Artists Alley Information Thread

Selling at Cons is best during the...

Spring	11.6%	[ 83 ]
Summer	30.3%	[ 217 ]
Fall	7.0%	[ 50 ]
Winter	5.3%	[ 38 ]
Any time!	45.7%	[ 327 ]
Total Votes:			[ 715 ]

[pearberrie]

Vicemage

And yet, most every convention I've dealt with has used the forums as the primary website, with the actual "site" a pretty mask you see when you enter their url. Lots of shiny, no substance.

I'm kinda glad someone mentioned this because right now animenext has no forum it's been down for weeks and ALL of the information used to be on the forum xD it's driving me crazy!
I'm quite used to skimming through the forums to get all the info needed but when the forum isnt there anymore and no one still cares to update the website then what? xD gah

for those who have experience with animeusa, this would be my first year going there and 1 question, does it always take then like 1+months to cash the check for the registrations+artist alley table? xD

[pearberrie]

Nyawyn

DarKlawStudios

But on the subject of buttons, does anyone have a button maker? How much did it cost, how quick did it pay for itself? Where'd you buy it? biggrin

myself and a friend of mine both have machines from http://www.americanbuttonmachines.com/

I 2nd this american buttons is a good place to buy or check ebay they tend to run even cheaper on ebay for the machines, and the machines no matter who sells them are all the same. you want a tecre machine avoid badgeaminit it's waaaaaaaaaaay too much trouble and all their button parts are branded which looks bad.

if you live in Seattle this place is best http://buttonmakers.net they have free pick up which saves a ton of money. for those outside of Seattle are it's not such a great deal though. I ordered from them back when they still have good prices for us east coasters sad

[Nyawyn]

pearberrie

Vicemage

And yet, most every convention I've dealt with has used the forums as the primary website, with the actual "site" a pretty mask you see when you enter their url. Lots of shiny, no substance.

I'm kinda glad someone mentioned this because right now animenext has no forum it's been down for weeks and ALL of the information used to be on the forum xD it's driving me crazy!
I'm quite used to skimming through the forums to get all the info needed but when the forum isnt there anymore and no one still cares to update the website then what? xD gah

for those who have experience with animeusa, this would be my first year going there and 1 question, does it always take then like 1+months to cash the check for the registrations+artist alley table? xD

From our experience, it does usually take about a month if you are paying by check. Our Anime USA check still has to be cashed yet and that was sent in last month as well.

[Jayde Panda]

Nyawyn

pearberrie

Vicemage

And yet, most every convention I've dealt with has used the forums as the primary website, with the actual "site" a pretty mask you see when you enter their url. Lots of shiny, no substance.

I'm kinda glad someone mentioned this because right now animenext has no forum it's been down for weeks and ALL of the information used to be on the forum xD it's driving me crazy!
I'm quite used to skimming through the forums to get all the info needed but when the forum isnt there anymore and no one still cares to update the website then what? xD gah

for those who have experience with animeusa, this would be my first year going there and 1 question, does it always take then like 1+months to cash the check for the registrations+artist alley table? xD

From our experience, it does usually take about a month if you are paying by check. Our Anime USA check still has to be cashed yet and that was sent in last month as well.

Yes, same here; my check hasn't been cashed yet. It took them about as long last year as well.

[AEAcomics]

Thread was on the fourth page. Shameful.

Anyway! I think I will start putting money away for that button maker. 1.25" is a good size, I dug out a 1" pin I bought a while back and it was itty-bitty compared to a 1.25" button/magnet.

And I think I will be attending Sogencon this year, Aug 7-9. I should get a table and room reserved this weekend. Gotta find roomies, and maybe someone to split the table with. There's no way I'll take up the whole thing myself.

I think I'll do mainly sketch commissions, and fliers / minicomic to promote my webcomic.

[Kaxen]

I don't think I'm getting a button machine this year, but pondering about it gave me a crack idea about doing custom buttons, like drawing designs on the spot and then throwing it in the button machine, but then I remembered that I don't know if I can draw that small. xD

[AEAcomics]

I was thinking something similar, along the lines of "Make your own button!" or something, and having templates and parts on hand. I think that would be pretty popular.

[muffin babie]

We're planning on replacing our button maker. We thought it was wonderful at first, but then we saw the maker that the people next to us have. We had a good long talk with them about it, and they said that badge-a-minit is ok for a first machine, but if you're getting serious, you should get something better.

They also did button commissions, which were wildly popular.

Where is Sogencon? I feel like it's nearby-ish to me.

I broke even this year! Three cheers for me! biggrin

[AEAcomics]

Sogencon is in Sioux Falls SD. And congrats on breaking even smile

[Vicemage]

Yay for breaking even!

Who was next to you? I know there was a fair amount of shuffling this year, stupid hotel... Managed to keep my table all three days, though. I couldn't completely keep track of where anyone was other than a few who kept spots and the four I know really well (Meredith, Chibi Toaster, Jillyfoo and Izuki). Kind of a BS arrangement, I know most of it was the hotel's fault, but the con setting up some sort of "keep the table you were at" might have been nice... *shrug* Oh well.

*also: I hate how when it gives me a captcha it forces previewing instead of submitting. Eff you, capcha, you don't stop the spammers anyway*

[muffin babie]

I didn't get their names. /facepalm

They were sisters, with pretty short hair. Their main thing was buttons. They had a whole bunch of them out and pinned to their table. Fairly big ones--three inches, I wanna say? They had a print book as well, but their main thing was buttons.
For the last two days, we were in the middle section. We/they were facing the dealer's room...? I don't know how to describe it any more without drawing a map. >.<

We had planned to stay at the same table all three days, but someone took ours before we got there on Saturday. It ended up being better for us, though, as we got more traffic.

[Vicemage]

More traffic is a good thing... I kind of weighed the idea of trying for more traffic with staying int he same spot. And then I sold out of books and decided to stay where I was. biggrin (plus it kept me near Jilly and Toaster, and Meredith came over to join us, so there was plenty of help. Sometimes it's tough to be a studio of one...)

Not sure if they're a group I know... I know a lot of the area artists, but not all of them by any means. ^_^

[Shadow Ivy]

I'm rather curious...did anyone here sell at MTAC this past weekend? I wasn't able to sell there since I had to decide between it and ACen (read: finances), but I was curious to know how things were, what with their fan art ban and all. question

[Seijaku_Ishida]

If you're looking for, say, printing individual chapters of one's webcomic in a floppy comic...how many copies would you advise I print for a mid-to-large sized convention?

What about for a whole volume around 4-5 chapters?

Just an idea for the future, but i'd like to know how much I might be spending.

[AEAcomics]

I'd like to know the same thing, but for a small con, of around 1000 attendees with an itty bitty artist alley. I was thinking 25. Too much? Too few?