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DRAFT: Deadly long art alley advice post
This is an incredibly long reply I wrote to someone on the forums at Manga Revolution, who asked for tips on selling prints in artist alleys. About halfway through I realized it needed to be written up as a tutorial, with better organization and design, and plan on doing so but thought I'd solicit other people's advice and experiences with selling art at anime cons, so am posting it here first.
I didn't even get into the mechanics of selling: change, keeping track of sales, whether to store prints on the table or behind it, etc. Advice and stories on that appreciated. :)
Naturally, this advice is geared towards anime conventions, not regular SF or comic cons, as that's what I sell at.
ETA: I didn't edit the BBcode into HTML, so the links look a bit funny. :)
This thread's kind of old, but heck, I'll open my big mouth anyway. :)
1) Prints are not necessarily bad sellers, but it all depends on the price of gas.
How so? you ask. Well, from my observations and the observations of a friend who sells stuff at craft shows, when gas prices are low, the stuff that costs $5-20 flies off the table. When the price of gas is high, stuff that costs $1-5 flies off the table. Last year my prints sold half as well as they normally do - it didn't help that the cost of paper rose, so I had to charge a little bit more, but that wasn't the only factor - but my $3 keychains almost sold out. That's why I'm focusing on keychains and phone charms this year, with prices from $1-3, and not as many prints.
2) Sales are not particularly dependent on your art skills - up to a point. Most people want pictures of their favorite characters or pairings and are not especially discerning when it comes to how good or bad the art is on a technical level. This is not a bad thing - remember how you look back on art you did that you thought was amazingly good three years ago but makes you cringe at how bad it is now? Same thing. The more educated and experienced you are, the better your eye becomes. However! What's important is not how good or bad it is, but whether it makes people happy.
What that ramble really means is that unless your art skills are exceptional, you will sell more fanart than original art, because people focus on the characters and not the techniques used in depicting them. But once you get good enough that people start buying your art for the art skill and not the characters, you'll be attracting the attention of the Serious Art Buyers and can start charging accordingly.
3) If the convention you're going to has an art show in addition to the artist alley, get a panel or two there. Hang your art and put a clip holding several cards along with a sign that says you have more down in the artist alley. It increases your exposure. Also, there are people who go to the art show who don't go to the artist alley - and they tend to be more of the Serious Art Buyers. Do not worry about putting copies of the prints you have in the alley in the art show - they can often sell more there, especially if you mat them nicely. I've had a print selling in the alley for $6 go at the art auction - matted - for $25. More money for you!
Also! Buy nice Mylar bags someplace like www.bagsunlimited.com and put your matted artwork in them. They automatically look nicer. Make sure your mats look good - bent corners, stains, marks, tears, and so on will result in the art not selling, or not selling for as much as it would if it were nicely matted. And put your name and URL on the back of each piece of art so the buyer can find you online and buy more of your work! I can't stress that enough!
4) If you can do on-the-spot commissions, do them. I can't. I've tried. Unfortunately I have ADD, to the point where I take medication for it, and the constant bustle and distraction in the alley keeps me from being able to do art there, so I end up having to do it in the hotel room at night, which means I can't go out with my friends. So I quit doing them.
5) Unless you are at a con with a bunch of, shall we say, specialized programming, hentai works, or even simple nudes, do not often sell well enough to make it worth the while doing them. People who claim you can make bunches of money doing it usually aren't people selling art. Where hentai makes money - unless, again, you're at a con like Dragon*Con which has a more adult audience than your average anime con - is in commissions. If you can stand creepy people, who often have a lot of money they're willing to spend on commissions, and are willing to do it, go for it. I don't. :)
6) And that leads into - creepy people. If you are cute and female, especially if you wear a revealing costume (and note that "cute" often means simply "alive"), there will almost always be That Creepy Guy. That Creepy Guy is, on occasion, female, but I'm using the male pronoun here for simplicity. :) Every con has its own That Creepy Guy. That Creepy Guy will come to your table, stare at your boobs, and ask if you can draw a picture specializing to his particular fetish. Sometimes he will have examples of what he means and will show them to you unasked. Sometimes the fetish is simple - "can I have a picture of Sailor Jupiter sitting on my lap?" - sometimes it makes you go "WTF?!" - "can I have a picture of *you* sitting on my lap?" or "can I have a picture of a furry with her feet stuck in glue?" (ACTUAL QUESTIONS asked by ACTUAL CREEPY GUYS.)
80% of the time, if you firmly say "I am not comfortable with that sort of thing," he will say thank you and go away. 19% of the time he will attempt to persuade you - the chances are higher the younger and cuter you are and the more revealing your outfit is - but will eventually go away when you remain firm. 1% of the time his "persuasion" will tip the line into "harassment." Do not be intimidated. Ask someone nearby, loudly, to go get Security. That usually gets him to go away. If he sticks around, Security will show up and take care of him for you.
Don't try to be nice and hedge your refusal to do the art (if you decide to refuse). He is often are not socialized enough to realize that a polite denial is still No - this is part of what makes him That Creepy Guy instead of merely That Guy With Specialized Tastes - so you need to come right out and say it to avoid his persistent nagging to draw it. Girls and women are often too socialized to say a direct No in this society, because we don't want to make someone feel bad, which is a disadvantage in cases like this.
7) As someone else says above, your first few cons should be experimental, in order to find out who your audience is. Don't plan on selling anything, making money, or even getting your expenses back. Don't think of it as an expense, though: it's an investment. You're doing baseline research. Find out who comes to your table. What do they ask for? Which of your pictures do they look at for longer? Which ones do they turn aside without a second thought. Which ones do they show to their friends? Which ones do they look at, say "I'm not into that sort of thing!" and quickly pass by? Which ones make them argue with you about a pairing? When they ask your prices, do more people say "Too much" or do more people say "Only that much?" Ask your neighbors in the alley what's selling for them. See what pictures face-up on the table draw people over to look. (The answer may surprise you - see next point.) What is the age of the people who look through your stuff? What is the gender of most of them? How long do they take at your table, and how long do they take at the tables next to yours? Keep track of the prints that sell - what is in them? Does it hold any relation to what is popular on Anime Swim, in games, or directly from Japan this year? Do the popular characters for art match the popular characters for cosplay? What is the reaction of the people as they look at your pictures - do they remain impassive, or do they laugh, say "Awwww!" or what?
Keep this data for every con you go to, and ask other people about their con experiences. I have yet to figure out a way to predict what's going to be popular at a particular con, and it seems to vary by region, but everything else is invaluable data.
8) Experiment and see what art, when sitting out, draws people over. I have found that my [url=http://telophase.deviantart.com/art/019-Nap-Time-7286542]picture of Naruto at Hogwarts[/url] will draw people over from across a crowded room. I have no idea how they even see it, but it's a WONDERFUL magnet. And they laugh out loud, drawing more attention, and they call their friends over to look at it. At one convention, I was selling some prints for PZB, and was sitting next to The-Z's table. Z and I discovered that if we had PZB's [url=http://pzb.deviantart.com/art/Sesshomaru-5607444]Sesshoumaru portrait[/url] print sitting right next to Z's Surfer Naruto print (which I can't find a copy of online), the combo was an irresistable magnet for drawing people over. (ETA: Z linked me to it! Here ya go!)
Conversely, there are pictures that actively repel people. This, in my experience, usually involves anything that even hints at yaoi. (Unless, of course, you are at Yaoi-Con, in which case it's a draw.) My picture of [url=http://telophase.deviantart.com/art/NOT-MY-FAULT-I-SWEAR-16287716]Light and L from [i]Death Note[/i] in bunnysuits[/url], while being one of my more popular DA pieces, and a complete joke to boot, keeps people who are afraid they might catch yaoi cooties away from the table. Despite the fact that there is NO YAOI IN THE PICTURE. So I keep it under other prints, because when someone who thinks it's funny gets there, they laugh and call their friends over, but it doesn't keep others away from the table.
9) If you do fanart, consider doing some pictures of minor and secondary characters. People who are fans of non-major characters are often extremely happy to find someone who's got art of their favorite character, and they will remember you and come back to you, and spend more money with you.
10) Remember what I said about looking for the age and gender of your audience above? That will determine what you draw and how you price it. If your general audience is older, they will be looking more critically at your art skills. But on the other hand, they have more money, and know the value of art. They will also be more open to non-fanart, and to more mature works with nudity or sex in them. If that's what you want to draw, work hard on your technical skills to attract these types of fans.
If your audience is younger, they have less money, and aren't as willing to pay what art is truly worth. On the other hand, they tend to prefer fanart and will buy almost anything if it's got their favorite character or pairing in it, no matter how awful it is. Don't draw any old crap just to sell it, because everyone can tell when your heart isn't in it, but don't stress over your mistakes, either, because they aren't as important to this audience. However, this audience is not as comfortable with artistic nudity and mature themes as an older audience is, and will sometimes avoid tables with pieces like that sitting out. Find a good compromise between what you like to draw, and what audience is most drawn to your work, and target that for your pricing.
Gender matters, too. Obviously, scantily-clad ladies sell more to the male crowd and scantily-clad men sell more to the female crowd. Figure out which crowd is at your con to buy art. The cons I attend are packed full of 14-22 year old girls with cash to spend, and many fewer 14-22 year old boys with cash to spend, so I sell [i]way[/i] more bishounen pictures than bishoujo. Which works for me, because that's what I like drawing. And my audience tends to be in high school, with not a lot of money, and avoid overtly sexy pictures, so I do art that's rated G to PG, with the occasional PG-13, and sell my 8x10" prints for $6-7, and the 11x13" for $12-14. The-Z's audience is older and skews more male, so she has a lot more pictures of women for sale, some nudes, and prices them higher - $10 or so for an 8x10" print - because that's what her audience is willing to pay.
11) If you're at the art table for fun and to meet people and not too concerned about making enough to pay for your hotel room and gas and con fees, then draw what you want. You'll have way more fun that way. But if you're thinking about using this to pay for your expenses and art supplies, then you'll have to start thinking a little more about what you're going to draw.
What makes a picture sell? Unless you find a collector of your art or of one particular character, a simple portrait usually (not always) sells less than a picture that tells a story in some way. You want to try to capture a moment, not to do a character design. You want your pictures to evoke an observable response from the people looking at them. Make them LAUGH or make them CRY or make them FALL IN LOVE with the moment. They won't admire your technical skills if the subject of the picture bores them. And this applies to all art, not just fanart. My examples are fanart because I have more of those. :)
One of my most popular pictures is one that makes me cringe to see it, because it's so bad compared to what I can do now. However, it tells a little story, and makes the viewer fall in love with the moment. It's [url=http://telophase.deviantart.com/art/002-Hand-Iruka-and-Naruto-6669552]this picture of a wee Naruto comparing hand sizes with Iruka[/url]. Every time someone sees it at a con, I hear them say "Awwwww!" That's what you want to hear. :)
Making people laugh is even harder than making them cry. :) Out of all my [url=http://telophase.deviantart.com/gallery/#Bleach]Bleach pictures[/url], the most popular is the Spa Day picture, because it's funny. Kenpachi and Yachiru, which is a touching father/daughter pic, is fairly popular and sold quite well in the art show last year, but isn't as popular because people like to laugh a lot more than go "Awwww!" If you can pull off humor, go for it, but if you don't have a talent for it, go for the "Awwww!" moments.
Surprisingly, pairing pictures don't sell as well. This is because you're limiting the potential audience to those who like that pairing. But if you've got an OTP and love to draw it, go for it. :) Something I've noticed, however, is that pairing fans will see their pairing in everything, even pictures with those two characters in it not interacting with each other at all. People who don't like that pairing won't see it. So aim for less groping and more friendship in a picture, if you want to make it more interesting to a wider group of people.
There is one exception to the rule that Moments sell better than Portraits. And that's pin-ups: pictures designed to appeal to the libido, or to [i]something[/i] powerful deep inside. Pin-ups don't have to be of a naked or scantily-clad person, either - they just have to have a arresting, compelling element to them that makes you stop dead in your tracks and stare at them. [url=http://telophase.deviantart.com/art/Advent-Children-Triptych-34292665]This picture of the three brothers from [i]Advent Children[/i][/url] is another very popular picture of mine, and I think ti's because it focuses all your attention on their eyes, which almost look [i]through[/i] you. Pictures that are a more traditional pin-up type are [url=http://telophase.deviantart.com/art/004-White-Flowers-18621882]this one of Sesshoumaru[/url] and [url=http://telophase.deviantart.com/art/Mr-Attitude-22028462]this one of Mello[/url].
Note that of all three of those examples, the only one that even has a remote sense of sexy to is is Mello, and that's from the way he's standing. You don't need to draw a half-naked body to appeal to someone's libido, [url=http://telophase.deviantart.com/art/Genjo-Sanzo-Make-My-Day-Punk-7753568]although that can work[/url], you want to find what it is about a character's personality and behavior that appeals to people. Mello and the [i]Advent Children[/i] brothers appeal to people because of their crazy and their intensity, and that's what's brought out in those pics. Sesshoumaru's arrogance and power is what appeals to people, so that's what that picture is about.
I didn't actually set out to do that deliberately with any of them - I just drew them in ways I thought fit the characters. I managed to nail it with those pictures, but I've failed with many other pictures.
12) If you have a paid DeviantArt account, keep track of your statistics and see which of your deviations are visited more, and which ones get more comments. That tends to correlate pretty closely with sales at cons, in my experience.
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These next tips are courtesy of my writer, who sells our comics with me at cons, and who does a lot of craft-fair type selling.
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13) Now to the actual business of selling. You want to get people's attention. In a GOOD way. Stand up behind your table - or get a friend who's good at it - and call people over. Compliment them on their cosplay. If you see someone costumed as a character you drew, call them over to look at it. Look people in the eye and say "Hello! How's your con been?"
If someone says "I don't have any money," or "I'm not buying anything today," say "That's OK! Looking [or Art appreciation] is free!" If they *do* have money, they may break down and buy. If they don't have money, they may have a friend who does, or they may remember you and come looking for you next year. I've had several people look for me specifically because they found my table the previous year after they spent all their money.
If someone's looking for something that you don't have, but your neighbor in the alley has, tell them about it! Your neighbor will appreciate the business and will do the same for you.
I shouldn't have to say this, but: be nice to people looking at your stuff. Anyone who feels that you're a jerk or is ignoring them won't buy anything. Pay attention especially to the ones who are quiet and shy. Like me (surprisingly I am less long-winded in real life than on the intarwebs). :) I cannot tell you the number of people who have lost a sale because they were too busy talking to their neighbor or on their cellphone to catch my eye, or who acted like I was an imposition on their time. And I know the value of art and am willing to spend more on it! You don't have to be genki (although it helps), but don't be actively sullen, either. If you're feeling tired, sick, or cranky, say something like "Sorry for being out of it - it's been a long con/I'm working on four hours sleep/I think I'm coming down with con crud" and you will instantly gain sympathy points with the person. :)
Don't ignore someone because of their age, either. Older people have more money and like to buy art. Young kids have parents at the con with money. Some of my best sales come when kids drag their mothers over and plead for money for art. :) Older people also tend to be collectors, who find an artist they like and buy a lot of their art to support them. I have one who has paid over $100 for an original artwork of mine in a con art auction. These people are your friends! Love them! Cherish them!
14) Do not pressure people to buy. That turns them off. Be pleasant and chat, if you're so inclined, draw their attention to things you think they might like, mention any specials you happen to have, but don't be anything like a used-car salesman. People will run like hell away from that. Get people to look: that's all you can do.
15) If you have stuff that feels good in the hands, like a comic or a keychain, hand it to someone. If someone holds an item, they're more likely to buy it.
16) Free chocolate works wonders for getting people over to the table. :)
17) DO NOT play music. It annoys your neighbors and anyone who hates your music will stay away from your table.
18) Cosplay costumes are effective in getting people over to your table. Other costumey-type clothing works, too. And as my writer says: "We shall find out this con if BOOBIES is useful. My guess is that it will help attract fans to the table, and crowds attract more crowds, despite the fact that BOOBIE fans are not our main buying audience."
19) And one last word on the subjects of pictures, as I forgot to put it in up above: Cute sells! Kid versions of popular characters. Non-fanart things that sell: dragons, unicorns, tigers, ANYTHING WITH WINGS. I am so not kidding about that last part.
I didn't even get into the mechanics of selling: change, keeping track of sales, whether to store prints on the table or behind it, etc. Advice and stories on that appreciated. :)
Naturally, this advice is geared towards anime conventions, not regular SF or comic cons, as that's what I sell at.
ETA: I didn't edit the BBcode into HTML, so the links look a bit funny. :)
This thread's kind of old, but heck, I'll open my big mouth anyway. :)
1) Prints are not necessarily bad sellers, but it all depends on the price of gas.
How so? you ask. Well, from my observations and the observations of a friend who sells stuff at craft shows, when gas prices are low, the stuff that costs $5-20 flies off the table. When the price of gas is high, stuff that costs $1-5 flies off the table. Last year my prints sold half as well as they normally do - it didn't help that the cost of paper rose, so I had to charge a little bit more, but that wasn't the only factor - but my $3 keychains almost sold out. That's why I'm focusing on keychains and phone charms this year, with prices from $1-3, and not as many prints.
2) Sales are not particularly dependent on your art skills - up to a point. Most people want pictures of their favorite characters or pairings and are not especially discerning when it comes to how good or bad the art is on a technical level. This is not a bad thing - remember how you look back on art you did that you thought was amazingly good three years ago but makes you cringe at how bad it is now? Same thing. The more educated and experienced you are, the better your eye becomes. However! What's important is not how good or bad it is, but whether it makes people happy.
What that ramble really means is that unless your art skills are exceptional, you will sell more fanart than original art, because people focus on the characters and not the techniques used in depicting them. But once you get good enough that people start buying your art for the art skill and not the characters, you'll be attracting the attention of the Serious Art Buyers and can start charging accordingly.
3) If the convention you're going to has an art show in addition to the artist alley, get a panel or two there. Hang your art and put a clip holding several cards along with a sign that says you have more down in the artist alley. It increases your exposure. Also, there are people who go to the art show who don't go to the artist alley - and they tend to be more of the Serious Art Buyers. Do not worry about putting copies of the prints you have in the alley in the art show - they can often sell more there, especially if you mat them nicely. I've had a print selling in the alley for $6 go at the art auction - matted - for $25. More money for you!
Also! Buy nice Mylar bags someplace like www.bagsunlimited.com and put your matted artwork in them. They automatically look nicer. Make sure your mats look good - bent corners, stains, marks, tears, and so on will result in the art not selling, or not selling for as much as it would if it were nicely matted. And put your name and URL on the back of each piece of art so the buyer can find you online and buy more of your work! I can't stress that enough!
4) If you can do on-the-spot commissions, do them. I can't. I've tried. Unfortunately I have ADD, to the point where I take medication for it, and the constant bustle and distraction in the alley keeps me from being able to do art there, so I end up having to do it in the hotel room at night, which means I can't go out with my friends. So I quit doing them.
5) Unless you are at a con with a bunch of, shall we say, specialized programming, hentai works, or even simple nudes, do not often sell well enough to make it worth the while doing them. People who claim you can make bunches of money doing it usually aren't people selling art. Where hentai makes money - unless, again, you're at a con like Dragon*Con which has a more adult audience than your average anime con - is in commissions. If you can stand creepy people, who often have a lot of money they're willing to spend on commissions, and are willing to do it, go for it. I don't. :)
6) And that leads into - creepy people. If you are cute and female, especially if you wear a revealing costume (and note that "cute" often means simply "alive"), there will almost always be That Creepy Guy. That Creepy Guy is, on occasion, female, but I'm using the male pronoun here for simplicity. :) Every con has its own That Creepy Guy. That Creepy Guy will come to your table, stare at your boobs, and ask if you can draw a picture specializing to his particular fetish. Sometimes he will have examples of what he means and will show them to you unasked. Sometimes the fetish is simple - "can I have a picture of Sailor Jupiter sitting on my lap?" - sometimes it makes you go "WTF?!" - "can I have a picture of *you* sitting on my lap?" or "can I have a picture of a furry with her feet stuck in glue?" (ACTUAL QUESTIONS asked by ACTUAL CREEPY GUYS.)
80% of the time, if you firmly say "I am not comfortable with that sort of thing," he will say thank you and go away. 19% of the time he will attempt to persuade you - the chances are higher the younger and cuter you are and the more revealing your outfit is - but will eventually go away when you remain firm. 1% of the time his "persuasion" will tip the line into "harassment." Do not be intimidated. Ask someone nearby, loudly, to go get Security. That usually gets him to go away. If he sticks around, Security will show up and take care of him for you.
Don't try to be nice and hedge your refusal to do the art (if you decide to refuse). He is often are not socialized enough to realize that a polite denial is still No - this is part of what makes him That Creepy Guy instead of merely That Guy With Specialized Tastes - so you need to come right out and say it to avoid his persistent nagging to draw it. Girls and women are often too socialized to say a direct No in this society, because we don't want to make someone feel bad, which is a disadvantage in cases like this.
7) As someone else says above, your first few cons should be experimental, in order to find out who your audience is. Don't plan on selling anything, making money, or even getting your expenses back. Don't think of it as an expense, though: it's an investment. You're doing baseline research. Find out who comes to your table. What do they ask for? Which of your pictures do they look at for longer? Which ones do they turn aside without a second thought. Which ones do they show to their friends? Which ones do they look at, say "I'm not into that sort of thing!" and quickly pass by? Which ones make them argue with you about a pairing? When they ask your prices, do more people say "Too much" or do more people say "Only that much?" Ask your neighbors in the alley what's selling for them. See what pictures face-up on the table draw people over to look. (The answer may surprise you - see next point.) What is the age of the people who look through your stuff? What is the gender of most of them? How long do they take at your table, and how long do they take at the tables next to yours? Keep track of the prints that sell - what is in them? Does it hold any relation to what is popular on Anime Swim, in games, or directly from Japan this year? Do the popular characters for art match the popular characters for cosplay? What is the reaction of the people as they look at your pictures - do they remain impassive, or do they laugh, say "Awwww!" or what?
Keep this data for every con you go to, and ask other people about their con experiences. I have yet to figure out a way to predict what's going to be popular at a particular con, and it seems to vary by region, but everything else is invaluable data.
8) Experiment and see what art, when sitting out, draws people over. I have found that my [url=http://telophase.deviantart.com/art/019-Nap-Time-7286542]picture of Naruto at Hogwarts[/url] will draw people over from across a crowded room. I have no idea how they even see it, but it's a WONDERFUL magnet. And they laugh out loud, drawing more attention, and they call their friends over to look at it. At one convention, I was selling some prints for PZB, and was sitting next to The-Z's table. Z and I discovered that if we had PZB's [url=http://pzb.deviantart.com/art/Sesshomaru-5607444]Sesshoumaru portrait[/url] print sitting right next to Z's Surfer Naruto print (which I can't find a copy of online), the combo was an irresistable magnet for drawing people over. (ETA: Z linked me to it! Here ya go!)
Conversely, there are pictures that actively repel people. This, in my experience, usually involves anything that even hints at yaoi. (Unless, of course, you are at Yaoi-Con, in which case it's a draw.) My picture of [url=http://telophase.deviantart.com/art/NOT-MY-FAULT-I-SWEAR-16287716]Light and L from [i]Death Note[/i] in bunnysuits[/url], while being one of my more popular DA pieces, and a complete joke to boot, keeps people who are afraid they might catch yaoi cooties away from the table. Despite the fact that there is NO YAOI IN THE PICTURE. So I keep it under other prints, because when someone who thinks it's funny gets there, they laugh and call their friends over, but it doesn't keep others away from the table.
9) If you do fanart, consider doing some pictures of minor and secondary characters. People who are fans of non-major characters are often extremely happy to find someone who's got art of their favorite character, and they will remember you and come back to you, and spend more money with you.
10) Remember what I said about looking for the age and gender of your audience above? That will determine what you draw and how you price it. If your general audience is older, they will be looking more critically at your art skills. But on the other hand, they have more money, and know the value of art. They will also be more open to non-fanart, and to more mature works with nudity or sex in them. If that's what you want to draw, work hard on your technical skills to attract these types of fans.
If your audience is younger, they have less money, and aren't as willing to pay what art is truly worth. On the other hand, they tend to prefer fanart and will buy almost anything if it's got their favorite character or pairing in it, no matter how awful it is. Don't draw any old crap just to sell it, because everyone can tell when your heart isn't in it, but don't stress over your mistakes, either, because they aren't as important to this audience. However, this audience is not as comfortable with artistic nudity and mature themes as an older audience is, and will sometimes avoid tables with pieces like that sitting out. Find a good compromise between what you like to draw, and what audience is most drawn to your work, and target that for your pricing.
Gender matters, too. Obviously, scantily-clad ladies sell more to the male crowd and scantily-clad men sell more to the female crowd. Figure out which crowd is at your con to buy art. The cons I attend are packed full of 14-22 year old girls with cash to spend, and many fewer 14-22 year old boys with cash to spend, so I sell [i]way[/i] more bishounen pictures than bishoujo. Which works for me, because that's what I like drawing. And my audience tends to be in high school, with not a lot of money, and avoid overtly sexy pictures, so I do art that's rated G to PG, with the occasional PG-13, and sell my 8x10" prints for $6-7, and the 11x13" for $12-14. The-Z's audience is older and skews more male, so she has a lot more pictures of women for sale, some nudes, and prices them higher - $10 or so for an 8x10" print - because that's what her audience is willing to pay.
11) If you're at the art table for fun and to meet people and not too concerned about making enough to pay for your hotel room and gas and con fees, then draw what you want. You'll have way more fun that way. But if you're thinking about using this to pay for your expenses and art supplies, then you'll have to start thinking a little more about what you're going to draw.
What makes a picture sell? Unless you find a collector of your art or of one particular character, a simple portrait usually (not always) sells less than a picture that tells a story in some way. You want to try to capture a moment, not to do a character design. You want your pictures to evoke an observable response from the people looking at them. Make them LAUGH or make them CRY or make them FALL IN LOVE with the moment. They won't admire your technical skills if the subject of the picture bores them. And this applies to all art, not just fanart. My examples are fanart because I have more of those. :)
One of my most popular pictures is one that makes me cringe to see it, because it's so bad compared to what I can do now. However, it tells a little story, and makes the viewer fall in love with the moment. It's [url=http://telophase.deviantart.com/art/002-Hand-Iruka-and-Naruto-6669552]this picture of a wee Naruto comparing hand sizes with Iruka[/url]. Every time someone sees it at a con, I hear them say "Awwwww!" That's what you want to hear. :)
Making people laugh is even harder than making them cry. :) Out of all my [url=http://telophase.deviantart.com/gallery/#Bleach]Bleach pictures[/url], the most popular is the Spa Day picture, because it's funny. Kenpachi and Yachiru, which is a touching father/daughter pic, is fairly popular and sold quite well in the art show last year, but isn't as popular because people like to laugh a lot more than go "Awwww!" If you can pull off humor, go for it, but if you don't have a talent for it, go for the "Awwww!" moments.
Surprisingly, pairing pictures don't sell as well. This is because you're limiting the potential audience to those who like that pairing. But if you've got an OTP and love to draw it, go for it. :) Something I've noticed, however, is that pairing fans will see their pairing in everything, even pictures with those two characters in it not interacting with each other at all. People who don't like that pairing won't see it. So aim for less groping and more friendship in a picture, if you want to make it more interesting to a wider group of people.
There is one exception to the rule that Moments sell better than Portraits. And that's pin-ups: pictures designed to appeal to the libido, or to [i]something[/i] powerful deep inside. Pin-ups don't have to be of a naked or scantily-clad person, either - they just have to have a arresting, compelling element to them that makes you stop dead in your tracks and stare at them. [url=http://telophase.deviantart.com/art/Advent-Children-Triptych-34292665]This picture of the three brothers from [i]Advent Children[/i][/url] is another very popular picture of mine, and I think ti's because it focuses all your attention on their eyes, which almost look [i]through[/i] you. Pictures that are a more traditional pin-up type are [url=http://telophase.deviantart.com/art/004-White-Flowers-18621882]this one of Sesshoumaru[/url] and [url=http://telophase.deviantart.com/art/Mr-Attitude-22028462]this one of Mello[/url].
Note that of all three of those examples, the only one that even has a remote sense of sexy to is is Mello, and that's from the way he's standing. You don't need to draw a half-naked body to appeal to someone's libido, [url=http://telophase.deviantart.com/art/Genjo-Sanzo-Make-My-Day-Punk-7753568]although that can work[/url], you want to find what it is about a character's personality and behavior that appeals to people. Mello and the [i]Advent Children[/i] brothers appeal to people because of their crazy and their intensity, and that's what's brought out in those pics. Sesshoumaru's arrogance and power is what appeals to people, so that's what that picture is about.
I didn't actually set out to do that deliberately with any of them - I just drew them in ways I thought fit the characters. I managed to nail it with those pictures, but I've failed with many other pictures.
12) If you have a paid DeviantArt account, keep track of your statistics and see which of your deviations are visited more, and which ones get more comments. That tends to correlate pretty closely with sales at cons, in my experience.
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These next tips are courtesy of my writer, who sells our comics with me at cons, and who does a lot of craft-fair type selling.
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13) Now to the actual business of selling. You want to get people's attention. In a GOOD way. Stand up behind your table - or get a friend who's good at it - and call people over. Compliment them on their cosplay. If you see someone costumed as a character you drew, call them over to look at it. Look people in the eye and say "Hello! How's your con been?"
If someone says "I don't have any money," or "I'm not buying anything today," say "That's OK! Looking [or Art appreciation] is free!" If they *do* have money, they may break down and buy. If they don't have money, they may have a friend who does, or they may remember you and come looking for you next year. I've had several people look for me specifically because they found my table the previous year after they spent all their money.
If someone's looking for something that you don't have, but your neighbor in the alley has, tell them about it! Your neighbor will appreciate the business and will do the same for you.
I shouldn't have to say this, but: be nice to people looking at your stuff. Anyone who feels that you're a jerk or is ignoring them won't buy anything. Pay attention especially to the ones who are quiet and shy. Like me (surprisingly I am less long-winded in real life than on the intarwebs). :) I cannot tell you the number of people who have lost a sale because they were too busy talking to their neighbor or on their cellphone to catch my eye, or who acted like I was an imposition on their time. And I know the value of art and am willing to spend more on it! You don't have to be genki (although it helps), but don't be actively sullen, either. If you're feeling tired, sick, or cranky, say something like "Sorry for being out of it - it's been a long con/I'm working on four hours sleep/I think I'm coming down with con crud" and you will instantly gain sympathy points with the person. :)
Don't ignore someone because of their age, either. Older people have more money and like to buy art. Young kids have parents at the con with money. Some of my best sales come when kids drag their mothers over and plead for money for art. :) Older people also tend to be collectors, who find an artist they like and buy a lot of their art to support them. I have one who has paid over $100 for an original artwork of mine in a con art auction. These people are your friends! Love them! Cherish them!
14) Do not pressure people to buy. That turns them off. Be pleasant and chat, if you're so inclined, draw their attention to things you think they might like, mention any specials you happen to have, but don't be anything like a used-car salesman. People will run like hell away from that. Get people to look: that's all you can do.
15) If you have stuff that feels good in the hands, like a comic or a keychain, hand it to someone. If someone holds an item, they're more likely to buy it.
16) Free chocolate works wonders for getting people over to the table. :)
17) DO NOT play music. It annoys your neighbors and anyone who hates your music will stay away from your table.
18) Cosplay costumes are effective in getting people over to your table. Other costumey-type clothing works, too. And as my writer says: "We shall find out this con if BOOBIES is useful. My guess is that it will help attract fans to the table, and crowds attract more crowds, despite the fact that BOOBIE fans are not our main buying audience."
19) And one last word on the subjects of pictures, as I forgot to put it in up above: Cute sells! Kid versions of popular characters. Non-fanart things that sell: dragons, unicorns, tigers, ANYTHING WITH WINGS. I am so not kidding about that last part.
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I haven't /flown/ to any con yet and tried to sell, but that may be the next step. :D It'd have to be one of the big ones, like AWA or Anime Expo, to make the potential money worth the cost of flying, though.
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My first couple of cons I was actively looking for a writer. I ended up not finding one through a con because the right one never approached me (
I can tell you I was actively turned off by people who didn't listen to what I said. I'd say "I don't do superheroes." And they'd say "That's OK! These are *different*!" But no! I don't do superheroes! And the script or two I read were typical. They all harbored dreams of being the next Alan Moore, but they were not Alan Moore and their script was not Watchmen.
I was also actively turned off by people who demonstrated they didn't have a grasp of my art style. They'd look at all my manga bishounen, turn to the one picture that wasn't manga style, and say "I like that one!" Or mention artists as examples that were nothing like my style.
I hadn't worked out the proper importance of layout at the time, but nowadays I'd be suspicious of anyone who didn't want to see sample sequential art pages of mine, and based their opinions entirely on my pin-ups.
And anyone who demonstrated a failure to grasp the essential of publishing and the market - the ones who thought that they'd make fortunes in comics and manga, or that art was quick to churn out - were instant nos. XD
You probably did this, but bring business cards to hand out to them, and take the artist's card as well. And if you say you're going to follow up with them, do so - there were a couple whose proposals I was slightly interested in who never got in touch with me. Ah well. Their loss.
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Gah, I am glad you mentioned the sequential art pages bit, because that is a *huge* priority for me, and I honestly was worried that it would be rude to bring it up. Which probably sounds ridiculous, but these are the mysteries of a shy person's brain. More and more I am convinced that strong comics layout skills (and specifically an understanding of manga layout, since my script is definitely geared for the OEL manga market, such as it is, more than anything else) and the ability to really portray movement in drawings are more important than style, which I can afford to be open-minded about. I don't have pro credits, but I research obsessively, so if nothing else, I know what I'm getting into. I am looking for an artist who is also on that wavelength.
Anyway, your advice is incredibly helpful, and also cheering, because I feel like I'm at least on the right track, if I can just get up the nerve to speak. Heh.
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Knowing what I do now about the industry, I'd probably be open to someone who was honest and knew what they were talking about, and who didn't expect me to draw the entire thing first before shopping it around. Something like "I don't have any pro credits, but I've got a script and am looking for artists to do some character design and sample pages for a package to pitch to publishing companies."
And mention that in the pitch stage there's no money involved, but if the company buys the script but not the artist, you'd be willing to pay a kill fee for their work on character design and sample pages. (That's the deal Rachel and I have for Butterfly Kick, but it hasn't been bought yet, so no kill fee yet. XD)
More random advice later if I think of any. :D
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Thank you for all of your advice here, and any more to come! I'm truly grateful!
(edited for typos)
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Good luck!
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Thank you!!
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That said:
Wall of Text Crits mothoc for 9999.
mothoc has died.
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http://www.mangarevolution.com/image.php?imgid=6428
Selling it in poster size just seemed to increase its gravitational field.
Presentation and organization is such a big detail people overlook too. I've seen some folks just spread their prints all over a table or cram half-hearted doodles in with finished items for sale. Artwork for sale has to be organized and easily accessible. Cons are crowded and if you have your art where a pair or more of people can view it easily at the same time (rather than hunching over a milk crate and thumbing through it like doujinshi), you increase your exposure and make browsing more convenient for customers.
I like the system some have adopted of using sectional wire locker shelves for display. If done well, it makes a very nice, professional display and increases your display space by lifting things off the table. However, and this is true whether you incorporate this sort of device or not, but do not block other artist's tables with your display. Some cons have a height/size regulation, but people should be considerate outside of this when constructing displays.
BRING CHANGE for customer transactions.
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(Oh, and Ouran High School Host Club. It was liscenced by the local dubbing studio that's like...five blocks from the convention center.)
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*goes into a happy daze because it's THE WEEKEND and I have the brand spanking new box set (http://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Galaxy-Rangers-Collection-Vol/dp/B0013D8LZE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1210970889&sr=8-1) to watch, YAY!*
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Next week I'll be at Fanime searching hard for delicious art goods. ;D And I COMPLETELY ADORE on the spot commissions.
Oh, man. I'm already all excited about artist's alley. @_@
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I need to make new character sheets this year so any advice of that nature that would make my characters as approachable (and easy to explain/understand) as possible would be completely awesomely appreciated. *hopeful face*
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That is most excellent along with a verbal assurance that if the artist doesn't have quite the right colors, an approximation is OK. XD The one time I was given a character sheet, it was so much easier, rather than trying to pantomime out what the character looked like and suggesting various characters they sort of look like. XD And I was terrified that the commissioner would have a problem because I had to use different colors - more like substituting magenta for pink, not like substituting green for purple - since my marker collection was limited. :D But they assured me it was OK, and said they loved it. :D Yay!
ETA: Now that I finished squeebling, I can answer the actual question you asked: what would really help *me* is something about the character's personality. I use that to figure out the pose, props, background, shades of color, and the general style. Something more detailed than "She's spunky, but with a serious side," which is an ACTUAL DESCRIPTION I was given once when I asked for a character's personality.
(And if anyone is reading this who commissions characters based on yourself, please assure the artist you will not freak out if it deviates in minor ways from the description! I find characters based on the commissioner hard to do, because they're so emotionally involved with it.)
ETA2: I'm adding this to emphasize the personality thing - looking at your sheet I can see three different moods that she's been drawn in. They may all be part of her, because everyone's complex, but when one looks like a shy, vulnerable person and the other looks like a spunky, outgoing person, it's hard to get a handle on the character.
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Great article!
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even more so since I'm in the marketplaceno subject
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Please continue to not be able to shut up on this topic. :D
(And now I need to find out where to sell yuri, of the mostly G or PG variety.)
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(No clue, unfortunately! XD)
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Out of curiosity, what do you recommend for storage? Like, right now I have a binder with all my prints and stuff in it [one copy of each], and I guess I'll have to keep a box of stock under the table or something. Do you think that's a big disadvantage, rather than letting the customer be able to rifle through on their own, or is that also a risk in giving the prints an opportunity to get damaged by sticky fingers/over-enthusiasm/whatever else?
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Most artists I know have one display print out in a binder and keep the rest in bags or a bin under the table. I found that gave me Too Much Stuff to carry and deal with, so I just shove all my prints in the binder and pull them out when people want to buy them.
Good luck! XD
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Thank you~
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I'm looking for more advice on handling different types of people at the table. I often get lonely people who suddenly talk in long detail about strange things on their life. I don't mind chatting but sometimes it drives others away so I'm wondering how to nicely hint that the conversation should end xD anyone ever experience that?
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As far as the talkers - if you're taking comissions, I'd say something like "Wow, it's been great talking to ya but I'd better get back to this commission before they get back here and want it! Hope you have a great con/it gets better/etc!" If you're not taking commissions ... maybe invent a friend who you'd promised art to. If you don't have any art supplies, I'm not sure. I usually just start paying attention to everyone walking by and say "Hi! How's your con!" to them, and doing the other selling things, and eventually the talker gets bored and wanders off. Eventually.
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That might be even more helpful. Bwahahahahahaa. I did a little homework and it sounds like the con in less than a month is a college con, but it may not be being promoted very well. I am thinking as it is Oct. 16th, that it is close enough to halloween to get a cheap bright orange tablecloth from the dollar store and some halloween candy. I figure, if nothing else, my table will stand out a little bit.