Abunaicon 2018 Conreport
Another brief con report! (And wow I really need to remember to take more pics next time)
I was at Abunai last weekend and it was a lot of fun honestly. I was in a deep artlow this whole year but this con really helped me crawl out of it.
This con was my first time standing alone, my usual tablemate Cheriin couldn't make it sadly. Afterwards it may have been for the best because I totally forgot how little space there is behind one table. One thing which was a good improvement from previous editions of Abunaicon tho is the addition of airconditioning. Abunai has a notorious history of heatwaves during their weekend (I remember wearing a tanktop and shorts in the 2016 edition and still melting), but the wheather was actually pretty doable this time. Granted we’ve had a gigantic heatwave this summervacation.
I went shopping for some new cool stuff to display my new A5 artprints ánd to buy more of those adhesive poster gummies.
Friday
I was up early to make some last-minute buttons, like the good planner I am. Dealerroom didn't open until 6pm so I had a lot of time.
I arrived at the Central Station and guess what I forgot… the adhesives gummies. So I had to buy super expensive new ones at the station.
It wasn’t over yet however, when I finally arrived on the con I noticed I also forgot any form of paper, my comissionpricelist, my portfolio folder, all the display prints and a pair of scissors!
I nearly finished when the doors opened and I already had a lot of customers before I even sorted everything out behind my table, which is actually a pretty good thing to be honest.
A LOT of musical fans came by and were stoked to finally find some musical fanart. Also quite a lot camp camp fans, which was supercool.
(One of the commissions I made as well)
I also talked to an old friend I hadn’t talked to for a longer time again! He bought me fries because I was bound to my table and was starving. It was supersweet ;;
Late at night I arrived at my hotel, which was pretty secluded. So I was walking along in the dark when suddenly a duck quacked and flapped his wings and I almost screamed.
I had a double room for myself at the hotel, which was luxurious on one hand, but it was also pretty expensive. They also had this really scary wallpaper depicting a black-and-white groupsphoto of some old people. It creeped me out a lot, especially when the lights were dimmed. The whites of the eyes were hardly visible and it looked like they had black sockets where their eyes should’ve been. It didn’t help that the faucet started leaking suddenly and there was a weird mechanical sound appearing from time to time.
I quite literally had a nightmare that night..
Saturday
I searched around on google maps for a supermarket and I was in luck! I bought some bread for breakfast and an ice coffee. Also a chocolatebar for my lovely table neighbour Marlon from dreamchaserart@instagram, because she went and got me some watercolour paper to do my commissions! Saturday was a lot busier. I introduced myself to the other neighbours and they so happened to be organizing a brand new con. They were discussing hiring an artist for promowork and they seemed interested in my work. So I really hope I can do some work for them, it would be so awesome to represent a con!
A lot of people came back to buy some more, even on the same day haha. And there were quite a lot comments on my artstyle, that really brightened my day. I had a few good (and pretty long) conversations and overall it was a good day! Spongebob cosplayers also visited my stand and it was amazing, they even had a skit which another spongebob cosplayer recorder for me and aahhh, it was so cool, I got all emotional!
When I was about to go home (I only booked a hotel for one night) I met up with Marlon again by coincidence and we decided to get diner together. We had pokebowls and they were suupergood.
We talked a lot, it even got dark by the time we finished up! I arrived home pretty late and immediately jumped into my bed.
Sunday
Due to my work at my parents takeaway I had to leave early today, I still had a commission due from saturday and since I didn’t expect too many customers in the four hours, I wasn’t in too much of a hurry. Nothing that special happened this day. Tho I had a pretty long conversation with a customer while I actually should’ve been packing up. No surprise I missed the bus, but it was cool.
I’m really sad I didn’t have time to talk to a single other artist this weekend, since I didn’t have anyone to cover for me and I had to leave early. Other than that it was a fantastic weekend and I really got my excitement for cons back. I’m considering making a sort of minicomics to sell at conventions, so I’m really excited about that!
All in all, the new buttons did pretty well. As well as the keychains. As opposed to previous cons, a lot less of my A3 prints sold and a lot more of the smaller prints and accessories. I wondered if that was because of my small space and a lot went by unnoticed, so that’s a thing I have to work on. I’ve ordered some little clip-on reading lights to make my darker posters more visible. I’ve also had a lot of cons were I had crappy lightning so I hope this will fix the problem.
