I don’t know why my creativity demanded I make this a video, but I did it. I hope you enjoy it.
In it, I talk about Put-N-Play (the last show I was at), the way conventions tend to promote their shows, and other behind-the-scenes convention secrets.
Here was my set up at Put-N-Play this year:
Sadly, as mentioned in the video, I barely made sales this last weekend. Which is a shame.
My next convention appearance is Kennywood Comicon on June 17th. Wear a nerdy shirt to get a discount on your admission ticket!
In my last post I announced an indefinite hiatus on producing new videos on YouTube (because it was something done for fun, but I don’t have time for it right now). Well, the next day I decided to remove YouTube from my phone and tablet, and added the site to my Chrome app, StayFocused – it maintains a list of blocked sites (which you can customize which sites are blocked and which aren’t). You’re only allowed a specified amount of time on all those blocked sites and then StayFocused kicks you off. It’s to help you stay productive at work and cut out distractions, which is especially handy for me since I work out of a home studio.
I even got a sexy new drafting table after the YWCA MiniCon.
Yes, I’m putting my vlogs, Review Day Tuesday Videos, and other videos on an indefinite hiatus.
My energy right now is going into my work – making comics, doing stuff for clients, making things for Patreon, and selling at comic conventions. YouTube was a thing I did for the fun of it, but I have to put it aside for now so I can focus on work and still have time to relax.
As mentioned in the video, I’m updating the blog portion of this website a LOT more often, so you can still keep up with what’s new here on the blog. I’ve also been updating Facebook and Tumblr a LOT more often, especially since I got rid of Twitter.
Back then I had this shirt available. Not anymore.
At RathaCon this year there was a guy who worked as a T-shirt printer who came up to my table. I took a second to get some feedback from him about potential T-shirt designs.
The thing is, the most popular request I get for a T-shirt is, “Do you have the T-Rex Sissy Fight as a shirt?”
I did, once upon a time, when I still had a RedBubble account. I deleted my account for a few reasons, but mostly because I wasn’t making money on that site, and I like being in charge of my own printing and taking the products with me to conventions.
However, T-shirts are something I don’t want to print from home because the equipment is 1) huge, and 2) expensive. But if I DID get T-Shirts made, I wanted them on hand, again, to sell at conventions. So I’ve been on the lookout for T-shirt printers, but only in passing.
Anyway, I asked this guy if he could print T-Rex Sissy Fight T-shirts with the colors in the image.
Because here’s the thing – mass-produced T-shirts typically use screen-printing or a method of printing that only uses one or two colors. It’s easier to replicate onto fabric that way. BUT the image I have of the T-Rex Sissy Fight is not that at all. It would require a more sophisticated version of heat transferring, to transfer the image onto the fabric, which tends to get pricey.
What this dude said surprised me.
He said, “The T-Rex Sissy Fight may get more interest, because it IS nerdy, but it won’t sell. But THIS,” to which he pointed at my Dia de la Gata card, “this would be more worthwhile to pursue. You would sell the hell out of that design.”
(This card is available to purchase on Storenvy if you’re interested)
I can see where he’s coming from. When he pointed out my la Gata card as being the better T-shirt design, he was thinking of what would be easier to sell at places like Rue 21 or Wal-Mart, or other places where T-shirt designs are ubiquitous.
And yeah, la Gata would probably sell well in those kinds of markets.
But making art for t-shirts…is that what I want to do?
It’s kind of the same dilemma that hit my buddy Thom Hotka, creator of Nextuus, in this video:
There was also a piece of advice I got from my Intro to Entrepreneurship instructor when I was still in college. We were given the assignment of thinking of a business, and one of his rules was “Do NOT pitch a T-shirt company. Everyone wants to start one and the market is oversaturated with people making T-shirts in their dorm rooms. Think of something else.”
There is truth to that statement. At every convention I go to there is, at minimum, three T-shirt vendors, or people who have a main line of products who also have T-shirts. Even at small shows like Intervention Con.
Do I really want to include T-shirts in my line, given how ubiquitous they are, and how expensive they are to make and store?
I don’t know. I’m still thinking this through. Let me know what you think down in the comments.
I wanted to make this video because of two videos I saw recently: one was a person talking about Dashcon who then made a moronic autism joke, and the other was Tessa Violet’s video about make-up. How do they connect? Well, give this a watch.
Also, here are some autism advocacy groups you can support:
