/m/ - media

How well did you nonas do at your first con? I did my first con recently and only managed to make a couple of hundred dollars. I lost a lot of money so I'm thinking twice about doing my next con. Other nonas seem to do successful first cons. Is it okay to not do well at your first con? Should I just give up doing cons?

Oh this is a very interesting thread! I wanna start doing some merch to sell at small cons that my uni course attends (I'm studying comic making and we go to like 3 to 4 cons per year). I printed some stickers at a local printing place (for cheap too, only 20 bucks for a total of 150 stickers, maybe it's a bit too much but hey, I was wanted to give it a try) and while I'm very proud of how they look, I think it definitely can be better if I knew more about printing quality and had a machine that cut the stickers for me rather than me manually doing it. How was it for the experienced nonnies when you were all starting out? Any hiccups along the way you wished you knew at first?

Isn't this thread basically just the same as the artists and crafters thread in ot?

>>420375
Not really, too many nonas do ask about AA in the artist thread, but it always gets buried under other stuff and ignored. The /cgl/ thread is pretty dead anyway, so it’d be better to just talk about it here

>>420325
Nice, starting with stickers is a good call! Yeah, manual cutting is a pain, lol. Look into getting a Cricut or a Silhouette (i saw too many artists struggling with the Cricut, it can cut and calibrate very badly) —total game-changer.
For printing quality, check out some online printers like StickerApp or Vograce; they’re solid for small runs and good quality.
About the price, don't lowball them. Also, test out different types of merch; not everything will hit at cons, but it’s all part of figuring out what works for your style.

For figuring out what sells, it’s smart to do some research online and check out what’s moving fast at cons. Pay attention to the popular characters and series that are already sold out, so you know what’s in demand and what to make a small amout (or avoid!). No point in oversaturating your table with stuff that’s everywhere.
Draw what you love, that's very important.

>>420317
It really depends on your merch and the cons you're hitting up. Also, don’t give up just because your first try was rough—applies to everything

Isn't there already a thread for this in /ot/?

>>420401
This was already talked about in a previous suggestion thread where some nonas were into this topic. It's strictly about making merch and selling them at anime cons, not just art in general. Make sure to read the posts before asking the same stuff that's already been answered >>420389

Feels incoming.

Is it even worth it to try and produce original content? I was finally happy where I was with art, had found a solid niche that gave me pretty great success, but now I'm noticing that essentially "bootlegs" ie shittier copies of my work are starting to be made by other artists.

I know it comes with the territory but it honestly sucks. Like I did the work and they're riding on my coat tails. Part of me just wants to start making the most generic retro pastel kawaii garbage instead. Sells well and it's so generic and shitty that I could care less about copycats.