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For those of you visiting because of a plug for Fanime, may I suggest:
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Hey everyone, it's that time of year again! I'll be at Fanimecon2013 with and a bunch of other scattered artists, selling prints and commissions!

My little shortcut map:

FIND ME AT TABLE #20 ALL 4 DAYS!

And my friends:

#19: is beside me, as per usual.
#79:
#160:
#164:
#242:
#243:
#244:
#284:
#303: JessicaGaona

This year I will be selling the following prints, books, bookmarks, etc.:

The small mini prints at the bottom, along with the bookmarks, are all free with the purchase of a print, or a commission. I'm also trying to phase out one or two prints, and I have a series of slightly off-colored SF/WiR prints, so all of those things will probably be at a slight discount this year.

I WILL ALSO BE TAKING DIGITAL COMMISSIONS.
My traditional sucks, and I can't be sure I'll get any wifi in the tent, so I'll have my sign-up sheets like I do at every other con.

I will also be cosplaying as Sherlock Holmes, both the classic Sidney Paget portrayal, and the BBC Benedict Cumberbatch one. Feel free to ask for a picture, or flirt at me.

SEE YOU THERE! And let me know that you follow me on DA/Tumblr!

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Some good friends:

Hey everyone! I'm a little busy at the moment, so I don't have time to format the post for DA and HTML, but you can view my recap (without cosplay part, since I haven't written it) at the following link:

[link]
[link]
[link]
[link]


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Some good friends:

Only like 20 days away from AOD2013! It feels so close, and so far away at the same time. For those of you not in the know, AOD will be happening in San Francisco's Japan Town on the weekend of February 16 and 17, and I've got a table in the artist alley! AOD was actually my first convention since I was in high school, and the first one I ever had a table at.



This year I will be seated at table 12 with at table 13 in the downstairs area. Some other friends:
=1
=19

I will be selling the following prints, bookmarks, and book:


(The question mark is a potential extra mini print, if I can get out out in time)

I will be doing digital commissions as usual in any of the styles you see in my gallery. Commission pricing will probably be:

Half-body(lines): $10
Full-body(lines):$15
Color:$10

There are some things I won't draw, so you'll have to run it by me before I agree.

And I will be debuting my BBC Sherlock costume as well! My Fanime2012 one was sort'a last minute, so I'm gonna pretend it doesn't really count >>

But please, stop by and see us! We're always happy to talk, and very ready to sell you things

~~~~~~
Some good friends:

I don't normally do these (I feel like I just echoed a million others), but an old friend () tagged me, so I gotta.

The RULES!

1. You must post these rules.
2. Each person must post eleven facts about themselves in their journal.
3. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post, and create ten new questions for the people you tag to answer.
4. You have to choose eleven people to tag and post their icons on your journal. (I probably won't! )
5. Go to their page and tell them you have tagged him/her.(" " ")
6. NO tag backs.
7. No stuff in the tagging section about "You are tagged if you're reading." (YOU'RE NOT MY REAL DAD, YOU CAN'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO)

1. I have a long neck that I used to be (I still am, but I used to too [Mitch Hedberg jokes! Woo!]) self-conscious of. That's the reason why I have a collared fleece zipped up all the way in nearly every doodle of myself. I'm told long necks are attractive...

2. I'm super texture sensitive, so I can't wear a lot of fashions, and I'm terrified of washing new clothes, because if they shrink, I can't physically stand them. They just feel wrong, and I tear them off like they're on fire, covered in spiders, or covered in flaming (not gay) spiders.

3. I have a small splotch of heterochromia in one eye.

4. I'm a teetotaler. I don't imbibe, or procure alcoholic beverages for other people. I also don't smoke anything.

5. My favorite color is green, but for many years, I refused to wear it. It echoes my eyes, and they're the physical feature I've gotten the most compliments on, so I used to wear green sparingly so that it was much more striking when I did. I reserved the color for first days of class, dates, and any occasion where I wanted to impress someone.

6. I'm an extroverted introvert. I'm my happiest when I'm entertaining people, and I'm an incredibly open person. A number of people have never seen me quiet, but in reality, I take several days to recharge after all of these encounters.

7. I've never eaten pie, and I continue not to for the sheer entertainment that is the look on people's faces when they hear this fact.

8. I have a super good memory for everything but names. I remember events down to the year, seasons, and even minutes. I can tell the same story the same way years after the fact. I got near, if not perfect scores on any test that required memorization and regurgitation. I imagine this makes me seem really creepy to people when I bring up something you'd think only a stalker would know.

9. I have the softest hands of any guy you've probably ever met. Because of my texture sensitivity, I avoid doing a lot of rough activities with my hands, so they haven't been weathered. In art class, I had to hold and blend charcoal with a paper towel because it'd send shivers down my spine to feel the stick or rub it on the paper. My soft hands have weirded out a few girls before.

10. A lot of time, the cadence of my speech, my vocabulary, and my syntax sound very British or old fashioned. I have absolutely no idea how I developed this, as none of my family speaks this way.

11. My math skills post-high school have atrophied so much that I'm very embarrassed whenever I have to resort to a calculator for simple arithmetic.

Questions and Answers

1. If you could have anything for a pet, what would you choose?
A. Anything? I want that little micro giraffe from the DirecTV commercials. Dik diks don't cut it.

2. What's your biggest fear/phobia?
A. This is tough. Probably that I'll never have another girlfriend or ever be truly in love. Really beats down on me.

3. Who is your favorite movie, game, show, or comic character? Why?
A. So hard to choooooose. I'm going to say Simon from Gurren Lagann, because of his ridiculous determination against all odds.

4. What's the weirdest/craziest/most random thing you've ever done?
A. I've got nothing :\

5. What's your zodiac? (Chinese, Western, or both?)
A. Chinese: Snake, Western: Cancer

6. Are you allergic to anything?
A. I think I'm just allergic to pollen, but I think I have a sensitive stomach to certain foods.

7. What's the most recent dream that you remember?
A. Last night. The only thing I really remember was that someone told me that undershirts (Like things from Hanes, etc.) "expire."

8. What kind of music do you like?
A. All over the place. If it sounds good, I'll listen to it, but I rarely pay attention to lyrics, so it can be pop, rock, rap, techno--you name it. Most of my stuff is in Japanese though.

9. Describe yourself in one word.
A. I think we've all gathered by now that I'm not a man of few words. Maybe idealistic?

10. If you could become a character in any movie, game, etc. universe, where would you go, and who/what sort of character would you be, what would you do?
A. Probably the Tengen Toppa, or any other super-robo universe where my strength and abilities are directly correlated to my strength of will. I love hot-blooded characters who win everything because of their tenacity and drive. That, and I love giving hot-blooded speeches to people when they're down. I may not always have the most faith in myself, but I really do believe in my friends.


And that's it! I'm not going to tag or make new questions, but feel free to lift this if you want.

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Some good friends:

Yesterday was apparently my 9th DA Birthday! Hard to believe it's already been so long. I remember when I started this account my Freshman year of High School where I'd doodle Viewtiful Joe stuff in my Algebra 1 class.

It's been a long time since I've done one of these journal entries! I haven't been as active on DA either. As you might've imagined, like most people, I've sort'a jumped to Tumblr a bit. I still use DA, but only for finished works, whereas my Tumblr will have more of my day to day little updates, rants, cosplay, WIPs, and doodles. My Tumblr has very few reblogs, and no social justice/diet blogging, meaning it's very pure to just my work, and stuff related to me. If you'd like to follow my adventures on tumblr, feel free to follow me here:

www.linkakami.tumblr.com
www.linkakami.tumblr.com
www.linkakami.tumblr.com
(They're all the same link, i'm just spamming it so you can't miss it!)

Conventions
The next convention on my list is Animation on Display (AOD) in San Francisco, making it the first Artist Alley I'm returning to (since it was my first Artist Alley anyway)! I'm going to be there next to my buddy , and other friends , , will be there as well! I'll post an update on our seating locations and etc. the closer we get to the convention (Feb 16-17).

In the Works
I have a Wreck-it Ralph print in the works for AOD, and then I'm going to have one more mini print which will likely be fanart of the PSN game Journey. Of course, I also have one of my annual pictures to make, and I've got the idea for it, but I've hit a little roadblock...

At current, my graphic card appears to be dying, so I can't do anything on my computer really (I'm typing this from the family one). Hopefully by the end of the week i'll have some sort of replacement, because I doubt I'll last if I have to share a computer, especially since this one isn't as good as mine.

I'll probably update this later, and I definitely will before the convention, but in the meantime, happy holidays!
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Some good friends:

Hey everyone! Fresh back from SNAFUcon, and as always, here's my super long account of the experience!

The Night Prior
So, before I even left the house, I had a story to tell. I was unloading my PVC pipes for my stand out of the trunk when a convertible pulls up next to the house. My first thought is that it's my friend Ken who is driving to Davis so we can meet with and drive to Reno. He lives in a nice neighborhood, so for all I know, he got a new car. Holding the pipes, I made a joking "Come at me bro" stance (it's night time, mind you) at the car, and a moment later, it does a 3-point turn and drives off. It wasn't Ken. The moment he pulls up, I open the door and say "We haven't even hit the road, but I already have a story!"

I think my cat figured out I was going to be leaving for the weekend.


We then drove to Davis (lovely place, from what I saw) and talked about anime the drive up, got dinner with and then after sleeping 3 to a bed, we woke up the next morning early in the morning after no sleep and drove up to Reno.

Day 1
We arrived in Reno after an early start and entered into the large casino that made up the front half of probably the tallest building in the city, the Grand Sierra. We were waiting on our friends and (our friends from the South Bay who we stayed with for Fanime) since the hotel was in their name and we needed them to check in (5 people to one room, don't tell!), so we set up at the con hall in the meantime.

SNAFUcon is only in its third year, so it's small (probably 1.5k people small) and was all in one big hall, aside from Dealers who were behind a divider and a few viewing rooms in the hallway. Artist's Alley was half full on Friday, since people were probably also still in school, but it's when I did my best business-wise. I was tabling next to , and on my other side was a new friend, Bea who was doing an AA for the first time at an anime convention.

This was the setup for my booth on day one.


I started using those Krillin prints as freebies for any purchase or commission, and it really helped move bookmarks and prints, which was awesome--I'm definitely going to try and do it more at any future conventions. Having a Square helped get me a few sales, but only on Day 1 (Usually when people have money on hand...weird).

Eventually, we got to check into our hotel room, which had a bathroom full of mirrors, including a giant one in the bedroom that we all had to test to make sure wasn't a one-way mirror into the bathroom. There were many sex jokes, and we also ended up learning that it's incredibly weird to have a bathroom full of full-length mirrors, as you rarely ever see your whole body in a bathroom mirror when you're unclothed.

We ended up going to a buffet and getting dinner with 's friends in Reno who were not only super cool, but the most attractive couple I've ever seen. When Ken and I were going to get our bags from the car, in one of our many unison moments during the con, we both said that they'd have some good-looking kids. They chilled with us for a bit afterward, and then we talked about survival horror games and etc. until we eventually decided to go to sleep.

Day 2
We got up a little later than expected, and then headed out to a place to get breakfast. When we came back, I got in my Sherlock cosplay (which I was only awake enough to put on for one day--I'll probably take some better photos of it nearer to Halloween) and headed down to the floor. A few people wanted pictures, which I always love, and they commented on how rare it was to see an old-school Sherlock, and not just the BBC one (which I'll be doing if I get into Fanime again; I'm growing my hair out now!).

At one point, one of the higher-up staff came around booth to booth to see how everyone was doing and if we needed anything, and when he got to my table, the first thing he said was "Where's your girlfriend?" I stared at him blankly for a moment to figure out if he was confusing me with someone else, and then responded "That's actually a fantastic question." I don't remember the whole conversation, but I think I struck him as someone who'd have a girlfriend (wouldn't that be lovely?), and we joked about men and transvestite alternatives. When he asked if I needed anything as he was leaving, I mentioned that some help with the girlfriend thing would be nice.

I popped into the registration area and saw Sonny Strait, and awkwardly asked him if he'd seen any of my Krillin prints go by (He thought I meant cosplayers, though I told him it's hard to pull off a character with no nose) and came back a moment later with a gift of my Goku print and a Krillin just for him (so long as he signed two for my boss and I [I had him write "Go Team Three-star!" on them, 'cus my boss and I are huge DBZ Abridged fans]). He told me he'd signed a couple of 'em and that it was a smart move, since he didn't understand why people didn't just look at the Guest section of the Con booklet and make things for people to get signed (Instead of doing every character except the ones whose actors were there).

One of Bea's friends, Niko hung out in front of our booth a lot with one of the guys of JuatCast and we eventually started talking a bit to pass the time. Talked a little bit with some other people who stopped by, and a kid who couldn't have been more than 13 years old actually asked to buy my OC Cybody from my samples binder, which was nice, 'cus it wasn't originally for sale, and was slightly more original than my fan art laden booth.

Most people didn't know what my Hyouka print was of/from, but the giant eyes definitely caught several people's attention. I imagine that one might sell better with time as people find out about the series, since a lot of people don't follow things are they're still airing--only once they're done. My Layton bookmarks were probably my best seller, so I only have a few of those left, but I've yet to tally my numbers.

That night, we let the girls go off to a BBQ with the couple from the night before, and we walked across the street to introduce Ken to the monster that was Wal-Mart, and if you saw the random stuff we were buying for dinner, you'd'a thought we were high. Then on the walk back we had a hilarious conversation which can be summed up as "We should call up a hooker to be our 4th in Mario Kart." 15 minutes worth of jokes about hiring prostitutes and having them do non-sexual things, like be our DM in DnD. It was hilarious, you'll have to take my word. After our microwave feast, we watched parts of both Kill Bill movies on TV, and then watched the campy Chinese Wing Chun movie until like 2:30AM.

Day 3
As usual, the last day is the slowest of all. I pretty much sat there the whole day doing absolutely nothing as Nathan tried to get all of his commissions done before the end of the con. Was too tired to get into my cosplay, and I grabbed my jacket since while it was high 80s outside, it was freezing inside. Very little business, fewer people, and etc. pretty much just started wandering around the AA like three times and started talking with other artists before packing it up early for the long drive back. Sonny Strait walked through the AA before he left and commented told me that he'd been asked to sign tons of my Krillins, which was awesome. Did a quick print swap (a tradition!) with Bea, and then we packed up shortly after. We stopped by Sonic before leaving, since in the Bay Area they advertise, despite the nearest one being like 2 hours away in Tracy. Mostly slept through that ride, and after leaving at Davis, Ken and I headed home and talked about various things: a trip to Tahoe, a visit to SF MOMA, amusement parks, business, etc. Eventually got home, tried to check as many messages as possible, and then realized I was running on empty and collapsed at about 12:30AM without having sent out confirmation emails to commissioners, taking inventory, and checking some of my other things.

Review
SNAFUcon was fun because we got to go somewhere new, but it was still pretty small. Regardless, we might go back next year, since it'll likely only get larger.

I don't have the hard numbers on me right now, but I know I broke even for the first time, and probably made like $15 profit, but hey, breaking even was a huge achievement, and now I also know the value of freebies. Layton might've been my best selling item (Krillin doesn't count, as he's like the Wii Sports of prints), followed by some of the prints from Fanime (Goku, Skyward Sword, Sherlock). Hell, even my Mario and Miku finally moved a copy or two. Star Driver and T&B were stagnant though. I've got about 4 commissions to do (Seems 4 is the number at each con for me, since I work digitally), and two little gag comics from the con to draw.

And that's pretty much it! Not sure what con I'm headed to next, but you can be sure I'll let you all know in excruciating detail.

~~~~~~
Some good friends:

[Edit:] A small price cut has been made, and some options done away with.

Hey guys, the past few weeks have been a suckerpunch to the pocket book, and in order to keep ahead in my finances, I could always stand to have a little more income (this also allows me to afford future cosplay attire, and visit more conventions).

Because I get off work in the evening, I don't have too much free time, so I'm currently limiting the available styles to either paper-cut(Seen here ) or Katanagatari (Seen here ) since they're the easiest for me to do, and honestly, I find doing manga-style commissions to be really uninteresting. If you're paying someone to draw you something, pay for something you can't find anywhere else! That's my thought anyway.

Prices are as follows:

    $10 Full-body
    +$10 Full color
    $20 Paper cut
    +$10 for color
    +$? (For additional characters, talk to me and we'll figure out a discount)

OCs are encouraged (if you have references), but I'll do fanart of established characters as well. If you're interested, shoot me a note or comment with what you're looking for! Status details will be posted on my commissions page which can be found at the top of my tumblr: [link].

You receive the FULL SIZE picture at 300DPI to use as you please.

Thanks for reading!

~~~~~~
Some good friends:

Aaahhhh where to begin where to begin...[Long journal ahead--I've split it into sections]

This was my first year tabling at Fanimecon, and my first time being there in almost 7 years. Other than the amount of people and my lack of interest in really buying things, the biggest change I noticed was the population, but that's not that important.

People!
This year I tabled with my friend next to our other friend (who convinced us to do AA in the first place). With us were also one of our other friends who acted as a helper, and our friend who we hadn't seen in nearly three years. She was coming along to hang out and see what Artist Alley is like, as she was interested in possibly tabling at next year's. She got plenty of sketches done herself while she was with us, so I imagine those'll be posted at some point. We stayed over at 's house near San Jose and talked to her about how things were going at our booths, and watched most of the episode of Korra currently out. was also her table partner and was staying with us. On the last day, she was watching Madoka for the first time.

I hunted down on the first day but didn't get to go back and see how she was doing. Also found , who I theoretically was supposed to take to lunch (A promise I used to make to all of my old Pchat friends should they ever be anywhere near me). She was very nice and even did a print exchange with me at the end (Where to put it, where to put it...). It's always funny being called "Clover" in real life. I'd zip by every now and then to see how she was doing--She's a silly one, but I enjoy that, so hopefully I'll run into her at more conventions. Got a print exchange with her too! I should've done that with more artists around me, but we were all kind'a tired and wanted to just get out of there once they alley closed.

At one point, a girl came up to my booth while I was sorting through prints under the table and leaned her head around and stared at me for a minute. I just looked back slightly confused, wondering if maybe she was one of the people who took a photo of my cosplay the other day (everyone blurred together @_@), or if she needed something. Her friend pops out from her shadow and goes "She's and immediately her face registered--I certainly didn't expect one of my favorite artists to make an unannounced appearance from across the country! While she was only around for a few minutes, she was a little sweetheart--I wish I could've gotten a photo with her and , as they were a little duo when I used to Pchat with them. Ended up selling her one of my sample prints (Tree of Four Seasons) even though it wasn't for sale, because there was no way I could resist. There was plenty of hugging.

I also became friends with the girls who sat at the table behind us. The first artist was who was the main person at the table and was cosplaying as Dead Master. Got to chat with her a bit, and she drew a skeleton dragon in my sketchbook (I'll scan that for you if you forgot to take a picture!) which was neat. She was friends with another artist (who was dressed as Black Rock Shooter) who insisted she was a giant troll and was evil, but I wasn't buying it. Not sure if she has a DA or not, but she also drew in my sketchbook. Her table partner showed up on the second or third day (I can't remember) and was fun to talk to about various things. She was the first one to suggest doing a sketch exchange, but I couldn't think of anything good on the spot, so I just drew Clover (Because his design is easy to remember [even though I still messed up on a bit or two]). Her little brother was there for the last day, and he was a clever little guy--Stole my seat and said he was gonna pretend to be me while I went to the dealer's hall. Almost stayed behind to watch how he was going to do it, especially when I had a few feet on him. He'd've probably attracted more people to my table than I could.

After work we would get dinner with our buddies from Hyottoko Productions  who supplied us with prints/reprints since they were a local printing group and could help us restock with ease at good prices. stopped by our booth a couple of times and went with us for dinner on the night of the third day.

Also befriended two other people, SimplyLincoln  and Agent-talevera who were a booth down from us and often passed by and said hello since I was at the end table for the row. They were selling little candy and drink earrings and cell phone straps. They disappeared before a formal goodbye, but I'm sure at least through tumblr we'll continue talking.

Cosplay
So, those of you following me on tumblr would've heard that there was a slight hiccup with a last second trim for my cosplay which ended up taking off the overflowing hair I had in the back. I almost didn't cosplay at all after that, but I decided that I'd already gotten some clothes for it, so I might as well. I only have a few not-so-good pictures of it, but I'll post one or two later. I went as Sherlock Holmes from the BBC version. It was hilarious--the entire weekend I had girls walk past me and look at me funny before they'd eventually come up slowly and ask "...Are you...cosplaying as Sherlock Holmes?" "Yes--" "I want a picture!" It never got old. As I'd later find out, I was the only male Sherlock Holmes at the entire convention--Every other one was female. Even if I wasn't as recognizable in my more casual Sherlock attire, I still looked well dressed at the least! I loved getting asked for photos. I eventually went to part of the Sherlock photo session where I ran into the only other male cosplayer who was Mycroft and would keep joking about how he wanted someone to run into the crowd and call for a Mycroft photo-op. Every now and then someone would shout "Vatican cameos!" (Though in the show he totally says "Camy-out," or something with a T and not an S) and all the Sherlocks would duck down. One group of people walked by me at some point and said that and laughed when I jumped. The last shot in the photoshoot was a request for dead Sherlock, so everyone just sprawled on the ground. Hopefully if I have the opportunity to cosplay again and I want to do Sherlock again, I'll have a blazer and the coat. Those would really seal the deal. Also, if anyone has seen pictures of the Superwholock photoshoot posted online, please let me know where! I'm trying to find as many photos of me as I can.

I ran into an awesome Moriarty played by who just totally blew me away (I don't know how many times I probably told her that). Her (and another Moriarty) had business cards as well which were awesome. When I passed by her for the first time in the Dealer's Hall we just glared at one another. She had trouble getting to my booth because she had to work at another one, but she said she wanted to carve an I O U apple and put it on my table before we got there, which would'a been awesome. I made sure to get at least one handshake photo with every Moriarty I saw.

The Booth
Our PVC stand was designed by our group engineer . We later took down the top half since we didn't have giant posters like he did, and consolidated our prints to make our booth look more full, but we forgot to take a picture of that. I apparently hid myself behind my prints most of the time, but people could easily come alongside our booth and hang with us since we were at the end.



Business
This, unfortunately, is the least happy part of the convention story. My sales were absolutely abysmal. I sold maybe two prints, a dozen bookmarks, and only three commissions. I didn't even get close to breaking even like at AOD and ended up over a hundred in the red, but I think what made it worse was sort'a the feeling of being ignored or rejected. Granted there were over three hundred artists present, it still stung a bit. 1200 business cards and I didn't even get through 200. I actually got to watch people pick up my card and put it back down when they found out it wasn't 's. People pretty much just walked right by me as if I were invisible, and when it's your art on display, it's hard not to take it personally. I'll never know if they didn't like my style, my composition, the series I chose, or anything like that, so I'm left wondering why it was I was ignored. My best selling item was my Layton bookmark (which I'll post later) because apparently there was no Layton items anywhere in AA.

I would leave the table every now and then to wander around since I was getting so little business, and I'd return whenever I wondered if every minute away lost me a potential commission, but there was never a happy answer to the question "Did anything sell while I was gone?"

I was able to get a little conversation from a few people, but I didn't get to socialize with attendees near as much as I would've liked to. I had people come up closer to my booth and poke my papercut style prints to make sure they weren't really 3D. I loved talking about how they were made with those who inquired, but there's always that moment afterward where you think to yourself "Since it caught your eye, you should totally get it!" and they walk away. It's like being on the opposite side of the glass at a zoo. If anything, I did at least get one contact who might be useful in getting Akazukin off the ground and into a publisher's hands, but I still need to follow up on that. If that can actually take off, everything else might've been worth it. Still, the rejection thing blows.

I'm not sure what my next convention will be, but hopefully I can figure out what went wrong and not repeat this disaster.

~~~~~~
Some good friends:

Edit: I forgot to mention, I'm also going to try cosplaying as Sherlock for at least two days, so be on the lookout for an overly dressed up guy in a slim purple button-down!

Hey everyone! While I may have personal things I need to sort out, that doesn't take away from the fact that we're going to be tabling at the Artist Alley at Fanime in two weeks! It'll be my and 's second convention, and this one has many more people than AOD, but also much more competition. You can find us sitting next to our buddy at tables 253 and 254 respectively. Here's a map of where we are, and some of our other DA friends:


Please visit us, and if you follow us on DA, let us know!

My stock for the convention will be:
And one more bookmark that I haven't uploaded to DA.

Still coming up with pricing and etc. but if I happen to run out of a specific print here that you like, please let me know, as our buddies at Hyottoko Productions are a local printing group who are able to get us a restock should we need it!

I'll also be taking sign-ups for digital commissions like I did at AOD, since I don't really trust my traditional skills, especially in such a short time limit. The sign-up for them looks like this:

If I remember correctly, my rates for commissions were:
Bust:$10
Half-body:$15
Full-body:$20
Color:$10*
Additional chara:$10**

And you get the full, digital resolution of the picture to print on whatever you want, or use as an avatar, or forum signature, and etc. I have an example of each in my gallery which start with the title "commission." Can do the same, but he can also do inked commissions in person, as he's better at that than I am.

We'll see you there!


*Depends on how many characters
**Depends how many/complexity of image
~~~~~~
Some good friends:

Edit: By the looks of it, so long as you have a temp permit that is only for Fanime, you are fine. It's those of us with permanent ones that have to deal with sub-permits.
Edit:The FB group page if you are not in it but are an artist at Fanime 2012's Artist Alley: [link]

There is a bunch of stuff going on on the Facebook Fanime Artist Alley page that isn't being sent out in emails. the BOE made a rather last-minute announcement that all California seller's permit holders who plan to sell at temporary events (such as Fanime) must now register for a sub-permit per event. That means if you've got a permanent permit, you need to get a sub-permit before the date of Fanime, or you will not be allowed to set up. If you have a temporary permit that is only for Fanime specifically, according to 's phone experience, you should be fine. However, if it's for more than just Fanime, you will likely need that sub-permit.

This was one of the more official messages passed on in the FB group:

"In regards to the new permit rules

Hey all:
  I just got off the phone with San Jose's main BOE branch office about the new sub-permit. Here is the lowdown for everybody that intends to be selling at Fanime or any other show. If you hold a permanent valid California sellers permit than a call to this BOE office number is all you need to do, ( 408-277-1231 ). Tap through the menu system till you get to an attendant and tell them that you need to add a temporary selling location to your permit. They will take care of all of it right there for you over the phone. It takes a few weeks for them to get it to you so don't wait. If you don't have it you can not set up and sell at the show so don't procrastinate. Again, this process is for holders of VALID CA. SELLER'S PERMITS ONLY!
  If you applied for a temporary seller's permit you MUST go down to the BOE office in person. If you fail to do so you will not receive you sub-permit in time and will therefore be excluded from the show. If you try to mail in a form it will take 4 to 6 weeks and that is after, receipt and approval, of your application. This will put you out well beyond the time of the show. Here is the web address to all of the BOE offices in the area so pick one and get in there... [link]

Good luck to everybody"

DO NOT SLACK OFF ON THIS. If you don't have the permit in time, they won't let you set up. Share this with as many other Fanime AA members as you can so that everyone knows. I'll edit this as more information becomes available from everyone contributing their terror and phone calls.

I now have a tumblr! It'll have more WIPs on it than DA, and will serve as another place for people to see my artwork, so feel free to follow me there, or reblog stuff I post and etc.

[link]
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Some good friends:

So, after talking with a bit, I've decided to create a tumblr account to try and increase my networking capabilities, and just general traffic for my artwork. It'll feature some of the finished works I put up here, and probably more WIP images.

Now, I haven't used tumblr beyond image hosting over a year ago, so there's a lot of things I don't know, and I know a number of you guys have tumblrs, so I was hoping you might be able to answer some of my questions. My questions are thus:

1. Does tumblr still limit one image per post before it tries to make them into a slideshow?
2. Do people set tumblr to not show the date for when something was posted on their page? Or does tumblr by default not list "posted April 5 at 2:17PM?"
3. Is all customization for a tumblr essentially just messing around with page HTML?
4. The "ask" button that people apparently have--is it just an option you can toggle on your dashboard? Or do you code that in.
5. Is there a place where people have premade skins to edit?
6. Can you have multiple pages linked to in a tumblr? ex. About page/contact. without linking outside.
7. If I want to see posts by the people I follow on tumblr, do I go to tumblr.com while logged in? Or does it show in my dash?
8. Is there any way to filter posts in case I just want to see picture posts? Things that aren't reblogged?

If I come up with any other questions I'll edit that, but if you can answer any of them, that'd be most appreciated. I'll post a link when I have one up and running.

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Some good friends:

Tomorrow afternoon I'll be posting the Zelda print I've been working on the past two days, which means now I'm out of ideas of what to do next. I considered doing a Megaman print, but as we saw at AOD (and are extrapolating), Megaman, while having a large fanbase, is still rather niche and not necessarily represented at an anime convention.

So, I'm opening the floor for suggestions. What series do you like? What series do you like that you think would appeal to others? It can be videogame or anime--the idea is that it's something you think you'd be willing to buy from, or it would catch your eye at an Artist's Alley.

And also, I've been wondering if I should market myself as a specific style artist. I've always loved dabbling in new styles when I find them, but sometimes it's better to be known for something. I've toyed with the idea of being the paper-cut guy, but should I put my eggs in that basket? It's very easy for me to do now that I've more or less mastered the layering order system.

I just find it kind'a boring if something looks too much like it's a copy from the original product, so I like to put a bit of flavor into it, but from what I can tell, people don't necessarily want different, they want what they know as they know it. I might be over-estimating what I've learned from AOD, and I can't guarantee any of it applies at Fanime (especially because AOD was a lot of Bronies too), but that's all I really have to go on.

Edit: No MLP :\


Playing around with whatever comes to mind. I think I'm going to do a Ghirahim bookmark (to compliment the Fi one) and the Ally to Good poster idea.

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Some good friends:

Okay Watchers, I need YOU to help me decide on the style to use for this Legend of Zelda print I'm doing for Fanimecon. Your choices are between papercut like [link] pushed even further and with more textures, or something closer to the style I used for Akazukin as seen here [link]

I only have time to do one of these styles, and it's impossible to predict which will actually sell at a convention.

Since I can't guess how people choose what they will and won't buy at conventions, I might try bouncing WIPs off of you guys to get a better idea.

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Some good friends:

I'm back from AOD! My first time tabling at a convention with my buddy in San Francisco, and it was a blast. We're both totally exhausted, but I'll try and write up a bit here, but I'll start by mentioning that we made a whole bunch of cool friends!

was a girl I'd seen before at a Jpop event in Japan Town earlier on in the year and she was at AOD across the room from us. She was super friendly and whenever she could, left her table to stop by some of us other artists and see how we were doing and offer us foodstuffs. I believe she has a webcomic starting in March at RiseandFallcomic.com, so there's something to look forward to. She's pretty good with watercolor on the spot! We expect her at Fanime.

, the prinny princess, will forever remember me as the guy who accidentally pulled her out of line after being misinformed about where artists could pick up their badges, and also as having forgotten her name within the first five minutes (I forget names! I remember everything else though…) because I'm so smooth. She was a lot of fun, and she let every one of the artists around her have a free button of his/her choice (Mudkip, yeah!). We had some extra prints, so we all did a print exchange. She'll be at Fanime this year as well, so I hope to see her again there. I'll remember her name this time! (She'd probably hold it against me forever if I forgot again)

, when she wasn't completely overrun with potential clients, talked to us a bit and also gave us some tips and ideas about how to prepare for Fanime. She adds a sort of dark flair to a number of classic characters in her prints. Another Fanime person in the future.

has a lot of talent for someone so young! She forgot her wallet on the first day and showed up in what appeared to be her pajamas, but they were blue, so this is excusable. She was goofy with us, and I forgot to ask if she was going to Fanime this year.

We met some other fun people too, like members of Stanford's anime club, the violinist volunteer who mingled with a bunch of us, who drove several hours and paid $20 just to sit with us and draw (and will hopefully be setting up shop next to us at Fanime), (who I originally met at a night club earlier in the week) talked with us for a bit about ponies, and a few other people who I can't quite remember.

I hope to see all of them again at Fanime this year!

And the convention...

Well, I made a small hiccup in the beginning because the table layout map they provided on the website made it look like we were near the front door of the hotel, and titled our section "Artist's Alley: Serious Business" which I figured might mean we were going to get a ton of traffic. Turns out, no, the map was misleading and we were in one of the most remote areas in the entire convention--if we wanted a lot of visitors we should've tried to be closer to the stairs. didn't realize when I was asking what table to pick that we actually had a choice either, so I made the decision without him being fully aware we had any influence on the matter. We didn't have any stands or displays, so we didn't have as much a presence as a bunch of the other artists around us (short of ), but we plan to remedy that by Fanime.

had a bunch of hiccups at the last minute before the con which meant he had no business cards, and had to print all of his own prints. Pretty sure he broke even at the very least though, since he got a commission or two and sold a few prints. He had a Megaman and Cortana which were so niche that they were harder prints to sell, but when he did, it was plenty exciting! Same with when I sold Akazukin It didn't really sell, but people aren't usually too in to original content, so I wasn't surprised...I'm pretty sure that a lot of people still didn't realize it was a book and not a print! I had one open on display which got a little bit of attention. My Fi bookmarks were probably my best seller, oddly enough. I put a sticky note next to her that read "Master, there is an 85% chance you will buy me," which got a lot of laughs and made a few sales. One girl even came up to the table and said "Oh my god, she's so annoying! I'll take one." which made me crack up. Otherwise, my prints didn't sell at all really--Only my Tiger&Bunny print sold, not a single Miku, Mario, or Star Driver (though some people saw the Star Driver and recognized it, which was something). I got 4 commissions, one of which is done, and the other three I need to do. I was only offering digital commissions, because I don't trust my traditional skills anymore, and I don't like drawing characters I don't know without doing a little research on them first. Aug got a few easy commissions which he really enjoyed doing.

Also, I got bored at one point and decided to draw a ManDiglet [link] . Totally a conversation starter--at the very least, it got people's attention. We had our share of awkward people come by the table and talk to us, but every now and then we had a fun person come by who we laughed with, or just passed the time by hanging out and talking to us.

I didn't attend any panels since I had to man the table, but it was mostly My Little Pony panels and what not, and I don't really buy merchandise anymore, so the dealers hall didn't have too much appeal to me.

I fell $13.88 short of breaking even, which isn't bad for a first con I imagine. Luckily, very little of that cost was things I couldn't recover, so I still have prints to sell at Fanime! Yay rollovers! Time to hit those commissions for now, and start on new bookmarks and prints for Fanime...

Oh, and like 30 business cards to check out.

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Some good friends:

Akazukin, available now!
[link]
[link]

So, me and my buddy ended up getting into Animation on Display in San Francisco on February 18-19 at Hotel Kabuki, Japan Town. It's not that large of a convention, but it's a start, and it'll be our first table! I'm still not really sure of everything I'm going to sell, and how many I'll print, but by the looks of it, the money is all in commissions and very little is in the actual prints...So we'll see about that. Ones that I will be printing though are:

and at least one bookmark, maybe another. Contemplating right now if I should start printing some postcard sized art--I hate the lack of certainty, but I'm inexperienced, so that's how it goes.

I'll also be offering commissions! Though in all likelihood, it'll be people paying in advance, and me sending it to them somehow, as I work much better digitally, and you're guaranteed a better product. I'll probably start doing commissions here, though I don't know how many people will bite.

If you're in the area though, feel free to stop by our table! Not quite sure which one it is yet, but it'll be the one that's /awesome/.

And don't forget, Akazukin is available for purchase on Indyplanet!
Buy it here~ [link]
[link]
[link]


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Some good friends:

Buy Akazukin now!
[link]
[link]
[link]
[link]

Maaaaaaaaaaaaan, I was almost worried this day would never come. Akazukin is finally available for purchase and I am finally done with the project after all this time! A lot went in to this book, so here's the FULL HISTORY for those who are curious:

Winter 2011
I'm in a digital drawing class with (Who is also featured in this book!) when we're told our final assignment is to take some children's story or rhyme and illustrate three images/pages from the story, but we had to put an unusual twist on it to make it unique. Like a good chunk of the class, both and I decided to do Little Red Riding Hood. My twist? Take the Katanagatari style that I'd studied and make Little Red more Japanese! A portion of the class really liked how it came out, the other knew very little about manga/had no interest in it, so they weren't quite sure what half of the details were about. I had also gotten my cousin to also translate the lines into Japanese so that it would be even more authentic, and then did all three pages in about the span of half a week (I was never that fast again, sadly!) which was quite the rush!

Well, at the same time as this was happening, I had to register for classes in my final term of University, and most of them didn't appeal to me at all, which was when I decided to go to one of the coolest professors in the department (technically, the only actual professor…), Craig Hickman (the guy who made Kidpix for Mac back in the 90s. You know, the one with the cool explosion when you tried to erase? Google it kids) and pretty much told him "Hey, I want something I can actually put in my portfolio before graduation, but I can't get myself to finish any of my own big projects. However, I'm a straight A student who will always do the work if there's a grade involved, so I'd like to use your signature to continue this book I started in another class this last week…" and he said yes. When he signed the permission slip it read (and I'll find it if you don't believe me) "Draw at least 15 pages of manga." I shit you not—he chose the wording, not me, and I was stunned because of the stereotypical disdain art teachers have towards most anime/manga. On my way out of the office though, I did spy a Kamen Rider action figure…No clue if he knew where it was from.

Spring 2011
Looping Hige Driver albums, I began drawing a dozen thumbs for the book (which I might post later) that were no bigger than 1"x1.5," many of which became final designs in their own right. At my best I was knocking out about two pages a week when I wasn't doing assignments for other classes, studying for Japanese, or hanging out with my (now) ex. Pages were being done out of order depending on which were easier for me at the time, and backgrounds were mostly improvised, as were color schemes (something I do a lot, which is pretty stupid of me whenever I reflect on it).

Eventually I figured it'd be fun to have an omake in my book (Omake essentially means "extra" and is usually extra artwork, posters, etc. bundled along with manga volumes and other things) and started searching amongst my friends to see who wanted a plug in the book, and send off the character sheets so that they could get to work on fanart. More on this later.

Fast-forward to graduation and I'm still a few pages short of finishing the book (It lacks covers, text, and probably the final two story pages). While the book wasn't technically completed before I left school, Prof. Hickman still gave me an A because I showed him what I was doing every time I had added a page (and he was impressed by the fact that I actively worked instead of leaving it to the last minute like a number of people usually do). Then things got tricky.

Lost in Translation
Before I could illustrate the story, I needed two things: To know the script I was using so I knew what to illustrate, and the thing in Japanese. I had decided early on that in order to keep this book unique (and to make sense at all with the aesthetic changes) I had to keep it in Japanese, which meant I needed a translator. At first I started researching the different versions of the tale and settled on the Brothers Grimm version, Little Red Cap, and heavily condensed it to the parts I thought were essential. Hell, part 1. Because my head was trying to think of how it would be translated into Japanese, I wrote the original script in a sort of broken, literal English that read really clunky and didn't flow well. It wasn't wrong, but it definitely wasn't normal. Well, after I had that, I sent it off to my cousin who is more proficient in Japanese and began playing the waiting game. Unfortunately, at the same time, my cousin was in Japan during the earthquake and tsunami, so with that, and being forced to return to the states, she wasn't able (for good reason) to get me the translation for a while.

Once she finally got it to me, I brought it to my Japanese instructor at the time and asked her to check it over. She found some errors and things to smooth out, but that's what happens when you translate between languages and you show it to a native speaker. After correcting those for me, I had her show me how to type in tategaki format—the vertical text you see in traditional Japanese books/scrolls, which was a pain because my old version of Word couldn't do it, so I had to run back and forth between PC and Mac labs on campus (in the rain mind you :/) several times trying to figure out how to do it on the newer versions of the software (which I've never liked as much—I preferred the old UI). Eventually, I did it. All was well with the world, right? Wrong.

Fast forward to when I'm printing test copies.

The first copy was messed up because they reversed the covers thinking that I labeled them incorrectly. Wasn't their fault—I submitted a book in eastern orientation to a western printer, but it definitely set me back half a month. Eventually, I'm in New York with my cousin with the correct version of the book I planned to sell by the end of the week. My cousin is reading it to my younger cousins (since the book is completely in Japanese) when she goes "Uh…Michael?" which was one of the worst things I can remember hearing. Apparently there were one or two errors in the furigana (basic alphabet characters that tell you how to pronounce Kanji) and kanji that slipped by me for one reason or another, but since I had my instructor's name in the back for copy-editing, I couldn't have that wrong version get out. Unfortunately, this was days after the hurricane on the east coast in August, and the house still didn't have internet back up, so I was texting my brother and best friend with my login info so they could try and pull it before anyone given the link could buy it, but they couldn't because I messed up the information by forgetting a capitalization (which I only realized afterward). Once I got internet back up, I had it pulled.

When I finally got back to California I kind'a pushed it on my Japanese neighbor to help me find all of the errors and copy edit one more time, which she did, and I'm very thankful. However, since it was going to cost me money to replace pages, I figured I'd finally add English to the book which meant I was going to have to reformat the text a bit to try and accommodate vertical text with horizontal.

I should clear up that people had said "do an English version," but that made no sense to me because having it be English defeated the purpose of the entire project. It wasn't until my ex put it in different terms, suggesting that I have it in Japanese with English underneath (which is not the same as "do an English version") that I realized I could have done that. Little did I know we'd find the errors a week afterward and I'd go about doing it.

Well, I write essays, not stories, which meant I needed several new sets of eyes to 1. Go over my English, 2. Learn how you format text in books (dialog, paragraphs, etc.). The English had to be translated back out of the newly edited Japanese, but because I was so used to it reading in broken English, I couldn't look at it objectively and had to get several friends and family to correct things. It still reads a little blocky, but it had to since I wanted it to not drift too far from the original Japanese that accompanied it. I also forgot that font matters, and that English comes with many more fonts in Word than Japanese, so I had to sort that out too, and the font had to have a special character which not all of them did.

Omake
Well, like I said, I rounded up several talented artist to contribute extra artwork to the book, which was fun, and they did incredible work—way beyond the call of the project. I will never do this again so long as I live. As much as I love all of my artists, friends and deadlines don't mix well, and I don't like depending on other people because I get impatient. I had hoped to have the book done by the end of June, but the first version wasn't really until probably the first week of July. One of my artists was very bogged down with projects and tournaments, so she had to give her spot to someone else, and then down to the wire I was having trouble because (another one of the artists! [duh])'s computer hated both her and I and wouldn't wake up and give us the file, which I didn't like, because I'd seen the picture and I really liked it. Eventually, everyone got their work in, and now I have a lovely little collection of fanart in the back of the book. Some of them may even be posting their pictures soon to promote the book!

Printing
This was my first time doing self publishing of a picture book, so I had to figure out how to format all of my stuff (which was annoying at first because I couldn't figure how to adjust trim dimensions for custom sized books) and work with a publisher I'd only heard about but never used. Ka-Blam is probably one of the most cost-efficient options for a young publisher of manga, comics, etc. Their prices aren't bad, they tell you how much your thing is going to cost before you even submit the files (which lets you figure out where you can cut costs if you're trying to). My only gripe is the turnaround time between ordering and receiving copies. I estimate it takes 2 weeks depending on the season from when you order to when you receive, which while that isn't bad per say given it's an incredible thing to be able to self-publish and in small quantities, it still held the book back a few times. Luckily, that was for the best when it came to spotting errors. I might try Blurb for any other book type project though just to see how their prices compare. That, and I think the only way to order from Ka-blam's service (Indyplanet) is Paypal (I have not confirmed this) which is hard for some people to do, though in this day and age I'm surprised more people don't have accounts, especially because a debit card is allowed instead of a credit card.

IndyPlanet doesn't really have a good interface, and because they expect it to be comics of a certain size ratio, it automatically reformats any image to the preview standards, and it doesn't let you choose which one is your cover because they don't expect people do write their books backwards, so sadly I might lose some sales because of bad UI…

Also, get a bunch of friends to throw in like $20 (or go to someone in your school who might know/have one) and get a monitor calibrator. Your colors are probably off without you realizing it, and that makes a different when printing. If you get the book, it's more saturated than the digital copies for that reason (which means that some manual gradients I did don't show up as well, or are harsher than I made them). It's a good thing to look into in general.

Reflections
Things I've learned from this project:

-PLAN EVERYTHING. PLAN FOR EVERYTHING.
-Expect delays. Nothing is ever going to go off without a hitch, especially if you have to print it before you're sure it's done.
-If you plan to work with friends, make sure you inform them very early in the process (not halfway) and set clear deadlines. Most of our friends are in school and have other commitments, so the earlier you get to them, the less it will interfere with their own work.
-Do research. Draw that thumbnail as many times as you need to, and redraw the picture until it's right. If you're borrowing from another culture, make sure you get things accurate (there's one nice hiccup that only a few people know about in the book, but I don't think any native Japanese have really caught it).
-Before you draw your story, have the script written out first, and have it looked over by several qualified editors. This is especially important if you plan to translate into another language. Also make sure you know where you want your text to be—on the picture or on its own page.
-Know your page dimensions and how you'll format the pictures (bleed, framed, etc) before you ever draw a page. It will save you in the long run.
-Try and find people who know about the publisher you are using—Look up reviews and see if they're really the best for you.
-Pay attention to all of your mistakes. Even if you can't fix everything, take note of it for next time. I know I've definitely learned a lot from all this, and know what things to do better next time.

I'll probably be posting reference sheets and various side artworks for those interested in a little while. In the meantime, why not, y'know, order the book?

[link]


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Some good friends:

Since I'm hopefully getting into AOD this February, I need to make several more prints. The only question is, what series should I make them for? I compiled a list of potential series to do art for, but I need you to help me decide what series. List a single choice.

Mario
Metroid
Madoka
Panty&Stocking
Scott Pilgrim
Professor Layton

And if you have any other ideas, you can pitch those to. Just remember, these are things I'm hopefully selling, so if you don't think it'll stand a chance in hell of selling, please don't suggest it.

What would you like to see from this list?


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Some good friends:

Since I'm hopefully getting into AOD this February, I need to make several more prints. The only question is, what series should I make them for? I compiled a list with my potential table partner and these are the choices we came up with (or at least, what I'd be willing to do):

Mario
Metroid
Pokemon
Zelda
Naruto
Bleach
Kingdom Hearts
Haruhi
Madoka
Vocaloid
Black Rock Shooter
Panty&Stocking
Gurren Lagann
DC comics
Marvel

And if you have any other ideas, you can pitch those to.

What would you like to see from this list?


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Some good friends:

Hey everyone! I'm back from a trip to NY visiting family, and while it was fun and all, I ended up getting some bad news.

While my cousin (who translated the book into Japanese) was trying to read it for one of my younger cousins she said "Um...Michael?" across the busy table and my heart sank. Two typos we still didn't catch in the book that was /supposed/ to be the finished version that I was going to be selling. I thought we caught them all, but it appears we didn't. This means that I had to pull the book from the store and that three of my artists ordered an incorrect version of the book which, to my current knowledge, I can't refund.

So, where does this become good news? Well, since I have to go back and edit anyway (which comes with a fee) and at this point there's really no way I can come out of this venture with a profit, I'm likely going to swallow my pride and pay the $25 to replace every text page in the book so that it now has English translation under the Japanese text. It's going to be a mini formatting nightmare that I'm going to hate and am not excited to do, but this way it'll be more accessible to those of you who wanted to order but were concerned about not being able to read it (which is a poor excuse in my opinion, since it's about the pictures and the story is one you already know, but I digress...).

The sad thing is that no one phrased it to me in those terms before I ordered the last "finished" copy. A few people said "Make an English version," but I found that defeated the point, since everyone can easily get an English version of the story, and it made no sense to have English against the Japanese characters. My girlfriend was the only person who said there should be Japanese with English underneath which is a completely different thing, but it came too late. Well, not anymore I guess.

You guys have no idea how much I wanted to be done with this project.


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Some good friends: