To Fan Art or Not To Fan Art?
Will I Cross The Line I Drew For Myself As An Independent Comic Creator?
Hello there!
I tabled at my first two-day comic convention this past weekend, so instead of the usual, scheduled FROM THE ARCHIVES post, I thought I’d provide a recap of the event and the lessons I learned from the experience.
The Comic-Con Revolution Convention in Ontario, California (roughly an hour’s drive from Los Angeles) has been going for a few years now. I attended the inaugural show in 2017 and was quite delighted by its low-key, relaxed atmosphere. It was a new convention, so the attendance at that first one was low compared to others I had been to, but it was refreshing not to have to stress about parking, and elbow my way through aisles packed with people. I expected this convention to grow year-by-year into something comparable to WonderCon or L.A. Comic Con, two of the bigger Southern California conventions after the mother of them all, San Diego Comic-Con.
To my surprise, CCR actually seemed to have decreased in size since my last visit, at least in the number of exhibitors… not that there’s anything wrong with that!
I’m still too new to convention tabling to judge it fairly, but other, more experienced exhibitors whom I talked to at the show all described it as “slow” when I asked them how business had been. There were, indeed, long stretches where no one would be walking past my table. I used my downtime to draw another original sketch cover - in color this time!
Fan Art - noun (also fanart) us
drawings, paintings, etc. based on a TV show, movie, book, game, etc. or the characters in it, created by fans (= people who admire or are very interested in something):1
At any given comic convention, artists selling prints of what is known as fan art will often outnumber artists selling original work. I’ve never been a big fan of fan art, to be honest. Certainly not as a creator - I have my own stories and characters to draw, and my spare time is scant and valuable. Why waste it drawing characters I’ll never own?
Well, there are two reasons. The first is that characters that people already know get a lot more traction than original ones on social media. Doing fan art is great for getting noticed and building a following.
The second reason is that it sells like hotcakes at conventions.
At Comic-Con Revolution this past weekend, a very nice lady approached my table. She was decked out in Simpsons gear - cap, bag, jacket - and seeing the “Simpsons Director Matthew Schofield” at the top of my banner, she asked if I was selling anything Simpsons-related. Stickers, prints, anything? She had just visited the table of a fellow Simpsons crew member who was selling some Simpsons fan art prints at the convention, and had bought one of everything he had.
I said no, as I was there to sell and promote Steamroller Man, exclusively. She was very disappointed, given the fact that she was a collector of Simpsons memorabilia.
Now, I’m still new enough at this comic-making thing that I’m happily doing it for the fun of it, not to make a profit. I am thrilled by any amount of sales! This past weekend I sold about 35 copies of Steamroller Man #1 and 12 mini-comics, and I was delighted! The most copies I’d sold yet at a con! It would have just covered the $325 cost of my table, had it not been for the fact that I stayed in a local hotel overnight. A profit’s not necessary for my enjoyment, but it sure would have been nice to have at least recouped the price of entry!
I decided to do some impromptu, on-the-spot, market research.
“Hypothetically, if I was to make prints of images like these,” I asked the lady, scrolling down my Instagram to some Simpsons art from years ago, “would you be interested in buying something like that?”
“In a heartbeat,” she said.
I’ve been thinking about that response ever since. So I’m going to go with pragmatism over pride, and make some Simpsons prints. At the very least, they’ll attract people to my table, where I can hopefully convert them into happy Steamroller Man buyers. And you never know, if I sell a few, I might actually be able to break even on the cost of the table. I will, of course, let you know how it goes.
Keep Rolling!
Matt
OH! Before I go — I’m actually doing another convention this weekend, Saturday May 24th! I’ll be at the Pasadena Comic Con in the Pasadena Convention Center in California! If you’re in town, I’d love to see you!
The fan art/print thing has haunted me my entire self publishing journey at cons. I draw fan art as fun and post on my socials. Just because I love the characters I grew up with. But at cons, I put nothing but my own book and prints on the table. It’s hard watching people stop at my table with a handful of fan art prints and then leave without buying anything. Especially when they ask me for fan art cause they like my style. A lost sale? But I have to remember why I’m doing what I’m doing, bite my tongue and talk up my book as best I can. Thousands have drawn Superman but I’m the only one who has drawn my book.