Otakon is over!
Below, you can read the opinions of the con from Tsao, Anon Twentyseven and Archangel:
Quick Index:Tsao’s Take
Otakon 2007 was a huge success for us this year despite the amount of TBL members who bailed out on us last minute. With my artwork being the only work that would be representing the site, I felt extreme pressure to “fill” up our table as best I could. I was preparing a lot of my work last minute and couldn’t pour as much preparation into the actual table as I had hoped for. All though we went up with a weak performance, our “learning experience” proved far more successful than I would have ever anticipated.
I went up with 10 different pieces of art for the table (printed at various sizes) and 3 pieces for the auction. We were able to bring back a great return with our prints which more than covered our materials cost, entrance and registration fees, as well as minor costs like gas and food. The pieces in the auction fetched handsome bids for the amount of time I spent producing them and their respective material costs.
Though monetary gain is always a plus when it comes to artwork, it can’t compare to the amazing payoff that compliments and comments do. Running the booth was frighteningly stressful for me because I am very twittery when it comes to being identified and singled out as an artist. I don’t take compliments well and I take criticism even worse. However, the more people who passed by and not only appreciated but also paid me for my work, the more I felt relaxed and enlightened by it. As the day rolled on, I warmed up to people and was able to have long conversations with them about my process and methods. It was a much different setting than the “criticism circles” that I was forced to attend for mark as a studio art major. I felt a sense of satisfaction every time someone would double take on our table and grab their friend by their arm to lead them to us. The experience definitely fanned on my dying embers of artistic purpose and I feel a renewed motivation to produce more art just so I can have a fresh table for next year.
The pieces in the auction were also extremely successful. I had guessed that they would sell for less than my materials cost but I couldn’t have been more wrong. Though it was sad to see them depart me (2 of them being originals), it was a refreshing experience to see people fight in live auction just to claim them. I have to admit that I turned a bit flush when there was a collective “oohaah” from the audience when they lifted up my painting as the next bid. It was very flattering and something I hadn’t quite experienced before (ah shucks).
Next year, we have plans to put so much more into our table. The appreciation for art at Otakon is above and beyond my expectations and I feel obligated to make sure we cater to an audience who deserves the best. We’ll be putting up a screen and archway over the table to exhibit the art far better than we did this year. We’ll also provide a better selection, standard sheet sizes and protective sheets/bags for the prints. I will probably produce 2 more paintings (which I’ll start much earlier). I’ll be making my prints at 3″×5″ cards, 8.5″×11″ sheets, and posters at 11″×17″ with associated bookmarks. We’ll also be using glossy photo style paper instead of the thicker card laminate which we’ll probably reserve for tentative 20″×30″ posters. I’d also like to offer a live signature option instead of signing all the prints before the con. My table mate did that this year and I thought it was a nice touch.
I’ll conclude with a big thank you to all who visited us at the booth, purchased prints and bid on my pieces at auction. I apologize to those people who have been contacting me to purchase a print since they missed their chance at the con. I can’t enable prints for all my work on deviantART so I can’t address everyone’s needs but I’ll do what I can for you. It was a pleasure to meet everyone and I am looking forward to seeing you again next year!
27’s Take
Going to Otakon this year as an art merchant was much more rewarding than I expected. The big pull of money was great (Tsao now wakes up every morning to take a dip in his money bin), but it was a real self-esteem booster to hear all the compliments, even though it was all Tsao’s work.
I spent the entire con manning the booth along with Tsao. I found it fascinating to watch people walk around the alleyway, catch a glimpse of Tsao’s art and then approach for a better look. It’s cool to see a person’s reaction to his work for the first time face-to-face, and even cooler to see it happen over and over.
The experience definitely taught us lessons for next year on what we can do better.
First of all, we started preparing way too late. Otakon table registrations open at some random date a couple months before the con. We found out that they opened and closed on June 1. Too bad we found out June 5.
We started gathering our materials and getting things ready too late as well. Tsao started his “Into the Twilight” oil painting at least two weeks too late and ended up stressing out over it through the remaining weeks up to and during the convention. The paint on it didn’t actually dry until Saturday night.
Next year, we’ll definitely need at least one full table. Since we lost our chance to buy a table ourselves, we scoured the Supertubes for someone willing to share theirs. That person turned out to be the talented Balisong from deviantART. Unfortunately, we tended to overcrowd her half of the table whenever we set up.
The table is about six feet wide and two and a half feet deep. Not very big when you start laying large sheets of paper on it. Next year we will leave space on the table for a 3-ring binder filled with artwork for visitors to flip through. Not only do they allow for more artwork in a smaller space, but we noticed that people tended to seek out binders to flip through.
We were surrounded by tables with all manners of scaffolding to hang their artwork on: PVC pipe, wooden sticks duct taped to the table with wires run between them, etc. Basically, everyone around us had ways to visually grab the attentions of people walking through. Tsao’s quick solution was to prop up his sketch pad with the original ink drawing of Barbossa he had also as a print. It worked to an extent, but most people had their eyes trained toward the scaffold level, a good three or four feet over that pad. We’re definitely going to have some sort of structure to place artwork on that towers over the table next year.
Getting our table alone was a chore. We arrived early Saturday morning and went to the Alley HQ to check in. We were told our table mate had not checked in by Friday night before 12PM, so she lost her table (I don’t remember seeing this rule on their website). Tsao then requested buying an unmanned table, but they were not authorized to sell any tables until noon. At that point, they might have a table to sell us on one of the outer walls (lower traffic areas). Lesson for next year, drive up to Baltimore on Friday to check in, even if not selling on that day.
We were stuck without anything to do for a couple hours, so we decided to browse around and try to get an idea of how to price our wares. We priced our large prints at $10-$15, the medium sized at $5-$10, small prints at $2-$5.
We also entered Tsao’s artwork into the Art Auction. Because we were worried about its selling ability, Tsao listed his oil painting’s starting price at the cost of the materials he put into it. At least if it sold, he wouldn’t be negative on the outcome. Tsao, Arch, knowyourenemy and I all betted on how much his “Kuribo’s Shoe” poster, our expected hit of his collection, would sell for. Tsao, I, and Arch guessed pretty conservatively, each outbidding each other in that order, then knowyourenemy guessed an amount four times the size of Arch’s guess (what a dreamer!).
I guess it was for the best that this year, only one person gave us artwork to sell in the auction (a friend from work). I attempted to register his artwork and I was presented a paper with auction guidelines. Apparently, the artist of any artwork must be present to allow the sale of their work, and if they are not, they must provide their authorized agent a photocopy of their state issued ID and a signed paper stating that the person selling their work is doing so on their behalf. So if anyone wants to sell artwork at our booth or in the auction next year, they’ll either have to join us at our table or send us a copy of their ID and John Hancock.
At 12PM, they found an opening for us in a pretty swanky spot with pretty good traffic flow. We paid and set up shop. After an hour or two, our table mate arrived. The Alley HQ people told her they would refund us if they were able to find some cash (weird how they didn’t have any when Tsao paid them for our new table not too long ago).
The traffic was pretty steady throughout the day. Our table benefitted from being situated between a stand of earrings that attracted a lot of attention and an anime fanzine group that wasn’t afraid to interact with passersby. We had a lot more visitors when Tsao propped up the Barbossa inking.
Our first day was a huge success for us. We made out with more money selling prints than we planned on for the entire event, and all of Tsao’s auction items had bids on them. The anonymous auction ended at 9PM Saturday night. Any items with 7 bids would go to the live auction the next day, and everything else would sell at the ending bid from that day. The “Link and Midna” colored pencil drawing closed that day, but the other two were going to the live auction!
We arrived back home around midnight, and Tsao stayed up late to make videogame keychains from Shrinky-dinks, but it was for naught; not one sold.
Sunday is the heavy spending day, and a huge crowd poured into the the Alley when it opened to the public. We sold more than twice as many prints as we did on Saturday.
Arch manned our booth alone while Tsao and I watched the live auction take place. It was pretty exciting. People go crazy for anything with their favorite characters on them. It seemed that regardless of a piece’s technical skill level, if it made it into the live auction, it would sell for $30+ more than it would fetch in the anonymous auction.
“Kuribo’s Shoe” went up for bidding near the middle of the auction. It was kind of unsettling seeing Tsao’s artwork being held up and examined by so many people at once. I felt nervous for Tsao, but it was quickly bid up to and past knowyourenemy’s prediction. The winning bid actually blew it away (guess even he wasn't dreaming enough).
From this, we concluded that there was no point in selling the original copies of artwork since the Otakon audience doesn’t seem to care about the difference. This was made more evident by a framed poster-sized digital print (very beautiful artwork, but a print nonetheless) that almost sold for four figures.
I ran back to the table and bagged up our stuff since the Alley was closing. Our table mate wanted to make a print trade, so I swapped a wise American Indian for one of her detailed Labyrinth prints that we had all been secretly drooling over the entire event. Arch, Tsao and I met up in the live auction section.
We were worried about how the oil painting would sell. Another large piece of Zelda fanart was chosen to bid first (we feared that would reduce the amount of people that would bid on Tsao’s work) and a lot of the auction audience left before the painting was brought out.
The painting was nearly the last item for sale. When it was displayed, the announcer said “And now for the much anticipated ‘Into the Twilight’…”, which made me simultaneously happy for Tsao and snicker on the inside that the announcer avoided trying to pronounce his name.
Despite the smaller audience, the bidding was pretty unreal. It was obvious that some people were there specifically to bid on that painting. The winning bid made the “Kuribo’s Shoe” poster look like a steal. So much for at least covering the cost of materials. This sale renewed our faith in people wanting original works.
In the end, we made an outrageous amount more than we expected. The auction was a pretty stellar way to conclude the event.
Archangel’s Take
I apologize in advance for turdy writing, I’m kind of tired. I’m not going to bore you with TEDIOUS details about the booth, since you’ve already heard it twice from the previous takes. What I will add about the booth was that it’s a great place to rest between events at the con, and a great place to meet people and play DS. Pictochat is really fun when there’s a lot of people on it. Remember next year, everyone bring your DS if you have one.
Anyway, since I’m not Tsao or 27, I didn’t need to sit at the booth most of the day. I’m sure those two won’t do that as much next year when there’s more people, but they didn’t seem to want to give up their posts throughout most of the con. But me, I was out of there. There wasn’t an extra chair for me, since each table only comes with 3 chairs. I sure hope we get two tables next year. More chairs!
So, I attended the con. Like, actually attended it. I got an autograph from the new English voice of Luffy from One Piece, Colleen Clinkenbeard [pictured to the left]. She signed my external hard drive. I went around taking pictures of interesting cosplayers (mostly from Zelda and One Piece). And then I attended panels with voice actors like Steve Blum and Vic Mignogna (voices of Spike Spiegal and Ed Elric respectively), and then the Funimation panel where they talked all about One Piece. I had a great time with these events, but mostly because I got to do it with my friend Dan [knowyourenemy].
And then the swag… I bought 2 prints (One Piece fanart), one original fanart off the auction, a print from Tsao’s tablemate (an awesome Wolfwood image), and then 10 volumes of the new Trigun manga. I spent about $200, plus the cost of food. Which brings me to my next point… Food is expensive. And restaurants are busy. Next year, when we have more people, we’ll either need to bring our own lunches (bought from Subway or something), or we need to arrange restaurant reservations. Or a combination of the two. Anyway, that’s my con in a nutshell.