Art Booth Buzz and Other Things
Happy Holidays and season's greetings since it is officially winter. :0 All the snow practically melted here. (It was 50 degrees Fahrenheit yesterday!!) I took the time to practice my booth set-up because it wasn't freezing, and I needed the space to set up my 10' x 10' tent! In case you were wondering, I'm not selling the fan art because that's illegal. It helps to lure in the customers as does my animation and my stickers. Guys...I have so many stickers, but they are so fun to make!
I bought an additional table when it became painfully clear that people weren't the type to sift through bins. As a result, I spread out my product and attempt to make as much visible as possible. The downside is my booth isn't really wheelchair accessible. People could sneak in from the backside, but there might be another vendor behind me that would make that quite difficult.
Speaking of difficulty, this took me about 3 - 4 hours to setup which I couldn't believe. Albeit, I did do everything by myself, and I was lugging things out one at a time versus having everything in a pile, but that's still a little disheartening. I asked the event coordinators if I could move my setup time from Sunday to Saturday, so I'd have more time, and hopefully that'll be gucci? I believe a lot of the time was figuring out where things could go, and now that I have pictures, I can give them to my dad or my mom, and they can help set up things. I also have a road map to help expedite the process! I'm hoping this set up has more people looking at my items. I have to wait until January 13 to find out. ;o;
In the meanwhile, I'll make more products! My recent venture is making more cards! These ones involved get well wishes, birthday/celebratory wishes, thank yous and messages you may send to loved ones! I only printed a couple of each in case no one buys any, but I can easily print and mail more if people are interested!
I have also discovered that my nearby makerspace has large format printers and button makers! The first is important because I can now print my own 12 x 18 or even 11 x 17 pages without buying my own printer and to circumvent going to Kinkos or Office Depot prices. The button makers aren't good for my health because now I'd want to make all sorts of buttons. I can pay $30 for supplies versus $500+ for my own kit. I do plan on buying my own button maker and wide format printer in the future, but I'm not making $700+ off my art yet. I'm averaging $30 per show at the moment. Hopefully that number would go up, but for now I have to work with what I have!
The makerspace also has a laser cutter which I anticipated since I'm used to makerspaces basically being a public machine shop. I'd like to make my own charms (I have experience with CNC machines with my mechanical engineering background) rather than commissioning a retailer to make them. They require like 50 - 100 charms to be made ( 3 - 6 different designs included), and I'm not even sure if I can sell one. If I make my own, I can make two or three copies and see if they sell. If they end up flying off the shelves, I'll consider ordering like 16-17 of them. I'm learning from my art prints ahaha. I would probably start off by making charms of my sticker designs. I printed samples on cardstock to test color quality, sizing, and ease of cutting out, so I'd like to put those to use! I only did that for my most recent stickers. I'd like to make new artwork in the future!
I have been drawing Princess Flux: Journeys of the Abstract Princess characters and other original characters. Recently I drew Eli and Ninsen from The Dark Rose, Supoya and Moia, and Timoti from the Abstract Princess very intoxicated but having a good time in their Christmas-themed outfits. I may or may not post it. There are some anatomy issues, but it's fun. I needed that. I live vicariously through my characters.
I have not found my USB containing my latest draft of chapter two of the Abstract Princess, yet I discovered that I had a copy on my computer. All hope isn't lost. I just have to see where that version stands and pick it up from there! After drawing Eli and Ninsen a bit more--I have Ninsen's turnaround to finish--I'd get back into working on that animation!
I've been wanting to animate Supoya doing something simple, but drawing from scratch using a tablet has been difficult for me lately. Sketching is significantly easier on paper. My digital artwork since September has started with me physically drawing the sketches, scanning them to my computer, and digitally line arting and coloring. I haven't done anything completely digital and liked it since. I may just need to start small and work up again to train my mind and body. On the other hand, my creativity flows so much easier on paper. Maybe I should invest in a lightbox ahaha.
Anyway. That's it for now. Happy Holidays and see you in the new year!
Ja ne~!
