The first part of this is here.

Obviously the more popular and in demand an artist is, the more they tend to, and can charge for their services. Specific styles or skill levels may also lead to increased charges.

But what’s the baseline for professional work? Its a tough question, especially for artists, as generally speaking, not a lot of professionals advertise their page rates to the general public.But fortunately there are some guidelines out there. The kicker is that you might be surprised at how the prices are divided amongst services.

If you are new to the industry, you should be paid SOMETHING. You should NEVER EVER work for free. Especially if you want to make a living off your art. If you are a writer looking for an artist, take this into account. You need money to exchange hands if you want a contract to be valid, and if you want a good artist, you’d better get some cash saved up to pay them.

The ASA (Author’s Society of Australia) offers a very nice PDF off their site to anyone who cares to look that gives a really good guidelines for professional pricing specifically for comic artists. Of course this is going to vary depending on who you are, where you are, and what you’ve done in terms of professional work, but Austrlia’s pricing is not so far off from the US or Canada’s rates generally speaking that you can’t use it as a sort of base line.

You can break down the pricing for general comic work into several categories. These are:

• Concept work
• Penciling
• Inking
• Lettering
• Coloring

Most of these items, while its more common to see in professional, big company type circles, used to be done separately. These days, particularly small shops, expect artists to do it all… for a fraction of the price.

Each artist works at a different pace, and if you want to figure out your price based on hourly rate for example, get yourself a timer. Time yourself penciling a page. Take the hourly wage you’d like to get for penciling and multiply it by the number of hours it took you to do pencils. So for example, if you want to get paid 15$ an hour to pencil, and it takes you 3 hours to pencil, you should charge at least $45 a page for pencils.

As a guideline, most professionals are getting paid more than $100 per page on a pencils and $75+ for inking. If you are an amateur, getting paid about half that, 50$ is pretty damn good just for pencils alone. But chances are you won’t be doing just that. You will at least be expected to provide finished inks at least. Most independent buyers expect that much on a project, so you need to figure in your inking time as well. If it takes you 3 hours to draw, and then 2 hours to ink, to get $15 an hour, you’ll need to charge $75 per page.

I highly encourage artists to NEVER charge less than minimum wage for their hourly rate when they are figuring out their prices. If you are going off the hourly as a way to figure out base prices. For the US, $7.25 is a very common minimum wage, so I suggest you round it up to $8 at least. Even at $8 an hour, your page rate should be $40 a page, assuming you spend 5 hours total on it. This method of figuring out your base really depends on tracking and making good use of your time. If your time is highly variable, you might need to use another method.

Another pricing strategy some amateurs/aspiring professionals take the base professional rate and half it as a way of figuring out their base price to break in and slowly raise their prices as they fall into more demand.

You may be tempted as an artist to under charge, and under value your skill. The fear of being denied a job because of charging a decent rate is a huge reason why artists don’t get paid well. DO NOT UNDERCHARGE for your skill level. It devalues your work, and devalues every other artist’s work too. Try to stay in line with other artists of your skill and resume level, and what you need to charge to cover your bills and make a living.

You should also, as an independent contractor, consider your equipment when you set your prices. If you are working traditionally, you need to add the cost of your materials into your prices. This might result in an extra $5 tacked on to each page, or if you need to factor in how much you paid for your tablet, computer, and software, maybe its another $10.

Lettering and Coloring should generally be separate line items and price for that service should be negotiated separately. People have a mentality these days, largely enforced by the consumerist ideals of Costco and Walmart that the more you buy, the bigger the discount. This isn’t true of artisans. Just because you buy seven paintings, doesn’t mean you get a discount. Just because you want an artist to do all the work, doesn’t automatically mean you get a discount. It might be more cost effective to go with one artist simply because their rate is lower than another artist, but it does not mean they need to drop their standard rates for whatever they do just because you are getting all your services from them. Artists are not Walmart or Cosco. We do not make stuff in bulk. You are not buying toilet paper here, nor are you, the artist, selling toilet paper. You are selling art, skill, and talent. Remember that.

Digital coloring, like penciling/inking, is generally pretty pricey as coloring (at least good coloring) takes a while. Professionals get paid about $100-200 a page. If you are charging in the per hour way, and it takes 5 hours, then it should be $50 a page. If you happen to love coloring maybe it takes you less time. Or maybe if you hate coloring, you want to charge more because its not doing something you particularly enjoy or takes you a long time.  You may also want to tack on a charge depending on the complexity of the page. Starting with a base of $50 and subtracting a bit if you are really fast or love to color, or adding if the page is really complex or it takes you a long time, is a good way of figuring it out. Don’t forget the material costs.

For lettering, the price is pretty low generally speaking. Even professionals are getting around $35-$50 per page. Chances are you can just tack on $20 to the total price of a page for lettering and unless you are a typography guru, its probably not worth more. Obviously unless you’ve got some serious credibility as a comic letterer, its not going to probably be a huge charge. Its also not that hard. A lot of writers will do this themselves and save the money.

Concept art is generally done on a piece by piece basis. Copyright may or may not reside with the artist in this case, so its good to have something in writing, and be properly compensated if you surrender copyright under work for hire or any other contract. A good base is $50 to start and go up from there depending on factors such as complexity, color, number of figures, etc. I would note that book illustration is a totally different field and is not covered under concept work. Concept work is generally rougher than most finished illustrations, which tend to demand higher prices. Again the ASA offers a nice little glimpse at some base rates to consider when figuring out pricing for inquiries of that nature.

Ultimately, its up to the artist to decide their worth. But when you do, stick to your guns. Its hard to remember sometimes, considering how undervalued artists are, that we DO offer a service that is valuable. Our skill can make or break a project and more often than not, we are left holding the bag, or busting our ass for little to no pay. DO NOT let this happen to you. Do not work for free, do not let them promise to pay you later, remember, its up to THEM to figure out how to get their money back, not you. You do the work, you should get paid immediately. Its that simple.

Don’t work on spec. You’ll regret it later. Every. Single. Time.

Now I’m not unfamiliar with conventions, although previously I had always shared a table and nearly all of my experience was in the US. This time, I was only taking on my homeland of Vancouver, BC, Canada. This led to some very interesting experiences and a look at some very interesting revelations about my fellow canucks and the climates of the various conventions.

Minicomi

My first convention of the season was Minicomi. A new one day comic market based after the 1 day dojin markets in Japan and put on by UBC’s Anime Club. The event was held in UBC’s Student Union Building (a place I have become very familiar with…) in the ballroom. It was quite spacious, and seemingly well organized as far as checking in and setting up was concerned.

I had generally guestimated that the crowd’s demographics would probably be 15-25, biased to the females, likely asians or asian decent. I had thought that it was, from all the advertising, going to be a market of people buying stuff, or looking to buy stuff. Since there were no ‘official’ vendors, as in commercial vendors, and this was an artist only event, I figured it would be a good climate for independent comics. However, this was pretty far from the truth.

The event was free, and so a lot of families were showing up with their kids (ages ranged from about 7-14ish), and there was a LOT of browsing and not a lot of buying. The crowd that was gathered was mostly interested in cosplaying and window shopping. A lot of people stopped and looked through my artbook, and really liked my jewelry, but never wanted to buy. It was strictly looking.

The sales that were being made around the hall were specifically fan art of established, popular series. There was also a price point of about $5. Most things sold were under or not much exceeding $5. Keychains, buttons, and small fan art prints appeared to be the best sellers. Now, I used to work in a commission sales position. I KNOW how to work a tough crowd. I worked it as hard as I could without being a bitch, and I just BARELY made back my table costs. I sold about six things total, including one commission, an art card, a couple of buttons and a couple of comics. I know that other independant comic artists didn’t do much better. The people who were doing well up were the fan artists, not just of anime, but also video games. There were some crafters there as well who I don’t think were doing particularly well either. The price point of this event was very very low, and the people who were there really were interested in fan content, not original content.

I may give this another whirl with many of the new, fanish buttons I came up with over the three conventions I did. I only started with about 7 or so designs, and I have a lot more now. I would also think i need to do more fan art or genre work to make back my money on this. Overall, I broke even on the table, but not the gas or my time at the convention.

I would only recommend this market for people who do a lot of fanart or fan based work, and bring stuff that is 5$ and under. Don’t expect to sell much above $10 in price. (unless you sell cosplay items or plushies… I saw people walking around with those) If you have a lot of product already, it may be just another opportunity to sell, but unless you are making things that appeal to fans of established series, this probably won’t be a good market for you.

Notes for next year: I’m going to try this convention again, but I’m definitely going to find more $5 or less items, and tap a few fandoms for ideas like I did with my buttons later in the season.

Cos & Effect

Cos & Effect is supposed to be an alternative fashion and Cosplay convention which was held at UBS, that, like Minicomi, was a brand new convention this year. However, since the demise of the local anime convention “Anime Evolution”, this sort of became this year’s defacto replacement.  Unlike Minicomi, this was a two day event and had a registration fee associated with it. It also had dealers/artist alley separation. The price was more than Minicomi, but it was WORTH it.

The artist alley was located in a room on the second floor, and it was a friggen destination at the convention. The room was PACKED for nearly the entire con, so much so that making your way around the aisles in cosplay (which turned out to be far too narrow) was hazardous to displays and fellow con-goers. The biggest issue was that if someone stopped to browse a table or take a picture, it stopped up the whole flow of traffic. This made it difficult for some folks since no one could actually STOP at their tables. I was lucky, I got a table in the front corner, where there was a large space and it was right in front of the entrance. Everyone could see me.

For this convention, I made up a bunch of new button designs, had a t-shirt printed, and did up some earrings for the necklaces I already had. I also had my comics and, art cards,  art prints from the previous Minicomi since I sold so little.

The sales were brisk and the place was packed even before the room opened (someone screwed up and let people in early. ). Over two days I met a ton of interesting people and sold more than enough to cover everything, from my table to my gas money, and covered what I lost at Minicomi.

My most popular item, hands down, were my buttons. Buttons FLEW off the table. Seriously, I pretty much made my convention off button sales. Several times I had to whip out my button maker and press more of particularly popular designs. I can officially say the button maker paid for itself.

The next best selling items were the comics (awesomely enough), and artwork (prints, artcards, and commissions)

The big loser as far as product went was the T-shirts and the jewelry. Again, price point was an issue. A lot of interest in the jewelry, a little in the shirts. But not a lot of people willing to spend larger sums of money.

The con’s demographic was slightly higher than minicomi as far as age went. about 18-30, with some families, but less than the one day Minicomi. It was more highschool/college students, with a smattering of working adults, and a few family units here and there. The main difference I think between minicomi and Cos & Effect, was that people came to the convention expecting to buy stuff. They were LOOKING for stuff to buy, and not just of their favorite fandom. They were much more open to discovery, and artists. This made the convention much better for independent artists who’s work doesn’t center around fan stuff. Although fan stuff obviously sold very well.

The price point was higher than minicomi. $10-$15 was the threshold that made people buy or make them think and “come back later”, although I learned that bundled table deals make things sell much better. My button bundles were far more popular than anything else on the table. I plan for next year to make more available. A lot of people wanted to buy more expensive things, but a lot of them spent their money in the dealers room. I’m guessing the threshold for the dealers room was higher in terms of what people would spend, but that’s pretty typical it seems for most conventions. I think a lot of younger people too are struggling in the current economy. There was more than once people were extremely interested, but they just couldn’t afford it.

Overall this was an awesome convention, and I’m sure it will be even better next year. IRL Events really knows how to run a good event. With some of the changes and feedback they got from their artists, I’m sure the alley will be even better next year. I expect the artist alley will be juried again, which is different from a lot of conventions way of handling artists alley, but I hope I make it in again. (assuming they have one)

Notes for next year: I’m going to add some cosplay elements to my table specifically for this convention, and try to work on my jewelry so that I can get it to a lower price point. Also, more button designs and work on updating my artbook, new comic issues, and freshen up my prints. But I’m definitely coming back to try for this one.

Vcon

One of the oldest sci-fi conventions in Canada, Vcon is a proper convention held in a hotel. It’s been around a long time, and as such had (as I expected) the oldest demographic as far as age ranges. It also didn’t separate the artist’s alley from the dealers room, which was actually pretty small comparatively to many other conventions I’ve been at.

Vcon is… unique as far as conventions goes. The vendors room was a little more like a craft fair than what you’d expect from dealers. Which makes what you can buy there a truly unique experience. And also what’s expected from you as an artist shifts a little sideways I discovered.

The attendees were generally in the 35-50 age range, although there was a smattering of  younger adults, they were definitely the minority. A few families had young kids, but for the most part you were dealing with older sci-fi/fantasy fans, which, let me tell you, are a very different breed than anime fans. Also, unlike cosplay/anime conventions, it skewed a bit to the male heavy side somewhat. The price points seemed higher in the room, 20-50$, but you had to have the right stuff.

These folk had money to spend on the right products. But the right products were tricky business. Artwork these people were looking for was classic fantasy and sci-fi art, and they expected to see originals as well as prints. Large ones. Like 11×17 or larger, on bristol or canvas, in traditional mediums like ink, acrylics, oils, or watercolour. The artshow was a big deal, with some AMAZING pieces. These people are buying art for their homes, or are collectors. They are willing to spend some big dollars for the right pieces, but most of the artists in the alley (including me) were definitely NOT ready for that sort of crowd.

As far as my table went, I brought a few new items with me to the convention. Clip on kitty ears, cyberlox ponyfalls, and a brand new set of sci-fi/geek themed buttons and added Zipper pulls to my repertoire of my most popular designs. I also had to reprint my comics, since I had sold so many at Cos & Effect. ( you can read my reviews of Ka-blam and RA Direct’s print jobs if you want to know how they stacked up.)  Otherwise, I was working off old stock from the previous conventions.

Vcon is a 3 day convention, and the first day, Friday, was predictably slow. The Saturday was also slow, surprisingly so since Saturdays are usually the busiest at 3 day conventions, however Sunday was a gong show. Almost 80% of my sales were on Sunday. I did… alright. The buttons, once again, were a life saver. Sold more buttons than anything else at the table. Our other surprise, was that we sold out of kitty ears in a flash on Sunday. We didn’t bring that many, since it was an experiment, but we’ll be for sure bringing more next time.

Again, lots of interest in certain products. Cyberlox were a definite novelty, people stopping to touch them all the time, and browse the jewelry, but only sold one item, one of the cheapest ones. Had a lot of people browse the art, but my anime stuff is definitely NOT for this crowd. I would probably have done better with more generic fantasy art, and definitely need to bring traditional originals.

I bundled my comic with my T-shirt, and thanks to a few friends sold a couple, so that made the table cost. A nice promotion that the Vcon folks did was create a con currency for the dealers room to encourage people to shop. Everyone got a free 2$ of con cash with their registration, and the convention ‘cashed’ it at the end once the dealers room closed. They also awarded prizes in con cash, so it encouraged people to shop the dealers room. A very cool idea for sure. I cashed out a fair amount of it.

Notes for next year: Bring more ears, more buttons, more artwork, particularly an original portfolio of more classic artwork. Enter the artshow. Make jewelry that I can sell at a cheaper price points.

Overall Notes for 2011

I think I broke even more or less on the conventions I went to. It wasn’t easy, but it was also my first time there, and my displays were not ideal. I have a lot of work left to do on those yet, but I need money to make things like popup banners. I did managed to get some better racking. I might need more though.

I am definitely happy about my button maker purchase. It paid for itself many times over and saved my butt at each convention I was at.

I need to work on updating my artbook and focusing a little on my core product, which is my art in general. Comics and originals/prints and such. My artbook is horribly out of date.

Overall Notes for 2012

I am definitely going to look at deals/bundles for the table, making more buttons. I might consider getting another button maker of a different size. I also want to work at making most of the products on my table under 10$ as much as possible, nothing over 20$, unless its in a bundle. I will probably try to leverage a little more fan inspiration into some of my art, but also look at producing some work which can be sold as originals, especially since I’m already committed to Vcon and looking at other conventions in the summer. I want to have my other comic, Shifters, printed. I had Brymstone #1, but I also need to get back on top of updating for Brymstone (which kind of fell behind thanks to Shifters and conventions) and be well prepared in advance this time.

I first found these guys via twitter, when they followed me. Being every curious about printers, I checked it out. One thing that irked me a bit about Ka-blam, as a professional designer, and print one at that, was the lack of a proof, and the inability to submit a PDF file.

So it was with great delight, when I checked em out (I check out pretty much everyone who follows me via twitter, and if I like what I see, I follow back) that I found out they accepted PDFs, in CYMK and they offered hardcopy proofing at no additional cost!

The other thing that made me sit up and take notice was the turnaround. They promised a very very reasonable turn around of a week or less. Unlike Ka-blam, which had required me to send stuff a month and a half in advance (or longer) to get a decent price. This was enough, that when I needed more of my comic books, I decided to give them a whirl.

Unlike Ka-blam, they do have a minimum quantity of 25, but in terms of small printruns, especially going to conventions, that’s not really a big deal. You’d probably want at least that many anyway. If you order a few weeks in advance, get your proof, you can check your pagination, colors, etc.

When I had questions, I asked them over Twitter and they responded very quickly, which was great, and I arranged everything through that. Communication and service was top notch, its clear they care about their customers and are serious about winning over a piece of the small press pie. When I explained my tight timelines, and the issue of me being international, they worked out a way to get me my comics as cheaply as possible.

Their submission form was pretty strait forward, web upload, which was easy. Their invoicing process was reasonably painless, payment on order. I used a credit card, and it was all good.

My only issue was when I received my comics, they weren’t as nice as I had hoped. Ka-blam had definitely outdone them in terms of color and quality. The paper stock was thinner, although that wouldn’t have been so much of an issue if the colors had been a bit more vibrant and less muddy. My comic used a lot of dark tones and gradients. It isn’t easy to reproduce, I’ll grant that, but its possible. Looking at the paper too, it was more coarse and looked ‘rough’ compared to the Ka-blam version. The gradients had some issues in a few places and the dots were extremely visible, unlike the Ka-blam gradients which were extremely smooth. It did give the comic a more ‘vintage’ look, but unfortunately that wasn’t really what /I/ was going for. I can say I prefer the more vibrant colors and smooth stock that Ka-blam uses. To be clear, the quality wasn’t really bad, it just wasn’t as good as Ka-blam. But the service RA provided was MUCH better.

Overall RA Direct rates the following from me in terms of a printer choice:

Ease of submission:****

The upload area is part of their website, and you can upload a single PDF which is much more convenient in my book than trying to send a bunch of TIFF files or other single files. As a proper printer, they require CYMK converted files. Having do to proper pre-press preparation without templates and such might be a bit challenging for a person who is unfamiliar with it.

Proofing/prepress: *****

They will send you a PHYSICAL proof if asked, or a digital proof if you are in a hurry and just want to check things like pagination. But this really cuts down on the anxiety factor when you at least have a sense of what you are getting. This is included and does not cost any extra. Which is as it should be, as far as I’m concerned.

Price: ****

The price is pretty competitive with other services, although slightly more expensive, especially if you play with the paper stock (which you will probably want to, the default is somewhat flimsy). For the service though, its worth it, especially if you’ve got a tight deadline and need prints fast.

Turn Around: *****

Holy fuck these guys are fast. FAST. They turned around an international order in literally 2 days and it didn’t cost me a cent more than the original quote. They did their best also to assure me the lowest cost and fastest possible shipping. If you find yourself in need of a dead fast turn around, these guys deliver. They also have great communication. Their standard turn around is about a week, but they can do it in as little as a day. An A+++ on the turn around time.

Product Quality: ***

I’m not sure if it was the speed they turned my order around, or the equipment, but the printing was not as nice as what I got from Ka-blam. Some of the gradients suffered a bit from screening issues  and the blacks weren’t nearly as crisp. The colors were also somewhat darker with a lot of roughness on the stock, suggesting that perhaps I should have selected a more robust/higher quality paper stock for the ink coverage, although I had no such issues with Ka-blam. While its what i would consider ‘okay’, its definitely not wow-ing me. Maybe part of the problem was drying time on the ink before binding as well. It was rushed after all and the little roughed ink blotches  could be from mild page sticking.

Delivery: *****

They did their damnest to get it to me in the ridiculously tight time frame. They got it to me within the week they promised, even if it was a bit off for the timeline I needed, it’s not their fault I don’t have mail service every day. But I did get it within the 2-3 days promised. Unfortunately one was kind of chewed up, but that was due to being sent in an express envelope to get it to me on time. Compromised speed for packing, although each set of books was wrapped in plastic, so the rest were fine.

Would I print with them again?

Yes, I would. But I’d probably work in a few caveats. First would be to go with a higher quality paper stock. I have a particularly high ink coverage in my comic, and its full colour with a lot of dark, graduated blends. I’d also probably try to allow a LITTLE more time than a week and a half to have them turn things around. Although I do have some concerns around the screening issue, it might have to do with the types of screens they are running. RA does produce a specific ‘look feel’ of old, classic comics. They even print on old newsprint to get it, which suggests they are using an older, half tone dot screen rather than running a more modern stochastic screen. I prefer stochastic screening for the smoother gradients and less ‘static’ look in modern publications. This would probably require some further chatting with the RA folks (who are extremely nice by the way), in terms of determining what their capabilities in terms of screens are.

As a graphic designer who works almost exclusively in print, I’ve worked for about a decade with a number of different printers (large and small). This gives me a lot of expertise and expectation when getting anything printed as to what kind of quality I should get from a printer. So I’ve recently printed my first set of comics, and  as such I’m exploring the world of on-demand comic printing. In an effort to help the community, I will bring my findings to you all so when you come to the time when you want to print some comics, you’ll have some perspective.

My first stop on this Road is one of the more well known On-demand services: Ka-blam.

My Experience with Ka-blam

On my first visit, I wanted to get a sense of Ka-blam’s prices, quantity breaks, and formats. Ka-blam’s website has a nifty little instant quote wiget, that tells you all that information pretty instantly. Ka-blam has an option to include and ad for them to help lower the price of your cost per issue, which is also nice. The cost, over all, for a standard 32pg full color book is about 3$ an issue or there about. Sounds extremely reasonable, yes?

They also offer to add it to their online catalog, Indyplanet, for free, where they will pay you commission of markup minus printing fee  if you sell copies off their website. They also offer a service to offer it to Brick-and-Mortar comic book shops called “Comic Monkey”. They’ve recently also begun offering a digital marketplace option.

My book is the first ‘prequel’ chapter for my webcomic Brymstone. Fortunately, having intended for it one day to be in print, I had high resolution files. A high resolution file is 300 DPI or better, for those of you who don’t know. My first task however, was to make them fit into Ka-blam’s standard comic template.  I was actually quite grateful for the template, although as a designer who’s delt with PDFs forever, I was a little dismayed to have to send my print job as 32 individual TIFF files… in RGB. *shudders*

But this is their show and in all fairness, most of their clients are NOT designers who know of color space and proper discipline when making a PDF. So they are trying to make their process as easy as they can for clients who have no design experience whatsoever.

It took me several weeks to re-format, re-letter, and then have the work proof read. I did plan ahead however, as if you read the fine print regarding their print policies, you need to have your files ready 28 days before you need your order delivered. Not just 28 days, but 28 BUSINESS days, or about a month and a half, or the price of the quote goes up. Significantly.

Unfortunately I had planned to submit my files a month in advance, rather than a month and a half in advance. That bit me on the ass somewhat, since I got dinged with the rush surcharge.

You see, with Ka-blam, the faster you want it, the more you have to pay. This gets a bit difficult for small comic books, as the price per unit can end up not worth the cost. They also have a deeper discount if you want to wait 42 days or more for your books, but, lets face it, most people aren’t ordering like two  months in advance. While other printers have rush charges, you are usually paying that when you want it in less than 10 days, not less than a month.

I find this a bit ridiculous as a turn around time as every other printer I’ve worked with in my professional life has an average turn around of 10 business days (or two weeks). Ka-blam charges a 175% surcharge for what I see as a standard turn around time. Many printers have a turn around time of 5-7 days.  This extreme turn around is limited to comics. Their other products are standard 10 day turn around. I’m not sure why comics pose such a problem (binding issues perhaps?), but if you do plan to order from Ka-blam, make sure you are working MONTHS ahead of your delivery date.

The price break points are also few and far between. You have a choice of 25 books for a price break or 100. Most printers, the more you order the more you save. It seems a bit odd there’s only two points for the price break. I guess they don’t get many orders over 100? It makes some sense since most people who can afford to have those kind of numbers probably shop other offset options.

The other issue with Ka-blam is that they don’t do proofs. You send your files, and then hope and pray. Most printers have at least a digital proofing process, if not a physical proof. It’s extremely unnerving to simply send files, pay a lot of money and then hope that your book turns out okay.

That being said, however, I *DID* get my books by the time they promised, in time for my con and they were GORGEOUS. I have no issues at all with the colors or stock. It was a fantastic job, and came reasonably well packed in recycled shreds. I could recycle most of the packing material and box.

Their print quality is fantastic. The colors are brillant, the pages crisp, the cuts crisp, the binding was solid. The books I received were things of beauty, which had definitely made me proud to sell them, and I think the sheer quality of the books has made a difference to buyers and convincing comic stores to carry them. I can honestly say my books look as good or better than anything made by Marvel or DC.

Overall Ka-blam rates the following from me in terms of a printer choice:

Ease of submission:****

The upload area is easy to use, although having to reformat everything to RGB tifs is a bit cumbersome. Although likely non-designer types will find it easier and more intuitive

Proofing/prepress: *

No proofs at all (unless you want to order 1 copy, wait 10 days, get it, and then place your proper order), prepress is handled by you, verified by them. Make sure you follow their instructions carefully. Although if you follow the guidelines to the letter, you can get a great product.

Price: ****

The value is VERY competitive and cheap enough you can actually make a profit on your book at a low price UNLESS you need a rush job. Which can get very expensive, very quickly.

Turn Around: *

28 BUSINESS days are required to get the low, website generated quote.  So about a month and a half in advance. VERY slow. If you want a faster turn around, be prepared to pay for it for a comic book. If you need your comics within 6 weeks, you might want to consider another printing option, or you may end up paying too much for your books.

Product Quality: *****

The product was EXCELLENT. Great colors, no smudging, kisses, buckling, smooth gradients, clean edges, cut properly, stapled properly, and doesn’t take fingerprints. I honestly could NOT be more pleased with the quality. On par with any pro job. I cannot gush enough about how good the books I received look.

Delivery: *****

Delivery was ontime, as promised, with tracking, and was well packed so nothing got mushed.

Would I print with them again?

Yes, I would, IF I didn’t have an urgent need for comics (such as reprinting between conventions that are less than a month apart for example ) and had the luxury of ordering 6 weeks in advance. I was quite satisfied with the product, just the turnaround time seems excessive, considering everything else they sell they can turn around in 10 days.  I have no qualms with the product, and they offer many great services, but 6 weeks is a LONG turnaround, and 175% surcharge for what should be a standard turn around time seems ridiculous.

Or : How fan art is actually potentially necessary for artistic success.

This is a rambling musing, but bear with me here.

Fan art is a topic with which I’ve struggled for a long time. As an artist, I’ve always heard and fully believed “Originality over fandom”. I subscribed to this over many many years. However, in recent years, seeing certain things, I’ve come to question the evil of fanart and begun to see it in a strange, almost… necessary evil light. Let me explain.

In the beginning, when I was drawing, I often drew inspirations from things I already knew. Indeed when I was a wee artist, I would draw some of my favorite cartoon characters, comic book idols, and various characters I deemed awesome. However, unlike the world today, when I grew up, there was no internet. The artist’s sketchbook was intensely private and the only place you would likely encounter the public versions of such tribute to favorite works were through official channels of carefully selected fan arts from contests or sent into a magazine or something. Or potentially at shows or conventions, particularly comic conventions.

My own artistic attempts, which would be right at home with the other young artists who now post every other doodle on DA or their gallery of choice depicting their favorite characters from their favorite shows, comics, or other properties, never saw the light of day. At least not publicly. By the time I actually got a chance to put things online, I was already aware of the issues of copyright around fanart, and was mature enough having been hammered with the philosophy of “original is best” to put up only art that was, by my standards, reasonably original.

I didn’t see a lot of recognition early on. Even now, I’m quite obscure compared to the 15 year olds that have been posting nothing but Naruto and Bleach fan art for a year.

There were, a few times, admittedly where I have put a scribble of fan art, or quazi fanart. I had a commission of Hellsing, a doodle of Father Nightroad from Trinity blood, here and there, I’ve dabbled.

And I’ve noticed something strange.

My Hellsing artwork is among the most popular things in my gallery (aside from the stock brushes). It has at almost double the page views and comments of anything else I’ve got. Many of my less popular works put together. And this made me ponder.

Since Deviant art has gotten the group function, these fan works have received more attention, getting shared and seen by new eyes as they are added to the groups.

This made me ponder further. And thinking about it, I realized something.

There are many artists who become well known through fan art.  Spacecoyote (aka Nina Matsumoto) gained fame, fortune and and Eisner award as a result of her well known Simpsons fan art piece “Simpsonzu” being discovered for example. I know I’ve heard of other artists getting work based on a fan art work, and I’ve realized, finally, why.

In the art world, its actually EXTREMELY rare that people hire you to do completely original work. Original in the sense of being given the free reign to do literally whatever you please. Most of the time, you are working within some kind of framework of an existing property or coming up with original ways of refreshing something that’s gotten tired, or maybe coming up with a new take on an older property. Most work you do will be polishing up or re-imagining something that’s already existing as another person’s idea/character/environment. Honestly, when do you REALLY get to do YOUR OWN ideas and get paid? How much attention does original art get in comparison to amazing fan art?

Many companies are beginning to embrace fan artists, showcasing their work (Blizzard’s featuring of fan art comes to mind), and starting to look to employ the talents of remarkable fan artists. Fan artists get some amazing exposure and attention and then suddenly they get a chance at paying work that might actually earn them professional recognition. How rad is it really for a mega man fan to suddenly be working for Capcom? Or a WoW fan suddenly contracted to do work for Blizzard? Or perhaps it was your love of Assassin’s Creed, or My little Ponies that landed you a gig working on that or similar products? If you want to work in comics, it used to be standard that you submitted a portfolio full of DC and Marvel heroes.

But the trick here, is not all fan art is gold. While its all fine and dandy to make fan art, and yes, fans will always be attracted to some degree, this is where the originality bleeds in to the equasion.

People (and companies) want to see a unique/fresh and brilliantly executed take on their properties when they are shopping around for artists. Most artists of any sort, be they designers or illustrators are hired on a style/look basis 90% of the time. If you DO delve into the world of fan art, remember, you need to really put yourself and your style into the work, not just copycat the original material. The reason that spacecoyote got her gig with the Simpsons was because she took the Simpsons and translated them into her own style, she didn’t just copycat it. It was such a unique execution, it attracted the right sort of attention.

What the companies are going to pay you for is the uniqueness and polish of your own style melded with their property. That’s the balance. You can’t just copy, you can’t just reproduce, you can’t just be shiny, you have to bring something, that spark that no one else has to the table and fan art shows that you can apply it to things other than your own personal ideas.

And once you have enough success in bringing other people’s ideas to financial success, the chances are you’ll know enough contacts, and enough about the industry to do the same with your own. And having a small hoard of fans of your work doesn’t hurt either. Just because they found you through fan art, doesn’t mean they won’t be attracted to your original stuff too.

So, fan art isn’t the villain I thought it was. In fact, the more and more I look at it, It’s becomes necessary to some degree for artistic success. Maybe I won’t be so hard on myself now when I feel the need to draw Alucard or Father Nightroad…

Readers are, by nature it seems, a shy bunch. You can have several hundred readers and only ever see a fraction of them make a peep. Like we are talking in the single digits. And even less become regular commenter. There’s several reasons for this, lets examine what prevents people from commenting and how you, as the author can help alleviate these conditions to get more people to talk and participate on your site.

Reason #1 – Nothing to say

A lot of readers simply have, well nothing to say. They like what you are doing. Its clear because they keep coming back, but they don’t really have anything clever or witty to say. You might not think this is important, but a lot of readers do think its important to have something relevant beyond ‘thanks for the update’ or ‘nice page’.

How to fix it: If you give your readers a topic to comment on, something they can relate to and give an opinion on, it really helps to alleviate this problem. When you write your comic blog, try to think of a single question to ask your readers and solicit feedback from them. Not only does it provide something for them to do or say, but it makes them feel valued and allows you to collect information from your readers.  Giving them something to give their thoughts on really helps. It won’t get everyone to comment mind you, but it often gets people out of the woodwork who might not say anything otherwise.

Reason #2 – Conversation feels one sided

A lot of artist creators soak in the comments but don’t actually respond individually. While its nice to get comments, its also nice to be recognized for your comments and thoughts, particularly by the artist in question. If the artist never responds to comments, or never acknowledges the contributions of the readership, people can get tired of giving, giving, giving and never getting anything back.

How to fix it: This one is really easy. All you have to do is recognize your commenters kindly and regularly. Treat them as friends, build relationships with them in terms of conversations in the comments. Reply to each and every comment and try to be gracious and kind, even if the comments aren’t always good. Remember, at least people are taking the time to tell you what they think. That’s really worth something.

Reason #3 – An empty forum/comment section is an intimidating one.

No one likes to be the first one to stick their nose out into an empty forum or comments page. Unless you’ve got some kind of culture where that sort of bravery is lauded and celebrated, most people will be reluctant to be the first person to comment. Once there’s a string of comments, more people will tend to join in, but the trick is to get that first person to comment and then begin talking to them to build those page comment numbers so that people don’t feel intimidated.

How to fix it: Make the first comment on your page something special. Offer some kind of special mention of the commentators name, give them a digital cookie, or find some other way to reward people who are brave enough to comment first. If you do this, people will scramble to be the first comment when you update.

Reason #4 – The Author appears to be mean/emo/reclusive or otherwise unapprochable

There are a lot of authors who either don’t believe in the blog, don’t know what to say, or don’t write particularly well in a prose form. Conversely they might also perpetually bitch about how miserable they are, or complain about things, or put their comics down, or annoyingly give a blow by blow of the comic. Constant negativity or saying the same things over and over again does not encourage people to comment, it sometimes discourages them if it goes on too long. You get what you give, if you give nothing, you probably won’t get much back in return.

How to fix it: Make yourself as approachable as possible. Invite feedback, even if you have to say “Feedback is always welcome”. Try to talk about things possibly related, but not directly about your comic. The readers can see for yourself. Keep the conversation positive and interesting. If you don’t believe in blog with a comic, try to engage people elsewhere, such as through a facebook page or on twitter, encouraging them to comment. Treat people well, and they will treat you well back. (generally)

Reason #5 – Readers feel no sense of urgency to comment

Readers, by nature, are kind of passive. So to engage them you need to give them reasons, and immediate reasons to comment, or do something. In advertising this is called a ‘call to action’, giving clear instruction and reason for the reader to engage.

How to fix it: Giving your readers a good reason to engage is key to this. Recognition can go a long way, but sometimes your bribe needs to be a little more substantial. Running contests or other forms of competition requiring people to jump through a few hoops (joining forums, making posts, commenting on so many comics, etc) will break the ice with a bunch of new people. It gets them to join forums, and make some posts. If you have a handful of regulars, try to get them to help keep the newbies engaged. If people feel like they are getting recognized and being accepted on a forum or website, they will tend to stay around. Make sure you use a time limit on contests to give a sense of urgency. Having monthly, or reoccurring contests can be very good for keeping people engaged. The more they are invested in your site, the more likely they are to say things.

Click here to go to the site and have a listen.

First off writers, I’m going to give you a very important tip that’s going to save you a lot of grief when you get to the point of pitching your project.

Two very important words. You ready?

Be Prepared.

What does be prepared mean in this case? Basically it means having your act together before you set out on the road to finding some art talent for your project. There’s a lot of things you need to do before you start figuratively knocking on artist’s doors. Remember, there’s a lot of writers out there competing for the talent. If you want to attract the upper crust of that talent, you gotta wow them a little. Here’s 5 tips on how to do it.

1. Have your script ready

This seems like a no brainer, but a lot of writers jump the gun when it comes to hammering out a script for their webcomic. There’s also the problem that comic script writing is a unique artform. Its not like writing a novel, or a short story, or even a play. Its closer to writing a screenplay for a movie or TV show, since you, as the writer have to convey a set of visual instructions to an artist, much like you’d convey instructions to a camera crew, actors, lighting specialists, effects people, costuming staff, etc.  Being a comic writer is a lot like being a director, in that you set the vision and the shots in the script, and then they are interpreted by the talent. I highly suggest you do some research into what an actual comic script looks like. There’s a lot of variation, but most artists feel more comfortable working with someone who’s bothered to actually learn something about how to actually write their ideas down properly for interpretation by the artist. Look at professional examples and make sure you apply it to your own story. Another little thing writers often forget (because you are word people after all) is that comics are a visual medium. You shouldn’t be focusing on pages of exposition and dialogue. You need to write out descriptions of scenes that convey visually your exposition and keep dialogue snappy and short. You need to shift your mentality to the ‘show it’ rather than ‘tell it’ mode. To this end, you should have written and edited, and had edited by a third party at least your first ‘book’ script before you go heading out to find an artist. You are going to need it to show you are serious about your end of the commitment and bring the best product you can to the bargaining table.

2. Don’t come empty handed.

A lot of writers come to a site full of vim and vigor and excitement for their project, and of course they expound on how amazing their writing and project idea is (even it sounds like a million other webcomics) and then follow up their diatribe with the inevitable  ” I can’t pay you, but…” and of course this is where most artists worth anything just walk away and move on.

You have to realize that an artist’s skill is not to be taken for granted. In fact, if it was easy to do, you, as a writer, would not be seeking one. You have to first RESPECT that fact, and be willing to reward that skill. Artists who work professionally rely on their skill to eat, pay their bills, and support their families and likely won’t be interested unless there’s cash involved at some point. Artists who are more hobbyists still want to get something for the hours and hours of their lives spent working on your project, although they are likely to be more flexible about what that compensation is. But you should never come to the table and say to the artists “I need someone to work for free”. You would expect to get paid or compensated for a writing job, wouldn’t you? Well artists need to be compensated to.

Most comic artists work on something called a page rate. This is how much it will cost you to have them do a page. Depending on what you want from them (pencils, pencils+inks, Pencils+inks+colour), this page rate will vary pretty dramatically. It may be as low as 10$ or as high as 120$, and of course anywhere in between. Typically the better the artist and the more you want them to do, the higher it will go. Sometimes a writer can save on page rate by learning an intermediate skill such as inking or coloring and only buying pencils or pencil/inks and doing the colors (or tones for things like manga) themselves. Its not a hard skill to learn, particularly if the art is simple. Some artists like to have a minimum number of pages ordered, but others are willing to work on a page by page basis, you pay for the pages as they are produced, and if you can’t afford a page, they just won’t produce for that week. Many artists fall in the 25-45$ per page range so you can use that to budget for yourself how many pages you could possibly afford a month. Knowing your budget and having cash in hand gives you leverage to negotiate with artists, and it will attract those of a higher caliber than if you walked in with nothing and disrespected the talent.

Maybe you really can’t afford to pay a page rate. There are other options, but here you’ll need to have your ducks even more in a row because you need to prove that their time investment will be rewarded. Here are the most common olive branches extended by writers who can’t pay their artists… yet.

Option A: Profit sharing

This usually involves a business plan on behalf of the writer regarding the operation of the site. The writer promises a split of any donations, profits, subscriptions or monies collected as a direct result of the comic or artists work between the writer and the artist. This is often a 50/50 or 60/40 split. This tends to be more attractive on established comics than new ones, simply because it can take up to a year to gain any sizable audience.  I highly suggest some kind of written agreement between the artist and writer to make sure that it is understood how this profit sharing will work.  Writers often like this one because if they make money, both make money, if they don’t then the writer still gets their art. Professional artists probably won’t agree to this unless its on an established title, but hobbyists might.

Option B: Service exchange

Sometimes, depending on the writer’s other talents, there can be a bargain struck for an exchange of services. For example a website developer might offer some programing services for art, or perhaps a musician writer might offer a song for art. A marketing professional/writer might offer promotional services for art. This is a bit tricky, matching values, but sometimes its worth it to an artist to not have to pay for other professional services. A writer offering this needs to evaluate all the skills he can bring to the table and offer in exchange for artwork.

Things you shouldn’t promise an artist in exchange for their work is:

• Exposure – because frankly they are probably already more famous than you and your work, unless you happen to be a famous author. Unless you happen to be some kind of marketing god, working on your project probably isn’t going to be ‘their big break’. You probably are looking at non payment options anyway.
• Experience – they can get experience working on their own projects, and its probably more enjoyable to work on their own stuff than for a boss that doesn’t even give compensate them for their time.

So in short, have a plan to compensate the artist. The more cash or profit potential you bring to the table, the more like you are to find a good artist. If you don’t feel comfortable stating a  page rate you are willing to pay, invite artists to submit a portfolio and page rate to you. There’s no commitment on either side, so its no problem to ask. Don’t ask however, for specific renderings of say… your characters. That borders on something called ‘spec work’, and its generally frowned upon since you are getting usable artwork for your project for nothing. You should be able to tell from a portfolio what sort of art you’ll be getting. No need to ask for specifics.

3. Do your homework on comic art

There’s a huge range of artists out there and their skills and styles vary all over the map. As a writer, you probably haven’t spent a lot of time LOOKING at comic art. If you are basically thinking of hiring/buying some, you should probably have an idea of what you are buying. When you get artists submitting work to you, you need to know how to evaluate their portfolio. Artist’s styles are kind of like finger prints. Each one is signature and unique. People hire artists based often on if they like the style they work in, and most artists really can’t change their style too dramatically. They can shift around a bit, but their art always looks like their art. Spend time looking at comic art, gathering samples of the kind of art you want for your project. Study it in every detail. The lighting, the linework, anatomy, detail, inkwork, colour, make sure you acquaint yourself with what is and isn’t the quality you are looking for. Make sure you know what good sequential art looks like, so when the artists do come, you can not only find the artist you want, but the artist you want for the price you can afford. Some very good, but new artists will charge a lower page rate than more established artists with possibly less skill. You have to have an eye for the art to be able to tell when you are getting a deal, and when you aren’t. As the buyer, this responsibility is square on you. Don’t get had.

Some writers also come to the table without understanding the comic market and expect the artist to somehow introduce them into it. That’s not really the case. You are expected to know the market you are entering and do your own research. This is YOUR project, you need to take on the bulk of responsibility for the business research.

4. Bring a collaborative attitude

As an artist with a lot of experience collaborating with writers of various sorts in both comics and graphic design, I can tell you it is infinitely more rewarding to work with a writer who is willing to work with an artist rather than be draconian about their writing vision. Open minded writers who are open to different interpretations of characters, environments, etc of their work by an artist tend to get a more inspired product than those who feel the need to beat their artists into a pre-determined mold. Most artists are a bit fragile, and while professionals can handle changes, and being sent back to the drawing board, eventually they do get frustrated with it. It is a bit of a curve to learn to work with an artist. Artists by their very natures are kind of flakey and weird. This is where it becomes very crucial that you do your homework as stated above. Don’t be afraid to ask a potential artist questions about their workflow,  how they’ve worked with other writers, what they expect in terms of freedom to create, or how much need do they have for direction from you. Some artists just like to be given a script and run with it, others might want each stage verified and signed off. When you are selecting your artist, make sure you choose one with a style and approach to working with you that you can live with. Also make sure that you are honest about the scope and length of your project from the get go and that the artist can commit. It can be difficult when artist and writer part ways halfway through a project, forcing the writer to get a new artist, and re-establish workflows and look/feel of the writing. No two artists will have the same interpretation of the source material. Its best for consistency to stay with one artist, unless you plan in advance. For example if you have short comics, each one done by different artists, its alright, but for a continuing story to just shift artists half way through a chapter, its disruptive to the reader.

5. Protect yourself

While most artists aren’t out there to screw you over, particularly those who are professionals and make a living off their art (reputation is everything), there are individuals out there who are a little on the unscrupulous side or just plain flakey. Artists are a weird bunch to work with and do not tend to behave like some kind of art ATM. Today’s society has us conditioned to expect certain things when we pay for them, service with a smile, the customer is always right, and the department story mentality. Art, especially original art, is not a mass produced commodity and the people predisposed towards making it are not Walmart. Some artists sometimes need a bit of babysitting to keep them on track. This means emailing them every so often (keep this reasonable, don’t do it every day or it gets annoying) to see how progress is coming. Its important with creative people to make sure you set deadlines, and set them a little in advance of when you actually need things. Creative people tend to be procrastinators and you don’t want to get caught holding the bag because they were late. Anticipate the behavior. If your artist proves to be reliable, you can always adjust. Its also a standard practice to pay the artist half of a job’s worth up front (to prove you are a serious customer) and half upon completion and delivery. If the artist doesn’t hold up their agreement, you only forfeit the deposit, rather than a whole amount. Being paid only half is also an incentive for the artist to finish. If you are hiring an artist, you may also want to double check their reputation but doing a little googling on line. Some places have places where deadbeat artists are tracked or deadbeat clients are tracked so that people can avoid them. This is more prevalent in some communities than others, but it doesn’t hurt to check up on how satisfied previous commissioners were with the artist. Often artists display commissioned work on their websites or in galleries and normally list who it was for. You can always message these previous customers and see what it was like dealing with the artist.  This type of research also helps you to avoid art thieves, people who steal an artist’s work or identity and takes commissions/jobs as the artist they have stolen the work of. Of course its fraud and the people who pay never get the art they were promised. Examine the work presented to you in a portfolio carefully for things like altered signatures (or missing signatures), clearly cropped work, work that appears to be degraded artifacted or signed with a huge ugly digital font rather than a hand signature). If you’ve done your homework, you might even be familiar with the work of a particular artist, and be able to identify if it is being used inappropriately. While it might also seem attractive to go out of your own country for cheap artists, keep in mind language barriers, time differences, and currency fluctuations may cause problems. There is also often no way to legally pursue anyone out of your own country if they screw you over, so keep that in mind when choosing your artist.

If you do plan on working long term with an artist, it may be in your interest and his/hers to come up with some kind of written agreement regarding rights, payments, schedules, deadlines, etc, just so that you are all on the same page and that everyone knows their responsibilities. This helps protect you, the investor in the project, as well as the artist, as they know what they have to do.

Start Early

The conventions/shows I’m planning to attend are happening in June, August, and October 2011 respectively, but I’m starting prep now in March 2011. Preparing (even half arsed) is a long process and if you want to have everything by the time of the show, you need to start at least a few months early. If you happen to be ordering things (like books, prints, charms, etc) You need to allow for production times and delivery times from the companies producing them. You also have to give yourself time to produce artwork, and complete the projects for these companies to produce. It often takes longer than you would think!

The second thing is that artist’s alleys in cons or other venues tend to be first come first serve. Some are juried (they take an application and decide) but most aren’t. You have to be on top of the application dates and make sure that you apply early! If you snooze, you lose. Its best to start with conventions near to your local area to reduce costs and learn the ropes, so find out what’s going on in your community (or at least within driving distance) and mark the date of when artist alley submissions begin. Sometimes there’s no set date, but you have to watch the convention communication channels (like forums, twitter, facebook, mailing lists… etc) like a hawk.

Deciding what to Sell

This should be generally done fairly early on as it takes time to produce. It can be hard to know what to sell, but generally speaking, there are some rules of thumb as to what you need. It seems intuitive, but its surprising how many people don’t think about this (myself included the first time around), at a comic/manga show, people tend to want to buy comics/mangas, so if you can produce one, even a small book, this should be your #1 priority. At my first conventions I had a little, hand made ashcan comic (basically some letter paper folded in half and stapled run off a laser printer). This time I plan to have something professionally printed. I want to have at least one graphic novel of 100+ pages, and possibly a second 30ish page minicomic. Ambitious? Yes, but worth it. This is one of the #1 things people come to cons to buy. If you forget everything else, this is the #1 thing webcomic people should MUST HAVE for cons. In my first few conventions, I can’t tell you how many times I was asked for a book. People bought the little ashcans, as crappy as they were, but if I had put some real effort into it, I could have done much better. So this time, I will.

Another common standby that people tend to buy are prints. My best sellers in previous conventions were always either generally topical (werewolves or busty women turning into werewolves in my case) or fan artish stuff. You have to be cautious with fan art, as a lot of artist’s alleys have regulations about how much you can have, and display due to copyright restrictions. So its important, that even if you have some fan art, to make sure you come with a good amount of original character artwork, which is usually fairly easy for us webcomic peeps.  Fan art can be a great gateway to commissions, which are usually pretty lucrative at a con. Prints in general are usually either commercially produced on glossy or good matte stock, or some people produce them at home on a good quality laser printer or inkjet printer. I also learned that its good to have sleeves and boards for them, just like comic books (actually comic ones are the ones I use). So you have to order them and have them intime for the convention, or go to a comic bookshop and get them. Last time I took about 15 of each print, and had them displayed in a portfolio book people could flip through. Portfolio books are very good for displaying not only your prints, but also original art for sale or sample comission stuff. People like to flip through them. I also used mine to showcase my comic work, which gave me a foothold into selling people my comic stuff. I plan on doing this again, since it worked well.

Other merchandise

Other things that seem to sell well at cons I’ve been to, I’m going to try, as well as a few dark horses. I’m going to get a button maker. These sell really well, and anyone I’ve seen with buttons has almost always done well provided the buttons were cute or witty. They are a fun collectible that a lot of people… well they collect. So they are predisposed to buying them. Button makers are pretty expensive if you are looking at getting a good one (about 300$ or so for the button press and circle punch), but they often come with a lot of parts, and once you sell those, you’ve almost made back your money. You can also share the cost with a friend or sell buttons to other creators to help make back your money. Generally speaking, these are good investments I hear, so I’m going to give it a go. I’m going to get a Tecre 1.25″ button press with a cutter. I’ve got a friend who wants in, and possibly some other people locally who I might be able to do some small business with. I’ll keep everyone posted on how this investment goes for me.

The second thing I’m going to sell that’s a little sideways is jewelry and charms. I’m a girl. I’m crafty, and this is actually really cool to me. I’ve picked up some ultra light sculpty, and plan on doing cellphone charms with it as well as beads for the jewelry. This is highly experimental. I intend to try to go cute with some, and more cool tribal with others. This is another ‘we’ll see how it goes’. I’ve got a backup plan to sell whatever I don’t managed to get rid of at the cons on-line. I am going to try to tie the jewelry/charms into my comics, but in a very generalistic sort of way. Most merch doesn’t do well if its too tied into a property no one knows about, but if its very general, like say werewolves and vampires, or medieval heraldry or tribal magic, it tends to hit on more casual congoers. So its good to be able to identify yourself in a very general sort of way.

The same applies to T-shirts, of which I plan to make a very limited amount with only one or two general designs. It is generally pretty expensive to carry this sort of merchandise for a smaller con, like two of the ones I’m going to, but I’m kind of banking on merch for all three (assuming I get tables at all three… we’re still waiting to see how that pans out).

My goal with having a variety of merchandise is to hit on all the various price points. A lot of people come to cons with variable amounts of money to spend. Kids tend to be given small amounts of money by their parents to spend, whereas teens or young adults typically are willing to spend more. I’m sure you can remember a time in your life when you were a kid somewhere and your parents gave you a small amount of money, maybe five dollars or less to ‘pick out something’. So you want to have stuff that’s only a small amount of money, like a $1-5, a midrange of about $5-10, and then the higher end stuff which is often $10+. A lot of people also come to conventions looking for deals. Make sure you can price your stuff as a deal ( two-for-one, or three-for-two, or a bonus if you buy something else) to help entice customers to buy.

Giveaways & Freebees

Generally you also need some kind of freebees to people, promoting your comic to them even if they don’t buy something. Bookmarks, businesscards, and stickers are often good giveaways. I’ve already got a bunch of business cards from previous years that are still good, but I’ll need to do some bookmarks or fliers of some kind to give to people for free.

Because this stuff is given away, it has to be kept fairly inexpensive. You don’t want to put all your money into the stuff that isn’t going to make anything back. My personal focus for my freebees is to get people to go to my website after the con. The more useful I can make my free stuff, the more likely people will keep it and it will remind them to visit my website. If I can build my personal brand, that’s even better, as I can use my freebees to reinforce my brand to potential new customers.

The Booth/Table setup

This is the other major thing I’m working on at this point. Your booth setup can make or break your show. Numerous tales of how a very small tweek to a booth setup changed the fortunes of a webcomic artist have been spun on various blogs and con journals. One thing that is always stressed is vertical space. I’m going to need some ways of displaying my products that take advantage of vertical space and don’t hinge too much on anything hanging below the knees. At smaller shows, a table banner might work alright, but at bigger shows, the traffic of people just walking by obscures it. I plan on having a fair number of things, so I want to be able to show them all well.

Things I need to get sorted:

• A vertical or hanging banner above my head
• A vertical way of displaying art and jewelry
• Bookstands
• Display for buttons and other small items like charms
• Tablecloths (never assume you’ll be provided with one)
• Security for items on table
• Display for portfolio book
• Locking moneybox
• Transportation system for display/items

Most of this stuff I can buy, but its expensive to buy professionally produced banners with their associated hardware. I’ve researched other artist’s setups and found some ideas I think would work alright, perhaps a bit cheaper, such as setups with PVC poles and vinyl banners, and simple grid panels for vertical hanging space. Its just a matter of making sure that they will collapse and setup without too much difficulty. You never know how far you’ll have to hoof all your stuff, so its best to make sure you can get your setup into as compact a space as possible. This may also require me to buy a little cart or rolling bag to put everything on (or in).

I’ll probably have to buy a metal lockbox, I know I can get stuff like that from staples. I should also produce a sign that has my commission prices on it. I’ve forgotten this one several times now, and hand done signs look unprofessional and tacky.

Once I get my stuff sorted out and start making progress, I’ll chronicle my journey and successes (and failures) here in other related articles. Stay tuned to see how I fare in my journey to showing at conventions.