There and bucks again
Got back from Anime Nebraskon last night. It's such an easy, enjoyable trip-- especially when we take our own sweet time with it. The travel up was strangely hazy, but that only made the hills outside the northern Missouri plains look more distant and ethereal. On the way back, the setting sun was at our backs so the hills before us as we drove across the southwest corner of Iowa were painted in vivid oranges and reds. The sun took its time last night, giving a spectacular show and at the very end painting the bottoms of the descending clouds a bold neon pink against a slate blue sky. Many times this past month the sky has seemed more a work on canvas than atmospheric phenomenon. It pays to look up.
It also pays to look down. I found a quarter at the parking meters near U. Nebraska Lincoln. Rock.
So, the con was good! I was pretty well exhausted the last couple of days, but mostly due to not being able to nap halfway through the day and recharge. However, Bo took great care of me, fed me terrific food, and kept bringing back amusing treats from the dealer's room. The con overall seemed better organized this year as well, and that's mostly due to them being able to secure a section of the student union that can be easily partitioned into smaller, cleaner rooms. From what I understand, they have to book far, far in advanced since these rooms are in high demand and the university won't release the football schedule ahead of time so they can better co-ordinate the best days for the convention. If you don't know college football, the Huskers are H-Y-U-G-E -- superbig, mega-draw to the University. I think they're one reason Lincoln's so built up! So, avoiding the flock of football fanatics to host hundreds of anime fantatics is a delicate little dance. I have to give the staff at AN props. They did a fine job this year. And they're so friendly and helpful!
We sat across the room this year from Studio Ironcat and Steve Bennett. It was good to see them again. As usual, Steve had helpful advice for artists starting out in the alley. He also had his hat, making me regret not bringing mine. We could've had dueling cowboy hats. I don't think my pageboy cap can really stand up to the masculinity of his hat :( My hat drinks Shirley Temples, his drinks Jack Daniels.
Kyle Hebert was at the con and I saw him only super-briefly. I should've grabbed him while I could, but he was being led around on a tour of the con. Mr. Hebert, if you don't know him, is Kiba's English dub voice actor, Gohan's too, and I believe the narrator of DBZ. He landed a new role in the Bleach dub, amusingly enough, sweet ol' Cap'n Aizen. I seriously wanted to congratulate him on landing one of the most unexpected casting choices. I look forward to seeing what he does with Captain Four-eyes.
On the business front, things went well. I can say we did proportionately, the same amount of business/attendees that we've been doing at just about every con this year. The exception is AWA which didn't bring in quite as much revenue, but I think that's just because there was way too much competition in the AA. Keychains, as always, were the big seller. We sold a fair amount of prints, which is reassuring. I've been running the Shinobi Illustrated prints for a year and a half. They're still selling, but we're retiring them this year. Increasingly, I'm getting more original art on the table which does get a fair amount of attention. That's very reassuring! I had freebie calendar magnets to hand out with purchases of $10 or more and those were gone before the middle of Saturday! Business cards didn't move as quickly as usual, but honestly, we didn't get too many people in the AA. Unfortunately, the room was a bit secluded, being around the corner and down the hall-- even past the gaming room, from the Dealer's Room. It led to a dead-end of con activity and even though there were signs directing people, I just don't think many paid attention.
Hey, these are anime fans we're talking about. They can't read signs. Subtitles? Yes. Signs? That's expecting a little much of them. I don't know how many kids I had to direct around a campus I'm not even familiar with, showing them that the big, friendly signs have arrows that point this way or that, telling you which way to go :D What a concept!
Commissions were slim, but not so surprisingly as I would only take so many per day and many people seemed very tight with their money when it came to the bigger amount totals. However, several returning customers commissioned the big marker pieces that both fill my wallet quickly but also drain my soul. I'm pleased they enjoy my color work enough to pay my asking price, but those things seem to take forever, which kills my back. So, while I'm on the subject, here are the commission pieces from this con (minus one).
All characters © Their respective owners
Art © The Z, 2006
So, commissions altogether brought in a quarter of the revenue, which is an unusually small percentage. They ususually make half easily. Another quarter came from pieces entered in the auction, almost all of which were hentai ^^; But the Fran picture received a fair amount of attention-- not as much as I expected. The nekkid Sheena from ToS actually had more bids! But then, Sheena's a sexy kunoichi. Who would argue?
We're kicking around plans already for next year, but first comes preparing for the squid landing-- and of course holidays. Naka-kon will likely be our first convention of next year, being in early March. It'll also be at the KC airport this year, which will be nice. I don't have the anti-porn restrictions, being on a college campus and all that. It's a little further away from us, ironically, but not so far that we have to rent a hotel. I'll be seven months by that time, so we'll see how things go. I may just ask my awesome table monkeys to help me run things while I take it easy. But we're going to Akon for certain. We have a delightfully cheap table reservation already and that's our biggest con of the year. The rest will be easy and local, and I think the kid will take better to travel or staying with g-mas in that time. Everything's touch and go, but I have high hopes.
Now, back to your regularly scheduled Cheeri-Os.
(oh yeah, and I'm rediscovering, as I catch up on manga, why I love Shaman King so much! Aaaaaah! I want to draw fanart so bad!)
It also pays to look down. I found a quarter at the parking meters near U. Nebraska Lincoln. Rock.
So, the con was good! I was pretty well exhausted the last couple of days, but mostly due to not being able to nap halfway through the day and recharge. However, Bo took great care of me, fed me terrific food, and kept bringing back amusing treats from the dealer's room. The con overall seemed better organized this year as well, and that's mostly due to them being able to secure a section of the student union that can be easily partitioned into smaller, cleaner rooms. From what I understand, they have to book far, far in advanced since these rooms are in high demand and the university won't release the football schedule ahead of time so they can better co-ordinate the best days for the convention. If you don't know college football, the Huskers are H-Y-U-G-E -- superbig, mega-draw to the University. I think they're one reason Lincoln's so built up! So, avoiding the flock of football fanatics to host hundreds of anime fantatics is a delicate little dance. I have to give the staff at AN props. They did a fine job this year. And they're so friendly and helpful!
We sat across the room this year from Studio Ironcat and Steve Bennett. It was good to see them again. As usual, Steve had helpful advice for artists starting out in the alley. He also had his hat, making me regret not bringing mine. We could've had dueling cowboy hats. I don't think my pageboy cap can really stand up to the masculinity of his hat :( My hat drinks Shirley Temples, his drinks Jack Daniels.
Kyle Hebert was at the con and I saw him only super-briefly. I should've grabbed him while I could, but he was being led around on a tour of the con. Mr. Hebert, if you don't know him, is Kiba's English dub voice actor, Gohan's too, and I believe the narrator of DBZ. He landed a new role in the Bleach dub, amusingly enough, sweet ol' Cap'n Aizen. I seriously wanted to congratulate him on landing one of the most unexpected casting choices. I look forward to seeing what he does with Captain Four-eyes.
On the business front, things went well. I can say we did proportionately, the same amount of business/attendees that we've been doing at just about every con this year. The exception is AWA which didn't bring in quite as much revenue, but I think that's just because there was way too much competition in the AA. Keychains, as always, were the big seller. We sold a fair amount of prints, which is reassuring. I've been running the Shinobi Illustrated prints for a year and a half. They're still selling, but we're retiring them this year. Increasingly, I'm getting more original art on the table which does get a fair amount of attention. That's very reassuring! I had freebie calendar magnets to hand out with purchases of $10 or more and those were gone before the middle of Saturday! Business cards didn't move as quickly as usual, but honestly, we didn't get too many people in the AA. Unfortunately, the room was a bit secluded, being around the corner and down the hall-- even past the gaming room, from the Dealer's Room. It led to a dead-end of con activity and even though there were signs directing people, I just don't think many paid attention.
Hey, these are anime fans we're talking about. They can't read signs. Subtitles? Yes. Signs? That's expecting a little much of them. I don't know how many kids I had to direct around a campus I'm not even familiar with, showing them that the big, friendly signs have arrows that point this way or that, telling you which way to go :D What a concept!
Commissions were slim, but not so surprisingly as I would only take so many per day and many people seemed very tight with their money when it came to the bigger amount totals. However, several returning customers commissioned the big marker pieces that both fill my wallet quickly but also drain my soul. I'm pleased they enjoy my color work enough to pay my asking price, but those things seem to take forever, which kills my back. So, while I'm on the subject, here are the commission pieces from this con (minus one).
All characters © Their respective owners
Art © The Z, 2006
So, commissions altogether brought in a quarter of the revenue, which is an unusually small percentage. They ususually make half easily. Another quarter came from pieces entered in the auction, almost all of which were hentai ^^; But the Fran picture received a fair amount of attention-- not as much as I expected. The nekkid Sheena from ToS actually had more bids! But then, Sheena's a sexy kunoichi. Who would argue?
We're kicking around plans already for next year, but first comes preparing for the squid landing-- and of course holidays. Naka-kon will likely be our first convention of next year, being in early March. It'll also be at the KC airport this year, which will be nice. I don't have the anti-porn restrictions, being on a college campus and all that. It's a little further away from us, ironically, but not so far that we have to rent a hotel. I'll be seven months by that time, so we'll see how things go. I may just ask my awesome table monkeys to help me run things while I take it easy. But we're going to Akon for certain. We have a delightfully cheap table reservation already and that's our biggest con of the year. The rest will be easy and local, and I think the kid will take better to travel or staying with g-mas in that time. Everything's touch and go, but I have high hopes.
Now, back to your regularly scheduled Cheeri-Os.
(oh yeah, and I'm rediscovering, as I catch up on manga, why I love Shaman King so much! Aaaaaah! I want to draw fanart so bad!)