[dc]L[/dc]ast weekend I attended Grand Rapids Comic Con for the first time. I only found out I would be attending about two weeks before the show, as I was on the wait list for an artist alley table.
Grand Rapids Comic Con Artist Alley
I was happy to attend Grand Rapids Comic Con, especially as a wait list entry for a show with a jury process, and I enjoyed myself. I met new artists and reconnected with old friends.
However, Grand Rapids Comic Con needs to reconsider the layout of artist alley.
Grand Rapids Comic Con tucked artist alley at the rear of the hall, and pretty far from the main vendor area.
Second, the layout of artist alley itself was odd. The rows didn’t flow at all, or connect with the vendor rows. One of my artist friends faced an empty wall until he demanded to be moved on Saturday morning.
It was the show’s first year at the DeVos Place, so there’s bound to be some bugs to work out.
The Crowd at Grand Rapids Comic Con
A lot of people attended Grand Rapids Comic Con, which is great (how many, I don’t know exactly). I managed to walk around a bit on Saturday, and the vendor rows were very packed.
My first random cartoon of Grand Rapids Comic Con. Via my Instagram.
While we didn’t see that kind of action in artist alley (for the reasons listed above), I had plenty of nice chats with the people who did manage to find their way to the rear of the hall. I even had visits from a couple of people who bought items from me at GRASP back in July, which is nice.
How Did I Do at Grand Rapids Comic Con?
Making money at a show is always nice, but a lot of things about a convention I can’t put on a spreadsheet. I make new contacts, I chat with potential fans, reconnect with artist friends I only see at shows, and get my art in front of a lot of eyeballs. Every sale, be it a sticker or a watercolor commission or a coloring book, is worth all the effort to attend a show.
Another random cartoon at Grand Rapids Comic Con. Via my Instagram.
In the end, as long as I at least covered my expenses to be at the show, it’s a success in my book, which was the case with Grand Rapids Comic Con.
However, I did some statistical work for the show, and here’s one bit of data I found interesting.
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