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No. 2116844
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>What do you make?
Classic stuff. Prints, pins, charms but also magnets.
>Where do you sell? Cons, local markets?
Cons because I know I sell more and I like to be in a closed environment without heat/cold and shitty wind blowing my stuff off.
>What's the item that sells best/worst?
Best: keychains and pins, Worse: big prints
>Any advice for old and new artists and crafters?
For new people: don't think of it as a job day one. Relax, take it easy, take notes about what happens at cons so you know how to prepare yourself for the next one but most importantly, don't get deluded. Expect to sell zero so you don't fall in the "I should make more merch!" to fall into the scheme to maintain numbers. Avoid ocs (I've seen newbies trying to sell oc merch)
For old people: stop being fucking lazy once you get famous. Stop doing shitty stuff just because your know your fans will buy anything.
>Somebody tried to scam you? Rob you? Harrassed you? Any horror stories?
Mothers use their children to steal, one time one came, grabbed a big charm, gave it to her toddler and said "Will you give it to her? She likes it so much?" She was already drooling on it like what the fuck. Also older men telling me over and over if that's really my job and if I'm allowed to do that blahblahblah (sadly here, cons aren't restricted to 18+ only unless they have nsfw panels so children come with their parents because they see cosplayers and go fuck yeah this is a thing for children). I don't want to put clear wrap on my booth to avoid this stuff but I'm thinking about it.
>What's something you cannot stand in a con/market? Cringy cosplayers? Rude people? Other vendors being insufferable?
People talking as if I'm not even here like "What is this lol" or taking my stuff, say some incharacter or infandom joke to their cosplayer friends and then putting it back like at least don't come near me. In other vendors, I hate when they only do popular shit, for example for the last 2 years it was Genshin now it's Hazbin hotel because I know, one hundred percent sure, that that vendor is fucking lazy and isn't really an artist but a mere merchant. I don't buy from people who don't have anything original or don't do stuff from weird/niche stuff like why are you here you clout chaser, it also gives nevrotic person who constantly refreshers twitter for the latest trend and I don't want to buy from them to feed off their illness.
On merch, I hate anything queer like pronouns or sexuality pins.
The first because not only they're useless, because no one is gonna look at your bag first to address you, but they look like store clerk idk and for sexuality, it's creepy. Like why do I need to know what people this person fucks? I don't do that shit, even if I know it would sell a lot. It makes them look like tagged cattle.
No. 2116909
>>2116172>What do you make?Charms. Pins. Prints.
>Where do you sell? Cons, local markets?Animé conventions.
>What's the item that sells best/worst?Charms, hands down. Charms and especially obscure characters from popular properties.
>Any advice for old and new artists and crafters?Newbs: Don't expect to make money. Print small quantities of around 10 pieces a pop. That thing that you think will sell? It will not sell. So just make 10 of it.
Olds: The amount of pride merch on your table drastically reduces my wish to throw money at you.
>Somebody tried to scam you? Rob you? Harrassed you? Any horror stories?Being surrounded by furries and trannies with violent tendencies. Normal males are no problem, trannies have scary vibes more often than not. I had a very bad encounter with some furries that more or less ruined my ability to trust other humans, so knowing that they're around makes me anxious.
>What's something you cannot stand in a con/market? Cringy cosplayers? Rude people? Other vendors being insufferable? Vendors greeting me. To me, it means 'I want your money' and that's fine by me, but I decide if you get my money, by perusing your merchandise.
No. 2116933
>>2116896No my lovely nonna but at least I'm in Europe, dreaming of going "up there".
For two years it was shit here because everyone was up in genshin bullshit and I also got flamed because one time I said that if I see genshin in tables I don't check out everything else (I don't have time for that), other vendors told me that I was a pickme and hated my colleagues because I didn't want them to make money like what no I hate hypebeasts that's different my little cloutchasers
No. 2117773
Idk if this is a weird ick to have but I hate faggy males at anime convetions who have basic paint tool sai skills/trace over popular american/asian artists and people buy their shit because omg a boy doing this so cuteeeee!! They always have the same bouncy pokemon style a-la-meyoco. What's up with this.
No. 2120025
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>>2116844You could get cute displays for your stuff like picrel that you can protect with acrylic sheets to stop retards from stealing your stuff. Parents are the absolute worst at cons, you can always count on failed stage moms and peaked-at-15 dads to make life a living hell for every attendee, including their kids.
>>2116340It's a bit pointless to do older or less popular series for con merch. Fandoms have no lasting power these days and minimum order quantities and fees make it hard to justify doing even a small run of charms for a fandom that's old or obscure. It might sell online, but when cons are 95% Genshin fanatics, it's a waste of money and space.
No. 2121431
>>2121101True, it's soul sucking to pander exclusively to FOTM fans, you have to keep up with endless samey shitty isekai magical girl webtoon shounen high school slop with zero plot and a repeating cast of stereotype characters, all of them are overdesigned as fuck, you need to be the first one to churn out merch or the zoomers will spend their pocket money elsewhere and leave you with piles of unsold merch, and it sucks all the fun out of art. I honestly don't know how these artists do it, I get burnout just thinking about it.
>>2120172You could sell generic kawiwi animu shit that incorporates references to the stuff you like. You'd get a lot more customers who like the aesthetic and fellow fans will be able to pick up on the references. There's a lot of garish tacky merch out there, making subtle and actually wearable pieces will get you a ton of customers who don't want to look like the world's cringiest billboard.
No. 2121449
>>2121431>I honestly don't know how these artists do it, I get burnout just thinking about it.If they're not into it themselves, they burn out REALLY FAST. The most profitable AA artists are extroverts who hop from popular fandom to popular fandom and genuinely enjoy the buzz of community and participating in it, they come up with the innovative ideas and create fun fan merch people actually find worth their money. The artists who try to churn endless amounts of Genshin charms while never even having opened the game are borderline grifters who become bitter, lazy and resentful, and it shows in their work.
>You could sell generic kawiwi animu shit that incorporates references to the stuff you like. This is the advice I always give to people myself because it's true. Just create generic original works that anyone can buy and use. That way you wont end up with tons of useless merch of a fandom that already went out of style while you were waiting for them to get printed.
No. 2121526
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If any nonnas still sell MHA merch they should start making less and phase it out because the manga just ended the other day.
Do people still sell a decent amount of prints? I was at a convention last month and wasn't particularly drawn to any of the stalls. The only thing I bought was a keyring strap made of vintage kimono. I guess I'm bored of the same-y anime merch. There's only so many charms, buttons and prints a girl can buy before she's bored. I low-key miss the handmade stuff from conventions back in the day. Yes, there's still handmade things like my keystrap but there's a severe lack of crafters.
No. 2121701
>>2121526Not
all MHA merch slingers. If there's any doujinonnas out there, they should consider making an alternate ending doujin for Deku considering how disappointed a lot of readers are kek. Anyway, my con-seller friends tell me that smaller prints (A4 and smaller) do decently compared to poster sizes. But, it sounds like a lot of people are in the same boat as you, where they want something other than buttons and charms. My most successful friend sells anime themed candles, but we don't live in a very saturated market so anything outside of the norm does pretty well.
No. 2125543
>>2116340I was about to say the same thing. I get it though because having a table in a con must cost a lot, prices keep increasing for my local con according to artists who used to go there and stopped. But it's so soulless now. I went to the local con last year in December and it was full of Genshin Impact, FF14, and shonen jump and Berserk prints that were just badly traced panels, sold by shonentards. On the other hand, the things that interested me the most were a lot more original, small crochet plushies of pokemon, decorations made of wood that looked like street food signs, small "bags" to cover your books, etc. so most of it was original content. It's making me hesitate to go back, I'm not sure it's worth it anymore but I really love the few things I bought there. Last time I went to Japan expo almost everything was also Genshin Impact and FF14 but the rest was a little more varied and there were artists from all of Europe and not just locals. I was going through everything I bought in cons this past decade so far that I didn't get rid of yet and it was very varied, it's half popular things, half things that were a lot less famous after the series ended, so I got pretty nostalgic.
No. 2127957
>>2125543Perhaps if tables weren't so expensive people could make things of old/unpopular fandoms because it wouldn't be such a loss.
>>2121701I don't think I've ever seen doujin at any con I've been to other than doujins imported from Japan.
No. 2128015
>>2117773Overall I agree but I actually like snackyboy lmao but he's like my only exception because I do like his art and at least at the cons I go to literally nobody else does the same style as him. I'm a pokemonfag tho and it's hard to find pokemon merch here for some reason (the reason is genshin, or whatever else is the "it" game/show at the moment) so I appreciate him having art with unusual pokemon in environments. At best other sellers here do plain starters and eevee and call it a day.
I also like that he's never done any troon or pronoun shit in his art, at least not that I've ever seen. Men who do troon art are the most insufferable misogynistic people on earth.
>>2120025>Parents are the absolute worst at consI've never noticed this so thanks for the heads up nonas. I can see why entitled moms/parents would steal for their child because "it's just plastic anyway".
No. 2128028
>>2121449>The most profitable AA artists are extroverts who hop from popular fandom to popular fandom and genuinely enjoy the buzz of community and participating in itRelated to this: I see so much advice for new sellers of how and what to invest in, yet no one is pointing out the obvious fact that if you're an introvert you're probably going to hate selling at cons! That they'll drain you out fully and you'll need a week minimum to recover.
Same with autists (I am one kek) I see so many weeby introvert autists who ask "hey Already Established Big Artists could I also sell at cons despite being a bit shy and on the spectrum?" and they're all "yes totally, we believe in you uwu" but no one is telling them the reality that they'll probably hate it. It's loud, VERY crowded, if it's a gamer con or just in summer time people are often stinky and sweaty, you may not be able to get "safe" foods, people will talk to you to buy stuff and you have to look somewhat competent and social. All of your senses will get offended and there's nothing you can do about it! And this goes on for many hours, usually for multiple days. It's just not suited for everyone.
No. 2128034
>>2121526>Do people still sell a decent amount of prints?I kind of don't trust people who don't sell any prints. It could just be postcard sized prints and we're good, that's all it takes. It just rubs me the wrong way and feels incredibly un-artistic to not just sell "pure art" like prints, if that makes any sense. If they just sell keyrings and pins of popular characters I know they're just in it for the money and don't care about the art aspect, so that makes me not care to support them as an artist.
I also find if a display is made up of like 200 small keyrings and pins it looks super messy and overwhelming so I'm not drawn in to look at anything. Artists need big prints so you can actually see their art.
No. 2128075
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I'll bite and post some con drama from the biggest Scandinavian con Närcon, held in Sweden. It's been posted about in other threads so I hope nonas don't mind! Their discord has been buzzing with some upset artists who think staff are insufficient at enforcing 18+ rules or who fail at judging what is actually too sexual to be sold to kids. Currently it seems they only judge things to be any level of sexual if they depict actual sex acts, OR have "female presenting nipples". Squeezing a girls boobs covered only by a tiny meat bikini as she drools, fetish gear on sexually posed butts or loli-material sold to actual pedos is all ok.
Not pictured is another staff member publicly replying (in Swedish, hence why I left it out)
>"NärCon is guaranteed to have people to have pedophilic thoughts, just like society at large. There's no way to get around that."
and concluding that just because some people might get sexually turned on by drawings of children doesn't mean EVERYONE is, so that means it's ok to sell the loli bodypillows because potentially a non-pedo could want it too, and that selling body pillows likely doesn't create new pedos so they might as well keep selling loli stuff to the pedos… Also this staff member called themself "academic" before writing all this shit.
The convention also openly encourages kids to walk around alone without parents or aults, for them to meet "friends" they've only talked to online but never met before, and was founded by a questionable polysexual they/them man named Sam Anlér.
Overall artists express they don't feel safe expressing their own real opinion of NärCon, and the staff is like "but we're all sooooo nice and safe uwu" and defend each other while openly shooting down criticism like that squeezing boobs could possibly be seen as sexual.
No. 2128089
>>2128083>Time for Uppdrag Granskning to get involved?God I fucking wish!!! Also forgot to mention there is no lower age limit on their volunteers and they encourage kids to join and work for them. I've seen people say they know 11-12 year olds who worked there, and I've had friends who worked in their mid teens.
Sorry to be a a bit too bloggy and possibly OT, I've also been one of the kids walking around alone as a teen, since it was so "safe" according to them. I was approached by adult men (one at a time, but on several occasions) who "felt bad" for me since I was alone so they invited me to come play games with them and convinced me that we should exchange phone numbers to keep in contact afterwards. I've also been openly sexually molested by older teen girls (who I did not know, we were literal strangers). This all happened in front of people, including adults, and no one reacted at all and I guess just assumed it's ok and we must know each other or something because again "närcon is so safe, go explore your sexuality kids uwu". Kids are NOT safe at NärCon.
No. 2128203
>>2128114närcon:
>is run by a poly troon moid>said moid tells parents to send their young kids to the con alone>con happily makes 11 year olds work there away from parents>con admits there are guaranteed to be pedos there>con admits they choose to cater to the pedos instead of at least trying to limit them>con regularly allows questionable sexual content for/depicting kidsnonas:
>nona admits she has been approached by pedos/predators at said con>other nona casually thinks an investigation should be done since the con is skimping out on kids safetyyou:
>"omg fucking stupid THOUGHT POLICE!!!11!!!!"literally what are you on mate, are you the artist who made the titty-mousepad or what?
No. 2128264
>>2127957In the US I usually find at least a couple zines, though artists tend to make them more like art books with just illustrations and full color etc.
I see booths selling imported doujin sometimes too but I feel like that's become less common the normier the cons have gotten.
Wish artists would do comics more often, I have a whole little rant about the way AA people do zines but I don't want to make a long post nobody will care about…
No. 2128461
>>2128225oops sorry, yes i agree with you other nonas and i meant
>>2128093 was stupid of course
No. 2128470
>>2128252They shat on purpose? As gross as it is some people do have medical issues or eat shitty food at cons that give them instant diarrhea or something so I try not to judge before I know what actually happened
>>2128264I usually don't see zines but recently a few here and there have popped up at cons here which is nice as I enjoy them.
>but I don't want to make a long post nobody will care about…nona sweetie please do it I would absolutely care, please rant about it! And same also to other nonas who have spergy con things to rant about I fucking love reading that shit
No. 2128499
>>2128203You know, as soon as I saw the mousepad and pedo pillow, I had this strange feeling that troons were involved. Is Sweden showing any signs of peaking at all? This is insane, encouraging 11 year olds to attend alone should be enough to get the police involved, never mind the pedo shit.
>>2128264Please write your rant! I love that shit, and it's useful to see someone else's opinions on zines. I've been thinking of getting into them myself.
No. 2128507
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>>2128264Nona please talk I'm all ears
Anyway I'm from Italy and here the situation is tragic. Every fucking year the prices go up for no fucking reason (around 300€) and the people who can afford a table at Lucca are seen as some nepo babies/con organization whores for having those spots, artists are now becoming too many and the market is oversaturated with the same 2-3 fandoms and when you try to have your idea about them being boring, they accuse you of being a hater and hating small businesses in general but then they always go "Well, we don't even like the fandoms but we have to eat!" get a fucking job then. It's a race for the bottom and less about actual creativity, every 2 months artist open preorders for FOTM merch and cry when they barely manage 400€ at month because a good portion (not all of them, thankfully) also claim to be too disabled to work or the work environment are too hateful because they're gendies and will not be believed/respected at work (this is true lol I can give them that but if your enby bogus entity is more important than rent and food get a fucking grip). I rarely see this thing in other eu countries because they're more brainrotted than us but since we aren't still a bit conservative, like we don't even have official gay marriages, most zoomer AA girlies are using hatecrimes on the job as an excuse to bitch and moan and act like royalty in AAs. You have no idea how bad this is and I hate to speak like this because I'm a bit older than these zoomers and it's been more than 10 years that I do cons as an artist and seeing all of these micro communities who mask themselves as safe spaces only to be little bitches piss me off, I also remember that one time one of these newbies tried to gift me a pronoun pin telling me to choose, when I told her, a typical gendie, that I don't feel comfortable with those exposed despite being pretty fucking obvious, she replied "well, everyone in AA is exposing their pronouns, so everyone can feel welcome at their booth!" what the fuck, do I look like a kindergarten? I'm here to do business, fuck off.
No. 2128512
>>2116909>What's something you cannot stand in a con/market?>Vendors greeting me. To me, it means 'I want your money' and that's fine by me, but I decide if you get my money, by perusing your merchandise.Oh wow I'm the opposite, I can NOT deal with vendors who just sit there looking down at their phone, lap, book, or drawing… As a customer I do NOT want to have to "bother" the seller to get their attention, that's poor customer service. Even worse when you go "um excuse me" and they don't even hear you, when that happens they lose out on selling to me.
I don't need them to greet me or speak to me, though if it's an artist I follow I like it and it makes me feel special that they "noticed me". But if it's a frankly bad/mediocre artist it just feels awkward so I totally get not liking it then because it feels rude to immediately walk away when you see their shitty art kek But even then I still find the inattentive vendors to be the absolute worst. Like
>>2128028 said if you're an introvert selling isn't really for you.
No. 2128513
>>2128500KEK
But you know even scoffing at a pronoun would 100% definitely get you kicked out. They have full tolerance for pedos, but transphobia is where they drawn the line…
No. 2128518
>>2128507>and cry when they barely manage 400€ at month because a good portion (not all of them, thankfully) also claim to be too disabled to work or the work environment are too hateful because they're gendiesSomehow that's always the case. Too disabled to work, until it's con season and suddenly all the disability is put on hold and they manage everything just fine.
>one of these newbies tried to gift me a pronoun pin telling me to choose, when I told her, a typical gendie, that I don't feel comfortable with those exposed despite being pretty fucking obvious, she replied "well, everyone in AA is exposing their pronouns, so everyone can feel welcome at their booth!" That's how they try to recruit to their religion. Good on you for turning it down!
No. 2128528
>>2128517I'm scandinavian (missed out on selling at this years NärCon
>>2128075 though)
>they come to my booth and say shit like "this is so cute!" where "cute" is the only eng word like holy shit please, no.You know what's funny the same people who say that shit will shit on weebs inserting Japanese in the exact same way. If someone goes "omg so kawaii" they'll roll their eyes in cringe. But you're doing the same thing! How do you not see it?!
No. 2128665
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>>2128490>For the love of kami-sama before you start selling please compare your goods to what other people sell and see if it's on the same level artistically. Rule of thumb is to consider if you yourself would have bought your own art if somebody else had made it. Especially if it's a popular character you've seen others sell, is yours honestly better than or on the same level as theirs? Does yours bring anything new to the table that makes it a unique must-have to buyers? I've seen newbies think selling their mediocre pencil copies of kpop stars is gonna sell like hotcakes.Absolutely fucking this, even a different finish will work. I don't make epoxy charms because I know it's overused and my merch will eventually blend with other merch so I make my charms all clean cut.
Broken holo is trendy? I use rainbow laser/glitter holo.
Colore clasps are trendy? I focus more on the designs by adding a little pop of color as background and I make all my clasp silver.
Most of all, I don't sell anything that I wouldn't buy/make for a friend as a gift. Also less designs but better placed on grids/frames makes the whole setting less overwhelmed and more pleasing.
Now if some nonna could be kind enough to answer this it could be very useful, help an autistic nonna which doesn't have much experience:
I consider myself shy but at cons I act out my fakeish seller personality. It's not a fake, just something that I try to put on. I smile at people who look at me/wave them hi (I don't say it out loud because con noise will cover my voice anyway and I don't like to scream) when I see that they're interested and if they get closer, I say "I'm here if you need something!"
I keep my business cards first thing on the table and all my merch is on average eye level, free to the touch so people can feel the texture/craftmanship, sometimes (not always) I will draw on my ipad directly on the table so people can look at in real time drawing sessions, esp. when there's less people around, so I can also unwind for a little moment.
My next con will be a con in the open, I got myself a little fan both for me and for the booth so people will not suffer from the heat so much while checking out my stuff and I was thinking about offering a small jar of candies, because sugar drops it's a thing during our humid summers in here it sucks.
Is that a bad idea? Ofc all the candies will be sealed and wrapped individually, high tier, store bought.
Care to share some advice, nonnas? What you would do, in my case, or what have you done that improved your con experience?
Will you accept my candy, nona…?
No. 2128737
>>2128534>horror stories about zines that went horribly wrongAll of them, pretty much? It's gotten to the point where everyone I know refuses to pre order them and just buy the b-grades when they go on sale. We need to go back to the glory days of Deviantart weebs painstakingly putting a zine together on their dad's computer and printing that shit out at home to sell at cons.
>>2128665That's so kind of you but no, you'd get in trouble for that, and it'd attract bugs.
I love your approach to merch. Even little things like the clasp and finish make a difference, buyers might not be able to put their finger on it but something about your merch will stand out.
No. 2129494
>>2128536>why would you be ever be hostile FIRST to the people who want to give you money?nta, but some of people selling are neets, autists or mentally ill in a myriad of ways. They have little to no social skills or common sense. In their eyes they're not really trying to sell you something - you are coming to get their unique special magical item that only they have, so they are above you.
One thing I tend to notice is how well groomed/dressed the person selling is. If they look like a mess I automatically trust them a bit less than if they got dressed up nice and made an effort. They don't have to look like an instathot or anything, but to me it's common sense you would at least put in minimum effort to look ok before facing customers. It lets customers know you're serious about your art and selling it, so it makes it easier to support them because I know they're more likely in it for the long term.
No. 2129505
>>2128665>I consider myself shy but at cons I act out my fakeish seller personality. It's not a fake, just something that I try to put on. I smile at people who look at me/wave them hi (I don't say it out loud because con noise will cover my voice anyway and I don't like to scream) when I see that they're interested and if they get closer, I say "I'm here if you need something!"This is pretty much exactly how you should be acting! Saying hi when/if they look at you is a very good strategy. You can leave the shy ones or people who are just browsing and let them casually move on without feeling awkward, and the ones who seek eye-contact get a greeting.
Like other nona said, most people will take candy and leave - however if it's a place you will be returning to with only a moderate amount of sellers there IS a likelihood that they'll remember "oh that's the brand/seller that had candy" so they get a positive image associated with you. There's a reason companies do it at big events, because it does work as advertising. It CAN pull in people to buy as well - but the risk is always that they just grab the candy and leave. One thing you could do is that with every purchase you go "thank you for buying, you also get a bonus candy, and I see that you have kids with you, would they like a piece each too?" so they get rewarded with a bonus IF they buy something. People like feeling like they got extra or got special treatment.
No. 2129541
>>2129498Maybe I went to the wrong cons growing up but as a teen the artist/dealer rooms were filled with resellers or those selling bootleg items with the only artists being either absolute shit and/or selling shitty laminated chibi art. Small artist I feel like is also kind of a misused word these days, same for small business. Overall there never has been this magical time where the only artist there were there out of passion while also selling something word the paper it was printed on.
This is more of a tangent, but there also isn't a way to "fix" it. Tables are more expensive these days, sure, but in my experience that's arguably the smallest part of the costs of going to a bigger convention. Hotel costs, material costs and overall travel costs add up to significantly more. And sure you could technically do the age old method of rooming with 5 other people and road tripping etc. but at some point you have too much items to bring and also aren't 16 anymore. When you make long AA days you want to have rest and not have to bother with 5 other people walking around when you're trying to sleep.
No. 2129653
>>2129541>Maybe I went to the wrong cons growing upIt probably depends on location but yeah that is NOT the norm at all. Resellers typically get kicked out on sight. A lot of cons go by portfolio so it would be difficult to get in without being an artist to begin with.
>Overall there never has been this magical time where the only artist there were there out of passionThat's not true imo, and it's not in conflict with wanting to earn money for your art. Being passionate about your art can absolutely mean you want to make a career out of it, however only making the latest popular thing typically doesn't come with that passion for art. If the artist doesn't even make any kind of personal art ever it's clear they're not in it for art but for the selling.
No. 2130650
>>2129971Haven't sold them myself but I've bought originals at cons, like I would any print. But before cons and the online world my art-fan parents would take me to real life galleries and I strongly think that's the world you should focus on with traditional art.
People online do NOT value landscapes. They can be breathtakingly pretty and they'll love looking at it but it will translate to 0 sales. You can pretty much only sell them in person to people who go to art galleries who value traditional art. I think having a personal website, not etsy or anything like that, is the way to go. Sell them ready to hang, so framed and looking exclusive.
Get in touch with your local galleries. Visit them regularly and get a feel of what they're like, talk to the people who run it and show an interest in the art. See if you can get a foot in to show your own paintings there. If you do, take lots of photos! It makes you look like a proper artist if you can prove people come just to look at your paintings. You can pose your parents or friends in front of them and pretend they're strangers, people won't know kek. You can also sell small postcards of your art, or calendars and such.
No. 2131107
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With cons becoming more competitive and harder to get into, I'm seeing more art markets at boba shops and bars. Do you do these? I did a couple of shows in cafés but sales were pretty abysmal. Yet I still see more and more events happening every weekend. How do they keep finding artists willing to spend 5 hours to make 50 bucks at best? Do any anons here have any personal experience with these markets?
No. 2132244
>>2129541Did you get into cons in the mid 2010s? That's when Aliexpress and Taobao started to become really popular among sellers, and when ordering stuff on Vograce (and other Chinese manufacturers) became way more accessible. You got kids who spent a couple hundred on cheap samey trinkets and fakes from Taobao and made bank selling them to other kids who only cared about the price. I remember a lot of salt about that. It's also the era when anime was starting to become cool and everyone was churning out merch for the same few shows. You'd get people on /cgl/ making massive group orders from Taobao and buying tons of lolita, cosplays, props, wigs, accessories, stationery, craft supplies, home goods like cute rugs and blankets, and of course knockoffs, and selling them for an insane markup on Etsy and at cons. The market became saturated pretty fast.
>>2129971What kind of still lifes and landscapes do you do? There's absolutely a market for them online if your work is really atmospheric. Stick a witch or some pumpkins in a gloomy landscape, do some WIP videos, repeat, and you'll get an audience who's more than happy to throw money at you.
But if you like traditional landscapes your market is boomers, and you'll make more money taking your work to small galleries in areas populated by rich retirees than you ever will online. The trick of adding Kirby to landscapes exists for a reason, unfortunately.
>>2131107Honestly they're best for advertising your stuff, especially if you have an appealing or unique style and do commissions.
No. 2132913
File: 1723492447959.jpeg (177.82 KB, 736x736, IMG_2603.jpeg)
>>2132244I miss the 2010s AAs kek I feel like now with tiktok the market is even more over saturated than it was ever before. Getting into cons is brutal and I see some big artists who have a decent variety of merch just get upgrade to a seller booth instead if a table in the AA. I don’t know if it’s just me but recently the con booths have been looking same-y for me too. Like everyone kinda makes similar merch with a cute set character holding a knife or making them buff or making them a clown. I am impressed with booths that have a single type of merch like pins and sell nothing else.
No. 2132944
File: 1723494084605.jpeg (4.1 MB, 4032x3024, IMG_2395.jpeg)
This was at too many games 2024. Conventions aren’t like how they used to be that’s for sure.
No. 2132955
>>2132944eewwww, that is so yucky and the fact that's pandering to normies is even worse
>>2132913Yeah I know right? I feel that every country has their meyoco copy cat with cute sparkly pokemon and pastel tones, the same cute but edgy sticker like "talk shit get hit" and gendie stuff. Tiring.
No. 2132969
File: 1723495169495.jpg (161.23 KB, 1079x661, 1716931435485.jpg)
>>2132944Solid snake has a cameltoe…
No. 2132978
>>2132961I thought the zombie chunko pops were kinda neat because this is the first time I've seen anything like them, but the reselling of other people's art and straight up porn is disgusting.
>>2132969That's his ballsack seam.
No. 2133118
>>2128075It gets worse, the mod now singled out the person who asked 'Is this really SFW' by telling that person to not post explicit images on the AA discord.
The context here is that the person asked 'Is this image really ok?' in a channel directed towards the mod team called 'Admin Questions'.
The mod did this in a way that singled out the person asking, in a very accusatory tone.
(integrate) No. 2133140
>>2133137spare your time, it's an old, xbox game with irl models, one of the models lied about her age and she said she was 18 when she was actually 17. It's a trashy, shovelware tier game that got sold for a load just because OMG ILLEGAL!!
Indeed it is but yeah, you know, there's worse around
No. 2133720
>>2132244>There's absolutely a market for them online if your work is really atmospheric.This honestly not true sadly. I follow landscape artists, truly fucking amazing ones, and they're all complaining about how even when people say they'd totally buy something as a print they never do and sales are abyssal. Your best bet is to throw in a few popular character and have them be the focus. But if you're able to do that your chances are higher.
>>2132913>I miss the 2010s AAs kekHonestly the local artist were so shit back then that the current art is SO much better in comparison and I can't complain kek but that pic you posted is SO common, pastel pink + white grid + hearts. You'd think artists would know to make themselves stand out more
No. 2133723
>>2133118Just saw this, some shit is going down. The mods are directly threatening that person by name but also saying anyone else who posts "nsfw content" will get muted or banned. All she (I assume) did was post an image she was upset about being shown to kids (under a spoiler) and staff argued wasn't sexual or 18+, and now staff is like "shut the fuck up and stop posting nsfw shit again or we'll ban you"
NärCon is such a fucking mess lmao it's run by pedo clowns
No. 2133792
>>2128507>"Well, we don't even like the fandoms but we have to eat!" get a fucking job thenThis seems to be a more common opinion here, and I agree. It's a hot button topic in the local con scene meanwhile, like how dare you think it's unsustainable to rely on teenagers in fandoms and fellow artists to buy my fotm merch I'm not passionate about for sustainable income!
>>2128534My friend who has been in a lot of gacha zines have a 50/50 experience ratio on getting burned.
No. 2133986
>>2133140nta but was it that beach quiz game? iirc for context, they filmed the fmv sections during a spring break event and as a "reward" for getting questions right some girls will flash their boobs.
>>2133792not saying a lot aren't just whining, but it's a chicken and egg situation is it not? the reasons JP events thrive with books etc. is because it's dirt cheap to get a booth at most events and the events are usually just for the artists and some cosplayers here and there. Same goes for printing the books, even outside of them not having much if any profit margin, the risks are also lower in losing money outright because you don't need to spend hundreds to get anything but the shittiest quality 30 page book together.
No. 2134045
>>2133792This shit is so annoying. When normie artists at like farmer's/flea markets and festivals sell their shit at high prices and say they have to pay bills I'm forgiving about it because it's clearly what they're passionate about and there's clear skill and experience put into the pieces. On top of them usually having a day job and selling the pieces that high to break even or buy more supplies to continue their art on top of having jobs. When it's at a con I'm just livid because if it isn't soulless fotm that just feels one step away from Hot Topic in terms of trend chasing. It's someone selling niche weirdo porn in the middle of the day with kids around, or artist's who are delulu about their skill level/style being appealing to the point of cultivating an income. idk why AA artists never consider they may have to keep a day job.
>>2133986Thanks
nonnie. Now I'm imaginning a Comiket populated by annoying Artist's who draw souless fotm and pronoun pins and it is terrible. kek
That being said a AA like the one Emrichu went to seems really cool. I wish the one's at con's could get back to this energy but doesn't seem doable.
No. 2134315
>>2134304I don't think I have a lot of prints in total, some of them are the size of postcards which I like because I put them in a photo album recently, and others are bigger. I got rid of the only two big prints/posters I bought because they got damaged when moving from one place to another at some point. I'm not putting anything on my walls anymore, I just put all my prints in binders or big envelops until I get something with the right size.
>I personally like the idea of small prints, sized like baseball cards, that could fit into pre-existing pocket binders to collect like a coffee table book, but I've never seen something like this.I'd love things like that too but I've never seen anything like this in a con either. I have official cards like this from events like collab cafes or exhibitions for manga, anime or video games in Japan, they're random cards that you buy during the event and you can trade with others if you want one card that you didn't get, or if you have the same card twice. I wonder if that could work in the West, I assume most people who buy prints want to put them on their walls? And randomized physical merchs wouldn't work in general here I assume.
No. 2134332
>>2134315For this to take off you need a sufficient amount of artists to start selling this kind of merch all around the same time. Standardized sizes so the prints can fit into standard pocket binders. So I could see this taking off if a group of friends who were working a con collaborated to sell mini-prints so would be buyers could see that they'd have options to buy from. You could maybe sell an 'aesthetic' binder as well so people know how they are supposed to organize and display the print cards. And once they've started filling in the organizer they will want to completely fill it.
Just an idea. I like the idea of prints I just cant justify buying them when I have so little wall space.
No. 2134375
File: 1723578080598.jpg (54.5 KB, 500x500, santino-sacro-cuore-di-gesu-10…)
>>2134304I considered the ideas of doing "photocards" because they're popoular anyway and zoomers put those bitches in those "i love my girlfriend" toploaders and since I'm from a latin based country (not latino as in south america, ex latin countries) and we have this weird saint cards culture that usually go in your wallet or in little altars in our house, I think that it could be seen as fun but also convenient for storage space. Ngl I would buy a pretty card of my husbando to keep in my wallet/keychain for motivation.
No. 2136924
File: 1723712446155.png (156.21 KB, 710x803, narcmod.png)
>>2128075Update to this since it mostly moved to the närcon thread, but a 35 year old moid mod named "svalan" (real name is thomas dynesius-svanberg) decided go apeshit on users and made threats about banning them for breaking non-existing rules that he made up. When rightfully called out he banned those users to silence them, he even admitted to doing it in public and then taunted people into silence. Svalan is also dating a 21 year old girl who started working at närcon at age 15 so that's likely when they first met, meaning he's likely a pedo. Other närcon mods saw when he went on his power trip banning-spree and did or said nothing at all so they're likely apeshit crazy too. Picrel from the närcon thread
No. 2136966
>>2136924Also the loli body pillow apparently came from a vender he was overseeing I believe? C-husset or something. Dude is so
sus how tf is he allowed to be around kids unsupervised???
No. 2139679
File: 1723854478749.jpg (115.27 KB, 736x736, d71caf3b604556fde480a232a6277c…)
I hate that I actually love to create and do my stuff, getting my art known around here and there and I also got serious job deals with that as a cartoonist for books and events but I hate the current "community". Everytime I log up into facebook in which I organize work and I have my artist alley neighbours there's always the argument of the day, the cancellation of a person of a day, the witch hunt for no-no merch of the day (I saw someone blasting someone else for using the outdated lesbian flag instead of the orange one), the personal drama of the day, the burn out of the day, the fotm fandom drama of the day…. I think zoomers are too focused on the community aspect than the actual selling aspect and almost all of them sell only to their friends and their art struggles to get out there because they don't bother to know their costumers. They only care about fotm fanarts and drama so much that they also don't develop a seller attitude, that's why most of them claim autism but in reality they never actually sat down and thought about a neutral-friendly approach to make people interested and then cry if at the end of the day they got no sales like bitch! Raise your eyes from your yaoi filled ipad while you're at the booth! And yes, the burnout is real, I saw people going after Genshin the second a new character was out and then horribly quitting after a year or two, because the stress was too much and the money was getting less and less. I wish they could stop thinking like their fanart is a rare and important and someone is frothing to buy it and hyping up mid shit and shift their focus on actually building their brand, I personally think that the only living way of being a merch artist is the one where you actually work under a company for merch, otherwise it's a constant stress from chasing the latest and hottest trends and most importantly, idk if I'm getting older but the more I go at AAs at con I don't recognize artists, I recognize only fandoms, I wish I could say this on a post without getting jumped at but also as a costumer of AAs, I rarely remember artists or names and that's bad because ofc if you search up the "kawaii artist" or the "hazbin artist" there are like a gazillion out there. People should brand themselves, not be a brand slave like sure, you do you, but you need to your eyecatcher, your touch somewhere…
No. 2140020
>>2139735Yes, the best people I know are artists who aren't regulars, that do 2-3 cons per year, drop their merch and fuck off. Being relaxed also helps selling. Doing cons it's s a fun side job and should never be someone's main income (unless someone has no bills and rent, in that case good for you), because youngsters love to act out this noble work ethic of getting paid for your time, which is right, but watching anime or playing games, or watching recaps, drawing in character/in fandom jokes merch (I remember the Aoba cake, I was there….), designing the merch, supervising the manufacturing and then opening preorders it's all unpaid time, hell, it's even so little money even if the tables were free at cons. It's like
>Make merch of fandom >Watch a 12/24 anime season >Keep up with popular characters>Open preorders, lets say that they are 500$ not counting manifacturing>Con table is 300$, plus hotel plus food plus living for 3 days>Even if someone sells 1k at con it's, counting all the expenses, 700$>You're supposed to to live out of those 700$ to the next conIt's awful and it's not for everyone. Either you become a keychain/print machine, you have to have a backup plan but of course no one considers that, they also believe that every piece they will do it's gonna sell and they end up with dead fandom merch… sometimes I see outlet/sale boxes being bigger than the rest of the fresh stock….
No. 2140075
File: 1723884214410.jpg (198.44 KB, 768x960, 1000002492.jpg)
>>2139679Branding helps a lot but it makes me kek when everyones just the kawaii pink anime artist or the self deprecating relatable doodle artist.
>>2140020You're correct about the masochism some younger creators have about struggling in conventions. And I know of a few artists that went the keychain of EVERY anime character route and her art is so mid.
No. 2140078
>>2139679While those people can be annoying it's great for us who are more mature in our branding and acting because it gives us an advantage when they don't do the same.
I rarely buy fanart unless it's from my long time favorite media, and even then it has to be great and unique. I really wish more people would make their own thing rather than chase trends. If you only have genshin shit I have no idea who you are as a person (other than a weeb who plays a lame gatcha game) and I won't ever remember you.
No. 2141095
>>2140864hard agree on the last two,
nonnie. the cutesy cat memes about getting a sweet treat or no talk me etc are just so grating at this point. the mental health ones also kinda extend to pride merch beyond lgb because people make flags for damn near everything nowadays and in order to not be shelved as a bigot they cater to every tranny/genderspecial's whims
No. 2141593
>>2140258>That art is so uglyI honestly don't mind "ugly" or imperfect art if it's clear it comes from passion and they still have a unique view. The shit you posted is just so soulless.
Idk if you nonas feel the same, but I've noticed the more franchises/areas an artist sells art of the less I care. For example if all they sell is Sailor Moon and magical girl anime art then I can tell it's likely a true passion of theirs. It gives me an inside to them as a person and I know if I support them they'll produce more sailor moon art in the future.
If they sell characters of every currently popular anime I know they're just a shallow fan and I lose all interest even if the art is really good. It ends up feeling like a corporation. Even if I personally love something currently popular like jujutsu kaisen (I've literally never seen the show lol) and I want to support jjk artists I know these people will have stopped drawing and selling it within a year or two when the next show is popular. So there's no point in supporting them for me.
No. 2141605
>>2140864>AAnonnies, what are currrent merch trends that you dislike? >Broken holoI agree with this one. I don't like holo/glitter merch in general as it nearly always just makes the art harder to see. I only like it if it's thematically suitable for the art.
>nsfw artUnless it's a nsfw market, don't even bring that shit. Don't even put up "borderline" art, it's still gross. I refuse to buy from anyone who sells any type of coomer art in public. I don't want to know what your personal sexual preferences and fetishes are and if you force them upon me I will never support you, it's as simple as that. It really feels like the equivalent a stranger coming up to you saying "hi I'm turned on by bdsm and fat men in drag" like ew fuck off this is sexual harassment.
>Mental health awarenessJesus christ do I agree with this one. I have as much autism as your average farmer kek but I wouldn't be caught dead in that shit. Actually I probably would get caught dead if I wore it as it would literally put a target on me that tells predators I'm an easy
victim.
>Trans flag in neutral objectThere are SO much cute art ruined by the artist not believing in the art itself so they instead force in pride flags. It's already so hard to find "neutral" art that isn't fanart! I think it would be cute to have a little potion bottle or a cute teacup, but they ALWAYS come in troon and pride flag colors only. I do not support your evil cult pandering.
No. 2146995
File: 1724230762162.jpg (101.29 KB, 736x736, soulless-pins.jpg)
Nonas where's your line of when NOT to buy from someone?
For me it's like
>>2141605 said when there's an abundance of trans flag/pronoun art like picrel. It feels so soulless and like they don't care about art, they just want to virtue signal. And it also makes me feel bad because older people (frankly most normal people) like my mom loves art and art markets so she might want to buy what she thinks is a cute flower pot pin… only for it to be a weird-sexuality flag colors artwork that she doesn't know about so she's unknowingly walking around signalling she's a genderqueer polysexual. Same with little kids who don't know either. It's fucked up to "trick" people into buying sexual symbols so I don't want to support anyone who sells it.
No. 2147005
File: 1724233275907.jpg (91.17 KB, 1140x641, flags.jpg)
>>2146996it's the genderqueer flag apparently
No. 2147020
File: 1724234423810.jpg (245.9 KB, 1024x768, IMG_7795.jpg)
>>2147005Either genderists have no clue about women's history or they want to erase feminist legacy.
No. 2147030
>>2146995I don't think it's "tricking LITTLE CHILDREN into buying SEXUAL DEBAUCHERY" because conflating sexuality with perversion and child grooming is actual conservatoid fearmongering and let's be real their clientele is most likely people old enough to know what these symbols are. But I
Do think that they're soulless cash grabs with no real goodwill and thought behind them and they're kind of kitschy mass produced slop generative AI would produce. I've seen so many artists do these "cute animals next to identity flags" that I have to wonder if they're at all embarrassed to peddle something so lacking of value, but then again the people making these tend to lack artistic integrity to some degree and can be best described as merchants, not artists.
No. 2147040
>>2140864I have yet to see an article that actually looks nice with broken holo, especially on charms it looks horrible because you can barely make out the art underneath. You can get away with it with bigger prints, but anything smaller is ruined by it.
>Cutesy creature paired with 2013-2017 humor>I'm tired of seeing kawaii cats with "No bitches" or "Talk shit get hit" over themI hate this shit more than any generic FOTM merch. People produce badges of a flash in the pan meme from a year ago because it took them 6 months to get over procrastination phase to actually draw it and then they ordered a stock of like 200 they can't get rid of now. I've seen some creative takes on online memes but they're usually derivative to some degree, not just a cute cat saying "no bitches?".
No. 2147041
>>2147030>I don't think it's "tricking LITTLE CHILDREN into buying SEXUAL DEBAUCHERY" because conflating sexuality with perversion and child grooming is actual conservatoid fearmongering It's ridiculous to think being against woke ideology is somehow "conservatoid fearmongering".
It's not about "reee homosexuals are ebil, praise jesus" it's that they're selling a harmful ideology mostly to 10-20 year olds when that ideology is homophobic, literally cutting up and castrating children and mentally ill people and erasing women's and children's rights - quite literally for the benefit of sexually deviant men. You're the one who should stop conflating gay and queer.
If a pedo sees 2 kids, only one is wearing a pansexual pin, which one do you think is the easier
victim? Which one is signalling they're in the know and have thought a lot about sexuality and therefore sex, that they're already comfortable talking about and signalling out their own sexuality? Which one can be easily talked into "age is just a number, just like love is about the person and not about the little bit between their legs"? Which one gives the pedo a convenient opening segue to talk to the kid about their own sexuality?
No. 2147128
File: 1724244029654.jpg (209.12 KB, 570x879, 1000006863.jpg)
I've just ordered a bunch of stuff to start DIYing my clothes because the styles I like are saturated with overpriced garbage. I'm thinking of turning it into a side hustle maybe.
>>2140864> Mental health awarenessMost of this is on par with the "hang in there" kitten posters, OR it's literally just the menhera aesthetic with a pretense of self awareness/education. I don't even care if they think stuff like picrel is cute or whatever, but the fact it's usually made by smug PC types who think they're doing "activism" makes me kek.
No. 2147271
>>2146995The thing is, this crap is guaranteed to sell. Anything gender or mento helf related attracts gendie customers, who have notoriously poor impulse control, and it's a way for the more online artists to avoid cancellation for whatever hot topic is circulating Twitter these days. I hate them with a passion, but there's a reason they're everywhere. Genuinely cannot wait for this shit to die out and for AAs to go back to being places to buy cute, fun and creative art that doesn't have social justice or politics shoehorned in.
>>2147128Sounds fun, what did you get? If you want to do a clothing side hustle my advice is to not do that, you're going to be bombarded by idiots asking why you charge more than Shein and even bigger idiots demanding that you make them a size XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXL tent and charge the same as you would for a normal outfit. Neither set of idiots will actually buy anything from you but they will be mad at you anyway.
Accessories, plushies and doll clothes do sell, though.
No. 2148808
File: 1724350689238.jpg (1.06 MB, 1017x1879, Batshitcrazy.jpg)
My friend and I had a good laugh over these batshit crazy pins being sold next to pronoun pins, very on the nose
No. 2155511
>>2155476Vograce fucked my pins up at one point. They sent replacements for the pins tho, so that was dope.
PawPrint's basic acrylics have relief markings, which is really cool and makes up for the lack of options. They also sent people extras that 'went wrong', so they can be made into cheaper, B-grade charms.
No. 2157011
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In our country our artist alley taxes are used to pay porn actors, scammers and ai "artists" to come, what's the situation in your cons? I want to end it all, personally.
No. 2157027
File: 1724796115707.webp (80.3 KB, 1080x1080, wanna-marchi-firenze-comics-os…)
>>2157017personal theory: since our cons are stagnant because all the booths are selling aliexpress crap and people stopped coming for a while, the only demographic of cons were only fans cosplayers and their drooling "fans" so they started inviting porn actors to capitalize on the phenomenon. Worry not, there are also scammers, search up this lovely person's name, it was a known scammers of the 90s who also got jail time and she's in con "for the lulz xD", I'm tired.
No. 2157425
File: 1724824419386.jpg (56.93 KB, 400x329, Julius declares his verdict.jp…)
>>2157011the italian scene at big cons is so sad, I got a table at Luccacomics once and the organization was soooo bad, not to talk of Romics eugh. Then the small con at my region was free, the tables were cheap, gave us snacks and water for free and had a beautiful spot that wasn't a warehouse for once. You don't make big cash but you save up so much on headaches
No. 2157614
>>2155476I used pawprint once because people told me buying from within the EU would be cheaper, but I'm honestly not sure it was cheaper in the end with all the shipping added.
I try to use local places (in my country) for all smaller prints, they're very hit or miss. Some pack their stuff so cheaply the package gets here looking like it's been hit by a truck…
The problem for me with buying locally instead of like China is typically that they refuse to sell anything less than 500-1000 items per order. If someone in my country opened up a shop for small orders for typical con items like charms etc they'd make bank but the people who work with it don't even realize the market exists
No. 2157623
>>2157431The most obvious tip that 90% of my local cons ignores: Look nice!
Dress nicely and wear makeup. Doesn't matter if you usually don't wear it, still wear it while you're selling. You wouldn't believe (actually you probably would) how many ugly stinky troony crotch goblins sell at artist alleys and they don't get how off-putting they look.
Should also be obvious but apparently isn't to dress in a way that matches your brand. You wanna look like the artist who draws their passion, not like a salesman standing in for the real artist. If you draw dark tattoo inspired stuff don't dress like a sweet lolita, and if you draw pastel kawaii stuff don't dress like you're a emo metalhead in all black. It doesn't have to be a costume or be fancy, just try to match the tone of your art.
Only consider wearing a cosplay if the con is very cosplay heavy and it's relevant to the brand, regular people can get scared if you're not a "normal person".
No. 2157742
>>2157698When I say wear makeup I'm not saying "look like an e-thot" I'm saying ALL people do judge you based on looks whether you like it or not, so you better make an effort. Which, as I also said, people where I live do not so they look visibly filthy and it absolutely puts people off to have a greasy sweaty person touch the wares they want to buy. It's not new knowledge that people prefer good looking people, even subconsciously. But feel free to look sweaty if you want.
A sweet lolita selling gothic items may not be unusual especially because gothic is literally also a lolia style, but looking like that will attract fellow lolitas and potentially put off people who aren't into lolita styles. So if her art is actually mostly violent depictions of cute animals getting slaughtered the right crowd will struggle to find her while the lolita people looking for lolita art are put off and won't buy. Would you buy apples from a fisherman? Maybe, but you'd be expecting fish.
It's really just super basic sales knowledge that any and every store uses, but con artists for some reason think they're above such "superficial" things. That surely their customers are all pure hearted and good people who wouldn't be so shallow as to judge their appearance. But they are just people.
No. 2157807
File: 1724863414141.webp (67.83 KB, 800x800, Sf8920d23797d4732950eadded132d…)
>>2157431>Don't stand next to your booth/space. Standing up intimidates people and makes you look like a leaflet girl/boy and people HATE that. Stand behind your table and just greet or tell people that if they need you, they can ask. Talk again only if they ask something. The majority of con people are autistic/have hard time with socializing and that can make them uncomfortable.>Put your business card first thing on the table or eye levelAnd print at least 100/day of those motherfuckers, they go away/fly/fall down etc.
>Get a cute mirror, decorate it with stickers or plushies, put in on the booth.Capitalize on those instagirlies/cosplayers that want cute selfies
>Get a bluetooth speaker, put some instrumental, cutesy or music that matches your vibe in a very low volume, like some "background"Creates a nice atmosphere and makes people that recognize that tune turn around if close enough, it also improves your mood
>Get a load of water/drinksYou can deal with hunger more or less, you cannot with thirst and you will sweat a lot anyway. If you fancy it, a couple of energy drinks
>Wear a particular, small, attention catching piece of clothingMine is picrel, looks cute, attracts attention, makes people look at you without locking on eye contact.
>Build your booth as if it's some sort of themed store in videogamesThis is a bit tricky to explain but do you know in videogames that you can get a hint about what a store sells by aesthetic/vibe? This is kinda obvious but you sell cutesy stuff? Pastel colors and round lines. You sell fantasy stuff? Wood colors, beiges and greens, some clear and colorful decorations like suncatchers to recall potions or some shit
You sell goth stuff? Long drapes, roses, wisterias, ofc black runners, dye your displays etc etc
And match the aesthetic of the booth, like think about being a pokemon gym leader, that always gives out their "type".
These are not absolute, just my opinion, but I saw that more or less this stuff works
No. 2157861
File: 1724866711379.jpg (125.33 KB, 736x682, 0072657c73610205a0a1161bce7116…)
>>2157774Nta but you sound gross if "look nice and shower" sounds like having a "superiority complex" to you. I also avoid buying from obvious smelly tifs who are rampant at my local conventions and art markets, and it kinda creeps me out to see males do kawaii art so I avoid them too
>>2157807>>Get a bluetooth speaker, put some instrumental, cutesy or music that matches your vibe in a very low volume, like some "background"I think this would be difficult at most cons where your table is pretty small and the volume gets loud from so many people talking at the same time? At least the cons I go too feel very cramped
>Build your booth as if it's some sort of themed store in videogamesI do this and I find it has helped A LOT, it really attracts people if you have a cohesive theme both for the booth and how you dress up. Using picrel as an example even tho it looks like a furfag, it was just the first example that actually looked like a literal game shop kek
No. 2158693
>>2157742Not everyone has oily skin and acne like you do
nonnie. Maybe if you stopped caking your face in makeup your skin wouldn't react by producing excess oil.
No. 2158728
Can you please stop with the makeup sperg
It was obvious that makeup wasn't intended as e-thot makeup but looking clean/fun paired up with the aesthetic of the booth, of course people can do skin care but there are a lot of people who go to cons with heavy dark circles and look beaten, an average con artist doesn't have that much time for 10 steps glass skin skincare holy shit and people can also get heat/cold rashes from sensitive skin. Personally I wear graphic fun liner and gems under my eyes to match my booth of the day, that's also makeup but no one is forcing no one, only a retard would take stuff written on the internet as a mandatory step
>>2157861Yes the bt speaker in loud/closed cons is useless but in open cons and there are a lot where I leave, it works but it has to be like "Oh this is the tune of your shop!" you don't have to blast it, just something you hear in the background
>>2157865Also this. Gachas work wonders. Everything that goes out the vendor experience.
No. 2158761
>>2158746nta, I'm just tired of the derailing because I want to talk about con stuff. You sound like a kid, move the fuck on if you don't like a post, retard.
And people judging you at a con is a thing and image, in general, is everything to a vendor a nd some powder to reduce shininess is a staple in cons even for pictures. Don't post if you only cherrypick parts of a bigger topic.
Btw it's saddening how the current AA scene is filled with tifs and I mean, filled, to the very brim. Random merchant girls who do pronoun pins/pride stuff is a mere cashgrab and can you blame them? But tifs make the cons so uncomfortable. They also bring those weirdly specific/out of character icky merch about the same old men yaoi or twink jokes and their booths attract only other tifs and they don't know where to stop with sexual jokes or talk because of course their personality point is something about sex and it reminds me of late 2000s fujos who walked around with the yaoi paddle but at least they knew, more or less, how to act, tifs play on the inclusivity card to be excused for being weird and creepy at cons. Why can't I draw artistic nudity (I usually draw or make merch of fantasy creatures like of course they're gonna be topless) because of muh kids where the con isn't restricted but tifs can draw cocks - and even worse, cutesy cocks - and get no shit? I don't want to be next to a tif drawing leaking cocks on a lollipop stick to joke with other gay bois, this needs to be regulated
No. 2158763
>>2158728Seconding this, I really don't get why anons are sperging out over "look nice". But I think it proves why the advice was needed when the response has been "ew no makeup bad!!!" from anons who I assume sell stuff themselves…
>>2158746>You're the only one sperging anonI'm another anon than OP so there's at least 2 of us, not everyone thinks you need to be a heckin
valid makeup-hating radfem just because we're on lc. The person who said makeup is stupid is the one who said she doesn't want it literally because she gets too sweaty.
>>2157623>You wouldn't believe (actually you probably would) how many ugly stinky troony crotch goblins sell at artist alleys and they don't get how off-putting they look.This was the type of people OP anon was dissing, if you feel hit by that description… we can't help you, but you do you.
No. 2158764
>>2158763Lmfao just
wash your face retard
(infighting) No. 2158903
>>2157865Absolutely do this! Anything that creates an experience creates sales. The more you lean into it, the more money you'll make.
>>2158761TIFs flock to cons because they can't make heckin' dick jokes in normal places. There's nothing you can do about it except remain polite and professional. And report them to staff, if you can find anyone who isn't a gendie who thinks that dicks are perfectly acceptable in public.
No. 2162813
>>2159330bold of you to imply that con artists wear e-thot instabaddie level of makeup and don't go crazy with colors, graphic eyeliners etc.
Honestly if a vendor matches the aesthetic of her booth with makeup I tend to stare at her (I dont' buy from moids) and her booth more, it works as a selling tactic.
No. 2162924
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Found this in the wild, next to the pride pins, I absolutely hate when fanmerch gets mixed with performative activism because it's gonna look so awkward when there's the new and fresh big world conflict and it will get trashed.
I know that I also contribute to the pollution by making acrylic charms but I want to make them as versatile and plain as possible (without in fandom jokes) so they're gonna last more than your average struggle of the month
No. 2181013
>>2180917I'm quitting after next year because of these invaders, and I've been doing artist alley for longer than I care to admit, I feel you.
Answering your actual question, vtubers are pretty much here to stay, hololive being the most reliable sellers, for anime checking the top shows of a given season on myanimelist with 100k+ followers is also pretty guaranteed. If you know that your target conventions have older audiences then you can get away with more nostalgic shows, and shows that are on bigger streaming platforms (e.g. netflix) will also have more heat.
The difficult thing to predict now is how much hype carries over from the summer con peak into the remainder of the year/upcoming year.
No. 2181124
>>2180917I only do my favorite series out of love and personal art so I don't know what actually sells. I assume the most popular anime of the season sells, but unless you sell out you'll be stuck with leftovers once the hype has died down. I'm not planning on going full time for selling art at cons so I don't bother with chasing the popular shows, to me it's not worth the extra money to draw something I don't care about. In that case I'd take commissions instead.
One tip for you though is to have a little mascot of a popular character as decor. Try to find something that matches the core of your own art, if your style is close to "generic anime" then you could get a Hatsune Miku plush or figurine to draw in attention, if you make kawaii animals maybe a Hello Kitty toy. It can have the same effect as selling popular character art to draw in customers for your personal art.
No. 2182367
>>2181013People often talk about tims ruining hobbies and jobs but also tifs are very hard to deal with.
They're not obnoxious as tims but tifs will waddle to you, leave a business card and what can you do? Smile while thinking that you have a
victim in front of your eyes. Then you walk to their booth and they have some technique but the mutilation scars are there and then you realize than it's not about creativity at all but virtue signaling and circlejerking, hell, an angsty early 2000s on deviantart with linkin park lyrics was far more creative than them. Once I decided to play with them: in our country and language, neutral pronouns don't exist, so I said, in the group chat, to use any pronouns, they don't matter to me.
They all called me "she/her" and no, I'm not that feminine and no, they didn't see me irl before, confirming in their head that yes, gender is not how you feel but how you are.
I hate this, all of this. I started cons in 2011, slowly made my way up with my art, love for fandoms, love for media and entertaining only to be asked why I didn't partecipate in zines for Gaza and charity zines for trans care, but fuck women shelters and animal shelters. They said that as a senior, I should be aware that art has always been political.
No, the fuck? And how is me making gaza or pride flags merch helping, if neither me as a seller and you as a buyer only display those? Awareness? People damn know and come to cons to engage in hobbies, not to have that shit leaking in hobbies, like
>>2162924 , what the fuck is that.
The problem with zoomers and tifs is that they use media and mold it into their interests when in reality it's the other way around, mostly fueled by autism and bad understanding about how media works. The only thing that's different from activism booths and artist alley booths rigth now are the anime characters. Bleak. If I was the creator of a popular piece of media and zoomers were making pride or activism merch of it I will say "yeah why not doing some volunteering and actually help instead of capitalizing on struggles and autism you dumb bitches". It only makes them feel good. It doesn't serve a purpose to anyone.
No. 2188164
File: 1727725846690.png (1.29 MB, 792x791, Screenshot_2.png)
>>2187763There is no "worst real woke" merch because it's either pride shit or troon shit like "Hit a
Terf", just search
terf/swerf on etsy
No. 2191180
>>2187763There are lots of accusations that the troons making the really vile shit are akshually terfs who want to make the pr widdle troons look bad. Make sure you pick merch from a shop that has a lot of troon pride stuff as well, and ideally a photo of the seller.
As well as looking for the 'punch a
terf' shit like
>>2188164 said, look for JKR ones, letting men into rape shelters, anything like that.
No. 2191734
>>2191722>"i dont want to overwhelm my manu or be responsible if your products dont come out like mine" Is a retarded mindset. Everyone knows you're not personally responsible for the manufacturers work, and adding "your experience could be different than mine due to xyz" allows event the idiots to have been warned. People who sink money into making that big of an investment to get a manufacturer aren't going to be spoiled teenagers who reee at you, they'll be adults.
Wtf does "overwhelm" them even mean? Boohoo they got so many clients they have to pick and choose whose money to take, might even lead to them getting to expand and develop their business, such horror, poor manus!
Also it's like… calm down Karen you're not a Kardashian, people won't rush in millions to buy just because a no-name like you mentioned it. But these people are scared that:
>manu will be too busy to take on their jobs anymore (even though they'd usually favour returning clients)>other people will get access the manu and become their competitor in sales for the same item (even though just because you both make for example a plush doesn't mean your audience is the same or overlap at all)>the more people who can make X product easily, the less novel your X item is to sell (as if plushies, pins, toys and bags and everything else isn't already literally mass-produced everywhere)>people will find out your specific manu is morally bad and has underpaid child workers and such (if you knew that yourself it's sus that you chose to work with them so that's on you)And to quote what you said anon
>"I've sunk thousands of dollars and months of production time into this, so you should too"They don't want to be the only one to have wasted time and money. But you can't really pretend you want to help people AND also gatekeep your manufacturer under false pretences. They very much want the appearance of being helpful and "a good person" but they don't actually want to see anyone else succeed, that's the problem. You can't pretend to help AND gatekeep important "secrets". They're banking on no one actually following their advice.
No. 2192035
>>2191722As someone who once did some research into it, several influencers like tiktokers and youtubers will literally straight up tell you they're not telling you their manu because they want you to also suffer and lose money the way they did. They'll excuse it with "I think it's part of the process" or "you really have to go through it to learn" like bitch excuse me if I wanted to learn the hard money-wasting way I wouldn't be looking for advice from someone who has already been through it.
Obviously it's one thing to not answer when asked about it, that's fine and people are not entitled to you teaching them something on their whims. But influencers who take the time to make videos and pose themselves as helpful ans still gatekeep are dumbasses. I've even seen videos of youtubers who start out by proudly saying that unlike other youtubers they won't gatekeep their manu… and in the same video they still refuse to say who they work with. They're still gatekeeping lmao it's so ridiculous
>>2191818>That's why I say that modern artist alleys are shit, there are barely creative people there, it's all insecure little shits that want to do their "dream job" without actually getting invested They really are insecure. If they believed in their own ability and designs they wouldn't be gatekeeping in the first place. I personally think there's never enough art, and it never gets old to support artists. Just because I bought a plush from artist 1 doesn't mean I won't also buy a plush from artist 2. And it's not like they're gonna release on the same exact date and look exactly the same… or perhaps that IS the issue. That they all make the same shitty fanart devoid of any creativity and they know that's what everyone else makes too.
No. 2192352
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>picrel for illustration
To anyone who did a stamp rally at your cons, how many prizes did you give away? I’m hosting one this year and trying to figure out how many prizes to prepare.
No. 2192358
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Anyone else really bothered when an artist says how bad they’re doing when they’re trying to sell their art? Like “buy this and maybe I can afford rent this month” or even “a single commission will let me buy something other than ramen” or pity partying stuff like that. I bought a sketch commission just because I felt bad for them, but I won’t be doing that again.
No. 2192668
>>2192352Prepare as many prizes as you can, with the knowledge that you're going to sell the remainders off separately at a later date. It's always better to have extra prizes on hand than to run out and deal with screaming shitfits from 13 year olds. I normally give away blind bag items, or a whole blind bag, as prizes, so it's easy to sell on the remaining prizes without customers finding out and getting mad that they're paying for items that you were giving away months ago at a con in a country they don't live in and have never visited.
>>2192358I don't feel bad because we're in a global recession and nobody has money. Internet artists were never a particularly rich niche to begin with and I don't see anything wrong with opening comms to make enough money to pay bills, it's better than spamming paypal links or guilting strangers into donating to a gofundme.
It's different when it's in person like your picrel. That's incredibly offputting and manipulative. I stay away from anyone who does that at a con. 9 times out of 10 their art is terrible too, which does sort of explain why they can't pay rent with the money they make from cons.
No. 2193184
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>>2192662>picrel in the theme to the fandom that the artist draws and sellsPromotion/group merch and reduced price (like 1 for 8$, three for 24$) OR Freebies are key! Stickers or small prints or anything that didn't sold at all at previous conventions for example. Everyone loves free/on sale stuff, and it gives them a reason to stop by without feeling like they’re on the hook to buy. Go for cute, eye-catching designs or popular characters (or niches ones, 100% that niche fandoms get sold fast). Grab their attention, and they’ll likely browse more. (TIP ! Really helpful when people just grab your business card and leave without staying)
Thanks to this, there will be a small crowd in front of you, and people LOVES to know what do you sell when they see a a crowd = good quality, it worked for me !
Interactive stuff is where it’s at. Set up a small game or a “spin-the-wheel” for a chance to snag some prizes. While they’re playing, you can chat them up about your work without being pushy.
If you have your iPad or some paper and pencils, work live at your booth, because I noticed that people dig seeing the creation processt seeing u busy lol) it’s a nice convo starter
Also, consider cosplaying or wearing something themed (people complimented my outfit, i was just wearing a cat beanie and an anime t-shirt and jeans kek, be outstanding or not too much, depends on you nona) Some con artists (sometimes) dress up as a character related to their art—it’ll totally attract attention and make the booth pop in the AA.
And don’t skimp on the booth display. Keep it colorful/color harmonised/outstanding and organized, but not cluttered. Use vertical space to make your art stand out. A cute setup can make a huge difference!
No. 2193449
>>2192358I would never buy over emotional blackmail or a "cute/funny" message. If someone is honest and posts "taking more commissions to pay for my rent/new costs, I appreciate all your support" I'll consider it. Though I have to admit, when someone posts that they need money it sounds a bit like "I can't handle my finances and not a stable adult" and it makes me less interested in them as an artist I want to support as they're "failing" already.
If it's at a con, then no. If you have the luxury to go to a big convention and pay your way in I'm not giving you charity money. I will support the artists I like. I'll give my charity money to the homeless beggar outside instead.
No. 2193461
>>2193184Just want to add that you shouldn't have too many reduced price items. It makes it look like you couldn't sell anything and are desperate to get rid of them, and that you will just discount everything that is full-priced soon anyway so there's no point in buying anything now.
Imo deals are much better than reduced price. "3 for the price of 2" is a good deal, while "50% off" means it's an old unwanted item. You don't want to advertise that you've got unwanted items you couldn't sell at a full price.
No. 2194437
>>2192662Amazon sells small gacha and claw machines that are worth their weight in gold. Make sure that everyone who plays gets a prize, not really an issue for gachas but you might need to adjust the items in claw machines. Make sure the customers know exactly what they might get to avoid any unpleasantness. I like to add a couple of stickers to each capsule as well as a freebie. If you can, get gold or silver capsules and give them an extra freebie as a reward. You can put old unsold merch in there, b-grade stuff, anything you're trying to get rid of.
If gambling laws allow it, have a raffle! Again, make sure everyone wins something. Write the prizes on the paper slips and let the customer choose what they want from the prize category, or have a ton of little blind bags ready to hand out at random.
And decorate your booth! Don't clutter it with a million little bits of decoration, you want a few large pieces that customers can see from a distance, like a canopy.
No. 2194464
I seriously despise artist alley grifters who create merch of the FotM to sell as cheap charms and stickers with absolutely no investment in the actual series. It's their callousness to exploit something they didn't even create themselves as just a paycheck that really strikes a nerve and I really have to hold myself back from a-logging whenever someone asks what series to make merch of just to make a quick buck or farm for more followers on social media. Even if they're making something I'm a fan of, I'm not giving them my money.
>>2193578That's exactly because nobody is a fan of the stuff they draw so they're only doing what everyone else is doing. The money isn't even that good, it just barely covers the costs (including hotels, traveling etc.), it's mainly to lure people into following you by dangling popular things in front of their faces.
No. 2194700
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>>2125520For anyone using Etsy, do you need a business number to sell? I want to sell 5 or 6 sticker designs, but I’m a non-professional artist (just a regular person with a non-art job)
No. 2195918
>>2195841Not really a story but one of the few cons I went to was an anime con in HS.
>>All the scrotes/neckbeards whining loudly about how the AA is trash this year and anime cons should be anime only and that only the Dealer's Hall has good shit.>>Go to the AA. Most artists are selling fanart of Batman. Specifically the grown up robins and batfamily and some marvel properties.>>I'm on a Jason Todd kick so I'm thrilled. >>Realize all the art even the anime art is by women with women in mind and kinda husbando centric and the scrotes were whining because no hot waifu coomer fanart. I'm still laughing about this to this day.
No. 2196170
>>2195841Let's start by saying that a lot of artist alley artists are sheltered tifs with zero clue about what's acceptable in public and it makes sense for them to be that way since to survive on merch you have to be a million follower account and actually be a good vendor, so they don't bother to learn about how to actually act in AAs. I don't have
the cringy thing to tell you about but imagine a lot of tifs doing nsfw shit but being painfully shy irl and struggle to explain what they are selling then acting like coomers when they see the FotM yaoi-able cosplay walking in front of them. They believe they live in some sort of bubble where everyone engages in their weird fetish/roleplay but since they lack the aggression of moids it comes off as 12yo-reading-about-sex-on-teen-magazine vibes and it's weird as fuck when they're 20+.
Keep in mind I'm a younger millennial/elder zoomer (mid '90s) and this type of cringe usually got slapped out of you when you were 14-15, in these latest years now everything is bullying and rude and it won't be a problem if they wouldn't fill the AAs with their fetish content, top scars included and instead of getting some awareness, when the con closes, they usually cry that that type of merch doesn't sell so it's always cringy when I'm about to put my stand and stock back in my suitcases and hear them cry about the leftovers because what the fuck, did you expect your weird fetish in fandom joke to sell numbers? Weird, girl.
My wholesome story is about a girl who silently walked over my booth around 4-5 times with a strange expression, a very judgy one if I could explain it that way and then when I was about to close down, she ran to me saying "I'm glad I got you in time! Sorry for not stopping before, my lenses were stinging my eyes and I had to keep them for pictures, are you the artist who drew [niche yuri fanart]??"
As I replied yes she squealed saying that it's hard to find good yuri content in AAs and she was so happy to see that I did, she bought a print and a charm and said "I can finally see them better! They are so cute! Thank you for giving love to the series!". She was genuinely happy and ran to me after her shooting sessions, for something so little, and walked all the day squinting her eyes because she couldn't fucking see lmao what a sweetheart hope her day is good
No. 2196320
>>2195841Cringe/gross:
Adult men squealing over seeing their favorite child/loli character… just ew.
Adult women loudly squealing over seeing a yaoi pairing they like and then loudly having a conversation about yaoi. Kids are always around.
In general the fact that 70% of artists in artist alley here (anime con) seem to be sexual deviants who happily showcase their fetish and they will bully anyone who dares to express discomfort over their weird porn fetish. Going into artist alley as someone with a low interest in sexual things feels like going into the men's changing room as a female. It's genuinely super uncomfortable, I do not feel safe, I have to worry about unwanted sexual harassment and no matter what bad things happens to me I know people will say it was my own fault for being there and that I should have expected it.
No. 2197110
Real talk about nsfw themes in AAs: How do you genuinely feel about that? I'll start.
I don't mind nsfw at all, them being sex or violence, as long it's in character or still in the canon zone, for ex. for violent media I don't mind seeing some gore here and there or seeing sexual scenes/character in pinup nsfw poses but the thing that weirds me out and it's difficult to put it off without sounding like a hater in gendie/twittard spaces is how nsfw is treated, in fact I saw these patterns:
>Males (including troons) often draw weird cartoony gimmick porny stuff, it's pure fetish and it disgust me because for them anatomy, color theory or harmony isn't important as long there's their favourite mommy dommy with a 20inch dick in shiny finish a la shadbase, so it gives off flash porn game from the early 00s.
>TIFs of course are full of yaoi and I heard them saying that they can't draw female bodies which is total bullshit, the female body it's easier with their curves and fat patterns, they just don't bother but are so horny they can only channel it into weird genshin style men and then draw on titchop. Also funny how they claim difficulties with female bodies and are uncomfortables but have no problem drawing the most disgusting pussies you have ever seen, which is it.
In both case, rarely this type of people has sex so you can feel? Sense? How idealize their view of sex is, often with shitty poses, shitty dialogue that could only work in cringy ao3 fics and overall, weird shit.
I like my nsfw to feel real, like it has come from a woman (I don't buy from men or "nb" men) who knows how stuff feels, how people talk during sex, how they act and how they interact. If you see most nsfw closely, it's always rapey or one of them is clearly the object of the other. This is very rare but when I find it, it's the best thing.
For violence, same thing. Men are violent and that's it, TIF' violence is often medical trauma based (kek) or a shitty metaphor for love like cannibalism or vampirism, which I like but they get stale after a while, while again, violence for women feels real because they can convey the emotion and not the shock value.
Idk this is my experience, my luck is living in a place where the 18+ areas are separated and regulated but idk, let me know your thoughts!
About merch and prints, of course I would never go around with a nsfw joke, idk why people think that's a good idea. I don't display nsfw prints in my house like a moid but I like to look at them from time to time on my binder.
No. 2197587
>>2197110>nsfw themes in AAs: How do you genuinely feel about that?I personally find nsfw (sexual) stuff gross in 99% of cases. At best I find it boring an unappealing. I'd still say I actually have a pretty high tolerance for cute but "slutty" outfits and curvy characters but if it's obviously meant to be sexual through context and poses I can't help but find it gross. It's a natural reaction*, I can't help it.
I still accept it existing in AA, but time and place is everything.
At events that targets/partly targets kids: Nah, literally fuck off.
At events with kids allowed but mainly aimed at adults: Sure, if it's hidden properly from view (as in normal society, this is literally how the rest of the world does it, just do this, it is literally not hard)
At adult only events: Sure, I'd personally still want it hidden or sectioned off though because I still find it gross but I understand others don't care lol
*This is perhaps a bit tinfoily, but I theorize as a woman sexual things are often naturally interpreted as a "threat" because in most cases historically and biologically sexual stuff IS a literal threat to you, your wellbeing and your life. I just don't think it's all from some kind of "purity culture", if so I should be perfectly fine with it all as I grew up in hyper woke "sex work is work, don't slutshame" circles but I really do have a natural aversion to it and that seems to exist within every culture on earth and especially in women.
No. 2204280
I haven’t been to an anime con since the pandemic and probably never will again but I’m curious - does anyone there ever sell yarn crafts or fiber arts? I remember when needle felting was popular for five seconds and I’d see stalls selling needle felting kits which were just a needle + some wool + basic instructions on how to make a blob with a :3 face, but they practically never sold finished pieces. I’m guessing those just take too much time to make per individual item and selling them isn’t worth it.
I felt and knit nerdy shit and dream about having my own little booth one day, just as a hobby to get out of the house. I’ve seen women with stalls at farmers markets successfully selling literal fabric scraps for €2 a pop as “accessories” so I feel like it should be possible, but I’d prefer to sell stuff I like to make rather than the generic stuff ‘normies’ like to buy, you know?
Though realistically I’d never survive a nerd convention because half the shit I make is Harry Potter themed lmao>>2197587I don’t think it’s all that tinfoily. Any woman who’s lived anywhere with a red light district can tell you that female locals avoid those areas like the plague, because they feel unsafe and just plain grimy to be in even as a non-prostituted woman. Of course drawn porn isn’t on the same level as actual sex trafficking but the meat market vibe is there all the same.
No. 2204315
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>>2204280I can only speak for the local conventions, but there's always a few knitted and crocheted sellers. I have no idea how popular they are but I've bought from some before.
I think you'd be ok selling HP stuff, if anyone mentions "JKR bad hurr durr" you can politely go into how it's always been a special interest for you and how it feels empowering to profit from her "property" without any of the benefits going to her, but that you understand if they don't see it the same way and that's ok too. To be safe I would make sure you don't sell just HP stuff though, there should be a few other things thrown into the mix.
No. 2206095
File: 1728859127276.png (206.15 KB, 590x635, methinkingimsmart.png)
Anons I thought of a booth idea (I have literally never been to a con/alley)
>Bring nothing with you except a stack of paper and pens/pencils and mayyybe colored pencils or something
>Offer sketches/art of any fandom, any character(s), right there at the table
>Charge a lot (especially if they give you hassle), profit??
Am I the next Einstein or a genuine retard because this could go so wrong but also so right
No. 2206286
File: 1728867111337.jpg (73.08 KB, 564x564, 3fb0af54654671c8274e7994642720…)
So nonners, what do you use to decorate your booth? Self made displays or those cube things? Do you make your own graphic elements (not counting drawing mascots)?
I use Canva for quick and easy, cute enough price tags and display backgrounds, plus I also have my personalized runner but idk how to display prints because I hate when they flap around but they take too much space when I glue/tape them down. Can a binder on the table work?
No. 2206754
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>>2206095You will end up drawing like this. Taking commissions in con is a retarded move and you will be knows as the caricaturist. People don't care about fandom sketches, they see you drawing and go "Can you draw me??"
Do you think that people didn't already think about that lol
No. 2206777
>>2206286Tall displays get lights and fake flowers/leaves wrapped around them to make them more attention catching, I have a few tablecloths to match the theme of what I'm selling, and sometimes I use a standee of a FOTM character to help advertise the items I most want to move. Blind bags get their own completely separate section to make them stand out from the rest of my stuff. I use a bunch of different boxes and racks for display, for racks like the ones in your picrel I put something in to separate the sections, like strips of card or glitter foam, and pin the prices on the sides to prevent confusion.
>>2206095Don't do this. Nobody is going to stop at your booth, for a start. Make some prints and sell those instead. If you also want to do commissions on the spot and charge out the ass, have a heat gun and watercolors to make them seem more worth the price. Do your on the spot commissions in the style of the prints you have on display. Even then, you might not get many or any sales. You also need to think about how you're going to sell. Do you have a card reader? Do you have enough cash to give as change? How are you going to package the commissions? Do you have business cards and a website/social media where you showcase your work? Remember, you're essentially advertising your services by painting/drawing in person. Many potential customers will try to find you online if they're interested in buying from you but don't have the cash at the moment, or they might share your info with friends who like your style.
No. 2207643
>>2206095At minimum you'd need to have at least one sample of the artwork in your chosen medium completed so that people know what they're buying. The ceiling for what you can charge for the art is very low if you don't have any other artwork samples to prove your skill level though. The higher cost commissions I've seen all have fully fleshed out tables to support their pricing. As a standalone offering, I've done something similar a very long time ago and could make table back and a bit more, but given how much tables cost now as well as the level of competition in the alley it's not really feasible anymore.
>>2206754>>2206777Generally not wrong, but I disagree with a couple of points. There are always fandoms and characters that aren't popular enough or are too new to have extensive prints or other merch of, and this is what commissioners will typically ask for. Out of the 30-40 commissions I can get during a convention weekend, maybe 1 is of themselves or a friend? It's extremely rare in anime and gaming conventions from my experience and I've been doing commissions at cons since I started over a decade ago.
No. 2210944
>>2210726Hello fellow lovely nona.
What do you mean as helpers? Like actual, physical helpers, helping with the booth etc? In my case, I want to be alone. Maybe it's the autism in me, but I don't like when people who are not into this hobby/side job touch or move my stuff, sure, my nigel and my friends can help me lift but that's it, I don't want them to to anything to my stuff. I have to know where stuff exactly is and I need to check on it constantly. I used to ask for help but then the anxiety of them fucking up was too much so I do this alone and alone I can focus better, be calmer thinking that I'm the only one touching my shit, making up sales, briefing, doing inventory relaxes me so I guess it's how you view it. The only thing that I ask for whoever is there near me is watching my booth while I go to the toilet and that's it. Don't feel bad about it, in the long run you will also feel endlessly satisfied
No. 2212274
>>2212238Thank you for clarifying, I thought you meant 'without any outside support' before clarification.
My country is very much about being solo, I don't think I've ever seen anyone use a family member as a table partner. I've seen people use their partners, but only if said partner is also part of the Artist Alley life.
Naturally, I've tabled alone for the events I've been to so far, but the AA is very intimate, and at the biggest event, I was smushed in with other people manning the other stalls.
I tend to debrief with my friends, many of whom are not in the AA.
This year, I'll be splitting a table with someone for the first time. She seems nice, so here's hoping it'll go well.
No. 2217448
File: 1729555661068.png (3.4 MB, 1242x2688, IMG_1116.png)
crafty contraptions couldn’t find a work
around for the little guy i guess
No. 2217902
Sometimes I hate how some people depend so much on con money, it warps their views and gives them biases. Recently in my country a popular con changed staff, the new staff wanted:
-More money for the booth (+tax for every chair)
-Wanted artists to do free sketches to hangout to random people
-Shitty security, everyone is squashed to the wall, if a fire breaks out good luck!!
-You have to draw, everytime. You have limited breaks.
A lot of people are boycotting but ofc some artists are there saying that boycotting isn't fair for those who applied for the con and will get less customers, bitch, just cancel your application too. These people will not work a normal job and will fire themselves day one for not making 10 dollars/hour or will not apply if salary is not listed, which is fair, but will kiss the ass of shitty con staff to keep making pocket change in cons, just because they don't want to find a job and totally depend on display booths. It sounds lunatic and anxiety inducing to me, cons, unless you make at least 5 to 6 grand/month, should never be a person's main income, it stresses people so much it puts them into a shitty artsy Skinner Box.
No. 2224064
>>2217902AAs have always depended on retarded impulse purchases. Every shiny keychain and Genshin print instills FOMO in 15 year olds with their first McDonalds paycheck burning a hole in their pocket, they buy all the random shit they can find, and then do it all again next year. That's the only reason why shitty art and repetitive uninspired merch managed to carry so many otherwise unemployed sellers through the year.
We are now in a global recession. The amount of newly employed retards has plummeted, and few adults are willing to pay fair prices for ugly tat they don't need. The cost of tables, creating and importing merch, and hotels, have skyrocketed, while the number of attendees has plummeted. Even big cons that cater to adults with spending money aren't turning as big a profit for vendors as they used to.
What gets me is that this is by no means a new situation. Why the everloving fuck would any completely broke AUDHD LGBTABCQ+- permachild think that they alone can turn a profit in a sinking ship? AAs aren't a full time job, even getting a shitty part time weekend job would provide some stable-ish income. And it's always the most thin skinned, sheltered assholes who get butthurt about their mediocre art no longer paying their rent. Idk if it's sheer stubbornness, genuine idiocy, or the sunken cost that's making them cling to this pie in the sky dream of selling enough FOTM junk to keep a roof over their heads. All the normal sellers have other sources of income, whether it's an actual job, or Etsy, Youtube, whatever. Anime and fantasy and booktok BL are normie shit now! It's pure retardation to not sell on normie platforms, just sell at a normal market if online selling is too scary. I really don't understand their need to attend the shittiest cons imaginable instead of using a tiny bit of common sense. And yet somehow we get AAs full of TIFs sobbing about not being able to pay bills because they spent all their rent money on making a million AU shipping keychains that nobody outside of their immediate friend group was willing to buy.
No. 2224455
>>2224064>AUDHD LGBTABCQ+- permachild think that they alone can turn a profit in a sinking ship? AAs aren't a full time job, even getting a shitty part time weekend job would provide some stable-ish incomeThey don't want that! Artists with a little of common sense and who actually studied how the art field works know that art doesn't pay a living unless you are a million artist or in a studio. Sheltered tifs are sheltered tifs, that's it. They see people online making money with yaoi ships and go "Oh, I like yaoi too!" but cannot grasp the idea of merch or actually making art to sell, they draw their yaoi bois standing next to each other and then cry because they fail to understand that that's not the yaoi per se that sells but how marketable the piece is and they lack self reflection so instead of improving their art and selling skills, they cry "hater!" and play pity. Anyone with a bit of common sense knows how nightmarish is to keep up with FOTM merch and the best way to sell shit is being original and survive on your own brand but they're not creative so they don't do that. They attend every shitty con for exposure but don't realize that you can have it too if you're consistent with your art and posting it online, getting to actually know and engage with other people. They think that claiming themselves to be disabled due to anxiety and some fybro that magically dissolves in con (and thus failing to realize that anxious people don't go to cons or even show their faces), people will feel more inclined to buy to "support" them when it's just feeding into their delusion. I know a lot of normal sellers who use their regular paycheck to pay for a little stock merch con but it's all extra income, they won't go bankrupt or get eager to do discounts the day after the con to get back the money spent and they are chill about it, meanwhile these tifs and autistic fandom girlies are constantly and chronically online to catch the waves of the FOTM anime, sad. I saw a tif I know speedrunning Dandadan merch lol. They could use the hotel + con money to advertise themselves on social media if they really want that sweet exposure, minus getting out of home or do shitty merch that will get trashed in a month. They don't think long time and they most likely do merch that they will never use or wear in the first place and that's one of the biggest errors you can make. I make stuff that I would wear and won't look awkward in ten years when the next big fandom will come, they just pollute the planet with their stuff.
No. 2226580
File: 1730054536657.jpg (1.24 MB, 3000x2003, tamagotchi.jpg)
I know we all hate FOTM, but is there any kind of merch you've seen that have made you want to shamelessly rip it off because it was so good? And on the same note, some overrated art trend you actually find really cute?
I really loved tamagotchi as a kid so when tamagotchi art became popular I was damn wish I had thought of that first lol
No. 2226897
File: 1730068659679.jpg (36.38 KB, 564x451, 614ef64c2b6c9616a2a72221811641…)
>>2226580I love love love merch that looks like videogame items like cute food, potions and weapons, little fairies etc. I usually browse for original merch and if something catches my attention I try to replicate the topic but not the style.
For the overrated cute trend, I also like gotchis but og gotchis, not gotchi+random fandom. I also love anything cyber tribal and funky cute gore (I only wear it on my free days/in theme outfit ofc). I wish people made some catholic aesthetic stuff like angels and crosses in pastel blue instead of bblack and blue because I like that jpn trend with blue and white kawaii angels, idk how to call it.
No. 2228245
File: 1730145447245.png (64.14 KB, 215x233, kittye.png)
>>2226458omg kek, nonna I’m going to apply too, but you have to hurry! It’s first come, first served for the limited spots, and then the remaining tables are assigned randomly to artists. Please let me know if you get accepted (or not) maybe we can say hi at our booth!"
No. 2235852
File: 1730562871681.jpg (603.41 KB, 1200x1200, 7cc2ba9a4587f1b653782defbd07bf…)
Anyone got any original/more unusual ideas of what to make and sell? Pretty sure lc is small and unknown enough that even if everyone itt used the same ideas it wouldn't negatively impact any of us here.
I'm just so tired of keychains. I use 1-2 at most, the rest are useless trinkets that are hard to even display. I don't particularly care about pins either. Remove those 2 + prints/stickers and 90% of artist alley is gone.
So my ideas so far (idk if I'll be able to pull it off or not) are matchstick boxes, switch joycon grips, magnets, bookends, scarves… I've seen 2 people sell their own tea blends which I'd be scared to do since it's a consumable item, but it's a cute idea.
No. 2236095
>>2235852Jewellery, pouches that are a useful size, notebooks, notepads, maaaaybe diaries/calendars but if you have leftover stock you're fucked, stationery, acrylic standees that have a function.
I love the switch joycon grips and magnets, I'm sure they'd sell well. Bookends might be hard to store and display, scarves could be great if the design is subtle enough to make them wearable.
No. 2236329
>>2235852Fridge magnets, trading card sized prints (see
>>2134304), temporary tattoos, car decals/accessories, vinyl peel-and-stick wall stickers
No. 2238379
>>2237280I think you have to let it happen with certain items, have the dedicated display items and let them pick them/one up to look at them and when they ask to pay you go "I'll grab a fresh one for you".
For examples, if you have pen holders, stack a few up to make a little tower and have one in front with a sticker that says something like "demo", "tester" or "pick me up!". That's your dedicated one to be touched. You can still put a little note next to the other stack that says "don't touch the display, only the tester". People will likely still pick them up a few times, but hopefully it makes it happen less often.
Magnets need BIG signs. Maybe even a little tag that says "I'm a magnet!" next to every single one. Otherwise people really don't get it because they're dumb and magnets are still a bit unusual to see there. This is true for everything that looks like it could be one of the most common items sold like stickers and pins. People don't see the whole board/display they're on, they will only look at the specific small item they're interested in because taking it all in at once (and doing so 50 times over at every table) is too overwhelming.
No. 2245920
File: 1730917963029.jpg (27.35 KB, 360x360, raf,360x360,075,t,fafafa_ca443…)
Let's do a reverse advice thing: what lie would you tell your worst enemy who just started selling in artist alley to make sure they fail? Bonus points if it's something you've been told for real by someone else!
I'll go first! Sell your stuff really cheap, make sure you're always the cheapest because selling in quantity is always better than selling quality.
No. 2246076
>>2245920I would say some shit like
"Bring your ocs! And don't do anything creative with them, just stock oc references/headshots and print lots!
Bring fandoms that were big and now look awkward (ex. bnha, yaoi spokons) and always do fotm merch only, don't ever think about expanding your views. Use a random, forgettable name (ex. Names that include shit like "Name+Kawaii" "name+chu" "name+arts") and only get your ideas from other big creators."
I didn't pull these out my ass, they're all patterns I saw in sinking AArtists that now cry in poor.
No. 2246916
>>2245920Listen to everything your online hugbox tells you! Your personal style is super marketable no matter what and all criticism is from jelly haters who want you to cry! Never do any anatomy studies or backgrounds! Your OCs are incredible and you're so famous that everyone knows who they are and wants to buy them! Don't bring cash to a con, everyone uses card all the time and the wifi never goes haywire. Don't bring bags either, or water, or snacks that aren't aesthetic! You can make 500 of one charm and be OK. You can also make two of 500 designs and be OK! Price them however you want, you don't have to remember how much you paid per item or count shipping and import taxes or anything. No, you don't need a display for them, just stick them on the table and you're fine. Feel free to stay on your phone all day, ignore customers, be a rude bitch to anyone who mentions one of your ten thousand
triggers that you clearly listed on your carrd, get mad at other artists who are selling more than you, and don't bring anyone along to watch your table while you go to the bathroom.
No. 2247720
>>2245920I'd tell them that their time and work is valuable, that to calculate what to sell for they need to take into account how much time it took. You spent 20h making that piece? Then you need 20h worth of payment for it! Never mind that the quality is dogshit and a better artist could make a better artwork in just 1h. That just means that other person should get paid for 1h, and you for 20h! Effort is all that matters!
The amount of times I've seen this being said to literal newbie artists… they're just being set up for failure and disappointment.
No. 2248490
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https://x.com/peterokii/status/1854285625869934848They don't have shame, don't they.
Of course she's a bnha fan.
Imho cons shouldn't include parents, like yeah of course you have to be 18+ to have a table but why would you bring your parents? Unless they're not interested in con or offered their help, I just know they're gonna sit there and there's a high chance of them fucking up assembling the booth/packing, it's unnecessary stress. I'm envious of people who have parents who truly help them and know what they're doing but most of the times, they just sit there and you can't even ask them for help because they will go "Uh?? Where?? Where is it?"
"If I don't find a friend" yeah ask yourself while you're friendless. If I had the power to set con rules, I'll ban non active helpers (friends or family that help for one thing and then sit there), it's also annoying for the customers seeing old men behind the counter, and dogs. One time I saw an artist bringing her dog that barked at everyone who got close and she said "She's overprotective of me!! Teehee!" like ok? Leave your dog home. No I don't buy the service dog bullshit, if you can handle a 3-day con, where it's expected that you stand up a lot, the anxiety of selling and such, you can cope without a service dog.
>B-but what about people in a wheelchairBring a person that actually helps, not a fucking dog.
No. 2250271
I'm often so close to posting cringe things I see in the AA discords I'm in, the only thing stopping me is the fear of them finding out it's me and that they'll kick me out kek. I hate how they're all wholesome uwu ass kissers to each others, and even just acting and talking like a normal human being makes people think you're cold and asocial (especially if you're female). It would be fine if they were genuinely just being nice, but they're the kind that
>>2246916 described
>Listen to everything your online hugbox tells you! Your personal style is super marketable no matter what and all criticism is from jelly haters who want you to cry! Never do any anatomy studies or backgrounds! Your OCs are incredible and you're so famous that everyone knows who they are and wants to buy them!Their racially mixed muslim kawaii wheelchair OC just isn't going to sell well, just because virtue signalers like the post on tumblr doesn't mean people actually like it as a art, or that it translates to sales.
No. 2250336
>>2250271as long you're not esl (where aas are smaller) blur out names and post kek
>>2250316Yeah, "lost parent" is what I hate in cons. It's already hard as it is, with cons getting filled with people with no etiquette, I don't want to buy from a booth where an old man is asking where is my cosplay from (they don't know the source nor they're interested so it's always a useless question), if I did all by myself, "this is all handmade!" bitch I know.
One time I made this error from buying from a tif with her mom and she went "He does this all by himself! So you like the same anime? What's your favourite character?" Ma'am please I've left this stuff in early 2010s deviantart and I'm almost 30, please don't make it harder than it is.
No. 2251244
>>2251226I disagree, go them
Men aren't expected to share resources all the time, and they don't get attacked for keeping things secret in the same way. Finding a correct manufacturer takes trial and error. I don't make AA merch anymore but I am personally so fed up of children who ask me dumb questions about art online and then call me a gatekeeper just because I recommend they can find a better tutorial online than I can advise them in under 150 characters.
It's stupid to gatekeep that you order from Vograce and I am eternally grateful to people who write guides and share resources, but nobody is owed it
No. 2251592
>>2251244I'm sorry some kids who admire you tweeted you for help and you weren't willing to babysit them, that's fine, but it's not at all what I'm talking about. I'm quite literally talking about the people who make long video tutorials about that exact topic, some who even directly claim in the video they're going to share their manufacturer. And then they fucking don't. They go "actually I had to lose time and money, so you gotta lose time and money too" or give some other vague self-righteous excuse. These women literally go out of their way to pose themselves as a helpful authority only to then gatekeep the manufacturer out of fear and insecurity that it will affect their own sales negatively to share it. It's quite ridiculous. If you want to gatekeep, then just fucking gatekeep and don't pretend you're trying to help people.
Maybe the men don't get attacked for keeping secrets simply because… they don't keep them in this scenario? And even IF the men are also secretly keeping their top secret best manufacturer, they weren't 1) dumb enough to mention it and 2) instead gave an alternative trusted manufacturer for people to use. They went straight to facts instead of playing some dumb "it builds character to fail and waste money uwu" game with people. I also like how the men gave exact numbers like "this costs exactly this much, and I'd have to sell them at this price to make profit" while the women were like "it can be quite expensive… so you know, just be ready for that" without even giving you an actual framework. Is "quite expensive" $10? Or $100? $1000??? We may never know. Men ain't shit, but if you can use them to your advantage then fucking use them.
No. 2251788
>>2191722I really hate it. Do they gatekeep because they don't want potential competition in their fandom? I've seen a lot of interesting, high quality merchandise pieces over the years and it's sparked inspiration for my own product design and manufacturing. If I happen to contact the same manu as them that does NOT mean I'm going to be making the exact same product for the same fandom as them.
>Ummmm well, it took me years to build a relationship with this manu, and and and-I don't fucking care, and they don't care either. What type of slop manufacturer would turn away a few new clients? Come on.
No. 2253898
>>2253720It's an idiot move. A Stacy would talk to their manufacturer and ask if they wanna sponsor/partner with her. She could get paid for doing a sponsorship ad/video/post, or just get cheaper prices herself for recommending them to other artists, thus they both profit. Stacy has now turned herself into a higher value client.
The only time I can think of when it's genuinely better to shut up is when you know for sure the people you use use slave/child labour or dump
toxic waste trash straight into the ocean. But if that's easily accessible information for you then idk why you'd chose to work with them in the first place.
No. 2259047
>>2226458Best of luck, nonna. It has become standard that you apply at 8PM sharp the day Dokomi open their applications. (In hopes that you get in through FCFS. Chances for that to happen might be low, though. Apparently, they got over 2k applications on Day 1).
Based on what fellow artists have told me, Dokomi is a great but overwhelming experience (simply due to the sheer amount of visitors inside the hall). I've been told that it's tough to get noticed by visitors if you don't get a favorable spot.
There was a story related to spiked food getting passed around a couple of years ago (from a cosplay group, IIRC).
No. 2260274
>>2258821it heavily depends what country you're in. A friend of mine for example does cons in Italy, and their table partner had to take away their Lupin the 3rd prints off their table because a tv network in Italy owns the rights in the country and imposes copyright much heavier than the og owners in japan do.
Nintendo and Disney seem to be the most risky in America, but mostly if you draw nsfw/riskè/offensive fanart of their ips.
No. 2260302
File: 1731584342236.jpeg (78.58 KB, 450x475, IMG_7033.jpeg)
>>2258821>>2258842It’s never really been clear to me where the line is between technically illegal fanart and imagery that’s obviously inspired by an IP but still in the clear. Is there somewhere I can read more about this, or even look it up for specific IPs? I understand that characters are pretty much guaranteed to be protected but I’m wondering about other types of iconic imagery from media. Could I get in trouble with WB for selling merch of an owl holding a letter in its beak, even if it’s not a snowy owl (so not Hedwig)? What about clearly recognisable scenery, like a Hobbit hole or the Argonath? Does it make a difference if architectural elements (statues, stained glass) depict named characters? I’m guessing it does, but is that where the line is drawn?
And what about recreating a garment that a character wears and selling the pattern? I’m a knitter and it’s not unheard of for people to recreate iconic pieces of clothing from artwork or films. I’ve never of heard anyone getting in trouble for that, but the market for it is so small that it’s probably easy to fly under the radar. Even big sewing pattern companies like Simplicity or McCall’s often release patterns off the back of popular IPs to capitalise on them, without being official collaborations. Pic related for example. It’s not screen accurate and isn’t explicitly called a Merida costume, but it’s very obviously meant to evoke Brave. Is this a case of Disney turning a blind eye, or does it not count as infringement? I’m guessing McCall’s employs lawyers to deal with this exact issue but I can’t afford that, so here I am.
No. 2260378
>>2260302>It’s never really been clear to me where the line is between technically illegal fanart and imagery that’s obviously inspired by an IP but still in the clear.While the rules and laws are going to be different in every country, here's two rules of thumb:
Is the product being sold? If so, it's illegal.
Is the product using the official brand or names? If so it's illegal.
If you draw Mickey Mouse to put on your own wall, that's fine. If you show your Mickey on social media going "hey look at this Mickey Mouse I drew!" and you get a lot of traction from it, that's still fine. But if you then go "buy a print of my Mickey drawing" that's illegal, because you don't own Mickey Mouse. The second you try to earn money on their intellectual property it's no longer legal.
If you draw a different looking mouse and call it "Mickey Mouse" to sell it that's illegal because the name itself is also copyrighted.
If you draw your own Rodney Rodent character who looks nothing like Mickey Mouse, but you say it's a Disney mouse character that's illegal because you're trying to use the brand name Disney to sell it.
However if you draw a Disney style inspired Rodney Rodent but never actually use any of their brand names that should be fine.
And usually parodies (such as a fake Mickey Mouse appearing in some TV show like Family Guy or The Simpsons) and educational content (documentaries, commentary videos) are legal. That's not really part of the art scene, but still worth mentioning.
>I’m wondering about other types of iconic imagery from media. Could I get in trouble with WB for selling merch of an owl holding a letter in its beak, even if it’s not a snowy owl (so not Hedwig)?>Does it make a difference if architectural elements (statues, stained glass) depict named characters? Unless you actually call the owl something like "Hedwig from Hogwarts", or directly copy their existing merch designs so that they could argue that you are affecting their sales or confusing consumers into thinking you're selling official merch - that should be fine. They can't typically copyright something as generic as all owl imagery, or birds holding a letter.
>What about clearly recognisable scenery, like a Hobbit hole or the Argonath?I think that's safe as long as you don't use copyrighted names, words or images. For example the word "hobbit" is copyrighted, so you can't call it a "hobbit hole". You can't sell a screenshot from the movie, but if you redraw the screenshot in your own style it's legal because now it's art made by you.
>what about recreating a garment that a character wears and selling the pattern? Think of halloween costumes. You can sell "Wizard school boy costume" that looks like Harry Potter, but you can't sell "Harry Potter costume". As long as you can argue it's a distinct design it's legal. Like for your picrel, that's not actually what Merida's dress looks like - it's clearly different. Disney doesn't own "any green dress and red hair design" they just own that specific Merida character design.
If you're selling locally at artist alley you can honestly use the character names as you see fit, the chances of a disney lawyer being there on duty are virtually non-existent. They've got big Chinese companies who make fake merch to take out, you're an ant in comparison. It would likely take more time and money suing you for copyright infringement than it would just leaving you alone. Putting up "Disney's Cinderella costume" would be fine because you just won't get caught anyway lol but if you then sell it online I'd change the name to be more generic like "princess costume".
No. 2264940
>>2263275>Maybe I'm petty and a haterWell I for one always encourage this kek. I mean good for them that they get to try it out together but we're not obliged to buy from mediocre artists who couldn't get a table on their own merits.
>What about you nonnas, are you going to a con?I'm going to one pretty soon, but I'm going for the petty reason to take sneaky pics of bad woke art to share with my friends in private. I wouldn't shame someone just for being a newbie or bad at art, but if you choose to draw titchop characters with pride flags it's all fair game! Supporting mutilation of women and children justifies us making fun of their art.
No. 2274065
>>2273995I do this all the time, to me it's about cons being one of the rare occasions when I can go out and meet other nerds and do fun nerd stuff.
Tabling with a buddy means:
-Being able to sell more while still enjoying the con.
-Having a buddy around to hang out with during slow moments.
-Not going to a con alone.
No. 2274630
>>2273984nonna I'm an eurofag too and travelling to other eu countries is not that expensive lol, if I get in at dokomi I'm spending 400€ at max, 500€ if I go overboard with food just for a chance to expand my audience, local artists are much richer kek, esp. those who only do fotm merch. You should support if they don't do fotm merch, I'd rather give my money to a creator that does niche stuff from the outside rather than a genshin/hazbin local that lives on fomo
>>2273545I'm a con veteran
I went to cons for getting deals on comics and discovering new series/getting figures
Now it's all ali crap and there are no more comics around. What's the point, besides the AAs…
No. 2287941
How do you feel about gifting fanmerch to famous people? Lately I've been to an event where there was a famous actor and yeah I can understand getting a gift for them, I can understand gifting self made merch but everytime I see people gifting joke merch or porny, even if ironic, shit, my skin crawls.
If I had to meet a person that I really admire, gifting nsfw shit wouldn't be even on my mind, I would do a piece that I would hang myself on my walls/carry with me and I don't get how people can walk to them, straight face, with gross printed stuff and handing them to them, like for what? A momentary satisfaction? Idk how people think that famous people are chronically online as them to understand in fandom jokes or how are they ok projecting horniness. It's more accepted for males, I mean getting a male actor/dubber/artist to sign a nsfw print is seen as innocent teenage-y act, meanwhile a guy that brings a printed porn image is being seen as creepy, I think that they're both equally gross.
I don't mind person-to-person nsfw merch, to each their own, even if cringy/weird like hyper niche in fandom joke but I guess you do you if you feel comfortable with an alien dick pic on your bag, but the moment it includes a third person who is just doing their job, that's when it icks me. I was at that even and wandering around the artist alley before my turn and there was this artist who had a big section at her booth that said "Bring these to [actor] so they can sign them!" and it was all borderline porn shit because ahah funny, right.
Ew.
No. 2287959
>>2287941>How do you feel about gifting fanmerch to famous people? If you made it yourself, cool! Though my honest expectation is that they'll throw it in the garbage as soon as the event is over. Still a nice gesture, people just don't need more clutter forced upon them.
>people gifting joke merch or porny, even if ironic, shit, my skin crawls.Fuck no to that. Unless the person has publicly directly stated they want that I wouldn't ever put them in that position. I don't care if it's a female fan gifting a male famous person a sexy piece of art of themselves - it is still just cringe at best. I know this is LC but I don't think those men should have to deal with thinly veiled sexual harassment from fans either. If for no other reason it's kinda disrespectful to his wife/gf to be openly "flirting" with him.
No. 2311500
I recently came back from a two day con in my country and it was almost funny to see that, in less than a year, Hazbin shit is now put on sale. Fandoms are so short lived right now, it's an ouroboros of wasting both money and resources, aside making trash. I feel that big fandom merch, you know the ones that are big for a moment but rarely make an impact (for ex. Nana having a comeback despite not having new shit for 15 years), will eventually become the buck, passing it people to people until the final buyer will throw it away and the thought makes me cringe. I'm a bit of an hypocrite myself, I make plastic trinkets, but at least make it so they don't look cringe in a year, no? That's why that I plan for my next restock to do more unfandom merch with less plastic, stuff that you can also gift to relatives and such.
For other artists: is there any merch that you don't like to see and/or do?
I think that Genshin was boring but at least somehow pretty, like I get the appeal but Hazbin is absolutely terrible because their design is terrible and reeks of 2012 tumblr, all that red and purple mixing together is hideous, with those edgy and smug pointy smiles. I get that some people need to jump on the bandwagon to make some coin but it looks horrible, fotm artists how do you cope when you have to make merch but the latest big trend isn't really something of your taste?
No. 2314154
File: 1734615359079.jpeg (779.56 KB, 1800x1200, 638479059949570000.jpeg)
I have the somewhat controversial opinion that if you're at a convention you're in a public space and I'm allowed to take pictures/film you without asking for permission. Not in a creepy way or singling out people, but if I'm filming a "walk around" video I'm not going to ask for permission from the hundreds of people walking by. If I take a general area photo and you're in a scantily clad bikini cosplay in the background that's on you for turning up looking like that. I like taking random photos like picrel of people just browsing or walking around because it's just a nice vibe and captures natural moments.
And I also frankly ignore "no photos" signs on artist alley tables. It just makes me think they sell stolen artworks and don't want people to find out if I post anything online. It's not that I go up to them and take a picture just to spite them. I just naturally take photos and videos to share as I've always done and occasionally (after I've taken the photo) see that there was a sign telling you not to take pics. If I see it before there's a possibility I won't take pics, if I missed it I just keep the pics I already took and won't go out of my way to delete. Sometimes I sneakily take them just because I suspect they have stolen art or AI they're trying to hide. Maybe I'm being an asshole for it, I'd like to hear you other nonas opinion on it? Do you mind having your table/items on camera? How evil am I for not asking first? What are the reasons you'd put a "no photos" sign on your table?
No. 2314387
>>2314173>Some of them have a huge following online and have been harassed by retards who sometimes threaten to show up in cons to harass them irl.That doesn't add up for me. If you have a huge following you can't just sneak into a con unnoticed and pretend to be a nobody, people will know who you are. (And the people I've seen with signs like that have most certainly not been huge artists) What realistically does not taking pictures actually do for them? What's the point in the harasser paying a bunch of money to get into the con just to be immediately escorted out when 50 people other saw them harass someone in person?
>Some are selling fanservicey art of fanzines and don't want someone they know irl to see that online and associate that with their real identity. Just to clarify, the signs are saying "don't take a photo of the items" and are not about the person (I'm not from an English speaking country btw). Honestly if they're so embarrassed to sell porny stuff… then just don't fucking sell it lmao and again, I've never seen it at a table that sells that. It's always been sort of normal mediocre handcrafted stuff. I've never seen a highly skilled/full time/professional artist with such a sign.
>I went to a con once with friends, one of them took a picture of us as a souvenir which is totally fine, she then posted it on fb and tagged me without permission and my siblings started asking a shit ton of questions about where and when that was, who was with me, etc. That was your friends and siblings though so it sounds like a unique experience, you should have clearly told your friends to not post it anywhere. Or if you did and if she posted it anyway, stop being friends with her!
>>2314201>The no photos signs are to deter people who take photos of prints instead of buying them, which is so rude and happens all the time. Almost makes sense I guess? I've never heard of it happening here, I mean it's not 2004, at that point just go to their social media pages and download the image and get better quality. The thing that doesn't make sense is those signs tend to be not at print artists but at other crafters. At best I'm guessing they don't want a design stolen, but like come on. You want people to hide the things they bought from you and never show it to anyone ever? The mindset seems odd to me. You can't have your cake and eat it too
No. 2314440
>>2314154I pretty much agree with your first paragraph. As for the second one, idk, I’ve never spoken extensively with anyone who has a sign like that so I didn’t really get the opportunity to ask what lead to that decision.
>>2314173If it’s unsafe for your siblings to see pictures of you doing things, you might want to consider blocking them on Facebook, nona. sorry that happened to you.
No. 2314449
>>2314154Sometimes the no photos sign also works to protect the artist. For example, in my country which is right leaning, a girl got in trouble for selling lgbt shit and her parents found out. I get it, that's shit merch, but let's not throw out girls in the streets because dad can't get over a colorful pin.
Anyway nonnas, how do you display prints? Do you use a display or hang them? I'm thinking about my new booth setup and I'm stuck in between hanging them for better view or display them on a display so people can touch them and turn them around.
Better view with less wasted spaces vs better sales…please give me some advice
Also what are your behind the booth essentials? I'm going to a con on the other part of the country and idk if I should bring some life saver items? I get it that if I don't think I need it then I don't need it but I want to be at peace, for ex. I got an under table shelf so I can store my ipad/wallet away from the people but any small stuff that I should be aware of?
No. 2314928
File: 1734647906604.jpg (166.24 KB, 800x600, london-gaming-market-artist-al…)
>>2314449>n my country which is right leaning, a girl got in trouble for selling lgbt shit and her parents found out. ayrt, my country is literally safe and woke/progressive as fuck but I see how that could be a problem in other places. Though the photos I take rarely if ever show a clear image of the seller. It's closer to picrel, basically just "vibe" pictures so I still can't see them get anyone in trouble over it
No. 2314939
>>2314449>Better view with less wasted spaces vs better salesEasy! Better sales. That's always the better option!
Or just do both! Hang some for better visibility, while also having some they can touch.
Bring non-messy food, drinks and napkins to clean up. Bring extra snacks for when your blood sugar gets a bit low. Something soft to sit on can help too. Wear layers so you're ready for any temperature.
No. 2315385
>>2314387All the people I know who use no photos signs are print artists, but I agree it's a bit strange to have something like that when the image can be found online. I don't post any of my prints online either on socmed or otherwise, but I also don't use no photos signs. But to the point the other anon made, I still see dozens of people take pictures of individual prints at my table and walk off at any given convention. A majority of people are polite and ask before doing so (and I always give permission) but yeah, that sort of rude behavior absolutely still happens in 2024.
>>2314449Massive print wall. I've switched off methods of hanging here and there but the final result is always the same. I always have scissors, extra tape, pens/pencils, zip ties, etc. situated somewhere in my setup that's within quick reach. It'd be nice to have a tablecloth that has pockets set up for all of this but I can't be arsed to make it.
No. 2324363
File: 1735439279979.jpg (70.49 KB, 704x726, Generic .jpg)
>>2323721They always think an actual person cherry picked their art to steal for temu when it looks like a variation of picrel. Their stuff is always tagged to hell and they mention the "algorithm" too so what you said checks out kek
No. 2325394
>>2323721Thanks for the tips. It's good to know that it's possible to evade AI and Temu in this day and age by not being a raging sperg online.
>>2324363Kek they trace and copy each other's work all the time too, it's not like traced kawaii plant witch #78134 is unique to one artist.
No. 2325717
File: 1735559576929.jpg (98.86 KB, 640x480, sddefault.jpg)
Anyone else tired of chibis? I lost interest like decade ago but they seem to only grow every year to the point that I see booths that sell literally nothing but chibi keychains or stickers, sometimes they're not even high quality but really mediocre like picrel
No. 2325720
>>2325717A lot of artists can't even draw chibis
well, either, which is an almost impressive level of incompetence. That and the moe Genshin style are the art equivalent of mass produced junk.
No. 2325826
>>2325717I'm just tired of unoriginality. The problem with macy, the girl you posted, is all her art looks generic and flat, like 2d funko pops. She got popular due to her artist alley vlogging, which created a network of unoriginal woke gendies who copy eachother down to the t. Its cringe how they draw inspiration from eachother, rather than external sources. They draw the same characters and same themes and then are genuinely surprised when they dont do well, and record themselves crying to garner sympathy on tiktok/insta so randos will feel bad and buy their ugly cricut stickers on etsy. It's just become a circlejerk of fotm shit, cute characters holding the same knife, and le quirky and relatable memes regarding autism/woke/gendie shit
>>2325786I agree, I enjoy chibi when well done. You can tell who has artistic talent and who is just cranking shit out to sell. Some artists display the most beautiful and detailed prints, and sell stylized, yet detailed chibis in stickers and keychains underneath, because that style translates better to smaller merch. That's better to me than seeing a full grid setup with rows and rows of copy and paste low effort flat chibis just for the sake of having every character available. These girls are always complaining on discord about not having good sales but lack any self-awareness.
No. 2329876
>>2326077that's just bad business planning
>>2329772>Genuinely wondering once the anime trend is over, if anime and the community will continue to survive.Haven't seen the video, but what is the argument for that? anime style seems alive and well where i'm at. If art moves towards ugly western calarts slop instead i will cry, i'll take anime any day of the week over tumblr art
No. 2329924
File: 1735856557540.jpg (963.25 KB, 1080x2326, 1000021994.jpg)
>>2328696Looking at her stuff I'm a little confused by her arguments about AAs only selling generic kawaii when she seems to be doing the same thing?
Her products are a stylization that I can see myself and most others not buying. It really does appear like a misunderstanding about what will sell at these cons and then blaming "normies" when they do not. It is sometimes a smart business decision to not be a vendor at conventions when the table prices are too high along with these variables. By now we all know that the market has changed since Covid so why ignore the elephant in the room? Why pay just to come out in the red when the best decision is to not go?
Anyways, a few things seem to be happening here that artists like this ytuber do not understand.
>younger gen has less money to spend>when younger gen does have the money, they'd rather spend it on experiences (VAs, photo ops) or buy exactly what they want online>older gen with money want specific products that tend to follow trends and popular aesthetics, not hasbeen tumblr picks that were popular six years agoWould love to see artists with fresh innovations and products. Instead it's usually regurgitated generic slop that they churn out and then complain when no one is buying it.
No. 2330426
>>2329924Did you actually watch the video? Because nowhere was she targeting any singular type of artist, so I don't know where you got the idea she was knocking artists who do a kawaii style. She simply said that you see mostly FOTM fanart and the style you see in AA has become more homogeneous, which is true. The takeaway from this video is that now it seems like a smarter plan to put more stock into digital marketing and an online shop than doing shows because the investment isn't worth it anymore and I agree. Just the table fees alone have skyrocketed, it used to be rare for tables to be $300 and now it's the norm, and it doesn't even include an extra badge anymore. Hell I've seen spaces at that price not provide you with a table and chairs. Combine that with the cost of travel, food, and the hotel… These days I see almost everyone splitting their table due to the cost, further dividing sales. There's only so much money to go around. I also can't tell you how many times an attendee has asked me if I have an online shop and to say they would buy what they want later, which never made sense to me because when you buy online it's more expensive because of fees and shipping. All of your points are true yes, but there's no denying that cons and their attendees are so different from 10 years ago. So forgive us oldfags who have been in the scene for a while, we're still adjusting.
No. 2330819
File: 1735913647949.png (484.27 KB, 936x787, tumblr_9d9a33940e130fdd9ecd0cf…)
>>2329924I for one did not watch the video kek but her style from your pic is what I would call "normie kawaii". It's the "kawaii" a non-weeb who likes cute things might buy, so it end up looking very generic because you could find the same in your local kids store - except she IS seemingly trying to target weebs/non-normies at weeb cons which we can tell from her selling a hat that says "ugly". That sort of internet humor doesn't go over well with normies.
>It really does appear like a misunderstanding about what will sell at these cons and then blaming "normies" when they do not. This nails it in her case imo, but it's not just her. I see so many local AA sellers try to sell tumblresque slop like picrel… to weebs. And those weebs want high quality anime art, so they don't buy the tumblr art despite it being of an anime character. Sure the market has changed, but a lot also just hasn't changed and people are just more "ignorant" to what sells and WHY it sells. Like how
>>2325717 sells because she's a popular youtuber, not because her art is good. So copying her art wouldn't make anyone else sell out.
No. 2330824
>>2330784>but the artist alley has similarly devolved to FOTM slop and simple kawaii anime brands it has become way too boring for attendees to browse throughThat's what confuses and frustrates me so much! Every con I go to now has a jury that picks who gets to come to AA, so how the fuck is the art LESS varied now??? How is it all the same trash? I'm still mutuals and following the same artists with varied styles who got in before, but now they don't get in.
I think the biggest part of it is actually the high price tag. People don't dare to go unless they have cheap mass produced garbage they "know" will sell. Nobody can risk having unique art or try it out for fun anymore.
No. 2333880
>>2333094They're either making bank or it's for tax purposes. Writing off a few grand on your tax return as wages can save a fair bit of money, especially if they pay proxies this much per AA, and they can use undeclared cash sales to make up for the high wages.
Using proxies lets them apply for multiple cons in completely different areas, even if one con is a total bust they can still make money on another con happening at the same time. There's also the decreased cost per item of goods for sale if they're doing that many cons, which helps them get more profit per item sold.
It's going to be interesting to see how the tariff affects these artists. I personally hope they stop flooding AAs with mass produced shit and stop using proxies to increase the time they have to go on self important Twitter rants. But who knows.
No. 2333995
>>2333880I think we can all see why artists want to use proxies, but I'm strictly against them. It's just not what artist alley is for. I also think about how exciting it is to know your favorite artist is going to be at a con and you're so excited to meet them in person. You tell them "omg Artist I LOVE your art I've been following you for years, I brought you this fanart" only for them to go "oh no, i'm not Artist! I'm just a guy they paid". It would be such a let down.
What's annoying is my eurotrash country has only just started hearing about proxies, meaning there are no rules in place yet. So at the last con I went to some artists had a proxy for artist alley, while at the same time they were selling in the vendors hall as well. So they got to have 2 booths in different places of the con. Now that is some bullshit that shouldn't be allowed.
No. 2336886
>>2336735I think it's possible if fans and other artists are willing to rat the proxy out when they see it. If an artist is big enough to have a proxy, they're big enough that there's going to be fans and fellow artists who know what their face looks like so they'll know the person selling isn't them.
I know at my usual con there is a rule that clearly says "you may only sell items you've made/designed yourself" so it would be easy to refer to that rule clearly being broken as the proxy didn't make the art. I think artists are petty enough that they'd do it, I know I would kek I don't feel sorry for someone breaking rules just to make more money while the rest of us are struggling to even get a table
No. 2342356
Nonners, what are your selling/ad strategy? Do you do fandom merch or only original? I'm planning to mix both fandom stuff (that I like, so I can put a bit of effort in it and it doesn't cringe me to put it in the portfolio) and both originals, the fandom stuff being on the outer sides and the originals in the central area of the booth, just to study basic marketing techniques. Questions for live drawing nonnies: what do you absolutely hate drawing? For me it's portraits because not only I hate looking at people that much, they pose like an renaissance royal family painting because they like the idea of being drawn but have no idea of the rest so no, I had to put up a sign that said that portraits are only available off cons, plus they also block your booth view and distract you from selling so that's my personal rule. For a general thing that I hate about cons are moids that moid around: since they have that special interest autism but not the social awareness autism they get to your booth, look at a single piece of merch and immediately talk to you about it for a shitton of time, don't even end up buying it and just waste your time because you can't really tell them to fuck off. I understand that loneliness is a bitch but I'm not there to make friends and I wish people understood that, yes I'm a bitch but that's not my main purpose, I rarely even talk to my booth neighbours unless it's basic greetings/offering help, I don't bother as I don't want to be bothered in the first place. Girls and women are in general more well behaved, even if they're clearly autists, I noticed that they tend to see if I'm deranged like them to start talking about fandom stuff lol, I love them so much and I love when they talk about my ultra niche merch, moids can fuck off. One time it happened that a moid saw a FF piece I made, started talking about the lore, theories etc even when people were buying from me, he simply moved to the side while I was handling items and money and he didn't stop talking about builds and shit while I was making up a total price on the calculator like? Can't you see that I'm busy and I need to focus?
No. 2342399
>>2342356
>selling/ad strategyCurrently, I'm running my business in order to rack up social media numbers, so that I can get more publicity for my original stuff.
I sell stuff for series within my specific niche. On top of that, I also sell things that are original content, but also thematically part of that niche.
For example - Let's say my niche is series set in ancient Rome. On top of keychains, prints, and chibi stickers related to characters, I'll also sell pins & buttons featuring roman coins, goat-herder hats, cedarwood trees, etc.
Eventually, I'll publish my comic, which is thematically relevant to the original stuff.
I have a bluesky account, but should likely get an instagram or a twitter before the next con, so I can funnel people into that and post official updates.
No. 2342433
>>2342356I'm a single fandom seller, but when I buy it's minimum 50% personal art from others. So I can only speak as a buyer when it comes to mixing the two but here are my thoughts:
I think it's best to separate fandom on one side and personal art on the other. Preferably make it clear with some signage or notes. If I can see naruto and hello kitty on one side I'm gonna assume the other side is also fandom stuff and it's just stuff I haven't seen, so I'd be more hesitant to buy it.
Imo don't be afraid to use longer notes. 90% of people browsing likely won't read it, but there's going to be a few who stop to read it and get interested. Especially good for shy people (which let's be real, most nerds at cons are introverts or autists) because then they don't have to ask the seller. For example rather than just "Fairy drawing $10" you can also have a note that says "These cards are an original series of fairies inspired by this and that. Here is a little bit more about the background and lore…". People barely even dare doing that for comics/mangas they've made because they think nobody reads it, but for the people who do read it (me, kek) I swear it makes them like 10x more likely to buy. Don't use too many though, use them on key items you're proud of.
No. 2342607
>>2342433samefagging and thinking out loud here, it could actually be a good idea to name the franchises on signs too. It makes it easier for people who just like the art without knowing where it's from, or for casual fans who don't know all side characters, or it's an alternative outfit or something. I once bought what I thought was a cool oc artwork only for the seller to go "oh one of X character, glad to see fans of that show!" I had to pretend I knew who it was out of embarrassment lmao
If I know my bestie loves a show and I haven't see that much of it but I see the name of the series on some cool art I would drag her ass over or send a picture so she might buy it.
>>2342474>I plan to release a thematic oc artbook Love that nona!
No. 2351271
File: 1737159779052.jpg (607.68 KB, 2592x4092, IMG_20250115_142812.jpg)
Don't get me wrong, these are cute, but seeing an artist post this as new items to be sold now in 2025 is just so odd? I mean boba was peak trendy like 10 years ago? I barely see it at all these days and this exact designs trend have been done a billion times already. You could have told me I reblogged this on tumblr in 2015 and I wouldn't have doubted you for a second. Not an attack on this artist specifically, just using her as an example because I see artist make dead trends all the time and I don't get it
No. 2351305
File: 1737160792600.webp (17.97 KB, 650x366, 1000049712.webp)
>>2351271Ffxiv did a bubble tea collab last year. I think it's just a timeless concept.
>>2342474I love buying people's art books to look through! I wish you good luck Nonna
No. 2351749
>>2351305>Ffxiv did a bubble tea collab last year That's just another nail in the coffin for me, you're no longer even in the "quirky niche art trend" market you're competing with actual big brands, brands who the weebs you target love and who do things at a snail pace when the real trends are already over. But I'm also coming from this as someone who's scandinavian like this artist, boba barely exists here and isn't trendy at all so to us it reads as "how do you do, fellow WEEB? would ANATA like some SAKURA? I can NARUTO RUN and get it for you, let's be TOMODACHIS".
But of course people can do what they want. I'm just tired of seeing the same things from everyone over and over and wish they'd do something new instead of jumping on old trends!
No. 2352725
>>2351271>>2351305It's been around forever but boba is still trendy enough for it to sell. I think the increase in normies getting into anime and boba recently have raised it from the dead.
Other trends that refuse to die are sakura everything, transparent containers of some description with characters/galaxy/ocean themes, and Hatsune Miku. They're timeless concepts because more and more 13 year olds keep buying the same tired crap over and over again.
I honestly think that gacha games have fried people's brains in more ways than one. The need to collect a whole series of items makes it much easier for artists to use the same base for an item and just change the color scheme, like the boba bunnies, and churn out endless uninspiring things to put in blind bags. Then some idiot teen with a Genshin addiction comes by and buys the whole lot.
No. 2354604
>>2354591I'm literally autistic with no social skills and I've been doing better in AA the past year too kek
>act like they're doing everyone a favor by selling their generic unoriginal shit.Imo this is it for a lot of the people who complain. They're selling generic stuff, and buyers (speaking as one, I do like to buy too) are getting tired of it. When you have 50+ items made you can't just toss them out and start over, so they're stuck with their generic merch but they can no longer sell it.
No. 2355339
File: 1737375571971.jpg (379.11 KB, 1000x668, 1000_F_326297416_EER77UJztqOfz…)
Sometimes being a buyer really is what makes you realize how to make a good display and what not to do! I noticed the last AA I went to an artist had 2-3 cute custom plushies, same design but different sizes. I spotted them from afar because I'm a slut for plush collecting but as I got closer they had signs saying "display only, not for sale". I was so disappointed that I got plush-baited I refused to buy anything from them kek
I see why someone would use them because it did pull me in, but this artist made me realize it's a terrible idea to disappoint buyers by doing this. If it had been for example a sailor moon or hatusune miku figurine I think I would have known she isn't selling it and that it's decor only. Another solution would have been to make a big cutout standee, like they use in real shops. The fact that they were custom and unique is what tricked me and pissed me off. On the off-chance that they were trying to tease their future plush plans they should have written that on the signs instead to not leave people like me hanging.
No. 2361953
File: 1737654254089.webp (50.67 KB, 1000x988, Wolfgang-Plush-Pin-Coming-Soon…)
>>2358775They were mascots, she had stickers of the same character. Mass-producing a plush is a huge investment of at least like $5000 to begin with, if she was selling or planing to sell them we would have known.
But let's theoretically say it was meant to be a teaser for an upcoming plush she intends to sell. If you were the ones to do it, do you nonas think that sounds like a good plan?
>1. To tease a fully finished product by fully showing it?>2. To tease the product with a sign that literally says "not for sale"?>3. To not actually have any indication that it will be for sale in the future?Because in my mind a good teaser would be something like posting a close-up of a paw or eye on social media with "coming soon" clearly written out. And I believe showing the full product when people can't even buy it yet makes you lose out on impulse sales, which is a huge loss! The next time they see it (when it actually is for sale) it's no longer new and fresh so they won't buy it. Thoughts?
No. 2363171
>>2362147ayrt kek yeah I totally see how it can come off that way, but it's not meant to be personal as I really do not know that artist. Since I did have a negative reaction to the experience it just made me reflect a lot on what I would do in their position. I'm also a selling AA artist and I want to be successful and not make their mistakes
>>2362641>don't know where you live but it's not going anywhere any time soon. nta but boba here died out years ago
No. 2363534
>>2361953IMO teasing an upcoming plush by showing the actual product would be the best way to attract potential buyers, especially at a con. A display of sample plushes, with prices and a release date and estimated shipping times, would get a lot more interest IRL than something like your picrel. Customers can see the finished product and know if they want it or not. There won't be any surprises like the plush being way smaller than they thought, or the details being a little different to the promo pics.
>>2362966I always hated lottery applications but they let smaller artists have a chance to table at a big con. Plus, juried cons reflect the taste of the judges, if they're all gendies and furries the AA will only have Tumblr art and atrocious fetish shit that's technically SFW. Lotteries bring in a mix of different styles and genres and merch.
I feel bad for the artists who didn't get in but they can go to other cons. I really don't understand sellers who make AAs their primary source of income. It's fucking stupid to be that experienced and still think that AAs are guaranteed to bring in the cash every time. Some cons are a bust, that's just the way it is, that's why sellers go to multiple cons per year. Honestly if Anime Expo is the only thing keeping them from total financial ruin, they need to get a job and stop whining about how unfair it is.
No. 2363555
>>2363534>Plus, juried cons reflect the taste of the judges, if they're all gendies and furries the AA will only have Tumblr art and atrocious fetish shitMy local con is now switching to a jury and I can't wait to see what shit they choose to accept. They picked one of the always-invited veterans to be the only artist on the jury, it's gonna be a tragic/fun to watch shitstorm afterwards when people blame her personally for them not getting a spot. I don't think she realizes what a terrible choice it was to publicly be on the jury.
On the other hand I think if a con had a secret
terf jury that didn't pick anyone with gendie shit that would be so very based. If I was on the jury I'd turn down any gendie artist I saw (meaning they make gendie art, idgf if they're just a they/them with green hair making non-gendie art)
>I really don't understand sellers who make AAs their primary source of incomeThis too. You can't just assume you get to be a veteran artist at a con forever when the other artists have to fight for spots or enter a lottery. It's a gamble you have to take.
No. 2365084
>What do you make?
Traditional art, art pendants, functional prints (stationery, greeting cards, stickers)
>Where do you sell? Cons, local markets?
Online, local markets, and on consignment through a local brick and mortar shop in a major US city. My work could probably fit in an AA (my stuff falls under gothic/horror/mythologies with an 00s manga-inspired style because I am old; the local shop I sell through fits a gothic/mythos theme) and I haven't ruled out tabling at least once or twice, just for fun. But judging from what's been said over the past couple of years, maybe not?
>What's the item that sells best/worst?
Prints sell the worst for me online and in-person, but only because I'm learning that my current audience prefers my art on things you could call a "functional" print (greeting cards, stickers, art print jewelry) over things they could hang on a wall. It's possible that they'd be more open to wall scrolls as opposed to posters since some of my buyers have altar rooms, so I'll try it when I start selling in-person again.
My OOAK pendants and traditional art move the fastest in terms of release-to-sale. It taught me that I had been undervaluing myself.
My stickers do great in terms of consistent sales and I'm looking into expanding the kinds/functions that I offer.
>Any advice for old and new artists and crafters?
No idea what I could tell an old creator, but I would absolutely tell a new illustrator who is applying their work to merch to pick a few niches that your work would look good on instead of Doing All The Things. Don't be afraid of hand-prototyping your merch if you want to go the mass-production route, and don't just do everything everyone else does without considering if it's right for you and your work. Also, focus on the audience that you want to attract instead of relying on what's popular. Trust me when I say that someone has been wishing for your work.
>Somebody tried to scam you? Rob you? Harassed you? Any horror stories?
I once had a guy buying stuff from me for his wife and kept saying "she's young so she'd like your stuff" over and over again made me want to file an FBI report. What a weird thing to say to me. It wasn't an insult; he seemed very excited. In fact, I wish it were an insult. A few of the other vendors at the show said he told them similar things.
>What's something you cannot stand in a con/market? Cringy cosplayers? Rude people? Other vendors being insufferable?
When I first started out, another shop asked me to consign with them. Since I had a great experience with my current partner, I started with a few pieces.
Three months later, I reached out just to check in, and it turned out they never kept up with anything I had sold. Fortunately, I never bring anything expensive to new arrangements like this, so it was more disappointing than anything else. Next time, if I get an invitation to sell, I'll ask for references from their other artists.
No. 2365295
File: 1737815275952.jpg (22.73 KB, 736x759, 1star.jpg)
Vent incoming, I'm writing a 1 star review for a shitty local printing company I'm dealing with, but I can't post it yet until all payments have gone through for sure. They already added hidden costs I had to fight against, tried to double-charged me for what I already paid and their products were shit and not as promised which they won't do anything about because they think wonky cut prints and colors being all wrong is "reasonable". I don't want them to punish me more if I drop the review now and they figure out it's me so I'll wait until it's all over.
I searched the local AA discord out of curiosity and I found multiple people complaining about the same company, but when I go online to the common review sites there's barely any negative reviews at all. So now it also kind of pisses me off that there's a pretty big group of artists who all agree they're a shit company but none of them have left a negative review online to let people know that?!
No. 2373300
>>2372968In some aspects yes, in others not at all! I don't want to make things I wouldn't buy myself, so I don't make 50 different cheap plastic key chains because I just don't use them. I don't like meme-art either (funny art is different) and I often like crafted unique items, like handmade book stops - I WISH I had the skills to make that but I'm really trying to make fun unique items too within my skill sets.
But where I differ mostly is I make almost exclusively fandom art, which I very rarely buy as I prefer original art from others.
No. 2374019
>>2370855Thanks In that case, I have a personal tumblr should I just make a separate one for art? Or upload on my old tumblr, I should have some followers and people I interacted with from 10 years ago still.
Ngl tumblr was the best place for getting to know artists imo and knowing more about creativity in general for me.
No. 2377189
File: 1738455941981.png (3.75 MB, 2436x1125, IMG_5657.png)
I don't know if this is the right place to ask but I was thinking about making stickers or other stationery for my school's senior art exhibition. Think productive planner stickers and washi tape, not artist alley/convention type stuff. My professor seemed a bit put off when I said I was interested in selling the stickers, but I've seen in the past that some students list prices on their work out of interest in selling it. My other idea was getting a QR code for a payment service like venmo so guests can take stickers for free and send me a donation if they feel like it. Are these bad ideas?
No. 2377353
File: 1738466612764.webp (112.79 KB, 1000x1000, STAGOGH1VanGoghStickers_2_A_12…)
>>2377189>Think productive planner stickers and washi tape, not artist alley/convention type stuff.I think if you're serious about art and making it a career then trying to make a sellable product is admirable. But I can see the apprehension in seeing an art exhibition as a place to sell a cheap product like stickers too. If I was the professor I'd encourage it for everyone, but I can see that it might come off as sacrilegious to do art "just for money" for old-school art teachers.
Ultimately you should create the art YOU think is fun and that believe in, and just because the teacher doesn't see it doesn't mean it's not meaningful. Stickers and washi tape are used to create art and fun in daily life for creative people, that has value! But you also don't want to come off as consoom driven and money hungry, you still want to maintain good relationships with everyone and show that your passion is for art and not just for selling. My advice is therefor simply: do both. Create some traditional art just for show, and tie it in with the smaller merch. Use the same colors or patterns, or even the art image itself as stickers etc. Make sure it's cohesive, make the stickers seem like a cute fun side bonus derivative of the art. Not just a different side project you did for quick cash. Famous van gogh paintings are sold as stickers in picrel, for example. Find a way to tie it all together!
No. 2377697
>>2377353>Ultimately you should create the art YOU think is fun and that believe in, and just because the teacher doesn't see it doesn't mean it's not meaningful. >Make sure it's cohesive, make the stickers seem like a cute fun side bonus derivative of the art. My project is very relevant to
museum objects and my wish that museum gift shops would carry more whimsical stationery-related stuff (and I have a second set planned for tracking goals and other weekly planner things) so I'm glad that my plans so far align with your feedback!
No. 2378776
>>2374019Think about the image you want to cultivate and see if that lines up with your old blog. If it doesn't, just make a new Tumblr. Don't make a sideblog, and don't try to stick to only posting art. Interact with as many people as you can, do fanart of their OCs, don't get into drama, and do a few art giveaways every so often. You'll build a following that's happy to support you financially. Make a Kofi too, you can sell commissions and physical items on there as well as receive tips.
>>2377189Oh, that sounds cute! Go for it!
No. 2379010
>>2377697Different anon here. My art thesis in college (2018) was very popculture inspired and adjacent to the artist alley shit I did at the time. I was trained by a traditional painter and although I definitely stood out, it was very well received so I'm confident what you will be have will do just fine. Keep us updated here
nonnie!
No. 2380148
I hate seeing kpop fanmerch in AAs, esp. from male kpop groups, it looks weird as shit, kpop already has its own merch, go buy that you normies. Plus I also hate seeing merch from horrorish pieces of media that totally missed their target and it's popular with kids like Squid Game. In general I hate normies doing merch and families at cons, stay at home with your kids because we lost our weird and niche spaces because people got popular on social media and are now invading post covid, when I see mothers/fathers at my booth I always cringe because no, just because I do cute stuff doesn't mean it's for kids but I canno really say no, right? Plus they have no concept of small/self business. I once sold a keychain to a girl not thinking much, I got money and that was it until at the end of the day (at the end! of the day! I sold that piece at mid-day ish and the con ended at 8pm) and another artist came to me saying "they are looking for you"
"THEY" being this girl and his dad saying "can we change? My daughter doesn't like it anymore"
Sir, can you fucking see I'm leaving with suitcases? And do I look like a store? They had all day to come back, apparently the children got tired of it and I know that her dad wanted to make her happy but it doesn't work like that in Artist Alley, I'm not Amazon nor a store that at the end of the day simply closes its doors, ending the con means putting back all of my booth and he went around asking everyone at the AA if they could "change the keychain" and they replied that they were not the artist before getting back to me and they told me that his reply was "Wait, you don't work here??" to everyone. I can let weird kids in, hell, even normie curious teenagers but weird celebrity fangirls and families shouldn't be allowed in fandom spaces.
No. 2380825
File: 1738634278830.png (1.15 MB, 1080x714, 1000008333.png)
What are some of your design pet peeves? Mine is when people draw symmetry tool bases and just swap the character like picrel. It feels really lazy. I know work smarter not harder if it earns the dough I guess but it just feels soulless. It's not even an unique concept most of the time it's always the most basic Chibis with no pose variety.
No. 2380867
File: 1738636810315.mp4 (1.67 MB, 720x1280, Snapinst.app_video_AQO0OU3IODw…)
>>2380825itabags 99.9% of the time theyre made of shitty pleather that disintegrates after a couple years and theyre such a niche product that becomes a money sink for each bag you have to fill up with trinkets. In general, I hate "small businesses" tapping into outsourcing production into cheap chinese labour then mope about how much "hard work" it is to make the product (when all theyre doing is paying extra for the prototype fees) and reap the credit of "designing their own product!!" you see this a lot with plushie grifters who make impossible designs, often in a basic 2d front/back view only, who then get mad when it doesnt translate well into 3D and ridicule the results. These soulless grifters need to get a fucking hobby but oh wait they'll monetize and outsource that shit too
No. 2380901
File: 1738638866042.webp (222.44 KB, 794x705, il_794xN.5247476496_otid.jpg)
>>2380867samefag, apologies I misinterpreted your question, I thought you were referring to merchandise in general. My design pet peeves would be inexperienced artists who have no idea how to draw chibis in an appealing way trying to join in on the fandom merch grift but all they end up doing is stockpiling on excess plastic that eventually ends up as junk once the FOTM changes. most of the time they have this really westernized, tumblr art style that is a visual eyesore and something I would not hang on my bag to show off
No. 2380925
>>2380867AYRT, I did mean the latter but I actually cannot agree more with the plush businesses. I hate how they brag about 'how much work' it costed to get the prototype done when its actually done by outsourced labour who have to design and tweak the pattern all by hand, its so tone deaf. Especially when you know how much skill it takes, there's a reason plush artists
charge around 300$ for a custom made item.
>>2380901Kek what is up with the noses? None of these are appealing unless you are a tumblr gendie. I guess that is an audience but I don't think they're breaking even with this type of landfill.
No. 2381374
>>2380148>I hate seeing kpop fanmerch in AAsI truly don't get it. 99% of the time I see it it's a copy of an existing image of the kpop idol. So they could just buy the original photo and support the idol directly instead. Kpop fans in general are really "rabid" and loyal and want to support the idols, not someone making what is essentially bootleg merch.
>"can we change? My daughter doesn't like it anymore"Couldn't even go 1 day damn. That's shit parenting from the dad, thinking he's entitled to swap it from a small business, he should have taught her to make better choice from the start and to stick with them.
>"Wait, you don't work here??"So he literally learned that you guys are independent artists who don't work for the con (takes an idiot to not know what already…) and he STILL insisted he should be able to swap the item? Come on dude.
No. 2381393
File: 1738670384124.png (1.09 MB, 1294x1188, loomi.png)
>>2380825>Mine is when people draw symmetry tool bases and just swap the character That one is 50/50 to me. It CAN be done well and be cute to have matching items, but most of the time you can tell when it's just a copy because they're lazy. It also makes a difference if they have 1 set like that, or if they do it for EVERY set/anime.
>>2380867>itabagsItabags is something I've never used and likely never will use, but they're such a niche nerdy item that I can't hate on them. It's not something sold in stores (at least not where I live) so they fill a hole in the market.
>you see this a lot with plushie grifters who make impossible designs, often in a basic 2d front/back view only, who then get mad when it doesnt translate well into 3D and ridicule the results.I can't lie I love cute plushies lmao but also you made me realize that bear (I had seen the video in the wild already) is NOT made by the person I thought. I was gonna be like "they made a bunch of bears already and already had a 3D template tho" but I was thinking of picrel. Now I feel like the other one is a rip-off of these since they're in the same spaces, but bears are the template plush form so you can't really claim "this one was first" huh.
>>2380901>My design pet peeves would be inexperienced artists who have no idea how to draw chibis in an appealing wayFucking hilarious that they all have animal crossing clown noses
>>2380925>Kek what is up with the noses? None of these are appealing unless you are a tumblr gendie.Those people must be in such a bubble, they think getting tumblr asspats is the standard when in reality that's super niche.
No. 2381629
File: 1738682044457.jpg (98.18 KB, 736x736, 9967a4956343505cbbd66dc3e3bb59…)
>>2380825>Symmetry tool chibiesI also hate that. Lazy as fuck and makes every design cheap
>Copypaste designs with only details changed but poses are the sameReeks of lazyness, no actual artistic reinterpretation and funko pop tier cash grabbing move. I don't consider these two examples "artists" because they just have basic skills with no actual heart and soul, I like to buy from people that actually care about the shit they do and are proud of their work.
>Out of character arts/headcanon shitFor ex. dark characters being reduced to cinnamon rolls misunderstood babies and being put in cutesy styles/situations or gross tranny stuff which is more common than ever because now fandom is infested with twittards art kids who discovered fandoms yesterday and use characters as representation rather than characters themselves. For ex I'm a big fan of trigun and arcane and I hate how male characters are drawn with pussies and it's almost expected because that's the most common headcanon, that's gross as shit and despite not buying porn, I can smell when a character gets mischaracterized to cater to a very specific fandom joke/rainbow alphabet propaganda
>"Joke" merch that quotes internet shit/self deprecating humor like "Old man yaoi" "Bed rotting queen" and shit like that>Facebook mom tier merch that gets a pass because it's kawaiified like a cute frog/snail/cow that says "Me when I don't have my coffee">Unpolished artIdk how to explain but if someone clearly lack skills but has enough money to pay for manifacturers and tables, I think they should spend their money on art tutorials and get off their high horse. I'm not talking about skills or styles, but stuff like wobbly lines, nosense designs, paintbucked filled lines, "how to draw manga" western book styles..
>People who make character/oc jewelryI can understand actual jewelry with designs that can be worn without looking awkward but people who make character/oc jewelry, esp oc like…how am I supposed to wear that? It's wasteful, I don't even wear my own ocs because I'm not a turboautist with her Sonichu Medallion, what tells you that's a good idea??
Talking about Seller Pet Peeves, I hate when someone shares their preorder sheets +2 times/day and says "up for the algo!!" no that's not algo problems, people simply don't want your stuff and can't understand that people don't want another trinket at every release. I buy art but I find difficult to buy more than a couple of keychains/con because I don't have that much keys/bags, I prefer art or other stuff and I think that many sellers don't think from a buyer point of view and then cry because they can't sell.
No. 2382084
>>2381629>Facebook mom tier merch that gets a pass because it's kawaiified like a cute frog/snail/cow that says "Me when I don't have my coffee"I don't like meme-merch either but I can
accept this one simply because it IS so wide spread. I'm literally the one who gives it a "pass" lol. Tho maybe it just looks better next to the god awful "Old man yaoi" "Bed rotting queen" and that's why I don't find it as bad.
>Unpolished artIdk how to explain but if someone clearly lack skills but has enough money to pay for manifacturers and tables, I think they should spend their money on art tutorials and get off their high horse.
Let them waste their own time and money! You'd think they would do BARE MINIMUM and check out AA before to see what level people who sell are on before they "invest" in a business in which their skills are mediocre at best. The most tragic thing I've seen in AA was a teenage-looking girl (in cosplay) who sat silently at a table of hand drawn pencil sketches of k-pop guys. No cover over the table, no signs, nothing to prop the art up. Just a handful of white printer paper drawings flat on the table.
No. 2382400
>>2380825Artists who make shit merch, don't sell enough to cover their costs, complain about it forever, and then go back and make the very same mistakes but louder. Stepping back and looking at the unsold stock can show why it wasn't sold. Maybe the printing was off, or it didn't stand out enough. Maybe it was the price or the presentation or the packaging/lack thereof. Maybe it was just really atrocious art. Whatever it is, it's something that can and should be fixed before the next AA, or the same problems will arise and they still won't make enough money to cover the masses of cash they sunk into a vanity project that they can't admit was a flop.
On that same note, I haaaaate asspats in AA and artist communities. Art might be subjective but sales really fucking aren't and if you want to make money you need to learn from your mistakes. But that's mean and hurts Dangerhair-chan's feelings, so we all have to pretend her lack of sales had nothing to do with her art being shit and her merch being oversaturated. Or her lack of hygiene and turbo retardation, I swear none of them have heard of deodorant and they all spend their day screeching at their friends instead of looking approachable to customers.
>>2380867I wonder if the tariffs will make this come to a screeching halt. Time for artists to bust out their grandma's sewing machines and Choly Knight patterns and get crafting.
>>2381629I agree with everything you said, especially the fandom jewellery/accessories. It looks like Disney costumes where everything has the princess' face and name on it. It's possible to make fandom merch that's subtle, cute, wearable and practical. Characters all have some motifs and colors they're associated with that artists can use instead of the character's badly drawn face. Even a memorable phrase or motto on a necklace or keychain is better than the shit they churn out and fail to sell. Subtle isn't the same as invisible.
No. 2382511
>>2382400>I haaaaate asspats in AA and artist communities. Art might be subjective but sales really fucking aren't Making art and making a sellable product from art are two entirely different things. Heck your art can be good for real and not sell because it doesn't fit the format and product. Classical paintings are beautiful and timeless, but they often don't work as a tiny sticker or keychain.
But many people's art is just… too mediocre. It doesn't pop, it doesn't offer anything new. There's no reason to buy it. But like you said, you can't tell them that or it's too "mean". Sometimes I see art that is SO close to being good but it has 1 single massive flaw that literlly ruins it. I wish I could tell them because I genuinely believe it would help them but they'd just block me and call me a bully.
I also think one of the reasons so many big-ish artists who've sold for a handful of years are now saying the market is suddenly shit is because it's the first time they've had to experience the market shifting. They're only used to small trends shifting like fotm or the current trendy meme, they didn't account for people getting tired of every booth having nothing but keychains so they don't get why people aren't buying the keychains anymore.
No. 2383336
>>2380825Pride flags. They ruin a good design 10 out of 10 times.
I can't help but imagine an excited child buying all the demi boy asexual trans flag pins, only to a few years later peak and feel distraught by all these adults grooming her into medical harm so she throws them all away angrily and in shame for ever having bought into it. The flags are a symbol of misguided evil and they will age like milk.
No. 2385125
File: 1738864825282.jpg (1.44 MB, 3200x4000, cpage2_fin.jpg)
>>2380825I loathe fandom enamel pins with the laziest copy paste designs. It's not like printing a bunch of stickers or charms with lazyass designs, making enamel pins is much more harmful to the environment, more labor intensive, and more room for mistakes (you are guaranteed B-grade, C-grade pins) It's why you should be more mindful when designing enamel pins. It's always a turn off to see an entire booth of lazy fandom pin designs, their booth just looks like a giant fast fashion environmental disaster.
No. 2385274
File: 1738868897292.jpeg (6.82 KB, 225x225, images-4.jpeg)
>>2385125I'm surprised these characters all aren't holding that one generic knife kek
No. 2385345
File: 1738872130830.jpg (255.75 KB, 714x601, tumblr_nsam1eMRFq1qzjmago1_128…)
Price tags!
How do you personally go about pricing things? Do you price yourself higher to make your art seem more exclusive, or do you make sure you're always the cheapest option to get more sales?
Do you use individual tags on every item or do you have a "menu list" with prices?
Do you design wacky price tags like picrel, or do you use minimalist price tags or something between? Why did you choose that option?
No. 2385604
>>2385345I love those price tags. Nobody's reading any lists at AAs, everything is priced by section, including large items which are priced individually as well. The bigger and more attention-catching the price tags, the higher the chance that someone will actually read it. The price tags should stand out enough that they don't look like part of the item itself- even if you think it's impossible to miss, they might not stand out when you assemble your table, or the prices might be too small to read from a distance.
For anynonna who sews and doesn't want to lug a bunch of plushes and accessories around, it's a great idea to bring some pre-made items, price them really high, and sell kits to make the item for much cheaper. Just remember to do all the parts which a total beginner would really struggle with like embroidered faces, and include extra fabric to practice stitches, as well as very clear instructions with lots of diagrams. Keep the patterns as simple as possible and label everything. If you have an online presence, tell customers to take photos of their finished items and tag you.
No. 2386310
File: 1738921447083.mp4 (1.72 MB, 576x1024, 1000008371.mp4)
I love this trend of people sharing their best and worst sellers because I get to see how garbage mediocre some of these people's art are and then are surprised they get no sales.
No. 2386336
File: 1738924510401.png (828.28 KB, 918x940, stickers.png)
>>2386310>because I get to see how garbage mediocre some of these people's art are and then are surprised they get no sales.I can't lie I feel the same kek but there is genuine value in learning from others mistakes!
Like you can tell picrel from the video you posted are just not there yet in terms of skill. They're rendermaxing and abusing the airbrush tool and think that covers up the wonky anatomy when they can't even draw a chibi head consistently (rendermaxed chibis is also a personal pet peeve of mine, it looks os mismatched and uncanny valley).
And then they have 2 near identical white + black fish stickers right next to each other, also a bad choice! It makes it look like you don't know what you're doing. Keep the one you're most confident in, the other one is now trash.
We do get glimpses of what appears to possibly be slightly better quality art? (Hard to tell from the vid tho) So I'm guessing these could be older stickers that they just can't sell, would also explain why they've got the same fish concept twice: they're there because the artist is hoping to get the money back on these old excess stickers that just won't sell. But at this point they're dragging the whole table down - people don't know if you drew these 5 years ago or yesterday so you're only as good as the art you show right then and there. At some point you really have to accept that the art doesn't sell and it's time to trash is.
And to add to the analysis: the crochet plushies are very cute! Genuinely cool and well made. But they're mostly simple "kawaii" style and come in cute pastel colors, which is a complete mismatch with these stickers. They should unify the brand better and choose which style to focus on. I'm not even saying they can't do both in terms of art, but separate them. Either make one side the darker "realistic" side (or generic anime side, whatever they're going for) and the other a pastel kawaii style or just focus on selling one style at a time depending on what the con seems to lean towards overall.
No. 2386431
>>2386310>First stickersPeople really don't understand that anime doesn't translate to western criteria for expressions and rendering that well and I can see it in those weird westernized anime style, idk about you nonnies but I can see when someone doesn't watch anime kek
>Crochet animalsBoring and clashing if the whole booth isn't crochet.
>Whatever totebagmid design, doesn't stand out.
>KeyringsSame as before but with dying fandom
Good job!
No. 2386465
>>2386344The thing is these artists wouldn't even buy their own art if it was someone else selling it. They'd literally only buy it if it was made by a close friend or if they're showing pity to someone their own level because they think that somehow gives them karma to sell their own mediocre art items too. People become "sales blind" and think everything they do has value (to others) just because it took effort from them to make it. They refuse to stop and think for a second if their own art compares to what is being sold around them and if it's even appealing to themselves
>>2386431>I can see when someone doesn't watch anime kekI think they do watch it, but they only draw tumblr slop so when they try to draw anime it comes out really awkward
>>2386310This is all really fun though, please post more so we can judge them all!
No. 2386526
File: 1738937720347.mp4 (15.85 MB, 720x1280, 1000008377.mp4)
>>238646>please post more so we can judge them all!AYRT, Will do! I'll try to only post note worthy ones so I don't spam the thread. I found this one to be intriguing because this person sells nothing but the same copy pasta chibi with a ditto face. It's funny that they're also finally admitting their genshit stuff is finally no longer selling kek.
No. 2386532
>>2386526Something I noticed is that people don't buy in AAs wearables (socks/shirt etc) if they're not ooak or with a very particular original print, because people don't like it and also mystery boxes do badly because people want to know what they're buying, the gacha only works if people can choose.
Anyway, who could want those ditto faced prints?? Genshit was the curse of AAs because it has so many characters and it was programmed to fail, this left the artists with a lot of unsold merch
"It's time to reduce the collection"
Yeah no shit but is it really a collection if it includes 20+ design from the same media?
Now that I think about it, I unconsciously don't buy from people who have too much merch on display like this person, it looks like a store and I search for creativity in AAs
No. 2386549
>>2386532Wearables tend to be super fucking expensive too. I've bought a few but that's only because I absolutely loved the designs on top of being willing to shell out at the moment and liking the fabric choice (oftentimes the fabrics are horrendous, the socks in
>>2386526 look like theyre made of a squeaky material)
No. 2386602
>>2386526I remember browsing this store, but I did not buy anything because of the ugly faces. Talking of genshin, so many of the booths at the con I went to sold mostly (or only) genshin but because I've never played I couldn't buy anything from them. Instead I ended up gravitating to official merch booths to find stuff I actually liked and spent 90% of my money there.
>>2386532>>2386549You two reminded me how the only wearables I've ever purchased were 3 Love Live shirts (good fanart) that were 100% cotton on the label. Worthy purchase because it's been 10 years and there's not a single hole or fraying thread to be seen. They cost just over £70 in total iirc but I was happy to pay it because quality material + my otps kek.
No. 2386640
File: 1738943697869.jpeg (992.35 KB, 1036x1427, 1987C81F-9029-4168-943E-326F82…)
>>2386602I purchased a t-shirt years ago in AA like picrel. I was able to see the quality of the print in person as well as feel the material so I knew what I was getting into. Most wearables are cheap, digital prints that also don’t translate from posters or charms to a t-shirt or socks. I liked how clean the print looked in picrel, like it was actually designed to be worn on your body. I wore the shirt a lot before it was randomly stolen.
Also not me in the screencap. For illustrative purposes only kek No. 2386694
>>2386310I looked her up and her Etsy shows she's selling those godawful stickers for £2.50 each. No wonder they're not moving. The keyrings look just as overdone and muddy as the stickers. Just stick them in lucky bags and be done with it already.
>>2386431>dying fandomFandoms have zero lasting power these days. Please god let the lack of sales and the import tax be the wake up call that sellers need to stop ordering 23 metric tons of ugly plastic tat every time they get into a new show.
>>2386526That's so overhwelming to look at. Cons aren't built for leisurely browsing! A lot of the low sellers are hidden behind other merch- even if they're not popular items, she'd still have more sales if customers could actually see them. She has a bunch of things on sale on her website but not the socks, pouches or button lucky bags, which is a bit weird since she wants to get rid of them.
No. 2386866
>>2386526Same face on EVERYTHING is insane. Especially when she's picked a style that doesn't even show eye colors, which is typically a big deal in anime designs.
>>2386532>Something I noticed is that people don't buy in AAs wearables (socks/shirt etc)Yeah it's just not really the market for it, I think partly because there are no changing rooms and people are often in cosplay so you can't try anything on for size.
>Now that I think about it, I unconsciously don't buy from people who have too much merch on display like this personYeah, too many choices are just overwhelming! When they're all identical like this (and if you're interested) you then kinda have to go through ALL of them to pick and that's mentally a lot of effort. I think a "series" of something should preferably be like 3-6, definitely less than 10. I've never put too much thought into analyzing it before, everyone here judging these videos feels genuinely helpful kek thanks nonas
>>2386602>so many of the booths at the con I went to sold mostly (or only) genshin but because I've never played I couldn't buy anything from them.I keep saying this about fanart! You
can absolutely be a popular fandom artist, or single-fandom even, but you then can't make same faced slop or copy what everyone else is doing. You have to actually be creative and show that you're passionate for the fandom and fill holes the official merch are leaving.
No. 2386902
File: 1738955428707.jpg (48.74 KB, 800x800, 6936785410793.jpg)
>>2386532>and also mystery boxes do badly because people want to know what they're buying, the gacha only works if people can choose.As someone who sold 50+ mystery bags on my first try let me tell you it's not the mystery box that people don't like, it's that AA artist for the life of them cannot get them right. For example
>>2386526>flopped: mystery pouchesThey are plain and not designed. They literally only have black lines on a white paper as the tag. They're badly positioned and squeezed in at the back where you can't see them well, and can't see the important information that there are 5 whole buttons in them because it's on the bottom. She then also goes on to say they're discontinued meaning they're unwanted buttons to begin with and she's just doing it to get rid of them! She has no theme or concept behind them: they're bad buttons she's trying to get rid off for cheap.
That's NOT hitting anything about what is appealing about a blind box! They don't understand it's an actual product you have to design. First of all you have to make the product intended FOR mystery boxes from start, it cannot be a last minute excuse to get rid of old shit you don't like. People can tell.
You really need appealing and cute packaging, that obviously matches the content in style. Part of the experience is opening the box/pouch so the packaging has to be fun on its own too.
People like knowing what they're pulling for (especially if it's expensive) so you should have pictures on the packaging, possibly with odds % and a "mystery design" or two to entice people. I have done blind bags without pictures too tho, so you can absolutely still be successful if you're able to incorporate it into the theme and design.
Selling them discounted is a sign nobody wants them because they're bad. They should be priced properly to show they have value. People instinctively associate a low price with "bad quality".
If you just wanna get rid of old shit, make a cheap "discounted/flawed" box and dump them all in there and you'll sell way more! It's way more attractive to people who are browsing for cheap items and they can see what they're getting so they don't feel ripped off.
No. 2386950
File: 1738958115677.mp4 (19.23 MB, 720x1280, 1000008385.mp4)
>>2386532>Anyway, who could want those ditto faced prints?? I think a lot of normies going to cons just have shit tastes kek. She has about 70k followers on IG. That doesn't equal sales always but there is an audience for low effort haha-funny tier humor.
I looked at her other reels and she's consistently not selling any of her FOTM slop. Even her 'newly launched' One Piece pins did poorly. These types of people don't realize visitors are tired of the same shit over and over again kek.
No. 2386993
File: 1738959769878.png (2.15 MB, 896x1434, slop.png)
>>2386950>I looked at her other reels and she's consistently not selling any of her FOTM slop.Jesus christ I didn't realize just how MUCH slop she produces. That's so wasteful, take the hint that your shit isn't selling wtf. I genuinely just cannot respect this person as an artist, it's devoid of any love and passion. And the way she just throws them into a sales pile mess proves she knows they're just cheap items to throw away, she doesn't even value them herself.
No. 2387536
>>2386950>>2386993Even if I found a pin cute I wouldn't want to buy from someone like that. When I'm in AA I want to buy art that is a labor of love, not mass produced garbage. I'm the anon who complained about
>>2351271 being a bit too generic and copy-pasted but at least that artist only made a small series with matching cards and shit, she actually treats her generic art with some level of respect unlike this ditto face mess. The irony that someone who uses a ditto face is making bad cheap copies of everything huh
No. 2388082
>>2386950the ditto face works for gravity falls but is shit for everything else. i would totally buy a karlach charm, but not those.
also why are the ditto faces always red? take that signed gale sticker for example. he doesn't have red eyes or wear lipstick wtf
No. 2389874
>>2385345I can't stand people who tell literal newbies who are asking for help to price things for the first time to calculate how much time they spent making the art into the price. Them taking 20h to finish one piece that a more skilled artist could do in 2h does not mean the newbie deserves 10x more pay just for having put more time in! It's the opposite, the skilled artist should get paid more for being efficient.
I prefer it when every single item has a price tag, often where I live people just print list and it's kind of annoying to have to check back and forth to make sure the price is right
No. 2389958
>>2389937>Does anyone actually consider time spent drawing when deciding product prices? Going by the AA discords I'm in, yeah. It's the number one advice they give when new people ask and they phrase it as "So this is what I do"
>It's good advice but only for custom pieces.I think any advice that comes with "it's good advice BUT…" and it's only for specific cases is just not good advice for a new person, unless they were asking specifically about custom pieces to begin with. Part of the problem with people who do
>>2389874 is that they then don't explain it any further and why/when it won't work.
No. 2390327
>>2389990>I don’t know about AAs specifically but my mother is a professional illustrator and yeah, pricing follows industry standards and doesn’t really take into account how much time goes into a specific piece.AA is just it's own market and most sellers have never in their entire life touched the "real" (for a lack of a better term) art market, it's totally different.
>>2390200>Even in your country there are fucking tattoo artists in AAs?I've not seen it in AA, but some cons I go to usually have a few tattoo artists there in like a pop-up shop and I find it painfully cringe. I also find it a bit predatory to use tattoos as an impulse buy when those cons consist of mainly kids and young people.
No. 2390920
File: 1739141104996.png (11.78 MB, 2779x2351, 564567.png)
Another artist sharing their L's
>Genshin Character pyjamas/cross-body bags
Way too niche of an idea plus the fabric looks like cheap polyester garbage I would see in a Primark. How did they even get this shit funded with a Kickstarter?
>Genshin plush keychains
Generic idea, can even barely recognize some of the characters.
>Genshin Make up palettes
Where are these even manufactured? If it is from some random factory in Alibaba expect it to be contaminated with a shitton of lead.
>Constellation charms
Not a terrible idea, but the simple lines one just plain clear acrylic just looks cheap.
How much money can one waste on failed genshit slop product? I am just convinced a lot of artist alley 'artists' are just trustfund babies wasting their parents money on terrible product ideas.
No. 2390943
>>2390920>I am just convinced a lot of artist alley 'artists' are just trustfund babies wasting their parents money on terrible product ideas.They are. Manifacturing takes money and energy so actual artists think twice before manifacturing and use their money wisely. If they're not sloopers like
>>2386950 , they save money to know which ideas could work. Her table alone could tank up to more than 2k easily, 3k depending on quantity, you simply don't shit up 3k in merch that can easily get trashed unless you're 100% sure that they will sell unless you are voluntarily a nichey artist. They're rich and most likely pushed to work by parents but since they don't want to go to an actual work, they jump on trends and never put actual artistry into stuff. Most slop artists are richies who are bored with no artistic talent.
No. 2391154
>>2386902With how much pins costs how would someone even make blind boxes? I looked into vinyl products and it seems pretty expensive to produce. I would love to see more unique products at AA’s but it seems like keychains, stickers and pins are the usual market. Do people want prints anymore?
I’d love to see more wearable art but that is a whole other issue with t-shirt sizes, color and quality for example.
>>2386993This reminds me of a pin artist I followed on Patreon and she pumped out cute animal designs monthly. I had to stop because I was getting overwhelmed; even though she had some variety in her shape and face design. I couldn’t image making so many products with red eyes and a red mouth when it doesn’t suit most all characters. I think most people get excited then see the face and leave. The seller must not understand or is in too deep to want to change.
No. 2391173
>>2390920I never could get into Genshin but I assume it’s like idol series. In the 90’s you had a big cast of characters but most artists focused on just a few characters who were considered main characters; Sailor Moon would be the biggest risk because not all characters were popular and that was only 10-12 “main” characters.
Genshin seems like a nightmare. Why not just choose a handful the artist enjoys and work from there? I see the same issue with FFXIV. Not all classes sell and I wonder how much merch is left afterwards.
No. 2391790
>>2390920As an artist I do get the appeal of making "everything", but if you wanna actually sell and "be a brand" you have to be realistic and know who your audience is. Especially when you're so niche you cater to a single fandom that (clearly) did not want the pajamas or the plushies you already made - then going on to make makeup palettes is just plain stupid! Glad she's having the sense to regret it now.
>>2391154>Do people want prints anymore? Well at least I do! I think artists should push more for albums to store prints in as a normal product. I've literally never seen it get sold (apart from recently seeing sticker albums popping up) and it seems like such a given to give people a way to store the art they buy when they can't hang it ALL up on the walls. I've seen people say they buy more prints than they can use and they don't know what to do with them. Just get people to treat them like trading cards and put them in a safe album.
No. 2391798
>>2390920I love the diversity of the products but this is a nightmare for a small artist to develop and sell. Hot Topic has enough reach to shill fandom PJs and makeup to hundreds of thousands of fans, this one random person does not.
Mnufacturers are notorious for being flaky, it would have been less of a headache if she'd made the PJs herself to order. It's easy to screenprint a logo or a face onto some premade plain cotton PJs, or she could sew them herself if she wanted to customize them more.
>>2389991Prices are consistent because if they aren't, the item doesn't sell. The advice of pricing your art according to how long you spent on it makes more sense when it's handmade plushes, clay and resin items, and other non-mass produced goods. Unfortunately, newbies are too retarded to understand that nobody's going to pay hundreds for a lumpy crochet potato. What nobody is allowed to say in case of hurt feefees is that the item has to be appealing and cost effective in order for the time-to-cost ratio to apply in the first place.
No. 2391839
File: 1739192518631.jpg (27.4 KB, 500x334, 652afa96e930f4b357a5215fbb70f1…)
>>2391798>What nobody is allowed to say in case of hurt feefees is that the item has to be appealing and cost effective in order for the time-to-cost ratio to apply in the first place.Exactly this. The real advice should be that you as the artist is paying with your time and effort, so if you wanna sell something YOU have make sure it's time efficient. It's not on the customer to pay extra for you being slow!
>>2391812I see potential there! Maybe a binder with decorative papers inserted as backing and different size sleeves so you can fit art of different sizes while still making it look good… I'm gonna make one for myself kek
It's kind of surprising how little I was able to find about art binders like that on a quick google search, how do people normally store art prints they buy? Mine are loose in a folder, I swap them out from display areas from time to time. I mostly buy small prints though
No. 2391845
>>2391839>>2391812>>2391790I keep the poster size pieces in an art folder with the standard sizes like 8.5 x 11 or 5 x 7 stacked in the sleeve. It’s not elegant lmao but I needed a way to keep my various prints together, like a coffee table book.
Having a standard folder sold with sleeves might help; but I would assume customers would buy that on their off time and not in a con. It might sell.
Most people have 5 x 7 or 8.5 x 11. I only bought a few posters but I’ve read poster size is preferred while some artist don’t go below 8.5 x 11 for example. But if an artist had their own folders they sold in set print sizes it could sell but it would need an angle to separate it from a hobby shop.
No. 2391870
>>2391845>but I would assume customers would buy that on their off time and not in a con.People are lazy, if you're at the con with a handful of prints and there's a binder right there for you to buy then many will buy it just to get their hands free in that moment. I've worked at a small merch shop for a sports team, umbrellas sold like hotcakes any time it was raining, and I can guarantee every single one of those people had multiple umbrellas at home!
The unique art on the binder cover would of course also make the product more attractive to people buying art. I'm a TCG-fag and I've often been frustrated that official TCG binders are all so basic, ugly or childish. I'd like to buy a cool custom one, but I don't trust the online (like etsy) ones because they seem to be 99% stolen art and it always feels like a rip-off.
No. 2391888
File: 1739196274925.png (435.77 KB, 642x652, 65757.png)
>>2391839You can buy standard sized pouches for photoalbums. Im an Europoor and most people prefer small A5 Prints over a4 and posters because my customers always say their walls are already full with too many prints and don't have a lot of space. So it would be perfect to kind of craft your own ring binder if you have a printer at home and laminate the front and back with a cool artwork!
No. 2391979
>>2391870Maybe an untapped market at cons then. I was thinking prints like MTG or small like
>>2391888 could do well too. I think most AA still makes small prints rather than big.
Are canvas bags and zipper pouches a good investment? I’ve seen blankets marketed but that seems too expensivr to float in an AA and not see a return.
No. 2391995
>>2391979You have to think like "Would this be handy to carry around?"
Blankets don't sell because where the fuck are you supposed to put them, unless they are very thin, and how can you carry them around?
Big prints risk to get easily ruined unless you're selling shikishi, think about small ones that can be put into magazines or mangas to protect them, think about the buyer mentality and imagine that you're in a very uncomfortable cosplay: what would you buy and put it? How would you carry it around?
No. 2392150
>>2391995>You have to think like "Would this be handy to carry around?"So true tbh, that's another aspect that people forget about when selling in AA. People will pay for convenience though so if you're someone who is set on selling something heavier/bigger you should also offer a plastic bag or something and make sure people know about it.
Imo if you offer plastic bags you could give them away for free with a purchase, but also offer them at a cost for others because chances are most artists don't offer a bag and you'd get sales from others who just want a more convenient way to carry things around.
No. 2392668
File: 1739229901432.jpg (138.52 KB, 405x720, oar2.jpg)
Opinions on selling/buying bookmarks in AA? I never buy them because in my mind I'm like "I could just use any scrap of paper instead for free" but then when I read a book I end up wishing I had a nice bookmark and that I didn't just have a torn off piece of paper lmao
No. 2392709
>>2392320That's a UK seller so unfortunately she will continue to pump out the same generic slop, but hopefully USA nonnas will see a decrease in FOTM keychains with Ditto faces and awful chibi crap and gendie flag everything.
I really can't wait to see what artists come up with in terms of merch once this is out of their budget. I'm thinking crochet and simple plushes with iron on details will take off, they're relatively simple and fast to make and it's easy to make aesthetic videos on Tiktok of a plush coming together.
Stickers and anything else that can be slapped together on Procreate and made with a Cricut will probably be very popular too.
>>2392668Good idea! Treat them like mini prints, have some pricier foiled ones maybe. Don't make them too small or nobody will even see them. If you sell any other book or book-themed items, maybe throw in a free bookmark with purchase. I don't know how much they'll sell in AA but there's a huge market for cute book items thanks to booktok.
No. 2392759
File: 1739234066372.png (4 MB, 1225x1246, insta_0210.png)
Just saw this in the follower list of an artist that I like, who is this meyoco copycat? I know that meyoco didn't trademark shit but don't these "artists", like the ones that copy Qinni, don't even feel a crumble of shame? These are even worse than same face sloopers, tracing the work of other people to make bank, shame on them. I saw that he has 100k on insta and no one sees the blatant plagiarism? Italy is always on the scene when it comes to trace other people, some years ago Yuniiho was caught stealing from Yenkoes, I know that there are also good artists and more importantly, good people but I feel stupid looking at this moid proudly standing in front of his booth, like do you think I'm stupid and I wouldn't notice? I feel like outside the US is more difficult to get cancelled for plagiarism since the singular artist scenes are more closed and gatekept, in some form, that people don't notice what happens outside. Did you ever see plagiarism?
No. 2392776
File: 1739235701772.jpg (140.02 KB, 736x876, 32432.jpg)
>>2392759I feel bad for meyoco, afaik her art got much more simpler over the years because she had a really bad wrist injury from repetitive work so she straight up can't do her old style like she used to while other people cannibalize it. Picrel is old art from her.
No. 2392974
>>2392709>I really can't wait to see what artists come up with in terms of merch once this is out of their budget.I think a lot of artists will just give up and stop selling then tbh, especially if they don't have another skill already like knitting/crochet. I personally like prints, but if you're someone who's done mainly pins and keychains etc it's gonna feel like a big downgrade both to the artist and the fans of that person. It might leave holes for the people who do have other skills to get in though, which will be interesting to see.
>there's a huge market for cute book items thanks to booktokI don't use tiktok so I didn't know this, that's actually really fun
No. 2392996
File: 1739248020860.jpg (98.69 KB, 735x719, 83f0d9bea3b3a3125f7eb914c3f246…)
>>2392759Sorry but I kinda think leaphere does it in a way I like better (this is judging just from quick google searches and the top images though). From what I see meyoco has a very consistent color palette and her images are very "girly" (not an insult, I really like girly stuff). While it's very cute they all end up blending together for me because it's literally the same colors and a lot of it is just a drawing of a female character.
Compared to leaphere who has a much wider variety in colors and subjects and the images are more generally gamer focused (I see lots of pokemon and animal crossing). While the cute style is likely still more popular with females this has a lot more potential to reach out to a wider audience so "anyone" can like it. From what I know about pokemon he also does seem to take great care in portraying lore and key locations in the games, a non-fan wouldn't choose to portray those specific stairs in picrel when visually they're so boring but to a fan that's a very important scene. So leaphere's art feels very genuine while Meyoco's "sailor moon with a moon" could be made by someone who hasn't even read/seen it.
And if we compare what anon says is Meyoco's old art
>>2392776 to what leaphere does it's so far away it's not even a copy anymore.
No. 2393354
>>2392996>Leaphere feels genuineNona it's kawaii slop, it's not different from galaxy boba number 56 and the style is identical to Meyoco.
It's not about the themes, it's the colors, composition, construction and style with fotm anime + cute pokemon, an ever selling combo. It's low effort, not different than
>>2386950 and>>2385125 .
I know that you like him but come on, it's generic uninspired slop that objectively took the inspiration from a more famous artist hoping to swift under the radar, even Ilya got accused of plagiarism. Many non US artist steal artwork and hope to not get caught.
No. 2393430
>>2393354>Nona it's kawaii slopkek yes I know it can be seen that way but I disagree because I happen to like the kawaii style, and gaming.
>I know that you like himI didn't even know this artist prior (or meyoco, though I've likely seen both of their arts in the wild before) so I'm not trying to defend him too much but from what I've seen it's lightyears better than
>>2386950 who literally does copy pasted front facing characters with red dots for eyes - a thousand times over. The example used
>>2392996 actually does have a fun composition reminiscent of polly pocket toys (which is another trend I believe he adopted from) and uses the characters and story well. So I have to disagree that it's slop just because it's kawaii and pokemon is popular. I think he uses the kawaii trends well.
I guess because I don't know either artist it just doesn't really look like he copied meyoco specifically when
>>2392776 and
>>2392996 look nothing alike to me. It's not even the same medium, not the same techniques, colors or character styles. And to say
>>2392776 isn't just a ghibli-esque anime copy to begin with is also highly questionable to me. She wasn't the first artist to draw sailor moon with a moon, or to draw a gameboy in pink. Sorry if I'm disrespecting some legacy internet artist by saying that but I really just don't see it.
No. 2393587
File: 1739289044214.png (1.05 MB, 1200x541, meyoleap.png)
>>2393450The way I see it then is that they both seem to have changed their styles and they draw different things now. Maybe he did piggy back off meyoco's style but since they've both changed it seems like there's not point in being mad at him for it now in present time? Of course you can dislike kawaii as a style but you can't deny that it is very popular and has been for a long time, before either of them got popular.
>saying they are different styles it's plain wrong and being blind purpose.I guess I'm blind then, but it's not on purpose I really don't see whatever you are seeing! If I wanted an elegant female drawing I would NOT contact leaphere, and if I wanted a cutesy chibi scene I would not pick meyoco and instead go ask leaphere. They're both firmly within kawaii and they use a lot of pastels, but the rest is different to me.
No. 2395691
File: 1739393910273.jpg (332.12 KB, 500x558, Bear-sweating-nervously-meme-1…)
>>2394397I'm sorry everyone but my gimmick is probably best described as kawaii slop lmao it's not as bad as what's been posted here (I hope) but I was one of those kids who started drawing the kawaii stuff I saw in my pre-teens and it's basically all I know and like to create. I try really hard to not follow trends and instead draw unusual things and animals though, and I don't overproduce shit that doesn't sell. I have this personal rule that I can only draw an animal (for a product to sell) that I've not seen for sale in person at any AA I've been to before. Like
>>2395562 said this way I don't need to be the best but I stand out because my art is different and it's something they can't get from others. Sometimes people really do say things like "omg is that a fucking proboscis monkey?! I'm buying it right now" because they know they're never gonna see that anywhere else kek
No. 2400965
At every con I find myself updating my list of "do not buy".
I've been going to con since I was 14 and I'm 30 and the decline in quality is so bad, I feel like that either I'm out of target or Artist Alley lost their meanings.
I genuinely don't get why normie or social justice shit even leaked into anime and videogames spaces, till around 2015ish no one was doing that because it was a tumblr exclusive shit, but now you can expose surgery scars shitty bl and you get tons of customers, they radicalized me kek. I want to support actual artists so that's why I don't buy from:
- Men. The fuck are you doing in artist alley, you autist, go look at some trains or if you're there trying for easy pussy, fuck off.
- Tifs. You can easily clock them, or theyfabs. Not supporting mental illnesses, on the same page, people with mental illness merch, I don't find your self deprecating bpd joke cute.
- Anyone who copypastes their merch like they're some funko pop mastermind, if you cannot be bothered to come up with unique designs I don't get why I should pay you
- People with only fotm. Yeah it's easy but if you only have fotm, get a real job
- Anyone with those weird undress games if you donate, I noticed one at a con in my country, for every coin the artist drew a character slightly less clothed. Cringe.
- People who put too many things in a blender and the result is merch that's only understandable by a small fraction of the fandom that's on socia media.
- Kinda linked to the previous point, performative activism. I will not sustain Palestine, fuck off, I go to cons to escape the shit world outside and it used to be a safe space for weird people, who tells you that's a good idea if not other fake activists. That stuff doesn't belong to cons
- I can tolerate kawaii sloopers, at least they're doing their own thing instead of dying of fomo.
I think that with the pandemic and everyone wanting a piece of the cake, AAs lost a lot because it got flooded with basic skills normies that want an easy buck but are totally hopeless without pinterest and the new shiny big thing on twitter, the algorithm culture killed everything and I think it all started with the porn tumblr ban, at least those degenerates weren't aiming for numbers and were happy with their microdimension online and now new entries, when I speak about it, say some shit like "Well?? Aren't you happy? Now more stuff is available!" Quantity over quality, always. All the new stuff is shit quality that gets blended with various themes like troonism and mental illnesses, it's like saying that I should be happy that the alt style is popular when I see kids walking around in temu highly flammable clothes instead of a nice, brand dress. Who's not a real "weird" kid cannot comprehend that shit and I blame the other weird millennials like me that didn't gatekeep enough.
No. 2401027
>>2400965I get you
nonnie, I'm approaching 30 and while it could be romanticising the past I've been noticing a big quality decline in every convention I've gone to after the pandemic. Nerd culture and weeb stuff exploding over COVID as well as the combination of genshin impact and gig economy turned artist alley into a repetitive, FOTM and -core chasing central. I don't know if it's me getting old too but I'm getting really bored of conventions and artist alleys, maybe it's different in the US and there's more variety. Last time I went to Dokomi in Germany (which has over 400 booths) it was just genshit and kawaii slop after slop after slop all looking THE SAME I honestly felt like I wasted money to come.
No. 2401521
>>2400965>I genuinely don't get why normie or social justice shit even leaked into anime and videogames spacesSame like why the fuck does those spaces have to be political in any way? It's a pink haired anime girl in a fantasy world, stop bringing real life issues into this escapism ffs
I wish buyers listing their "do not buys" would become a trend and every comment is "I agree with this list" so those artists could see their entire stock is on it
Also pisses me off that when I see cringe sjw work it's often from adults who look 30-ish themselves, I really blame them for bringing it here. A 15 year old being dumb enough to be too woke and not thinking for themselves is one thing, but pushing 30 and still pandering to troons? You still think you're "not like other girls", you still think mutilating kids is brave and stunning, and that rapist men should go to piss near little girls in female spaces? Grow up.
No. 2404127
>>2403132I feel the same, standees look stupid to me. They eventually will yellow and look stupid. Either you do that stuff big enough to act like a standing picture/paint or they look cheap as shit and the nsfw ones even worse, they're cringe as shit.
Anyway, how is common political shit in Dokomi? I think I wouldn't be able to booth next/in front of a troon, they creep me out and I wouldn't be able to enjoy the con. I'm not talking about tifs, which I accepted but I'm not competing with them since we have different targets, I'm talking about male troons, I don't want to interact with them
No. 2404349
File: 1739810927562.mp4 (17.8 MB, 720x1280, 1000008543.mp4)
>>2404279No worries I got you.
>Dropped out of graduate school to pursue a career in art and document it on IG.>Art looks like the most generic poorly drawn slop>Posts L after L of markets and cons where she doesn't even make the costs back. Only makes profit at like 2 or 3 events a year.>The profit is 15$>Blames it on the economyThis is definitely life changing money worth dropping out of school for.
No. 2404352
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>>2404349 Would you even pay more than 3 dollars for this? No wonder her 1$ defect bags sell the best kek.
No. 2404481
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>>2404352I wouldn't pay $4.43 for an ok looking but not very unique sticker like that. Even as a pokemon fan, sleeping gen 1 starters? Girl we've had that for nearly 30 years already. I think $3 would be the absolute highest price I'd pay for that quality but I'm not interested in such extremely basic level fan art or just strawberries.
>>2404349>Dropped out of graduate school to pursue a career in art and document it on IG.Oh jeez, she's just not anywhere near the level of skilled to do something like that! I'm not even saying it to be mean, it's just really clear she did it on a whim without understanding how to even build a brand identity. She doesn't even seem passionate about art at all given the generic nature and how newbie it looks. I'm guessing she watched a few AA youtubers who made it seem fun and easy, not understanding all the work behind it.
I think her plant works (strawberry and nightshade) look WAY better in quality, she should focus on building around that instead of throwing in poorly drawn fan art. Right now it's just a random strawberry. But if it all had a cute garden/nature theme it would be more appealing. Like if I could grab a cute garden themed notebook or planner, a matching bookmark, and some tasty looking berry stickers you've suddenly got a brand going and I can get a vision of how to use it all together. And I could go to my friends going "there was an artist selling with a garden theme" and remember them. Of course there would have to be some more effort put into it to make it a brand and not just basic generic plants either, but it's a start and it's where her art excels. Plus, I've yet to see a garden themed booth and I think it would be cute!
No. 2405063
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>>2404481She made these planner stickers and they are cute but I feel they are devoid of any personality and it just reminds me of clip art. It's not as nicely rendered as those strawberry stickers for example. Also the design of the sticker sheet itself makes it feel like something I'd find in a discount store. At a con it wouldn't stand out to me at all. I might not be the target audience for them but I think she should have practiced more and found her artistic vision instead of dropping school to take such a tremendous risk. Usually people would start working a regular job first and do art on the side until their art actually started picking up. Her Etsy has been open for 1.5 years and only has about 100 sales. I've been selling online for about 8 years now and it only started getting sustainable after 3 while doing a side job. She probably has her boyfriend or parents supporting for her to be able to do this at all.
I also think it'd be cute to mix the floral o fruit themes with Pokemon if you really wanted to do make fanart! It's an idea than can be executed very well depending on the artstyle/execution. Drawing just a Bulbasaur just doesn't cut it anymore these days.
No. 2405121
>>2404349>Goes to family Halloween event in a college campus>There will be kids, college students and parents there>Decides to cater exclusively to weebs for reasons unknown instead of slapping a pumpkin and some bats on a bunch of tea towels and selling them for like $10, she can even make videos about the process of designing and screen printing them for extra contentWhy do this? I might be completely wrong but I looked up the event and it doesn't look like it's catered to weebs in any way, shape or form. I know anime is mainstream nowadays and every ten year old knows what Pokemon and BNHA are but come on. They're not the ones with deep pockets and even $2 is a lot for a 5 year old. It's not hard to plan ahead for events like this and make something useful and easy to transport/store/display that parents and college students will actually want to buy, and she could sell way more weebshit if she priced it competitively enough for the parents to buy them without worrying. Hello, it's a free event for parents to take their kids to, and these kids probably have a bigger budget than any college kids that wandered in to have a look, literally nobody is going to turn up with pockets full of cash to burn on kawaii keychains. The ugly Tumblr faces don't help either.
I do understand where she's coming from about nobody having the disposable income they used to have, but that's not stopping customers from spending money at the lemonade stand, or the other stalls. If she did the bare minimum research and prepared accordingly she'd have made so much more money. Not enough to live on, but more than $18. And that's the FIRST TIME she didn't lose money, holy shit she is dumb.
>>2405063The art style looks dated and too simplistic. Using a textured brush and adding more contrast would have made these way better and actually appealing. I wouldn't mind having these included in a journal as a freebie, they're not ugly, just uninspired and bland for something that's meant to sell on its own.
No. 2408120
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>>2404349I really think the boom of normies getting into artist alley and trying to start art businesses is because of Procreate and the Ipad. Now anyone can doodle something basic and print it out as a sticker. 15 years ago, a tablet and art program was a huge investment and only serious artists would pursue this path. I don't mind that digital art-making has become more accessible, but the amount of grifters trying to make money with passionless slop has exploded.
No. 2408598
>>2406513You might have more luck selling at local fairs and markets. Normies won't appreciate your obscure anime characters or the plot of your doujinshi but if they look cool they'll sell well. $1000 for a table is insane.
>>2408120Don't forget Cricuts! They're great, don't get me wrong, but oh my god the sheer amount of idiots who think that they'll make millions with their stickers is insane. I don't even know why grifters are trying to get into AAs/art businesses, it's so easy to lose money and so hard to get any decent traction online these days. And let's face it, nobody will go to an AA, see your picrel, and immediately whip out their wallet.
>>2408341>>2408512I really don't understand why they don't do the most bare bones basic research before jumping into AA. It takes like an hour tops to look up videos of a con, figure out who the audience is, see who's tabled there previously and what kind of art they make, and come up with a business plan. It's not a guarantee that they'll do well but it's better than putting kawaii faces on badly traced boba charms and hoping to sell enough of them to pay for the hotel.
If they see AAs purely as a money making opportunity they could at least have the decency to actually turn a profit instead of clogging up the AAs with yet more bland stickers and charms and prints.
No. 2409626
File: 1740076190397.png (4.66 MB, 1683x1167, 34634.png)
Anyone feel turned off when booths are this crowded? It is not even bad art but when I see every single inch being covered by product it's super hard to browse and see everything and I just end up overlooking stuff. I also hate it when the only way to see the seller is true a tiny hole as the rest is covered by panels. It makes me feel like the artist doesn't want to talk to their customers. Having a lot of shit does attract people but I prefer some open spaces so I can properly focus on your items.
No. 2409690
>>2409626Yes I don't go near too crowded booths because less merch feels more quality and exclusive…people treat their art as a cheap aliexpress store with quantity over quality and it all looks like
>>2386950The truly gifted artists are the perfectionist ones that put all of themselves into less pieces.
No. 2410172
>>2408827Good for you for being rich before starting. Most people cannot stock 10,000 dollars worth of items at their first con, nor should they because that would be pure idiocy.
>>2409626>Anyone feel turned off when booths are this crowded?Yeah, it gets overwhelming
>>2409175Going to a con this weekend, should I bring a pen to write terfy shit on bathroom walls?
No. 2410397
>>2410172Yes you should kek
>>2409626I like her art but can agree the display feels overwhelming. I think she crammed too much in a 4foot display. She should have downsized her merch since she didnt have a full table.
>>2408120Procreate ipad art all has the same "look" to it. The cringe basic-ass npc "small business" trend needs to stop. Even though it's funny to laugh at shit like
>>2404349 No. 2411386
File: 1740170991592.png (7.96 MB, 2500x2500, 6FT-TABLE-Furcationland2024.pn…)
>>2409626Notice that the tables you see on either side of her are also displaying a bunch of keychains on a slanted board in the exact same way. Aside from being a cluttered mess with no design sense, these table displays are also painfully boring. Everyone is just copying each other. Picrel is an awesome display.
No. 2411627
File: 1740179329260.jpg (344.07 KB, 1080x1813, Dragcon.jpg)
I saw this on my fyp, some "small business" anime artist is showing how she tanked at DragCon. There are gay moids in the comments telling her off and blaming her which was funnier than the normal artist alley hugbox. I don't like or know anything about drag shit but I can't understand why she would attempt it in the first place. I guess she thought it would be supportive lgbtq yas queens and not a bunch of narcissistic moids who won't blow money on artist alley alibaba acrylic keychains and cricut stickers
No. 2411902
>>2374036AYRT: I would say start by finding something that meshes with a genuine IRL interests/thoughts and adapt your OC to present those things. It can be as grounded or as fantastic as you'd like. People get attached to stories told through wordless pictures all of the time, and I'm learning how much the audience projects onto a piece. I took a step back and looked at how San-X, Sanrio, and Pokemon does it. Enough is fleshed out to maintain consistency while leaving room for interpretation and ability to be related to.
This is where having that image/memory bank in your head comes into play. Like, if you enjoy cooking a certain dish, imagine your character doing it and a scenario draw that. Voila, you suddenly have a root to start growing from. An image like that could go on to become a sticker sheet for a journal or a cover for a recipe book, for example.
It's also easier if you think of your character less as an OC and more like a mascot/IP that people can connect with immediately. It takes some detachment, but it's what helped push me. It forces you to focus on the style of the character and utilize them as a model that fits well in designs and motifs, rather than some figure that does things in a void or needs a ton of lore to understand right away. The lore itself should exist so YOU can keep them consistent, and as a side-dish bonus for future fans.
Don't rule out comics, even if they're just silly one-shots. Those are a great way to make people fall in love with the character, and a well-designed comic panel (or the entire comic) can look very pretty as merch on its own. It'll also give you a space to practice, get to know your character's world, and build your audience. In the end, it's about playing with what flows with you and picking the best pebbles out of the bottom of your new stream for you to monetize.
I'm still learning, but this is what has been working for me so far. Hope this helps!
>>2394272You're too kind! Thank you.
No. 2411994
>>2411627>>2411628I can't really imagine being so delusional to think that going to some fetish convention would be profitable if you're selling kawiwi animu permanently online shit. Like I get it if you're going to a furry convention, but if anything, this only shows how retarded it's having everything on your dash catered to your permanently online vision.
Like it's clear how she thought drag queens were total sweethearts into animu shit like her because that's all she sees on her Instagram and Twitter feeds, she sees the same opinions she believes in and maybe a random comment she doesn't agree with so she can comment on stuff.
I wonder if she really thought this was a good idea through the whole process or if she ever got told that maybe a drag convention isn't the place to sell animu shit at.