Zoinks! What a weekend!! Baltimore Comic Con 2011 marks my *4th* year of going 'pro-ish'. Having a table and hustling my wares at the Artist Alley as opposed to attending shows as a fan and schlepping my portfolio around to anyone who would give it a moments notice and an ounce of wisdom or advice. With a table you have a home base, a guaranteed chair, your work out on display and an opportunity to make money as opposed to spending it. Which once you start working a convention, it's really hard to go back. I sure as hell don't plan on it.
Baltimore Con this year was busier than I've ever seen it before. I'm sure Stan Lee being there was part of it. It also being a two-day convention, that starts at 10AM both days (ouch), so you either have to get there ass early in the morning or you get there after the doors open to set up. Which when a con opens on a Saturday, it's basically the convention equivalent of being air-dropped in the middle of Panang. Especially since my last convention was Heroes Con 2 months earlier, which was a 3 day convention, starting on a Friday, which eases you into it. But yeah, not this time at Baltimore, plus my table was in a much less desirable spot than it had been last year (smack in the middle of Artist Alley, in the tightest packed row because some jerks behind us decided it'd be cool to turn their 2 tables into a makeshift booth and eat up a ton of space behind the tables), and again, it was CRAZY. So set up was pretty hectic. Pretty sure I had at least 2 panic attacks. @__@;;
Fortunately I had my BFF Fenny there to help with table hosting duties in exchange for some table space to sell her Little Asian Sweatshop hair flowers that had been such a hit at Psychobilly Luau. Which is always awesome because Fenny has an amazing infallible energy and she can schmooze and hustle with the best of them. I also hosted some items from my NYC BFF Christy's etsy store, including her famous Cupcake Eating Batman/Batgirl jewelry. Over all the table was very successful! It's a pity that the signal for the wifi was so bad in the Baltimore Convention Center, because we could have made a *killing* if we were able to use our Square credit card reader. The table was a good success though. Fenny's flowers were a hit, and we became referred to as the 'Wives and Girlfriends Table', which is definitely a niche that few have been able to fill at comic cons. Fenny was able to sell to several unsuspecting fellas while playing the angle of how either they should bring something home from the con to their girl, or if they were actually at the show, they should get them a little somethin'-somethin' for being such a good sport.
The show as a whole was good, though the added crowds were stressful and Artist Alley seems to be getting tighter. Fenny and I were discussing next year possibly getting a full-sized booth to sell our stuff at, especially with the bigger projects and collaborations we're planning on doing next year. We've got a lot of ideas for the future of Paigey and Little Asian Sweatshop and to supplement the cost of the full-sized booth we'll probably 'rent' out space to a select few of our friends as well who would like the exposure.
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