Selling at KC Planet Comicon
Before I begin, let me provide you with a little backstory… When I was younger (and prior to attending conventions), I never heard the term: artist alley. I didn’t know there was a place where self-made artists could sell their illustrations to a huge crowd of people during events - until I attended my first convention several years ago. ACEN, a big anime convention in Chicago, Illinois, opened my eyes to the possibilities! It was from that amazing weekend, that I formed a dream to be like one of those artists.
Participating in Kansas City Planet Comicon was a huge goal for me. It was as if all the smaller events beforehand led me to this point. Was I prepared? Was it like I imagined? I’ll tell you all about it.
Planet Comicon Kansas City
In case you haven’t heard about it, Planet Comicon “is the largest comic book and pop culture convention…within this entire region of the Midwest.” Don’t take my word for it though - check them out here. It has everything you can think of: cosplay contests, game tournaments, photo ops, celebrities, and aisle after aisle of vendors, artists, and crafters. I had gone a few times in previous years, but being an art vendor this time was a whole new experience!
The event was 3 days starting on Friday, April 22 and ending Sunday evening on the 24th. It was longer than any other event I had attended. The sheer amount of space it took up at Bartle Hall was mind-blowing, and the number of artists was intimidating. The competition would be insane, but I was up for the challenge.
Friday
Many of the vendors chose to set up the day before, but because my booth setup wasn’t extravagant, we decided to assemble Friday morning. As soon as we parked and started unloading the car, I had the terrifying realization that I forgot my backdrop (which was crucial in showing off my big prints). My sweet husband calmed me down and told me he would go get it after we brought everything inside. Luckily, we only live 25 minutes away from the convention center, but I will definitely make a list next time.
Once we checked in to get our badges, we walked, for what seemed like forever, to find Insomniac Illustration’s space. I purchased a standard booth in the aisle and was in between a couple of amazing artists.
The girl to the left of me introduced herself as Mandy Mo, and she had awesome illustrations and keychains. Her Genshin Impact fanart was super popular, and her corner booth was a hot spot for the guests throughout the weekend.
She and her family, who were there helping her, were extremely nice and down-to-earth. They even offered to let us borrow their extra backdrop frame, but unfortunately, it wasn’t the size I needed. Manager Babe (my husband) drove home to get it while I stayed and built the table display with my grids and merchandise. Thankfully, he made it back in plenty of time, and before the doors opened to the public, we were ready for business!
I’m not going to lie, the first 2 hours or so were rough. It was as if the people passing by weren’t even looking at my art.
As you can probably imagine, this started to make me doubt myself and my abilities. Like some artists, I constantly struggle with the fear of not being good enough. As I looked at all the amazing artists’ booths, that fear had crept in.
Good thing Manager Babe was there to talk some sense into me. He reminded me that people usually don’t want to carry stuff with them and typically wait until later in the day or even the weekend to buy merchandise.
Other artists made the comment that Fridays are always slow and most people who attend that day usually don’t have extra money to spend. They didn’t seem too concerned.
I eventually made some sales, and even though Friday was the slowest day, it definitely wasn’t my worst day at an event (I’m looking at you, Air Cap).
Saturday
It was a new day, and we expected it to be the busiest of the weekend. Before the event started, my husband and I made a slight change to my prints on display. He’s good at noticing what people look at as they pass by, and he felt like they weren’t really looking at my big prints behind us. The people tended to focus on the smaller prints clipped to my grid fixture on my table. So, his idea was to bring up a few of the prints to display on the front side of the table. We also added height to my grid columns which I think helped gain a little more attention too.
Saturday ended up being WAY busier. This was both a good thing and not so good thing. I say “not-so-good” because there were phases when a crowd of people would come down the aisle, but they weren’t really looking - they were just following the sea of people. This did not pertain to Mandy who seemed to make multiple sales every 5 minutes (good for her!). I had no idea how big Genshin Impact was, but it definitely has a huge following.
The good thing about Saturday being livelier was that I made most of my sales on this day. I had a lot of fun interacting with the cosplayers and guests who admired my art. Some of my best friends came to visit me at my booth, and they all cosplayed as Star Wars characters (pictured above).
It was interesting for me to see which designs were popular to the audience. Of course, I saw a lot of Genshin Impact cosplayers, as well as, Demon Slayer and Final Fantasy characters (also pictured above).
My most memorable moment:
When a steampunk version of Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy stopped by my booth and bought one of my prints! It was so cool to see how excited they were to find the duo they were dressed up as, and they let me take a picture of them!
Sunday
Sunday was probably my favorite day. It wasn’t as busy as Saturday, but I ended up making nearly the same amount of sales. With fewer people in attendance, it seemed to give off more of a relaxed vibe.
Because it was the last day of the con, I could tell the guests were using it to buy whatever else they wanted (or had the money for), and so they actually spent their time looking around.
The best part of the day for me was getting there an hour before the public was allowed to enter. I found the artist from a comic story that I had bought a couple of years ago and was able to conclude the series with the last two volumes. The artist, K. Lynn Smith, was at her booth and we chatted for a moment. She was even nice enough to sign all the stuff I bought! I highly recommend her story, Plume. Read it here!
We also walked passed an artist who freelances for Netflix and HBO. He was so friendly and fun to talk to. He gave me his insight on doing conventions, and it was great to hear his advice. He basically said going to conventions like this one helps to meet people and gain a following. It’s a wonderful way to network with the town - maybe a store will reach out and want to host a small event while you’re in the area. Social media is great to build a following, but it’s not everything. He said he wasn’t very good at being consistent on his social media, and that made me feel better because I’m not either. He also said going around talking to other artists was the right thing to do. I honestly wish I would have talked to more of them! I will definitely make more of an effort next time.
Achieving the Dream
My Findings
I shared my experience, now let me share my data. *NERD ALERT*
Part of my booth display included a picture with QR codes that bring up either my website or my Instagram. I thought this was way better than handing out business cards because it was more instant.
With cards, you have to rely on people to type in your information at a later time to find you. The QR codes made it easy and convenient for people to hold their phones up and access my platforms. From this, I did see a small increase in my following on Instagram. I’m playing with other places to add my QR codes - perhaps on the back of my stickers?
Of course, Manager Babe and I had to go around and look at the other artists’ setups. It was helpful to see how people displayed their artwork and what materials they used. Some artists used the photo backdrop like me, others used hard panels to give a more polished look. Some artists used different structures to add height to their table, others used the same grid pieces that I use but arranged them differently. We took notes on what we could do to improve my booth as well as ideas for future art prints.
I have to say that I love looking at the reports after an event. It’s so fun to see what I sold, how much of an item I sold, and which prints were more popular.
If I break down my sales per day, you’ll see that Friday was indeed slow with 9 sales. Saturday was the best with 29 sales, but Sunday wasn’t far behind with 24 sales.
Overall, I sold:
12” x 18” prints - 8
8” x 12” prints - 50
stickers - 55
greeting cards - 2
The smaller prints were extremely popular, and I was pleased to see the stickers sold well too. Ultimately, my most desired print design was Double Trouble with Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy. My Halloween Gothic design with Jack and Penny was second, followed by my print with Mandalorian and Grogu, Boba, and then Groot and Grogu. One thing that I found surprising was how well-liked the small print of my Poke-Battle with Ash and Charizard vs. Mandalorian and Grogu was. I only had the 8” x 12” size available, and I sold several. It makes me want to redo the design to make it look semi-realistic and more detailed.
My Key Takeaways
From my latest convention and results, I have collected several important points that I hope you find helpful.
Make a list of things to pack for a con so you don’t forget something crucial like I did! In fact, I made myself a list which I will go over in another post.
Talk to more artists! I say this in every post, but I learned so much - like how important social media is or isn’t and the need to connect more with others.
Take snacks - I like to bring finger foods: homemade wraps, sliced apples, trail mix, and protein/granola bars. You can always assume that the lines for the food will be outrageously long, especially around lunchtime.
Make more art and a bigger display! This one is mostly for me, but I will say if you have the inventory, definitely go for a corner booth. You’ll get more traffic and exposure. Play with height on your table too. Watch how people’s eyes look around your space and update your display accordingly.
Make friends with your neighbors - especially if you are managing alone. You’ll need a friend to watch your booth for bathroom and food breaks.
Don’t set unrealistic expectations! This one is also for me. I can’t assume that a big event will be a breakout moment for me. In fact, bigger events usually mean more competition, and I don’t want it to sound like I’m competing with my fellow artists because I’m not. The truth is that big events = more artists and more art for people to look at. It doesn’t necessarily mean that your sales will increase exponentially, but this is based off my experience. It could be different for someone else!
A Return Trip to Planet?
Attending Planet Comicon KC as an artist was high on my list, and now I can cross it off. Even though the event wasn’t as lucrative for me as I had hoped, I would still consider it a success. Now, I can build off of what I learned, and come back next year stronger and wiser, and hopefully, with a lot for inventory. I have already applied for space next year, and I’ll make an update once it is confirmed that I’ll be attending.
As for what is next . . . I will probably stay local and build up my inventory before traveling to other areas for conventions. I really want to visit the Denver and Chicago areas! I have a couple more events this year, so I’m working on new print designs and stickers. One will be in September hosted by Elite Comics for their 29th anniversary! The other will be in November when I return to Air Capital Comic Con for another attempt at a successful weekend. Read about my first attempt here.
That’s all for now! If you found this blog post useful, feel free to let me know in the comments!
And as always, stay stellar!
