Artist's Alley Information

Anonymous asked: Why is 11x17 a good size to use? Most of the prints I've bought at cons are that size but I can hardly ever find frames for them. I'm in the process of getting art done for my first table in the fall, and I'm not crazy about this size. Why does everyone use it?

To be perfectly honest, this is something I’ve wondered about myself for a long time! I don’t like 11x17” prints personally because they don’t scale well to other print sizes. (As I’ve said on this blog before - 12x18 is only slightly larger but scales to tons of useful sizes!) I hear it recommended to new artists all of the time, though and I have no idea why.

What I can tell you, and what may have bearing on their odd popularity, is that it is very easy to find places that will make 11x17” prints. 11x17” is a standard paper size in North America known as Tabloid size. Tabloid, along with legal (8.5x14) and letter (8.5x11) size papers are standard sizes that you can find at pretty much any print and copy shop. So for many artists, 11x17 may be the largest size they can find to get printed locally!

If anyone who uses 11x17” would like to chime in with why they use it, we’d love to hear from you!

Buttons?

I only do one or two cons a year, so I don’t order a huge stock of buttons, but the button service I use is CheapestButtons on Etsy run by Kyle Lewis (he has a website, too, but it’s pretty much the same process either way). I found the site while Etsy-searching for a button supplier since Etsy is where I get a lot of my supplies.

No Design Limit

My favorite part about him is that there is no design limit to orders. You could feasibly have 50 designs for a 50 button purchase (although seriously, don’t do that, because that’s sort of rude). I’m typically a jerk (and also not too confident in my selling abilities, hah) and sometimes order in increments of five aka five buttons per one design for less-common designs and ten buttons per design for what I suspect to be more popular designs. I’ll even sometimes break up the design orders even more, which I always feel terrible about, but he’s never complained about it and does it without question, so that’s a plus.

The templates are provided on the website. Kyle will resize images for free and can send you a digital proof if requested.

Communication

Kyle communicates via email. As soon as you place the order, he’s in your inbox, asking you for the files and more information. 

On the website and Etsy shop, sometimes there won’t be a listing I want (for example, 25 1.5-inch buttons). In the past, I’ve just emailed him for a custom listing on Etsy, and he threw one up for me within an hour (of course, if you email him in the middle of the night, you’ll have to wait for the next day, hah).

Delivery

He ships from the United States. I live in the United States and can count on my buttons coming within two to three days. 

Quality

I’ve only had one defective button come out of all the times I’ve ordered so far over the years (it had a weird black mark on the image from printing, I assume). Otherwise, the colors are way close to what I print on my own, and the buttons have always been pretty decent sellers at my tables. I’ll send in some pictures when I get my next set. 

Price

I typically order 50 1.5-inch buttons in one go, which is $12 plus $3 for shipping, which comes out to be like…$0.30 per button. I believe it gets a little cheaper the more buttons you order, but it works for me.

Hope this helps someone! :)

Temporary Hiatus(ish)

Hello everyone! Pi-ratical, the user who runs this blog, here. My computer is temporarily out-of-operation (and right before a con too! argh.) so this blog is going to be on a semi-hiatus. I will still be publishing submitted articles and answering what questions I can, but I won’t be making any new articles or tutorials until the problem is fixed. Sorry about this!

Anonymous asked: Do you have any suggestions for short-run, kiss cut sticker printig? I wanted to make some sticker sheets where you could peel off individual stickers, but it doesn't seem like many people offer that option (with smaller runs).

The places I was familiar with seem to have gone out of business in the last few years, so I’ll open this one up to the rest of the blog - Any recommended sticker services?

moldybass asked: Ok, so I'm thinking about using FedEx or a similar service to make art prints. However, when I go to their page to check on prices, the options are like "postcards" or "booklets" and all that jazz. What would regular 8x11 and 3x5 prints be categorized under? I'm very sorry, I'm sure this is probably a really dumb question, but it IS my first Artist's Alley ;~;

I’m going to start by saying that, even moreso than places like staples or office depot, FedEx really isn’t oriented towards artistic prints. Their focus is on business promotional material and family photo printing, and their prices and options are both geared towards that. They’ll do in a pinch, but your options are going to be pretty limited.

When using their website process, 8.5x11 prints will be under the “upload & print” option on the right. (The upload & print option offers 8.5x11, 8.5x14, and 11x17) I don’t think that they offer 3x5 prints, but you could lay a bunch of them out on 11x17 paper and cut them yourself.

pigeony asked: To add to what you said to the person wondering about costs for hotel vs travel, I always factor in travel expenses + parking + time. I live in the east bay and travel to the south bay for Fanime but I usually end up trying to stay closer to the con due to traffic, gas cost and parking cost, since they all add up to about the same cost for a night at a hotel room. It's also easier to lug supplies back to a hotel room than back to a car parked somewhere far imo.

Good input!

Anonymous asked: Hi, I was wondering how do you figure out when it is easier to stay in a hotel rather than travel back home? There are some cons near me that are only 1 hr (or less) away, but there are others that are 2 hrs or more. Is there a certain point when it's easier to stay at a hotel?

There’s no hard rule for this - it depends heavily on what you’re comfortable with and what transportation is like in your area!

Anonymous asked: I've been trying to find this information everywhere but I never found the answer as tutorials always seem to leave out this important bit. But when looking for Irwin clamps for holding the PVC pipe display up, which size clamps would work best? Is 12" enough to hold up a 1.5" in diameter pipes that rise up to 6 feet tall? I'm unsure whether to buy 12" clamps afraid that somehow the strength wouldn't be enough, but I also don't want to spend more money on anything longer if I don't need to.

12” is plenty in my experience, and it’s what I personally use! Most people I see using 6” clamps, which I worry abou the stability of.

200 follower giveaway winners!

Thanks to everyone who entered in the giveaway, and hello to our new followers! Without further ado, the winners of the giveaway are…

1. Soloazume - “Um..Don’t spend to much on prints? Bring snacks?? lwl”

2. dauphe - “One thing I’ve learned from working in an Artist Alley is that complementing on others’ cosplays can in fact go a long way. I knew positive attitude is essential for selling, but I’ve learned the significance of going further and creating an even more positive environment around me by making others feel wonderful.”

3. Etherelle - “One of the most important things that I’ve been learning by doing Artist Alley is definitely time management. It helps not only with getting everything done in time for the convention, but also helps me in school, in jobs, and so on! It’s been a great help to my portfolio as well.”

4. annieshoe - “Although I haven’t had a table before, I’ve definitely learned a lot about printing and the process of it, which was a huge confusion before.”

5. Coldpress - “Definitely try and get some sleep before the con starts. It’s hard with pre-con prep and surrounding excitement, but it will probably be your last real shot at decent rest for the next few days.”

6. Katkritters - “aainfo has been so helpful to me! in addition to all the technical information i need, it’s also given me the confidence to actually be in the artist alley! my first time will be in two weeks and i’m really excited!!”

Congratulations to everyone! Send us an ask with your preferred colour (As said, colours will be distributed on a first come, first serve basis) All of the black easels have been claimed! and an address that your prize can be mailed to! If you’ll be at Fanime at the end of the month, you also can pick up your prize there.

Giveaway ends tonight!

If you haven’t entered our 200 follower giveaway yet, get to it! Only twelve hours remain!