This weekend I attended Anthrocon as a dealer. This was my first AC and furry convention in general. It was a lot tamer than I expected and my fantasy & monster artwork was very well received even though it was not actually anthropomorphic in nature. (two issues I was worried about!) I will definately consider attending again next year, although AC does fall uncomfortably close to Otakon, and I do not know if it will be possible to attend both.

Here are some photos from the con.



( More photos behind the cut. )

During the con I finished up Omni's dragon. :-)

I've been asked to post more of my rougher sketches and things before they get all corrected and sparkly inked up pretty, so here we go.

I'm going to tell you now that there are many drawing issues because I have not done any corrections to it yet. The skull structure needs some referencing, in addition to some symmetry. The hips could use some help, and the back leg placement could also have some greater care put into it. The wings coming at you could also use some TLC. Hahaha. This is basically the second pass of sketching. First pass is a very loose gesture. Second pass is nailing out the details. Third pass is correcting anatomical errors ect. Then inks. It sounds like a lot, but actually all this happens in about an hour, haha. Finally it gets inked and colored after all that mess.



And if you wanted to see the size that I ink at, this is it zoomed into 100%. I should still probably dig up some reference. I made this up >.>; It doesn't look right, haha.

I'm getting a vinyl banner printed for conventions so our table looks pretty. I'm hoping we can get it in time for AC. The graphic I created for it is here (so very rainbow!):


Click for full view

Kickass! I found some packaging I could use on the miniposters.



I found Clear Plastic Tubing that I could use to pre-roll posters and have them all nice and bagged. To top it off I could get some tiny little stickers made to put on the outside of the plastic tubing, so they would be easy for people to grab off the table, and relatively well protected to boot!

My cunning plan is to order one of each poster on cardstock and on that poster, have a the corner sorta stamped in Photoshop with a "POSTER TITLE: POSTER DIMENSIONS: POSTER PRICE" stamp on the lower left so people know it's signage :-) These could hang from a keen PVC pipe rig off the top of the table, so people could see the posters but they wouldn't take up table space. Underneath, I could build a really cute wooden box with lots of compartments inside, maybe 12. I could spray paint it back and then put the bagged/rolled/sticker-labeled posters inside.

It would make the posters take up minimal table space, keep them safe, keep them easy to grab, and the hanging posters would be eye-catching from a distance!

Thanks to everyone on the price/paper recommendations. I got an almost 50/50 split on the paper for what people said they would prefer, but in the end, neither is really a bad choice: The posters look great either way. The storage/mailing/display issue made poster-paper the natural choice. I will most likely be pricing the posters at $12 each or 3/$30. We'll see.

I'm so excited! Mind you, these wont' be ready anytime amazingly soon. I want to place an order for the miniposters all at once. To do that, I have to have roughly 8 poster designs that I am fond of AND work on 11x17 dimensions. Then I also have to place sticker orders, make signage, then roll and package everything. I hope to have these ready early fall though. Having miniposters would rock :-)

I found a printer who will do short run printing 11x17 mini posters for a very reasonable price. I ordered up samples or two different types of paper. Both have their pros and cons, and neither one would be a bad choice, but I'm looking to stock just ONE type of poster.

Poster Paper: A semi-gloss paper that's the approx thickness and feel of a poster. Can be rolled up like a poster.

Cardstock Paper: A thicker more durable semigloss paper. Cannot be rolled. Seems to print just a touch darker.

Question 1:
If you had a choice between the two, which would you paper would you be happier with if you were purchasing an 11x17 miniposter print?

Question 2: I sell unmatted 8.5 x 11 prints for $8 and mounted/acetate wrapped 8.5 x 11 prints for $12. 100 pieces of artwork are available at these sizes Now, if you saw a small (4-8 images) selection of 11x17 poster prints, would you feel $8 for a poster print makes the 8.5 x 11 prints seem like a rip off? On the other hand, is $12 too much for an admittedly large print, but small poster?



Feedback appreciated :-) Be honest.

Do want.