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 ]

[Kyousouka]

Selling well on Gaia doesn't mean you'd sell well at cons, though. Gaia Gold doesn't have the same realness, so people are more willing to part with it. In addition, most of the scribbles you see on Gaia go for 1-20k. In real-world money, that's less than a dollar. Such prices are often not an option at conventions due to the expenses involved (printing costs, table costs, etc). Even 4x6" prints that cost 5-20 cents to get are usually significantly more than a dollar each because of other expenses.

[Kyousouka]

I got my Artscow order of custom playing cards. So, time for a review!


I ordered the 54 designs (55 really, 54 fronts, 1 back) custom playing cards and uploaded 300dpi images of my cards. I read some tips saying that in order to make sure the borders aren't cropped off, each image should be zoomed out by pressing the "-" button three times. I'm glad I listened.

The Good: The alignment turned out better than I expected. I was very worried about this, since their preview images lie and their card design interface isn't very clear. The colours turned out quite well. They came in a plastic case (albeit a rather flimsy one), which is nice but useless for my purposes.
I paid a grand total of $5.99 for these. New accounts on Artscow get free credit for one set of custom playing cards of each type, so I just had to pay shipping for this one, From now on, I'll have to pay xP

The Bad: I ordered these on Nov 2nd and got them today. That's eighteen days to print and ship them from Hong Kong, four days longer than the high end of their 8-14 day expected turnaround. I ordered on a Monday and they shipped out the following Monday, which is two-three (depending on time zones) days longer than their two-day processing time.
The paper stock is thinner than I expected, I suspect these will become worn fast, compared to heavier papers.

The Ugly: The printing quality isn't exactly top-tier. Here are 600dpi scans:

The inks are slightly offset (mostly vertically, but there is a slight h-offset as well), producing a blurry image. The black ink has the most offset, but maybe it just looks that way because it's the easiest to see since there are solid areas of it. There is also a pattern of yellow dots over the lighter areas, but this is a common artefact of the kind of printers they use. The yellow is only noticeable upon very close-up inspection (I didn't notice until I saw the image at 600dpi), but the blur is noticeable and looks unprofessional. Obviously I didn't expect them to be perfect since the text is raster rather than vector, but the image quality could certainly have been better.

That said, I'll probably still use Artscow for consequent small batches of cards, since they're cheap and easy. I do intend to move to a proper manufacturer eventually, but until I have a large set ready to be made and money to get it printed right, Artscow it is.

[Seijaku_Ishida]

I have a website saved for larger custom orders of cards if you ever want it(they have the prices laid out rather than you needing to contact them for a quote). They do disney cards and other large companies.

[Kyousouka]

I have a bunch of sites I've found for larger orders, but a link to one with actual price quotes would be great!

Although, I doubt I'll need large orders any time soon. I'm poor, afterall xP I want to find a place that'll print me 5-15 copies of 150-180 cards (with rarities factored in, it's more like 400 cards).

[Seijaku_Ishida]

http://www.tmcards.com/ is the site. Minimum order is 100 decks and no, it doesn't have to be 54 cards(just go to the 'game cards' tab).

[Kyousouka]

I think I've been there before. All those personalized card sites look the same =_=;
Ugly, confusing, and blah. I think I might go with one of the sites that are quote-based. The personal touch helps, and I'll have a better idea of how things are. Plus, I have files that should be great for printing, and I'd prefer to ask a real person about whether they really are.

Edit: This seems like a pretty good company to go with, but they're rather large-scale, as far as I can tell. Maybe I can get a sponsor, lolz.

[Jayde Panda]

Seijaku_Ishida

http://www.tmcards.com/ is the site. Minimum order is 100 decks and no, it doesn't have to be 54 cards(just go to the 'game cards' tab).

Have you ever ordered from them before? If so, I'd like to hear your opinion of them.

[Seijaku_Ishida]

Kasyrrah

Seijaku_Ishida

http://www.tmcards.com/ is the site. Minimum order is 100 decks and no, it doesn't have to be 54 cards(just go to the 'game cards' tab).

Have you ever ordered from them before? If so, I'd like to hear your opinion of them.

Haven't been able to afford them yet, but I've seen the disney cards and they're not bad.

[Nejdii]

Really good advise and links, thank you very much. You have probably helped a lot of people. *bows*

[Hotaru Kudo]

*runs around in circles* AnimeLA is coming up in just over a month and I'm no where near ready. I think I'm going to have to scrap the idea of having buttons, since I haven't even drawn them yet. crying But I did find this neat little sticker maker for $8 at Wal-Mart. Makes 1.5 inch stickers. =D I'm going make some little anime chibis that could sell for like, .25 cents and the thing is small and portable so I'd be able to take custom sticker requests. Not sure how to price those though. o.o;

Now off to work on prints some more.. *runs into wall*

[miezmeowz]

wow thats a lot....

[zoeexx hearts u]

what if the people of the public dont take interest in my art work?

[Kyousouka]

zoeexx: That's always a worry, but it's usually not as bad as your own fear of it.
The easiest thing to do is see how well people online take to your art. If you find that you get great responses from people on dA, on Gaia, CA, or any other art site, then you don't have much to worry about.

If you are just starting out in art and your art isn't very good yet, then it might be best to hold off on doing Alleys and use the time you'd spend preparing to practice arting xP

This isn't the thread to post your art, but you could post some stuff in the Pricing, Assistance and Suggestions forum (it's under Minishops) and ask about both Gaia gold prices and RL print prices. You could also ask whether people think this could sell, which might net you more replies since it won't force people to think about concrete prices (but it'll also yield many false positives).


A more difficult and risky thing to do is rather your stuff and get a table! There is no better way to see if your art sells than to try to sell it! It might be best to share a table with someone who has at least a couple of Alleys under their belt, since it'll be cheaper for you and you'll have their art drawing additional people to your stuff.

[Vicemage]

Argh. I really should check con forums more often... just put in my payment for Ohayocon (yes I had arrangements to pay late), and checked their forums while I was thinking of it, and they listed me under my real name instead of the studio name I registered under and asked to be listed under. Which doesn't overly make me happy... :