Sugar City Con 2015

*I actually wrote this article just after SCC (August 29) and never got around to posting it!*

I wanted to post about our experience at SCC asap so it would be fresh in my mind, but when we got home there was just way too much to do. On saying that I didn't know what to write about it to Jonathan, he said 'YOLO... So do a convention.' I think that pretty much sums it up.

Sugar city con had a really great vibe about it. Everyone was super friendly, and it was great being able to talk to other industry folks after months of just the two of us working away by ourselves. It was his first time being a vendor and we had some crazy high expectations at first, which seem funny now, but he did really well in the end. We're super looking forward to doing another convention, but that's still going to be way down the line!

Most of the attendees were cosplayers, which most of the guest/vendors said was highly unusual for a convention, as usually it's just a small fraction of cosplayers.
Funniest part was that every now and then there'd be loud yelling from the other side of the convention hall as Paul Eiding performed for his fans, which kept it interesting! We had a chance to meet him (he came around to all the vendors) and he is such an awesome, friendly guy!

Since it was Jonathan's convention, I wanted to get him to write about his perspective:

"Yeah, Sugar City Con(SCC) was great. Many other creators have always raved on small town cons being better and I can see why. Being a smaller town, the organisers always take better care of their guests. I wasn't a guest myself but the other guests were taken around town at nights, dinners organised, etc. They even had baby kangaroos brought in one day (just a one-off, this doesn't usually happen at Australian conventions in case anyone was wondering). But even as a vendor, they were super helpful with the set up and checked in on me multiple times during the event to see if I needed a break or any help. So I definitely recommend trying to attend smaller conventions if you want that special treatment.

There is also a downside to smaller conventions as well obviously. Yeah, you do get some guests that are super supportive of local indie artists and appreciate the artwork and books that are on offer, but most of the crowd will be a little tight on the purse strings. You're definitely not going to do as well in terms of sales as you would in a big metropolitan city.
Most of the crowd at SCC spent their money on international artist's works or items like collectibles, on sale action figures or mainstream comic books with the big attraction being stalls that sold swords, hats, masks, etc (basically anything that could be used for future cosplay). Other artists agreed that sales were ok, some did better than others with most just about managing to cover costs.

Many of the artists made more from doing sketches (sold for as cheap as $5 - $10) instead of their self published books or prints. This is something that didn't work for me as I'm quite slow when I draw so I didn't even offer up the option. This will be something I change at my next appearance as it's a great way to make some money, but also a great way to get people at your table and also spread the word that you're the artist. People love seeing the magic happen so there'll always be a few people standing around watching you work or commenting which is also a good way to generate a few more sales in prints or books or whatever.
Also, for some reason, many people don't realise you've drawn these images hanging up behind you. Maybe there are more art thieves around that I realise but people don't recognise the sole person pitching sales at the booth as the artist. I got plenty of "you drew that!" from the crowd which confirms something I read online before - saying you're the artist when you greet people. I guess it puts a face to the work instead of some unknown name on the poster. This probably is more true for small indie artists like myself. I'm sure Jim Lee doesn't have that experience.

Overall a great experience even though I didn't have fantastic sales. It was especially nice meeting fellow creators who supported my work (I tried to support them back as much as I could too, be kind to your fellow artists) as well as attending a few panels and meeting a few guests. I definitely want to do this again if only for the experience and can't wait until next year when we start attending more cons. YOLO."

Definitely didn't want me to take a picture, but he was happy throughout, I swear!!