Category: conventions

Convention Report – Multiverse 2019

Kevin and I had a great time at Multiverse this past weekend!  It represented our last show of the season and the first time we’ve been at this con, since this is a brand new event.  Normally, I’d be hesitant to do a first-year show because the traffic is usually slow at these, but in the end, I’m glad I gave this show a shot!  

After the chaos of DragonCon and consecutive Kickstarters happening around here, it was nice to do a small, chill con, while still being able to network with other artists and enjoy a more relaxed environment.

Booth Tour

I’ll admit by the time the con rolled around, I didn’t have a plan or proper signage for the vendor table for this untested arrangement!  Here’s what we were able to throw together at the last minute.  

After studying the booth’s traffic flow at DragonCon, I realized many folks were afraid to walk up to the prints in the corner.  I knew I wanted to try a display where the prints were front and center and viewers could engage with them immediately, so on the table they went so people would not be afraid to pick them up or venture into our personal space!

A spice rack served as a display for the pins. I’m still trying to decide if it blends well and if I should cover it with paper. Or if I want to place it with a rotating rack entirely.  My table display is always evolving!

You can see where I also forgot to bring the table runner, so the scarves ended up being draped across the front of the table, since I wasn’t sure where to put them otherwise and it filled the space left by our missing table runner.  I didn’t have proper signage for the top behind me either, so my Patreon sign became my main sign temporarily.

Folks had trouble even realizing the scarves were there because they blended so well, so I will have to think of a new way to display them so they stand out more.  Perhaps hanging them off a dowel rod of some sort? Or replacing my silver tablecloth with a darker color?  I know I want the scarves up front where people can touch them because most people want to feel the material before they buy clothing accessories.

Gallery Tour

While my table display focused on the Birthstone Goddesses, I decided that my gallery display should focus on my darker narrative art, which I felt was relevant to the interests of this con’s scifi/fantasy/literary themes.

I had a small 4’x4′ bay in the Art Expo which left a little to be desired. The unexpectedly large bid sheets and the print bin which overlapped my display meant I had to leave 2 pieces out of my planned display.  Simple fixes for next year, however!  The show staff are also new to things and were receptive to feedback.  

I sold nothing from my bay, so if any of this display interests you, drop me a line! (Reminder that Patreon Patrons will get their Patreon discount on these as well.)

So was it worth it?

I honestly would have been satisfied for the fact that I sold enough to cover my attendance fees AND I got to network with fellow artists in a much more relaxed environment!  We’re always so busy at DragonCon and other shows and barely have time to say hello.  

During this show, I was invited to two local events, was invited into a new vendor group online, and was able to attend 3 fantastic panels on writing since traffic was chill enough for me to let my husband handle things alone.

On top of all that, we did end up meeting a metric of success I agree with, which is this formula:

Profit = Cost of attending + $100 a day = worth attending

We made back the cost of attending, plus at least $100 of profit per day, so were paid for our time at the very least.  I got to test my new Square Terminal as well.  I’ll have more about the Terminal later over in The Muse’s Library where I’ll be writing a review on it! This is a fantastic piece of tech we just invested in that has totally blown my mind for how useful it is.

Favorite Cosplay

I always love to admire the wonderful costumes of attendees and Multiverse did not disappoint because the amazing folks of the Whiskey Weasel Cosplay dropped by with their wonderfully detailed Monster Hunter World cosplays!  They even replicated the scoutflies you use for tracking with little LEDs. SO COOL!

Final Thoughts

Sometimes it’s worth it for more reasons than just money to attend smaller shows.  It was nice to leave my art cave and remember how awesome the fan community is, as well as to meet a couple of my Patrons in person and say thank you for their support.  

It’s easy to spend so much time alone without the love and laughter of the community.  I hope to return next year and continue supporting the spirit of fan appreciation this convention is nurturing!

Convention Report – DragonCon 2019

I’m back from DragonCon and have finally stirred from my post-con torpor!  Thanks so much to everyone who stopped by, including a couple of my Patrons here!  It was so lovely to meet you and give you hugs (and pins!).  I got to see so many artist friends I haven’t met in person, plus old friends I only get to see this time of year.  I only wish I’d had more time to spend with everyone!

I always like to do a write-up if I can.  DragonCon is such a massive show and always a great event for testing out new, ambitious things!  I’ve been working hard towards it for a long time before the event to make new products to debut, such as the tote bags and scarves.  This was also the first time I’ve ever had to fill such a large space at 8 x 10 feet! It was an intimidating prospect!

So how’d I do?  I sold half my canvas totes, but only a couple of scarves!  Most folks went for my prints, pouches, totes, and greeting cards (especially the ones themed for the month of September!).  I also think my display made an impression!  People really seemed to love my little ‘shrine’ of flowers and candles.

You can also see a video tour of the booth here.

All in all, I made back expenses and then some!  Having a larger display space really paid off for me, as I think the larger display footprint allowed me to give people a better idea of the scale of this ambitious project of mine which is really hard to contain in a smaller space.

The Art Show

The Art Show was a new beast this year!  New management meant new changes, such as the lack of a silent auction or a print shop.  This meant more floor space for artists and a new way to buy directly from the artist, instead of an auction!  It was nice to be able to take my earnings from sales in the Gallery area home immediately instead of waiting for a check to come in the mail.

There was a little confusion about how to buy things from the gallery bay, but otherwise, I felt the changes were for the better, letting the Art Show check-in process go more smoothly (no dealing with barcodes or anything of that nature).  I really enjoyed the new black pegboard for the Gallery area as well!

The volunteers were especially exceptional this year.  They came around often to see if we needed help and check on our well-being!

What Did I Learn?

DragonCon, especially one where I test out new things, is always a learning experience!  Here are some things I learned.

  • Bundle Deals. The bundle deals worked like a charm! I attribute most of my sales to people wanting to buy gifts for multiple people and being encouraged to do so by saving a little money with a bulk discount.
  • More Signage. I need more signage to show people I’m on Patreon, what my name is, and also that the series is about a birthstone series, as it took  people a minute to realize this was a birthstone series and upon realizing that fact, they of course then wanted to immediately see what their month was, which was easier when I made month signs to go by the images (and to subdivide the print bins).
  • The 15 Second Rule.  Kevin, who has vast retail experience and is a remarkable salesman, taught me this at the con. Basically, instead of smothering people with my overeager greetings, give people 15 seconds to process what they’re seeing and decide if they are engaged with it.  

    This wait time helped me make a better call about who was meandering through and who was actually interested so I don’t waste my precious introvert energy on people who have no interest.

  • Stock for Birthday/Month Sensitive Items.  I had so many September babies stop by and say “It’s my birth month and I’m treating myself” or I had friends of September babies shopping for birthday gifts for the special September person in their life. This should have been obvious to me, but I need to keep more stock on hand for these timely occasions!  I even made extra of September and still sold out!
  • More Small Impulse Items. I had so many people who didn’t want to make a big investment or who didn’t have a lot of wall space who ended up scooping up stickers and greeting cards.  I would have sold pins like hot cakes for this reason as well!  

    I want to focus my table area around showing off these small items since they became the ‘bread and butter’ small sales that added up nicely at the end of the day because they are easy to manufacture on a mass scale with a good markup and impulse range price tag that isn’t too much of a burden for the average buyer.

  • Calendar. I REALLY need to finish up the calendar for this series, as now that I have all 12 images, it’s become my number one requested item. I’ve planned to work on it after the enamel pins, so it will be coming next year!

Favorite Cosplay

Oh boy it was SO hard to pick a cosplay to feature here!  Now that they’ve lifted the no photo ban in the Art Show, I had a lot of fun taking photos of amazing cosplayers who dropped by my booth.  They were all wonderful and you can see more of them here.  

However, I just have to feature this lady!  I was a Power Rangers fan back in the day and this lady made me squeal with nostalgic glee.  She also made her costume herself!

I am already missing the glorious geeky chaos that was DragonCon!  I love being around so many kindred spirits that it feels pretty lonely when I get home and return to the grind.  I’m grateful my fans (and especially my Patrons) are here in my corner experiencing this journey along with me.  Your encouragement and feedback have helped me have one of my best cons ever!

Next, I’ll be hopping right into Kickstarter fulfillment and revving up for the Goddesses of Autumn pins, so there’s no rest for the wary!

Did you stop by at DragonCon?  What was your fave cosplay?  Sound off in the comments!

♥ Ang

JordanCon Bound + Art Show Preview

I’m headed to JordanCon in ATL this weekend, which is one of my favorite local fantasy-centric conventions to attend.  The Art Show there is so warm and welcoming and I’m excited to share more of my Birthstone Goddesses there this year!  

My body of work grows and grows, this year’s showing at JordanCon now including a selection of the designs I created to be used as header images.  I haven’t added prints of these designs to my online shop (yet), so in-person events are the only place to buy them until I have finished rolling their print offerings out (slowly, but surely!):

I’ll also be showing off the original painting of Lady of September as my centerpiece this year!  She looks so stunning in the new frame that my Patreon Patrons helped me pick out last year.

I’ll also be displaying two of the limited edition masks I created for my Birthstone Goddesses, the mask of February and May!  Here they are as photographed by the talented WinterWolf Studios.

Finally, you can see a video of some of the mats I’ve embellished with ink and gold here:

Convention Inventory

For those attending this show who may be considering adding something to your collection, here’s a rundown of what I’ll be offering at JordanCon this year:

 In my gallery bay:

  • The framed original of “Lady of September”
  • Hand-Embellished Prints of 7 of the Goddesses
  • 4 matted open edition prints of their header designs
  • 2 of my hand-tooled Limited Edition leather masks

In the Print Shop:

  • 8×16 prints, 5 prints per Goddess representing each month of the year!

Unfortunately, I will not have a dealer’s table this year, but the Art Show staff will be happy to help you out with purchasing my art.  

You can also still come say hi to me in person at the panel on Livestreaming for Artists (Stream A Little Stream) which I will be co-hosting with fellow artists on Friday at 2:30 pm.  Feel free to come join us and/or chat me up after the panel!

If you cannot attend the show, I’ll be adding any unsold items to my Art Nouveau online shop, with the hand-embellished mats being made available exclusively through my Patreon Secret Shop. 

I hope to see some of you there!

Find Me at JordanCon 2017!

 
If you’re going to JordanCon this weekend, here’s my schedule and where you can find my work!
Hope to see you there!  It’ll be my first convention in awhile and I’m excited to be back in the scene.
 
– Find my Fantasy Art on dice bags and playmats in the Print Shop (in the Art Show area)
– Find my Art Nouveau birthstone series on prints in the Print shop, as well as matted and signed prints in the Art Show.
– Find my birthstone themed masks on display next to the matted prints in the Art Show.
 

My Panels at JordanCon:


FRIDAY, 4-21, 2:30-3:30 pm, Monroe.
 
Painting an Art Nouveau Lady
 

I’ll be showing a video, talking briefly about Art Nouveau, and giving a demo on drawing Art Nouveau style hair!


SUNDAY, 4-23, 1-2 pm, Washington.
 
Selling Your Art Online
 
I’ll be on a panel with multiple artists discussing everything related to selling art online, from Patreon and beyond!

[VLOG] Print Shop Prep!

Here’s a quick peek recorded live of the print shop prep for my next convention! I haven’t done a convention in a couple of years since I took the time to create a new body of work, but getting back into prep has been like riding a bike!

Some advice on buying and saving money:

BAGS & BACKING – You can get backing made out of spare matboard for cheaper than the white boards. The Clearbags branded bags are also cheaper and have a tiny URL for the bag company on the adhesive strip.

PRINTING & INK – I bought my Epson printer at Staples where they let me trade in an older printer for a $50 discount. They’ll also let you trade in used ink cartridges which earn you store credit vouchers. The Staples brand paper is also much cheaper than Epson branded paper and has more weight to it!

The Epson Artisan 1430 I have lets me print up to 13×19 inches, which is a nice size! Anything larger I will have printed at http://www.iprintfromhome.com. Tell them Angela Sasser sent you to earn some referral bucks!

(CORRECTION: They DO have gloss photo paper at Staples, but it never seems to be in stock at mine and I prefer matte or semi-gloss for printing my art, regardless.)

MAT CUTTER – The Logan Compact Mat Cutter can be found in many of the hobby stores in the US like Michaels, Hobby Lobby, Joanns, etc. where you’re generally able to use a 40% off coupon on them!

(NOTE: I have a master list of my favorite suppliers with reviews of each online here.)

SUPPLIES:

Epson Artisan 1430

Staples Premium Matte Photo Paper

Avery Full Sheet Labels

Logan Compact Mat Cutter

Paper Cutter

SUPPLIERS:

Bags & Backing

Custom Playmat Printing

Dice Bags

CON REPORT: DragonCon 2015

I’m back from DragonCon and have a massive head cold as a souvenir!  Before I disappear with hot tea and meds, I thought I’d post about how my DragonCon went.

This year was an odd duck for me.  I had no table, which is the first time I’ve been without one for a couple of years.  I was completely okay with that, however, because it meant that I got to actually experience the con by attending interesting panels, costume watching, and networking with people rather than being tied to one place.

I went to a wide range of panels, from the history of Persian dance to indie game development (panel notes forthcoming).  I somehow never made it by the dealer’s room since venturing anywhere outside of the Hyatt just seemed like too much effort.  The Hilton for the game dev track was as far as I made it.

I also ran two panels for other artists entitled Social Media for Artists 101 and 102!  Any event where I can play Duck Army as an ice breaker is a good event.  The attendees at my panel were all very enthusiastic and willing to share resources. Thanks for making it a great first run for 102,  everyone! (NOTE: You can find the PowerPoint files of my presentations here.)

ART SHOW

John, Anne, Heidi, and the other staff ran a tight ship, as always!  It was an experimental year for me in that I left my masks and Art Nouveau work at home and only displayed my digital fantasy work in the show this year, an intimidating decision!  I was happily surprised that two of my canvas prints (Oathbound and Kushiel’s Dart) found new homes!  I did decently in the print shop, though I have a few extra playmats and dice bags still available if anyone’s after them.  Use code DRAGONCON to get 15% off at my shop right now!

dragoncon-2015-gallery-bay
A panoramic shot of my large gallery bay. From left to right, Kushiel’s Dart, Enchained Wind, Keeper of Secrets, Oathbound, Persephone Queen of the Underworld, The Lotus Dancer, and Dreaming Butterfly.
File Sep 10, 10 47 00 AM
See more of these amazing cosplayers here.

FAVORITE MOMENT:

We walked by a guy in the skybridge dressed as a herald from Assassin’s Creed.  He was putting up posters on the walls every few feet.  I heard tales of cosplayers dressed as Assassins zipping by and tearing them down later.  When we asked him how many posters he had, he said 250.  I am highly amused by this kind of clever fun.  I didn’t get a picture of him, but I got one of his poster, which was really well done!

BEST COSTUME:

I snapped a pic of this amazing pair dressed as Na’vi from
Avatar during the Night at the Aquarium.  That baby looked so very real. It was quite creepy (and awesome)!  It’s the dedication to full body paint and detail that made this the best costume I saw all con.  While the Night at the Aquarium was great for costumes, they had all of the lights turned off in the displays this year, which made it really hard to see any fish.  How I wish I’d gone to the philharmonic concert instead.

WHAT DID I LEARN?

I always like to think about what I can learn from looking at the displays and presentations of artists, but this year’s revelation was on a deeper level. Instead, I got a lesson in creativity and motivation from attending the panels on creativity and writing this year.

The advice from a lot of the authors there was that comparing yourselves to others was the quickest way to burn out.  Most of us in the creative industry are just trying to get by and/or create something that we love.  You can partially measure that success by money, but other times, it’s the victory of just having made the thing since, more than likely, creating art is not really going to pay all the bills until a very long time out.  Most of us are in that dreaded ‘gap’ and those who would be at the top are not always guaranteed to stay that way.  Focus on making good art and stop comparing yourself to others.

And that’s a wrap!  You can see more of my DragonCon photos of some of the cool swag I picked up in Artist Alley and other moments over at my Instagram.  Till next time!

Crunch Time! – Dragon*Con and Illuxcon

It’s that time of year again where conventions are creeping around the corner!  This means everything ever is due for me, from paintings to paperwork, which is why I’ve been so quiet around these parts of late.

On Dragon*Con

I regret to inform you all that I will not have a table this year!  I will, however, have a gallery panel in the Art Show where you can still see my paintings and masks and a section in the print shop where you can buy books, prints, and postcards.

Here’s a preview of my gallery panel for this year’s show:

On the left – Limited edition wrapped canvas prints.
On the right – Leather masks and jewelry.

I’m going to miss the hustle and bustle, but I just needed a break this year from the convention madness!  I’ve been enjoying the ‘down’ time from cons this year by spending that time painting and creating all new works instead.  Check out my latest works in progress over at WiPnation for a sneaky peek of what I’ve been doing in the meantime.

I still plan to attend Dragon*Con (or hover just outside of it) for a day to meet friends and say hello, so I’m sure I’ll see some of you there again!

On Illuxcon

The week after Dragon*Con I’ll be flying out to Pennsylvania for my first time ever to attend Illuxcon!  For those who have never heard of it, it’s a convention dedicated to bringing together artists and collectors in the scifi-fantasy industry.  If the exhibitors list is any indication, there are going to be so many great folks in attendance and so much for me to learn!

I’m also one of the lucky ones to acquire a Showcase table, which I’ll be manning Friday night at the con.  I’d love it if you stopped by and said hello, if you’ll be in attendance too!  I’ve never been to this type of non-fandom con before and I’m looking forward to reporting back here about my experience there for everyone else who might be curious about it.

Now, time to get busy and make some magic!  There are prints to be bagged and tagged and paintings that need finishing.  I foresee a lot of coffee and sugars in my future…
Are you going to either of these cons?  What has been your favorite convention this year thus far?  Share in comments!

Are Conventions Worth Selling At?

This question has been on my mind a lot lately.  Especially considering that I have chosen to take this year off from conventions, with the exception of Illuxcon in September.  After all the money, blood, sweat, tears, and coffee, are cons worth your while to sell at?  Here is what I have learned after 10+ years of doing conventions as a hobbyist and 4 years as a professional artist:

 

The Pros

 
1.  Staying in Touch with Fans and Building Your Reputation

This is the number one reason anyone thinks to attend conventions not as a fan, but as an artist.  You get valuable face time with people who might like your art and start getting your name out there on the tongues of people, which is an especially good move if you are the kind of artist who plans to make their income selling art directly to their fanbase.

Face to face selling is also far more effective since your fans can get to know you as a person so they have more of a reason to buy your art. Sounds weird, but having a personal connection to a REAL living person can be very powerful!  Meeting someone in person allows us to want to emotionally support them even more than if they were a faceless artist online whose art we merely consume without consideration for the human behind them.

2.  Marketing Yourself
The other main reason we as artists choose to attend cons is to meet with the folks that can put us in touch with jobs.  Art directors, game developers, gambling 666 Casino experts, publishers,  Greg Hallet casino online, etc. At UFABET there remain plenty of alternative methods and forms of sports betting you can enjoy. Mr Play is one of the most famous online casinos, offering casino, live casino, and scratch cards, as well as a state-of-the-art betting page with plenty of promotions for example this Bonus code for Mr Play Sports. You’ll probably never meet these awesome folks who lead you to professional opportunities unless you go to conventions!  The downside, these folks may not be at smaller cons so you’ll have to attend the larger ones which may not be local to you. True, you can still email in a portfolio, but I consider face to face interactions to be more memorable/powerful.

3.  Meeting Kindred Spirits
After spending months in the quiet darkness of the art cave, getting out into the world again and talking to people who are just as geeky and passionate as you are can be such a gift!

4.  Valuable Selling and Setup Experience
Every artist needs this!  You need to know the joys of being juried into a show, meeting the deadlines of setup and application, the proper way to set up your display, etc.  Most of all, you need the ever-important skill of dealing with people.  A lot of us spend a lot of time alone without knowing how to market ourselves with confidence.  This is an especially handy skill for when you want to start showing your portfolio to the folks that can get you jobs opportunities beyond selling to your fanbase.

The Cons


1.  Selling Too Early
Notice how I didn’t put ‘Making Money’ as one of the Pros of conventions?  It’s my belief that most people who try to sell at conventions (including myself!) start selling too early.  True, it’s good to start building a reputation, but if you start doing that before your art is at a professional level, you start building the wrong kind of reputation. Chances are if you start selling too early, you won’t have an established artistic identity or direction to your artistic vision.  People will get to know your art by the lower quality and lower prices we all have when we first start out as green, wide-eyed wanderers in this grand art world.

One might argue that fans enjoy seeing you grow as an artist.  I’m sure they do, but wouldn’t you rather impress people right out of the gate?  Starting too early can also lead to demoralization when you aren’t making the kind of sales to justify your expenses because everybody else is levels higher than you, skillwise.  If you’re not sure if you’re ready, ask your friends or art professionals you know whether they think you are at the point you need to be to take the risks of selling…because there are a lot of risks and a very high chance of burning yourself out when money is involved!

2.  Demoralization
Chances are that 99% of you are going to lose money when you first start selling at cons (especially if you start too early).  If you’re lucky, you’ll break even.  There are countless expenses involved, including, but not limited to, gas, hotel, travel, inventory, food, art show fees, table fees, etc.  While most of these expenses are tax deductible, it can really put a dent in your wallet and leave you with a hollow sense of failure after all the effort you put in.

And we haven’t even talked about the sleepless nights spent prepping your inventory, making travel arrangements, setting up displays, eating badly, descending deeper into the anti-social art cave due to all the prep work you have to do, breaking down displays…the list goes on and on and on and on.

3.  Time Consuming Distractions
On top of the dangerous levels of demoralization, conventions have a way of sucking up our lives.  By the time you’re done with one convention it’s time to start prepping work for the next one!  It’s all about sell, sell, selling and sometimes you get so fixated on selling that you forget to make new work.  A year (or two) later, you might realize you have the exact same work you’re showing to fans and art directors and you’re not advancing, artistically, because you’ve spent all this time making a short term dime instead of preparing for long term opportunities, like that portfolio you keep ignoring so you can SELL, SELL, SELL at conventions.

Bottom line is you need to balance conventions with creating new relevant work for your portfolio or you might find yourself stuck in a fruitless loop of selling.

4.  No More Fun Times
After a few cons of selling, you realize that you aren’t able to go to all the late night parties or stalk all the Jack Sparrows for your photo album or Pin the Tail on the Anthro.  You’ve got a table to man and unless you have backup, you’re going to be stuck there for 80% of the con.  You’ll probably need to be there relatively early too.  Some of us can handle partying AND selling, but that’s a recipe for a health nightmare!

Worse yet, you stop having fun at cons, altogether, because they are nothing more than selling opportunities for you rather than a place to be passionate about what you love with other people.  Sure, there’s nothing wrong with making money, but attending only to sell can sometimes sap the soul out of the whole experience, especially if you don’t sell well and end up demoralizing yourself instead.  I would personally rather be in the studio painting something for my portfolio that I can be excited about rather than selling at a convention I’m not really interested in. (Which is the exact reason for my break away from conventions this year)

 

Other Thoughts on Conventions

 
On Anime Cons – A great place to cut your teeth as a hobbyist  to get some basic setup and selling experience.  Also wonderful for experiencing pure unadulterated fan enthusiasm!  However, they’re generally not viewed as very professional and it’s hard to maintain serious prices in most artist alleys, where people are generally at a novice level, and therefore charge far less than you would see at other shows.  The younger attendee crowd for these cons are generally looking for cute cheap things to take home instead of expensive pieces of art. (These are all generalizations, of course. If you can sell well at any con, I encourage you to go for it!)
 
On Small Cons –  These can be small fun events to network with people, but usually aren’t so good for selling.  This also includes cons which are just starting up.  Be prepared to not make any money when you hear that a con is just getting started.  If you’re unsure, ask a show director (ie. the art show director) about how many years the con has been active and what the average attendance rating is like.  I usually like to sell at cons with 1000 or more attendees, unless the theme of the con is one which suits my art or my tastes, then I will take a chance on it because it might be enjoyable to network there for me.
 
On Professional Cons – By ‘professional’, I’m talking about cons like Illuxcon and Spectrum Fantastic Art Live which are focused purely on art and artists.  I have never attended a con like this and I’m looking forward to learning how they might serve different needs than your standard fanbase convention.  I suspect it’s going to be a whole new engaging experience where I grow my skills in networking and as an artist, rather than hone my skills as an entrepreneur.  I plan to report back later after I attend Illuxcon this year.
 

Final Thoughts

 
All in all, conventions are a wonderful, but exhausting experience!  I personally recommend that up and coming artists work on their skills first before putting too much time into the experience of selling at these events.  A sad fact of the industry is that people aren’t going to be looking for you by name when you first start out.  That kind of recognition comes from long, hard years spent building your reputation and your skills. (10 years on average, according to the pros I’ve talked to!)
 
Definitely attend them and enjoy conventions BEFORE you end up chained to a table!  Enjoy the atmosphere and learn the scene.  The most important thing conventions allow us to do is to get in touch with that nexus of passionate people who can lead us to a deeper appreciation of our beloved genres and stories, while also giving us valuable learning experiences.  Good luck and remember to drink plenty of water!
 

 

DragonCon 2012 To-Do List

This year is going to be my biggest year yet at DragonCon!  I’ll have a table in the artist alley, a large gallery bay, and a 3D display table in addition to all the rest!  This will also be my first year giving a panel on the basics of leather mask-making (Saturday at 7pm during the con).  I thought it would be a good exercise to share my tentative to-do list for this year’s con just to give everyone an idea of the hecticness.

–  Shoot and edit videos of segments for the mask-making demo.
–  Finish “War Prince” and “Lotus Dancer” paintings.
–  Craft 6 leather masks to add to the displays.
–  Create head displays for masks (touch up ones from last year that are damaged).
–  Double mat 10 art cards and embellish each mat with a themed drawing.
–  Order canvas prints of centerpieces.
–  Order bookmarks (order vinyl sleeves and tassles for bookmarks).
–  Make prints for the print shop and table (what a time to break in a new printer!)
–  Make sure I have enough bags and backing for all the prints.
–  Program barcodes for products at my table. Train with the new scanner between now and Dragoncon.
–  Compile portfolio for black and white interior artwork and full color character art for tabletop game companies.
–  Sign up for portfolio reviews. Still need to research which companies are represented at DragonCon and what kind of art they’re looking for.
–  Make some kind of freebie for any interested AD’s. A sketchbook? Bookmarks? Mini Calendar? Brochure? Not sure yet…

Have a sneak peek of my art gallery panel layout, for the curious:
I almost always lose my layout during setup so it’s nice to have a backup
here on the blog just in case I lose it.

To be honest, I’ve never pursued portfolio reviews at DragonCon before. It’s always been too intimidating and I never felt like I had enough of the right kinds of pieces.  Now, I feel I have a better idea  of what I am trying to be hired for and better work, to boot.  We’ll see, though!  I suspect I will be in for a cold splash of reality, but it’s one I hope that will help me to improve my presentation, overall! I’m also going to experiment with presenting my portfolio on an ipad. Yay for hand-me-down electronics!

So let the mad rush begin! May the coffee flow free and the chocolate be plentiful!

DragonCon 2011 Workbench Part 2

The saga of ‘Angela why did you decide to have a book signing and a gallery show just before DragonCon and then start your gallery panel stuff too late?’ continues!  Spent the last 3 days painting like a madwoman!  You saw the naked leather masks, now see them with COLOR!

Behold my PRETTEHS! That’s a little pile of stuff to be turned into jewelry and
bookmarks at the end.

A Black Swan mask. Heavily inspired by the look of
the movie with Natalie Portman. Still need to add
crystals to the crown in this one!

Seraphim mask. If my brain wasn’t broke before,
it was after this mask. Possibly adding gold chains
to this?
Tarot: The Moon mask. Or also “Moon Bonnet”.
She’s going to have a ‘necklace’ of fresh water
pearls attached.
And finally, the DRAGON Mask!  Totally dig how this came
out.

 They all still need varnishing, which will add an extra layer of candy-like awesome, but are otherwise done for the most part!  Stuff I still need to do:

– Finish displays for the bookmarks
– Finishing touches on the masks/jewelry that need dangly parts
– Mat and frame things. Embellish mats that are not LE
– Label everything properly for the art show
– Finish presentation for E-marketing panel in the art track
– Maybe do costume bits for a Lusiphur cosplay?
– EAT YOUR BRAINZ!
I can haz yer brainz? ;_;