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AX ‘22 Con Report

I tabled at AX with my friend (no public social media) last weekend!! I’m sure most people saw tweets about how awful the artist alley conditions were lol... I’m doing this writeup mostly to reflect how sales went + for my own reference but I will also cover con organization, how it felt inside re:safety, masking, AX staff/volunteers. FYI this is very long as it’s a sort of blogging recap with lots of photos.

Here’s our booth! 👇

Day 0:

Setup day! I forget what time Kentia Hall opened for setup but we got to the convention center at like... 4:45-5PM. Getting into the loading dock (a garage directly connected to Kentia) was pretty smooth, luckily since we arrived a little late there was no wait for other cars ahead of us. A con center staff (?) driving a forklift gave us a cart to put our boxes etc. on.

We weren’t allowed to park our cars in the dock, so my table partner had to go repark her car after we wheeled our merch to the Kentia rear entrance.

Here’s what the loading dock looked like (this was from Day 4, so it’s pretty empty).

Directly to the right is Kentia Hall.

Fortunately the staff at the Kentia entrance (between the loading dock and Kentia, normally closed during convention hours) was also doing COVID checks, so we got our COVID wristbands right off the bat. Setup took the entire 3 hours until 8PM. We didn’t finish either, but we got the basics set up (photo display stand for large prints, grids for charms/small merch). We just needed to add our side hanging prints (medium and mini prints) via a clamp-on side arm.

I don’t think AC was on, so we were kinda sweaty and also tired/hungry from the 6+ hour drive down.

Here’s our original setup; we decided to move the “window” to one side so there’d be no break in our display (easier for customers to see all our merch at once). This is because we didn’t evenly split mine vs. her merch LOL. Other artists often keep their own stuff on one side if they split a table. Also we had a plexiglass screen because we were paranoid about non-maskers breathing on us. Neither of us got COVID from the con so I like to think it worked!

Day 1:

We tried to get to the con by 8:30 AM so we could get convention center parking and finish setting up before 10 AM (AA open) but there was a literal car accident + one that happened 30 feet from our car on the street leading to the parking garage 😑 My table partner had to drop me and our neighboring table (also part of our Airbnb) friend off on the street so we could walk the rest of the way inside lol.

We were both wary of customers stealing our display charms so we pinned our charms through the grids, then secured them on the back. We tugged on each charm to make sure they didn’t come loose.

Here’s Anya, my best-selling charm (or about tied with my Jack Frost charm). My memey-themed merch sold the best lol (not a surprise for me). The pin was stuck in there unless you really yanked it. Also, we used black grids because the contrast really makes the charm colors pop more (vs. white or a corkboard). We got the idea from our friend who uses black canvases.

Some more pics of my merch (and our display in the background). You can see we had a Square payments sign + NO MASK NO SERVICE sign (we forgot to print one but the sticky note was enough). We used the top of the grids to display more 3D items like omanjuu plushies (we used two-tier displays from Daiso, inspired by Hinamatsuri displays), acrylic standees (a mini wooden bench from Daiso again), and my bargain bin (old charms) box. We tabled at Fanime in May and all our stuff was directly on the table, which was low and hard to see. Added height lets people see your merch from farther away.

Personally I wish we displayed our stickers better but we kinda ran out of space. They’re not the main money makers anyways (charms and prints are) but oh well, they’re easy to ship/sell online.

And here’s what it looked like on the artists’ side:

AX volunteer staff is pretty strict about making sure the walkway is clear. Every few tables had personal trash cans, though whether they were emptied or refilled with another plastic bag was kinda dependent on luck...? Most of the time we just had our own personal trash bag we brought and disposed of after closing each day.

Luckily the volunteer assigned to our strip was SUPER friendly and nice. She stopped by our table every day starting Day 2; she reminded us to eat and stay hydrated because another artist had passed out on Day 1. I think actually more than one artist passed out in AA during the entire weekend 🙃 CO2 levels were off the charts especially on Days 2 and 3.

I didn’t get a photo of the actual back of our display, but we had organizers inside our grids so we could store handfuls of charms for quick access. In the past we’ve just hunched over and dug through our giant luggages to find charms when customers asked for them, which REALLY takes a toll on you and your back. We finally learned this year 🤡✨ You can see it jutting out in this picture. You can also see my medium/mini prints hanging (all taped) from the side arm.

We had an open box full of unorganized omanjuu plushies between our table and our neighboring table since we did a group order together. Most of the time I helped dig and grab them when customers wanted to buy them. It was kind of hard in the beginning because my table partner and I had 4 blonde characters LOL but we didn’t bother organizing them because they took up too much space and were too light (like packing peanut light) so they fell out of containers easily...

I would say the only downside of our main display setup is that one person (me) is always hidden by the grids, while the other artist is stuck doing customer service. To talk to customers, I had to stand up on my toes to talk over the grids, and it was uncomfortable because I also had to avoid our large prints that were hanging directly behind my head (when I stood up).

I think I generally had a more enjoyable time at Fanime because I was the one doing the majority of customer service, so I got to chat with customers more. AX I was mostly just... chilling... also there was no service and I couldn’t get onto the AA wifi because it was at capacity (people were sharing the password with their non-AA friends :) ).

This is also when we realized while the plexiglass kept us “safe” from people breathing on us directly, it was also REALLY HARD to hear people. Voices are already muffled with masks on, and cons are LOUD. The plexiglass was thick so we literally could not hear almost every single customer. We either had to ask them to speak up multiple times or we straight up asked them to talk over our grids so we could hear what they wanted to buy. The latter making the plexiglass useless...

It was also tougher on my partner’s back because she’s 6+ inches taller than me (and was wearing heels lol). For me I just had to stand up taller, for her she actually had to scrunch her back to dodge our prints.

Here’s what it looked like from the Customer Service chair:

Anyways Day 1 sales were slow... even compared to Fanime 1 month ago it felt pretty slow. Not a huge surprise since it’s Day 1, most people will browse AA on Friday and then make purchases later during the weekend UNLESS you’re a super popular artist and people want to get your stuff before things sell out. Unfortunately neither of us are at that level lol

Also here’s a photo of my luggage under the table. This was taken on Day 4 during takedown so it has all the manjuus poured inside LMFAO

AC was either broken or on energy-saving mode (according to some staff?) this day so it felt like A SAUNA. It was humid and stifling. I was fanning my partner and my neighbor with an empty portfolio and shikishi board to help keep them cool. I didn’t feel terrible since my house doesn’t have AC (so I’m used to it) but it was NOT comfortable. This is the day that staff at the South Priority Entrance (for vendors, exhibitors, Artist Alley) apparently had miscommunicated instructions and were confiscating coffee, drinks, snacks, food from everyone. Luckily they hadn’t checked my bag when we got in in the morning, so I had snacks (KitKats, dried apples) and bottles of tea, but we didn’t eat lunch until 4PM (table partner and I split food truck fries).

Maybe it was the hunger but these fries were so so so good lol.

Day 2

We expected to get the most sales on this day but sales were also really slow considering it was Saturday... My partner also has tabled at AX multiple times in the past, and she said sales were disappointing for her standards. We wondered if it’s because we were at the back of the hall.

I think my most popular mini print from Fanime (ACNH Timmy and Tommy going “Poggers!”) didn’t sell as well because it wasn’t directly in customers’ faces. At Fanime it was right above the seller’s “window” so while customers waited for me to grab inventory, their eyes would wander and immediately see it, then add it to their purchase. Or they’d see it front and center when they passed by the booth. This time we kept all smaller prints on the sides, so that may have impacted sales. It still sold the best out of all my prints though, but it didn’t sell out like it did at Fanime.

AA conditions-wise were better from Day 2 onwards, but it’s a fact that the AC is not strong in the back of the hall. It’s strongest at the entrance. I did fan myself during Days 2-4, Day 4 was the most pleasant because crowds were much smaller lol. Trying to get through or leave AA on Days 2-3 were a nightmare because of how jampacked the aisles were. Usually I would walk through the artist walkways just so I could avoid the crowds (at least 30% of whom were unmasked 🙃). Honestly it’s a miracle I didn’t get COVID considering how many bare faces I saw!!!!!! After attending Fanime, where it was like 99% mask policy adherence, AX crowds gave me hives... I take Norcal Bay Area masking for granted...

I think...? Because CO2 levels were so potent, I didn’t feel productive or want to draw commissions. At Fanime I took over 30 commissions across 3 days, like I was pumping them out every 20-30 minutes. At AX on Day 2 I took down my commission display and didn’t bother putting it back up until the next day because I just wasn’t in the mood. And it didn’t have anything to do with how much sleep I got (or lack thereof), I was not sleeping well during Fanime either lol. But 🤷‍♀️ who knows. Luckily I didn’t experience nausea, fatigue, dizziness, or headaches like other artists did. My table partner complained of headaches but she also does require more sleep than I do.

Day 3

Sales were the best on this day! By this point I realized I didn’t really draw enough popular series, but ngl I don’t care much about drawing popular things just for sales. My partner’s Luxiem/VTuber merch was selling like hotcakes.

Okay I’ll just speed through the rest lol

Day 4

I was hoping for a lot of last minute sales on this day but it was kind of slow. Overall AX this year was fairly slow for a lot of artists; I talked about it with other artists and friends who were tabling and we all agreed our sales were lower than we’d anticipated. Like we did well but it wasn’t as high as we wanted; we definitely ordered more stock than we needed to.

AA closed at 3PM, and we were hoping to finish takedown by 5PM. Unfortunately after we’d packed everything up + my partner had helped pack away some of her out of state friend’s boxes into her car... things got really disorganized and confusing.

So my friend had parked in the Venice Parking Garage which is directly across the street from Kentia Hall/the south side of the convention center. The street between the two buildings was filled with cars and PARKED trucks. So normal cars that were exiting the garage were stuck and couldn’t move. No AX staff bothered to explain to these cars that the trucks were Exhibitor’s Hall trucks, and they were parked and waiting for the corporate vendors to bring their stuff down. My friend was stuck on that street for like... 15-20 minutes I want to say. I was stuck in a pretty much empty AA at 6:30PM with way too much stuff for one person to carry. The loading dock that I mentioned earlier in the post was also blocked off.

I briefly went outside to take pics of the street outside the loading dock (the street that my friend was trying to turn onto, so that we could pack our belongings) so I could show her what the holdup was:

All the trucks and cars in the middle/left lanes were parked. Driver-less. lol.

These were cars trying to exit the South Parking Garage (directly inside the con center).

After I sent these pictures to my friend I ran back inside AA, noticed a forklift had kinda haphazardly discarded/dropped two rolling “carts” at the end of the aisle, and realized I was gonna have to grab one and put all our stuff on it if I wanted to move our belongings relatively quickly. These didn’t have handles, just a legit rope tied to it that you had to pull LOL

I felt kinda bad because there was an artist who had been sitting at her table for hours by herself, literally SURROUNDED by luggages. We started talking and it turns out she was confused because her boyfriend was in the same situation as my partner, stuck trying to get out of the parking garage. I told her she should grab one of the rolling carts to start loading her stuff too, since there were two that had been left a couple tables away from us. I didn’t wanna wait for a forklift because we had dinner plans lol.

Once I managed to wheel our stuff outside, I was still pretty lost on what to do, because my friend was around the corner and as versatile as the “cart” was, it could not go over curbs. Under the platform, there were two little mini wheel things on each end. They were not affixed so our stuff actually fell off when I tried to go up one curb (it was smooth but I made too sharp of a turn). Just imagine these things but more industrial looking

Two of these under the platform here 👇 on both ends

Another artist who was loading their car asked me if I needed help and I said I wasn’t sure since my friend was stuck on another street (literally like.... 200 feet away). They were kind enough to explain the situation, so I relayed it to my friend via Discord (basically, talk to one of the security people, explain that you’re an artist and not exhibitor’s hall vendor, and they’ll wave you through).

So yeah this was a pain in the ass and very disorganized but at least we made it to dinner on time-ish...

Now on to general sales stuff:

Neither of my partner and I sold that many large prints, which was disappointing because 1) large prints are HEAVY and a pain to carry back home, 2) usually she sells a lot of them; large prints are good money-makers because the margins on them are really good. Of my prints I expected my Tokyo Mew Mew and Ib prints to sell the best, but disappointingly I only got 1 buyer for my TMM print 😕 It’s a little disheartening because it’s a nostalgia print, I put the most effort into it, and the reboot anime is now airing... but I guess AX was a few days too early, or I didn’t have it up front and center. I ordered 25 of them, definitely ordered too many.

Meanwhile my Power and Meowy print sold the best (14-15 sales, I ordered 20 which was a good amount). Which is funny because I put the least amount of effort into it; I literally was speed-shading her shirt at 4AM on a workday because the print order deadline was that morning. It was also an “eh this sketch can be a simple large print, let’s bank on Power’s popularity for this to do well” and it did! 🙏 What is a little weird is my partner’s Makima print didn’t do as well as she expected. She said she sold a lot of them at ALA earlier this year... I noticed my mini Makima print also didn’t do that well (I got like 4 sales). I’d wonder if it’s because Makima is controversial but people were buying my Makima charm (more people got my Power charm though).

My second-best selling print was Ib (7-8 sales, ordered 20)! I got more buyers for it on Day 1 and 3 iirc. I was pleasantly surprised because like the Power and Meowy one I was literally rush-coloring parts of it the morning of the deadline. Like actually it made me late to work lol. It’s actually unfinished 🙈 but it’s okay no one knows that... I didn’t sell any of my P4 large print but that was to be expected because it was a last minute decision to print it; it’s old.

Charm-wise my Anya and Jack Frost “I’m gonna kill you” sold the best by far. I think in general, memey merch sells really well since people think it’s funny and want to show it off to their friends. So if all else fails, make some memey merch to ensure sales ^___^..... Surprisingly, people were not buying my partner’s SpyxFamily charms though, even though we placed our SpyxFam stuff right next to each other. It’s probably because her charms were huge, like 3 inch long/wide Christmas ornament size. It’s a shame because they came out super cute and had a cool transparent effect... But yeah, a lot of people bought my Anyas or the entire family set. I had two customers ask for 3-4 Anyas in one purchase which made me o_o LOL. I think it’s because I drew Anya’s iconic smug face on one side.

A couple Dimileth people came out of the woodworks to buy my Dimitris which made me happy... also what surprised me was that NO ONE bought my Felix charm, whereas he was my most popular charm at Fanime. Really goes to show how demographics differ depending on the con. Most people bought Hilda and Hubert at AX... these are also my slightly messed up charms from a second charm order in early 2020, right at the start of the pandemic (so the manufacturer messed up on clasps and print quality was inconsistent). So I really wasn’t expecting to sell any of them lol.

Another disappointment: I don’t think I sold a single lollipop charm all weekend... and I really expected them to sell well :\ I checked in with our table neighbor and she said only her Anya lollipop was selling, the rest of them weren’t getting bought at all. We found this kind of weird since lollipop charms aren’t super common yet, so we expected they’d do better LOL.

Bad photo of some of the lollipops:

On the flipside my partner’s candy bag charms were selling like crazy, but then again they were all Luxiem streamers so... her Gojo/Geto candy bag didn’t sell well. Probably because the ship hasn’t really come up in the anime yet.

All in all it was a pretty good weekend, I profited a bit over $1k after expenses (Airbnb, gas, parking, merch production costs, badge and table fee). This doesn’t include some tabling gear because my friend and I split (she bought the grids, the pins and their holders, the plexiglass, we borrowed a friend’s side arm thing, the display things I bought were all cheap minus the $50 main display stand).

Honestly that’s pretty low in comparison to all my artist friends who table at 3-5 cons per year, but I table really casually (this is just for fun) and I do more online shop selling, so I’m not too disappointed. I also didn’t draw any Genshin, didn’t have any SpyxFamily-heavy inventory besides a couple charms, didn’t have any VTubers, etc. etc... so I can’t complain about not making a ton of money. We were also tabled super far back, so we didn’t get nearly as much foot traffic as some other friends. HOWEVER we both avoided getting COVID so maybe our table location was a blessing. Based on an unofficial spreadsheet artists have been updating wrt symptoms and test results, there were positive clusters near the entrance (though people tested positive pretty much everywhere in the AA, including a table across from us).

To conclude, I hate LA and traveling to cons is more tiring than it’s worth personally, so I think I’m gonna stick to local conventions from now on. I am a tired introvert lol. I think Airbnb-ing with 8 people (all of us have dodged COVID miraculously) would have been more fun if I was still in college, alas I am now a few years out of school and very sleepy/prefer to keep to myself usually. I had way more fun at Fanime (I drove in every morning) and also didn’t constantly fear I was getting infected with COVID each day there... also didn’t witness a car accident every single day of the con... could relax at home and not worry about forgetting to pack something...

I hope this was useful or interesting to read if you made it this far d( > _・ ) If you have any questions feel free to hit my ask box, though I can’t answer much about merch production because I did group orders via friends and some prefer not to share their manus.

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