Hello Artists!
Gen Con Indy is coming up in just two weeks! If there’s interest in doing a WIP meetup, leave a note in our comments and we’ll schedule something– maybe we can get the Ninja Mountain and Drawn Today hosts to come, too!
In case you’re doing last minute prep, we thought we’d repost Caroline’s article about how to get ready for GenCon from her Art of Business Blog. Enjoy!
Today we’re going to break down the business details of going to a convention like GenCon and having a table in the Art Show. I’m basing this off of current costs, keeping in mind that costs may increase for future years. GenCon is all about gaming, so this guide is most useful for those focusing on gaming companies as clients for their business.
Why GenCon?
First of all, why go to a convention like GenCon at all? There are a few reasons, some of them will be more worthwhile than others, depending on where you are in your career. Your illustration is a business, and with that in mind, you should expect that sometimes you are going to take a loss as part of a future investment. Hopefully, your investment pays off in the long run even if you are initially out some cash.
The first reason to go to GenCon is to sell your work. People browse the art show specifically looking for art to purchase- be it originals or prints. There are a few different types of buyers, too, and different work will appeal to different people. Artists with a standing reputation and a following can make a decent amount of money at GenCon. Of course, they got to that point by taking some losses their first years and continuing to come back and be an established part of the art show.
The second reason to go to GenCon is to network within the artistic community. GenCon is a great place to meet artists who are doing what you do and are passionate about their work. Artists can give each other great tips and critiques as well as offer really solid advice about where to seek work. You’ll also get the skinny on pitfalls to avoid that people wouldn’t necessarily talk about in a public forum.
The last big reason to go is that it is THE place to get work in the gaming industry. Companies will either have portfolio review sessions or they will have an art director on hand to look at portfolios. Beyond getting very, very helpful critique from this, you can also get jobs. While all these companies have online ways to submit your portfolio, making face time is always good in any business.
Money
Time to get into the nitty-gritty. If you are planning on attending GenCon as an artist in the Art Show, here are a lists of costs you should prepare for.
Table: $250 -$320 (rates may go up for next year)
Hotel: $145-160/night, plus tax (if staying in the con hotel). Artists are guaranteed rooms in nearby hotels at discounted rates. Yeah… $160 is discounted, if you can believe it.
Parking: $15-$30/day (depending on where you park)
Food and drink: Budget generously, $50/day, and if you don’t spend it, be glad!
Travel: $150-$600, depending on flights or gas costs. Book early if you can. Driving is cheaper but much more exhausing. Flying means you’ll have to package your work very very carefully and ship it there or only bring what you can carry onto the plane.
Supplies: Varies depending on how you are making your prints. If you are making archival prints, you’ll have to splurge for a bit more. Read about the differences between archival and non-archival here.
Making Your Own Prints
First of all, you’ll need a printer that can make prints at least 11″ x 17″, preferably 13″ x 19″. There are a few options out there, so shop around. We have the Epson Stylus Photo 1400 printer, which prints beautifully, but has very costly ink at nearly $20/cartridge for six cartridges. Fortunately, there are places you can get discount ink cartridges. Check out CISinks and InksOutlet for cheap ink, but beware- these cartridges are finikey and can give you some trouble. But at $6 as opposed to $20 per cartridge, it’s worth a little risk. If you are getting the free shipping will need to order far enough in advance to allow for slow ground shipping (7-9 days at least).
If you want to make archival prints, you should be looking for acid-free paper like Moab paper. A lot of retail companies (HP, Epson, Cannon) put logos on the back of their paper, which can be fine, but looks unprofessional in my opinion. I found that Ilford Galerie paper, while not acid free, is nice, has no logos, and is compatible with most printers. You can find it online for very reasonable prices, too. I like the Smooth Pearl Paper, but the Classic Pearl looks nice, too. I also found a cool sample pack of paper from Moab, if you want to do some printing tests.
Getting Prints Made
An illustrator friend referred me to CatPrint, where he got prints made very reasonably. He was very happy with the results, too, and said that not having the stress of making his own prints made it very worthwhile. He said that they have no minimum print order, prints came out to less than $1/piece for 8 1/2″ by 11″, but the prints are not archival as they use a traditional 4-color press. There are many other print shops on the internet that will do prints for you, so you can shop around for a place you like (archival printers will cost more). A note if you are working digitally: print out a test of your file so you can see how the color looks. I know that on newer Macs the screens are much brighter than older models and PC’s, and prints end up coming out much darker than they read on the screen. You can adjust the brightness (usually an increase of 25%) to compensate for this with your prints, but you’ll want to do so before you send off files to online printers.
The Extras- Matting and Bags
Some artists mat their work for display, others don’t. I think that it makes the work look more professional, so I like to do it for the display pieces. If you mat all your prints, you can charge quite a bit more for them. If you have a lot of time and patience, you can cut your own mats. Failing that, there are places to order mat in bulk. I shopped around a bit and found that Matcutter.com had good deals for the 10 packs of mats. They also sell clear bags for your work at very reasonable prices.
Selling Prints
Pricing your work where people will want to buy prints can be tricky. Our first year, we sold only 8 1/2″ by 11″ prints for $5, and we were selling things off the walls. So we doubled the price, and still sold well. It’s all a test of supply and demand: if you are selling out, raise your prices, if you are selling badly, lower them. Most illustrators are selling prints there between $10-$20 for 8 1/2″ by 11″, $15-$30 for 11″ by 17″, and $25-$50 for 13″ by 19″. Pricing originals is trickier, but the least expensive originals I saw were around $50 for smaller and older work, and the most expensive were several thousand dollars for larger and brand new work. Joe Slucher came up with an awesome idea and did small framed original character portraits and sold them for $30-$50, the idea being that that way people could afford an original piece and not break the bank.
If your work is matted, sell it for more. You can bump up the price by $5-$25 with nice matting. Just choose what you think is reasonable.
Miscellaneous Things To Expect
Have the money that you need for gencon up front. Print sales don’t go into your pocket directly, you get your check from the show afterwards. Some things you should have on hand:
- Business cards. These should have your website and email on them at the very least. Including your phone number for people who want to contact you that way is not a bad idea either.
- A metallic pen (to sign your work). Silver or gold pens are what most people bring.
- A few black and grey pens (to draw on playmats, the charity auction bags, or card backs).
- A couple ideas of what to draw on-the-spot.
- An assistant. Someone who can sit at the table when you’re showing your port, etc. Having help is very nice, and you get two “Artist” badges as part of your table costs anyway, why not take advantage?
You may want to bring:
- A sketchbook. You have long hours to pass at the table, why not work?
- A sample sheet. I’d never thought to do this but printing out some 8 1/2″ by 11″ with a few sample works and your contact info on it can be great for industry contacts to remember your work.
- A camera. There are some pretty cool costumed folks walking around the con, and you may want to snag a photo for reference. Just be sure to ask, most people wearing costumes are more than happy to pose for you.
- Friends. If you have friends who are going, having them watch the table for a bit and sharing a room can make your experience much less costly. Plus, they’ll be happy to be in a hotel near the con- not every gamer gets so lucky.
The show opens Thursday at 10 am. Have your best work up by Friday AM at the absolute latest. Friday is when the judges come around looking at all the art, and Friday night is the awards ceremony is Friday after the exhibit hall closes at 6 pm.
Ideally, you will invest less than $2000 into the weekend, and it will pay off in more than that from the sales and jobs you’ll get by being there. If you don’t feel confident that you’ll make back the costs, try just going to show your portfolio, and then get a table after you’ve done some industry work the following year.
I also talked to some artists that got a vendor booth instead of an artists table. The vendor booths cost a lot more, but they have the advantage of being all about sales. People come with their wallets open, as opposed to just browsing the art show in “gallery mode”. The vendor area also gets more foot traffic than the art show- I can’t help but think that this is because art intimidates people and they feel guilty for not buying, so they avoid the art show altogether, but that’s just my own assumption and not really based on any market research.
If you have any further questions, feel free to leave them in the comments or to email me and I’ll do my best to address them!
Hey there art-fans,
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