Neosho Art Con 2022
This small art convention was in a Missourian town that I had never heard of: Neosho. The event focused more on arts and crafts rather than comics, which was a fun change. That wasn’t the only difference in my experience at a con though. For interesting tidbits, read the whole story!
An Arts & Crafts Affair
Traveling to Neosho
Art Con was Saturday, February 5th, and it started early! Since the event lasted only one day and it was 2 1/2 hours away, I didn’t want to spend money on a hotel. We decided to drive the morning of, do the event, and then leave after - meaning I had to wake up at 3:30a to begin the day… To my surprise, we were ready and packed up by our goal time of 5a to hit the road.
Checking In
The hosts of the event wanted the vendors to be finished setting up by the time the event started at 10a. It took place at the Junior High school, and we arrived around 8:20a with plenty of time to check-in. We went into the auditorium to find my space, which happened to be along the back edge, in between two artists’ booths and right across from the main attraction: Bryn April. Prime real-estate!
We hit a small snag when we realized they had not set out a table for us. Upon applying, you had to rent a table if you didn’t want to bring your own. I had selected the option to rent a table, but it wasn’t there. Luckily, they grabbed one without hesitation, and we began setting up.
It is moments like this one that made me glad we arrived earlier than necessary.
Open for Business
Before I knew it, it was time for the doors to open, and people began making their way around the space. They had a lot to look at with roughly 40-50 vendors selling their goods. The first part was slow for me as there wasn’t a lot of interaction with the attendees. I didn’t make my first sale until 11:30a.
That being said, I always like to take the slow moments to study the passerby and see what they are interested in.
What are they wearing?
What are they cosplaying as?
What did they already buy?
I saw a lot of shirts with Star Wars and anime characters. Some people had accessories like Kingdom Hearts keychains or Ghibli purses. There were several amazing cosplayers, and I noticed a lot of Demon Slayer fans. People-watching inspired my future projects and made me excited to add more designs to my inventory.
What made this convention different?
This con was unique to me because, in a few situations, people were offering to promote my art.
The Joplin Toad was stationed across from us, and one of the girls came by to tell us more about their printed magazines. She said they like to promote local artists and said they would be happy to feature my work with my social media accounts. They weren’t to the point where they could pay, but on the flip-side, they didn’t charge to promote the content either.
A couple stopped by my booth and told me they had a YouTube channel that included subject matter like pop culture, geeky stuff, and comic conventions. They even recorded me talking about my art business, which was both fun but slightly intimidating, and said they would include my part in their next episode. I wonder how it turned out…
Another interesting conversation was with a guy who stopped by my booth to introduce himself as a shop owner. He sells local artists’ inventory for a percentage of the sales. The perk he offered was that Neosho is isolated and “starving for fun content” like fanart. His shop is also right across from the high school, so he has plenty of younger audiences. From what I gathered, he takes 30% of the individual sales, so I would have to take that into consideration when pricing my products.
These are definitely options for gaining exposure and to explore - perhaps I will talk about them in another post.
My Key Takeaways
1. Networking and exposure - Even small events are great for talking to other artists and making friends. I like to ask if they are going to any other conventions in the near future so I’m in the know. I’m always open to receiving any advice they are willing to offer too.
It’s also an effective way to build a following and grow a fan base. Since Jasmine (pictured below) and I started following each other on Instagram, we’ve had some great interactions. She’s an awesome cosplayer if you can’t tell!
Check out her Instagram page: @nerdyblasiancosplays or click/tap the picture!
2. Adjust your booth and display setup to meet your needs - You don’t have to stay with the same setup. Keep playing with how to display your art and you’ll find ways to improve it!
This time, I did not have my portfolio out for people to look at because it seems to be more of a distraction. It’s cool to show people what you have done, but it gets complicated when they want a print of an illustration you didn’t plan to sell. Oops!
3. Make yourself available - You never know what opportunities will be presented to you if you don’t try. I wouldn’t have known about this event had I not signed up for other ones - I’m pretty sure that’s how Neosho Art Council obtained my email address, anyway.
I was attending Wichita’s Air Cap (read more about that experience here) when I randomly received an email with information about Art Con. I even debated about going to this event because I wasn’t sure about the size and location, but I’m glad I did because it was much better than I expected it to be!
4. Step out of your comfort zone - I know; putting yourself out there is uncomfortable, but it can lead to more rewards. For instance, I believe myself to be an introvert, so making the effort to talk to people is a little hard. Talking about my artwork to people interested in buying it is even more difficult.
One example of stepping out of my comfort zone: when I was talking to a potential customer, and they asked about a small print and its cost, I would tell them, but I would also inform them that I had it in a bigger size. It’s not that I was trying to upsell them, it’s just most people don’t look past me to see my display of big prints. So, I have to make them aware of their options. I would say, at least 25% of the time, they are like, “oh, it comes in a bigger size? Yeah, I’ll take that then.” If I had left it at them choosing to buy the smaller print because they didn’t know about the bigger size, I would have lost out on a bigger profit.
The Nitty-Gritty of Neosho Art Con
A selfie with Boba Fett! He was pretty cool.
If I had regrets, it would be that I didn’t walk around much - I get FOMO (fear of missing out) so bad at events. What can I say? I don’t like leaving my booth - not even to take a bathroom break unless absolutely necessary. So, I didn’t get to network with other artists as much as I would have liked. It is something I need to improve upon in the future.
Overall, I would consider this event to be a success. I was going to be happy if I had made back the money I spent to have a booth space (bonus if I made gas money too). I ended up doubling the booth-space amount! Added bonus: I didn’t have to spend any money on extra inventory or on a hotel room.
Neosho Art Council did a great job with organizing and having helpful people working/volunteering. They also had fun events like a cosplay contest and a gaming room. The public was friendly and I had a lot of fun conversations. Despite the recent snowstorm we all endured, the crowd was abundant. I would say I’m happy with my experience at Neosho Art Con and would consider going again next year.
As usual, finishing one event makes me look forward to the next, and this next one was the biggest yet! Stay tuned for my future post about attending Kansas City’s Planet Comicon, and as always, stay stellar!
