Saturday, January 14, 2012

Amazing Arizona Comic Con PM






I've been reading a lot about app developers who run postmortems on the build and launch of their apps. This is extremely useful for creating a knowledge base for others to learn from.


I'm going to start my first convention postmortem with The Amazing Arizona Comic Con.

Arizona was very good but not over the top great for me. I did better than expected so I was happy with the show and will definitely be back.


Side Note: this show is strange because the artist alley people out number the retailers 2-1. I think people come to the show with x amount of money to spend and they end up spending in artist alley because there isn't as much traditional retail to spend it on.


 Prints: I had given up on creating prints a few years ago because I thought they had fallen so out of fashion that it didn't seem worth my time doing them. Boy was I wrong. Prints in general have been a boon for me over the last couple of years. The time to cost to price of prints is what makes them attractive. They are easy to make and very profitable. I had a new break out print (Uzimami) which is brand new. The standards keep selling. Pirate Queen, Zatanna. I feel like I did a better job of displaying my prints this time out and it really helped sell them. I clipped them to my banner and put them front and center on my table. I took a page out of the kids at the Anime shows and went for broke in displaying what I am selling.

Side Note: If you take the time to go to one of these shows you might as well go all out. I admit his was something I had to get my head around. I had done so many conventions that they had lost their charm for me. I always like meeting the people who follow my work but I wasn't taking the shows seriously. Over the last two years I've improved and revised what I'm taking to the shows to give the fans more of what they want and to make available products I think will be most profitable. It's definitely influenced my bottom line.



Original Art: Original art is a strange beast. It's not a casual buy for a few reasons. It's usually pretty expensive and it's an item someone has to really want. It's tough to calculate or prepare for what is going to sell. For example, I've sold a ton of sketches and prelims lately. It could be the fact that they are lower priced but in most cases the buyer purchases multiple prelims at a time. This tells me that they are more interested in collecting this type of art vs. getting something for cheap.

At this show there seemed to be a lot of interest in OG art from the series Deity. I toured a lot in this area during that era so it's no wonder the fans who know me are familiar and searching for that art. Unfortunately most of the key pieces from Deity are gone. That being said I sold a couple misc. pieces mostly pin up style art which helped push the show into the very good status. 


I was asked multiple times if I was planning to create an art book or do another sketchbook. I'm listening and I've been putting one together.





Comics: At least in this region I'm still playing to fans of my older work. Which is great because the longer you make comics the more you appreciate the fans and how much they support what you do. Since I don't do a monthly comic that can be easily found in a comic store it's no wonder that most fans are shocked that I have new comics to sell. My impression is that they think ECB is a little too off what they expect from me. ECB for the most part is an experimental piece. I've really enjoyed doing it but I understand it's a polarizing piece of work for my fan base. The ones that love it really love it. The ones that don't keep asking for a new Deity series. Those fans I push towards Me2. Digital comics are still not on the radar at comic shows. It's still very much a paper and print market so talking about digital comics to them is like talking about flying cars and jet packs. Sure it sounds cool but isn't that something that's going to happen in 10-20 years? Digital comics conceptually play better in the internet space but that has not stopped me from promoting what I honestly believe is on a daily basis becoming the present of comics.



Takeaways:

Get more organized with my original art. I sort of throw stuff into a portfolio and bring it with me.


More promo material.


Print a new sketch/art book.


Square for my I-Phone was huge. I ran credit cards sales for all three of us. Opens up the ceiling on the convention $.

Consider a display for my digital comics.

Friday, January 13, 2012

Year of the Indie Comic




Indie Comics have always been on that bleeding edge of where comics are going. The type of stories, the level of creative energy is what keeps the industry going and thriving as an art form. For those of you that are tired of corporate comics and looking for something different here are some creators that are pushing the boundaries of Comics by telling different types of stories with different styles. This is the year of the Indie Comic!

Joshua Hale Fialkov
Last of the Greats - A superhero god emperor wants revenge on mankind, and takes it, one poor bastard at a time. 

http://www.tfaw.com/Profile/Last-Of-The-Greats-TPB-Vol.-01___399611

http://www.thefialkov.com
Gerimi Burleigh
EYE OF THE GODS is a psychological thriller Graphic Novel about a man
whose life spirals out of control when he is cursed with the ability of
remote viewing. Original Graphic novel, 144 pages, black and white

MORNINGSTAR - Before he was the devil, He was Lucifer Morningstar, …Marshall of Heaven. Issue one, 24 pages black and white

To buy: http://optichouse.com/Dan "Smif" Smith

Blue Knights
Lord of the Rings meets Training Day.
A
rookie knight has to deal with a corrupt system while solving the
murders of the city's ruling council before the festival of H'rrk burns
it down.

Buy it straight from the creator for $6.00/$11.00 for a sketch copy (includes shipping cost in USA). email smifink@earthlink.net

Jamie Gambell
Hero Code - The first issue in the new ongoing sci-fi, super hero saga. Super-powered
people are popping up all across the world, but what is their purpose?
Are they here to help? What exactly is The Hero Code?

Can be got:

Print - direct from me - http://monkeypipestudios.bigcartel.com/
Digital - Drivethru - http://comics.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=96053&filters=0_0_0_44517&manufacturers_id=2942

Jesse Mesa Toves
Trouble, Guts & Noir - a three issue
future noir adventure in three parts by Battlestar Galactica effects
artist and animator, Jesse Mesa Toves

Available digitally on Amazon Kindle

http://www.amazon.com/Trouble-Guts-Noir-Book-ebook/dp/B004GUSAPW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1326354498&sr=8-1


and in print from Indyplanet.com
http://indyplanet.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3085
Hal Hefner
Gates is an evolving transmedia franchise centering on a family who creates a form of revolutionary organic technology and the affects it has on the world. Told through various media platforms, the first installment focuses on a dark, dystopian science fiction comic book following the exploits of the title character, Gates, a young man trying to survive the oppression of a sci-tek religious government that wants him dead.