Into The Breach!
It’s post Memorial Day, and here we are at the threshold of another convention season!
Comics, anime, car trips, plane flights, cosplayers of every size and shape, video panels and autograph signings. LINES. THE ENDLESS DEATH MARCH OF LINES! And the sweet release of barhopping (please don’t barhop, kids.)
Anyways, while I was impulsed to rant about current affairs in Internet-ery and how they collided head-on with fandom of my generation (80’s & 90’s) — I think it’s better left to those who have the patience to back up their rant with sufficient firepower.
Ah who am I kidding, I’m old enough!
FIVE THOUGHTS ON AN ARTIST’S OBSTACLES AT ANIME CONS
(in descending order.)
[5]: COSPLAYERS.
-No, no; don’t misunderstand. The time had come for cosplayers. The mantle was theirs to take, and few if anyone stood in opposition. By all accounts, the random Naruto headbands, costume-makers for hire, and Masquerade events made for a perfect storm. They pay readily to get in. They come in vastly greater numbers (usually not just one random attendee, but a small squad of friends, fellow players or a team of model and designers. Or just random groups instead.) They are, by what I’d like to think common sense says, a safe bet for the convention staff. They are at least a largely happy and vocal bunch! I can’t remember any time I’ve seen a sullen cosplayer married to a table for three days.
[4] : CONVENTION SATURATION.
Recently, I completed an assignment for a local anime convention with maybe 6 years of history behind it. I at least recall the premier event. I was also approached at the same time by another event, one I didn’t even think the region would HOLD a convention. Most of the big cons had their start when I wasn’t even aware that there WERE anime cons — circa 1993 or prior! Now, locally I can think of at least FIVE within driving distance, that I’ve found out about in only three years. Before that, I was lucky to think of THREE cons that were worth attending and two were out of state.
In other words, saturation. While with the right amount of guts and salesmanship, an artist can benefit from being a regular attendee and a familiar presence, there’s a point where one has to gauge whether it’s worth the money to fly out three or four states from home, just to build an audience, hand out business cards and hope people call back — OR, swing a local circuit, make some friends and … hope people call back. Understandably, for an artist in the alley, quantity (of viewers) outsells quality.
[3]: TEH INTARWEBS.
It is absolutely amazing to me that less than fifteen years ago, there was no (commercial, culturally ubiquitous) Internet. I mean, sure; home computing was well established. There was some rumblings of international communication. But really, the presence of the Internet came out of nowhere and exploded with a sonic boom of social networking that flipped everything — including the anime con artist attendee upside down & inside out.
Guest-of-honor lists used to bank on animators and designers as well as the directors and vocal talents. Personally for this blogger, a con was good if the headline GOH was someone who drew the character or meh designs for (X) show (and I’ll cite bias as I’m a practicing designer as well.) Now, because that designer’s blog can be quickly found online; their works are floating in a free archive site or forum post (or, lets face it, a lightweight Bittorrent file) — Now that artwork is less a selling point of a con and more what one decorates their cellphone or laptop with, their appearances at cons have dwindled. And hey, good for them! They can stick to the ever-maddening deadlines for new comics or animations and not have to be treated like fine china. A marriage of convenience. And for the American attendees, more familiarity with the dubbing actors & actresses, whose line of work is much more feasible.
[2]: DEADLINES, BOTTOM LINES, LONG LINES…
A regular attendee’s gotta foot the bill for a badge, hotel & food for a few days.
A staffer’s or a gopher gets to breathe easy on that front, but actually WORK at the con for a select period of time. Even if it’s a few hours in total of work, it’s still a few hours not putzing around or nailing blackmai–I mean photo ops.
A dealer is at least granted enough company funds to shoulder those costs and work the ENTIRE con, almost to nail those sales. The operational costs, just like at a regular job are offset by estimated profits. (So help a dealer, and buy that 90$ resin kit!)
Guests-of-honor get the cushy spot. They don’t even have to be there the whole time — but then their everyday line of work is the counterbalance.
(While I’m on the subject, say a kind word and give thanks to convention chair-people and executive staffers. Those poor fellows. The staff, security and gophers are the backbone to a frazzled nerve center of activity.)
And there, like an appendix. The convention artist. Tucked neatly into the Artist Alley. Making a marginal profit, existing in the marginal rule between tax law and hotel accomodations. Employing marginal help and utilizing as much patience as possible (marginally?) There wasn’t many hard or fast rules to being an Artist Alley attendee, and those rules often buckled between differing artists (in price or merchandise), the rules of the venue (a hotel vs. a convention center, and said tax laws that apply.) For apsiring artists, it was a welcome change to actually receive that praise, see the faces of the public that consumes your work. But without any strategy, without a key skill in enterprise and a willingness to grow, an artist planning to attend an Artist Alley session would be almost instantly buried under the pressure of deadlines, loss of funds, on top of the common concerns of an attendee.
[1]: THE GREATER GOOD
Preaching an “end is nigh” sort of attitude here, there actually is still a pretty healthy presence of artists at anime cons, with the Artist Alley still forming an essential part of the convention structure. The changes have been abrupt for older attendees, but the new guard has adjusted admirably. Ultimately though, the goal of an artist is much larger than the show he or she attends. Making those contacts, observing more material to make their work grow and mature properly, learning how to market themselves, price themselves, and develop that tough skin when the lucky break comes and a portfolio review might be in store. Becoming a better artist, even by just a few paces will make a convention trip a worthwhile experience. I can safely say I sought to become faster, learned to invest in better materials, and have a cadre of fellow artists and convention allies I wouldn’t trade for anything!
And though I’ve mentioned anime cons throughout this article — comic book conventions are just as lively and full of the same sorts of trials and successes that anime artists may face. While this artist here sometimes wishes he’d heard advice before taking the plunge into the convention depths, that wouldn’t have changed the results too much. What one puts into a convention experience is what one gets out of it, after all.
That’s enough of that! See ya’ll next week!
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