Artists Alley Information Thread

Selling at Cons is best during the...

Spring	11.5%	[ 117 ]
Summer	29.4%	[ 300 ]
Fall	7.2%	[ 73 ]
Winter	5.5%	[ 56 ]
Any time!	46.5%	[ 474 ]
Total Votes:			[ 1020 ]

[LavenderMintRose]

Hetalia is a pretty big thing now. I have a friend who likes it for the historical in-jokes and hates how the fandom was invaded by legions of yaoi fangirls who pretty much made it impossible to find other people who like it for the genius bonus.

Also, Durarara!!, this absolutely epic amazing wonderful anime that everyone likes. Sadly, this is also only popular for the yaoi (for some compeltely inexplicable reason, fangirls like to ship the character who destroys others' lives for fun and profit with the guy who wants to kill him the most).

Also, DRRR!! is ending tomorrow (there'll be a DVD epilogue in February, but the last of the TV episodes airs tomorrow).

+ FMA kind of got some of it's popularity back, but since it ended, it's not certain how long that will stick around (probably not long). I'm glad it didn't end in obscurity, though. It was kind of a piece of my childhood, my first real anime.

Oh also. Black Butler/Kuroshitsuji. Another show people like for the yaoi. Here, it's not so much that the pairings they like make no sense, it's more... demon ***** = squick.

But there is Grelle. <3

[Kyousouka]

APH is definitely king of AA sales right now.

Another good way to check is top faves on dA, check the first 3-4 pages. Many of the popular fanartists pander to what's popular.

[Vicemage]

Those are good ones to keep in mind, too.

However, keep in mind the classics, too. I've cut loose all my "flavor of the month" charms I've done in the past (just got sick to DEATH of them and decided to do what I like instead), with not much notice of it... on the other hand, people will see my Vash the Stampede charm (who I did just because I could) and go crazy over it. It's probably one of my best sellers.

And it can be hard in the AA to find "classic" stuff amongst all the "omg so shiny and new and slashable!" The older series will also, to a degree, attract the attention of the older (more mature--as in not screaming fangirls, not as in ancient) congoer. Who are often more willing than the squealing yaoi fan to give money to the artists.

(...and on that note, I feel like I want to do some really oldschool or obscure stuff now. Slayers, Sailormoon, and Fushigi Yuugi all come to mind off the top of my head. But my art is fail this month.)

[Kyousouka]

We did a series of Sailormoon prints and stickers at ANext, they didn't do well ;_;

[LavenderMintRose]

Eh... I like older stuff, too, I guess. Just not that old. Nothing against it, I just haven't seen that much of it.

I don't do any fanart just to sell. I do ones of the shows and characters I like. You're never going to see me do any Katekyo Hitman Reborn fanart (unless I for some reason start watching it and like it).

Maybe the reason my stuff doesn't sell well is because I draw the characters people like to slash, except not slash. Not that I'm going to ever draw Shizaya or anything. *still shuddering over the horrifying sailor suit and panties picture of that couple some friends showed me at the last con*

[Skye River]

What's the dumbest request(s) you guys ever get at the artist table ?

[Kyousouka]

I can't draw fanart just to sell either. My Black Rock Shooter collab was the closest I've ever gotten to that, but I've been meaning to paint BRS for a while anyway, as I really like the colours that are typical of BRS paintings. Right up my alley.

Skye: Never got a dumb request, but I've gotten weird ones.
Just this past weekend I was asked to draw my comic's protagonist jumping off a skyscraper, even though 1. he'd never do that, 2. there are no skyscrapers in his world. Another person asked me to draw a classic Gundam, even though I had no mecha works at my table at all...
Edit: Last year I was asked to draw a zombie fox.
That same year I was also asked to draw a portrait of this guy as an Umbrella employee/soldier, which in itself wasn't too bad, but I drew him fighting a zombie fish and some tentacles.

[LavenderMintRose]

It's always my friend who gets the weird requests... or like, the ones that should be weird but are actually typical ("draw my mary sue making out with Kiba from Naruto lol" kind of stuff)

This year the two of us did a collab commision of Kallen and Lelouch from Code Geass as Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask. It was fun even though I don't ship that. We drew C.C. and V.V. in the background as Luna and Artemis. C.C./Luna has a thought balloon saying "FML". xD

[Kyousouka]

Ah, J and I were asked to do that same thing (Kallen and Lelouch as Moon and Mask), but the guy couldn't provide refs so we didn't do it.

[Vicemage]

I think the dumbest one was someone who wanted their character not in the dynamic pose I originally started with, but standing straight, hands at her side, staring blankly straight ahead. Really, now?

Mostly, though, I get weird ones. Things like "Waffle Puppy," "mutant airplane monster eating a guy's arm," "Wonder Woman being kissed by a girl with the Midas touch," "Superman as a black belt," "Naruto's grave," and the like. I do love my weird commissions though...

[LavenderMintRose]

If someone asked me to draw Naruto's grave, I would laugh, hug them, and try to think of something funny to have as the inscription in the picture. ^_^

[Vicemage]

Believe me, it's one of my favorites I've done. It has a bunch of the other characters standing around it, pointing and laughing and yelling "BELIEVE IT!"

[Kyousouka]

Please tell me you have a scan of it ;_;

[Vicemage]

Somewhere I have a photo, though I've heard there's scans floating around somewhere... I'll have to look for it. biggrin

[ninniku]

Vicemage

Those are good ones to keep in mind, too.

However, keep in mind the classics, too. I've cut loose all my "flavor of the month" charms I've done in the past (just got sick to DEATH of them and decided to do what I like instead), with not much notice of it... on the other hand, people will see my Vash the Stampede charm (who I did just because I could) and go crazy over it. It's probably one of my best sellers.

And it can be hard in the AA to find "classic" stuff amongst all the "omg so shiny and new and slashable!" The older series will also, to a degree, attract the attention of the older (more mature--as in not screaming fangirls, not as in ancient) congoer. Who are often more willing than the squealing yaoi fan to give money to the artists.

(...and on that note, I feel like I want to do some really oldschool or obscure stuff now. Slayers, Sailormoon, and Fushigi Yuugi all come to mind off the top of my head. But my art is fail this month.)

Slayers may be a little less obscure now that they have the new season(s) [I'm watching episodes right now].

Speaking of Vash . . .One of the saddest moments at a convention was when this kid was looking at my fan art prints and said, "Who's this?" "Vash." Blank look. "The stampede." Blank look. "From Trigun?!" Blank look. "You've never HEARD of Trigun?! IT'S A CLASSIC!!"

It made me feel old. But at least everyone around us was suitably horrified as well.