Every time I see that stupid Bleeding Cool article that tries to claim that famous artists are making massive losses at comic conventions and blaming it on cosplayers I cringe - because its absolute utter rubbish. (Apologies for the wall of text that follows...) SDCC in particular isnt the greatest event for artists if you want to make a profit. Its certainly possible, but the expense of the show, its increasing focus on large media stuff like the MCU etc. are taking sales away from the little guys in artist alley. That last part is in quotes simply because I dont believe thats necessarily true. An attendee who is there for autographs wont always have a budget to spend elsewhere esp. with increasing prices of those autographs, they may even leave without ever setting foot in the artist alley. But there is always crossover - in a hall filled with thousands of people (and baring in mind the largest UK event which is dwarfed by SDCC boasts 100k+ attendees) - no two attendees are alike. The key is to be a good sales person, have a display that attracts people to your table, a quick pitch, charm, and just generally be interesting and entertaining. Not sitting twiddling your thumbs and getting irritated because the girl 5 feet away in the aisle cosplaying Starfire is getting more attention than you, one of hundreds of faceless artists who have drawn Batman at some point in your career that most attendees will never have heard of. It may sound terrible, but as much as I love DC and Marvel, and as much as Im a comic book artist - I can only name a handful of the creators who work on those titles. Maybe I should be more aware of that kind of thing - but if I dont know who artist/writer X is, how likely is it that more than a small percentage of attendees at an event that is largely film/tv/gaming focused these days will recognise their name? By small percentage I mean 10k out of a total of 100k attendance which is still a massive amount of potential sales. The debate about which aspects of shows will mean greater or lesser sales is a long one, and there are many factors. Here in the UK we often even half-joke that the weather plays its part (because who wants to be in a convention hall on a sunny day, and who wants to travel across London in the pouring rain?). But getting back to cosplayers - yes, there are some rude cosplayers who will leave stuff on your table, block others from seeing it etc. but Ive known non-cosplayers who have dumped their empty food containers on my table, and those who choose to wait for friends or chat in front of my table with their backs turned to me. That is a matter of manners/etiquette, not something unique to cosplayers - and most certainly not the norm for cosplayers. In fact, Ive found that the way cosplayers pose for photos in aisles sometimes becomes beneficial, because it slows foot traffic a little which can help people spot your table and come over. Its also a pretty good tool for promotion on social media - if you can get a photo of cosplayers posing with your merch/banner. And those cosplayers who have no pockets and cant buy anything from you but really love your work, and youve engaged with them? In my experience cosplayers are more likely to attend a lot of shows, theyre also likely to come back when not in costume to buy things that caught their eye (you may not even recognise them). Seriously, half of tabling at a convention is making a good impression. If they dont buy today, who cares? Itd be nice if they did, and covering costs of an event is important - but Id rather have someone who will become a regular face at my table, who will bring their friends back with them because they enjoyed our chat. This is where you get that 100 true fans - a quick sale is great, but repeat customers, people who will tell others about your work? That can be worth a lot more.
Posted on: Tue, 23 Sep 2014 14:20:56 +0000
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