RMFC 2011 Report!
I promised a more detailed report of this weekends local convention on my twitter, so here we go!
Zoo!
This year the trip to the Denver Zoo was planned BEFORE the con, which I'm really glad for. I ended up not having a lot of time at the convention, so this allowed me to get some social time in. I went with lauragarabedian (who stayed with me for the weekend) wintersoul, linksidian, keet, ralley, rukis, blotch, crimsonf0x and noma! What a crowd! The zoo was great, the four yearling tigers were playful and LOUD, and the otters were out to play for once. I never see them, and I'm at the zoo quite a bit! I also got to visit with my favorite gal ever, Sally the orangutan. She's the oldest female orangutan in captivity, and she's VERY social and loves when people draw her. She's a great model, and is very interested in your drawings when you're done. Wintersoul and I approached her enclosure as polite as possible (in orangutan body language)and she came RIGHT over like she usually does! It was hot as sin out there, but I was prepared with a huge water bottle filled with icy lemon water, snacks, a hat, sunscreen, sunglasses... the whole shebang. Heat is not my friend, I last longer in the cold than the heat. Overall I had a blast and am thankful for the opportunity to hangout with some of the other artists before convention crazy time started.
Being social and Time Management
This convention was way less social than I thought it would be, mostly due to the fact that it was financially pivotal for me. I thought I could be more relaxed about it than I was, but I ended up treating it like any other conventions and taking all the work I could fit into my schedule. I finished a LOT of work at the con though, so compared to FC I have very little homework. I'm working on sketching them all out today so I have something for each one to show.
It also so happened that family obligations were a little more abundant than previously thought. Saturday was my Mom's bachelorette party, which I attended for the first half of the day, and Sunday my brother decided to have his birthday get together in the evening after the dealer's room closed. Originally I was going to go to sushi with all you wonderful dealers and regulars at the con, but I hardly ever get to see or talk to my brother these days and seeing him was very important to me.
To that end, I'm really sorry to those of you who I promised social time to and didn't deliver. I felt quite absent overall, both mentally and physically, and I am sort of sad I didn't get to interact with everyone more. If my Mom's wedding wasn't coming up so soon (this weekend) I'd make time post-con to hang out more. I hope next year will have less going on so I can be more social like I promised!
Merchandise and Commissions to come!
In the future I'm going to take different types of commissions, and offer different merchandise than I have been at cons in recent years. I've been doing the same thing for years, and I think it's time to revamp things. I am most likely going to phase out marker badges, which is the biggest change, at least for now. Over the years I've used markers so much that I've developed a sensitivity to the fumes, and I just can't stand working with them as much. Brand/type does not make a difference, it's clear I need to stop using them. So I'm going to experiment with some different mediums for conventions and see what works out. That means discount experimental commission slots will open in the near future!
I also want to try some new merchandise stuff. I've had the same designs for 1.5 years, and the same sticker/magnet/charm combo as I always have. I will be keeping charms, but stickers and magnets will likely be phased out. Perhaps I'll do large magnets, not sure yet. I'm going to explore more merchandise options and try to have new materials for FC 2013 (not attending FC 2012). Wintersoul has these amazing cast pendants, and she's said she will guide me through making some cast objects for sale in the future. Even making my own candies is an option, I've been playing with that idea as well!
The future is wide open in terms of merchandise for cons, any ideas are welcome!
Possible name change
I'm really keen on the idea of changing everything to Eskiworks. Wolf-Nymph is a name I came up with when I was 14, and it has lost it's meaning for what I do art-wise. And Shadow-Wolf has lost meaning as well. Plus having a million names has been confusing people, so consolidating might be a good idea. I'm not sure if I'll switch on both sites, but I'm going to most likely switch on FA. I still need to think on it, and I promise I won't delete ANYTHING from this account if I do switch! Anyone know of name changes are in the works for DA? Ideally just changing the name and not having to migrate everything over is better.
Well, now I need to get organized, do some sketching and budgeting, and work out my schedule for the next several months!
Zoo!
This year the trip to the Denver Zoo was planned BEFORE the con, which I'm really glad for. I ended up not having a lot of time at the convention, so this allowed me to get some social time in. I went with lauragarabedian (who stayed with me for the weekend) wintersoul, linksidian, keet, ralley, rukis, blotch, crimsonf0x and noma! What a crowd! The zoo was great, the four yearling tigers were playful and LOUD, and the otters were out to play for once. I never see them, and I'm at the zoo quite a bit! I also got to visit with my favorite gal ever, Sally the orangutan. She's the oldest female orangutan in captivity, and she's VERY social and loves when people draw her. She's a great model, and is very interested in your drawings when you're done. Wintersoul and I approached her enclosure as polite as possible (in orangutan body language)and she came RIGHT over like she usually does! It was hot as sin out there, but I was prepared with a huge water bottle filled with icy lemon water, snacks, a hat, sunscreen, sunglasses... the whole shebang. Heat is not my friend, I last longer in the cold than the heat. Overall I had a blast and am thankful for the opportunity to hangout with some of the other artists before convention crazy time started.
Being social and Time Management
This convention was way less social than I thought it would be, mostly due to the fact that it was financially pivotal for me. I thought I could be more relaxed about it than I was, but I ended up treating it like any other conventions and taking all the work I could fit into my schedule. I finished a LOT of work at the con though, so compared to FC I have very little homework. I'm working on sketching them all out today so I have something for each one to show.
It also so happened that family obligations were a little more abundant than previously thought. Saturday was my Mom's bachelorette party, which I attended for the first half of the day, and Sunday my brother decided to have his birthday get together in the evening after the dealer's room closed. Originally I was going to go to sushi with all you wonderful dealers and regulars at the con, but I hardly ever get to see or talk to my brother these days and seeing him was very important to me.
To that end, I'm really sorry to those of you who I promised social time to and didn't deliver. I felt quite absent overall, both mentally and physically, and I am sort of sad I didn't get to interact with everyone more. If my Mom's wedding wasn't coming up so soon (this weekend) I'd make time post-con to hang out more. I hope next year will have less going on so I can be more social like I promised!
Merchandise and Commissions to come!
In the future I'm going to take different types of commissions, and offer different merchandise than I have been at cons in recent years. I've been doing the same thing for years, and I think it's time to revamp things. I am most likely going to phase out marker badges, which is the biggest change, at least for now. Over the years I've used markers so much that I've developed a sensitivity to the fumes, and I just can't stand working with them as much. Brand/type does not make a difference, it's clear I need to stop using them. So I'm going to experiment with some different mediums for conventions and see what works out. That means discount experimental commission slots will open in the near future!
I also want to try some new merchandise stuff. I've had the same designs for 1.5 years, and the same sticker/magnet/charm combo as I always have. I will be keeping charms, but stickers and magnets will likely be phased out. Perhaps I'll do large magnets, not sure yet. I'm going to explore more merchandise options and try to have new materials for FC 2013 (not attending FC 2012). Wintersoul has these amazing cast pendants, and she's said she will guide me through making some cast objects for sale in the future. Even making my own candies is an option, I've been playing with that idea as well!
The future is wide open in terms of merchandise for cons, any ideas are welcome!
Possible name change
I'm really keen on the idea of changing everything to Eskiworks. Wolf-Nymph is a name I came up with when I was 14, and it has lost it's meaning for what I do art-wise. And Shadow-Wolf has lost meaning as well. Plus having a million names has been confusing people, so consolidating might be a good idea. I'm not sure if I'll switch on both sites, but I'm going to most likely switch on FA. I still need to think on it, and I promise I won't delete ANYTHING from this account if I do switch! Anyone know of name changes are in the works for DA? Ideally just changing the name and not having to migrate everything over is better.
Well, now I need to get organized, do some sketching and budgeting, and work out my schedule for the next several months!