MHG's Journals -- Fur Affinity [dot] net

Happy Face

General | Posted 14 years ago

Iiiiiiiiit's my biiiiiiiiiiiirthday!

Steve featured in magazine shock!

General | Posted 14 years ago

Arg! ARG! AAAAAAAARGH!!!

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/201.....ar-april-2011/

STEVE IS THERE! STEVE IS THEEERRREEE!!!1

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Mike’s Handy Tips for Comic Conventions.

General | Posted 14 years ago

The first ever comic convention I went to, I had no idea what to expect. I booked a table, was full of beans and even had my friend from Birmingham over to give me moral support but if there’s one thing I took from that day, it’s that you can’t book a table at a comic con if you don’t have any comics to sell. For some bizarre reason, I thought it would be okay if I just arrived with some prints of some drawings. How wrong I was.

However, I did learn something on that first day and that the best thing about any comic con is to talk to people. I enjoyed spending possibly ten minutes or more chatting to people whether they were coming to my table, or I was visiting theirs. I made quite a few new friends and some that I’m still in touch with today.

The next year was different, I had worked hard and created a black and white version of Steve & Bob (with some additional strips thrown in as a bonus). This was a very, very good idea. They were flying off the table and people were naturally curious about this one product. The problem was that a lot of people were scared to pick it up because they thought it was a furry. And by furry, I mean a dog shagging a mouse. Wrong. WRONG! But I couldn’t change their opinions about this, it was obvious that a lot of people just were not interested in a Garfield inspired strip. Thus the motivation to create an idea that was swimming in my head for quite a while now, I had to start making Elemental Micah.

Before creating Elemental Micah though, I created issue two of Steve & Bob. Much to my dismay, the next year it really didn’t sell that well at all. In fact, issue one was always going to be the big seller. It had the better cover AND it was issue one, the beginning of everything!

A few years had gone past and I had several comics now, I hadn’t made anymore Steve & Bobs, but by now I had Elemental Micah 1, 2 and 3. As predicted, issue 1 was the best seller just because it was the first story. It does bug me that it does so well because knowing the stories so well, I know issue two is the better story of the three so I often push that a lot more. Intriguingly, if you’re going to put a semi-naked man on the cover of issue 3, that is going to scare a lot of people off. Luckily I didn’t print a lot of issue 3, so when that sells out I might go for a more conventional cover.

It helps to have items that I call, “Little and Large”. Little things are like badges, badges can save your life at these cons, especially if they are quirky and fun. If you know someone with a badge machine, make friends, compliment their rather dapper sideburns and say how great my, er, their comics are! Large things are things like prints and plushies. Prints are good because there is always someone who will like your style and would like something big to put on their wall. I wouldn’t recommend buying a lot of prints straight away as you will be stuck with them for a long, long time (and chances are, in a few years time, your art style will change), but some simple yet good quality A3 prints will always pip someone’s interest and make your table look vastly more diverse. I’m lucky in that my mother is a seamstress (and a pretty damn good one at that!) so when I mentioned the idea of creating plushies, she said no straight away. Then a few months later, yes. Plushies are great to have on the table because they will always, ALWAYS cost more than your comics. If you have something that costs more than your comics, and it seems justified, then it seems reasonable to spend two quid on something you can read on the train back home.

Little things for those that only want to spend 50p, big things to make your comics seem like a damn good deal.

It’s harder now to be a comic artist than it ever has been at a comic convention I find because people simply don’t want to part with their money. There was a time when people would save up their money a few months before hand just to buy their favourite indy comic artist’s stuff, but I’ve found lately that people go to have a look and then meander off. I don’t know why, but the enthusiasm seems to have diminished from the comic goers.

So if you’re going to book a table and sell your stuff, my advice is “bring back the enthusiasm!” You’ve got to grab anyone who looks at your table intrigued, talk to them, put a comic in their hand and tell them what it’s about while they’re flicking through. Get their interest up, make them care about the industry as well as the strange stories you have created!

While it’s good to create a continuing story for your comic and while people ask you, “When is the next issue going to come out?” having more than issue one on your table isn’t necessarily a good idea. If you have too many things on your table, people will get confused and intimidated. Their first thought will be, “Oh no, they’re going to try and sell me everything on their table!” Be very wary of this. Focus on one issue at a time. The less choice someone has to make, the more likely they’re going to read your stuff.

One last thing, don’t go to these conventions hoping to make money. You never will if you go with that attitude. Go there to talk to people. Find out a bit about who they are, why they came today, what sort of stories are they into. And chat to other artists too, it’s a great boost to make a connection with other people who are also struggling at their own table. Also, OFFER SWAPSIES! There is nothing more important that reading other comics, so offer to swap your comic with other tables. A lot of them will say no, but really the whole point of selling your stories is to share your stories. And who knows, you might get a new fan out of it!

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