con over

[egypturnash]

I'm sitting at queenofstripes and postrodent's place, naked in front of Rik's computer.

Overall? Good con. The first one I made money at, thanks to Chris Goodwin making me come hang around behind an Artist's Alley table with him. (I find myself wondering if $10 for a sketchbook image is underpricing myself.)

I never didget to see the art show besides drifting through the reception (thanks to T' for letting me be his guest). I didn't manage to hook up with the East Coast artists as much as I would've liked to; Ursula V. was mostly a couple quick encounters and me scrawling out what I imagined would happen if she drew porn... I really need to try to make dinner plans with my fellow artists when I go to these things, damnit.

There were ups and downs, and a few stirrings of drama, but none that really hit me directly.

I had an interesting discussion with Ursula H. and Phil Morissey about making money with my art. I need to look into his suggestion of finding an agent to get me high-end magazine/advertising illustration work. A lot of my problems with making money on my art is that I don't have the faintest clue about selling myself, and I'd gladly give 10-15% to someone for doing that. It's not a skill I have, and not one I really want to cultivate. I just want to draw pretty things.

---

The drama that did come to get me was after the con: driving back to Boston yesterday, the cops pulled us over. Kin was weaving a little, used to neither the rental car or driving in general, and I'd just called her attention to that when the siren bleeped behind us. Either we just matched some profile for Bad People, or they were looking for something big; the single cop who pulled us over called in two others to help keep us in line as they got us all out of the car and poked through our stuff.

When they found the blinky cat ears in the suitcase, they cracked a smile. And the life-size wind-up key clinched it: we were just some seriously alien freaks, rather than drug runners or gun smugglers.

I was shaking and afraid through the whole thing, and halfway fell apart when we pulled off of the road again at the next exit. It's the first time I've ever been hassled by cops, and being Under Suspicion is no fun at all. Even when a part of your mind is analyzing the dominance game they're forcing you into, because you were playing that sort of thing the night before for fun.

Oddly enough, being called by the name on my ID was not a scary triggering thing. It was just part of the overall unpleasantness. "You're a man?" the cop asked, when I handed it over. "Yes," I said, without going into detail. If they'd asked about the stuff in my suitcase (they gave us a lot of shit about the bottle of Mixed Painkillers in Rik's things) I would've gone into detail about the trans thing, but I just didn't want to complexify things. I really need to fix as much of my ID as possible.

(PS. Our badges were all Silly Names, as we'd originally debated getting by on just one or two of them. I was 4M1S, Rik was C17LA, and Kin was Gem5. We were l33t!)

Comments

[adequatemagic.livejournal.com]

1) YES. Your art (style / color pallete / technique )is entirely marketable to a much larger (and more deep-pocketed) audience than fur fandom. YES YES YES. You hear me?

2) Ooogh. I'm really sorry y'all had to go through that with the police. Being pulled over is Never Fun, and being pulled over when Clearly Not Regular Folks ... yeah. But you all made it through, which is important. (Memo I failed to post to Rik's LJ - being someone who takes a number of meds, even though it's a pain, when I travel I keep each and every one in the bottle I got 'em in. Most of the time these days, the bottles are labelled not only with the name of the medication but a verbal or graphic depiction of what the damn pill looks like - lends veracity to No Officer, These Are My Prescription Meds...)

and now, some wierd part of me is wondering how the pull-over would have gone if someone had been *wearing* the light-up kitty ears when Officer Odie had pulled you over. Kind of the Wavy Gravy approach to Dealing With Hostiles. If you're wearing a clown nose, the police seem more hesitant about unpleasantness...

[shatterstripes.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I found myself wondering what would've happened if someone had been wearing the cat ears in the car, too. Probably nothing good. But who wants to hassle a cute little kittyboi?

I'm spoilt by living in the freaky parts of the country. Driving While Pink is not an offense in Cali...

[adequatemagic.livejournal.com]

Again, I *suspect* (disclaimer: I ain't you. I wasn't there.) defusal of tension would have been expedited. "Where you going?" "Just coming back from a party, officer!" "Ah... well, be more careful.." That sort of thing.

Then too, you know I'm hopelessly optimistic about stuff like that.

Hug the Posts for me, mkay?

[shatterstripes.livejournal.com]

Well, it escalated VERY quickly to "get out of the car with your hands where I can see them, you two stay in the car with your eyes front and stop moving so much". Either this guy was playing the Asshole to the hilt, or they were expecting something coming through. It turned REALLY unfriendly REALLY fast, and it felt like we were scaring the hell out of this youngish cop.

[doctorpinkerton.livejournal.com]

Oooh I know exactly what you mean about 'no idea how to sell self'... you really do need/deserve an agent/manager. That'd probably get you right on track.

As for being pulled over, hmmm, probably a good thing the whole 'rave' scene is over by a decade!

Glad to hear you made money and connections!!!!!

[shatterstripes.livejournal.com]

Welllllll, aaaactually, we did probably look like ravers. Suitcase full of blinkenlights and all. And my hair. And Rik is small enough to look like a kid sometimes.

It was pretty damn scary.

[doctorpinkerton.livejournal.com]

Guess the real question is, how many ravers does your typical cop encounter in Philly?

[eselgeist.livejournal.com]

i can't work artist alley financially to save my life :) the threat of co$$t turns off the idly curious, but then i end up giving the badges/sketches away anyway because these are just kids asking and i have none of my own :/

sorry about the copdrama. how hungry are you? let's do dinner!

[barberio.livejournal.com]

In the past I have had con badges in Binary, Octal and Perl.

[dv-girl.livejournal.com]

At last you understand why I turn so posionous in the presence of pork.

[ultraken.livejournal.com]

*snrk* :D

When I got pulled over for speeding near Hattiesburg in a minivan full of friends, the joke was "Does somebody smell bacon?". When the officer actually came up to the window, though, we were of course very polite. I did, after all, have the cruise control set to 85. Mississippi is just so boring to drive through...

[queenofstripes.livejournal.com]

Yeah. *hug* I understand a lot now. *hug* -.-

[turbinerocks.livejournal.com]

Don't get your hopes up TOO much about getting an agent right off the bat. My instructors at Cornish who did freelance and had a rep, it took them a long time to get the agent, they were hoofing it on their own for years. The high-end stuff is ultra competitive. It is a bitch, but selling yourself is just a part of freelancing.

[nyctopterus.livejournal.com]

Why you gotta piss on everyone's parade? Huh?

[turbinerocks.livejournal.com]

Wah! I didna mean to! I just want her to know that it's gonna be tough is all.

[mauricia.livejournal.com]

It was neat to meet you! You're a really unique and interesting person. Shame we couldn't hang out more, but big cons will do that. Sorry if I kind of fangirled at you. :D

Hopefully I'll see you next year, hmm?

[shatterstripes.livejournal.com]

I am starting to like being fangirled at, even if I don't entirely know how to respond! I dunno if I'll make it to AC again, it's a long way from California or New Orleans. If I end up living with Rik and Kin any tine soon, I'll probably make it to AC on a regular basis...

[nyctopterus.livejournal.com]

"A lot of my problems with making money on my art is that I don't have the faintest clue about selling myself, and I'd gladly give 10-15% to someone for doing that. It's not a skill I have, and not one I really want to cultivate. I just want to draw pretty things."

Don't steal my problems and desires Peggy.

[kajarainbow.livejournal.com]

Yeah, your style is very conductive to magazine illustration (I think this since it makes me think of magazine illustration, probably the associations with that Cricket magazine illustrator you mentioned as an influence). And hugs about the copdrama.

[ceruleanst.livejournal.com]

$90 for weaving a little? I thought she had to have made an actual violation-grade mistake to get a fine that that. Part of the game, I guess, implicating the threat of arrest and/or violence so that their victims are relieved they're only losing money.

Oh, and Peggy, I want to apologize. For the whole con, I treated you as if you would kill me if I said more than the syllable "Hi" or got too close. That's all my fault and I really don't know what's gotten into my head lately.

[turbinerocks.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's some serious butfuck piggery. And I'm sure they did that because they know that the victim wouldn't contest a ticket that isn't in their home state.

[queenofstripes.livejournal.com]

"Forget it, Jake. It's Connecticut."

[kamenkyote.livejournal.com]

I'm totally with you on the selling of self, Peggy. I haven't the faintest clue, and you're far more marketable than I am. I think I'm likely to just keep scaring myself into staying in this little corner I've carved. You can and should be out there and on top. Perhaps finding an agent that's at least willing to talk about what THEY look for will give you an idea on how to pad the old portfolio. Or, if you know someone who's up there in the biz, ask them.

As you saw in Artists' Alley, I can't sell myself either. Seems like you have somewhat of an idea, though as you were always busy. :"D

[shatterstripes.livejournal.com]

"Otters and boxers!" probably scared people off a little, yeah. That was kind of an act of Not Selling Yourself by letting cuteness/cleverness override what people actually are looking for.

I was busy all through Saturday, but Sunday saw nothing new. I guess all the people who knew I was there doing sketchbooks had come by already, and I didn't really have anything out to attract people to my stuff. Next time maybe I need prints to do the trick.

I gotta start figuring out the proper Google finesse to hunt up agents for illustration work. Maybe even snag a recent Artist's Market and try doing some hunting myself. That scares me. Selling myself.

[jackfurlong.livejournal.com]

> $10 for a sketchbook image is underpricing myself.
Yes.

Do contact an agent; your style of art is what magazines (esp Tech) are using for "spot art" nowadays.