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Gonna be at Furlandia! + Merch ideas?
6 months ago
Apparently I got approved for an artist alley table at Furlandia! (Furry con in Portland, Oregon) I'll only be vending on Friday (first day of the con) so if you live nearby and want to catch a rare glimpse of Seyumei in the wild, theres your chance. xD It'll be my first furry con and I'll (most likely) be by myself, and I literally won't know anyone there, so uhhhh, we'll see how it goes lol. If if turns out better than I expect, then I might do more! I'm only applying to local cons atm just to get back into the groove of selling in person (havent done it in like 7 years lol), but if they turn out well, then I might expand to more out of state ones!
Since I now have an excuse to make merch again, I'm also probably going to re-open my Etsy store! (possibly next month). The reason why I never sold any physical merch for a long time is because I always had trouble getting sales unless I was constantly advertising (guess people only wanted commissions from me xD). I was also struggling financially at the time so it wasn't worth investing so much on merch production if nothing was selling. But now that I'm more stable, it doesnt feel as risky to try again. I was also pleasantly surprised when people offered to buy some standees that I wasnt even planning to sell: https://www.tumblr.com/seyumei/7783.....d?source=share So it kinda inspired and gave me hope that people actually want physical things from me :'D
I'm mostly gonna have small things for sale at the con (like stickers, charms, mini prints ect) since my table isnt that big. And maybe trad commissions on site to fill in lull periods. Though I was gonna ask if there was anything in my gallery that would make good merch for a furry con? Always have a hard time deciding what people like lol. Most of my animal/anthro adjacent fanart is on the table but I'm kinda lost on original stuff. I dont think The Boys™ would sell unless they were animal/anthros. xD I was thinking of having some of my myth anthro designs made into standees but those can be expensive to produce. Maybe something else?
Since I now have an excuse to make merch again, I'm also probably going to re-open my Etsy store! (possibly next month). The reason why I never sold any physical merch for a long time is because I always had trouble getting sales unless I was constantly advertising (guess people only wanted commissions from me xD). I was also struggling financially at the time so it wasn't worth investing so much on merch production if nothing was selling. But now that I'm more stable, it doesnt feel as risky to try again. I was also pleasantly surprised when people offered to buy some standees that I wasnt even planning to sell: https://www.tumblr.com/seyumei/7783.....d?source=share So it kinda inspired and gave me hope that people actually want physical things from me :'D
I'm mostly gonna have small things for sale at the con (like stickers, charms, mini prints ect) since my table isnt that big. And maybe trad commissions on site to fill in lull periods. Though I was gonna ask if there was anything in my gallery that would make good merch for a furry con? Always have a hard time deciding what people like lol. Most of my animal/anthro adjacent fanart is on the table but I'm kinda lost on original stuff. I dont think The Boys™ would sell unless they were animal/anthros. xD I was thinking of having some of my myth anthro designs made into standees but those can be expensive to produce. Maybe something else?
Your goat propaganda series would be good picks for prints, especially since they're focused around decently well known IPs, but I'm a little biased on that front lol
And don't underestimate how much people love Sky and Keith, I really love seeing art between characters with really strong relationship dynamics and individual personalities like those two
Haha i actually put in orders for stickers yesterday with some of those. xD For prints, i kinda want to go with more detailed pieces though. I guess I'll just look back at my folio and see what I can pick out, or make new stuff!
True, though i figured it might be tougher if no one is really familiar with them there. But i guess it doesnt hurt to just toss a few of their stuff in with the others xD
Hope you have fun down there in Oregon, wishing the weathers would be better than it is up at the north “>w>
I should really hit up cons that neighbors my home state, probably a chance to explore new towns and areas!
As for the merch ideas, maybe something like accessories for keychains or art portraits that I’ve seen most artists themselves sell o:
One recommendation is to have business cards and a station (sticker, or print out with information on how to find your stuff.) Business cards usually go fast, and anything gimmicky usually brings attention. When I did the booth I had free cheese stickers (I worked as a cheese steward so I had a LOT of labels that would normally go on cheeses for sale) and at some point people would just go to my table to see what was there, helped bring returning people and attracted some new people too.
Hope the shows a good one though! Having it for only one day helps relieve some of the con stresses that could come up.
But yeah I got business cards taken care of xD The only thing really need to figure out is my booth setup. And yeah I can't really bring anything too big since they're only giving me a half table, so small trinkets is probably the way to go haha. Luckily I have a lot of options for stickers xD
But my board demands more stickers!!