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 ]

[Vicemage]

Seijaku_Ishida

Vicemage

(edit: Whoops, wasn't supposed to say that yet. biggrin )

I think you said something I was about to say. xd

In that case, I won't say that I'm working on arrangements right now or that I hope to see you there. ^_^

[Seijaku_Ishida]

Vicemage

Seijaku_Ishida

Vicemage

(edit: Whoops, wasn't supposed to say that yet. biggrin )

I think you said something I was about to say. xd

In that case, I won't say that I'm working on arrangements right now or that I hope to see you there. ^_^

And I won't respond that I'm looking forward to seeing you there. ;D

*coughs* Anyway. I was thinking of painting and/or staining wooden boxes and putting prints on top of them. I got one from Vestaka last month and am in love with it.

[Vicemage]

Very cool idea, I say go for it. I have a weakness for neat boxes, though... >.>

I realized a few days ago that I have a con next weekend. And my work schedule is all jacked up. (Not for not taking off the days, just for them not going in properly.) I should maybe think about making some charms and getting my sewing machine back for more doll clothes...

[Seijaku_Ishida]

Now I just need to think of what pictures would look good on boxes. *plots*

Yeah, charms would be good. >>

Oh, just to warn you guys, Paper Forest has been kinda off kilter. So at the moment it's probably best not to put in new orders.

[Jinberry]

Oh hang on, I thought Sticker Booth / Paper Forest is now recently trading as Particular Press?

EDIT: Sorry, my mistake. Paper Forest is for custom orders. You're right..

[slimyfrogz]

Hello!~

I'll be doing my first artist alley table and I'm so nervous ^^; I was wondering how you judge just how many prints you buy and like quantities of everything since I have no experience to base this off of just yet ._.;

Thanks very much! I love the guide, and I really wished I found this ages ago! xD

[Kyousouka]

slimyfrogz: Try to bring enough of each print. 3~5 of a medium-size (8x10-ish) is a good starting number. If a particular piece is very popular online, bring a few more of it. If you have more than 15-20 different images, avoid bringing more than 10 of each, except perhaps very popular images. Also, don't forget that you'll need to use some of them for display.
If you intend to sell small prints as well, you can bring more. They're cheap to make and take up little room. I think 5-8 of each is a good number. Maybe less if you have a lot of different ones.
For misc items like bookmarks and keychains, determining the amount to bring is even more difficult. I think starting with 5 of each is good (and more for stickers). If you can get them made in large numbers for cheap, then do so and bring more 8D

A very important factor in the numbers is the cost of the con, printing, and expected attendance. For a large con, you might want to bring extra copies. Some very popular artists sell 20+ of each print at big cons (and some sell even more, I'm sure). At a first con, it's safer to run out than to sell less than half though, I think.
When I say "cost of the con" I mean every cost associated with it. Attendance cost, table cost, transportation and room costs, expected food costs, etc. As a general rule, if you sell half of everything you bring, the profits should be enough to cover these expenses (by profits, I mean total price - printing cost).

Don't be sad if your first con ends up in a net loss, however. Each con is a learning experience even for people who live in Artist Alleys xP Even if you don't make any profit, you'll know what sold and what didn't sell, you'll have feedback from congoers, and maybe you'll end up with new friends.

Once you have a good idea of how your stuff sells, you can start making more accurate predictions and price your art better.

[Vicemage]

Seijaku_Ishida

Now I just need to think of what pictures would look good on boxes. *plots*

Yeah, charms would be good. >>

Oh, just to warn you guys, Paper Forest has been kinda off kilter. So at the moment it's probably best not to put in new orders.

*kicks site* It's still not loaded for me, but still, the heads-up is good (I'll just let it go for a while so I can read details), since I've been planning to put together some stuff through them for future cons.

(Okay, it did load, that's pretty bad... based on previous work and reviews, though, if I hear they've gotten their s**t together, I'll still go ahead and make an order with them. For now, I'll sit and watch.)

Gotta check in with my coworker today and have her bring my sewing machine with her to work tomorrow, so I can get some stuff done... I'm really hoping to get a couple of pairs of doll jeans or something whipped together before the next con. Jeans are a good thing to have for dolls. ^^

[Seijaku_Ishida]

Even the poster said they'd go back if things get sorted out. But currently, money can be best put to other pursuits.

[Fiammetta Rey]

... crap.

This is a fail day.

Edit: You know what? It really isn't.

I don't have to worry about making more jewelry or drawing my comic,
I can put the jewelry I've already made online,
I can spend more time working on my cosplay
And most importantly, I can spend more time hanging out with my friends and wearing the cosplay and being in a cosplay group for the first time in my life! (Even though half of my Code Geass group decided to do Le Chevalier D'eon instead, it's still awesome).

[Jayde Panda]

On Paper Forest: I'm really really glad now I didn't order from them back in August. I came very close to ordering sticker sets to go with my buttons, but I ended up just doing the buttons for AWA.

[Murira]

So I just finished reading the whole thread. Aaaall 152 pages. You guys have some awesome advice.

I've been wanting to have a table at an artist alley for probably 4 or 5 years already, but I never really felt confident enough to do it. Also, most of my artwork is comics and not standalone illustrations, but I've been wanting to do more illustrations for practice anyway. XD;

My target AAs would be Anime Next and Anime Expo. I was always kinda intimdated by the AA at Anime Expo. I'm not sure if my art and comics would sell. I figure I'd make prints of some of my DA stuff [maybe this, this, or this, but it's really...um...long] and draw some newer stuff too. I'm more interested in trying to sell my comics, though. Do people tend to buy little issues of comics? I know the one dude I noticed selling comics at AX this year wasn't getting much traffic to his table, but that could be other factors, I guess. I didn't think much of his conversational skills, and his table was kinda boring if I recall correctly.

So...thoughts? I'd appreciate it. heart

[Seijaku_Ishida]

I buy issues of comics if I like the art or the story premise...or if I read them online. ^^