6 years ago, I vended at my first comic con ever. I did everything wrong, I had 6 prints of my characters and a few 8 1/2 x 11 drawings of Charmy and Frenchy. No one paid me any mind. This was when Comicpalooza was a four day show. That was the longest show I ever appeared at. Each hour felt like three hours. It did not help that my aisle was dead. There are always a few dead aisle at the bigger shows. I had two guys buy a few prints on that last day. I believe they did it to be kind actually.

I arrived early each morning of that first Comicpalooza so I could walk artist’s alley and see what everyone else was selling. I saw so much fan art at every table. I swore I would never do fan art. I am the creator of Charmy’s Army and I come ONLY to pitch my comic strip. The artists I spoke with told me that they made their money selling art and not their prints. I thought about everything I took in and made a long term game plan.

Thus began my mash up career in Artist’s Alley! People may not want to purchase a print of Charmy, but they would consider snatching a print of Charmy as Batman. I knew building an audience this way would take a very long time. Here we are six years later and I am only now seeing the success I have been working so incredibly hard for.

So far I have attended four shows this year… and for the first time ever, I have had four profitable shows in a row in a given year. The reception has been amazing. I had a show in March in New Braunfels, Texas where I have never appeared at and I had a dozen readers come out to the show just to meet me! I cannot believe how huge Charmy’s Army has become.

I grabbed a table at Comicpalooza this year at the very last minute. My corner spot was back in that dead zone I experienced six years ago. The area was even worse this time. I had no traffic to speak of and feared I had made a huge mistake getting my spot so late. Low and behold, again people came out to see my and buy art from the creator of the next big comic strip, Charmy’s Army! I was on cloud nine the entire weekend.

I cannot thank everyone enough for coming out and making my show a huge success. I love seeing the young kids who dream of being cartoonists coming out show after show to see me. I was so happy to see Frida and her dad again, They even brought Frida’s mother this time. It is awesome seeing these young kids coming in to ask for advise… and I love sharing my passion with them.

I sold a lot of art! Here are the some of the original art I sold at the show. There were more sketch cards, but I lost track of which ones I sold.

As you can see… I sold a few FAN ART pieces. Yes, I sold my soul at Comicpalooza and tried my hand at a few Fan Art pieces… which sold very quickly. I feel that I am at the point where I have proven myself, and proven that my comic strip has merit on its own, I will now be producing a limited amount of Fan Art at my shows. Money talks, lol…..

I only have THREE shows left this year. I hope to see you at one of them. I have…

Greater Austin Comic Con in Austin, TX – June 15 and 16

Bell County Comic Con in Belton, TX – Aug 3 and 4

Tyler Comic Con in Tyler, TX – November 2 and 3

-Davy

#comics #charmysarmy