Heroes Con Day 3

Right off the bat as soon as the day begins one of the only cosplay I recognize comes struttin death down the aisle, the god damned Skeletor

Its 10:13am when this guy(?) shows up. Let me ask you a question, what were you doing at 8:45am this morning? Were you dressing yourself into a purple caricature of death while parading a rams skull on a stick? Someone in this world was and he is right here. This is the randomness of life you have to love. Embrace the weird!

Back in 2013-14 I dated a girl from Syracuse who went to bed early and while I was up late at her casa occasionally I would turn on the TV that only received 24 channels. Every channel was infomercials, Spanish soaps, or some other assorted nonsense except for one channel that every night from 2 - 4am would run He-Man marathons. Some of the only TV I'd ever looked forward to... even had a Skeletor painting already on display

Our friend Mary the body painter from yesterday was dressed as a character whom I cant remember the name of, Misty something (I think?). Basically she used what she had to work with to make her constume, a red shirt, natural 'fro, and then body painted her arm to resemble the mech arm of Misty. Well come Sunday afternoon this woman showed up

It's the final couple hours of this experience ..The Convention is coming to an end. Some vendors are packing up shop early, some are doing their rounds to make purchases or exchange artwork with friends ("Con family"), or patiently sitting awaiting the lackadaisical announcer to make last call.

A couple more drawings I created to pass the time..

Its down to the 30 minute stretch before the end of the Con.. Attendees are scrambling their thumbs through boxes of Comics searching for that one last bargain of the day. Instead of hoping for attendees to come to my booth and snatch up last minute deals I took an alternative route of yelling at everyone and anyone that purchases from here on out are 50% off. My blunt annoyance worked as in the final 30 minutes I made more sales then the whole day combined. The final sale of the day was this Captain America canvas

This has been one hell of a fun weekend! Serious case of a stranger in a strange land..

While packing up I had some artwork that I did not want to bring home. Some of it I gifted to neighbors, some were given to randoms. If you remember the Drink and Draw section of the Day 1 blog, I mentioned to pay close attention to the mustached-hat wearing sticker I drew up of a random guy in the room.

bottom row, two from the right

This random guy has been in my line of sight ever since I noticed him that evening and I still had the sticker of his drawing left over. He was manning a booth not too far from mine. I kept an eye on him as the crowd was clearing from his booth and made my way over when I saw an opening. I introduced myself and explained why I made the drawing, he happily accepted with a smile and it didnt take long to notice he had an abundance of Ren & Stimpy material.. matter of a fact that's all he had. Turns out this guy was Bob the creator OF Ren & Stimpy! Childhood me was in awe to finally meet the mastermind behind that terrifically twisted and tormented show that was so taboo at the time my parents wouldnt even let me watch it because I was too young. Such a random encounter but damn what a cherry on top of the whole event

And that just about wraps up Heroes Convention 2018!

What did we learn while attending and vending at our very first convention:

1. Have wheels. During breakdown my neighbor made one trip from his booth to his car after stacking all of his cargo in his wagon. I made 5 trips ... So if there's anything you learn from this please remember to have wheels.

2. If you're booth is in a crowded area and you see an opening on the floor simply ask if you can move to that space. Could be all the difference between high and low volume of people that access your booth.

3. Plan how to display your works at your booth. 6' table isnt a lot of space but if you utilize every inch to the most of its capacity and BUILD UPWARDS you can display a hell of a lot of artwork & merch. Utilize front of table(s), sides, behind table, everywhere you can. Hell you could even raise the legs of the table and create a stadium seating situation of table display space. GET CREATIVE WITH IT

4. Bring your own food & drinks. There is nothing more then shit concession stand food available. Get there early and bring a cooler with food and whatever drinks you want. Key word is get there EARLY with the cooler. A lot of vendors had to ditch the cooler because they couldnt bring them in once the convention began.

5. Smile. FUCKING SMILE! No one wants to feel like they're intruding on a booth if the person attending it is face down into their cell phone screen making zero eye contact with nothin but a scowl on their face. Technically you're at work. Your cubicle is being frequented by monsters, grown adults in furry costumes, functioning robotics, and women(and men) with their flesh poppin out of all types of scandalous outfits, whats not to be happy about?

6. Dress accordingly. By that I mean in costume. Even if only one person recognizes your character that's one more potential sale.

7. Do something to grab the peoples attention. Every booth was different but they all blend together. Live art is a great way to get more eyes on your booth. Once Mary began to live body paint people flocked to my booth. At one point my neighbor, who had seen little traffic before this, shot a scene of a music video with some Nerdcore rap group and while they were filming all eyes were on his booth and after they finished all eyes stayed on the booth for quite some time. Get creative and have some fun

8. Bring music! There was no music played throughout the convention which made for some stale air. Music garners attention, music leads to dancing, dancing leads to smiling. More smiling people at your booth = win win for everyone.

9. Have something to put in the peoples hands.. whether it be a business card or a pair of 3D glasses to view your 3D art. Not many people approach a booth they have no interested in unless you create curiosity. One of my neighbors had a great way of doing this.. He creates artwork that can be viewed with 3D glasses. He offered a pair to every person walking by to put on and try viewing his artwork with. I cant say every sale he made was because of this tactic but I can say not even 90% of those people would have stopped unless he offered the glasses to try on.because they were browsers and power walkers not the stop to spend money types. Until something reaches out to them they wont stop, in this case a hand with 3D glasses reached out

10. Last but not least, have fun. It can get boring at times, very few booths were high volume unless you had a standing name with the comic crowd and if you have no co-employee it can become very daunting to remain in one place for 12 hours a day. Make the best of any situation and just try to have fun!

One of the things I always ask attendees at festivals, events, etc, is where are the best places to go check out, whether it be food, venues, or art-related, what should I check out in the short time I have here? An extensive number of people suggested making the drive to Asheville, North Carolina to check out the arts scene and the town. Off to Asheville we go...