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 ]

[Skye River]

Vicemage

Yeah, some cons allow it, others don't. And I can understand the various reasons behind why, but it's still sort of disappointing sometimes that you can't just put out a bowl of candy or something. ^^

From what I understand, the food at the conventions can be quite expensive. Sometimes, it can also be pretty boring (nachos, a decent cheeseburger if you're lucky ...)

I wanted to bring something fun for my first time customers ... and lunch for myself *laughs*

[Seijaku_Ishida]

Lunch certainly is important. XD One can't subsist off of hunger suppressing crap alone.

[AEAcomics]

Seijaku_Ishida

Sounds like you had fun!

There was a Dr Robotnik cosplayer, and that made everything awesome. xd

[shiroiusagi]

I got a question and super curious, which site to go for prints is the best? XD It seems like alot of you guys went to artscow, but my prints are 11x17. x-o I don't think I have the patience to cut off trims. XD I got so many links saved from this thread, I can't figure out which else printing is good. XD Now if I think about it I remember hearing STAPLES was good too, (but I think internet is cheaper) and I TOTALLY DO NOT LIKE the Kinkos in my area, their printing is absolutely horrible and expensive. It seems I have CatPrint bookmarked too, are they good with their quality? XD I need to start kicking things into gear and start preparing my junk for an AA that I have no clue it would be yet. XD

[SNOGBLOG]

u have a deviantart too? omg u peeps have lots of places to go when u want to go.

[Seijaku_Ishida]

shiroiusagi

I got a question and super curious, which site to go for prints is the best? XD It seems like alot of you guys went to artscow, but my prints are 11x17. x-o I don't think I have the patience to cut off trims. XD I got so many links saved from this thread, I can't figure out which else printing is good. XD Now if I think about it I remember hearing STAPLES was good too, (but I think internet is cheaper) and I TOTALLY DO NOT LIKE the Kinkos in my area, their printing is absolutely horrible and expensive. It seems I have CatPrint bookmarked too, are they good with their quality? XD I need to start kicking things into gear and start preparing my junk for an AA that I have no clue it would be yet. XD

If you're willing to drop a bit of cash for shipping, most sites offer free 4x6 to let you see their paper quality.

I recall http://www.pephoto.com/ has some decent quality.

[shiroiusagi]

Seijaku_Ishida

shiroiusagi

I got a question and super curious, which site to go for prints is the best? XD It seems like alot of you guys went to artscow, but my prints are 11x17. x-o I don't think I have the patience to cut off trims. XD I got so many links saved from this thread, I can't figure out which else printing is good. XD Now if I think about it I remember hearing STAPLES was good too, (but I think internet is cheaper) and I TOTALLY DO NOT LIKE the Kinkos in my area, their printing is absolutely horrible and expensive. It seems I have CatPrint bookmarked too, are they good with their quality? XD I need to start kicking things into gear and start preparing my junk for an AA that I have no clue it would be yet. XD

If you're willing to drop a bit of cash for shipping, most sites offer free 4x6 to let you see their paper quality.

I recall http://www.pephoto.com/ has some decent quality.

Ah I see, that's a nice thing to know. smile Super thanks!

[Vicemage]

Skye> That's actually among those cases where I understand it... frequently when you've got situations like that, where there's food being provided (ie sold) within the facility by paid workers, there's a deal between the facility and the convention stating that no food can be sold or given away at the convention itself, that might compete with the food provided (ie sold) by the facility. Which does go all the way to preventing dealers from selling Pocky and artists from having a free candy dish on their table. About half the cons I attend have this kind of setup--and it's the bigger ones, that need the large facility, which are the types of facilities that have that food available for various events.

Generally, the banning of candy bowls isn't something decided on by the convention (though I'm sure cases exist), but something imposed on the convention by the hosting facility.

Shiroi> You could also try Office Max (aka imPress); they do actually do quite nice work, we use them all the time to make copies and printouts at my job.

[shiroiusagi]

Vicemage

Shiroi> You could also try Office Max (aka imPress); they do actually do quite nice work, we use them all the time to make copies and printouts at my job.

Ah I'll look into that too. biggrin I forgot I was looking for a semi gloss like finish or something close to a poster, but not as thick (not too fond of printing work on photo paper). I found this site http://www.uprinting.com and it had a sample kit so I was happy enough to get one mailed to me. Very curious about their stuffs. XD

[[Kako]]

shiroiusagi

I got a question and super curious, which site to go for prints is the best? XD It seems like alot of you guys went to artscow, but my prints are 11x17. x-o I don't think I have the patience to cut off trims. XD I got so many links saved from this thread, I can't figure out which else printing is good. XD Now if I think about it I remember hearing STAPLES was good too, (but I think internet is cheaper) and I TOTALLY DO NOT LIKE the Kinkos in my area, their printing is absolutely horrible and expensive. It seems I have CatPrint bookmarked too, are they good with their quality? XD I need to start kicking things into gear and start preparing my junk for an AA that I have no clue it would be yet. XD

The quality of Staple's Prints is pretty nice, but the service you get with them is really luck of the draw. For Fanime, I went into the same staples on three separate occasions for prints. Here's a summary of what I ran in to:

1st: There was only one guy in the copy center. He cheerfully took my files, sized each one properly, then rotated and placed them so that the most possible would fit on each page. Then, because he decided he liked my work, he gave me a better weight of paper than I was actually paying for. He chatted with us while the images were printing.

2nd: Again, only one guy in the copy center. Different guy. He took my files, and printed out a test copy at entirely the wrong size. It took up the entire paper, when I only wanted 5"x7"s. When I pointed this out, he said "Oh, our programs aren't capable of sizing the images. We can only print them like this." I brought out my prints from a few days before and argued that their programs were, in fact, capable of it, at which point he started claiming that another employee had screwed with the settings, and that's why he couldn't size them. I asked when he thought that the settings would be fixed, and he said "Oh, well, when we fix the settings we still can't size the image." =_=; I left.

3rd: The guy from the second time and one of his managers were there. The manager hurriedly took my files, then shooed me away and said that they'd call when they were done. When I got back, the images were sized... approximately. There was as much as a half-inch variation on every size I had requested. Not only that, but even in cases where the image was three inches wide, they used a single, full 8.5x11 sheet for it. (Probably to maximize profits.) Finally, they actually printed a ton of files I had told them not to, which I had to pay for, about doubling the cost of my order.

Staples: Your Mileage May Vary.

[shiroiusagi]

Kako

shiroiusagi

I got a question and super curious, which site to go for prints is the best? XD It seems like alot of you guys went to artscow, but my prints are 11x17. x-o I don't think I have the patience to cut off trims. XD I got so many links saved from this thread, I can't figure out which else printing is good. XD Now if I think about it I remember hearing STAPLES was good too, (but I think internet is cheaper) and I TOTALLY DO NOT LIKE the Kinkos in my area, their printing is absolutely horrible and expensive. It seems I have CatPrint bookmarked too, are they good with their quality? XD I need to start kicking things into gear and start preparing my junk for an AA that I have no clue it would be yet. XD

The quality of Staple's Prints is pretty nice, but the service you get with them is really luck of the draw. For Fanime, I went into the same staples on three separate occasions for prints. Here's a summary of what I ran in to:

1st: There was only one guy in the copy center. He cheerfully took my files, sized each one properly, then rotated and placed them so that the most possible would fit on each page. Then, because he decided he liked my work, he gave me a better weight of paper than I was actually paying for. He chatted with us while the images were printing.

2nd: Again, only one guy in the copy center. Different guy. He took my files, and printed out a test copy at entirely the wrong size. It took up the entire paper, when I only wanted 5"x7"s. When I pointed this out, he said "Oh, our programs aren't capable of sizing the images. We can only print them like this." I brought out my prints from a few days before and argued that their programs were, in fact, capable of it, at which point he started claiming that another employee had screwed with the settings, and that's why he couldn't size them. I asked when he thought that the settings would be fixed, and he said "Oh, well, when we fix the settings we still can't size the image." =_=; I left.

3rd: The guy from the second time and one of his managers were there. The manager hurriedly took my files, then shooed me away and said that they'd call when they were done. When I got back, the images were sized... approximately. There was as much as a half-inch variation on every size I had requested. Not only that, but even in cases where the image was three inches wide, they used a single, full 8.5x11 sheet for it. (Probably to maximize profits.) Finally, they actually printed a ton of files I had told them not to, which I had to pay for, about doubling the cost of my order.

Staples: Your Mileage May Vary.

Wowies, those are huge differences you got there Kako sad Such horrible horrible service after the 1st guy. :<

[AEAcomics]

I'm so excited, I made almost $300 without a single fanart item at my table. biggrin
Once I collect my sister's share of room / gas / snacks, I'll be positive about $45.

[[Kako]]

Wow, congratulations!