Well, here's my report from the show, as promised. As you can probably guess from the title, things weren't exactly stellar at this show, either. In fact, the amount of traffic at this show, made the Spokane one look about as packed as the Emerald City ComiCon, by comparison. Steve Miner is a good guy and this show can usually be a lot of fun, but I think some poor planning really hindered this one.
First off, at Key Arena right next door, there were graduation events going on. This made finding parking a real pain (not to mention even more expensive). As if that wasn't bad enough, in the section of the hall across from the show, they were holding an arcade game and pinball symposium filled with classic games to play. It seems that finding a worse weekend to hold the show would be highly unlikely.
That picture above is of yours truly, in what would be probably the best point of the show for me (the set up). Only sold a single piece of art all day and not a very expensive one, at that. No sketchbooks or anything else would move. My only consolation, is that it seems many of the other vendors didn't make out any better than me. One of them, Chuck Messinger of Comic Evolution, even told me that it seemed people who came didn't seem to bring their wallets with them. He actually wanted to buy a semi-expensive piece from me, but didn't make enough at the show to do so.
My show highlight was, again, handing out comics to the kids at the show. Gave away almost another 40 comics, too. I also got to bask in the glowing presence of Randy Kintz, which is a pleasure you just can't measure. I even got him to do an amalgam sketch of Alf as Superman. He seemed to do okay at the show, from a financial standpoint, but with me paying for the table and a friend driving him up, it would be hard to have come out at a loss. Wish I could get offers like that.
In the end, this was the biggest bust for me yet. But, as ever, I will soldier on. On the plus side, it means that all of you here online still have an opportunity to grab up some of the art I have in inventory (and given my losses at these local shows, I REALLY need the sales now). I probably won't be doing any more shows, until the one in Portland this November. So, make sure to mark your calendars for that one.
Well, that's all for now. I have some things I'm working on behind the scenes right now and can't talk about. But if they pan out, it'll be some really exciting news for everyone at Sequential Treasures and for you, my faithful followers. Plus, I hope to have some new art updates in the not too distant future. So, keep your eyes peeled here for the latest. Until next time, peace out!
2 comments:
So where are the people?
Or better, why don´t they go out anymore?
Or, if they go out, why don´t they buy something?
I don´t know, has it something to do with the fact, that every politician around the world ist telling them/us that there is a global economic crisis, and nobody knows, how that will play out in the end?
Could it be, that the people/we are saving their/our money for the hard times that might come/lie in front of us?
And could it perhaps be, that comics and everthing else that has something to do with them, are maybe or in general things you can easily do without, because there are things like rent, food, clothing, gas and a few other, that are way much more important right now at this special time?
I don´t really know, I still have my job, I still make enough money to go by, and my company is still selling enough of the things we produce, that we all can make a living out of it.
But I know people where this is not the case, and those people have serious problems to get by every day!
Right now it seems like it will get slowly better, but we could all be wrong, nd the hardest part of this crisis is still to come.
All we can do is wait and see, what the future might bring or not bring to us, and in the meantime we all have to find out what works, and what else does not any longer!
And since you have mentioned sketchbooks, of what artists are they, if I might ask?
Thomas:
You know, I don't want to dent that the current economic climate has something to do with things, because that would just seem highly stupid to even suggest it. And you make a lot of good points, that there are lots of perople suffering and tightening their belts.
However, if all of that were 100% the case, explain the high dollar original comic art sales I've seen on eBay and other such places. Explain how other dealers are selling not-exactly-cheap pieces off of their own websites. Because, honestly, I'd like to know the answers to that myself. If everyone is so down and out and are cutting back on things that they don't need, where is all the money that is buying these hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars in expensive comic art pieces coming from?
Also, while I understand folks not having tons of disposable cash at this time, I do what I can to help keep the prices on the stuff I'm selling quite affordable. I constantly work with my artists on things like this, to show that we are understanding to those who are hurting. Of course, my artists and I are not exactkly flush with cash, either. How many losses am I supposed to take at shows like this, before I have the right to complain or question the buyer's side of this marketplace?
I do agree with you, that we'll just have to see what happens and how things are going to work out. I just hope we find out before my artists and I are finanically destititue, becuase losses like this are not something I can just keep absorbing.
As for the sketchbooks, the only ones I have at this time are from artist Richard Moore. I don't generally offer them online, as they are so inexpensive, that I really can't make a profit off them here. It's only for shows that I bring them out, which is one of the ways in which I'm trying to show some consideration for the tough financial times folks are going through. I'm seeing what I can do to get something similar going from my other artists.
Post a Comment