The convention this pass weekend went well but I couldn’t go around much because I was catching up on sleep behind our table. I didn’t see all of the cosplayers as well. I walked around sometimes to loosen up. There were a lot of nice booths selling toys and accessories that were so tempting to buy. Mr. Vincent Ngo, aka Bleedman, gave free autographed art prints.

I got my portfolio reviewed by an artist (I forgot her name! Argh!) at Glass House Graphics. Although I didn’t get a “wow” from her, it was nice to get some insight and advice. I still have a lot to learn but from her critique, I drew out some ideas on what I should focus on to improve.

As for our little business endeavor during the event, it went… Draggy. The Left 4 Dead (by Hannah) and Final Fantasy (by Ame) keychains were a hit. Only one of my Devil May Cry keychain was bought but I got more profit from my stickers. I was honestly upset at the end of the day because I couldn’t get back the money spent for the table and production costs. I had to display my handmade sketchbook incase people were interested in commissioning me for one… And there were, so hopefully I could earn back.

I was really considering leaving the group. Judging from our first attempt, I might waste more time and money in the future. But considering the interest on my bookbinding, I thought I’d try selling papercraft next time. There’s still potential in that so maybe I could stick around for another event. I hope the rest of the group maintains a fair morale. Business is all about risk-taking after all.

Event photos at my Multiply

Even though it sounds like a silly pursuit for attention and cash through cutesy fanart products, it is not a simple task that’s possible once the idea hits you. My group had to develop marketing strategies because there are still entrepreneurial factors involved in planning.

Target Market

Our target market for this event is mostly a bunch of Anime fanatics within their breeding ground: an Anime, videogame and manga convention. That means fanart of popular characters will most likely sell. We can draw Naruto even though we don’t like him but we’d look like sellouts. We can’t just draw awesome characters we like at the risk of not selling because we’d waste money on production. Our idealism as artists and the production costs had to be weighed.

Well we’re totally not snobs against Anime. We have favorites amongst mainstream titles. I’m crazy about Devil May Cry which is a popular videogame series by now.

Competition

Would our art of this character look better than that art of the same character made by that other artist? I had to put that question up when we were deciding what to draw for our merchandise. I hope it would at least encourage not making mediocre works.

We did have the idea that we should show something different. I got around that by printing cutesy stickers at bite-size shapes and prices. I surveyed some previews to my friends and they think the stickers would be a hit.

Skills

In my opinion, I would like to stress the importance of skill. Just because you can draw everyone’s favorite Anime character isn’t enough. Just because you have the idea of selling them at Anime conventions isn’t enough. The idea sounds exciting. You’ll profit! You’ll gain exposure as an artist! But you really need to have the skill to make attractive art so buyers would fork out the cash for something like a piece of laminated fanart print with a key ring on it.

Teamwork

Some of use don’t know how to color with Photoshop yet. This is where being in a group of artists helps. Offer to color each others’ lineart. Share techniques and critic each other. Don’t treat your group like a business deal that will be your stepping stone to success. The fun thing about this kind of business is that it’s something you do with fellow artists and friends.

Well these are our my group’s hypotheses and observations. The convention this weekend will really tell if things will pay off. I can say this early that, despite all the daunting factors, all the sleepovers and deadlines, I had fun. Wish us luck! I’ll be sure to report about this weekend!

More information about the Mangaholix convention at their DeviantART