Artist Alley General: Summer Edition

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Continuing the God Tier AA artists theme, I love everything Digitoonie releases. I wonder if she still lurks here.

Since there was a lot of talk in the last thread about artists needing to get better and taking crit, is there anywhere out there where someone can actually get some serious crit, even if it's harsh? A lot of AA people are art school students/graduates who have had lots of outside feedback and help with their art, but I am self taught and struggle to identify how to fix my mistakes, but I really want to be better.

>>9505476
post your art here and people will offer good criticism. Could maybe try /ic/ ?
Honestly, just post your art ANYWHERE asking for criticism and someone will be helpful.
As long as your artwork is good enough to actually be saved, people will help.

>>9505476
Make artist friends, it's usually non artists or shit artists who sugar coat. Experienced artists understand the need for good crit and won't mince words if you show you aren't going to cry and be defensive

>>9505476
Here, baka. /ic/ is also good at telling you what's wrong. They won't tell you how to fix it, but they'll definitely tell you what's wrong if all you need is a second set of eyes.

>>9505494
>Honestly, just post your art ANYWHERE asking for criticism and someone will be helpful.
I beg to differ. 4Chan is the only place where I can get actual critique and not just asspats.

>>9505476
Oddly, the art section on the penny arcade forums was a solid place to get crit since they had a similar tradition to the old eatpoo forums. Pretty sure it's still fine now, I just haven't been there in years.

They're also slightly friendlier to weeb shit than conceptart.org or artstation. Honestly, I think the other anons are right, you'll get crit if you ask and actually follow up because people like helping out when someone actively takes their advice.

Thoughts on >>>/a/157960777 ?

Post here for sure if you don't want to be lied to. You'll get crit here too, but you'll for sure know what you have is sell-able or not.

>>9505476
I've found that I tend to get harsher but better quality crit from people if I don't identify that I'm the creator of what they're criticizing. Even anonymously, I think people tend to hold themselves back if they know they're talking to the actual artist, but if it's just some random picture they'll say what they really think about it.

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>>9505542
>you'll for sure know what you have is sell-able or not.
I'm having that problem right now and would appreciate some feedback. I know every other fuck in AX is going to have Overwatch merch so I have no idea if my stuff is even worth buying charms for. Pic related; example of my art

>>9505576
This looks super cute! The lines are nice and clean, your colors are bright and eye catching which is good for drawing attention to your table. On the other hand it looks like you've made some questionable style choices. I'd say you're good with your fundamentals but try and do some more searching with your style. The only thing that puts me off is how the face is drawn, particularly the eyes, mouth (tongue looks awkward, for example) and nose. That could be more of a personal choice than anything, but that's my honest opinion. Good luck!

>>9505576
It's almost good. It's just the face that's wonky. Move the eyes a little farther apart and make the right eye a little smaller. Flip your image and you'll see what I'm talking about. I like your coloring style by the way.

>>9505590
>>9505588
I knew something looked "off" about the face but I couldn't pinpoint it so I'm glad you both commented on it. I keep forgetting to flip my image when I draw so I'll go back in and rework it from there. I appreciate the honest feedback, thanks!

>>9505512
it doesn't affect us

>>9505576
It's not bad, you have a unique style, however I don't think style would sell or attract people towards it. The main issue is the face, she has huge cute anime eyes but the nose is so prominent and the mouth is too mature/sexual for her eyes

>>9505576
She needs way more forehead and some eyebrows, a cuter nose, and probably nix the thicker lined lower lip. It also looks like there's an unnecessary beginning of a line between her left eye and nose. Other than that, it looks great.

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>>9505576
I tried a quick edit, if you don't mind.

Like the other anons said, you need to resize the eye on the right and space it out a little. I moved up the mouth too and made the color a little less fire engine red. Removed the lower lip because it was clashing with the rest of your style.

It's really cute otherwise though, anon! I actually don't think the nose is a problem at all. Your style is a little similar to how I draw (thick lines, cartoony, bright colors) so I might be a bit biased though.

>>9505588
>>9505590

I actually really like the eye style, although I agree there's something off about the line weights on the mouth.

If you would like to throw your art twitter or blog my way, I'd love to follow you! Throwaway email in case you don't want to post it on 4chan:
> [email protected]

>>9505660
Better, but you might've overshot and pushed the right eye too far to the right now. Mouth looks better, too!

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I'm about to start drawing prints for upcoming cons and I would appreciate feedback about what I can do to make my art more appealing. Add more lighting/colour contrast and choose more dynamic poses/angles? Maybe abandon prints alltogether and just do stickers/charms?

>>9505642
I was debating on the lower lip since I liked how it looked as a sketch but you got a solid point about nixing it. Also whoops I didn't even notice that line there. Thanks for the heads up!
>>9505660
Oh, I like this a lot more! Your soft color choices for the mouth make the face a lot more pleasing to look at. I never considered having the line color stray from the rest of the face but this reads a lot nicer. The eye fix also helps me understand what the other anons meant. Thanks a lot for the edit!

>>9505664
Thanks!
I have a pure art tumble (lol) that I'm very bad at keeping updated but I don't mind posting here. 's got furry shit tho so sorry in advance
http://steveholtiscool.tumblr.com/

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>>9505670
As it stands, your colors are really muddy, anon. I would consider turning up the contrast and playing with color overlays? I'm personally not a very big fan of the two prints with cloud backgrounds. Since the clouds aren't rendered well, it muddies up your entire print. If you can do flats and cel shading I think they might look better than haphazard paintings. I think if you did bust shot prints like the FE one, they would sell!

>>9505670
You need to have more contrast with your colors. Your darkest shades are only a touch darker than your midtones, particularly in the bottom right print. You have a really solid start! I think just messing with your levels will help.

How well do lolita accessory tables do? A mix of used brand, off brand and vintage pieces and then some handcrafted accessories by someone who wears the fashion? Quality fabric and sewn bows, headdresses and wrist cuffs etc. Metal type, not resin jewelry.
I'm not looking to get rich, or be 'le new lolita designer', just help fund expense of going to more events. Attend some, sell at some, maybe?
Suggestions?

>>9505716
>A mix of used brand, off brand and vintage

Doesn't belong in AA.

>>9505716
That really doesn't belong in the AA. AA is for pieces made and designed by you. So unless you made it all yourself, it belongs in the dealers hall, not the AA.

>>9505722
>>9505729
Ok anons, thanks much! I wasn't sure if everything had to be self made in AA or just a percentage of your things. I'm assuming dealer tables are more $$$ so that's why I haven't seen this idea before.

>>9505732
Yeah. A lot of people outsource products but they're all ones with their own art and designs on them. The only pieces from your list you could really have in the AA are the hand made pieces.

Anyone have tips for the LA application for business tax? I'm really sure what to put for "fund/class". LGR2 – Retail Sales? I'm assuming the primary activity is 711510 (Independent artists, writers, &
performers).

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>>9505670

Well, here's my two cents. Spend them how you like. Allow to crack my knuckles and here we go, ahem.

So your current pieces are low tier, aka do not waste your time thinking you'll sell anything. (Shh, I know, anon, I know. Shhh, there there). There is no real understanding of light source, shading, or coloring. When you use the smudge tool in PS, you may be thinking it's blending, but it's actually making everything muddy and dirty looking. The portrait piece is super awkward with those weird eyes and it's pose, or lack there of, is boring. Chibi cat is not cute, has no line weight and usually when you make chibis next to cute foods, you don't make the food the biggest piece unless it's really detailed and more pretty than the character. It currently looks like a lumpy boogie board, not a Popsicle, which is what I guess it was from the stick at the bottom. The sleeping boy is the best piece you got, but it's a little strange. Everything is so light, you need to throw in some contrast/much darker darks/shadows. And he's like hanging in mid air with a messy undefined white smudges in the background.

Here's my real advice. What I just told you, I said that as if I was a costumer. Those are the things that went through my head and if I walked by your booth and saw those pieces, I would not give you my money. Don't reinvent the wheel. Look at art at AAs that sell well/you like and do that. Make interesting poses, give each piece is a little story if you're more into making real art than just fan art. Like I put the book the kid is reading under his head as if he feel asleep on it, or now he only got through like 20 pages and still has the whole thing left. Maybe since he's in uniform, it's a boring army manual and your background can be his dream, ect, ect.

You have talent, so I wouldn't abandon anything. But were your stuff is now, you need to go back and just redo it/make it better.

Good luck.

>>9505670
The top left looks like a copy of those fire emblem portraits of two artists, you're walking a very thin line here of plagiarism anon

>>9505670
something about your artwork I find really cute. I think it can look really good with the improvements the other anons suggested.

>>9505759
Dude your redraw has worse anatomy understanding than OP's. I actually agree with your text post though.

>>9505619
Are you sure? Not OP, but "doujin" in this case just seems to mean fanmade things. I'm not sure how heavily they can enforce it overseas, but if they are asking supporters to not purchase fan-made goods, I'd think that definitely affects us.

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>>9505693
>>9505698
Yes, you're right, I tend to shy away from contrast and need to knock that bad habit off. The example was really helpful! I tried pushing the contrast beyond my comfort level in pic related, hopefully it's better. I have dislike lining so I'm not sure if I can go the flat/cel shading route. Thanks for the advice!

>>9505759
Thanks for the advice! I actually don't use much blur/smudge, it's the oil brush in CSP that's making everything blend-y. I like how the brush feels, but I'll try to be more careful to put more solid strokes instead of mixing everywhere. For the chibi cat, I'll take your word on it. I like really big props next to chibi, but you're right about it having to look spot on if it's going to be so in focus.

I think most of the ones I posted are somewhat salvageable so I'll go back and push the levels more. Good thing painting makes things easier to fix, heh. I'll keep in mind the idea of giving each piece a little story to make it more interesting. Again, thanks for giving me your opinion!

>>9505776
Out of curiosity, do you mind linking them? I actually haven't seen any Alm art yet besides the official ones, and there wasn't that much inspiration to it beyond Boy Staring Into Distance At 3/4 Angle.

>>9505783
Aww, thanks!

>>9505819
A- we'll do whatever we want anyway and people will still buy it. And
B- the Djs they are taking about here are more of the nasty underage very graphic sex hentai.

>>9505824
The bans seem to be directed towards merch goods like keychains, not doujinshi. The article even specifies that they're not sure if the doujin ban will apply to doujin manga/doujinshi, which would be the porn stuff.

>>9505829
This is interesting. So it's Love Live that finally calls artists out for what is arguably bootleg merchandise (keychains, charms, rubber straps, pouches, etc.). I figured companies didn't mind prints and doujin being sold since it doesn't really compete with any official merchandise, but I can understand why they're upset with the other stuff.

I'm not gonna create a thread just for this, and I think it's kind of related because it's an artist-related guest, but holy shit Shintaro Kago is going to be at Sacanime. I'm so stoked!!

Who are some art-related guests who have coincided with cons you've tabled at? Or have you ever tabled next to or around someone famous-ish?

How many of you believe that juried AAs is just about friends and friends of friends getting in? I have a feeling it's a lot of that going on with some of the art that makes it in vs people who were denied...

>>9505917
Any particular con you have in mind?

>>9505917
Otakon does it for sure even though the con is technically lottery. There have been a lot of relatively substantiated rumors that they'll pull out the names of a lot of west coast artists from the regular lottery. I've only heard of it, but it seems to be fairly common knowledge, especially among East Coast artists. I've heard a lot of AANI people are in their pocket too.

Fanime is almost guaranteed to do it. I've heard from multiple people that their "jury" lets friends in first. It wouldn't be surprising considering how closely knit the NorCal cosplay/convention community is.

>>9505915
I'm going to be really close to Yuumei at A-Kon. I don't know if she's as popular these days as she was back when I was active on deviantArt, though.

>>9505776
I don't see a resemblance at all. The only thing in common is the character?

>>9505958
She had probably the busiest AA table at fanime (sakimi was in dealer hall)

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>>9505670
So, I wasn't sure if you were going for something cel-shaded or painted, so I decided to critique this on the basis that you were trying to paint this portrait. I did a paintover of it to try to help aid my commentary. I tried to leave your work intact but my own style began to bleed through since I edited it so heavily.

So, the first issue I see with all of your pieces is that you have a lack of contrast, and all the shading colors you choose are just sliding up and down the grayscale side. This is something you almost always want to avoid- Try to pick more exciting colors. EG: Here, for the hair, green is your base- In your original, you added highlights with a slightly lighter green and added shadows in a slightly darker green. I, in my edit, highlighted with yellow-green and shaded with blue-green.

The eyes will throw off the viewer since the whites are so white. I replaced the white with gray and added more shading to it- Eyes have a huge range of shades and depth to them. They're basically little shiny spheres in our heads, think of a cue ball.

The skin is shaded in random places, you have a sort of gradient happening with the upper part of the head but there's no indication of gradient for the slope of the jawline or cheekbones. This would be acceptable if you were cel-shading the entire thing, but your painting of the muscles of the neck imply that you were going for a sort of painting style.

(cont, comment too long)

>>9506016
The overall angle of the head is inconsistent with the armor. You have the character's chin up and the camera meeting the face at a lower perspective (so if we cut off the head part, we the viewer would be below the character)- But the armor (if you cut the head off) is like we are looking down on the character. So in my edit, I adjusted the armor to align with the angle of the head. For coloring, the armor was very flat, and even in cel-shaded styles there should be a LOT of contrast for metal because of the way light reflects off of it. You seem to like to put the highlights on the very edges of the armor plates or where the plates meet each other, which is generally incorrect except if you're trying to imply a backlight. The highlights would go a the slope of the armor, AKA, the highest point of the armor's curvature. So this would be generally in the middle of the armor pieces, you can see my piece for a rough example (Shading armor takes a very long time so I just implied some colors quickly.)

And finally, the texture of everything in your piece is the same. I can assume the texture of the hair is a little different because of the scraggly lines, and that the character is wearing a sweater because of the implications of ridges within the fabric, but everything becomes muddy and blends together when it's flat. If you're going to paint, go google different fabrics and things. I gave the metal, the hair, the rope, and the sweater all different textures so that the viewer can immediately tell that the character is wearing a thick sweater, there's a leathery rope holding up the chestplate, the chestplate is made of a shiny metal, etc. The hair shading in the edited piece is not accurate to real hair, as that would also take too long to render accurately, but you catch my drift.

(cont again, fuck me man)

>>9506017
Overall you have solid foundations in some areas and are lacking in some others. Youre already developing your own style, which is good. Your style doesn't look messed up or anything, it's visually pleasing, there's just the issue that you seem to know how to draw an anime face at one skill level, but then shade the character at a different skill level. Go practice the areas you're weak at (shading, color choice, perspective, texture, etc) to let them catch up with your current ability to draw a visually pleasing face. The best thing I ever did was just sit down and paint faces over and over and over. Learning the curvature and various intricacies of how hair/eyes/skin gets shaded really helps with understanding basically everything else.

This was long. Good luck!

>>9506016
This is such a great edit, anon. Really solid advice too!

>>9506016
I liked the first image, thought their edited version was a lot better, but I would LOVE your edited version and would buy it immediately.

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>>9505823
>>9505959
yours looks like a shittier version of this

>>9506065
Anon... it's just a bust of characters from the same franchise. That doesn't make it plagiarism. Stop reaching. I've seen several other artists do similar busts of various characters. That doesn't mean that the original anon is copying everyone.

>>9506024
>>9506038
Thanks a lot!

>>9506065
Painting over someone's work that isn't my own will obviously look awkward, but thank you for your extremely valuable observation.

>>9506065
Are you retarded?

>>9506065
^ Oops. Anon from >>9506071 .
Misunderstood who you were replying to. My bad.

I second what >>9506068 said. I hardly see how a bust is plagarism. I've seen like 5 booths with a ton of characters in this exact format.

To hop onto >>9506065 's fine observation, when would a piece of artwork be considered plagiarism?

A friend and I were discussing this, and she had expressed some worry that a more prominent artist could potentially accuse her of stealing just because they have some crossover of subject matter and medium. I didn't think it'd be such a big deal, but I don't consider things like coloring/finish style or subject matter to be one artist's particular domain.

However, I know that I've seen mild bursts of drama on IG between artists when there have been accusations of copying finishing style (similar color palettes despite completely different drawing styles, for example) or when someone's pet subject matter gets picked up by someone else. What does everyone else think?

>>9506094
When could they be accused of plagiarism? When you can overlay the two pieces and it aligns. Or when you come up with a very very "unique" idea like a pink haired steampunk goth devil neko victorian furry hybrid in space and someone copies the design and concept /exactly./

There's plagiarism, there's copying, there's inspiration, and there's coincidences. Almost every controversial thing I've seen falls under "inspiration" and a few go into the line of "copying" but I've seen very very few cases of actual plagiarism. One of the cases I saw a few years ago is someone with a deviantart gallery full of copied pieces from a more popular artist- But these pieces weren't just reuploads, the person had actually painstakingly redrew every single piece. Yeah, that's plagarism.

>>9506065
TIL every artist is ripping leonardo da vinci

A-Kon people post your booth numbers. I'm visiting all of your tables. I will buy at least one thing. Even if I don't know any of the fandoms you're selling and I have to watch some PV trailers for series you're selling while you awkwardly sit there wondering how you got into this situation, I will buy something. Even if you are in the corner of shame, I will buy something.

>>9506112
It's really that bad, anon?

How's everyone feel about Disney fanart/merch in AA? Do people actually buy that sort of stuff outside of Walmart and Disney stores?

>>9506132
Normies fucking LOVE Disney fanart. They do better at comic cons/multigenre cons than they do at anime cons though.

>>9506132
I think the more 'mainstream' the con is, the more those things will sell. Like at Fanime I saw a ton of families bringing their kids, and a lot of middle age moms buying stuff for their daughters.

When you have these kind of people walking through Disney stuff will be way more appealing to them than the usual anime merch. AX is another one where your Star Wars/DC/Marvel merch will probably sell just as well.

>>9506132
Sells great. I'd be worried about getting busted though, since it's happened to my friends before in the AA.But if you don't care about that, go for it. And I think you'd be in the clear at most smaller anime conventions.

>>9506016
>>9506017
>>9506022
Thanks so much for taking the time and effort to write all this out for me! Yes, my knowledge of things is very unbalanced (probably due to the disproportionate time I spent sketching vs shading/colour). I'll take up your advice on doing painting practices and working on the components I struggle more with. There is a lot of information and I don't want to spam the thread with more posts replying to everything, so I just want to let you know that it's all very helpful and precise and much appreciated. Opened my eyes to some issues I didn't really realize I was having, but is glaringly obvious now. Thanks again! I hope I can put your advice to good use.

>>9506065
Sorry, I don't see the similarities.

>>9505915
>>9505958
>>9505988

Kin-yoobi/Anime Destiny anon from earlier, me n my pal tabled at AD as our first artist alley ever last year and we were placed back to back with yuumei lol

I don't think she was as popular as she was back in the day (I live in the Bay Area so I've seen her at literally every con I've gone to as a normal attendee except for one Wondercon), but she definitely still gets a big crowd / if not the biggest like fanime anon said

Her setup was like.. packed to the brim with prints and more than 7 ft tall (or at least it was at AD). Me n my friend were sorta terrified for both sales and our own table lol.

>>9506016
solid job and very good advice anon -
I really want to see more of your art, do you have a blog?

>>9506189
gl, you have a longs way to go before you sell with your current mediocre level

>>9506285
The anon has been very patient and willing to learn. They realize their skills are lacking and want to improve. Why be patronizing? You're just being a dick and seem insecure.

>>9506189
No problem! Keep at it. We all started somewhere. The fact that you're so open to criticism on your work is a great sign. If you'd like to continue practicing painting, I recommend doing studies of Leyendecker, Rockwell, and Sargent- they're my favorites because of how each of their styles has a graphic element (Leyendecker because he pronounces his shading in shapes and blocks that are easy to learn from, Rockwell because he has incredible expressions and body language, and Sargent because he has a great eye for color.) Studies are a fantastic way of getting a kickstart on your skills. Life drawing classes have also helped me out.

Hope to see you in the AA!

>>9506283
Thank you! My name is dragonsroar on the directory.

I've been getting into more art shows and now I'm wondering if I should stay away from AA. I've always had luck getting into anime cons, even though my work isn't really related, but I don't know if I should invest the time and money in them anymore.

Is the comic con crowd better in regards to original work? I sell some fan art but not a ton

>>9505576
Looks nice anon, but not anything stands out about it. You have trouble drawing chibi proportions. To me it looks half-baked, leaning here and there. It's not completely cute, if that makes sense. Kinda like when American companies try to make kawaii products but it ends up looking like dollar store bootlegs. Big eyes don't always equal cute. Play with the body size and removing some detail such as the rough edges of her torso armor.

>>9505670
You're on the right track, but your colors are too muted. I also don't know what the fuck Alm's eyes are doing. If he's crying then I suggest you practice expressions more. If not... I don't know. Remove it. The chibi is my least favorite. It's got weird proportions and isn't really cute to me. Look at other people's chibi art and study what is cute and charming about them. I'd personally say you need to make the body stumpier and the head bigger. It looks like a regular person with a fucked up chibi head. Also stump hands are fine, but don't half-ass them like that. The last one is my favorite.

>>9505759
Don't red line if you draw fucking worse than the OP.

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>>9505576
made this for a friend a long time ago but I post it occasionally elsewhere because I see this mistake a lot. Others have mentioned it but heres a visual for you. Just something to be aware of when drawing faces

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I'm planning to do some SU charms and would like some feedback, since it's the first time i sell my art. Here are the first ones i just finished.

>>9506454
They're cute! But I wish done of the colors were darker in places to help delineate the edges of your different fields of color. Right now they're all awfully light and might not read from a distance. Stand back 10 ft from your monitor. Can you tell which characters they are? Could someone walking through the AA aisle be able to tell?

>>9506285
I wouldn't call it mediocre, its currently not that bad.

>>9506361
>Is the comic con crowd better in regards to original work?

You'd have to go to a con and see for yourself honestly. It entirely depends how niche your art is and if the comic crowd likes that niche.
The comic crowd is generally older and more male than anime or art shows, so keep that in mind.

>>9506131
Not bad. Just big. I don't want to miss anyone.

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Oh since it looks like we're doing crit I dumped some art into an imgur folder http://imgur.com/a/3Gikl have at it.

None of the art is stuff I've made to sell, it's all art I've done for other projects. I just want to get criticism to improve now, rather than make merch for a con, and then having no time to fix it.

>>9506615
>http://imgur.com/a/3Gikl
you have an knack for interesting compositions, a pretty consistent color palette, solid anatomy and nice rendering. there's pretty much nothing stopping you from doing well if/when you start tabling.
my personal critique? your poses are pretty stiff. when your figures are standing or sitting they look fine, but you could stand to practice more fluid/action poses. also, your character's expressions have the same problem, they're a bit stilted and awkward. you can see it most in the piece where their mouths are open in surprise, and the yuri on ice one. yuri looks pretty graceful but victor's angle and pose holds the rest of the piece back.
hope this was helpful. your stuff's great honestly.

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>>9506615
I really like your compositions and colors, you could probably make some of those into larger prints honestly. I agree with the other anon, some of the open mouth expressions look a little awkward, like pic related.

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>>9506615
>http://imgur.com/a/3Gikl
Make that Zero Escape one a print because I would buy the shit out of that (& in general Zero Escape fans are long lived and thirsty for good merch)

Going to have to ditto most of what the other anon said, your colors and comps are great. While your poses are solidly grounded, they're also stiff - which works well with some comps like the one with mirrors, and poorly with others. You would benefit from more gesture practice, focussing on pulling your poses together through fluid line of action.

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>>9506615
Your art is good. I know you said you weren't thinking to sell these, but I actually think your 2nd/3rd last pics would be really cool as a print set despite not knowing anything about Zero Escape. If you expanded the canvas on the Dungeon Meishi and rearranged the vines (some awkward tangents) and push Marcille into the foreground that first pic would also be a great tabloid sized print. I really like the colors on that one.

That said, I appreciate that you're playing with backgrounds and compositions, but they're not strong/pushed enough and there's no real focal point to stare at first when it's not a single character.
The Ace Attorney Tres Bien: no one really stands out and it seems flat and stiff despite being in perspective and everyone arranged in a curving S shape. I actually like the straight lines in your characters, but their stiffness is really apparent against a background with a lot of straight lines.
I have no idea where the heck I'm supposed to focus on the third pic either. I'm not sure if the sleeping guy in red who looks like he should be in the foreground is the most important or the two characters still walking.

It's cool when artists make prints with interesting perspective in mind though, I recently bought this print from Fanime and it's a print I can keep staring at.

Your art is already pretty solid.

Here's an insane question...
What IF you bought a table at an AA but you sold fanfiction in cute little notebook style journals?

>>9506823
Edit- YOU wrote the fanfction. I'm not suggesting to go copy and paste something off Ao3 and then make your own cover for it. But what if you like sold Overwatch NC-17 short stories and then made each booklet a pairing. So basically a doujinshi without the art. I've bought those before on accident, where the cover looks promising, but the inside has like one drawing and the rest was text. Wasn't such a big let down if it wasn't for the fact it was in Japanese, so I couldn't even read the little insert short story inside.

>>9506823
So at asian cons, it's actually common to sell fanfiction. It's done in a light-novel style where it has an illustrated cover and some other illustrations throughout. I would sincerely avoid selling fanfic unless it atleast had an illustrative cover. In an AA your product would have to compete against art, which people's minds immediately process, for attention.

>notebook style
Do you mean the text would be printed on lined paper as if it were in a notebook? I would advise against that, just print the text normally.

>>9506823
>>9506826

Hmm. Well that's an interesting idea. I guess when you really think about it, what's the difference between posting art on Tumblr for everyone to enjoy/ posting words on Ao3 for everyone to enjoy? It's just a matter of putting a price tag on it and then showing it off to people in real life vs online?

Ha, someone please do a mock up of a cheesy romance cover with Roadhog and Junkrat. Call it Roadrage of the Heart. Shit, I might even buy something like at an AA as either a gag gift for a friend or if the story is written really well I would keep it myself.

>>9506823
You see the issue with fanfiction and people saying how it doesn't get enough attention (compared to art) is because you have to read it to know if it's good and to your tastes.

With art you can just see right away if it's your thing and with fanfics it's a lot more difficult especially if you aren't a big name within fandoms already.

That said if you did want to do something like this, go with anthology style books with multiple writers, and based around one popular pairing. Also add in at least some art.

That's the only way I imagine it being able to sell in AAs

>>9506514
That's what I though too, the pearl one is the most bright, and it's really hard to see some of the edges. I'll try to add more contrast to them. Thank you for the review !

Has anyone here ever had tote bags printed for AA? I had a few people ask about it, and I've been selling some designs on redbubble but I'm not fond of their totebag style.
Can anyone recommend any suppliers?

>>9506823
There is a lot of fiction-selling at my local con, but they buy guest-type tables instead. I don't know how to phrase it? But they're the sort of tables that local Ghostbusters or podcasters would buy, in a separate category from AA or Dealer's.

>>9506883
i can't recommend a supplier because i got mine through a friend of a friend and don't even know the name of the place.
but they do well at conventions. people making their rounds in the AA sometimes don't expect to buy a lot but end up with more than they can easily carry, so if they spot a cute totebag for an okay price, they jump on it.


i brought a dozen of them to my last convention just to see how they'd do, and sold all but the display model at $20 per bag

>>9506823
I sat next to a guy who did this at Anime Expo one year. He didn't sell a single book. Take that how you will. I thought the books were bounded pretty professionally, but he just got overlooked by all the shiny art.

>>9506883
start with artsmoo and when you feel comfortable move to an ali vendor, but usually the MOQ for those are at least 100

how long do stickers/sticker paper last in storage before the glue loses potency?

>>9506704
>>9506728
>>9506733
>>9506791
Thanks guys, it's really nice to get some pointed crit. I've asked my artist friends to redline and such, but I feel they hold back because they worry about hurting my feelings. I'll focus on the aspects mentioned.

>>9505823
If you hate lining so much, you're gonna have to get a lot better at rendering. One thing I notice is that you seem to be afraid of having any harsh lines in the shading and rendering. A combination of sharp shadows and blended shadows is more pleasing to the eye than just blended. Also brush up on your lighting, and think more about the three-dimensionality of objects.

>>9506919
Years. I had some sticker paper/shipping labels that I forgot about for a year and they were still sticky.

>>9506295
Lmao why sugarcoat it. I'm being honest and letting them know, If I saw their art, I wouldn't buy it. Don't be such a white knight

>>9506919
depends on the type of paper your use and where you store it. for the best results store the sticker paper away from the sun and in a dry place.

>>9506883
Cowcow currently has a coupon to make their totes $9.99 with free shipping if you want to test waters: TRB999

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>>9506454
>>9506836
Building onto what the other anon said, try putting your work into greyscale, you'll be able to easily see where things get lost - think about value and not just color!

Has anyone used Alibaba for clothes printing? (hoodies, tees, etc) Is there any sellers you could recommend?

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>>9506323
Thank you for the recommendations. I'm currently repainting the piece you helped with, and it looks tenfolds better already. If we ever meet, let me buy you a drink.

>>9506371
Yeah, I've been told they look watery and am fixing that since he's not supposed to be crying or anything. I just like the look of less 'solid' irises. Thanks for the advice on the chibi! I edited a chibi I sketched a while back to be more stumpy; hopefully it's cuter?

>>9506922
Yup, that's the plan. Thanks for your input, I'll keep it in mind.

>>9506948
Typical skilless anon acts acts like an unhelpful ass then acts defensive when someone else calls them out on it. Don't dish what you can't take. Also, I don't think anons art is horribly mediocre either, it's better than quite a few people I've seen in smaller AAs already.

>>9506454
Cute stuff anon. What the other anons said, I would go for upping the contrast. I also think your work could benefit from a better color choice, the shading is relatively unexciting and you'd do well to explore more complimentary colors. I'm having trouble distinguishing the shapes on the pearl one in particular.
Something is getting me about the width of the bodies, personally I'd make their shoulders thinner. But you're heading in the right direction.

>>9506967
Already an improvement, anon! I couldn't even tell this was your work from the stuff you posted before. Its much better. Keep it up!

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I posted this (wip) over in the ic alt art thread and no responses...since we're doing crits here, can I ask for a bit of help on this, please? The pose looks really awkward to me, but I can't figure out what part I should fix to have it work.

>>9507041
I think having both legs in that position looks awkward, having one leg relaxed and one leg bent might work better. You could bend his arm a little and move his body/face closer to the teabag so it looks like he's really gripping it. The right side of his face looks off because his eyes are a little small for how big his head is.

Sorry that was a lot of text, I could try redlining it if any of my written advice doesn't make sense, lmk.

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>>9507041
I think for the pose, maybe curve his body so the legs hug into the chedt? When I think about somebody hanging by their hands from something like a tree branch, I think either the feet would dangle down, or they'd be pushing their legs up to try to grab on with their legs too.

I tried to find some examples to help a little.

Also on his face his left (our top) you need yo bring the eye in and make the curve of the eyesocket go in, not out. It should curve out until it hits around the eyebrown, then curve in where the eyesocket is, then out with the cheek.

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This is a really shitty edit, I'm sorry. But it looks like his eyes were about to slip off his face.

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>>9507041
I would put his head/face closer to the teabag like the other anon suggested? Changing one of his leg positions sounds good too.

I think there's too much detail in this for it to be a chibi. I would maybe simplify the hair and try to use less lines overall. But I understand that's a personal preference when it comes to chibi art.

I moved his head closer to the tea bag and I think his eyes are not aligned with his ears correctly? So I brought them down and enlarged them a bit. Repositioned the nose/mouth. The bottom two are how I might simplify the face, just because I prefer simpler chibis. I think chibis with big simple features tend to read better than just regular human drawn small if that makes sense.

>>9507050
>>9507051
>>9507068
>>9507072
Thanks a bunch. Don't worry about writing "too much", all of what everyone wrote is really helpful and I greatly appreciate it! I should really be able to work with it a lot better now that I have some direction.

And yeah, I'm always conflicted about whether I should add detail or not. I've gotten requests for both simple and detailed. I also love the expressions. I want to change it now, but do you think it would be appealing to do with Levi (if you're familiar with Attack on Titan) because I swear he always looks apathetic no matter what.

>>9507072
Bottom right's face is really cute, it's a good middle ground of the original and the super simplified one. I'd say go that route if you like it too OP!

Having a hard time hunting down resealable plastic display bag the size of a business card that comes with kraft paper business card sized inserts. I want to rubber stamp my own packaging instead of getting it printed.

>>9506967
Not sure what you mean by less 'solid'. I'd suggest before going too crazy with experimenting, try it out on a circular iris first. Keep the shape consistent and experiment in the borders, then when you feel more confident you can venture out. It's all about readability.

This is a great improvement. It looks like a different person did it. The shoulders might be a tad too broad and the rough edges of the knees are awkward. Nitpicking aside, it really is a big step ahead from your old one.

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>>9506831

I think I'm onto something...

>>9507251
Alright, if I saw a table full of /this/ kind of hilarious fanfiction I'd absolute drop money and pick a book up to read this to my friends at the hotel.

>>9507251
That's. Just. Wonderful.

I can only imagine if you did a big collaboration like the other anon mentioned with other authors to make a super thick book, you would sell out like hotcakes. Even if you made like a ten page little booklet, if you have a table FULL, like the other, other anon said too, you would be a big hit.

Please make a "Sexual Attracted to My Pokemon" cover/story.

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>>9507261

This one could go in a very strange direction.

>>9506931
>>9506951
thanks. i'll order some more.

>>9505670
heres axtual crit of the lying down guy: that's an unnatural and uncomfortable pose. he has his shoulder on the ground, then his head tilted to meet it, without anything to support the head. get a pillow and snuggle up and pretend to be asleep and think about how your body behaves as it relaxes. the human head/body is pretty f' heavy and slack without muscles conciously animating it. just let one of your legs go slack then pick it up with both hands. heavy, right?

>>9505576
maybe you could do some skin variants, to set yourself apart further? i like your art style

>>9507251
>>9507289
These are beautiful, anon. Bless.

>>9507251
>>9507289
This is some Chuck Tingle shit. I highly support your endeavors and hope you make this a reality so I can uh, give you my money.

>>9507251
The reaper quote just made it 10x better. I would also buy it if it was some small booklet and even more so then it was actually decent fanfiction thats more than just gags.

>>9506962
I swear everyone is all just one person on Ali. I like to switch up my suppliers and it's been the same quality every time. Just pick someone with good ratings and good prices. It's a lot less scary than you'd think.

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Ok, last one and I'll leave you all alone. But I'm glad I could at least get a chuckle out of you guys. Now I gotta go look up what the costs are to make little booklets, and, oh, actually write some fanfiction.

Let's see, I'll have to make a Steven Universe one, Final Fantasy, MegaMan (for the robophiles), League of Legends, Sonic, Zelda, whatever else the kids are into these days.

Wish me luck.

>>9506958 Never though of using greyscale, thanks for the tip !

>>9506994 I'll try to take more risks with the shading to make it more exciting then, thank you for the review.

>>9506112

1305 if you like fujoshit.

>>9507679
Do Shiro and Keith from Voltron if you want some serious dosh from them. Or Keith and Lance. Voltron shippers are crazy.

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Hi, I'm planning my first set of pin/badges but I didn't find any place to get holographic pins but with this type

Anyone can help me? Thanks.

>>9507679
Transformers with Megaton and Starscream for the older weirdos

>>9507851
Dude. Kirk and Spock.

>>9507010
Thanks, I will!

>>9507157
The only comparison I can think of is black rim circle lenses (solid) vs faded rim lenses (less solid). I'll try to keep readability in mind though. Also noted the shoulder/knee issues, I'll tweak those. Thanks!

>>9507412
Thanks for the input! I'll see what I can do about it.

>>9507251
>>9507289
>>9507679
Truly a piece of art.

>>9507760
Try searching on AANI, I know at least a couple of people have offered holographic button services there in the past.

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Ok, so I'm not really a writer, just a really good doodler. But I have taken my 20 years of reading fanfiction and tried to apply today.

Uh, let me know what you think? I would post this on my blog, but I have like 5 followers who never comment on my stuff. But if you want to read a 1K intro into my Junkrat/Roadhog nonsense, enjoy!

Also, any advice for starting a Kickstarter? I'm asking for a friend....no I'm not. I'm asking for me as I'm trying to figure out how I can swing 2,000 bucks so I can make 10 of these things and get them printed. Granted if my writing is worth a grain of salt.

https://pastebin.com/aErtJ5zs

>>9508299
Don't kickstart fanart anon.

>>9508314
Not like they would be the first to do so. Just saying.

Just throwing this out there, but Gearous (YOI fanartist) is looking to share a table with someone at animefest if you have a table already

>>9508299
If you aren't a writer maybe team up with one or hang out on a fanfic thread for more sound advice.

I wouldn't kickstart it, it's gonna be trouble the whole way through. Print them at an office store or something and staple them yourself

>>9508314

My friend did it with a Game of Thrones artbook a few years ago and it was even staff selected to be a feature on the front page, too.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2034269635/draw-em-with-the-pointy-end-a-game-of-thrones-art

She almost made $30,000 when I think she asked for only 6,000? It ended up pretty amazing because after she hit the $10,000 mark she started making bigger rewards and the money just kept coming in! It was good timing too as GoT was just in it's third season and the hype was at it's peak. Not that the hype went down, but I feel like at season three, even the normies were starting to worship it.

So, I would say kickstarter is free game. Maybe don't use GoFundMe? That seems more like really sick people who need medical expensive or who are homeless after a big event in their lives. THAT might seem a little tacky, but KS? Try it! The worst that can happen is you don't meet you goal, and then it's not harm no foul.

As for advice for >>9508299 romanceanon, I would first make a fully colored cover and maybe a mock-up of what the book would look like with a backcover. Something that really shows that the end product will be. My friend started the GoT book while she was still creating the cover, so I don't think anything needs to be 100% finished. Plus out of the all the artist, I think only 20 or had submitted a finished piece. She was still waiting on the other 80 to submit. But at that point they were already gaining speed a little on their funds. She has a big following on tumblr though, so I bet that helped spread the word. But treat tumblr as your audience. Make one finished cover, and then show all these little sketches your posting here as a promise of what's to come? Make like another ten? For sure you do what
>>9507746
>>9507851
>>9507856
suggested. FOR SURE do the Voltron one. Then submit them to one of the hundreds of fan groups that reblog stuff. You'll get more traction than just using the hashtags.

>>9508343
>Print them at an office store or something and staple them yourself

I second this because it might give the books a little cute flare? Or it'll look super cheap. Either way it'll save you a headache.

>>9505425
anybody tried out nyanfire?

>>9506112
2306, I've got a lot of different stuff, not sure how to describe it. If you stop by let me know you found me from here! I'd love to chat

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>>9508314
>>9508347
>>9508343
>>9508349
>>9508319

Hmm. Good advice, thank you kindly. I think I'm going to just staple them like I'm in middle school. Once I make a million dollars from this idea, then I'll go fancy with the printed cover booklets.

So I just got a quote from coco for some charms -- are these the rates everyone else has gotten? I know they've upped their prices recently.

-20 charms 1.5" clear
single acrylic/double sided/epoxy glitter
USD$1.69/1pc

-10 charms, 2.5" clear single acrylic/double sided/epoxy glitter
USD$2.88/1pc

>>9508408
Oh my god these are like anime Harlequin novels, I dig it

>>9508485
lol there's a used bookstore near me that's like 60%+ of Harlequin novels lol

>>9508347
>My friend did it with a Game of Thrones artbook a few years ago

I pledged to a Supernatural fanbook that got shut down halfway into its campaign, so it probably depends on the property and how cool the copyright holders are.

>>9508408
AANI's board time is EST :> It was 3am. rip rip

>>9508517
Its 3 am on a sunday! Why you still up, gurl!? I'm up cause I'm sick and making just one more cover...so many good ideas when you're delusional.

>>9508491
My mom loved those things. Like, she probably had at least 100 trashy romance novels laying around.

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>>9508520
I'm usually up til like 3-6am.

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>>9508523

Go to bed cra cra. Sleep time! YEAH!

>>9508508

It must have been the way they worded it? I can't see HBO being more chill than The CW.
GoT friend made it very clear that the money would go to just printing the book and had no intentions of selling it. She did however promise that all the artists would get 20 copies to do with what they wish, aka, if they wanted to sell them at their booths at the AAs they were at, that was up to them. That's of course what everyone did, but as long as Kickstarter knows the fan made thing isn't for profit, than they seem to be cool with it.

>>9508323
No one in their right mind would want to share with Gearous bc she is so popular and overhyped that sales will be dead for anyone stuck sharing with her. I really hope she can't find a table; her turning a single series into her personal cash cow is kind of off-putting to me, especially since she is a pro artist.

>>9508537

I just looked up Gearous on google. What's the big deal? So she can copy the exact look and style of the show. Where's the fun/creativity of that? Looks hella generic to me.

>>9508535
It's not KS that decides, it's the copyright holder and if they feel like issuing a cease & desist. Either HBO didn't care or didn't know.

>>9508544
Exact look and style.. except with porn. Does that answer the question?

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Is it honestly just better to sell prints online and through commissions/pateron?

>>9508478
That's weird, I just ordered around 20 charms with the exact same specs (2.5", clear single acrylic, double sided, epoxy glitter) and the per piece cost for them was $1.63. I was communicating with Coco, too.

>>9508544
Was about to say... 80k followers on twitter for looking like a carbon copy of the anime.

God YOI fans are awful as always.

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>>9508572
Online sales of prints are slow and unsustainable income if youre relying on it alone.
Con dosh is usually (if youre not a shitty artist) big burst income but also unsustainable income if you arent constantly doing them at least 2-3 times a month.
Commissions are the most sustainable source of income on their own if you have good consistent work ethic and an online following.

All 3 together are basically what most artists do. If anything; most artists use online sales of prints just to get rid of con leftovers rather than turn a full profit.

>>9508630
>>9508572

also adding on that patreon, like online commissions, is only sustainable if you have an online following.
A big one.

>>9508602
...Are you guys surprised? Most people seem to prefer their fan art look just like the series

>>9508640
They're just jealous they don't know how to capitalize on fandoms.

>>9508299
Don't do this

>>9508537
>>9508544
>she
Kek. Also they're popular because they consistently put out material for the series, if nothing else. Same reason Blau is popular. Flood a single fandom with your art and see what happens.

>>9508643
Meh I love money but if anything drawing exactly like how the show looks just would feel so boring.

I'd rather capitalize on fandoms in my own style.

>>9508716
I agree but I also see what makes quick money and I can't hate on people for carving their niche. I have certain stickers that sell no matter what event I'm at because I did them in the style of the show. I haven't changed my original stuff but it is nice to know that I could do something quick if I wanted to make some fast cash

>>9505660
I think making the mouth smaller would in general make this less American style "kawaii", which truthfully makes my skin itch. This edit with the eyes is a definite improvement. IMO, chibi style eyes should always be the same size, no matter the posing of the face. This edit is a really good example.

>>9508731
I don't dislike the artist for doing it and more power to them desu.
It's just amazing that all those fans eat it up. I know YOI is super popular being seeing how big they are because of it is still impressive.

>>9505823
This is better, but I think you need to keep layering shadows especially on his armor. While the colors are much better, there needs to just be more contrast in your shadows. Just adding filters and burn effects won't change that there's not a sense of depth. Personally, I don't think you're developed enough for AA, but you're getting there. The style of your Alm drawing is certainly the best of the ones you posted.

>>9508577
Right, I've heard of others consistently getting quotes under $2 but didn't know what sizes.

I guess I'll go back and email her about this? It's only my second time ordering but I don't think the price should be that high even if I'm a new customer...

>>9505476
/ic/

>>9508771
You're only ordering 10 charms for one size, other anon had 20. The lower your order quantity the higher your quote per piece is going to be.

People are getting low quotes because they're ordering in the hundreds.

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I recently got my first charms from Zap. I was worried at first since I bought some from artists before and the quality was sub-par. But they've really upped their quality
I wanna order a shit more of original designs.

Crunchy roll expo just sent me a mail saying they're swamped with applications and won't be able to finish going over them until the 20th

>>9509050
I've been using Zap in lieu of AP being closed and I've been pretty happy with their quality lately?

>>9509159
idk why my phone decided to add a question mark at the end of that

>>9509058
I'm surprised they're overwhelmed with apps; I feel really skeptical about a first year con with costs that high.

>>9505425
Anyone know of places to order kiss-cut stickers that done have crazy min orders?
I have close to 50+ different sticker designs and I don't want to pay out my ass getting 200 printed of each when the most I want is maybe 20-50 of each.

Used to get them made through a friend with a sticker machine but I've moved and need a new printer.

>>9509248
stickermule does either 10 or 20 at minimum, I can't remember anymore since I haven't gone that low in a while but they're pretty good.

>>9509210
I'm not surprised at all. They're a company with a pretty large userbase, not some no name con run by H.P. Nobody

>>9509248
Lordsticksalot doesn't have a minimum order. They're a pretty new company, but I got some buttons from them recently and they seem pretty good.

Was looking at the con list, and saw Anime Expo had "AA Reg opens July after con, waitlist available" on it.
How does one get on their waitlist?

>>9509248
stickerapp

>>9509300
Different anon, but iirc their registration info mentioned that they only wanted original art, so it's weird to me that so many people apparently applied, unless they just didn't read closely. (Assuming they didn't mean 'original art' in the loose sense of 'not explicitly traced'.)

>>9509341
...actually, scratch this. I went back to double check and they either changed that clause or I remembered it wrong, because it seems to just be warning that stolen work isn't allowed.

Anyone know if table clamps are allowed to be on the outside of the table at AX? I want to add wings to my display but wasn't sure of their rules.

>>9507538
Oh ok! I just wanted somewhere to start but that's good to know.

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Planning to table for the first time at a con in 6 months! I'm super hyped but anxious about the quality of my art. One of my setbacks is I don't normally sit down and create finished pieces, so I don't think I'll do full prints until I'm better. Right now what I've got in mind are plain mini-prints (like this), charms, and buttons. I'd highly, highly appreciate some con-crit and first-timer tips!

>>9509380
IIRC table clamps are completely fine so long as you're not "that guy" and try to nudge in on your neighbor's space without asking them. If you're talking about adding them to the front of your booth, it's a gamble that I honestly wouldn't take.

>>9509417
Hawberries put out a really good basic guideline for tabling at AAs and it's a recommended read for newbies. [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1z1ey7o1boctK60YVp_gG0F18IODqKgl4Mx4-Fns2Cjw/edit]

That said, I think you really need to work on your postcard compositions. The art style is cute and works well, but I think it's too plain to really garner any attention. People who post single-character prints either try to have a super eye-catching style or try for an interesting composition. Even prints where it's just the character taking a selfie get more sales than the character simply standing/floating there.

>>9509419
We have always used table clamps and placed them within our table but at the front of the table. Never any complaints since its within our space.

>>9509426
Thank you, anon! I agree, I guess I hadn't realized how little expression it has after hours of staring at it. Thank you so much for the advice and guide!

>>9509050
are there suppose to be that many dots on the charm? or is that the camera?

>>9509380
AX usually let you do this but last year, they tried to get all the artists to... not do it without any sort of warning beforehand. A ton of artists pretty much gave them a "either we get clamps in the front or our entire display falls" ultimatum and they relented. It was their fault as they had made the aisles too narrow and apparently adding on the clamps in the front would violate the fire code. I heard this year they made the aisles wider and specifically added a clause about letting us use table clamps so hopefully it'll be okay!

>>9509366
It's more a warning since they're actually a company that licenses anime and they don't want to be seen as approving of artists making money off work they licensed.

>>9509457
I meant it's more a gamble with the con attendees rather than the actual con itself. I've had my old display knocked over because a normie mom got her bag strap stuck to a clamp while she was trying to pay for her kid's stuff. It's even worse with AX because of how ridiculously crowded it is.

>>9509662
Personally I use industrial strength electromagnets to hold my display together.

I'm tabling at a large con for the first time and I use a wire grid set up. It's one of those multi-
Primary color kiddie sets and I was wondering if it would be better to spray paint my grids black or if it would look fine if I just left them as is. Since it's a larger con, I don't want my display to look tacky compared to my AA neighbors.

>>9509692
Yeah. Either spraypaint them, or line them all in matching fabric.

>>9509487
it's my phone camera, it's shitty

Will any of you be at AX and if so, will you have any Love Live lanyards? I went through all of Fanime's AA and didn't find a single one. Alternatively, if you are going to have lanyards at AX, what franchises are you planning to have?

>>9509728
Yes I'll have Love Live lanyards. I'll also have FF:XIV and a few other fandoms but predominantly mobages.

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>>9506112
Booth 2019, I'll be table sharing with two other artists, not sure if they lurk here. I'll most likely be the only one wearing a hat. If I'm there, you can ask for a seagull discount. The majority of my stuff on the table is cute non-fandom charms. Pic related.

>>9507739
Are you the table with the Twittering Birds merch?

>>9509747
post where you closer to con are and I swear I'll stop by. Any granblue? What mobage?

>>9509768
shoot....i wont be there but this is a cute style.
Twitter/Tumblr/Tictail ?

>>9509780
Our shop is open but it's still a major work in progress. Not all of our items are on the website yet but the cat paws are if that's what you're interested in.

http://n0veltea.tictail.com/

I was wondering if it'd be okay to redraw a meme and sell it as a sticker? For example let's just say I make stickers of caveman spongebob, but I drew it and not traced. Would that be okay? I do want to make some meme stickers, but I'm not sure if that's okay....

>>9509923
i dont think a stylized caveman spongebob would be bad but steer clear of plagiarising other people's original work since thats usually where a lot of other memes come from. Ex: "this is fine" dog

>>9509927
ah okay, i'll def keep that in mind. I don't want to be one of "those" artist/sellers that rip off original works as my own. Just wanted to know since memes are kinda big (and i love memes) but I wasn't sure if it was right to make merch off of it per say.

>>9509726
Good good, because I was about to throw a fit. Everytime I order from Zap my charms arrive with blue dots all over them. It's hard to notice unless you look really close. When I asked them about it they told me it was because I used cyan (like it said to use in the tutorial) instead of white. My friend told me it was because they don't clean the print head.

I have an order pending so I thought it had gotten worst.

Your Kitty Peri is really cute too!

>>9509778
Table partner has more GBF than I do! I have mostly LL + F/GO and only one or two GBF things. Will def post if you're still lurking closer to AX

>>9509923
If you manage to draw that in your unique style, cool (look up doge fanart). I've seen people redraw icons and other memes, but the resemblance so uncanny that it looks like a trace. As tacky as memes are, redrawing meme could be even tackier if it looks exactly the same.

A couple weeks ago, my friend and I bought commissions from another artist in an AA. We paid in cash, and she told us she'd have them ready by the next day. Later, she texted us to tell us that she wouldn't have enough time to finish them for Sunday, and would we be okay with her shipping them to us on Monday? I agreed, since this has happened before with artists I've commissioned, and I totally understand not wanting to rush a commission. However, it's been over a week since she promised to ship them out, and she's now ignoring all our messages. We were promised a preview image and a tracking number, but we've received nothing. I've contacted this person over 3 different social media outlets and she's answered none of them, while continuing to post on Twitter. She's apparently leaving the country tomorrow, and she's still got our $60. I know she's also in the FB AANI group- should I post something there? If so, what should I say? It's the only thing I can think of that might get her attention and motivate her to either refund us or send us the commissions. If you guys think I'm overreacting, I'll trust you on it. I wouldn't be so worried if I'd paid through PayPal or something, but with cash, I can't file any kind of claim to get my money back.

>>9510135
Make a post that makes it seem liken you're worried about her "Does anyone know if something happened to her/if there's a way to contact her."

She either answers and admits to slacking off or looks like an ass.

>>9510137
This is genius. Great idea, anon. It doesn't make you seem overdramatic and it puts the spotlight on her. Maybe add some information too. "Does anyone know if something happened to [name]? I've been trying to contact them regarding a commission, but I haven't heard anything back. Are they okay?" Something along those lines.

Fireball Printing seems like a really easy to use company, they offer a range of sizes and papers and they give instructions for noobs like me.

Does anyone know what their shipping times are?

>>9510185
Actually, can you even do fanart though them? The whole Terms of Servicr seems really grim on the topic of copyright infringement thing, I know I've had stuff taken down from redbubble before over a Cease and Desist, but I've never done AA work before so I don't know if the legal climate is more chill?

>>9510185
>>9510197
I use them for printing my AA prints. Never had a problem with them printing Fanart and they usually have a 1 day turnaround which is awesome. They have different shipping options depending on when you need them. I've had them overnight stuff before and it turned up right on time.

>>9510091
So basically you're the perfect table for me

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>>9510208
Okay, being new to this whole thing, can you possibly explain turn around v. quantity v. project quantity? Turn around is vaguely explained everywhere I look, I feel like it's just something people in this business expect you to know (like I'd expect a customer at a grocery store to know what head lettuce is, I guess?)

Turn around is, to the best of what I can gather, the time it takes to get on it and print? yes? no? maybe?

Quantity seemed pretty straightforward until they got the whole "project quantity" thing into the mix.

>>9510263

this is what i get from that image:

turnaround is the time it takes from approval/payment/work submission to them being ready to ship your items.
so say it takes a day for them to send you confirmation and you approve it or whatever, then takes 2 days for them to print and package the item, then 3 days for it to go through the post and arrive at your door. the turnaround is the 2 day segment where they're working on the order.

quantity is the actual number of pages in your project. (one print design = 1 project)
project quantity is the number of projects in your order (how many print designs total)

>>9510263
>>9510272

if that last part isn't clear, a quantity of 30 and a project quantity of 1 would yield 30 finished pages.
a quantity of 30 and a project quantity of 10 would yield 300 finished pages divided across 10 different project designs

Since we're on the topic of printing, does anyone have any NYC based print shop recommendations that are on par with catprint quality?

Sorry in advance about my stupid questions but I'd rather sound stupid now to be safe later.

I know that i should be working at 300 dpi for prints, but would the size of my workspace matter? Of course I'd adjust it to fit on the paper I'm printing on, I'm just wondering if drawing at one size and either stretching or shrinking it would affect the quality? I was thinking of making stuff in 4 x 6, 8.5 x 11, and 11 x 17.

I was also wondering if it was normal to sell the same print in different sizes or if it's suggested to make work for a specific size and only offer it in that one size.

When did you decide to get an AA table or open up a shop? I have a really small following, 1000 or so on just Instagram for my art, but whenever I ask if anyone would want to buy merch of my art, no one responds. I'm wondering if I should stop being scared and just go for it.

>>9510283
It's always best to work at the largest size you intend to print at and then scale it down later. From your example sizes, you'd want to work at 11x17" 300dpi and then downscale from there. Use photoshop to resize, avoid SAI/Clip for that stuff. Upscaling usually will fuck up the art even if it's a good art program.

There's been poster size discussions before, most people agreed that it's best not to offer multiple sizes of the same design because most customers go for the smaller, cheaper option.

>>9510291
>When did you decide to get an AA table or open up a shop?
when I couldn't find a real job in my small town and needed money. I had no following what so ever and no experience what so ever, I just went for it and got lucky that it worked out.

Start with small, preferably one day, conventions and when you open an etsy shop, get a refferal link so your first 40 listings are free. Literally nothing to lose as long as you don't go crazy with buying waaay more inventory than you need.

Oh, and also, responses, if any, from "will you buy this?" on social media is completely worthless. Take pre-orders if you actually want to know if people will buy your stuff before you get an inventory.

>>9510291
I started AA before I even had any internet presence, period. No online profiles or anything of the like. If you're worried having a low follower count will affect how well you do, it won't. If you're concerned that they're not showing any interest, well, that could mean anything from your work not being quality enough to your followers just not being the most engaged. It could mean anything.

>>9510291
I did AA first and honestly have never opened a shop. Started with a one-day event to sample what it's like before trying for the 3-day cons. I'm awful at social media and keeping whatever updated, but I still sell alright.

Everyone has to start somewhere, anon. If you want to share your works here to get an honest and helpful tips, I'd recommend it. Otherwise, I'd recommend starting small to gauge how you'd do, and so you don't toss all your eggs in one basket.

I saw the awful Rick dakimakura fully realized on AANI and I would like to bleach my eyes

>>9510291
I've always wanted to do AA but didn't know where to start. Once I hit 21, I was like "fuck it, I'm not getting any younger" and just went gung ho

It's worked out for me so far. Feel like I should have worked up the guts earlier though.

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>>9510440
I did too..

Just... WHY?

>>9510440
>>9510455

>>9510440
Me too and I was like wow. Not cause of the image itself, because it's done nicely but it's also very uncanny as they put their style to him but still kept it like the show (very odd combo. Not bad just...odd) and even colored well. It was the comments of like 10 people who actually wanted to buy it and they asked for the etsy info or where they could order it.

I mean praise to her and whatnot but sheesh.

>>9510135
lol i know another artist like this who takes bulk commissions during AA and then only does a acouple of them during con and ships them out later.
I commissioned them for over 100$ one weekend and I ended up waiting 4 months for my commission. They posted a finished picture on twitter, and then never mailed it to me like they said they would.

My suggestion would be to @ them on twitter if theyre ignoring private DMs.
Usually making an artist's unfulfilled commissions public forces them to act and stop playing the cat and mouse game with their clients.

>>9510291
When I realized my art was competitive enough for AA and I'm lucky enough to be in a position where I don't have to pay for travel expenses for Fanime and Anime Expo aside from gas costs

>>9510291
My first and last AA table was when one of my super popular artist friends offered to split a table with me and give me my first shot at AA.
She outshined my work by miles, and my sales were beyond abysmal that weekend while she out-sold me and I sat quietly while everyone that weekend approached our table to ooh and aww and talk to her and ignore me.

It was a terrible experience, and while I've improved in my art since then, I've been really discouraged by the entire ordeal and thinking about tabling again makes me really depressed.

>>9510291
Started five or so years ago at a big con, though it helped that I shared with a friend who had similar interests so our art complemented each other. I had very little presence at the time and it definitely helped me get a small following.

>>9508577
>>9508478

Cost changes depending on the difficulty of the cut too, and you guys are ordering really low quantities. Buy more pay less, buy less pay more.

>>9510291
I decided to start once my art was polish enough. At the time I didn't really know about followers so I started from the ground up. Don't ask people if they would buy your merch. It still happens to me when I ask about possible new merch, people will "OMG TAKE MY MONEY" "YES" and hype you up, but when it's time to pay they will give you the "I has no monies" "Not really my style" or just flat out disappear.

>>9510291
About 7-8 years ago, my friend and I decided to do a table together when we were likely "Hey if we get a table, we can go to the con, and make back at least some of our expenses! Win-win!" and my art was what you'd expect of a teenager, but I wasn't in it to make oodles either. Probably an attitude that many people here don't appreciate, but AA didn't seem to be as much srs business as it is to many today, and I bet there's tons with this mindset still today. Over time, I have taken AA more seriously, but there is still that mindset of "I get to go to cons!" If I hated cons I wouldn't do it, and if cons become a dreary thing, I would pack it up.

When I started, I had practically no online presence, and as I mentioned in the last thread, it honestly doesn't matter what people say they will buy because people say shit out of their ass all the time about buying things. Artist alley are full of impulse buyers. If they see it and like it, they'll buy it, not go on a wild goose chase for your table because they saw a keychain on tumblr two months ago. Watch trends, be honest with your work on how much to produce and you should be alright (though it can sometimes be a couple of cons before you know what exactly works and what doesn't). As for a shop, if you do something like etsy, if you have stock anyway, it is a day of work to set stuff up and you just got to check your email for the least amount of work. Unless you want to invest more time into it, it's not hard if you just want to make a bit of extra money. Be more forceful with advertising as your care level goes up, which in this case, online presence DOES help. Shipping in my country for most of my stuff nowadays sucks balls, so it's not my big focus but it can be great for others.

>>9510135
If the person ignores you even after following >>9510534 's advice, I would let them know that you're considering making an Artist Beware (if these are even relevant anymore). It may be filled with mostly furry drama these days, but I always try to check before I commission someone for any type of commission. Mostly to see how the artist handles the resolution or if it gets resolved period.

>>9509768

Yes!

Anyone else not looking forward to a hot day of setup at A-kon tomorrow? I was red in the face just from loading my car tonight and I did it after sundown. Damn this heat!

So I know that for cons, you can just get a temporary seller's permit, but what about for an online shop? I'm assuming you need a regular seller's permit for stuff like charms and prints online, but haven't been able to find anything concrete.

Do these kinds of things have to be reported for taxes? They just seem like the type of things that should be but I've just never seen it get brought up in any tips and tricks posts.

Sorry if this is a basic question, all the stuff I can find from googling is hella vague.

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Anybody else tabling at Ronin Expo? I'm splitting a table with another artist. We'll see if this does better then it's predecessor Ninja Con.

At least we'll be in Little Tokyo.

>>9510627
See things like this is why I rely on my own decision making. I am very picky when it comes to buying things, and have high standards, so I design merch that I personally would reach for my wallet for instead of just going with the "well I guess it'll sell because it's popular" thinking

>>9508299
I know way too many ace attorney nerds who would buy this shit. I will buy this shit. Take my money.

>>9510296
Thank you so much anon, you've been really helpful!

>>9510736
Oh cool I am too! Also splitting with a friend. I never tabled outside before...so I'm a bit nervous for that.

For taking on spot commissions at cons, im thinking of taking digital commissions i.e. Using my iPad to sketch then send it to their email or text them the drop box link. Do you guys think that would sell??? Or do people look to commission physical/traditional pieces of art only??

>>9510825
I do the same thing and it works! Just have some printed examples and youre golden.

>>9510821
I've done outdoor fairs and an AA that was outside. The weather says it'll be in the low 70's. So it shouldn't be too hot. I recommend a sweater for in the evening though.

Also wind is usually the worse issue. It'll knock shit off your table. So try to make sure your display is securily straped down. I did an event right next to a big dirt parking lot, wind was up and everything had a nice dusting afterwards.

>>9510732
you're going to need to report it in your income taxes. it's not in tips and tricks posts because it's not 100$ AA relevant and there's too much to get into. if you want a primer or have some basic questions, you can look around the etsy forums.

>>9510825
This works very well at furry conventions so I don't see why it wouldn't at an anime convention.

>>9510291
I bought an AX table just on impulse because my friends were all going to be cosplaying from a different series that AX and wanted something to do. Ended up making bank. Decided to continue.

I already had a pretty big internet following (About 20k totaling all my medias) so I was pretty confident about my work.

I've stepped back from fandoms recently and get less reception since I've not uploading art regularly, but still make sales. I think online following has very little to do with how well you sell at conventions. It'll definitely help online sales, though.

>>9510825
If it works out well, consider buying a selphy printer so you can also offer a postcard sized print right there at the con. Every model I've encountered can be run on batteries.

>>9510291
all that online following indicates is that you have an audience/appeal. Rarely does your following cross with the people who buy your shit at cons (unless you do a webcomic or something) but there's tons of relatively unknown but really good artists out there. just try it.

How do I get people to move along after they buy something from me? It's like they think I'm obligated to talk to them about whatever innane thing is on their minds.

I know I've lost sales because of this when someone shy behind them can't speak up and doesn't want to interrupt.

Any tips how to get rid of these sale blockers? I don't want to seem rude and scare away other people but I really hate small talk!

>>9510863
Greet your shy customers when they look like they're ready and ask how you can help them? If that's not enough for your sales blocker to stop, excuse yourself so you can help this other customer.

>>9510863
Sometimes you have to do the initiative and excuse yourself from the conversation and speak to the other person.

Speaking of shy customers, anyone ever feel like the loud customers who are overly enthusiastic when they get to your booth and are like "OH MY GOD I NEED THIS" end up buying nothing, whereas the quieter, shyer customers who don't talk much but have a furrowed brow when looking at your booth end up making the most purchases?

I find it funny is all, encountered that a lot at Fanime.

>>9510880
Depends what you sell I think and the fandoms you've chosen to market. I always pick anime I've really enjoyed that are around a decade or more old now, so when people are excited for mine they buy.

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Quick! Name this artist!

No? No idea? Can't put your finger on this insanely generic piece of art? Well you'll be glad to know she has a Downtown Disney Gallery showing this weekend in Los Angles.

For those of you that don't know, setting a DDG slot is BIG. Top tier.

I'm just super butthurt over it cause I knew this girl in college and I never liked her smiling, closed eye, dull posed mermaids and 20's flapper girls. Now she's making bank of it. I tell myself every day that I need to stop trying so hard at making my art and just do what everyone else does. Copy Brittney Lee and maybe ulter it a little, and bam. You'll be successful and be featured by fucking Disney.

>>9510893
>Saltier than mermaids

>>9510893
>being this surprised normies like generic styles
Yeah, maybe the art has a generic or whatever, but she's the one who put herself out there and got into the gallery. You can bitch all you want, but being an artist for galleries and the industry is 50% art 50% networking. Stop being salty and git gud.

>>9510863
>I really hate small talk!
that's part of the business, as other anon said, best trick is to jump to help another customer, that should be a neutral message to them to move along since you are holding up the line.

The other positive thing of having that occasional table barnacle is it will cause another passerby to stop to see what they are looking at/or what may be of interest.

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>>9510893

Wow, that really is a Brittney Lee copy.

Meh, well that just shows that Disney likes their artist to be cute and colorful and simple and fun. Gasp. You mean you didn't know your average white American / Japanese house wife liked this sort of cute and safe stuff to give to their families and friends and reblog on there little tumblrs? I hope the shock didn't kill you, saltyanon.

And yes, what >>9510900 said is true. You want Disney to showcase your stuff? Network like your life depended on it and make sure your art is never too edgy and you'll be good to go. You talk to the right people in LA and you'll get gallery showings all the time.

>>9510925
>you are holding up the line.
*meant they are..err, anyway I've done it alot and seen others do the same so it's not being rude to them since you gave teh barnacle more of your time already. Got a handful of these neckbeards and autists that always ambush my table when it appears I am by myself or mistakenly made eye contact lol, so it is also handy to have a partner or someone else at the table so when I see them coming down the walkway I'll turn to my friend to talk/discuss intently on something lol until they pass by lol, ugh my table mate became good at notifying me when the same annoying guys approach and warns me so I avoid making eye contact with them, otherwise theyll loiter and ramble on n on n on.

>>9510893
Damn you're salty but I can't disagree that it looks an awful lot like >>9510926

But hey by now you should have known the world isn't fair and that leeching off things that are already successful is always a good tactic.

Anyone ever shared a table with someone noticeably way less skilled artistically? Do you think it hurt your sales?

>>9511360
Maybe this'll help. I used to be friends with two girls who did AA and helped them a lot of times, both when they were sharing and each alone. The difference in skill was immense, I'm talking a semipro concept artist and someone who drew really ugly chibis.

It never hurt the semipro's sales at all to be sharing with her, people kinda just ignored the other side, bit rude but honest.

>>9511360
It only hurts if your display is mixed in with theirs. But if it is clearly a separate part you should be fine.

>>9511360
Why would it hurt your sales? If anything, it would only hurt the sales of the worse artist.

>>9511360
Ehh. I had a friend who was less skilled than me but not immensely so, and I think we brought down both our sales. I think her "okay" work made my "good" (but not "great") work look "okay" side by side, so neither of us made too much while sharing together.

However once we started tabling separately/with other people and they also tried a bit harder improving both of us made way better sales.

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I feel like this was asked before but can't seem to find it in previous threads.
Where does one get holographic/glitter prints.

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>>9511525
Catprint does them.

Actually speaking of catprint. I just got an order of prints in from them. They sent me enough clean prints, with a few extra that were misprinted.

What should I do with the misprints? Each one has a singular ding in the print like my pic, except one that had a light black misprinted line.

If I wanted to sell them, what should I sell them at, half the regular price?

>>9511360
the only person's sales it will hurt is the noticeably worse artist.

>>9511545
I had a batch of prints that had a light line going down one side - I sold them at $5 off each and every time I pointed out the flaw nobody noticed or cared.

>>9511545
If you do what >>9511556 says they will very likely sell like hotcakes. My cut-price misprints and miscuts always sell, and I've bought several things at AA I otherwise wouldn't have just because they were cheap. Never underestimate how much people like feeling like they're getting a bargain.

>>9510893
Normies love that Brittney Lee shit, anon.

Think about it like this: in 100 years when our great grandkids are art historians narrowing all the work done in our time to a few pieces that will represent this point in art history, you think it's gonna be the million copies of other people's art? They can get featured and get deals and be seen by millions of people but it doesn't mean anything. Nah, our era's gonna be represented by some obscure deviants who are like, making paintings with their own jizz and canoes out of 3d scans of their vaginas. You wanna beat 'em, for real, go make Piss Christ. Fuck Disney, fuck everyone. You wanna get into Disney art shows? Be a fake fucker and copy Brittney Lee. Who cares.

What is realistic to earn for a 2D artist at a 1 day anime con with about 400 people?

>>9511643
No more than $1k

>>9511691
$1k...!? Shit I'm definitely doing something wrong then

>>9511730
I think they were just stating that as the max anon.

>>9511643
I usually make around $300-600 from a half table (mostly acrylic charms, buttons, and stickers with a few prints).

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Plan to hang these around at AX for free off course. Why people take them?

>>9511834
dont do this

>>9511643
$500 if you are lucky.
Unless the con is free to enter or only cost $5 to enter, then maybe more.

>>9511834
Again, people will literally take anything that's inherently free.

Case in point: Cards Against Humanity booth at ECCC.

>>9511830
With less than 400 people?? Do you have god tier art?

>>9511834
l-lewd anon

>>9511643
$200-300 if you are covering a good number of series and have decent art

>>9511834
1. don't
2. don't know about ax in particular but pretty much every con gets mad at you for putting up advertisment/shit you didnt pay for

>>9511882
Not really, I have like upper-middle tier art compared to local artists I guess. This spring I've sold at Kogaracon, Clovercon, and Chibicon (attendance was definitely below 4-500 because Zenkai and CPAC were both that weekend too) and made that range consistently. Kogara and Clovercon both seemed like low attendance one day events to me but they don't release numbers so I can't be certain. My tablemate was within the same profit range as me as well.

Another artist told me $600 was low for her at those 3 cons, she has a huge print wall though so her profit margins are understandably larger.

>>9511834
The P5 logo could be crisper.

How do I ask out this artist that I have a huge crush on? I've followed all their social media and watch most of the art streams and have talked with him some at his booth each local con we're at since we both live on the west coast and not that far apart.

I'm worried he'll say yes because he's more worried about losing sales than wanting to see where things can go between us. ~_~

>>9511923
You sound like a creep.

>>9511923
Trust me, no artist (other than desperate ones) will say yes to a date just for a sale. Also I vote for don't do it anyway.

>>9511923
I'm pretty sure you alone won't change their sales drastically, aka he isn't gonna date you to save a buck lol. Unless you two are hitting it off well on a personal level then I'd say yes. But from what you wrote, you sound like a pretty creepy fan who thinks you "know" the artist just because you've talked to them at cons and gone to their streams.

>>9511834
Don't do shit like this.
Only some will be taken by attendees and con staff will probably trash the rest since it's lewd.

>>9511923

I'm going to presume you're not a creep for the sake of this advice (also I guess I don't necessarily see your behavior as anything more than just simple crush behavior).

See if you can exchange personal Facebooks or similar social media (something beyond his professional accounts). Probably best to use that to check and see he's not already with someone, and then if he's single and you really want to go for it, shoot him a message and see if he wants to hang out sometime / have dinner. If you want to get to the point sooner, just ask in person at the next con you see. It could be as simple as grabbing a drink at the end of the day or a breakfast / coffee date one morning. But I agree with other anons no artist is gonna date someone for fear of losing sales.

>>9511923
Artists who attend AA, host streams, and generally upkeep a social media presence heavily cater their interactions with fans and clients alike to make themselves more likable and "sell" their brand.
Youtubers, bloggers, and even RL Celebrities do this, and it creates this phenomenon where fans truly think that the person cares about them or if they share something mildly personal about themselves publically; You may feel like you "know" this person or you really "get" them.
You do not.
Asking this person out is a bad idea, and I can tell you now that they will very politely turn you down, but they will see you as a creep.
Unless you've actually interacted with this artist on a personal level outside of work hours/social media fakery; You are not their friend and they do not care about you.

>>9511992
NAYRT, but I'm curious (since I don't really use social media besides facebook and insta for lurking), when do online admirers cross the line between "being a fan"/a rando to being a friend? Rather, what do you guys look for in online friends?

I'd love to make online friends but I've always been really awkward, not to mention inconsistent with my online presence (something I'm willing to try harder at) and I feel like just popping up and commenting/tweeting at people is just gonna make me come off as annoying/weird. I know having a fandom in common helps but when do people start to feel comfortable with the people who follow them?

>>9512001
Idk I'm never actively searching for friends on the internet its just something that happens through conversation, usually over a shared interest, and if the conversation clicks, then I continue talking to them every once in a while.

Artists are used to people trying to constantly get buddy-buddy with them whether to get free art from them or just be able to say they're "friends" with this "famous" internet personality so if you're actively trying to crack the code to be best friends with an artist you idolize; youve already failed.

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someone spammed a discussion group with links to her Twin Peaks products, which use images she obviously just prints off the internet. when i pressed her for a source on a meme she used, she said she "believed" it was her friend's art, and protested that she can't remember every single thing people send her. (??)

her posts were deleted from the group before i could screenshot but she also claimed to have made the art herself using her "marketing design expertise" and Publisher.

what can be done about shops like this? is there a blog or website that connects artists to theft of their work?

https://www.etsy.com/shop/peydaykreations is the shop in question if wrist related is not enough to dissuade you from clicking around

>>9512001
I usually start thinking it's safe to call someone a friend online if we're mutuals and seem to actively comment or start talking to each other :v Usually just starts off with a slow period of just liking each other's stuff back n forth in my case lol

Sometimes you just get lucky, too. Once I reblogged a piece of fanart that I really liked on tumblr and screamed in the tags as per usual and I guess that caught the artist's attention, because she ended up following me first and messaging me about my art. Was really surprised but followed back because yeah, turns out we shared a lotta the same fave series. She was really fun to talk to, and now we've ended up playing overwatch together the few times our time zones align and trading merch by mail. So I guess just striking up a convo sometimes works too if it clicks? Helps take the pressure off a bit if you both like each other's stuff to start, I guess.

Somewhat tangential, but I somehow became mutuals (albeit the "we rarely talk aside from retweeting each other every so often" kind) with some artists and might be able to meet them at a con soon. Would it be weird to bring a small gift for them?

I considered giving postcard prints, but I'm worried that's tacky, especially since I post infrequently and haven't gotten "I love this!!" reactions on any one particular pic. Am I better off just buying some candies or snacks to share, or not bringing anything at all?

>>9512016
Nah, I literally just want friends because it's weird tweeting to literally no one lol. Maybe someone to meet up with at a con and squeal about "meeting eachother for the first time!!" or something. Of course, I need to get consistent with my posting as well in order to get enough "attention" for someone to bother talking to me, so I'll probably start from there.
Also, interestingly enough, I've never had any explicit want to become friends with the artists I idolize, but instead it's the people with smaller follower bases but unique/interesting art and personality that I find myself wanting to be friends with (of course). Also, in the back of my mind I know I'd just end up being a shallow existence in a famous person's sea of followers lol.

Ok maybe there's one famous-ish cosplayer that'd I'd LOVE to be friends with, but that's a different story lol, not related to art interests hahaha

>>9512047
That seems the most natural way to do it! It might just be that first step of "direct communication" that's really nervewracking for me though, since I'm shit at conversations :|
Also, the last time someone was actively liking/commenting on my stuff they ended up saying "so can you follow me?" and then stopped interacting lol, so I guess I'm paranoid about coming off as someone like that.

>>9512055
People love gifts! I think it'd be a good idea, maybe postcards by themselves would be neat, but I think adding candies or even a personal drawing for each of them would also help give it a boost.

I was going to meet some artists at a christmas party I was invited to and I was like "whoa so kakkoii" and I brought them a christmas gift and a drawing of their favorite character.

We're pretty solid con buddies now, but anyway yeah, I can't see giving a honest gift as a starting off on the wrong foot, and they'll probably appreciate it more than you think!

>>9511834
this is some of the cringiest, most autistic shit ive seen on this board.

>>9512001
personally I have three types of followers; fans who share/like my posts but dont comment or talk to me, fans who try to talk to me, and fans who talk to me but also produce content at a similar pace to my own and with similar tastes.

That last one is the type I would befriend. I like when a person is doing their own things too and not just "my fan", because in the end I am just a person and I don't want to really talk to people who do nothing but idolize me or my art. If that makes sense.

In the same vein, there are a few artists online who I talk to but are on a higher level than me and do not generally initiate conversations with me or always follow me as well. I can understand this because I am in the same situation to a lesser extent, so I generally don't bother them.

anon who wants to date an artist, PLEASE develop your own personality/ art if you don't already. do your absolute best to interact with them in a way that doesn't look like you are just idolizing them like it sounds like you are. There is honestly no way he will say yes to save a sale. Honestly personally I would just be disappointed that someone who took the time to talk to me so much was just trying to date me.

anyone who would say yes to dating an idolizer probably has some wicked attention needs and a relationship built on idolizing is a damaging and dangerous one.

If you have a different profession than art, maybe ask him some things about his process, offer him criticism when he's streaming. light, constructive criticism. basically do what you can to show that you see him as a human rather than some art idol. You can admire and respect his art and still see him as human.

EVEN WITH ALL OF THIS HE STILL MIGHT SAY NO. He is a human with tastes. maybe he's taken, maybe he's into whatever gender you aren't. maybe you aren't his type at all.

>>9511923

consider offering them sealed water bottles, sealed snacks. etc. Personally I would be a little wary taking snacks from people (even sealed) but as someone who shared a table with three other people we would have died if not for the fact that one or more of us could leave and bring back food for the rest of us. Its still a risk, and unless you can masterfully accept them turning the stuff down (don't press, don't act upset or wronged) I wouldn't try it. Its an idea though, maybe someone else here will explain to me why this is a bad one if it is.

>>9512055

I've witnessed one artist start this, and the other one reciprocated with another gift, and by the end of the day they've given each other practically one of everything in their own inventory, and then they go on to reblog each other's work for months afterwards.

I've also witnessed one artist give their own artwork, and then the other just quietly going "wtf, did she expect me to promote her work on my blog or something" and then put it away and nothing was ever heard about that incident again. They're still mutuals, but I don't think they talk to each other or interact much either.

I guess it really does depend on the artist you're giving it to and how they interpret it. If you want to give them art, don't just give a random sample of your artwork that they have no interest in. If you know their favorite character or their favorite ship, draw fanart of that, it'll be much more appreciated. Same with snacks, it'll go down a little less creepy if you give them a snack they mentioned they like, and you tell them you're giving it to them because you like their art.

If nothing else though, buy their artwork. That's going to make their day that someone is willing to pay money for their art, rather than random gifts out of nowhere.

>>9512055
>>9512116

I love to receive little gifts from followers/friends when I'm boothing, whereas on the flipside, my usual tablemate fakes genuine interactions with fans and then complains about them and their gifts later like it's a pain that people give her stuff so it really does depend on the person.

The line between a fan/idolizer and a friend is separated by a very thick iron wall.

This thread is starting to make me anxious since I always bring snacks for my favourite artists and tend to randomly offer some to the ones I chat with...

>>9512162
if they accept them I'm sure they appreciate them, regardless of if they actually eat them.

>>9512164
They usually eat them right away and take some for their tablemates who are absent, so I suppose it's fine then. I guess they know it's safe since I fed most of them with homemade brownies at a con years back where a series of catastrophic oven breakdowns and inept staff meant none of them got any food.

>>9508299
>not including a 'courtship' pun

gosh, are you even trying

>>9511422
...i'm fucked

>>9512162
aw, you sound nice

might be worth giving out prepackaged snacks after that fiasco with the girl who got a needle stuck in her tongue. i'd certainly be wary of people's offerings after that

>>9512055
I love to get any free gifts, especially snacks.

Hi, I wanted to know if there were any opinions and experiences about sharing a table with a print of the same fandom

I only recently got into a fandom that a table friend already has a print of, and although I'd love to make a fanart print, I was worried this would be bad etiquette or could ruin the experience if only one person's print sells well or something. Not that my friend is very petty or competitive, it's just my first time so I don't want to make any possibly wrong moves.

Thanks in advance!

>>9512294
ask them

>>9511834
Why do you keep asking the same thing every thread?

Hey so I'm going to be tabling at an outside venue for the first time. The organizer said they would provide shade aka tents
I'm not sure how this will work with my display??? Especially if I have PVC pipes that go on the table...i think the pipes would end up hitting the top of the tent. I can't figure out how to set up my table if here will be tents propped up over my head. I tried looking up online to see if anyone had experience with this, but none. Advice???

Does anyone know where the "Born to Make History" Yuri on ice zine was printed?? I love the gold foil lettering in the cover. The back says "printed in PRC"(china) but that doesn't help very much :/ http://borntomakehistory.bigcartel.com/product/born-to-make-history-zine-zine-only

>>9512369
Ask the organizer directly how tall the tents are/what the height limit is for displays.

>>9512284
>>9512132
>>9512116
>>9512087
Thanks for the responses! I think I'll go ahead and prepare something then, hopefully I won't come off as too fannish.

>>9512371
PrintNinja
>Projects printed in China are required by international and national laws to clearly state the country they were manufactured in, so your project must have “Printed in PRC” or “Printed in China” on it somewhere. (PRC is short for “People’s Republic of China”)

>>9512294
ngl if your skill levels are very different it might be a bad experience. Talk to your partner and see if you're both okay with it despite the risk. Also, make sure you have the same prices, otherwise one person will just be undercutting the other.

Different anon but...wait from what I've been reading, is sharing a table detrimental to sales than tabling by oneself??? I didn't think sharing tables could be a bad thing

>>9511905
Have you done Tosho-con before? I was googling it and that's where I saw the 400 number... But by past pictures, it looks like not more than 25 people were there.
>>9511923
As general advice, don't just go up to someone and ask if they want to date. Always try to be friends first as some others have suggested. I have been asked out by randoms and it really turns me off. I'm much more inclined to hang out with someone if they ask if I'm busy after x, and were wondering if you want to chill and grab a bite. It's still a bit nerve wracking, but not nearly as deep as "hey um I was wondering if you wanted to maybe date."...like I don't even know you.
Honestly just bullshit with the person, if you can hit a topic you see they are interested about and excited to be talking to you about, try to stop the conversation there with something like,"oh hey, sorry to interrupt, but I just noticed the time and my ride is going to be here/ I told my friend I'd call them at this time. I'd love to talk more about this later though! Can I message you on Facebook or something so you can finish telling me there? "
It's kind of shitty and manipulative to do to someone, but...

>>9512294
I don't think it's bad etiquette at all. My friend and I get obsessed with the same shows, so we both ended up producing fanart while squeeing over it. Draw what you love and whatnot.

However, I ended up not selling any of my heartwarming stuff for a fandom when I tabled with her. It stung, but I already knew that my art style is different than hers, and my attempt at drawing something cute looked mediocre in comparison.
What did sell for me was the funny/jokey stuff I did in the same fandom though.

If you have similar skill level and art styles, there shouldn't be any issues if you choose the same subject matter in your fanart. But personally, since I realized that my art isn't as appealing as hers it's better for me to draw something tonally different if we kept tabling together. I'm still gonna try to git gud and draw the cutesy prints I want, but I know when compared side by side to her art it doesn't stand out enough.

If you don't know your friend that well it's probably better to take >>9512468 advice and discuss it. And definitely don't undercut.

>>9512559
Seconding don't undercut. I didn't have the same fandoms when I was sharing a table with another artist, but she ended up slashing her prices to half the cost of my prints halfway through the con because she was panicking about sales.

It's too hard to say if it hurt my sales (still did fine) but fuck ever tabling with her again. The worst part is that she's actually a fantastic artist, just has the confidence of a wet fucking noodle and that's enough to turn most buyers off.

>>9512294
>>9512565
Similar experience here.
Tabled with a good friend once, their art was decent and we shared a fandom or two but was absolutely stern as a mule about not wanting to up their print prices (in addition to a couple of other things honestly). Overall, I can't say if that hurt my sales but I did end up making more than them and I could tell they were kind of upset about it.

On a semi-related note, any advice on telling a friend you wanna start tabling solo? I'm not too sure on how to go about it. I feel like the answer is simple and I should just tell them straight up, but my major concern I guess is just their reaction because they are a bit sensitive.

>>9512496
>>Pros: Save on table costs and helps when you're starting out and don't have as much merch to fill out a table.
>>Cons: One artist's sales might cannibalize the other's if there's a disparate skill or style difference

>>9512621
Say you've made enough merch to fill out a whole table and that you're ready to take the leap.

>>9512496
I shared a table with another professional artist once. I did average, but she apparently did awful.
So, I guess it just depends.

The A-Kon artist alley is stuffed as hell. If you haven't made enough sales by Saturday, let me know. Mama Anon will buy lots of goodies from you.

>>9512071
Second anon you replied to here. Lol, I feel that too, but if you're on twitter or something like that you can usually ignore DMs in favor of maybe just commenting on some of their tweets if they catch your attention. Takes the pressure off keeping a full convo going until you're both more comfortable with each other, if you wanna try that. Sometimes you get stuck in that weird zone of only ever doing that though, and then I guess it's more of a leap of faith into actual convos or stuff like streaming a show together or other stuff like that.

And that sucks, sorry to hear that anon. I think as long as you don't actually explicitly push for that kinda stuff you'll be fine, though. I agree with >>9512100, I usually follow back people who have similar tastes and also make content around the same pace, and I expect the same because that's just how it goes. So if you feel like they aren't responding as much, I don't think there'll be any harm done in just trying and then backing off if it doesn't seem to working out, as long as you're not like that person (which you definitely don't seem to be)!

>>9512294
Tabled with a friend and we both had comedy prints for the same series, and we're about the same skill level. Fans would always stop by the table and laugh. But if they bought something, even if they liked both prints, 90% of the time they would go for the cheaper print (not an undercut - hers was a smaller size and thus cheaper).

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The first week of my new warehouse job is flat-out kicking my ass, and I'm way behind on canvas work orz

>>9512310
>>9512468
>>9512559
>>9512621
>>9512978
Thanks for all the advice gulls!
Undercutting won't be an issue because we've agreed to set the same price for the whole table. We're of a similar skill, although she does draw prettier girls..
What some of you have said about having tonally different prints even in the same fandom made a lot of sense, I'll definitely try give a different feel or direction in the prints of same fandom. I can see that having two very similar prints of the same subject is an issue of it's own.
I'll have a talk with her about it!

>>9511545
I received a bunch of prints a few months ago from catprint and cracked them open at the con (yikes) and a few of my Sailor Moon prints were COMPLETELY misaligned. It was like, eldritch horror Princess Serenity. People almost liked the misprint more, lol. Discounted weird shit sells well, IMO

Okay, I'm not sure where else I could ask for help on this, but since this commissioner was networked via con, I'm asking here.

This person is asking for a full illustration (full body, full color, no bg) of a character for a children's book they're writing. They have an illustrator for their novel through their publisher though, and just wanted me to create an illustration of the main character to be used as inspiration.

I know this is essentially character design, but I have no idea how much I should charge or if I should even do it? Obviously, I want to protect my art, so I'm wary of doing a design with no other promise than the fact that it is indeed paid work for whatever I'm charging. Not to mention that all I have is a vague description of this character (a little girl with curly red hair) and I'm worried about having to rework it a lot to be what they want.

Just to let y'all know, I charge about $40 for a full body/full color character with references provided. I'm confident in character design, just don't know what to do.

Anyone order from vograce recently? Sent my files to coco 2 days ago and she says the outline still isn't finished and she just won't give me a time line of how long it will take no matter how i ask her. She just keeps saying their artist does the files and does it for everyone and she doesn't know. Usually I get my outline back within 24 hours =/

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>>9513058
Gotta be up in a few hours how the do I do this to myself.

>>9513058
ooo I dig that Ryoko one. Very nice to see non-digital stuff sometimes.

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Whelp. I did it. And for someone who doesn't know how to paint, I'm rather proud of what I did. Good job me.

I thought it would be funny if each page was a new chapter. So each book would be average manga sized and have about 66 pages? I think I would sell it for 10 bucks? People on the AA liked it (which was very encouraging) and I did get a few suggestion to make these covers into fake book slip on covers/ipad covers. Didn't even think about that.