The other day, a relative of mine asked for advice about what to make for Anime Expo artist alley. Normally, he only attends comic conventions and is only familiar with the tastes of those crowds. But he wanted to try Anime Expo, and since I've been attending for a while, he asked what series he should make art for.
Essentially, he asked which anime series are popular at the moment. A little ironic that he asked me, since I myself am quite behind in terms of current anime series. (Personally, I find a series I like, and cling to it, and only it, for a long time. I can't even watch Go-Busters because I still haven't gotten over Gokaiger. ~.~; ) But regardless of my personal knowledge of the latest trends, there are some very simple ways to know what is popular enough to ensure good sales at an anime artist alley:
- Look up the convention's Guests of Honor. They drive the fans of those particular series to flock to the con. For example, AX2014 has lots of guests from Kill La Kill. Last year, AX2013 had a guest and lots of signing events regarding Natsume Yuujinchou; that drove the Natsume Yuujinchou fandom to come to AX2013 and even form cosplay gatherings. So look up the convention's guest list and special events.
- Figurine producer websites, particularly Good Smile Company (http://www.goodsmile.info/en). They'll only make figures of whatever is really popular (in Japan), and GSC in particular releases figures regularly enough to mark all the different trends. Check their figure release announcements.
- Watch which cosplay gatherings form for the convention. Cosplay.com forums plan very far in advance, so it's easy to see ahead of time which series' fans are coming to the convention. That's the series/audience to aim for.
- Videogames. Videogame series continue for long time so their fanbases are always around. For anime cons, make fan-art for Japanese videogames, in particular. Like Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Guilty Gear, Devil May Cry, Sengoku Basara, Persona, Zelda, and visual novels.
- Vocaloid. Hatsune Miku will always sell at an anime convention. Don't forget Crypton Media Future's other characters, plus Megapoid Gumi, but anything with Miku will sell.
- When in doubt, make cute things.
- Try using a unique art style. There's no need to emulate the official art style of a series. A big group of artist alley customers, besides fangirls, are the people who just want to see a different art style. Try a different interpretation of a series's canon art style. Draw a Shonen genre character in the Shoujo genre style. Try your own unique art style. Pick an art movement from art history or a style made common by a specific art medium, like Art Nouveau or ancient Hellenistic pottery. One year, I bought a very bishonen drawing of Inuyasha, just because it was so different from Rumiko Takahashi's official artwork.
- "In jokes" and fandom memes from within a series' fandom is also something that people come to artist alley for, because it usually cannot be found in the exhibit hall. Catering so specifically to the fandom will get attention and be that unique thing that's not in the official merchandise.
- Whatever fandom you are into. When you make fan-art for a fandom you personally love, you know all those "in jokes" and fandom memes; you know what art styles give an interesting contrast to the official cannon. And most of all, there is instinctively more pride to be taken in your work, when it's a series you love and merchandise you would like to see for that series. That's why even though it's been a while since Hetalia was HUGE, I'm still doing it.
But there's one more important thing to remember for making fan-art for artist alley: There will always be _someone_ who will love it. Especially at the big conventions, like Anime Expo, there are too many people and tastes for your work to not appeal to someone. As I used to say to fellow fanfic writers, "Just write and publish your work; it will be just the thing that someone out there has been searching desperately for." So have confidence in your self/work and just make what you want. ^__^
No comments:
Post a Comment