[dc]L[/dc]ast weekend saw my return to the Cherry Capital Comic Con in Traverse City Michigan.
My table at C4 2015.
Easily the biggest show I’ve attended in 2015 to date, Cherry Capital Comic Con (C4) was a weekend of comics, art, friends, and fun.
The Crowd
Attendance was up this year—way up. I heard C4 ran out of badges on Sunday afternoon—and a few hours before closing too (I think they just sold adults the left over kids badges at that point). There were a lot of first timers too—not just to C4, but to a comic con in general. This is always a good thing to hear: a show bringing in new blood.
Random Cartoon at C4: snake+singing+happy+dinosaur.
Later = Better?
In my experiences at comic cons and events, traffic tends to go down around 3 PM and on. Not this year at C4, as the crowd picked up later in the day. The bulk of my Saturday sales happened after 2 PM (nine sales 2 PM to 6 PM, four sales 10 AM to 12 PM), and on Sunday (seven sales 2 PM to 5 PM, three sales 11 AM to 1 PM).¹
Sunday Funday
Another first happened at C4 this year: I took in more on Sunday than Saturday. Again, in the past I’ve noticed I’m lucky if my Sunday take in is about half of my total for Saturday. Sunday beating Saturday outright is unheard of (for me at least).
Random Cartoon at C4. Cat+snake+antlers+dino.
A few other nearby artists experienced this as well: Sunday really made their weekend. Perhaps with C4 taking place in a vacation town, and being on a holiday weekend, word go around and peopled decided to give the comic con a chance.
What Sold at C4?
All in all, I took in about $14 more at last year’s C4. I’m very happy with how I did this year though. Last year, the big seller was the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles print I worked on with Adam Talley and Sherief Abouelseoud–and I did the least work of the three of us. This year, I didn’t have a similar style print for sale. My coloring books continued to sell pretty well: I sold five, beating my average of four. I sold four mini-buttons, one more than I did at Appleseed. Stickers and mini-comics continue to be steady sellers. I did not sell any Big Monster prints², but I did sell a Guilt Trip Ghost comic print.
I sold one 4×6 watercolor cartoon, but that’s also my average (I sold one at Appleseed too). I did sell two watercolor bookmarks, which were the first I’ve sold this year³.
The big sellers, however, were commissions.
Cartoon commission. Hugh Manatee in the calamari desert.
This year at C4, I sold nine commissions, both Random Cartoons and traditional ‘draw me this’ commissions. I actually sold more traditional commissions (five) than Random Cartoons (four). Last year, I sold two commissions. That’s more than four times as many.
Random cartoon: platypus+flying+dinosaur+zombie.
Commissions really saved my weekend—and I like commissions, because I’m selling unique original art.
Random Cartoon at C4: Elf+snake+zombie+sandwich.
Cherry Capital Comic Con Highlights
- I sat next to Sherief all weekend. Hilarity ensued.
- I heard many amusing commissions stories–some involving werewolf women in mid-transformation.
- Speaking of commissions, I learned the word fursona (and it was the one commission I forgot to photograph).
- A girl used “two weeks of chores money” to buy one of my coloring books. Aw jeez.
- A mom snapped a photo as I handed her daughter the Lucky Cat watercolor cartoon I just sold her (the one I painted at Appleseed).
- I saw old friends and made new ones.
- There was a full size Chopper droid from Star Wars Rebels rolling around and it took all my willpower not to run from my table and give it a hug.
- A lot of great cosplay (so many Deadpools).
- Plenty of great food and drinks at Red Mesa, 7 Monks, and Right Brain Brewery.
See You in Grand Rapids
My next appearance is at GRASP Comic Expo next month in Grand Rapids. See you there!
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¹ As I said many times before: I use the Square Register app on my phone to track every sale—even with cash. This gives me all kinds of data (date/times of sales, what I sold, etc).
² I dropped the ball on showcasing the Big Monster prints on Saturday. Oh well. Next time.
³ I might stop selling the bookmarks at shows. We’ll see. What did and did not sell at C4 this year made me review what I’m going to sell at shows the rest of this season and beyond. I can always put stuff like bookmarks up on Etsy.
