View halloo, all!
Sorry for the delay in posting, but yesterday was the last day of Florida SuperCon and I was just beat. I ended up crashing out early without doing my usual Monday posting.
But, I'm *mostly* awake now. ;)
Weekly Words
Genius is another word for magic, and the whole point of magic is that it is inexplicable.
- Margot Fonteyn, 1919 - 1991
Current Project
Well, this past weekend was Florida SuperCon at the Miami Airport Convention Center (and it seems as though the convention is rapidly outgrowing the available space.) It was a 4 day convention, over a non-holiday weekend, so it was... odd (I'll get to that when I talk about Monday.)
Thursday
Set up for vendors and artists started Thursday before the convention, which is excellent, however, SuperCon started with it's usual hiccups. While set up was open from 2pm-midnight, it seems something went wrong with the instructions for the Artist Alley tables. This happens EVERY year. Something ALWAYS goes wrong when it comes to the AA.
Not to mention, there doesn't seem to be anyone associated with the convention looking out for possible legal issues... like the artist in the back who had acrylic paintings of various comic book hero logos. Now, fanart skirts the line of copyright violation, but most artists are smart enough to stay well on the legal side of the fair use/parody clause, and not make a profit off the sale of fanart alone. Trademark infringement, on the other hand, is a TOTALLY different animal. Comic book character logos are not only copyright-protected, more importantly, they are trademarked. Violating trademarks is a HUGE no-no. It WILL get you sued. It will get you CRUSHED by the kinds of lawyers guys like Marvel, DC, Lucasfilm, Disney, etc can bring to bear.
So, while I showed up for set up approximately 4:30pm, tables would not be ready until after 8pm... MAYBE. I was not about to attempt heading home in Miami rush hour traffic on ridiculously busy hand congested highway systems, so I ended up puttering at the nearby Mart for 4 hours until I could get back in to set up my table.
I've got my table set up down pretty pat, and can do it in my sleep at this point. It takes me roughly 10 minutes to get the entire table set up done by myself (longer if there are table minions, since we're usually goofing off.) I do think it might be time to redo my table layout and start considering new banners and changing the presentation of my original works... but, that will have to wait until after this year's convention season when I have more time to devote to it.
The entire weekend was spent trading text messages back and forth with MCA Hogarth, which is always great, as we talk about random stuff, and then snap photos of doodles and trade notes. Her texts message replies about the drawings I was working on over the weekend were awesome! :) It was almost like being back in our coffee shop drawing session days. Except for the lack of coffee, sweet little dessert bites, and actually being together.... but, other than that, it was exactly the same! Lol. :D
Friday
Convention started Friday at 2pm, but it's great to get in an hour early, before doors open to the public, to sit at the table and relax a bit. Friday is mostly people milling about looking at who is at the convention and what they have to offer. So, it was a slow sales day, but that's expected for Fridays. Ended up surrounded by some really cool artists, my next-table neighbor, for instance was Katrine Levya (katrinelevya.carbonmade.com) her work is fantastic!
Ended up with a commission that I finished before closing at 7pm (and forgot to take a picture of!) along with selling out of some of my badges and stickers. A mad dash to Staples for sticker paper and printing and cutting out stickers was the task of the night on Friday. Not surprisingly, my new Avengers chibi stickers were best-sellers.
Saturday
Saturday is usually the busy day at most cons, and SuperCon was no exception. The convention was PACKED! The huge convention guest this year was Alex Kingston (River Song from Dr. Who) so there was Dr. Who stuff everywhere: artwork, cosplay, randomness, etc.) Cast members from 'The Hunger Games' and 'Battlestar Galactica' were also roaming about the con, so a lot of artists had appropriate artwork on hand to capitalize. Smart.
A few friends popped in on Saturday to enjoy the con and say hello, which was great! I ended up with another commission (which I *also* forgot to take a picture of... O.o) also finished in a few hours. This was a black and white commission of Harley Quinn of DC canon. She was a fun one! I do wish I'd gotten a photo.
Went out for sushi dinner with good friend and MegaCon partner-in-crime, Scott and his stepson, at sushi maki... a little on the pricey side even for sushi, but so tasty! Their Thai donuts and mochi ice cream were AMAZING! I swear, I might go back *just* for the Thai donuts... like, every day. Seriously.
After dinner it was back to printing, cutting, laminating, and more cutting... I know, it's so exciting, isn't it? O.o
Sunday
Sunday was also pretty crowded, and it's usually the slow sales day of 3-day cons, but this Sunday was ok. May have been because it was a 4 day con, don't know.
Ended up with a couple of commission requests on Sunday, unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to finish them before the end of the day, but that's ok, because it means I have PICTURES!
I am totally in love with this commission. Ultimately, it will be in full color, but it's still in a raw sketch stage at the moment. Creature creation is SO not my thing, but once I got the description, this guy just showed up in my head, and I had no trouble translating my mind's image to the paper (a rarity!)
* * *
As if a sign from the Universe, I got a commission for a steampunk tarot card.... not kidding. My client wanted a female interpretation of the Magician with a distinctly steampunk flavor. This commission started out pretty simple, really... but, once I got started, I found myself adding detail and expanding the original request. O.o It will eventually be completed in ink, and I'll *definitely* be scanning it to play around with as a starting point for the Steampunk Major Arcana project!
I could not believe it when he told me what he wanted... it's like the Universe is telling me to DO the steampunk arcana possible kickstarter project I posted about weeks ago.
Sunday sales, otherwise, were sporadic, but there were more sticker sales along with running out of some prints that were at the ends of their runs, which is good!
Monday
Oh.... Monday. Where to begin. Well, let's start with the fact that I neglected to pay attention to the start time for Monday, and ended up at convention center at 8:45am (like I had the previous 2 days) only to find the con didn't open until 11am! O.o So, it was more wandering around the Mart for coffee and breakfast and some quiet doodling to kill time.
Monday, not being a holiday, saw my convention sales on the pathetic side... I can certainly understand the appeal of a 4-day con (there are quite a few of them around the country throughout the year) but, SuperCon isn't at the level of a Dragon*Con (which actually uses a 4-day weekend) or SDCC (which is massive enough to get people calling out sick to take a day off,) so scheduling a 4-day con the week BEFORE a 4-day weekend seems rather.... well, stupid, not to put too fine a point on it.
Last year's Florida Supercon was the first time they did the 4-day thing, and it worked out quite well... because they actually used a 4-day weekend. While a number of vendors and high-profile artists had left after Sunday to make it to Gencon the following weekend, there were still a LOT of buyers, and Monday was quite profitable for those of us who stayed.
This year... not so much. But, it's local for me, and I had the table for 4 days, whether I showed up Monday or not, so I went. Plus side? Being out of the house meant fewer shiny distractions and colossal time-sucks to prevent my working on commissions.
The best part of Monday, by far, was getting to relax and hang out with the fellow Artist Alley people who stayed for the day. I ran into Greg Kirkpatrick and Scott Blair (both fantastic comic artists I'd met the year before) along with my totally amazing table neighbor Katrine, and the totally fun-kind-of-crazy S. Raquel Jimenez, who had the table across the aisle.
We've all decided to hit up MegaCon next year, en masse. There will be havoc.
Come 7pm Monday, it was time to pack up, head home, and attempt to recover from the insanity that is a media convention.
It is Tuesday, and I am now firmly entrenched in a new bout of Con Crud (to be expected.) The side-effect of this particular Con Crud? I can now sing exactly like Louis Armstrong. O.o
But, it's over, and I have 2 1/2 weeks until Otakon in Baltimore, MD. There will now be a flurry of printing, matting, cutting, laminating, and more cutting, along with packing between now and the con.
Near Future
As I said, 2 weeks from now sees me in Baltimore, MD, for my second HUGE convention of the year, Otakon.
Otakon Baltimore, MD July 27-30. If you'll be at the con, come stop by my table in the Artist Alley and say hi, buy a print, commission some artwork! I'll be at table L13. Trust me, given the size of Otakon's AA, you'll need it if you want to find me.
So, that's it for this week's long-winded State of the Artist update! I hope you all had a good weekend, and for my American friends, Happy 4th of July!!! Get out there, enjoy your day off with some barbeque and fireworks! For the rest of you, have a happy Wednesday, maybe shoot off some fireworks just for the hell of it. :)
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