Something is stirring in Artist Alley.

As with every other aspect of the comics business, selling art in Artist Alley has become a lot bigger deal with the increasing number of comics conventions. We’ve all seen the gradually rising banks of prints and sketches poking up, like real estate development gone bad. It wouldn’t be so bad except that usually the higher the display, the crappier the art. A whole niche business in the comics world has risen up: making prints of familiar characters, sometimes with funny slogans or crossover humor — a Hobbit wearing a stormtrooper’s helmet — and selling them. The giant displays usually consist of rows and rows of prints on 8 1/2 x 11″ paper, just xeroxes of little more than doodles. And yet people make a lot of money selling these prints; for some it’s thousands of dollars a show. Multiply that by a convention every weekend and you have a pretty good income.

Some of the art is ok, some if crappy and some is just ripping off other people’s ideas and images. And the real artists of the alley are getting fed up with it.

A few weeks ago artist Aldrin Aw, universally known as Buzz, got angry while he was tabling at Wizard World Minneapolis when he saw one of these vendors passing off Simone Bianchi’s work as his own, and worked with convention organizer to get the artist removed from Artist Alley. This artist, Tim Lundgren, went on to to remove his Etsy page but not before calling Buzz some names. The story of Buzz shutting down the ripoff artist went viral and has sparked a much larger conversation about what to do about these ripoff vendors. Today on his FB page Buzz called for a movement:

“Bring Artists back into Artist Alleys” Enough is enough with these print vendors occupying Artist Alleys! To Show organizers, please do not sell table space to print vendors disguised as artists. They are robbing you of actual artists appearing at your shows, they are also bamboozling you and not paying for a vendor’s booth. IF THEY ARE NOT THE PERSON WHO CREATED THE IMAGES BEING SOLD,THEY DO NOT BELONG IN ARTIST ALLEY.

The experience of going to an Artist Alley is not just about buying prints, it’s about meeting the person who created the art you are buying, talking to them, getting autographs, and perhaps if you are a budding artist, getting some inspiration or advice in how to become a better artist. Most importantly, YOU ARE DIRECTLY SUPPORTING THE ARTIST.

And please separate crafters from the rest of the Alley! A comic book artist should not be setup next to a table selling tchotchkes! To my Fellow Artists, Demand that the show organizers do not place print vendors in the alley. Make a stand, do not appear at shows that sell Artist Alley tables to vendors. And if you cannot attend the show yourself DO NOT HAVE A TABLE SELLING YOUR ART IN THE ALLEY. I don’t fucking care how famous you are, if you are not at the show,your wares should be sold in vendor area.

MAKE ARTIST ALLEY “ARTISTIC” AGAIN! #‎OccupyArtistAlley.



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Gail Simone also had some witter words about this yesterday:

Okay, we have to talk about these jerks at cons who take REAL artists' work, photoshop in some splatter, and sell it as their own. — Gail Simone (@GailSimone) June 9, 2016

These people aren't artists, they're douchebags. They never ever give credit or compensation, they are lying to rubes. — Gail Simone (@GailSimone) June 9, 2016

They claim this is their work, they rip off actual artists, and they are taking advantage of people who don't know any better. — Gail Simone (@GailSimone) June 9, 2016

In short, there are massive stinky buttholes and they don't belong in Artists Alleys. — Gail Simone (@GailSimone) June 9, 2016

Taking money from REAL artists without credit. Screw these people. I am confronting them every time I see one now. https://t.co/FgHQHba88Y — Gail Simone (@GailSimone) June 9, 2016

My artist friends dedicate their whole lives to developing their skills and style. Some douche with photoshop passes it off as theirs. NO. — Gail Simone (@GailSimone) June 9, 2016

I don't blame cons for not knowing in advance. But once someone shows up doing this once, that info needs to be shared. — Gail Simone (@GailSimone) June 9, 2016

I saw a Francis Manupal piece of art that someone did that to & was selling it for $100 such a travesty & they removed his name — TweetsByMe (@PraneelNSingh) June 9, 2016

Cons should kick them out. How a con handles these people is going to be a BIG DEAL to me in the future. https://t.co/Jc0dYFmymQ — Gail Simone (@GailSimone) June 9, 2016

You don't have to confront them. Tell the con, go online, document it. Let's get rid of these creeps. https://t.co/c1XgjVU0Kc — Gail Simone (@GailSimone) June 9, 2016

I’ve been making a bit of a study of this phenomenon on my recent con travels. While I didn’t spot any overt rip off artists at Awesome Con, there were certainly a lot of people selling home made prints of varying quality. I’ve talked to the pros about it, and a lot of them just roll their eyes at the phenomenon. I suppose when you’re a Bill Sienkiewicz your art sales aren’t really going to be impacted by someone selling xeroxes next door. But for people on a more marginal part of the business it can have an impact. The way displays are getting higher and higher is definitely pissing off some exhibitors, but an uneasy truce seems to reign in the normally non confrontational world of comics. Still, I’m amazed that so many people spend $15 for these shoddy prints. What do they even DO with them? How do they have wall space?

At WonderCon in March I talked to these two fellows. they are certainly not the kind of total swipe artists that Buzz wrote about. Andrew Day does storyboards (including those great Mayhem ads!) and comics. Caleb King has his own webcomic. But they admitted that their vertical banners were a way to stand out in the crowd. Day told me that he’d tried doing his own indie comics but after not making much progress with his own creations, it was just easier to draw Superman and Batman and make money that way. They seemed like decent folk who had just adapted to find a way to make money in the great travelling circus of con.I guess for a lot of people it’s that simple: it’s the path of least resistance in a market that doesn’t always prize originality.I’d like to think that consumers are intelligent enough to tell the difference between the original artist and a ripoff, but that obviously isn’t the case, and some policing by the authorities — or maybe just the formidable Buzz — is necessary.As for the height restrictions, most shows have a cap of 10 or 12 feet for displays. A lot of people go over that, but rarely get complaints and so the high rises stay. Once again, until there’s a crack down, the building boom will continue.

The Artist Alleys of the convention circuit have become a strange, marvelous little society all their own. For many real artists, it’s the only way to make a living in a business where steady page rates are only for the 1%. For working cartoonists, it’s a key supplemental income. (Theres one artist, Mike McKone, who actually doesn’t have a permanent address but wanders from show to show, selling art. He’s been doing this for an impressive three years.) For shows it’s a lively, colorful draw that also helps pay for exhibit space. For fans it’s a special opportunity to talk to creators they admire and pick up one of a kind art and collectibles. Overall, it’s a pretty wonderful thing. With a little pruning here and there it will stay wonderful.