Artist Alley 101: Planning What to Sell/Pricing

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UPDATE 2020: Hi folks! I've gotten so many great responses from people over the years about these journals, I've decided to give them a bit of an update (also because there are so many new resources out there that it's been hard to keep up). I also want to make these tips more palatable to those who don't have interest in doing solely fanart, as I've seen a lot of artists be successful in doing almost purely original work. So I hope these journals continue to be as informative and helpful as they have been over the years!

After being a member of several artist alleys for 10+ years, I thought I should share my knowledge in a practical guide. This was originally posted as a four-part series back in 2012, and has since been updated as recently as 2020.

This is meant to be a good start for those who have never been a part of an artist alley before, as well as a nice refresher to those of you who are veterans of alleys everywhere. I will try to be as detailed as possible while making the information easy to reference and read through.

And if you'd like a refresher on part 1, feel free to go here!

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Part 2

PLANNING WHAT TO SELL…


I decided to talk about this here because it would have been a bit too much to include it in the "things to think about" section. Naturally you would have already planned what to sell before applying, so I will go more into detail about it here.

Fan Art vs. Original Art

It’s the age-old debate. Do I need to sell fan art? Will I get in trouble for selling too much fan art? What if I just want to sell my original work, will anyone buy it? Everyone goes through this when figuring out where they stand on the art-making spectrum. While it's true that there is a trend toward con goers making a beeline for someone's table because they've spotted a character they know and love, there are those that deliberately seek out original work and want to support aspiring artists and their unique style. So when thinking of what to make, keep in mind how you react to seeing an artist's work at a convention and the things you enjoy about other people's art.

If you're starting out by selling at mainly fan-based event (anime cons, comic cons, gaming cons, etc), I'd say do a bit of both. You may be surprised by how well you do whichever way you choose to go. When doing fan art, a variety of characters will in turn attract a diversity of fans to your table. You also want to think about what they will like about your fan art in particular over the sea of tables with art of the same characters. In this case, putting your unique twist on fan art by making it in a unique style or giving it a unique sense of humor might make it stand out more!

As long as you are mindful of intellectual property/copyright infringement when creating your fan work (avoiding using official logos or borrowing too heavily from already existing images when referencing characters), most conventions will let you display and sell it. Just make sure to read their policies regarding restrictions on specific fandoms, such as if a creator has chosen not to allow others to create/sell fan art of their work, so you can make sure you are in the clear. If you are unsure whether a design or fan piece you created blurs the lines in any way, it's probably best to avoid selling it.

If your goal is to make original comics or to promote your comic, people may be more likely to buy something smaller like a button or print from you versus a large expensive item of something they're not that familiar with yet. If the investment is small and reasonable, people will definitely gravitate toward impulse purchases of any kind. I would go this route when first starting out because it is cheaper to make smaller items in larger quantities than larger, more expensive ones that may not sell as well. But by all means, bring some copies of your comics/manga to see how well it does! If you have a sturdy enough following, then this may not be as big a concern. You should definitely bring more copies of your comics to events that focus primarily on indie artists and original comics/zines, because people will take time to appreciate them in a more slow-paced environment.

If you're leaning toward making prints, pins, and stickers, I would say the more variety in designs, colors, and sizes, the better! Also go this route if you're promoting a comic because people will be more encouraged to buy a promotional item like a pin that they can then wear around the convention.

What sort of items should I make to sell at an anime convention?

When thinking about what to sell, you don't have to reinvent the wheel unless you absolutely want to. And have the time to do so. All you need to do is a simple online search for artist alleys of conventions you’re interested in selling at to see what sort of items people make and sell the most.

But before anything else, the biggest question you should ask yourself is "How much time do I have to make items to sell, and what resources do I have to make them?" If you're a beginner, I would choose a few things to start with and build from there, rather than get too ambitious and run the risk of not making your best work. Some of the most common items you will see at artist tables are buttons, stickers, keychains, prints of varying sizes, jewelry and plushies. So if you are starting out, I would choose one or two types of merchandise from the smaller end (ex. buttons and stickers), and one from a bigger scale category (ex. plushies and prints). The bigger scale category includes not only items that are larger in size, but might also be items that take more time to make. This means you may end up with only a few of them at first, but they will look really nice and attract people to your table.

I would like take some time now to break down these suggested items into more detail. The way I will do this is by listing each one and discussing its scale, how much time you should give yourself to make the item, the costs related to producing the item, how many you should generally make, and other special traits about the item. Here we go!

Buttons
Scale
This is a very small-scale item.
Traits
Buttons are a very common item to sell because the investment is worth it in the long run. You can create as many designs as you want and the process of making them is almost instantaneous. They are also great promotional tools for your art, because buyers can pin them to bags and clothes!
Time
You should take some time to make the designs you want, preferably with digital programs like Photoshop or Procreate for an even finish. You can print several designs on a few sheets of paper and be good to go in an hour or two! Although I have also seen artists make custom buttons using traditional media like Copic markers, thus creating a one-of-a-kind work of art in button form.
Cost
To make buttons, you need a button maker!.These can be found in most craft stores and prices may be on the higher end depending on the model you want, averaging $100—$200. There are also smaller versions of button-making machines that can be found online. A standard button-maker machine will make buttons about 1 inch in size, but some can make buttons as large as 6 inches. You will also need to purchase the backing for the button, but most button makers come with a starter pack. If you decide to keep making more, however, you will have to buy those separately.
Quantity
Once you purchase the button maker machine, you can make thousands of buttons (Not all at once, though!). This is a tool that you can keep going back to again and again to make as many buttons as you want. For a first-timer, I would begin by making about 5 or 6 buttons of each design. Pretty soon you'll have over 100 buttons to work with! And you can keep building up your range of designs, making for an easy and fun way to make a good profit. And if your goal is promotion, what better way to do it than to make sure everyone is wearing your button around the con!

Stickers
Scale
This is a small-scale item.
Traits
Stickers are also common to see for sale because they are very practical. The buyer can stick them to almost anything, making it a versatile and fun purchase. (Just make sure to double-check with artist alley policies for your specific convention to see if these are allowed. It has come to my attention in recent years that due to past problems with vandalism, some conventions have banned the sale of stickers altogether. So be sure that the con you want to attend will allow these before you invest in making them!)
Time
You can make these through traditional media or digitally. You may want to allow some time for these to be made if you are ordering them from an online printing service.
Cost
The cost can actually range quite a bit. Like I mentioned earlier, if you are getting an online service to print these for you, you may have to pay more, but the quality of the final result might be worthwhile. There are a lot of new printing services that offer a variety of paper options (such as holographic and vinyl) so you definitely want to shop around to get the best price for your budget. However, you can also do them yourself, as there are several brands of sticker paper you can buy at supply stores like Staples. The cost of each pack can average about $15 for about 30 sheets.
Quantity
You can get lots of stickers per sheet of paper, depending on the size you want. So you can definitely go for the “5 or 6 of each design” ratio I mentioned with buttons when you're just starting out. You can also draw directly on the sticker paper if you want to for a "doodle sticker" effect.

Keychains/Phone Charms
Scale
This is a somewhat small-scale item.
Traits
Keychains and Phone Charms are also common items for their versatility. They can be a little trickier to make but are also cost-effective, and you can make a large array of designs for buyers to choose from.
Time
If you're making them yourself (which is something I used to do many years before printing services became prominent), you have to laminate your art for it to be durable. So allow some time between making your designs and getting them to a printer that can laminate them for you. For this, you will have to pre-cut all the designs so that they will be able to arrange several per sheet. But if you choose an online service, you will also have to factor in their estimated manufacturing/delivery time when you order.
Cost
This can also vary. To make a key chain, you can use any good printing paper (card stock might be a good option for extra durability), a laminating service, a hole-puncher, and the actual keychains (or lanyards in the case of phone charms). Laminating costs can be determined by how many sheets they will need to laminate all your designs, and the last time I did this at Office Max it turned out to be about $20 or so for about 8 sheets. For the keychains, you may want to use an actual key ring for durability, although you get few of them per pack. I have also used 4-inch nickel-plated chains, because I get lots of them and the cost is cheaper in the long run. I used to order mine from an army surplus store on Ebay, who sold packs of 100 chains for about $10. You can also find good deals on lanyards of different types and colors on Ebay. As for the hole-puncher, you can get one at any craft store. If you decide to go the printing service route, they may have other options regarding durability such as acrylic, which will be a lot thicker than a laminated keychain. But again, shop around for pricing first!
Quantity
Because these take a little bit more time to produce, I would start by making maybe 3 or 4 of each design if you're making them by hand. You can build on that in the future, and even with that amount per design you can still end up with a lot to sell!

Prints
Scale
This can vary from a small to a large-scale item.
Traits
Prints are common mostly because of the ability to produce varying scales, ranging from postcard size to a full-on poster. I find that this item takes a lot of time if you want to do it right, and if you want to do this one on a large scale you will have to give yourself a lot of time to build a portfolio for this. These items also sell mainly for their quality. If someone is going to put this on their wall, it has to be really nicely done or have a unique aesthetic to it.
Time
Like I said earlier, these do take time to make. If you want to make many different prints, I would suggest starting with a full-body character with little to no background. You will thank yourself later. That being said, if you are a more seasoned artist who knows roughly how long it takes for you to make high quality illustrations, factor that in to the number of new pieces you want to make. If you are starting out and aren't exactly sure how to do that yet, just look at your best/strongest drawings that you have made so far and think about how long it took for you to make each of them. That should give you a good idea of how much time you will really have to make these. A good rule of thumb is, if you're concerned about time, think quality over quantity. Having a few prints that look amazing will speak volumes to customers who might pass by a table with a ton of work but all of it looks just meh.
Cost
These aren't very costly to make, as all you really need is a printer or a good quality printing service. Most places like Office Max or Staples charge about $1 per color print, and that is if you are aiming for an 11 in x 17 in paper size. For this (and everything else), I would stay away from Kinko's. Their colors usually don't turn out very good (almost always I would end up with prints much darker than my files, thus running many colors and details together creating a muddy mess), and you pay a lot for not very much in return. (Trust me, the first time I sold at an artist alley back in 2007, I spent $400 to run my prints at Kinko's! You don't want to do this.) If you're on a budget but want to get more bang for your buck, I would trust printing services like CatPrint (a new favorite for me!), because they can be surprisingly inexpensive for their print quality and number of prints you get. To be on the safe side, I'd run a few test prints using different types of paper so that you have a good idea what your final results will be when you make your stock to sell for real.
Quantity
I would start out with only a few, but really nice prints. I find that it doesn't really matter if it's a fan work or an original piece, what really sells prints are their quality. It will take a lot of time to build a solid portfolio on just prints alone, so I would suggest going with other items from this list for the bulk of your stock for now. What I've seen at a lot of tables is the same print design offered in a variety of sizes. So if someone's not keen on getting a huge version of a print, they can opt for the smaller one and buy more of them!

Jewelry
Scale
This may look small in size, but I define it as a larger scale item because it takes a lot of time to make.
Traits
Jewelry is popular because the buyer can choose to instantly wear your item around, and pair it with many things in their wardrobe. This is an especially great item to experiment with, as you can create original pieces as well as pieces inspired by geek culture and fandoms.
Time
It will take some time to make jewelry, because like prints, you want to do a good job on them and not slap them together at the last minute. Focus on quality over quantity here as well! I am not as familiar with jewelry-making as I am with the other items on this list, but you can probably imagine it takes prep work and planning before you even start to make a necklace.
Cost
This varies depending on the materials you want to use. You can go traditional and buy pendants and chains. You could also decide that you enjoy making Kandi bracelets, so you will need a lot of elastic and colorful beads. And if you like those clay-based rings and necklaces, you will have to pay for clay and clay-sculpting tools. You can also do them 2-dimensionally and get a printing service to create a resin of your pieces. As far as prices and where you can find a lot of these tools, I would shop around way before you decide to try your hand at selling them.
Quantity
If you're really savvy with jewelry, then by all means, make as much of it and with as much variety as you like! If you are not, however, I would start small. Make a few earrings, necklaces and rings and see how it goes. You don't want to make a huge investment in jewelry-making tools and supplies if it turns out you weren't as into it as you initially thought.

Plushies
Scale
This is definitely a large-scale item.
Traits
These are tricky to sell because the buyer's investment will likely be larger than if they were to purchase a bunch of smaller items. Buyers are looking for durability and good craft in a plushie, but if you work really hard on them you may gain a loyal following who will want to commission you for them later.
Time
Plushies definitely take a lot of time to make. You may end up making only one a week, or every other week, if you want to do a really good job. While they will slow your productivity down, they will attract people to your table even if you only have a few to start with.
Cost
If you want to make a lot of plushies, it will cost you. The price of fabric can be outrageous these days, but with a few basic colors, stuffing and a lot of thread, you can get by. You will definitely need to buy a sewing machine, or get acquainted with one you might already own. The price of my family’s sewing machine was about $150. Get a quality machine with a good warranty and it will give you great mileage, making it a worthwhile investment. In recent years there has been a rise in printing services for "pillow" plushies, i.e. you create the design for the plush or pillow, and they will print it on the right fabric for you. I am not very familiar with how this works or how much it costs, so others can certainly weigh in on this. I see it working similar to ordering t-shirts of designs you make through a printing company. Either way it's something you'll definitely have to do more research on to see if it'll be worth the up-front costs.
Quantity
If you're new to this, start small. If you aren't, then I would gradually increase your stock, and I wouldn't make more than 5 of each to start with. I have found that although fan art plushies are cute, people are more likely to buy those in the Dealer's Room where the official merchandise is located. In the artist's alley, it's the unique idea that counts, so get creative! Mustaches, narwhals, cats, squids, sushi, tofu, if you can think it, you can make it into a plushie.

Other common items similar to these listed above are: magnets, paper children, T-shirts, pouches, tote bags, pillows, mini comics, badges, hair accessories, bookmarks, stationery, fandom-inspired soaps and perfumes, amigurumis, mouse pads, hats, one-of-a-kind items such as sketches, on-the-spot commissions and original drawings. The key to making any of these is to plan, plan, plan. So make your decisions based on the considerations above and you'll be on your way!

What is safe to assume, however, is that your merchandise should appeal to a specific audience. If you make fan art, then you'll want to think of hitting a broader audience than if you were making items you know the 'cute and creepy' crowd would like. If you don't know who your audience is, then observe your customers! You'll start to notice that different people have different interests, and some will enjoy your work and buy it more frequently than others. Your job is to find out who those people are, and figure out a way to entice them to keep coming back.

PRICING

This is probably one of the most obscure territories up for discussion, because there are so many considerations when pricing an item. You don't want to price your work too low, given that you've spent at least some amount of money to generate your merchandise. You want to make sure you're not just breaking even. You also may not want to price your items too much on the high end. Even though you calculate that your sales would cover your expenses with plenty to spare, you're probably not going to be good competition for the rest of the alley. People may like your work, but they won't buy it if it's not within their budget. Either extreme will leave you with disappointing results!

So how to find the happy medium, where both you and the customer will be happy? Here are a few key points to consider.

Convention Attendance
Is it a one-day convention? Is it a weekend-long event? This may be a good judgment of attendance. If the convention is only a one-day festival, you may get a few hundred people, and that means you should make/bring less merchandise. The reason is because not a lot of people may know about the convention long enough to bring extra money with them, or they may have a lot less saved up to spend since they might be waiting to hit the larger cons. So don't spend too much money on too much merchandise that you won't be able to sell. If the convention is a two or three-day affair, then definitely make the investment because there will be a lot more people attending, with numbers sometimes going up into the tens of thousands. And chances are they will have saved up a lot more money to spend here.

Your Audience
Consider the audience of the convention you want to sell at. Is it mostly teenagers? Adults? Is it a family-oriented event? Is it a niche-targeted event? Does there seem to be a broader age range? This will affect the average budget your customers will have saved up for the convention. Younger people tend to have less money with them, or end up asking their parents to buy stuff for them. Teens often bring money to spend on food and stuff at the dealer's room, leaving little in the way of a budget for art. Young adults and older will usually leave a little bit of spending money for the artist alley, and some will even save up exclusively to buy merchandise from independent artists. Keep this in mind, because you want to make sure you have something for everyone at any budget!

Your Investment
Remember the formula I made to figure out if a convention will be worth your time? Well, we can also use that formula to determine how much you should price your work.

Here is the formula:

fees to get to the convention + fees to attend the convention + cost of materials to make your work= Cost of participating in the alley — Your gross profit (what you made during the entire day/weekend) = Net profit (what you actually take home with you at the end of the event)

Based on whatever the costs are, let's assume you have an idea of how much merchandise you want to make. As an example, I will use my own personal template. So, at an average convention, I used to make up to 300 magnets and 100 key chains. I know that sounds like a lot, but I built that up over many years. I generally priced both my magnets and key chains similarly, at $4 each. I didn't usually sell out, but let's pretend that I did. $4 multiplied by 400 sounds like pretty great profit, doesn't it? Not so much if I was attending an out-of-state convention, or a three-day convention that was far away from home and had to spend a few nights at a hotel! Usually we don't think about it, but you invest a lot in a convention! Now, if the convention I was selling at was close enough to home that I could drive there and back, and not spend money at a hotel, then the profit margin sounds a whole lot better.

Please refer to the breakdown I did earlier of common items to sell for your own version of this formula!

Comparing Prices
How much are other people charging for the same type of work? Look around the artist alley or online, and you'll see lots of people have different opinions on what something should be priced as. I'll break it down by item again, as I did with the common items.

Buttons (can be as low as $1 to $2. $3 is a little on the high end unless the size of the button is larger or it's a custom button.)
Stickers (can be as low as $1 to $4. $5 or $6 is a bit high unless it's a big sticker or has a special feature (holographic/gold/etc.), though if you sell multiple stickers in a set then you can price them for a bit more.)
Keychains (could be between $3 to $8, as you want to cover the cost of getting the materials. I'd also price the same for magnets/phone charms.)
Prints (small scale can be $5 on the semi-low end, and large prints should probably not exceed $30. You may think it's worth more based on the work you put into it, but believe me when I say that for someone to put more than $20 on a 2-dimensional item is difficult unless they absolutely love it. This is not counting commissioned pieces, since those are one-of-a-kind custom items.)
Jewelry (rings and earrings can be about $4 to $5, bracelets and necklaces can go higher, up to $30 should be the limit. If you're making elaborate accessories like headbands and hats, use the amount of time you spend per item as an estimate, as well as how much official stores or the Dealer's Room are selling them for so you can be competitive.)
Plushies (small scale should start at $5 or $10, and depending on the detail and number of hours spent per plushie, the price could go up to $30 or $40 or more. Why higher than $30? Because it's a 3-dimensional, tangible object that people get emotionally attached to. This makes them want to shell out a little extra without question.

The Golden Rule
Whether you have a lot of old merchandise you want to get rid of that does not sell anymore, a few defective items or work that is way less popular at your table, people will buy it for a dollar. Believe me on this one. I had some really old merchandise from my early years that just wouldn't sell and that I didn’t want to make anymore, so I decided to mark them down in a special bin for $1. Everything sold. This is a sure way to get people to buy at least one thing from your table, because everybody has a dollar, or four quarters, or a few dimes left over that they can get with their friends to add up to a dollar. The most common phrase you'll hear from someone if they see that one piece for that price is, "Oh, it's only a dollar? Now I have to buy it!"

A final word on pricing

Notice that I ended all of my price estimations with rounded numbers. Especially when you're starting out, you don't want to price an item for $1.35 or some weird number like that. Nice rounded numbers are for your benefit, so you don't end up with a headache when you're calculating your final tally for the day, and also for your customer's convenience so they don't have to scrounge up some weird amount of change. You can price your items with either an odd or even number, but usually customers will respond better to even numbers.

Some people have asked me about taxes. Many larger conventions or events may require you to have a temporary seller ID to participate in their artist alley due to tax purposes. If you are a professional artist and you make a living selling your work professionally, you may also need to register for taxes, as well as factor state taxes in to your final pricing. Do double-check the artist alley policies for information on taxes just in case it is a requirement for that convention.

Over the recent years I have come across artists that like using manufacturers to make merchandise in bigger batches. This can run up a high bill at first, but can be worth it in the long run since you will have plenty of stock to carry you through several events before you need to worry about restocking. That isn't to say that you can't do it yourself and still be all right. It might be that you don’t have to use a printer service or manufacturer for everything you make, so look into what makes the most sense for what you make.

One last thing that has also come up recently: being flexible with how customers pay for items can also be to your benefit. Having the ability to accept credit cards for attendees who are either hesitant on carrying large amounts of cash on them, or who have ran out of cash but still want to buy things, can help drive up sales. It is free to sign up for the Square app and you also get a little card reader for free, which you insert into your smartphone/iPad/tablet to take payments. They also give you a little sign you can display at your table to advertise that you take multiple forms of payment. If you don’t have a Square store, you can also let people know to send payment through your CashApp or Venmo app. Just remember at the end of your event to add the credit card purchase amounts to your total profit numbers.

CLICK HERE FOR PART 3: Displaying Your Work, Dos and Don'ts of Running a Table
© 2012 - 2024 MystoDraws
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mruglyboys's avatar

What would not sell, it is worth knowing how to create a good product description. We will not sell anything without a description. This post presents the principles of constructing good product descriptions: https://gamerseo.com/blog/how-to-write-good-product-description-11-little-known-tips/