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As always Anthrocon was good
7 years ago
General
One interesting conversation from this years convention started out where the fellow was asking me about whether I'd been going to conventions for a long time, and commenting this was his sixth time at AC. I said yes, indeed I had been going to Anthrocon going back to the second show in 1998 when it was still called Albany Anthrocon. He heard that and laughed, saying that he'd actually been born in 1998. This was immediately followed by me re-enacting the end scene of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade where the villain meets his demise.
I'm not... old... I don't feel old. Maybe a little.
I was also thinking about how I remember going out with Tracy to the grassy lawn with bushes outside the Adams Mark hotel at Anthrocon circa 2002 to admire the fireflies and reflected on how my convention experiences have changed over the years. Back then I attended conventions as something of an equal split of working / vacation, and I would allow myself the time to kick back and do fun things like that and then go to sleep at a semi-decent time period like midnight or 2am, perhaps. I don't know when things changed for me but the weight eventually shifted heavily onto the "working" side and not really much of the "vacation" (although I still get a charge out of attending). Maybe it's because I have more work to do these days or because I spend more time on it (getting nicer results hopefully) but it's now a routine thing for me to stay up until 3 or 4am working and having very little time to go to room parties with friends or even explore the dealers room or art show. I know I *could* still do all that if I wanted to, but I allow myself to be trapped by self imposed obligations. I keep taking on request after request and then doing my best to deliver something quality within the weekend timeframe, and yeah, I lose sleep, but I feel really humbled by the interest and pleased with my output which in truth is the most productive time for me out of the whole year.
So to everyone who stops by my table and chats for awhile, to those who buy things from me, and to those who commission something new from me, -THANK YOU! You all are the reason why I attend and the friends I've made over the years who I'm able to hang out with even for a little while keep me constantly motivated to the next show on the horizon despite the constant callouses and sleep deprivation I'll subject myself to in the process.
The drive out to Pittsburgh this year was pretty uneventful save for a couple minutes of white-out conditions during a heavy rainfall. That was hairy. Fortunately everyone on the road in front and behind me slowed down severely and put their hazards on so I was less concerned about getting slammed by an unaware driver.
As mentioned in a previous journal, barely a week before AC I got notice of an available Dealers table and that proved to be an excellent thing as I was able to bring my whole spread of work with me and afforded me the option of selling some prints and stickers I might not have had room to do if I'd been limited to an artist alley table. Speaking of that however, did anyone get a proper assessment of how busy Artist Alley was? I had been getting conflicting commentary earlier when it looked like that was my only option to sell this year concerning how likely it was that someone could feasibly obtain an AA table for all three days. In the past there always seemed to be some empty tables making it plausible that if you wanted a table you could get one, but I'm wondering what the reality was this year.
This year I brought with me another Attention Getting Device... or two, really. I now have both Nick and Judy from the Revoltech line of articulated toy figures and they got a LOT of attention. Some people asked if I'd sculpted them myself, others asked if I was selling them. To everyone who expressed interest I'd encouraged them to go out and buy the figures NOW if they saw them because it had appeared to me that all regular outlets which had them originally available for pre-order were sold out with notices that they might not be restocked. The figures are still out there but largely in the realm of second-hand re-sellers on Amazon or Ebay with prices about $30 to $50 higher than what I'd paid originally. Since coming back home however I've looked this up online and discovered that Nick is still available for purchase and Judy will be getting restocked around September. If you have an interest in these two then follow these links and get your orders in now:
http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/Produ.....nDetails/59235
http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/Produ.....nDetails/66409
...you can also find them for sale elsewhere but you'll need to google that yourself...
Beyond that... I'm not sure what else to include in this journal. I had a great time visiting with everyone no matter how brief and if there's one regret I had about the convention it's there aren't enough hours in the day for me to see everybody I want to and still accomplish the work load I want to. To those I didn't speak to this year I hope that you had an excellent and profitable time, and to those I did thank you very much for keeping me company and busy throughout the weekend!
I'll be headed to Orlando to attend the Megaplex convention at the beginning of August and I look forward to seeing many of you there as well. Cheers!
I'm not... old... I don't feel old. Maybe a little.
I was also thinking about how I remember going out with Tracy to the grassy lawn with bushes outside the Adams Mark hotel at Anthrocon circa 2002 to admire the fireflies and reflected on how my convention experiences have changed over the years. Back then I attended conventions as something of an equal split of working / vacation, and I would allow myself the time to kick back and do fun things like that and then go to sleep at a semi-decent time period like midnight or 2am, perhaps. I don't know when things changed for me but the weight eventually shifted heavily onto the "working" side and not really much of the "vacation" (although I still get a charge out of attending). Maybe it's because I have more work to do these days or because I spend more time on it (getting nicer results hopefully) but it's now a routine thing for me to stay up until 3 or 4am working and having very little time to go to room parties with friends or even explore the dealers room or art show. I know I *could* still do all that if I wanted to, but I allow myself to be trapped by self imposed obligations. I keep taking on request after request and then doing my best to deliver something quality within the weekend timeframe, and yeah, I lose sleep, but I feel really humbled by the interest and pleased with my output which in truth is the most productive time for me out of the whole year.
So to everyone who stops by my table and chats for awhile, to those who buy things from me, and to those who commission something new from me, -THANK YOU! You all are the reason why I attend and the friends I've made over the years who I'm able to hang out with even for a little while keep me constantly motivated to the next show on the horizon despite the constant callouses and sleep deprivation I'll subject myself to in the process.
The drive out to Pittsburgh this year was pretty uneventful save for a couple minutes of white-out conditions during a heavy rainfall. That was hairy. Fortunately everyone on the road in front and behind me slowed down severely and put their hazards on so I was less concerned about getting slammed by an unaware driver.
As mentioned in a previous journal, barely a week before AC I got notice of an available Dealers table and that proved to be an excellent thing as I was able to bring my whole spread of work with me and afforded me the option of selling some prints and stickers I might not have had room to do if I'd been limited to an artist alley table. Speaking of that however, did anyone get a proper assessment of how busy Artist Alley was? I had been getting conflicting commentary earlier when it looked like that was my only option to sell this year concerning how likely it was that someone could feasibly obtain an AA table for all three days. In the past there always seemed to be some empty tables making it plausible that if you wanted a table you could get one, but I'm wondering what the reality was this year.
This year I brought with me another Attention Getting Device... or two, really. I now have both Nick and Judy from the Revoltech line of articulated toy figures and they got a LOT of attention. Some people asked if I'd sculpted them myself, others asked if I was selling them. To everyone who expressed interest I'd encouraged them to go out and buy the figures NOW if they saw them because it had appeared to me that all regular outlets which had them originally available for pre-order were sold out with notices that they might not be restocked. The figures are still out there but largely in the realm of second-hand re-sellers on Amazon or Ebay with prices about $30 to $50 higher than what I'd paid originally. Since coming back home however I've looked this up online and discovered that Nick is still available for purchase and Judy will be getting restocked around September. If you have an interest in these two then follow these links and get your orders in now:
http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/Produ.....nDetails/59235
http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/Produ.....nDetails/66409
...you can also find them for sale elsewhere but you'll need to google that yourself...
Beyond that... I'm not sure what else to include in this journal. I had a great time visiting with everyone no matter how brief and if there's one regret I had about the convention it's there aren't enough hours in the day for me to see everybody I want to and still accomplish the work load I want to. To those I didn't speak to this year I hope that you had an excellent and profitable time, and to those I did thank you very much for keeping me company and busy throughout the weekend!
I'll be headed to Orlando to attend the Megaplex convention at the beginning of August and I look forward to seeing many of you there as well. Cheers!
My non-authoritative impression of the alley was a lot of empty spaces on all 3 days, but operationally it seemed to be a mess. Hopefully they streamline for next year!