Aftermath: HeroesCon 2012

My 'Mrs. Batman' outfit- I'm the housewife of  The Batcave!

Whoosh. Whatta weekend. HeroesCon 2012 has come and gone, and it was my first major show of the year as well as my favorite to go to. This was my 2nd year attending and it was awesome to see so many friends and fans both old and new alike at such a fun show.
So much going on! I had gotten a huuuge exhibitor table with my friends, including my BFF Fenny of Little Asian Sweatshop, pinup superstar Maria Danalakis, beloved husband Ballsy and NYCBFF Christy Sawyer and had all sorts of cool trinkets and doodads for sale.

Me, Fenny and Maria

There aren't enough nice things I can say about Heroescon. Everyone is so dang nice, it's run super professional and the guests and level of talent that attends is amazing. Since my first visit to Heroes last year, this show has been a fantastic example of a con done right. Was so happy Fenny and Maria had a good time, as this was their first Heroes and they attended purely from word of mouth (specifically, mine).

Our booth!

There were a few personal 'experiments' this go at Heroescon for me- I *did* try to sit down and sketch at the show on Friday. I really did! Buuut unfortunately my sales suffered as I wasn't standing up and addressing customers and giving myself presence on the floor. I think that people were afraid to disturb me and feel like they're being rude. Plus I can't see what's going on in front of me as my head is down. Apparently y'all would rather engage in conversation with me than watch me draw. Which I'm actually totally fine with. Drawing at cons sucks. I'd much rather give someone a solid piece of art that has my full attention that was created in the comfort of my own home. Plus I have a rather unique situation of hawking my wares at a show, in which I'd actually say sales and engaging in conversations is my secondary strong suit behind creating the actual art. Several other artists I know have enough of a draw from their art to have people search them out, versus me, who is usually reeling people in with my crazy outfits and gift of gab and only after that do they realize that all the cool stuff in front of me on the table is of my creation. So Sat and Sun I focused purely on sales.

My convention obsession: Table Feng Shui

Another experiment was getting an exhibitor booth versus Artist Alley tables. The space was fantastic and very roomy, however with the high partitions and giant tshirt booth in front of us our visibility was somewhat lacking as opposed to AA which was very open and allowed you to see across the entire showroom floor, which allows for things like vertical banners to really work in your favor. Also since we were on the exhibitor side of the con, we were grouped among the more retail-heavy booths such as the aforementioned tshirt booth, back issue bins and wholesalers, which doesn't attract the type of art collector-heavy audience having a table in AA has, as they tend to have a very strict budget and a tendency to bee-line. Which is also something to say about Heroes- usually AA is segregated to some back corner of the show much like a leper colony. But not Heroes, here AA is a major draw.

Lil' bit of Con Ingenuity: standing up all day? Lay down a yoga mat!
Your feet will thank you!

With this being my one convention where I actually have to pay for a hotel room (as it's not in NYC where I live or Balt/DC where my parents live) this is one of my most social conventions. I usually try to save as much money as possible during shows, to the point of not leaving my table and eating only before/after the show (save for the odd granola bar) in the comfort of my own/parent's home (since then it's free, plus I'm exhausted). But there are just TOO MANY awesome people to hang out with at Heroes. Which unfortunately means I'm spending at least one day at the table hungover (hellooooo Sunday!). But it was really fab to hang out with my closest friends (like my table-mates and husband) alongside folks I only talk to online or whose DeviantArt I stalk regularly. Or people who I had NO IDEA I would meet who now are one of my favorite new people to follow online (like the *amazing* dressmaker Vivcore!). 

Us ladies with my husband Ballsy at the Saturday Art Auction!

I also put one of my new experimental pieces, where I ink/greytone/highlight a pinup on vellum that I lay on top of a piece of shaded paper, in the HeroesCon Art Auction. It's their big Saturday night hullabaloo where they auction off artwork donated by various artists at the show to go towards throwing heroes next year. Unfortunately my piece was early in the evening so I missed the bidding, but from what I hear it was one of the first big highlights/bidding wars of the night, raking in $200! Either way it was a lot of fun seeing friends and hanging out and getting shushed when Stan Lee started talking. (Oops. ~_^;)

My Batgirl piece- 'Bat Dat Ass Up'

Overall it was a pretty amazing time at Heroes this year and I'm so glad to see everyone and spend time with folks I don't get to see face-to-face very often. It's really awesome that even when I don't see my friends in comics very often (sometimes for only a few hours over the course of a year) we're able to pick up and hang out like we saw each other yesterday. Eagerly looking forward to attending next year- and this time FOR REAL, we're gonna fly instead of drive. ;)