Connecticon 2007
Friday July 13
Rather than a play-by-play in all the boring detail as I have done in previous years, this time around I think I'll stick to the hilights. Day 1 for SED was, on the whole, a fairly dull business. SED merch sold like hotcakes. Hard, stale hotcakes served atop 3-month-old leftover ramen. However, I did meet some curious innocent bystanders, and perhaps even picked up a reader or three. Special props to the 2 lovely ladies who allwed me to rant for over a minute without running away screaming :) Old hands like PantsMan and new faces like ForkMan made an appearance, in addition to giant spiders, awesome Links (and even a Midna), and others. Photos will be up at some point.
Another high point was the first prototype SED light-up electronic badge, conceptualized and built on-site. While I have yet to sell any, I think I saw enough interest to attempt to streamline the process, make a bunch ahead, and sell them at a fixed price in the future. This was my original intent, but the parts didn't arrive until the day before I left for the con, so for this year I'm left making them on demand / on commission at the table. I did check in with Garth, Hawk, Mookie, but most of my time was spent on either the right or left side of Ian and the Rare Earth crew, with their local indie print comic Shadow Tracers. Ian is a sales wizard. Really. I'm convinced half the people who visited the SED table did so only because his marketing power radiated out to the entire block. Many thanks, and maybe I will commission that half-orc bard sketch before the con's over!
The SED table closed up a little before 6pm, but I was back in the evening for the Advanced Photoshop Skills uberpanel hosted by the combined artistic talent of Comedity, AppleGeeks and GU Comics. As usual, some of the things I learned there may creep into SED over the next year. Other of the things I learned... not so much. Suffice to say Hawk + bored = boobies. Speaking of Hawk, I seem to have discovered his one fatal weakness. Money. All humor aside, my sincere and repeated apologies- that dime was not actually intended to induce severe nasal trauma all the way from the far end of the room. I am not some 1337 coinage ninja, just remarkably unlucky.
My Hobby-Level Webcomicing panel at least went off better than expected. Many thanks to the few wonderful people who showed up, and best of luck in your own work. Remember- know yourself, know your readers, plan ahead, and just keep at it.
Tomorrow is the Webcomics Challenge. This year artists can solo if they so choose, but I may remarkably have a team, or at least a Guitar Hero representative. However, I claim dibs on the Magic: The Gathering preconstruct tourney if nothing else.
Saturday July 14
Two Words: Webcomic Challenge. I was at my table for all of 4 hours, if that, today. I can only hope rather a few freebie cards were picked up while I was gone and that I'll be seeing more visitors to the site than I actually met. While being away from table, however, I was at least productive. I personally scored SED second place ranking in Bohnanza and the Magic preconstruct tournament. I beat Dr. McNinja in Wii Tennis, but that wasn't good enough for points. At the Artist Auction I was completely floored when SED was purchased for a whopping $70. That $70 held as top earnings for a good while, or more precisely, until Mookie put the entire history of the con to shame, attaining a high bid of $450. From the same guy who bought SED for $70. And Modern Edda for $70. After a friendly chat, said bidder was even willing to help me out in the Guitar Hero event, in which he may have scored us a 1st place! Rob, I am in your debt- you have defintely earned that modded Genesis, and I only wish I had the down time at the table to hook you up with a custom button. Bring that official Team Diodes one back next year and I'll see what I can do!
Tomorrow is the final day of CTCon '07. It has certainly been an experience, and I only hope I'm not too burnt out to pull off my traditional RedMage and have energy left for after-con hijinx.
Addendum: I'm not sure how I forgot this earlier, but one other interesting thing happened at the artist auction- Brian Wilson's boxers. Last year Brian Wilson revealed Chris Malone's boxers to spur on a bid frenzy. This year Chris Malone revealed Brian Wilson's boxers to spur on a bid frenzy. When Brian revealed Chris' boxers last year, however, they were not framed and signed by all attending artists to be given to the winning bidder. Brian's comments on the matter? "It's on. Ever heard of escalation?" Erm... good luck with that. And please leave me out.
Saturday July 14
Day 3. Wow. A whole Con. Things definitely move faster from a guest's perspective than a member's. Today started a little late due to my getting most of the way to the convention center before realizing I'd completely forgotten the modded SEGA Genesis I'd promised in Saturday's auction. At least there were a few other artists running leisurely, and I even ran into a disturbingly familiar pair of boots on the escalator. Some chatting later and I was able to bum a silver sharpie and properly autograph the aforementioned Genesis before setting up my table. (As a side note, Jen is definitely less intense in person than in her comic. And fellow utilikiltarians will be pleased to know that the leaf blower only actually makes it to one con...).
Of course, continuing the trend of the weekend, I was not actually able to man the table very long. I wasn't going to miss watching Cosplay Chess, even if I didn't have the time or energy to participate this year. Strangely, I didn't actually see Li or Akiko at the event, although I'm sure they were operating somewhere behind the scenes as usual. A few covert photos there and some lucky encounters later helped me fill out my lackluster photoscavenger hit list to a hair over 50 percent complete, which amazingly was enough to hold SED in 3rd place at the end of the Webcomic Challenge. Congrats to team Mystic Revolution and Dave & Co., and apologies to Chris & Kent for totally PWNING JOOR 1337 MCN1NJ4 SK1LLZ!!!!111
An early close to the Artist Colony brought relief to some and perturbation to others, but I suppose we all have to close up shop some time. I think I now fully appreciate how burnt out artists get attending these convention thingies. A big hello to all new readers from CTCon '07, I hope you enjoy the comic and refer your friends. A big thank you to all the great artists who tolerated my little upstart comic making an unexpectedly big splash, I'll see you next year, hopefully with a more robust table offering and more minions. And to Matt, Briana, Larom, James, and all the other organizers and volunteers who make the con so wonderful for webcomics large and small to attend... I'm at a loss for words. You're all remarkable. I look forward to seeing you all any year I can make it out! Go CTCon '08!