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 ]

[Fiammetta Rey]

But I'm not good enough to sell something not connected to a story, and no one knows my OC's stories. Buying a picture of someone's OC when you don't know the story is just like buying a wall scroll of a series you don't watch. Why would anyone do that?

Plus I like a lot of not-as-popular fandoms and I want to reach out to people who like those too.

... I need to draw some Shugo Chara stuff.

[Vicemage]

If you have the story, and cute enough art, you can actually pull off selling things based on it. I do manage to sell the charms based on my original characters, and will be working on stickers in a similar vein for upcoming cons. (I have a few "fanart" things, but for Ohayocon, like Fallcon, I'll be dropping them from my table. It's not much to begin with, so it doesn't bug me much to take them out.)

[Fiammetta Rey]

I don't know if my story is good enough, though. And what am I supposed to do? Explain it to everyone who comes by? They'd just walk away.

[ninniku]

Starre257

But I'm not good enough to sell something not connected to a story, and no one knows my OC's stories. Buying a picture of someone's OC when you don't know the story is just like buying a wall scroll of a series you don't watch. Why would anyone do that?

Plus I like a lot of not-as-popular fandoms and I want to reach out to people who like those too.

... I need to draw some Shugo Chara stuff.

It is possible to sell OC art, you just have to pick the right pictures. I'll go into a little detail with examples of my own that I have seen work and fail, and why I think that happened.

But generally, if they are sexy, super adorable, or really cool, people might buy them. You don't have to tell every person who comes by about their history, most people probably don't care. If they ask, sure, go ahead, but some people just like the art.

EXAMPLES!
I have this picture of SPACE DRAGONS, which is really some concept art for Dragon Gods for one of my comics, but it looks cool, so people like it. link
However, if they are just pictures of your OCs standing around, that's not very interesting, no one really cares. link. See, even though at the time, this was pretty technically awesome for me, to others it's kind of boring. Very little purchase incentive.
You CAN do standing around pictures if there is a lot of emotion, or they are very pretty. link. See, this one is just pretty, there's lots of detail, and it has a lot more imagination inspiring elements than the previous one, that makes it more successful. (I think)

You just have to be careful, if you do sell OC art, to not make things that are too story specific. As in, to enjoy this character in this picture, I must know the story behind it.

But even trying to keep all this in mind, it's still kind of a gamble. And pictures you think are like "whoa super cool" might not get bought.

But then it also varies convention to convention. It doesn't hurt to make up a few of your best images into prints and see how it goes, yeah?

[Fiammetta Rey]

So yeah, I know if I can't draw I have no business getting an AA table in the first place... but say I did...

I should stick to chibis that are cute vs. trying to pull of something exquisitely beautiful?

Okay, so the rule got clarified, it's by item... but you know what, I just don't feel like putting off that Code Geass/ Princess Tutu picture any longer. So I'm going to draw it now, and then OC stuff.

Idea: If someone buys my comic, they get a ticket for 1 free button of one of the characters (after they read it and decide who their favorite character is) and if after that, they buy issue 2 (assuming I have issue 2 by then), they get 2 more buttons.

[Vicemage]

Starre257

I don't know if my story is good enough, though. And what am I supposed to do? Explain it to everyone who comes by? They'd just walk away.

Oh, no no, hon... there's better ways of baiting them. biggrin

If you're selling comics (this goes for the whole thread, not just Starre), a book I found very useful was "How to Make Webcomics" (Guigar, Kellett, Kurtz and Straub, ISBN 978-1-58240-870-5, if you choose to look it up). Don't worry, it's not one of those silly "this is how you draw" books. It's pretty much on the technical sides of it. Geared to the strip-style comics (which I am most definately not), but the advice in it is still solid for a story-style comic.

Particularly useful is Chapter 11, "Conventions," which does in fact deal with the business side of Artist Alley, including good ways to market your comic to the general public that's never heard of you, including tactics for handouts/giveaways and pitching your book. A couple of hilights:

Quote:

The first step in pitching is to get the attendee to stop. The best way to do this is to hand a flyer to them. People will unconsciously reach for something that is handed to them. Once they've stopped with your flyer in their hands, you can give them your pitch.

Quote:

Your pitch is a 10-20 second verbal explanation of your comic. You'll want to say the title, what it's about, and what makes it unique. It has to be clear, concise--and if at all possible--clever. You have a very short time to make an impression. Putting a little time into a pitch is going to increase your potential at a con exponentially.

Quote:

A good pitch mentiones the comic's title, the comic's core concept and a clever tagline. It goes on to point out the URL on the flyer and mention where the comic can be read and how often it updates. Anything that doesn't fit into these parameters should be saved for your post-pitch discussion.

Quote:

One thing worth nothing in Brad's pitch, above, is his use of the word "my." I can't emphasize that word enough. ... [W]hen you use the word "my in relation to the art you've created, something clicks in people's heads. You get a very different reaction, a positive reaction. I guarantee they'll be more likely to at least listen to what you have to say. So stress the "my."

Now, that's just a few points out of a nearly-200 page book that's almost solid text. biggrin And a lot of those pages are debatably helpful to people who don't do newspaper-style gag strips. But it's still got some good points beyond the basics that I've learned just from working in customer service for so long. (See? Those retail jobs actually have some use after all!)

This has also given me the idea... I'm going to go over to the guild and set up a thread to try out different comic pitches with other AA-goers, since my own needs work before my next con (in about a month), and I'm sure others could benefit from a discussion on them as well. So... go check the guild for it. smile

[Frosted Muffin Cakes]

I have a question about fanart.

If I were to make some bookmarks/buttons based in the Chinese/Western Zodiacs, would they be fanart? It's obviously a concept I didn't come up with on my own, but if I design the images myself (and don't base them off of, say, Fruits Basket), are they "mine?"

[Kimifangirl]

This was definately helpful! biggrin Thank you!

[Fiammetta Rey]

That would be original. Fanart is when you draw someone else's characters or something like that... I like to think of fanart as art connected to a story drawn by someone not affiliated with those who wrote/own the story.

Which leads to another question... if I draw a picture or a comic or something and the design is entirely mine, but it uses the story (or even direct quotes) from a public domain work, would it fall under fanart or original?

[Vicemage]

In general, public domain/myth/etc will take you out of the "fanart" realm. So, if you're illustrating the Zodiac, or doing religiously themed art, or illustrating Grimm's fairy tales, that tends to be original/illustrative art.

If, on the other hand, you're drawing Harry Potter, or Twilight, or those sort of things (and I do in this case mean original designs, not basing off the movies or any illustrations the books may already have), that will tend more into the "fanart" category.

Yes, it's gray.

[Fiammetta Rey]

Where do things more recent that mythology but before the 20th century fall? If I remember correctly, most of that should be public domain... but I'm not sure.

[Vicemage]

I believe pre-20th century is public domain... if you've got a specific question, feel free to PM me about it. ^_^ (You'll have to friend-request me if you want to do that, though, I don't think you're on my list yet... but I'll accept if you do request.)