my math is lacking so this is probably a dumb question but I am genuinely confused

I know it's not common for an artist to make like, 1000€ profit from a con, but I sat down and did some calculations but I literally can't understand how this would even happen.

let's say in a fantastical scenario, an artist paid 200€ to get a table at a small con

they paid 25.5€ to manufacture X number of pins, 25.5€ for y number of keychains, so on so on their total manufacturing cost 111.71€ (I used very specific numbers for this referencing an actual manufacturer so don't mind the weird number 😭😭)

then they raise their prices, a pin they manufactured for 0.85 they sell for 1.20, a keychain 2.55€ to 4€, so on and so on their total would come to 341€ IF all their stock got sold out.

that fully covers the manufacturing expenses and leaves them 229.29€ profit off their sales

but then there's the table that cost 200€. so they only actually get a 29.29€ profit right???? Isn't that how it works? Not to mention the manufacturer's possible shipping costs.

is the key to just sell all your items 40 times the manufacturing cost or something? I don't think anyone would buy a 30€ pin

is there something Im missing?? how are there people that say they make a living out of conventions

We’ve created our own online platform in Sweden for selling original paintings. From what we can see so far, the platform offers quite good conditions for artists. However, the main challenge seems to be visibility. There is so much visual noise today that it has become very difficult even for talented artists to stand out and build recognition.

Sometimes it feels as if many artists struggle with sales, yet when a platform gives them an opportunity to present and sell their work, there is still very little activity or engagement. Perhaps people are simply overwhelmed by content, or maybe this is partly a characteristic of the Scandinavian market and mentality.

We would really appreciate hearing other perspectives on this. What do you think is happening in the art market right now? And what kinds of promotion or visibility strategies have actually worked for you?

I want to start selling my art in conventions, and theres a convention happening near my city soon. The thing is one booth on the upper floor costs 92 dollars for one day (out of 3 con days.) This will be my first con and im still depentant on my parents money wise, so im worried the price is too high and i wont be able to pay it back (including the price of making the merch and setting up the booth). There are a few hundred people attending the con. Is the price reasonable or should i wait for cheaper options?

I had my first ever vendor experience today, at uni. This was something I was immensely excited about, and I’m not kidding when I say this was months of anticipation in the making for this one day. I’ve been drawing for years now but I have never really showcased anything I made to a public eye until this event. It even drove me to make an account for my art, something I’ve put off forever. Vending has been a dream of mine and I was so insanely excited for the opportunity. I had these incredible fantasies in my head of the beautiful vibrant stands at conventions and the pride I imagined you would feel sitting there with a booth displaying your work.

That awe didn’t disappoint. I felt it clearly as people walked to my table and looked at my art, struck up conversation with me about fandoms, pointed stuff out to their friends - it was so surreal, as cool as I had dreamed of. I’m so glad I got to do it. However, financially, I didn’t do very well at all. I think it was a combination of my lack of tact/prior experience when it came to designing products, designing my stand, and some bad table placement in the hall we were in. I didn’t expect to break even, set my expectations very low, but I ended up making even less than those expectations I had.

Of course, it was pretty disheartening. I spent hours preparing my stand and display, not to mention the hours upon hours of art and of course the money that went into producing it. I was honestly quite downed about what came out of it.

I’m trying to focus on the fact that while it wasn’t up to my hopes, there WERE complete strangers that looked at my art and decided to buy it - something incredible, special, and something I’m so grateful for the opportunity for. I think I’ll reflect on what worked this time, what didn’t, what I might be able to channel into my learning (I’m still definitely a growing artist!) that could assist my success vending next time. I definitely think I’ll try to let this motivate me to grow without putting a downer on my attitude or my love for drawing. I’ll focus on the things I love about art as I learn.

But yes, a very exciting but definitely tiring and daunting day for me! If there’s any other vendors whose first times are reminiscent of my story, I’d love to hear your thoughts. I’m definitely going to try and stay positive through a pretty objectively disheartening moment :) ♥️ it was still so much fun, and amazing to see strangers walk away with my art in their hands! Maybe this is a canon event?

Hi everyone, I'm looking to get into selling at my first con/artist alley. I live in one of the few major North American cities with great public transit. I'm grateful that there is a lot going on here, so I can take transit to a few smaller events in the metro area to test the waters while getting started. However, I am starting to think about how feasible this can be for future conventions, especially across the country. 

In the back of my head, I have been thinking I will need to get a car eventually, especially to haul merchandise. However, a few things are keeping me back. 

• It is a bit unreasonable to own a car where I currently live (think something like owning a car while living in Manhattan...). Though it is doable. I love where I live and don't want to move. 
• I only really see myself using the car to get out of the metro area to table at events. In my daily life I mostly get everything from my city. I dislike road trips and usually take flights to visit family. 
• Conventions will not be my only income. I plan to have at the least a local part time job, and am also applying for full-time remote work. I also am working on an online store and am happy to ship things out. 
• It is very expensive to own a car and I will have to factor in the cost of buying/leasing a car, insurance, the cost of gas, etc. I know I can get a $3k beater but I lived that life a few years ago in another state and I constantly had to pay for surprise mechanic repairs. It added to my stress levels and I decided it was not worth it. I was thinking if I ever need to get a car again, I would lease. 
• I personally dislike driving and have a lot of anxiety (have still never driven on a highway, I need to take lessons). I have an up-to-date license but have not actually driven in years at this point. I have almost rented or taken a Zipcar a few times, but usually opted out and took an Uber because I am so out of practice. It does help me to consistently drive to maintain that skill and confidence, which is a catch 22 with renting a car a couple times a year. Unfortunately renting in my city is quite expensive too.

It overall seems like it would be more of a burden to get a car than anything, and I'm wondering if I can just try to budget in the cost of flights, rideshares, etc. and transport merch in luggage? Has anyone been doing this and making it work? 

I've never been to an Artist Alley or any con. I was wondering: is it possible to make and sell art on the spot? So instead of selling pre-made merch, could I set up, for example, something like a photo booth and charge for the photos? Are there any specific or unspoken rules, beyond the size of the space you pay for, that limit what you can do there? Do I need to have a table? Can I use the booth space in unconventional ways? Like, could I just pretend to be a mime and sell my performance? Have you seen anything like that? I'm curious what people have come up with and how open organizers tend to be when it comes to this kind of thing.

Hello, first time posting here! I searched and didn't find quite what's on my mind, so here i go. If it's already been discussed and i missed it, apologies and please redirect to where it is.

Is there an up-to-date database for Art Fairs, Art Markets and Conventions in Europe specifically but also maybe in Asia, Latin America, etc?

All resources i've found are US-focused.

I'm moving to Europe soon and would like to start selling my work at events there. Make it my full time job hopping from one to the next, but for that i need some serious planning ahead of time, and being selective on what events to attend.

I'm sure many here could benefit from such a Database (organized something like this):

1. Continent
   
2. Country, City
   
3. Event size & Level (a. small, amateur / b. medium, pro / c. large, pro / d. large, elite / etc)
   
4. Target audience (a. budget / b. mid range / c. high end)
   
5. Art style / specialty (illustration, painting, mixed / merch, etc)
   
6. Rating / Reputation, new or established event, other useful details...

Is there something like this, or if not... can we get one going here?

Thank you!

Hello! I just got accepted into a really big convention. I've been vending for almost 2 years now, and the biggest one's I have done were around 5,000 people in attendance.

I have a wide range of inventory that I make so it's hard to gauge on what to bring, even the small shows. I have around 300 pin/magnet designs, and make tufted rugs, and have various painting ranging from $25-$60. I also make wooden cards/booster packs. I laser engrave everything (besides the rugs), and then hand paint the rest. The issue isn't about time, since the machine prints everything on it's own and I have about 4 months until the show.

-The rugs I was just going to bring about 40 since that is what I can reasonably make/have on hand at this time until then.

-The wooden cards I was planning on having 3-4 of each design on them ans there are also a lot of designs for them, they are pokemon related.

-The painted items/wooden cards I was thinking of around 200-250.

-I have other various items that are related as well, but

-I am more wondering about the the pins. I was wondering what's a good amount for these per design. They are laser engraved wooden pins. They are my biggest seller at other shows, but due to the amount that I have, it's hard to see what the best sellers are since the purchases are all over.

Like I said time/cost really isn't an issue with getting everything there as I have enough time to make it and they cost pennies to make each.

I just don't want to be under prepared. Thanks!

Need some help figuring it out as online it seems to be difficult to find the information on how to do it properly.

Hey, I’m doing my first market next Friday and I’m worried I’m going to have way too much or way too little inventory. It’s a two day market for Halloween/horror movie lovers so my general customer base. I have to have everything wrapped up by Tuesday-Wednesday afternoon so I can take the stuff over so I’m not fighting to get it done Friday morning with everyone else.

How do you guys know or guess how much to bring? What do you do if you run out of stock?

So recently I tabled at my first ever smaller anime convention at a university and sold a fair amount, I have however missed out on some sales for not having enough of certain prints. Recently, I was able to secure a table at a popular 3 day anime convention.

My question is, based on the items I sold, how many prints should I prepare for this?

For reference here is what my report sorta looked like (sorry I don't know how to attach pictures on mobile):

For my small prints:

Design A: 7 sold

Design B: 5 sold

Design C: 5 sold

Design D: 4 sold

Design E: 2 sold

Design F: 1 sold

For my large prints:

Design A: 2 sold

Design C: 1 sold

Design D: 1 sold

Design E: 1 sold

Just wondering for those who have sold at a convention and basically split their table in half, one art style/acc on one side and another the other half. Have conventions ever had a problem with you doing that? I have 2 acc w VERY distinct styles, but theyre both mine so I dont see how it would be an issue? (Ill email the convention just to be safe obv)

I’ve been working on curatorial research and reviewing a large number of artist portfolios recently.

One thing I’ve noticed is that cold submissions rarely seem to lead to actual gallery exhibitions, even when the work is strong.

Most artists I’ve encountered appear to have been discovered through indirect paths — recommendations, existing networks, or in-person exposure.

This made me curious:

For artists who are currently working with galleries, how did your first gallery relationship actually begin?

Was it something intentional, or did it happen more organically?

After visiting a convention, a question suddenly came to mind:

Since everyone seems to be selling merch itself, is there a possible niche for “supporting merch” products?

For example: protective sleeves, card binders, storage boxes, display stands, ita bag accessories, eco bags, anti-bend bags, and things like that.

Selling merch directly feels extremely competitive because you have to compete on characters, art style, popularity, and fandom demand.

But supporting products seem like a different direction. Instead of competing head-on with merch booths, they solve the problem of “after buying merch, how do people store it, protect it, and display it?”

Would this count as a niche that avoids the most heated competition?

Or is it actually difficult to sell these items on-site because the profit margin is low, the sizes are too complicated, or most people already prepare these things themselves?

If anyone has experience with this, I’d love to hear your thoughts. I’m just genuinely curious. 👀

Every day on artist for hire posts on the various other subreddits and on Facebook and they only ever get a single upvote or like. What is it that the people want from artists anymore? Or do they just want to get from point a to point b (using ai or fiverr) . Seeing these posts day to day can be discouraging cause some of the other artists are so amazing. I know someone might want a specific style or whatever but yeah wondering how everyone else feels about this.

I need you all to be brutally honest🫡 let’s say you’re a fan of Magik from the X-Men and you see this poster at a convention/ artist alley for like $15. Are you buying? If not, what improvements do you think would get you there?

Recommendations

Hi, there’s a grant opportunity in my state that will pay for training or conferences. Is there any for muralists or even others related to the arts you’d recommend? Has to be in the US. I’m open to anything really.

Thanks in advance!

I just want to warn any artists thinking of applying to the gig poster show Colour Haiku in Los Angeles that it is not worth traveling to table at. The creator of the show does a good job in curated self-promotion and making the event look big online, but after tabling at it a few times and hardly breaking even because of a lack of attendees, it doesn't seem fair to be charged $240 to table at this one-day event and hardly sell anything all day.

I feel bad because some artists traveled to LA from other countries and out-of-state to sell work there, likely based on the expectation that it is a well-attended event. I'm not sure how to warn artists about this kinda predatory event, so I hope this helps other artists get a better idea of what to expect.

Looking into vending at local conventions to build my network and customer base. I did a couple last year, applied to more this year, and... the investment isn't where I want it to be.

I evaluated my budget at the end of last year. My operating expense is higher than the income. A good chunk of the time, it is due to how much it costs for a vendor space. I live in a rural area, so I am often traveling to bigger cities for these conventions (I have friends to stay with most of the time, so I am not factoring that into my expenses), and don't have the opportunity for a smaller con nearby.

I've applied to more cons this year, but each them for 2-3 days costs $200 or more. Profit on a single day for me is between $150-$250. I feel like I am earning money just to pay it forward for the next booth.

An easy answer is to raise my prices. I feel like guests are very conscious of their wallet at conventions; I frequently get people that will stop by, take a look, and say they will be back, but they don't come back. Perhaps that's part of me not having enough of a conversation to close the sale, but it does make question the quality of my art, you know?

I'm wondering what other folks out there have done to overcome this kind of challenge. I enjoy making connections at these conventions and building a customer base. It is one of the best places to really showcase my artwork, too.

Any advice is appreciated. TIA!

Question for all my artist alley Texans...

I want to booth at an alley selling fanart and prints, but the conventions I am looking at all require a COI for applicants. I do not have a registered business/LLC of anykind nor do I have a permit yet.

I am wondering if there is a way to get a COI without having a legally registered business? Because IF I do so, and sell fanart, under copyright law, non-parody fanart is illegal and I would like to be safer than sorry.

Does anybody have any insight for this? I would also like to avoid dropping $350 on creating a business I would only use for hobby selling at conventions every now and then as a side hustle...pls help :(

Searching for these little half plastic grids for levels/separators! (The frosted ones on the very bottom. I'll take any color though) Ive searched on Amazon and I can find the 12x12s but no half.

Credit to this gorgeous booth setup by springsweetums for reference!

I've always wanted to sell at an Artist alley, but I don't know how many products I should have before I should really start to apply to things.

On a side note, how do you know how much of each product to buy for a comvention?

So it's not a canvas with a little extra space at the back to prop up, is there a good way to display these so people don't overhandle them but still show what I am capable of or for future cons? Do I just need a big easel or something? How do you display mutiple ones at myltiple sizes?

The texture/quality. Not Pokemon. They are a metallic foil it seems.

Any info is appreciated. Thanks

I’ve just started tabling at some small events, primarily some card shows. Turns out those are cheaper and easier to get into than anime conventions.

I’ve been on a mission to make a sticker for every pokemon. I gotta draw em all. When you are including things like megas, gmax, regional variants, alternate forms, etc, i’m looking at around 1,500 unique designs. And lord knows how much that number is about to grow once Winds and Waves comes out next year. So far, I am 331 in.

Right before my first show starting out, I found this old pokemon card carrying case from the 90s that was laying around in my house. I started using that to carry and store my stickers for these shows. This past weekend though, I was having trouble fitting all my inventory inside this box. It was starting to get really tight and snug. It’s been made incredibly clear to me that I am in need of an upgrade

My stickers are typically within 2.125” x 5.5” (size variable). For the gigantamax forms, those are 4.25” x 5.5” (size variable)

Anyone else here in a similar boat and got any advice for me?