FallCon 2012

This weekend, I set up shop at FallCon! Let me just start off by saying-- I think it's really difficult to portray my excitement through text. I'd rather let my face, voice, and bounciness tell you the story of the convention. But alas... I hope I can give you an idea here of how utterly delightful this experience was.

This was my display! My Sailor Moon picture out in front attracted many a little girl to my table. I didn't know kids these days were even watching Sailor Moon! One, maybe nine years old, bragged to me about all the issues of the manga she owns, and began quoting all of the attack names. Another, I gave some free art to, because she was only FIVE or something, LOVED Sailor Moon, and her parents weren't going to buy her anything. I made her day, and that gave me something more valuable than money.

Aang from Avatar the Last Airbender

Big Daddy and splicer from Bioshock

Normally, I cosplay at conventions. However, I find that it feels pretty weird sitting behind a table in a costume. You know? Putting on a costume makes you want to run around and explore and be that character for a while. It's magical! But in artist alley, I want to be 100% me. So, I realized, this is the way to enjoy cosplay while in artist alley-- by celebrating other people!

Lately, I've been feeling that I ought to begin accepting commissions. I took it as a good omen when a couple people requested commissions of me and I wasn't even advertising them! They were so much fun to do. And I'm so happy that I got to make other people very happy with custom artwork. What a "wow" feeling.

The first request was for a custom Yu-Gi-Oh card. I got to pick one of his existing cards, white out the image, and draw in my own. He made it clear that I could draw absolutely anything I wanted, and suggested I could do one of my original characters! How awesome is that, right? He even left me his paint markers, since I had no suitable supplies with me.  I chose a card called "dust tornado" and drew my character Autumn, blowing a great big swirl of wind from her cupped hands. The second request was from a lady who wanted me to draw a portrait of her lovely obitsu doll. So pretty!

What a day. The time flew by. I wish there were more conventions like this. Not only is it fun, it's free for artists. That meant no worries about breaking even! Nothing but awesome. Thanks for tuning in, guys! My next convention is Anime Fusion: Oct' 19th-21st!

P.S.--- A word of thanks to my amazing table-mates-- writer Christa Yelich-Koth and artist Conrad Teves. They enriched my experience with lovely talk of art and stories of their collaboration. Also, Conrad lent me his white-out pen, without which I could NOT have pulled off that Yu-Gi-Oh card!! Thank you!