Edmonton Expo / Phase Three

What I learned at the Ed Expo.

- Star Wars is super popular! I would say the majority of costumes were from Starwars. There was also a good turn out of Steampunk, and Star Trek, as well as Marvel and DC comic characters (mostly Avengers).

- If you want to make cash, make Fan Art. I admit I was a little high brow with my attitude that I didn't need to make no fan art. Facts are that people go to an entertainment con to collect things, to add to the things, of the things they collect. One of my fellow Artist Alley neighbours put it best, that we need to have fan art in order to get attention. Once you have their attention you can segway into introducing the customer to your own, original work. Makes perfect marketing sense to me.

- Next time I shall be making art and taking commissions right there, at my table. A lot of the artists were doing it, and I think the attendees really like to watch the artists at work.

- Don't eat sushi at a Vietnamese restaurant. My brother (who was my helper for the weekend) got deathly sick from food poisoning after eating bad teriyaki chicken. It was really bad.

- Cons are expensive. The average attendee spends around $200.00. A small portion of this is for merch, including art. The majority of it gets spent on admission, photo ops and signatures from the celebs, and food/drink. Im going to make sure I have lots of small items to buy.

- Having a helper lets you get away to actually see the con you are at. I barely got a chance to walk around. I wish I had taken more time to see the sights. I was planning on doing that on Sunday, but my brother was food poisoned, so I didnt get that chance. Next time.

- I met great people. :) Everyone there wants to have a good time, so in general the atmosphere is really positive.

Edmonton Expo / Phase Two

The weekend is over! What a weekend. Totally exhausting, but I learned so much about this whole comic con thing. Thanks especially to my fellow Artist Alley artists. Most of you are old hats at this so I really appreciated the Yoda like knowledge you passed on to me.

Here is my table set up.

I will change a lot of this for next year (and hopefully the Calgary Expo in the spring). There are definitely better ways to execute a display, plus I had much less room than I thought I would have. The table was 6x2 feet. I seems most people like to be able to flip through a portfolio style book (of prints) so that's the first thing to change.

I did get a lot of attention with my "Drawing with Paint" technique, so that was great. I love texture, everyone loves texture. :) Most of this work is actually a few years old, and I'm a MUCH better painter now. I'm going to have to create some new paintings to showcase that.

I was so happy I had that sign made. It really looked great.

click to magnify
Taken early Saturday morning. Before the crowds.

Here is a 360 degree view of the Expo from my table.

The Expo was a huge success, in my opinion. They exceeded the attendance expectation at 14'000 people. Everything looked great. They had excellent celebrity and creative guests. I wish I had, had time to attend a couple of the Panels. Next time I'm going to make time for that.

Perhaps the best thing that happened was meeting Laurie B! Right at the end of the show she stopped by my table, and even bought one of my chapbooks. Awesomesauce! I admit I didn't know very much about her, but after reading her blog and checking out more of her work I am super inspired. She is really real, and honest, and authentic, AND she attended Red Deer College (like me)! What I think I like the most about her is that even though she has achieved a great amount of recognition and success, she is still striving for growth and seeking to achieve personal goals. Wow! You give em hell, Laurie!
http://www.artoflaurieb.com/

Edmonton Expo / Phase One

I set up my table at the Expo today, all ready for Saturday and Sunday. Here is hoping I have a great weekend for sales, and im sure the experience is going to be great.

While I was setting up (I was a keener and there really early), Camilla d'Errico was also setting up her table, so I just went over and introduced myself. :) She was very friendly, and after a brief conversation about Con's I told her I would wave occasionally, and she said she would invent an apperatus for throwing spit-balls my way. ^_^ I hope she is sooo busy she only has time to imagine one. ;)

Here is one of my favorites of Camilla's. Yeah, she's a pretty great painter.

www.camilladerrico.com

Edmonton Expo / Wares

So here are a few of the things I shall be taking with me to the Edmonton Expo on the 20th.

Artist Trading Cards. You collect those, right?
$5 each.

Pin Back buttons.
This is the cool bowl I shall be using for display.
$2 each. 1.5 inches each.

Yuki-Onna. I had this Chapbook printed specifically for the show.
Its 32 pages, at 8.5 x 5.5 inches.
Its totally awesome, with both the folk story and
my illustrations.
$12 each, black and white.

Ye ol Studio

I thought it was about time to post a photo of my studio.

Key features ...
- Big ass table, with glass top.
- Lots of blank canvas's.
- Chair with handmade pillows.
- Drawers and cabinet to put things in.
- Couch ... for fainting spells, and back stretching.
- Antique Chandelier, cuz its pretty. :)

Edmonton Comic Expo ... I'll Be THERE!

This will be my first time at a Comic Con, and I am so excited. This is the first year for the Edmonton Expo. You may have heard of its big sister the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo or CCEE which happens in April.

Last year over 60'000 people attended the Calgary convention (mostly because of the main attraction with a full reunion of the Star Trek: Next Generation cast!), so it would be totally awesome if both the Calgary and Edmonton become huge success's. What a boon to Alberta in general.

Anyway, the Edmonton Expo, which I am showin the ol wears at will be on Saturday October 20th, and Sunday October 21st.

CHECK OUT THE WEBSITE!!! www.edmontonexpo.com

I will be in the Artist Alley at booth F2.

More posts to come leading up to the Expo, so stay tuned.

New Artwork

Here are a couple of 5x7 illustrations of Calaveras. I really enjoy this subject, and now I get to combine it with one of my other favorite subjects, History!

"Calavera Elizabeth"

and

"Calavera Maiko"

These are both available as prints in my Etsy Shop, at 5x7 and as aceo.

tempeststudios.etsy.com

Reference model was Sinju-hime
http://senju-hime.deviantart.com/

Reference modeling provided by Coi-stock
http://coi-stock.deviantart.com/