A year ago I set the goal for myself to put together 15 poster pieces and get a booth at MegaCon.
It had been a good decade since I had drawn and I was itching to get back into the game. MegaCon offered me the chance to realize my child hood dream of being a professional artist. If I could make money showing at conventions I could eventually quit my day job and spend my time creating art and traveling to shows. I could develop these, graphical, stories I have in my head and spend my days creating for myself instead of slaving for the man.
This weekend I took my 25 poster pieces and booth’d them at MegaCon 2017.
Actually MegaCon turned out to be my third convention. My first “major” convention, but the third overall I’ve attended. So, I’ve exceeded the goal I originally set for myself. So, if I were able to capitalize on my artwork, at MegaCon, I would try to attend one major convention per month until I could financially afford to quit my day job and do this full time. So, how did it go?
I can emphatically say, MegaCon broke me. It’s tough. It’s a grueling way to spend a weekend. My confidence is definitely shaken. I basically sit through every single lull in activity questioning my talent. Do I suck that bad? Apparently I do. I mean people come by and tell me that my stuff is good. And I appreciate it, I really do. But there isn’t enough financial gain to keep this anything more than a hobby. It costs money to booth at these shows and the cost exceeds the reward. It’s just not worth the expense; financially or otherwise.
Part of me, the competitive side, wants to set a goal to come back to MegaCon, next year, and rip the place apart. I think, next year my stuff will be so good no one will be able to deny me. But the truth is, I have other projects that I can work on, today, that will pay off immediate dividends.
It just makes more practical sense to develop my financially sustainable projects than to keep throwing money down the financial drain that these conventions are.
So, my next goal is unclear at this moment. But, definitely this was my last convention.