not sure that people will actually follow the link to this blog on my card
but if you're looking for my deviantart (where most of my anime stuff is on), it's
http://www.ichigonogenki.deviantart.com
thank you for visiting (and not losing my card)
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and here's my Anime LA 2011 con report with a list of artists' alley tips copied from my DA journal!
i am both happy and sad that it's over XD
today i was just really knocked out-it was hard to be enthusiastic with just two and a half hours of sleep haha i stayed up doing a commission to make three chibis...i just couldn't get to the third one, luckily the customer liked the two that i did do so yay!
as for sales--or at least my definition of good sales, was better than ax
=-= ax was an atrocity
i didn't even put up a sign for commissions - but i still got a few despite that
part of the reason why i didn't do commissions was because 1)i was lazy 2)i think it's important to interact with your customers 3)i was too lazy to bring my supplies and i hardly had any room to do them on
i love the people that attend this con because they seem to have a better appreciation of art as opposed to some of the people who attend more of those commercial conventions like Anime Expo and it seems like the parents who attend actually have some sort of interest in what their kids like which is good ^^
it's nice to receive compliments about my art (even if they don't buy anything) just simply being acknowledged in a good way makes me happy
so i think i should do lists of dos and don'ts i learned at this con
1)if you're using foamcore as your display and it will being lying flat on your table, USE BLACK- when dust or lint or hair falls on white foamcore, it's obvious and makes it looks dirty
2)i now figured out the power of sunday specials! :3 have good deals- instead of having sales on sets of characters from the same series, just do deals like buy 3 get the 4th free so that the choices aren't so limited
3)PEOPLE LIKE STICKERS- they enjoy sifting through them- i should have made more from animes/games that people know more about
4)TAILOR YOUR DISPLAY AROUND YOU- don't block your face! people need to know that you're there
5)PEOPLE ENJOY FREE STUFF- seriously who doesn't? and
told be about THE FREE BIN >< which i shall try at my next con which is yet to be decided- anyhoo the free item i would give out was the cheapest thing on my table, stickers which were 25 cents each-so for the first two days my deal was free stickers with purchase of $5 or more and today it was a free sticker with ANY purchase
6)make lists with the prices of the things on your display- i think people kind of struggled to find it at my booth because i put my prices on post it notes and kind of scattered them throughout my display- but at least that got me talking to my customers when they wanted to know the prices-and when you have a sunday special, make your sign big!
7)when people are asking for whatever it is on your table, write it down as they say it so you're not blanking while trying to rack your inventory for their purchase and then asking them again and again about which ones they want-on top of that you might forget to write it down afterwards
8)CONTACT INFO IS CRUCIAL - especially for commissions- just assume that you'll never meet that person again (even if they're attending all the days that the con is on) so just get any snippet of contact info you can- a number, an e-mail- whichever one they use most.
9)business cards are there for the taking- don't be stingy with them >_> if you don't want to give them out because they are easy to lose (i admit my business cards from moo.com might be easy to lose but it's different from the rest because of the size) then try doing post cards- those are harder to lose - try to make it different from the rest so that people remember to look you up
- you could make it functional like the back is a calendar or something...
10) LABEL YOUR CHARACTERS if you can- plenty of people have brain farts and feel like they can't buy the character just because they don't know who they are so it's good to help them out and label your characters
11)COUNT YOUR CUSTOMER'S CHANGE IN FRONT OF THEM- personally, i never pay attention to change at cons when i'm the one buying- this is more for the artist, not the customer- if you're going to screw over the customer like that, in the end it's just going to ruin YOU- and when you do count their change in front of them, you give them the benefit of the doubt...it's just good to be honest and trustworthy
12)don't pressure people to buy from you- i hate it when people do it to me but it's good to let them know about your deals
13)encourage people to look around the room (usually just at small cons with small artists' alley) i know that this might hurt some people's sales- but a lot of people at ALA try to be smart with their money haha and wait it out till the last day >_> i'd do just the same- you're not the only one in the world who's talented, seriously give other people a chance-advertise your friends don't be a butt D:<
14) don't want to spend your money at AA? do an art trade! >_> i really just found out about trading at cons...-_-...people can be very generous with their art--so don't take your position at artists' alley for granted-on top of that, it's good to be friends with other artists- or at least stop by their booth and collect their cards
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for now i think that's it...i'll probably edit in some more
i'm no pro at artists' alley (this is only my third time ) but this is really just for me to keep track of what i learned--and may be of help for other budding artists
