Cream City Convergence

Well, Cream City Convergence or C3 as they like to call it is in the books. It was an interesting experience. The staff was very friendly and accommodating. It was relatively easy to get to where I needed to be in the building, and to my place on the show floor. I met a few new artists and reconnected with a few that I have met from other shows. Everyone seemed genuinely friendly. The attendance of the show was relatively low compared to what I am accustomed to, but fighting-game tournaments are a relatively niche' form of entertainment and attract more enthusiasts than the general public. The flow of traffic was very slow at the beginning. Things picked up a good deal once the actual tournaments started. From what I could tell, there were several stations positioned around the floor with numerous PlayStation 5 consoles hooked up to monitors. Patrons would bring in their own fight-sticks or controllers to play against each other. There were four big screens in designated areas where an audience could sit down and watch elite players battle out in such games as Tekken 8, Guilty Gear Strive, Street Fighter VI, Super Smash Bros. Melee and Ultimate, and a few other games. I was in Artist's Alley. My placement on the floor was okay, however there was a HUGE open space in front of me and that made it kind of hard to attract patrons to my table. Also, the food area was to my immediate right. When you are hungry you tend to get tunnel-vision when thinking about food. No complaints though. Also, my place on the floor changed from where I thought it was gonna be which was near the Street Fighter VI and Tekken 8 areas. There was consistently more traffic over there, but my friend and fellow artist that was in that area stated that sales were slow for him even with all the traffic over there. The thing that concerned me going into this was that this isn't like a comic-con or anime-con where walking around all the tables and booths are the main attraction of the event. The main attraction here was playing the games, so once people got to where they wanted to go, they stayed there until that tournament had a break, or was done. I did okay considering this was my first time at this show. I had a couple of mishaps and happy accidents that took some profit away. On Friday, I had to go get up real early to go to DigiCopy to get prints made of my latest work done for the show before I went to work. I would have gone the day before while I was off, but I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning finish a piece. Unfortunately, the printer at DigiCopy was not working properly and all but that one piece that I stayed up working on had streaks and marks all over them from the roller. So, because they felt bad about the situation they gave me the prints that did turn out right for free. That was cool of them. The next thing was that I charge $20.00 for 11x17 prints. A gentleman came up to buy one and I mistaken rung him up for $10.00 instead of $20.00. I didn't realize my goof until he was gone. Lastly, a young man came up to my table to buy my last print of Optimus Prime. When I went to pull the print out of the sleeve, I noticed that it had a crease on the corner for some random reason. I don't sell people janky artwork. So, I let him have it for free. I also said that under the circumstances of what has transpired recently, I think that Pete (Peter Cullen) would want me to give it to you as well. So, I don't mind missing out on that sale if it means giving a special memory for someone. Overall, the show was okay. The show organizer, Rae Barnickel was as I stated earlier very nice, gracious, and accommodating. She thanked me for being a part of the show, and said that she will reach out to me next year to return. I'll probably do the show again. Now that I know about it and know what it is like, I can plan accordingly to refine my strategy. I had a good time. It was definitely cathartic for me to be in my element. Next up, Milwaukee Comic Con, October 10th!