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Back from my first Anthrocon! Epic Win!
16 years ago
To sum the experience up shortly: I could never capture my favorite moments in photo... but hopefully someone else captured them on video. ;)
And I should have bought more stuff! I got a little Diana Sprinkle art booklet and both packs of the "Nature of the Beast" card game (really cool, by the way). Commissioned a little sketch by the wonderful Kitsumi and also something from my friend HollyAnn which I will try and get scanned up in the near future. But of course those of you familiar with those two artists will know that it was CLEAN art that was commissioned.
That's right... I didn't buy no porns!! D: Gasp. I guess I'll just have to wait until MaxBlackrabbit is ready to take on more commissions online. That also reminds me of one regret I have: I didn't get the opportunity to commission my acquaintance GraveWalker! She had to leave the con early and I had a good window of opportunity to go see her at the "Zoo" area of the hotel, but I got all preoccupied with other stuff and missed out. Plus, I think I ran out of clean commission ideas. Except of course for my ongoing desire to have someone draw Klonoa meeting a Lovecraftian horror in a way that inexplicably does not involve tentacle rape. I mean, I guess I could have asked her to do me another badge, but is there some kind of rule of etiquette about not getting more than one badge from the same person? It feels to me like there should be.. or something.
Speaking of all these great artists... I don't know how you guys do it. Giving up so much con time to get your work done. Being busy with it 'round the clock. Man, I hate to see you guys miss out on so much. I can only hope that you find the work itself to be as satisfying, somehow.
Mmm. Want to know some of my favorite moments? They all involve me being unexpectedly gregarious. :3 I mean, really.. who knew I had it in me, to be such a fun guy?
I think the first instance was during the "Whose Lion is it Anyway?" Improv show, where the audience rather than trained professionals got to volunteer to do the improv. I wore my gas mask to it, and so when the theme of "Worst excuses not to use protection" came up I stood before everyone and shouted, "What do you mean? I AM wearing protection! See!?" Audience in stitches. Later there was the prop game. We had a couple big foam U's and some kind of stretched-8 or domino-mask piece, so I picked them up and held them together like U8 arranged counter-clockwise.. held it up in front of my face and yelled "I'MA FIRIN' MAH LAZER! BLAWWWWW!" while tossing another foam piece out the "mouth". Big hit. Later still there was a game where one person would pantomime an action, then a second person would ask "what are you doing?". The first person would then say they are doing something completely unrelated, and walk away while the second person now pantomimes the stated action, and the process repeats. When I said "I'm increasing my power level!" in my best Dragonball Z voice I got some laughs, but I think I was much more successful when I put the gas mask back on and the question of "What are you doing?" was answered with a stare, a brief pause, and then... my best impression of the Grand Galactic Inquisitor from the Venture Brothers. "IGNORE ME!"
Later on, I attended the Spaz Fox and Jibba show. Oh jeez, those guys had some funny stories. But the entire time I couldn't help but get this strange feeling of recognition as I watched them seated there beside each other, and listened to them talk. Near the end I decided to go for it, and raised my hand. "Yeah, actually I have a question for the audience. Watching those two up there together, am I the only one getting the inexplicable urge to go back to my hotel room tonight, turn on the TV... and watch Scrubs?" I'm pretty sure every last person in the audience nearly died laughing right then. People were high-fiving me left and right, and Spaz Fox even told me that I "won the game" before running up and handing me a dollar. I can't even begin to describe how awesome that moment felt for me. Do professional comedians feel that way all the time? If they do, then why do so many of them get mixed up with drugs or alcohol abuse? The thrill of making people laugh is a pretty damn powerful high in itself!
Hmmm... okay, I think the third big memorable moment for me was the charity show starring both 2 the Ranting Gryphon AND Uncle Kage. I just want to say that if you shuffled out the door the moment the show "ended" then you're a loser! }:3 They kept going after that. Man, was Kage drunk... and after he had left the room to go take a piss, I handed 2 half a pack of party poppers. You know, those kinda bell-shaped plastic things where you pull the string and they go BANG! and a puff of smoke and a few pieces of confetti blast out? Yeah. I thought it was a good idea for two major reasons. First off, 2's show on the previous day had been scheduled DURING the city's fireworks display, so he and everyone who went to see him missed out on the explosives. Secondly... I wasn't entirely sure I could find any location or opportunity to use them that wouldn't get me in some kind of trouble, and I figured he could get away with it. But at any rate, the moment I handed them over the gryphon's eyes lit up and he knew what to do with them. When Kage returned he launched a surprise attack. BOOM! Big melodramatic death performance by Uncle Kage, who spent the next while laying on the stage, signing things, and playing with the remaining few poppers with 2. So, good call on my part, I suppose. I do love instigating chaos... and I hope someone got it all on film!
No, seriously, did anyone get any of this stuff on film? It isn't every day that I actually manage to do something awesome, so I'm going to want proof.
And I should have bought more stuff! I got a little Diana Sprinkle art booklet and both packs of the "Nature of the Beast" card game (really cool, by the way). Commissioned a little sketch by the wonderful Kitsumi and also something from my friend HollyAnn which I will try and get scanned up in the near future. But of course those of you familiar with those two artists will know that it was CLEAN art that was commissioned.
That's right... I didn't buy no porns!! D: Gasp. I guess I'll just have to wait until MaxBlackrabbit is ready to take on more commissions online. That also reminds me of one regret I have: I didn't get the opportunity to commission my acquaintance GraveWalker! She had to leave the con early and I had a good window of opportunity to go see her at the "Zoo" area of the hotel, but I got all preoccupied with other stuff and missed out. Plus, I think I ran out of clean commission ideas. Except of course for my ongoing desire to have someone draw Klonoa meeting a Lovecraftian horror in a way that inexplicably does not involve tentacle rape. I mean, I guess I could have asked her to do me another badge, but is there some kind of rule of etiquette about not getting more than one badge from the same person? It feels to me like there should be.. or something.
Speaking of all these great artists... I don't know how you guys do it. Giving up so much con time to get your work done. Being busy with it 'round the clock. Man, I hate to see you guys miss out on so much. I can only hope that you find the work itself to be as satisfying, somehow.
Mmm. Want to know some of my favorite moments? They all involve me being unexpectedly gregarious. :3 I mean, really.. who knew I had it in me, to be such a fun guy?
I think the first instance was during the "Whose Lion is it Anyway?" Improv show, where the audience rather than trained professionals got to volunteer to do the improv. I wore my gas mask to it, and so when the theme of "Worst excuses not to use protection" came up I stood before everyone and shouted, "What do you mean? I AM wearing protection! See!?" Audience in stitches. Later there was the prop game. We had a couple big foam U's and some kind of stretched-8 or domino-mask piece, so I picked them up and held them together like U8 arranged counter-clockwise.. held it up in front of my face and yelled "I'MA FIRIN' MAH LAZER! BLAWWWWW!" while tossing another foam piece out the "mouth". Big hit. Later still there was a game where one person would pantomime an action, then a second person would ask "what are you doing?". The first person would then say they are doing something completely unrelated, and walk away while the second person now pantomimes the stated action, and the process repeats. When I said "I'm increasing my power level!" in my best Dragonball Z voice I got some laughs, but I think I was much more successful when I put the gas mask back on and the question of "What are you doing?" was answered with a stare, a brief pause, and then... my best impression of the Grand Galactic Inquisitor from the Venture Brothers. "IGNORE ME!"
Later on, I attended the Spaz Fox and Jibba show. Oh jeez, those guys had some funny stories. But the entire time I couldn't help but get this strange feeling of recognition as I watched them seated there beside each other, and listened to them talk. Near the end I decided to go for it, and raised my hand. "Yeah, actually I have a question for the audience. Watching those two up there together, am I the only one getting the inexplicable urge to go back to my hotel room tonight, turn on the TV... and watch Scrubs?" I'm pretty sure every last person in the audience nearly died laughing right then. People were high-fiving me left and right, and Spaz Fox even told me that I "won the game" before running up and handing me a dollar. I can't even begin to describe how awesome that moment felt for me. Do professional comedians feel that way all the time? If they do, then why do so many of them get mixed up with drugs or alcohol abuse? The thrill of making people laugh is a pretty damn powerful high in itself!
Hmmm... okay, I think the third big memorable moment for me was the charity show starring both 2 the Ranting Gryphon AND Uncle Kage. I just want to say that if you shuffled out the door the moment the show "ended" then you're a loser! }:3 They kept going after that. Man, was Kage drunk... and after he had left the room to go take a piss, I handed 2 half a pack of party poppers. You know, those kinda bell-shaped plastic things where you pull the string and they go BANG! and a puff of smoke and a few pieces of confetti blast out? Yeah. I thought it was a good idea for two major reasons. First off, 2's show on the previous day had been scheduled DURING the city's fireworks display, so he and everyone who went to see him missed out on the explosives. Secondly... I wasn't entirely sure I could find any location or opportunity to use them that wouldn't get me in some kind of trouble, and I figured he could get away with it. But at any rate, the moment I handed them over the gryphon's eyes lit up and he knew what to do with them. When Kage returned he launched a surprise attack. BOOM! Big melodramatic death performance by Uncle Kage, who spent the next while laying on the stage, signing things, and playing with the remaining few poppers with 2. So, good call on my part, I suppose. I do love instigating chaos... and I hope someone got it all on film!
No, seriously, did anyone get any of this stuff on film? It isn't every day that I actually manage to do something awesome, so I'm going to want proof.
For the most part, it's my job. I look at Anthrocon (and any other con I sell at) that during the day, it's a business trip, and during off-hours, I can have fun...if I dont' have homework to do, that is ;)
It can be a good AND bad thing at the sametime.
The Good: I get people coming up to me (rather than me trying to find people) to chat with me, or meet me for the first time, or whatever. Since it's pretty much my job, I try to make money in order to make my money back that I paid for my table, my share of the hotel, my food and meals, and maybe put a tiny bit aside for some "fun" money. The entire time, I keep having people take my business cards, with the hopes that they'll keep me in mind for whenever they'd like a commission or buy a print or something from me. It's good exposure, and they get to meet the person from behind the computer screen :) One of the "highs" I get is when I see people's reactions to the drawings I do for them, especially when it makes them smile or laugh out loud, and knowing that they like what I drew for them :) I can't explain how that makes me feel, other than "warm and fuzzy", but it's a good feeling :) I also can't explain the feeling I get when I find out I was completely off with I was drawing for them and they were disappointed in it O.o Luckily, that doesn't happen too often, but when it does, I feel awful about it.
The Bad: The big one, of course, is that we're stuck behind our table for pretty much the entire day the Dealer's Room is open. I don't know about other dealers/artists, but when I get behind my table, I make a point of not eating or getting up for anything, unless I have nothing to do. Which means I pretty much go the whole day without having lunch (or on Sunday's case, Breakfast AND Lunch), as well as not using the bathroom. Yeah, bad Holly, no cookie, but at the sametime, I feel like that if I get up and do stuff on a busy day/time, I might lose customers because I'm not there at the table. I also miss out on panels too. I've been going to AC for 9 years now and I've yet to attend a panel =P I wanted to go to Nambroth's panel about wings soooooo badly, but I had homework and wasn't able to make it. I've lucked out on all kinds of panels because I just couldn't leave my table - making money at AC is crucial so we can make our money back for our expenses. And then again, there's also the problem that many artists dealt with this year: not enough customers/commissions. I haven't tallied up my totals yet, but I'm pretty sure I didn't even break even this year, and I've ended up spending more money then making it, which is unfortunate :( Even with the things I sold in the ArtShow, we don't get paid for the sold items until August, and it can be hard, especially when bills are demanding to be paid NOW NOW NOW O.o; I would've loved to have been able to get drawings/sketches/conbadges from my favourite artists too, but again, I couldn't leave my table all that much, and I didn't have the money to do so either. I'll admit, I was envious of people who showed me what drawings they got from their favourite artists and I wished I could've done the same too. But, not much one can do it about it though.
It can be hard work - some people don't think it is, with "well how hard can it be, you're just sitting there, drawing!" but it really is hard work. It can take a toll out on our hands and wrists after a while. It's hard to be sitting down all day long, some artists not getting up for anything, not even a bathroom break or even a stretch. Some artists will go all the way and even turn down room parties or socializing at the Zoo in order to get their commissions done by the next day, staying up all hours of the night just to do this, getting so little sleep in doing this, only to repeat the same thing day after day during the entire con. It can be three days and four nights of cramming as much art as we possibly can fit into our day/night before the next day of the con starts. And the real kicker? We're probably still undercharging ourselves, just so that people can afford something from us, due to a lot of competition going on in both the Dealer's Room and the Artist Alley. O.o
Someday, if I ever have money set aside just for AC, I might take a couple hours out of my day and see if I can actually get stuff in the Dealer's Room as well. I'd be nice to be able to have some fun money so I can have fun like many other people at the con :)
I guess I can't really relate to how much work the whole art thing is. I drew when I was much younger.. but.. the only time I ever stopped drawing was to pick up a fantasy book or watch cartoons. It wasn't anything I had to try to do, it was just what I did. ADD and all. But of course that was drawing whatever I wanted to draw. I DO know that it's possible for something that you just do naturally and for fun on your own terms can turn into a massive endeavor when you find yourself doing the exact same thing on someone ELSE'S terms. For example, everyone knows that I tend to leave small essays in places where most people would just say "lol 10char", and that's just how I always am; but back in high-school, writing essays for class assignments? NIGHTMARE.
Anyways, I don't draw any more.. what I DO do, or I should say have done, is making maps (sorry... ONE map) for computer games (game). That doesn't really give me much understanding of the artists' process though, since I don't have any deadlines to meet and the only expectations I have to meet are my own... although, granted, those are probably higher than anyone else' could possibly be. I'm very self-critical. But anyways, what that DOES give me a little understanding of is what it feels like to have your work appreciated. It feels... really strange... but good. Though, on a note greatly differing from an artist's experiences, I actually get disappointed when people DON'T have any criticisms because it means I don't know what to improve on next!