First Comic Convention: Wichita Air Capital Comic Con
The event took place on November 13th and 14th of 2021. I had originally heard about it from one of the artists at Free Comic Book Day. It was going to be much bigger than the local events I had gone to before, with at least a hundred other vendors, and I was excited at the possibilities. Though, I would be lying if I said a part of me wasn’t nervous. The thought of standing out amongst the other booths had me feeling like a small fish in a big pond, haha.
So, was it everything I hoped it would be?
Have you ever had your expectations set on a particular outcome only to be totally let down? Not to spoil the story, but that’s kind of how I felt about Wichita’s Air Capital Comic Con. I thought a bigger event would give me a better chance to encounter more people leading to more sales and hopefully, a profit. Unfortunately, that was not the case.
Air Cap was much larger than I imagined it to be and much bigger than what I was used to. They were decently organized; check-in and finding my booth space was easy. The space was reasonable and not cramped. The table they offered was a great size and provided enough surface for my display.
The comic con had fun events to draw people in such as cosplay contests and dance parties. They also had panels like demonstrating martial arts found in movies and a beginner’s guide to start cosplaying. It seemed like a lot of people attended - at least on Saturday… I enjoyed people-watching and observing all the costumes and cosplays. It was easy to see what anime or video games were currently popular, for instance, I noticed a lot of Demon Slayer and My Hero Academia cosplayers.
Saturday the 13th
The first day was decent. I was able to interact with a lot of people (which is always fun), and I found out what interested them most. The foot-traffic was much higher than what I was used to, and I made a reasonable amount of sales. Although, I had hoped for more considering I added a couple new print designs recently. I thought I knew what I would sell the most of, but honestly, sales were all over the place.
My Groot & Grogu prints tied for being the most popular with my Mando & Child prints - this wasn’t very surprising. I sold about the same amount of big prints vs. small prints, and I realized having stickers was nice because it made for a quick sale. For example, the people who didn’t want to spend the money on a print or didn’t have room for one, etc., they would see my stickers and be happy to give a few dollars for an awesome product and to feel like they were still supporting me. So, I believe it was a good option to have.
In addition to getting peoples’ opinions of their favorite shows and characters, checking out the other artist booths was enlightening. It was informative to see how others displayed their art or priced it. It was also neat to see others’ styles and subject matter. Manager Babe and I definitely saw things that we could take back with us and use to improve our own set up and merchandise.
A side-note to add to the day: some of my friends made the three hour drive to Wichita in order to attend and support me! I’m so lucky to have them!
After a day of work, we decided to check out the area for fun cocktail places and found a neat tiki place called Lava & Tonic. The inside was pretty sweet and had that tropical aesthetic you would expect in a tiki establishment. Most importantly, everyone in our party ordered multiple drinks and they were all delicious.
Sunday the 14th
This was my first event I participated in that involved two days. I was excited to begin the day and have more opportunities to share my art with others.
Unfortunately, Sunday was VERY disappointing. Not only were there less people, but I didn’t make any sales except for a couple stickers. Talk about disheartening! I mean, had I known the outcome, I probably would have packed up and set course for home that morning.
Ok, I say that, but the day wasn’t wasted. I used the slow time to talk to other artists and network. I received feedback from a couple people regarding my art, and anatomy was mentioned as being something I could improve upon. One of the artists even shared a book that they liked for anatomy.
Manager Babe also spent some of the day doing recon. He sought out the booths that were popular and made notes on how we could improve. I really think having more products available would help considering I only had 7 or 8 prints to choose from and a couple of stickers. We also spent a lot of the day brainstorming on future projects that I could add to my inventory.
The Big Takeaway
Even though Wichita’s Air Capital Comic Con wasn’t all it was cracked up to be, it was still a learning experience. This was the biggest event I had attended as a vendor, and although I hoped bigger would be better, bigger also meant competing with other amazing artists. It’s certainly a factor to keep in mind for upcoming shows. It opened my eyes to what I needed to do to improve upon and how I could stand out more. It also taught me to keep my expectations in check. Although, I was a little discouraged about the outcome, I wasn’t going to let it keep me down. The most important thing is to stay persistent and not let set-backs keep you from doing what you love. If anything, I would use this situation as motivation to stand out and produce more art!
Looking Ahead
Speaking of not being kept down: on that Sunday, I bought a booth space for another event that was taking place in February. Considering I already had inventory and it was only a couple hours away, I thought why not? So, stay tuned for the next adventure and in the meantime, stay stellar!
