Sometimes a hastily drawn illustration is better than a thousand words, or some blurry cellphone pictures. There's a huge amount of diversity in convention table setups, the most extreme I've seen yet are the 'drive through window' booths popular at anime cons. The artists are barely visable behind a wall of fanart prints and poorly drawn yaoi, but don't worry, there's enough room for you to slip your money in the slot and get your hot little hands on a MashiroxTakagi print.
Mainstream comic book conventions have tables with A LOT of cheesecake pinup art, since there's little risk of offending female con attendees, as there are none. Well, that's a far stretch, but you'd think they were none by the amount of dead eyed gratuity shots plastered on booths. Even family friendly cons like Heroescon in NC have a bit of a problem with a little too much T and A.
Indie and mini comic cons are much more laid back, with nearly all emphasis on the comics, not necessarily the art. There might be an entire studio of artists crammed behind one booth, but everyone seems to be having a good time. There is no emphasis on selling prints here.
I wouldn't say "no" emphasis on prints...at Fluke that's mainly true (I think I sold my weight in prints there in part because few other people were selling them, and certainly not cheap B&W ones.) But at Stumptown you will see some prints, and even little trinkets like buttons or mini figurines.
ReplyDeleteI think the big difference, though, is at indie cons those things are secondary to the books themselves, which are definitely the main focus. The prints and posters and buttons are there to promote the comics and draw people in with big shiny things. Or to be a buying incentive (i.e., buy three books and get a free pack of buttons.) You don't really see people with just prints or just toys and no comics. (With a few exceptions--there might be one or two Etsy types with a bunch of handmade plush octopi.)
That's what I've observed in my limited experience, anyway.
I really think the indie con setup is the most appealing, but of course I'm prejudice. I'm offended by most cheesecake, and I like to see the artists' faces. Unfortunately, they don't seem to carry over well, and each one scoffs at the other.
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