Project: Workbased Learning

This isn't a project per-se, but I think could be defined as such in a longer-term understanding of the word.

I've mentioned before that I do comic and anime conventions, and it actually takes up a great deal of my time. At the moment, it's my part-time job, though I put as much as full-time hours into it so it can be a little difficult to manage.

So what does the job entail? I feel like it's different to most art markets (though I do some of those sometimes, I never really feel like I fit in so unless they're close, I try to avoid them) which is probably what most people at Camberwell are familiar with. Although I'm far from an expert, and it would be a bit of a stretch to live on what I currently make (mostly because of its unreliability as an income source) I've been doing cons since I was 17, so a year and a half roughly, or about 30 conventions both up and down the UK and in northern Europe. It can be split down as such:

Blogging and Social Media

This was mostly how I started, since I grew up on a tiny island and therefore really had very little exposure to the art world, therefore my only contact with what was going on was through the internet. I think this type of growth shows very strongly in my art, as I'm very steeped in internet culture, and not always in a good way. Although I wouldn't consider myself particularly a social media whore, my self-esteem and valuing of the quality of my own art does depend a lot on who likes it online etc. I also feel like I spent a long time only being exposed to a few types of art, and therefore coming to art school and being broadened out to look at loads of different styles and career paths is incredibly daunting and often makes me feel like I needed much more guidance in originally developing a style and playing to my strengths.

Anyway, the job part is mostly about communication and brand building. I've seen a lot of artists talk very deeply about being an artist and the process but I prefer to keep things professional, never mention money and make a lot of it seem like a social interaction rather than advertising, a subtlety valuable in social media management.

So, for this, a lot of the links at the top of my page are useful, but mostly the Redbubble account and Etsy / Storenvy webstores, as that's where I make most of my funds. Redbubble is one of those places that custom prints tshirts, phone cases etc, and takes a cut of the profit. The profit margin is pretty low (25%) so it takes a lot of sales to make anything substantial, but they do a lot of promotion of my designs (my designs "Sick Beats" and "Die Katze" were both featured on the front page of the site; and "Sick Beats" has been featured on their Instagram twice, in the Redbubble blog twice, and is advertised on Facebook) so I don't mind so much. If I update it regularly enough it's effortless spare cash.

 

Etsy and Storenvy are a little more challenging, as the former has fees so I need to make sure it's stocked correctly, with good photos (though since I have no camera a lot of the photos aren't amazing) and descriptions. I had Storenvy when I was starting out but now I know better what sells and am much more likely to make good money on a product I design, I don't mind paying the fees for the extra traffic Etsy offers.

I've also recently launched a Patreon, which is a really exciting concept where people pay to see regular content. I figured I had a lot of work I didn't always show online, and that what I did put online some people were willing to pay for. It's essentially a paywall for extra content. Because it's also a smaller and contained audience (at least for me) I feel like I can let on more what goes on "behind the scenes" etc.

Web Design

Pretty self-explanatory, but I like to keep my website up-to-date. My current site (found by clicking "Portfolio" at the top of the page) was left over from when I was using it for univeristy applications so was made with a web-builder, but I'd really love to learn HTML. I know basic HTML and can customise CSS but I think there's a lot more I could do with knowing more.

Also, I like all my websites/social media accounts to mostly match, as well as match my business cards for the year. This is partially brand building and partially obsessiveness.

Product Design and Stocking

This one is also relatively self-explanatory. Most of the time I gauge the reaction to stuff I post online and turn it into things like prints or totes, but sometimes I design things specifically for sale so when I post the design, I can promote sales at the same time. This is hit-or-miss most of the time, though I think I've been getting better at it.

 

Recently I also got a stockist, which is super helpful as selling wholesale is much easier than having to sell every single product yourself, as well as sounding pretty professional.

As well as making sure I manage stock well enough to not run out of stock half-way through an event (or, as has happened before, running out of stock at an event and having someone order the item online during the event!), I also try to keep some freebies aside. I mostly do this because I personally love buying from small businesses and a lot of them do this, but also it's a cute surprise and I'm here to make people happy! I make sure they're never too pricey so it doesn't cut into the profit margin, and putting doodles on prints is a cool way of doing extra advertising because people see another side of my art.

Events and Stand Building

This is the more difficult bit as it needs a lot of effort to make work! A lot of time is taken organising things, particularly at the start of the year. Most events need prebooking, many far far in advance (one of my favourite events, Thought Bubble, is juried in about March when the event isn't until November!). I have some help with this as I sometimes share tables with friends (Faye and Sandia mostly!!) who help me book and vice versa.

They also cost between £10-£350 for the table, and then I sometimes need a hostel and transport too, so a lot goes into balancing costs. Some events are different to others, with different crowds looking for different things and spending different amounts of money, so it can be really hard to gauge. Venues also play a lot into whether or not an event is successful, and this is always out of the artist's hands. I think I've learnt to be less hard on myself if an event goes badly, but that might be because I'm making more in general so it's less of a detriment to my bank account. Also, sometimes it's just a bad event and you can't help that.

Anyway, let's look at my con set up because I feel like it's the best demonstration of how my business has grown over the past year or so!

This is basically my first ever set-up at London Anime Con Feb 2015.

This is MCM May 2015, a few events later, where Faye and I shared the most crammed table in world history.

This is Hyperjapan in November of 2015. The use of pink for branding is the best choice I've ever made as it means my tables sticks out and gets attention, even if my art hasn't hugely improved.

And then these two of my two most recent events, MCM London May 2016 and Animecon The Hague. They're much more durable, the white panels are much lighter to carry and it's much more pleasing to the eye, engaging on a number of heights and fitting with a colour scheme.

Politics and Networking

This is probably the bit I'm worst at, mostly because cons are tiring as is and while I wouldn't say I'm an introvert, there is only so much socialisation I feel I can do in  a day and I use it up on talking to customers (though this does mean I'm now close friends with people who used to be customers, which is super cool).

Networking is also a little weird because it can be hard to level a pitch in person when you're not sure who you're talking to. Similarly, online I get quite a few emails through about this project or website and I'm terrible with names so in the past I've found out I've worked with some guy who works for Cartoon Hangover or Boom! Studios and I had no idea for months. Sometimes I think I should go easier on myself with this, because I'm young and I have gotten some larger commissions out of con people, but other times I think I could definitely present myself better so that I invite a bigger range of work.

Politics is also very important. I feel like I initially got this pretty wrong, but I've seen bigger failures from people older and more experienced than I was at the time so I don't feel too nervous about this learning curve. Mostly it comes down to the fact the UK comics industry is very small and people talk (boy do they talk). Unfortunately a lot of it is online, and ain't nobody care if they're dragging a 17 year old online. Or no-one dragged me, but I've learnt resources such as industry Facebook groups are much better used for lurking than getting dragged into an argument. Similarly, thank to things like Facebook, it can be hard to balance who is a personal contact and who is a business contact- it's hard to say no to someone wanting to add you on Facebook, especially if they do it in person, even though I need somewhere to express thoughts and feelings that not everyone might agree with.

This, and I think a lot of people think it's fine for artists to be a bit off-the-wall and vocal, whereas I think this only works if you're a straight white man, or already successful, who's going to get a promotion whether you retweet that post or not.

The nicer side of it is that often you go out to make friends and these friends will often end up working with you, or pointing you in the direction of a job, or passing your name onto someone. It only starts to become career building when you look at the bigger picture, probably over a span of longer than a year and a half.