I’ve been to a lot of sci-fi and pop-culture conventions over the years. Always, I’ve gone as a connoisseur of the culture, not as an artist. Yesterday was my first con as an artist. The event: Pinupalooza. I’d heard about it months ago, and knew that as a budding pinup artist, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to do this show, especially with it being in my own town.
So I signed up for my table space and got busy readying my portfolio.
For a little over a month, I’ve been burning both ends of the candle. My day job as a software project manager, and my after hours profession as a hopeful artist. I made crazy promises to myself, like “I’ll do one new pinup every two days!” Sure. I aint that fast an artist, and no amount of Red Bull drenched energy will ever make me one. As the deadline loomed, I had produced several new pieces, and retouched several of my older ones, but ultimately my inventory was a little short. I guess I had always know that it would be, which is why I opted to pay for the smaller three feet of table space and not the full table.
Friday night, my wife Ginny and I stayed up all night, printing on my spiffy art printer, trimming the prints down, packaging and labeling. Ginny made little buttons with my artwork on them that we could sell for a dollar each. We got a few short hours of sleep then rushed to the International Palms on I-Drive where the event was taking place.
We got inside the convention center and were directed to the room labeled, “Vendor Area”. When we went in, we were surprised to find a relatively small space occupied by about 12 or 13 sellers. Ginny and I looked at each other, a little underwhelmed. Okay… so it’s not Comiccon size. Maybe that’s not a bad thing, we thought. Fewer sellers means less competition for sales. Right?
There were a number of very good artists in the room and I felt pretty good about the quality of stuff being sold. It was small, but a very decent representation of the genre. Over the course of the day, we got to chat with quite a number the other vendors, because there wasn’t much else to do. That’s right… paying Pinupalooza attendees were so sparse that most of the sales made were probably to other vendors.
That said, I consider the day a fine educational experience for me. Both Greg Andrews and Tim Oliver took us under their wings and provided valuable advice for future cons and the industry in general. By the way, click their names and check their work. Greg is an amazing artist whose work has graced the pages of “Heavy Metal” and whose illustrations made me remember the feelings stirred by the works of Boris Vallejo when I was young. Tim Oliver’s taken two of my favorite genres, the pinup and geek culture, and made a fantastic melange of sexiness. Tim also introduced me to to the fabulous Rosalind Friday, so thanks for that.
We also met Tydie Sutton of Kaia Couture. Tydie’s jewelery is lovely and she was as friendly as anyone could be. Ginny enjoyed chatting with her during the slowest parts of the day.
I do feel bad for the lack of sales in this event on behalf of all vendors, some of whom traveled further and paid more than we did. In particular, the cool folks at Tropiki Wholesale, who set up an amazing three table display of tiki awesomeness. I know what those tables must have cost, and I don’t see anyway for them to have come out ahead at the end of the day.
I don’t know what went wrong. I know there’s a demographic for this type of convention. Somehow, the promoters didn’t get to the right ears, I guess. I’m sure they tried. I’m always willing to give someone the benefit of the doubt. Still, it was a little frustrating to go to all the work we went through and come out at a loss. I’m sure the next one will be better.
Perhaps the most entertaining part of the day had to do with me being in a film. But I’ll cover that in the next story.
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