lauragarabedian

So! I have been out of town for a full week now, and it was just what I needed!  The purpose of the trip was to hit up FAUnited, but to keep airfare cheap and because I really wanted to, I built a couple days on either side to see family.  The family time and getting to relax in PA was just what the doctor called for.

FA United was a great little con. I do emphasize the little bit. Pretty tiny little thing, with a proportionally sized dealers room. But the people were fantastic, both the artists and the general con-goers. I only had good things to say about the dealers room guard guy 'Kittens' who was super sweet and helpful. The last day had a minor run-in with con staff when they tried to charge my aunt more than the reg price on the site, which was strange because they said they 'raised it for the last day'. After she argued that there were just a few hours left and it never said anything like that on the site she got in for the right price, but, that was very strange.  She generally enjoyed the con, and it was nice to hang out with her/have someone else at my table so I didn't feel guilty walking around.  LOVED hanging out with all the super sweet and cool artists, made homework night so much more fun and interesting. So all was well on that front. Also had great neighbors, so that was fab!

In terms of personal vacation, well having that time to catch up with my grandmother, an uncle, and various aunts was so nice. Had been two years since I had seen my uncle, a bit less for the rest, and am looking forward to catching up with them again when I drive up for AC.  I got a chance to see my aunts beautiful garden, have lots of good food (cannolis, and hoagies, and scrapple, oh my!) and brought back TastyKakes for my brother and I.  Just overall beautiful, soaked in the gorgeous green of the east coast and breathed in the fresh damp air.  I am so incredibly jealous of all the STUFF that grows up there, my aunt gave me quite a few seeds from her garden (various columbines, wood poppy, bleeding heart, and helleborus) in hopes that it will grow down here.  We talked veg gardening a bit (as that is my primary gardening experience), and really I just enjoyed myself.  

This was the relaxing trip that I think I really needed. I had a lot of alone time to just be, most of my commissions were at a good spot to set down while I left so I could do some work, and overall I really enjoyed myself. I look forward to heading back up there in the fall.

Soes.
Wow.
I mean, just wow.

Texas Furry Fiesta, you totally just rocked. A HUGE thank you to all the staff/volunteers etc who made that event possible.  You were SUPER helpful, ever so sweet and kind and just generally amazing. So again, just thanks thanks thanks.

I rather liked what I did about good/bad/learned thingy so I'm doing that again.

We'll start with the bad (why? because there was hardly ANY of it and none of it was the cons fault and yeah - want to end with the good and the learning)

Couple of uncomfortable people who assumed since they watched me online we were like BFF's - made me a little squirmy
I'm a great big dummy head and kept leaving important things at home *D'OH!* the perils of a local con is that I am worse about keeping my S**T together and making sure everything is packed properly
A-KON Reg was Sunday night so I couldn't hang out after the con/packed up a little early
Hmmm only thing I Maaaaay have changed is the times on friday seemed a bit odd (in that it opened rather earlier than I expected and didn't stay open as late - since people are coming in from work etc) a few artists went over to do work in the alley, but as I'm local I was having a problem justifying that
To that regard also sad I missed having dinner with the group that went to Peruvian, just couldn't do it do to scheduling etc.
Didn't sell anything in the art show (but whatever, I rarely do)

SEEE! Not many bad things at all!!
The Good!!!
The staff was FANTASTIC! Just lovely people all around who were super helpful and even had a scanner setup so some of the badges I really liked doing got scanned in :) Didn't get a chance to get them all done but that was super sweet to offer that service
The People! Dude - this was one of the more friendly cons - I thought I remembered that from last year, but definitely confirmed, so many awesome people who took the time to say hi and that they liked my work - less people that just did the glance and give you and odd look (which always seems a bit awkward I haven't deciphered that look yet)
Got a chance to have dinner with the lovely Kyell Gold and Kit Silver, and meet the fantastic Mitti - that was just such a blast, I am so glad to have had a chance to hang out with you all.
Met and talked food with a lovely commissioner, that was super fun and I can't wait to find the recipes later
Was RECOGNIZED by people -*blushes* I mean this is my first repeat con so that was just really cool, lots of people who remembered me from last year
I finally made enough at a con to justify actually buying something for myself at the con - Got a book from Kyell :) super fun
This con was the best by far that I have been to, so I am super excited about that, the size was right the vibe was excited but not uber-excited-oncrack like they can get, the fursuit parade came right by - which was kind of cool  - I never leave from behind my table so wow, fun! (and mad shout out to whoever was in the Beautiful Plague Doctor costume - just lovely work)

The Learning things
Learned that I need to bring more treecreature prints :) Which is awesome! Thanks guys!
My mugs sell pretty well, I will probably always stock five designs or so, but as a reminder I can ship ;) can't stock too many - breakable, take up a lot of space, and everyone has their own idea about what design they want, but the chicken and tea, cheshire and tea, and treecreatures are pretty good (and dragon librarian was quite popular)
TFF sold more bunnies than any other con - interesting - tribal and otherwise, people wanted their bunnies!
My steampunky owl needs more product :)


And the 'list' - this is everyone that I have down that has CUSTOM work and it is in order of payment (so workload as well)

Asurea - Full Body Dragon Badge
Ceolan - Bust Cu Sith Badge (sorry don't know how to do all the fun things on letters here)
Coyo  - Watercolor sketch with three char
QuickKyk - Watercolor Sketch of Coyote and fire
De_Sade - Cheetah Full Body Badge
James Swift - Bust Badge dragon
Cometfox - Bust Badge Dark Red Fox
Niku & Indu - 2 badges TBD
Glacier - Bust Badge with Sharp ink linework


SideNote List- (everyone who ordered product that needed shipping)

Xia - Shiba Inu Magnet
Glacier - Keychain with Red Dragon
Kyle - Tribal Fox Die Cut Magnet
Araya - Dragon Librarians on a Mug
SveeMon - Red Dragon Magnet to ship elsewhere as a gift

IF you ordered something and don't see yourself on either list let me know - I will double check receipts


But seriously.

Best.
Con.
Ever.

Made me have much more faith in what I'm doing and that maybe, just maybe, I can make a living doing this. Thank you all.

Soes I promised a report...

Before-Con Adventures.
Well as most of you probably know, I took the opportunity of going to CO as an excuse to visit a dear friend who moved up there. Unfortunately didn't get as much done (work or play wise) as I would hope due to her BF's grumpiness. But did get to have some adventures... Two hikes, one up grizzly creek, which resulted in some sweet photos, the sighting of a dipper bird, a trout tinier than my pinky nail, and a snake. And one hike up the VERY STEEP mountain behind her house, which resulted in the finding of MANY bones. Unfortunately most were too old (i.e. crumbling) or too new (i.e. still covered in fur/hair/sinew) for me to take home.
Also did a really nice trail ride for about 18 miles on her horses in the park by rifle canyon, which was pretty awesome. Also resulted in fantastic photos, of aspens, of horses, of a bird of prey as yet unidentified, and me nearly loosing myself and my very nice camera into a morass of mud when my horse misstepped and went into the mud up to his belly. Wheeeeee....
Sooooes took a ton of pics, still sorting through and figuring out where to upload...

Then drove to Denver, with a side trip to Mount Evans which is the highest scenic byway in the US at 14,000 ft. So cool. I remember doing that trip with my parents as a kid and loving it. We used to ALWAYS see bighorn sheep, and occasionally mountain goats. So that was the goal. Which was not realized. By the time I made it to the top it had started sleeting so I turned around and went back down. My various pulloffs got photos of fantastic scenery, lots of atmospheric perspecitve, marmots, pikas, chipmunks, and woodpeckers.

Then into Denver!
And the people I was going to stay with ended up still out of town so I stayed at a Super 8 - which was okay, but I realized I accidentally left my favorite down pillow there so I am a bit bummed... and the room was rather overpriced for what it was.
Then the con started!
Got there at 8
way before staff was ready for me, oops! But they were SUPER COOL! Mad props to the con staff and volunteery people for just being awesome. Got set up. Realized I had a 1/2 table not a full table (oops) felt all squishy as the other 1/2 table was a group of two people.
BTW - 3 people PLUS con gear do not fit well behind one table. Oh well. They were cool.
Cool things that happened at/because of the con.
Got to stay with a family that is basically like second family to me that I hadn't seen in years.
Met the fantastic   wolf-nymph   wintersoul   vantid   kitewanderlust and more that I haven't found you on FA yet so apologies. All of whom are not only great artists but fantastic people too. So if they aren't on your watchlist go look them up.
Got a chance to chat with the fantastic guys from Sofawolf, and even made them some badges, hope they like them, I was pretty darn pleased. BTW I LOVE doing couples badges, and they tend to get a bit involved just because I LIKE THEM! Anyhow.
Chatted with Heather Bruton quite a bit, and Dark Natasha. Love those ladies, wish we had more time to hang out.
Got to GO TO THE ZOO WITH ARTISTS. Rocking hells ya. Love it. TONS OF PICS - Ladies who went with me, if you want copies let me know where to send them.

The bad/indifferent/weird
There was a moment of panic when it was thought an artists money bag was lost. It was found, life was good.
Thou shalt not steal thy neighbors customers. I'm just saying. It's rude.
Had a couple foot in mouth moments that I rather regret. I swear I didn't mean them how they came out, so if you think I said something mean, I apologize I don't always speak well - especially when I am exhausted at cons and getting odd questions when I am trying to get details from another customer. I really am a nice person though I SWEAR. Or I try to be :( I hope I didn't hurt anyones feelings.

As always a HUGE thanks to everyone who helped me out at a con, either financially by getting prints/commissions/etc, or by being sweet chipper people who take the time to stop and say hi. You all rock.

Drive back was long.
I almost cried when the mountains disappeared. The rockies will always be my home I think. It is my goal to move either to CO (preferably) or Northern NM/Western PA in the next year, at most year and a half. I NEED the topography. It makes me calm and happy.

Now, I need to get back to my commissions.
BTW - Next Con I hit will be OKLACON - I hope I will see you ALL there!

Post Con Report for AC2010

In short... People are made of WIN Sales were full of fail.

Lets get the bad over first.  Didn't sell anything in the art show.  Magnets and ACEO's went over very well.  Slow commissions and slow print sales.  This seems to be an across the board thing.  Urusula Vernon, and a lot of big names had the same problem.  I was told to please not judge AC on this show, so I won't.  Sales were down by half for many big names.  So I will probably be back next year and try try again. So much for this being the biggest con of the year.  I barely broke even.

BUT IT WAS WORTH IT!

I got a chance to hang out with Ursula Redwombatstudio.com , Kevin sonney.com , and Myenia http://www.myenia-art.com/ (who I had met before) and met a plethora of artists who are FULL of amazing.  You should go check out their work.  Jennie http://thedevilspanties.com/ , Mel http://www.missmonster.com/ , Lizardbeth http://www.lizardbeth.net/ , Spunkywolf http://toonapalooza.net/ , Foxfeather http://foxloft.com and her hubby, Heather http://www.heatherbruton.com/ , and a lovely artist who makes fantastic resin cats and I can't remember her name so if you know her you should tell me so I can add her to the list of amazing people here.  And I KNOW I probably forgot some people.  I'm sorry! It was a long weekend running on virtually no sleep (as are all conventions) so... comment/note me if you feel left out!

Myenia and I truly lucked out on roommates too.  They were just awesome.  Turns out I already knew one already.  I'll put your names/links down if you want ladies, I just feel funny putting out info unless peeps are artists ('cause then I'm plugging their art, and I know all artists are fantastically happy about that).  And the suits of one roommate?  Fantastic!  Just stunning.  Clockwork Creatures truly makes some works of ART.  It is the same company that made another friends suit (you know who you are my friend).

Oh and I got to meet James Gurney http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/ the artist of the awe inspiring Dinotopia books.  Bought a fantastic book on creating Illustration from Imagination and got a chance to ask a few questions I had in regards to scanning art.

Little bit of trip info.
For those of you that didn't know we (my boyfriend and I) drove to AC (which is in Pittsburgh).
From Dallas.
With a stop in Philly.
Ehm. This is over 24 hours in a car.
If I never sit in a car again, it will be too soon.
Unfortunately I still need to drive back.

So here is how the travels went.
We were supposed to leave on Tuesday, and my boyfriends boss came home a day early so we got to drive leave Monday.  So we left north Dallas at 11pm Monday.  Took a break in Arkansas for a 2 hour nap and continued on to Bowling Green Kentucky.  Where we stopped at the Lost River Cave and rode on a boat on a underground river, which was REALLY cool.  That was definitely worth the stop and leg stretch.  Apparently back in the 30's the opening to the cave (being one of the largest in the world) was host to a nightclub.  And people in their tuxedos and long dresses made their way down over a hundred feet of treacherous stairs carved into the side of the canyon down to the 'club' which was a roofed in part of the cave (so they didn't get dripped on) to dance.  And then walked back up after dancing and drinking all night.  I wish that was still active, be awesome to go swing dancing in a cave!
Meanwhile I had called my relatives in Philly and managed to get in touch with them.  So we navigated on to Philly.  Long leg of a trip that was.  We again, took a 2 hour nap break and kept on trucking.  Spend a full day in Philly with my grandmother and a couple of aunts and a cousin, which was lovely! I hadn't seen them in about 3 years, so that was fantastic.
Then on to AC!  Another 6 hours in the car, but through western PA, which is really just stunning land.  Got to see lots of horses and buggies as we passed through Amish country, and big draft mules helping till the land.
3 Days in Pittsburgh, which was a fantastic city full of great people and delicious food.
And then the drive out to Marion Ohio, where I will be until Saturday as my boyfriend competes in the Disc Golf World Tournaments in Advanced Amateur.

Soes! That is how it goes.  AC2010 was fun and a lovely convention, I loved that I got to hang out with so many great people, and got to see my relatives, and now I am enjoying the lovely temperatures of mid-Ohio.

So, updates will be sporadic until I get home, but thanks again to everyone who helped me out at AC, the artists, the lovely commissioners (you know who you are) and my fantastic roomies.

Laters!
~L