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 ]

[DarkishStar]

Blah, I added more info to my post. Things keep popping up in my head. Registration is important, so I added some of the things we discussed about staffing and registering to my post. Heh. It's getting pretty gigantic. D:

[[Kako]]

DarkishStar

[Kako]

DarkishStar

[Kako]

Thanks for filling out the form, Darkishstar! Too bad I didn't see you at AX. D: I only wound up being at my table for one day, I was facing the window and just couldn't take the heat/sunlight. Hopefully, Fanime next year will be better. smile


By the way, I had a spare guild so I changed it into an Artists Alley Guild to keep track of information in! Feel free to join!

Yeah, I don't think I saw you either... D: Because the first day I was glued to my table.. due to lack of experience.. xD And yeah, the AA was really badly placed in the LBCC this year.. so much... SUN. I was always burning up by late afternoon.

I'll be sure to check out the guild later. x3

Not only was it badly placed, the normal staff had NO IDEA where it was going to be. D: I ran around the entire day before asking for directions. The entire convention was kind of badly placed, though. D: Long Beach sucked compared to Anaheim. (Frickin' Shriners) I hear next year it might be in LA proper! D: (Though some people were talking about San Jose, which I wouldn't mind)

Which table number were you? I think I was... 43?

Blah. I LOVED Anaheim's Artist Alley. So quiet. Dx And SO much cooler. Full AC the whole day. I'm a pampered puppy. xD

Seriously! I asked where badge pick-up would be... and would've been there so much earlier.. if they knew where it was to tell me... >.> LBCC was crappy compared to Anaheim. Maybe that added even more to my whole refusal to ever do Artist's Alley ever again. Blah.

I was number 66. xD I had pink hair the first day, so maybe you did get a glimpse of me. x3

LACC might suck too though. No adjacent hotels. A crappy downtown. SO MUCH TRAFFIC next to the Staples Center. Not much for eatings. And.. really.. a lot of hobos and a pretty high crime rate for the area, I fear for the cosplayers and younger age group. I live so close to the LACC that it wouldn't be bad. But the LBCC was about 15 mins away from where I lived, so it wasn't a problem for me. Anaheim was actually farther, like.. 40 mins. But with traffic.. LACC can take up to an hour plus to get into.

Nope, AX never did have an alternative reg. Most people have learned that they have to pick-up the badges on day zero, rather than the day of con. You lose a lot of selling time by then. And really, you want all the time you can get. D:

I'm kind of worried about the 14-year-olds in skimpy cosplays if it's in LA. Definitely not a good part of town to be in.

Normally I'd agree on the time thing, but given the whole "OMFG SUN!!" thing, I treasured the time I spent away from the AA.

[DarkishStar]

[Kako]

I'm kind of worried about the 14-year-olds in skimpy cosplays if it's in LA. Definitely not a good part of town to be in.

Normally I'd agree on the time thing, but given the whole "OMFG SUN!!" thing, I treasured the time I spent away from the AA.

Blah. LA downtown is terrible. That's all I have to say. There's homeless neighborhoods in that area too. As in blocks of people living in tents and cardboard boxes. Usually not in the general vicinity that has a lot of businesses and stuff of course, but those people do prowl around. And occasionally you will have people asking you for the odd nickel or two.

Yeah.. the sun was pretty bad. Luckily my back was facing it, or I might have died. I usually packed up early and went to enjoy the con. I didn't learn this till after the first day though. After the first two days of actually doing commissions for people though, I really really valued my time away from the alley. That was my reason. I stopped taking them after the 2nd day. It was time-consuming, stressful, and a hassle. D:

I think I'm just not intended for the AA. xD Too much complaints from my end.

[[Kako]]

Maybe you should've gone for a smaller convention? There was a lot of activity and high-brow superprofessional artists and pushing/shoving at the AX AA. I had my table shoved into me a few times. D: I'm really looking forward to trying fanime because the AA was a lot more quiet and polite.

Speaking of Fanime, does anyone know how they handle AA signups? I can't find anything on their site or in their forums.

[DarkishStar]

Hahaha maybe. AX is the biggest Anime convention on the west coast after all.. D: The business due to placement was probably better due to placement no doubt.. but meh, it usually put more irritated people trying to get to the exhibit hall in the vicinity.

Well, good luck at Fanime. I think I may go just to see what the convention is like. x3 I really don't think I'll try another AA, but it was a good experience all the same.

Usually, the AA signup information comes up when convention time approaches. Possibly near the end of this year.. or early next year because Fanime is memorial weekend.. usually? I'm not sure, but yeah.. xD AX usually closed their info page and forum after the convention and opened it up again when con approaches.. I'm not sure if Fanime does the same.

[[Kako]]

I couldn't find info on the site last year either, so I figured I'd ask. XD


I don't think you should give up on AA's after AX, though. D: All of that was freaking insane.

[DarkishStar]

Oh ho ho ho~ So maybe Fanime is a secretive and covert convention! xD
(Too late in the evening)

Ahahaha. Thanks for the encouragement, but I still don't think it's for me. =D I shall try things like AX idol or the open mike Karaoke instead. That was more my calling actually, singing I mean. Heh. xD

Anyways, good luck finding info on Fanime and best of luck there too, I'm off to bed, it's so late right now, I'm off to bed~

[Vicemage]

DarkishStar

Vicemage

It's always fun when no one knows what's going on! Acen's staffers kept trying to run AA vendors through the main registration line (which was backed up by several hours and basically in a state of failure all weekend), and I ended up spending most of the first day without an actual badge, just because they kept forgetting to get me one.

Not to mention that four people didn't know where the AA was right away (it had a giant sign over it), and most staffers didn't know it had a separate line. That and the threat of "we'll give your tables away if you aren't here by 9" made Friday pretty miserable.

Yeah, AA really has a poor track record among staff. It's ALWAYS understaffed. I usually don't understand why checking of passes always took so long. I waited in the line for such a long time. And when I actually got there.. it was such a breeze through the door. I don't get it. D: AX actually has been getting better and better on the case of badges though. I actually got through in about an hour after the line started moving when it was officially open. But it has to be on day zero though. I wouldn't want to waste an hour in the line and then.. yeah.. get to the AA.

Usually though, kinks aside, AA usually runs itself really smoothly. And I like that about the AA. It's not too difficult after.

Acen's was actually fairly well staffed on Friday (not so much Thursday, which is when I had my tantrum about being told I'd have to come back tomorrow and stand in the line that does not end); the problem was that, on Friday too, a lot of the staffers thought the Artists were trying to get special treatment or something, not follow existing policy. ^^;;

[[Kako]]

Because OBVIOUSLY tons of artists under the exact same impression about registration ACTUALLY are part of a huge conspiracy to get special treatment because they can rub a pencil on paper in an asthetically pleasing fashion. XD

[R e a f u]

To say that this is a well written and helpful guide is an understatement. This guide is absolutely amazing and I think anyone can benefit from this. And personally I am really thankful that I came across this thread. While trying to improve my artwork , I really want to try selling a few prints at Toronto's Anime North convention(possibly summer 200 cool and to be honest I didn't have much idea where to go for information , only stories from friends about their experience of browsing the alley and stories from actual artists. But this has all the information that's needed in a clear and concise manner. This thread really needs to be sticked.

[[Kako]]

I'm glad the thread was able to help. smile I doubt it's important enough for a sticky, though.

[R e a f u]

I'm certain it will gain in popularity and be stickied! 3nodding

[[Kako]]

Legal Bump!

[Xiaa]

I'm pretty new to selling little trinkets >__>

Where can I buy keychain templates where I can just print our my own designs on them? Is Shrinky Dinks the only one?

Also, do you just use normal cardstock for printing out bookmarks?

I know where I can get stuff printed, but I'm kind of confused as to what to buy when I'm trying to do things myself .___.

[fanartist]

Xiaa

I'm pretty new to selling little trinkets >__>

Where can I buy keychain templates where I can just print our my own designs on them? Is Shrinky Dinks the only one?

Also, do you just use normal cardstock for printing out bookmarks?

I know where I can get stuff printed, but I'm kind of confused as to what to buy when I'm trying to do things myself .___.

I haven't been able to find any place that allows printing custom keychains, but personally, I wanted to try Shrinky Dinks myself. How was it using those? ^^;

I've seen keychains that were just laminated pieces of paper cut out with scissors. I thought it looks amateur-ish, so I've been looking around for other options.

Bookmarks are usually printed on glossy or laminated later. I remember putting up a link of a place that sold bookmark sleeves and tassels... You'll have to shift through the last few pages for that ^^;

Personally, I've never really ventured outside of just prints >>;

BUT NEXT YEAR!! I'LL ALWAYS HAVE NEXT YEAR!!