Aftermath: Baltimore Comic Con 09

Whew! What a weekend! Though off to a rough start that included a NYC Megabus that was two hours late, an almost-riot outside said bus once it arrived, barely 5 hours of sleep and an hour and a half ordeal getting to the Inner Harbor because of the Baltimore Marathon (which would otherwise taken 15 minutes), the convention was a success! Saw alot of friends, worked my networking mojo, sold alot of stuff and ate delicious, delicious crabcakes Saturday night. Also got alot of compliments on my retro pinup ensembles I wore, many even mistook me as a Bettie Page cosplayer. I always dress up for conventions, so I can work as basically my own 'booth babe' but instead of the fans talking to a paid representative of said company/artist, they actually get to talk to the artist herself with me. Plus with my 6+ years of retail experience I feel I get the best response from 'customers' when I'm standing at their level, making eye contact and greeting them as they enter my 'store', aka the front of my booth. There's so many times going to comic cons as a fan that I've found myself in Artist Alley and have a whole 'Don't look in their eyes!' moment. I hate when artists are pushy pitchmen over their work, I've left Artist Alley way too many times with books and ashcans and such I didn't even want in the first place, that I've been guilted into buying or taking, that I end up throwing away only days later. I try to just be friendly and personable, and barely even mention my work, even though it's displayed all around my table. I let my work speak for itself, and I only talk about it to folks that seem interested. As it should be, I'd much rather 20 people take my card of their own free will with them back to their house than see 100 cards I've pushed on people end up on the floor or trash can. I have also decided I don't like doing con sketches and probably won't advertise doing them, at least at the convention. I do like the smaller headsketch format with markers, and I may take orders at the con and do them after the con and mail them out, but as far as doing them on-site this will probably be the only time. It infringes on my ability to network and bring customers to my booth, let alone speak to anyone while getting work done in a timely manner, plus usually the getups I wear to cons involve alot of shaping undergarments, which tend to get very uncomfortable when sitting and drawing. And I only got one on-site sketch request the whole weekend, which kind of discouraged me from the idea. I'll probably just take requests before a con and do them from the comfort of my own desk at home if I do them again. But yeah, Brooklyn's King Con is in less than a month (Nov 7-8, to be exact), so I'll get to work my convention skills yet again.

Me and Ballsy at the Artist Alley table