What was your first year in the alley like?

[MoonlightDragon]

for some of you it may have been this year or 5 years ago? Either way I want to know D: Next year is gonna be my first year,
If i wasn't dragging a friend along i'd be nervous that my art wouldnt be popular T.T and i'd be bored all weekend.

I've seen a couple go once in the alley and never again through reading various posts @.@ and such.
Did anyone have a rocky first year but go back the next year and get better results? I mean no use calling it quits after one bad year by the next year you'll only have improved more!
>< squee

I want to know the good and bad T.T;
what seemed more popular and less, like if you do both digitail and traditional pieces if the digi sold alot more i wanna know -.-; i do have a wacom 4 tablet but i'm stubborn so i just keep doing stuff by hand cause it's more portable then dragging a laptop and tablet around Even though my laptop is 'portable' size at 14 inches and the tablet is portable since it's the smaller wacom xD I was going to do a couple digitial pieces but then i cant cal our table T.T done By hand or something lulz.
hum....

and i'm sure fanart sells alot better then oc art xD i've gotten some advice on deviant art after making journal posts, it's not always the mainstream animes that i should do fanart? D: some random ones are good to ?XD I think i'll do some of stocking, from panty and stocking, i had no idea what that was until someone posted it on my journal and i clicked on youtube and was like O_o; omg it's like a zulgar nick cartoon.... kinda awesome XD !!! hahh
oh course i can't resist doing some mainstream cutegirls T.T like chobits I wanted to do a kikyo too xD and soooo much vocaloid fanart x.x maybe some higurashi no naku koroni cause i like crazy cute things.

[jashy]

Being the director of Artist Alley, there are many trends that come and go. For example, an item that is hot one year will not sell as well the next year. Although it seems that a basic trend is to have a few things for everyone at various different prices.

Another good way to promote yourself is to get a piece into the art auction. Some of the works have bidding wars and there are always a few people looking to get a nice piece to add to their collections. Often artists are sought after when the auction finishes to try to get works commissioned.

[MayaKuroyuki]

This year is actually my first time to ever go to a con and also my first time to sell at the AA. I wasn't able to go on the first day (Friday) so I was very surprised when I friend told me that my plushies sold out on the first day! (though it might have helped that my prices were fairly cheap). As for the prints, all I did was OC art and out of 20 prints I only have 4 left over, so I guess that's pretty good. I didn't do any commissions since I didn't want to do rush work.

I also had some stuff at the art auction, the Hatsune Miku that went to the live auction got sold and the Blind Mag didn't sell at the silent auction so when I got it back, I dropped the price a bit and it was sold at our table.

I'm definitely going back and have more stuff(and variety) next year

[MoonlightDragon]

o_o art auction hum, I guess I could put one or two of my orginals that are my cleaner ones xD to autction
i'm trying to plan out a variety half oc and half fanarts bookmarkers,postcards, and trading cards i wanna keep it smaller so it's easier to stuff in a box and carry around , i just might make a couple buttons XD and if they dont sell i'll stick them on my bag and give them to friends

[xero41]

Hi, this is Xero of Lunacy Studios. our first year in the AA was back in 2009 and we had a lot of fun back than, we still do now as well. our group went in that first year not expecting much just to get ourselves out there, which we're still doing. one of our members i know has left an impression on people these past couple years because he has a a few regular people who remember him and buy his stuff. to be brutally honest i havent actaully made any products till this year, the previous years all i did was commissions. im a traditional artist myself and i prefer it but i can do digital work. one of my group members is along the same lines and he did digital commissions this year so thats always a apossibility. i can tell you this if doing fanart of anything people will stop to check it out they may or may not buy it but they'll stop by to take a look. also being in the AA for these past couple of years ive seen teh popularity of vocaloids rising but i do agree with jashy about trends coming and going, whats popular one year may not be the next. well i cant really think of anything to say but good luck and have fun joining us in the AA for 2012!

This year is actually my first time to ever go to a con and also my first time to sell at the AA. I wasn't able to go on the first day (Friday) so I was very surprised when I friend told me that my plushies sold out on the first day! (though it might have helped that my prices were fairly cheap). As for the prints, all I did was OC art and out of 20 prints I only have 4 left over, so I guess that's pretty good. I didn't do any commissions since I didn't want to do rush work.

I also had some stuff at the art auction, the Hatsune Miku that went to the live auction got sold and the Blind Mag didn't sell at the silent auction so when I got it back, I dropped the price a bit and it was sold at our table.

I'm definitely going back and have more stuff(and variety) next year

oh hai thar, i didnt realize that it was you di XD until i read the post closely.

[domo-taicho]

Hi,

I am also thinking of joining AA for 2012. Thank you for the very much needed advice. (I hope there's still tables left. I have to wait till September to buy one. T_T) I recently started to learn the inner workings of my Bamboo so I'm playing around with it. I have a couple of questions.

Since there is a production limit (100 is believe o.O) how many copies/replicas of a certain item do you make?
Is there a designated set up time/clearing up time before and after con?
Do you physically have to be there (you the artist) for the whole time? (Can we have someone we trust like a parent of friend take care of our table for about an hour? (If you need to be in/want to see a panel)
If we run out of a print item, can we make more and bring it the next day?
Fan art is okay, right? If we do keychains/bookmarks/pins that are way different from the original artist's style, can we sell them? (I was thinking chibi)

@MoonlightDragon, did you already get a table? and I agree, if I can manage to get a table, I'd be nervous too.

[jashy]

Since there is a production limit (100 is believe o.O) how many copies/replicas of a certain item do you make?

You answered yourself. 100 of each item

Is there a designated set up time/clearing up time before and after con?

Yes there is. These times will be emailed to each vendor.

Do you physically have to be there (you the artist) for the whole time? (Can we have someone we trust like a parent of friend take care of our table for about an hour? (If you need to be in/want to see a panel)

No you do not have to be there. Vendors can open and close their booths as they desire. BUT! Staff will not watch tables for you

If we run out of a print item, can we make more and bring it the next day?

yes, unless it is over the 100 count limit.

Fan art is okay, right? If we do keychains/bookmarks/pins that are way different from the original artist's style, can we sell them? (I was thinking chibi)

Yes. This is acceptable as long as it does not duplicate copyrighted art exactly.

[domo-taicho]

This makes sense now. Thank you!

[MoonlightDragon]

sorry I lulzed when I read the 'if you can't make more then 100 copies, how many copies can you make?"
not mean just xD really had to lulz at that.

must be cause I ask questions like that sometimes, already answered questions.


So we can close our table and leave early too if we dont want to stay from 9 am to... like 5pm ? wow 9 to 5
i'd probly go home around 4 maybe 5 although i'll still close for breaks and explore the convention

I will buy stuff thats for sure XD

[jashy]

(for vendors) we are open 9am-10:30pm Fri & Sat. 9am-6pm Sun. (additional times are for set-up and cleanup)

(for attendees) we are open from 10am - 10pm Fri & Sat. 10am-5pm Sun.

This information can be located here

http://www.kawaii-kon.org/events/artinfo/

[Chugoku-jinko]

Kawaii Kon 2010 was me and my friends' first year in AA. we only did traditional since our artist was only good with traditional at the time. if we had the skill to do digital coloring we would. we both had illustrations and comics of fanart and of OC's of course the fanart sold more. i'd say we did pretty good for our first year. we didn't have a both for 2011 because our friend who made most of the money didn't want to have the table again. but i'm happy that i get to be on the vendor's side of KK. i hope some day i could experience the volunteer staff side of KK too :3

[MoonlightDragon]

Wow till 10pm just wow. Im normaly rolling around bed around 10 XD
I see >.> I need to read it better when i wake up sleepy now,
i skimmed it and didnt see where it said, it's okay to close,clean up, and go home early, but I assume it would be.

thankssss
must stop slackin and pump out some art ._.; summer summer time feeling sick though T.T ugh i hate colds and allergies

[Chugoku-jinko]

you can think of it this way. For your hours of operation for your table can be anyway you want it to be during kon as long it's within the hours of when the artist alley room is open.

[Khamp]

My first year selling in AA was last year. I shared a half table with three other friends (Yeah, it was really cramped on our table, to say the least). They were selling charms and art, and I was selling bookmarks of a variety of fandoms and commissions. I went in with the mentality that I would not be selling much. Honestly, I gave up after the second day because people weren't even glancing at my products. So every now and then when someone did come along, which was two or three people, I just gave whatever they were looking at for free lol I was just feeling so discouraged by the end of the kon that I didn't want to think twice about going back. I didn't even make back what I spent and so couldn't afford to pre-register for next year if I wanted to. But then a little later after a bit more reflecting, I realized I had fun overall meeting the other vendors and learned a lot. Next year, I'll try for a table again because, like you said, there's only improvement from there. : )
As for products...Big prints, definitely, things to make you stick out from the others. I drew a mixture of fandoms for the bookmarks. Homestuck, APH, some Marvel characters, and Chris Redfield ('cuz who doesn't love a steroid induced zombie killer). I sold commissions at three bucks a sketch, which, I admit, was a horrible idea because I wasn't ready to rush draw yet. And the only reason I sold commissions in the first place was because my friend mentioned me to the customer when they ordered from her. 's okay, though, first year's the learning year. (My friends businesses were booming, btw, I feel so proud of them hehe)
Good luck at the kon! Don't get so easily discouraged like I did if you don't sell much. It's a one of a kind experience and I regret badly not begging my family for more money so I could reserve a table for next year lol ^^

[DotXHacker]

As a suggestion I recommend just focusing on things you yourself would buy as a person and make it with care and all that mushy love :3 If you like it and proud of it I'm sure your customers will like it.