CrashOctopus Blog

I’m back, and in one piece! Conventions are really good for the artistic soul; I got a lot of art done, and I’m inspired. That’s the good news. The bad news is, I had a lot of free time to do art.

Not sure if it’s the economy or what, but I sold very little. Nothing went in the art show, and I barely made enough at the table to cover the cost of renting it. I was thinking that merchandise was the way to go, since art is a luxury item – put it on stuff people can use! But I sold not one t-shirt. They went like hotcakes at Dragon*Con. I still haven’t figured out the ebb and flow of cons and art purchases. I may never figure it out.

But! I met some cool people. I sat next to the neatest gal, and bought some beautiful handmade jewelry from her. This stuff is art as much as it is jewelry. She puts so much time and love into her pieces and each one is unique and has a story. Go check her out at Moonkist Designs. There’s not a whole lot on the website, but she’ll update it soon.

So… Chattacon 1, Meg 0. But I have a new friend and a knitted Cthulhu. That makes everything worth it. ;)

Still no new art. Still coding. But! Getting ready for Chattacon next weekend in Chattanooga, TN. Maybe see you there???

Also, a quick question. Do you like animated things in websites? I’m considering a new logo design for the new website, and I’m wondering if I should make it a flash animation that plays only once, when the main page loads. What do you y’all think?

One of my Turn-Your-Character-Into-a-Cephalopod Commissions

In the beginning of 2008, I posted a list of goals for the year. Now, with just 4 short weeks left in 2008, I’m revisiting those goals to see how I did. I want to see how realistic they were (to help me set goals for 2009) and to see what was really important to me and my art business.

• Register my business by March

Done last February. Early next year I have to renew it.

• Redo this blog to greatly expand its content and interactivity

Um. Yeah. I have great plans, but when it comes down to it, I’d rather paint than write code. Maybe over Christmas vacation. I’d love to make this thing chock-full of good information and daily content updates.

• Trim my website into a portfolio

Over Christmas. I swear. This is easier than redoing the blog, and probably more important…

• Time all my projects with the new stopwatch Santa got for me

I did pretty well at this, especially for the big paintings. Knowing how long it took helped me figure out how much to charge.

• Complete the 100 Cephalopods project

I did, like, four. This goal was way too ambitious. It’s still on my list, but I think it’s a lifetime goal rather than annual. It’s too time-consuming and not very profitable.

• Promote my art on MySpace, Facebook, etc.

Waiting until I redo the website.

• Obligatory really vague goal: strive to always improve and learn

This one worked! I learned something new with each big project and maintained previously learned skills. That rocked. I highly recommend it. Focus on one small aspect of improvement for each project.

• Do 10 shows and/or conventions

I attended 7 conventions and showed art at 2 others. 9 total, pretty close! I may trim this down next year simply because I ran out of vacation days at work and haven’t visited my grandmas in waaaay too long.

All things considered, I think I did well! Next year may be tough, art-wise, because I recently got engaged (that wasn’t on my 2008 list) and am likely getting married in 2009. YAY! But! Business will grow. Damned if I know how yet, but it will… I promise. Hold me to it.

Con on the Cob was a blast again this year. I had a booth inside the art show, with my art show (silent auction) panels behind me. This was the first time I had a setup like that, and was wary of people not wanting to come behind the table to look at the art and hopefully bid. People were more inclined to look closely when I wasn’t at the table… but that meant I wasn’t working my sales pitch on them. So… not sure how I felt about that. I think I’d rather have my panels up with the rest of the art show.

Also, the lighting was not so good, as you can see. The Racquetball Squid (lower right) is not even visible because it’s a dark piece, and the light that does reach it is reflected off the plastic cover. I should have brought some clip-on lights with me.

Aside from those minor issues, the convention was great. I didn’t sell too much, but the traffic through the show was light and the economy isn’t so healthy right now. Seeing my old friends and meeting new ones made it all worthwhile, 11-hour drive and all. I would love to give props to everyone, but there are so many hard-working, awesome people at this convention that it would take about a zillion pages. So, thanks to Andy for putting on a fabulous con (4 years running!), to Gunnar for running the Art Show like a charm, and to Tony and Kay for being my awesome roomies.

My favorite parts of the convention programming were the Iron Artist contest and the Crayola-and-Sharpie Fundraiser. The first was a spoof on Iron Chef, with the Artist Guest of Honor Ed Beard Jr. as the defending champion. We all had an hour to create something from a bunch of craft stuff and the secret ingredients… which we didn’t know about until the last minute, and turned out to be gourds. It was fun. They let us play with glue guns. They make great cobwebs.

Octopus Gourd MONSTER eating a submarine

The Crayola thingy was the best part. About a dozen awesome artists sat down for three hours, creating whatever art suited their fancy, but using only construction paper, Sharpies, and Crayolas. The audience members bought raffle tickets, and whenever an artist was finished, the creation was raffled off. The proceeds all went to the Special Olympics. It was amazingly fun to see what people could come up with in such a short time (each of us did about three pieces) and with such… unique… materials. Seeing some of the finished works… I honestly didn’t know crayons could do that. Here are two of my humble creations.

Also, there was Play-Doh. Guess what I made.

Hey everyone… sorry to be silent for so long! I’ve had a realllly rough few weeks and have neglected y’all horribly. Here’s some art to tide you over. I’m going to Con on the Cob this weekend, so I will bring back lots of new art! Also, I hope to blog from the con about what’s going on and show everyone the progress steps of my latest big painting.

Wow, Dragon*Con was fun. And full of sales. Which rocks. Will resume regular posting schedule soon. Love, Meg

Arastin Squid by Meg Lyman

Character commission for the Wandering Men

WOW. It’s almost here. Labor Day weekend approaches much too quickly!

I want to share with you a bit of my convention preparation, in the hopes that it might help someone someday. First, a bit of background: I’ve never done business at Dragon*Con before, so it’s all new to me. I have two panels in the Art Show and an Artist’s Bazaar table, which is like a Dealer’s table but in the same room as the art show. In slightly organized order:

• Get prints and t-shirts restocked
• Decide what art to put in the show
• Mat it, bag it, price it, put the pre-printed Dragon*Con barcodes on it, and decide on a layout
• Print an inventory (so I know which prints, originals, and t-shirts I have and how many)
• Start and finish a large cephalopod-related painting GAH
• Update my print book (the one I put out front for people to flip through)
• Print out a list for people to sign up for commissions
• Buy candy for the table – free candy stops people like no art can do
• Get ready to PARTY

It’s going to be a blast, but I am not going to enjoy the anticipation like a non-working attendee until I get all these things done. I have a good handle on them… except for the painting. I am not going to sleep this weekend. And I’ll probably not get to post again until after the con.

AIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!! :D

I’ll get back to my color project in a jiffy. But first, a quick convention report. Anthrocon was wonderful, and I sold enough t-shirts, prints, originals, and commissions that I just might break even. The best part was the camaraderie and new beers. And also, coming home to this in my backyard:

EPIC.

Also, note all those “cool” colors.

Adorable Armadillo by Meg Lyman

Gouache and ink on notecard

SOLD

I have been crazy-busy this week, and it’s not going to let up soon. I even got some art done! I’m heading for the beach this weekend and Anthrocon is next weekend. Getting ready for any convention is hard work, but this is my biggest con and I have to cram everything into two suitcases and get on an airplane. CRAZY but fun!

Lady and the Tramp Squids by Meg Lyman

8×10″ graphite OmegaCon doodle; SOLD

OmegaCon was a first year fantasy/sci-fi convention in Birmingham. I had art in the art show and a table in the dealer’s room next to the Wandering Men. The dealer’s room was huge and fabulous and the turnout was phenomenal. The art show organization was abysmal, but it all worked out in the end.

I sold enough to cover my food and my half of a hotel room, which is more than I was expecting! Most of my sales were prints and originals. I took some older illustrations (~5 years old), because they were on-topic for a fantasy convention, and actually sold some of those old ones! It doesn’t hurt to try, especially if your prices are reasonable for older work (unless your old work is really horrible). I didn’t put any old art in the show – it was all in a binder at my table. I was pleased to see it sell but a bit hesitant putting old work out there, even if it was hiding in a binder.

What are your thoughts on selling older work?