadows, this horse actually has a lot of shadows on it and is only pure white in the highlights.

i think you could tweak the horse a bit more before colouring it. horses are difficult for the best of artists.

Anyone here selling at Ikkicon that can confirm they're using a juried selection system this year?

So who here got into AB's second phase?

>>9715050
Second phase? I don't think they are done sending out all of the emails yet. It seems they are sending them out individually.

>>9714948
i'm sorry anon, it looks like he's holding a purple dildo

>>9714958
>>9715050
>>9715059
wait why is everyone over at AANI hung up over the timestamps of their applications? i thought it was a lottery system and it didn't matter when you submitted as long as it was in the time frame?

>>9715072
nevermind, is AB still FCFS for standard row? forgot they still do that "teehee we won't tell you when we actually open~" thing

>>9715076
AB was FCFS, anon.

>>9714992
Yeah I'll try to fix up the horse especially around the legs, I think they're a bit short.
I might just make the horse the cooler gray tone and work in the highlights then
>>9715070
lol hopefully when I render it a bit more it'll look more like a soda bottle, although now I want to make a dildo version

>>9714531
>>9714531
Even small cons are going to jury now. This really pisses me off, actually.

I live in the middle of bumblefuck nowhere and there's this one day college con with less than 300 people go to. They decided they wanted to be like the big boys now and make their AA juried.

The con doesn't even have a website. They announced AA applications were open on their Facebook, but no link to it anywhere.

I had to Google it, and they had the link on their Twitter... Which has less than 150 followers lmao

I'm sorry, but who the fuck do you think you are that you can dictate who can and can't be in your shitty ass "con" that you struggle to get people to come to as it is.

>>9715178
Their definition of "jury" is them letting you know that a human being looked at your art for two seconds, making sure no one decided that that con should be the one they bring their creepy fetish art to, and trying to make it sound good.

Honestly though, if it's more than that, then they have a pie in the sky attitude of how many artists are interested in attending that small of a show. They'll come back to earth sooner or later here. In the meantime, it's a waste of everyone's time.

>>9714958
>Anime Boston's artist alley team is compromised of fucking morons.

They are STILL doing FCFS when their servers clearly can't handle it, of course it's run by fucking apes.

Juried > lottery >>>>> Hemorrhoids>>>>> FCFS

>>9715178
agree with >>9715203 small con jury is mostly just to make sure you are selling relevant stuff for that con that aren't breaking any con rules or laws.

>>9715208
I completely agree with this. If a con can't be bothered to actually jury applications, the best option is lottery by category.

>>9714470
Thanks! Here's hoping apps go well!

Where is the WIP? What is WIP about this? Why is it still up??

>>9715249
you sound salty, maybe they'll add in more details later

chill the fuck out

>>9715022
Juried selection is next year for 2018! They didn't do Juried for 2017, it was FCFS but they only contacted previous artists.

>>9715351
Whelp. Was seriously hoping to see some more variety than what we got last year but I guess not.

Fucking!

rekt!

>>9715441
What were people complaining about specifically?

>>9715050
Yea. 2 mins after open no e-mail yet. If some one later than me gets in they are picking favorites really, and not fcfs. I'm actually curious to see the time stamps vs. reality.

>>9715441
>>9715443
this reads like it was written by a 14 year old buttmad virgin mad his parents told him to clean his fucking room

>>9715451
Are you one of those easily offended people, Anon? Did this rustle your jimmies?

>>9715449
I think the grey area here is that everyone is going by their email timestamp - which might not be the same thing as their application timestamp. It'd be one thing if the emails themselves included your application timestamp like I think A-Kon used to do. I know I got a table and my application was later than some of the people who said they're still waiting for confirmation.

>>9715469
nah, I'd have to actually care or even go to the con to get my jimmies rustled but the amount of anger and strawmanning (yes even though they point it out) is amusing to me

new thread: >>9715629

>>9715441
>>9715443
best con

>>9715265

Artist spotted lol.

>>9715853
Not everyone that disagrees with you is a selfposter

>>9715853
salty casual spotted, stop using facebook groups and posting here you fucking idiot, literally no one fucking cares

>>9713792
They got me at the worst time.

>>9714750
Anyone know if two artists need 4 each or 4 total??