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Liansa

susyhsi.ca | @liansa_creates
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GIF Steven Universe - Have a Great Weekend! It’s been five years since I started selling art at conventions and festivals with mrART. I thought about writing a guide for AA about what to bring or what to expect but luckily they're tons of resources for that already. So instead, I am going to write down things that people usually don’t notice or mention often. Here we go~!


Overstock Troubles

You don’t have to worry too much about stock if you are attending several events, so the amount is up to you and your budget. However! If it’s your first few years of digital art, you’ll improve greatly in a short time! So that means if you stock up too many of your first drawings, you’ll get tired of seeing them and feel like it’s wasting space on your table cause your new work will sell better. So best to start off with nothing over 10 copies an item (per event) when you are starting out.

Display It Upright

Try to have your displays propped up, not completely flat on the table or perpendicular. The shy attendees stand farther away from the table and won’t notice the things not facing the front. This will also make your table look great in photos.

Packaging Promotes Your Work

Do not roll up your posters for your customers (unless you run out of clear bags). Make sure it’s visible and if they buy two prints, place them back to back with art outwards. One of the most efficient ways to advertise your stuff around the event is having your prints carried around and people asking where your table is! Drop a business card in the bag as well.


Money Saver

School resources have been mrART’s biggest money saver. Make use of that tuition money and student account to print at school! Industry print prices are double or triple the expense. Look for button machines in student council rooms or graphics/business departments. Buy and bring your own parts to persuade them. Just be wary that button-making is always noisy so be considerate.


Sleeve/Protect Your Display Prints

This tidbit became the most prominent one this year when we noticed due to the freezing cold weather up at SFU Burnaby mountain the prints start to curl. Of course sleeving your prints also protect from humidity and the tape you use each time you put them up and tear them down.


Your Brand

First off, make a brand for yourself and your partners. A logo will always help people notice and remember your table better. It took mrART a few years and some achievements to be recognized as “that group with the dinosaur” but it worked out better than expected.

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Now I’m going to talk about deeper topics and how much the Artist Alley atmosphere has transformed from 2010 to 2015.

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Quality of Art

It’s super exciting to see digital art expand and become so detailed and groundbreaking over the years. This also means artists will feel overwhelmed and don’t know if they will ever catch up to the veterans. Try not to think this way and understand that observational skills and analyzing what your own art needs to improve on are what speeds up your development. Becoming great at producing art is not always a matter of time and talent.

Copyright

The gray area lives on. The world has slowly started being concerned about copyright issues but currently, the artist alley has been pulled both ways. Some companies encourage it for advertising but some specifically say no (it’s best just to check yourself). The important thing to know is that currently if you do not label the series the fanart is from, the AA will allow it. As good business sense, I have also been advised that if the series doesn't allow sales of fan art online, you can label it as "Convention Only". This means the product is only available in person at conventions, which will peak people's interests and save you from troubles.

Staff Involvement

Keep in mind of how the events are run by your local communities. It's great to see how events improved for the AA community. The biggest improvement has been at SFU Summer Festival and Anime Evolution where their staff members are assigned to visit tables and offer help for setup/closing and deliver bottles of water. Other conventions have improved their registration forms by adding extra comments and details for the artist’s table. So it’s great to be able to ask for tables next to friends and perhaps near stage areas if you like to party with the music. Unfortunately in the Dealer’s Area art still gets stolen without the staff checking their products. Anime Revolution has more strict checks in their Artist Alley registration.

Your Involvement

Lastly, the main reason why you join an artist alley is for the community. If you are there to make a huge profit, then honestly it’s not going to help you far along in terms of monetary gain. With all the time it takes to plan your resources, draw the art, make it happen, and sell the merchandise, you would definitely make more with a minimum wage job. It was obvious to me why I wanted to join the community, I fell in love with the atmosphere, the nerdy people and the challenge itself. So do it cause it makes you happy.
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Hi guys,

It's the start of summer con season and here is the list of artist alleys I'll be attending with MRART. The first one will be tomorrow at SFU Burnaby starting at 2pm!! 

1. Summer Festival June 18th (free admission)
www.sfusummerfestival.com/

2. MiniComi July 16th (free admission)
www.minicomivancouver.org/

3. Anime Evolution August 19-21th (Tickets online)
www.animeevolution.com/

It's been five years since our artist group was created! I will be posting a guideline for artist alley newbies in hopes to help out the deviantart community. Look forward to it!
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Facebook | Tumblr | Livestream

Hi fellow deviants,

There’s a few things I want to let people know about, the first thing is that I am starting a facebook page. I’ve had the link ready for a while but I never got around to starting it up. I hope this helps me be more connected. This will be used to announce the time of my livestreams. I also moved my livestreams to Picarto which has an option to send an email notification whenever I start the stream.

www.facebook.com/liansa.ca/

picarto.tv/liansa

I find it hard to post things as I mentioned before in my comic but I still want to try. Even for deviantart I felt like I had problems keeping up with posting art but I’ve come a long way and I can see now it does come together eventually.

Another year has passed and that means I will be raising my commissions prices again by a few dollars. Please understand that the CAD currency is falling behind so I’ll need to adjust it accordingly.

During this fall, I didn’t have a computer for awhile, probably for a month and a half. I spent a lot of time drawing on paper so I’ll be submitting some inktober drawings later this week.

I’m officially quitting my part-time teaching job. For the past year I have been teaching art lessons at a daycare and I think I saved enough to go look for something closer to my dream job. I spent 2015 getting connected to people rather than focusing on career. And it was worth it. I like to keep in mind that I should ignore the cultural stigma of not working full time. Afterall, there’s no point in letting anyone decide on what makes you happy. Just remember to give more and expect less.

Happy New Years~!




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Donations are a great way to help me keep drawing. I'm grateful for any amount.
Thank you so much!

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Whether it's an art block or you're just having a bad time creating, these are the things we artists need to deal with often. There's a huge mix of feelings that I had to deal with over the years and I want to share some things that helped me get through them.

Analyzing Outside of Practicing

This one is a bit obvious, but it needs to be said. Even when you are not creating something, you should be taking in things around you. Note things that will help inspire you later. When I'm watching an anime, I can't help but pause and take a screenshot of what makes my jaw drop. Usually, it's background art, so that's how I realized I would have a passion for becoming a background artist. Figuring out what you respond to is a great way to find what you're passionate about and inspired to learn about.

The Pit Fall

The sudden feeling of being too depressed to continue your art is probably the hardest hurdle for an artist. You feel like your art will never amount to something you admire or hope to achieve. You start judging your art. But don't worry, it's actually a good thing. It means your taste in art is growing. You have low self-esteem because you are criticizing yourself that it should be better. That means you are analyzing yourself and reflecting more, which is good. Here is a video that words this perfectly and I enjoy sharing it because it really helps when I'm down: youtu.be/E1oZhEIrer4

Do Something You Don't Normally Do

This doesn't mean you have to dive out of your comfort zone and try something you've never tried before. You can start comfortably with your usual topic of choice but then once you start your thought process of drawing it, try approaching it differently. For example, if I was drawing windows, I immediately think of square ones. Therefore I will try not to draw any of the windows squared. Try naming the first few things you think of when you draw a window and do none of those things. I think of "straight, squared, gleaming". Then I would draw windows that relate to none of those words. I would try drawing warped, dusty, and cracked windows.

Improving Something Else


If you're having an art block and you already tried drawing anything to keep going but it's not working, then try this. Pick something else in your life that you want to improve in. This could be something simple, like brushing your teeth more thoroughly so it improves your hygiene. Or it could be something that takes more time, like learning to cook something delicious. Just set your mind to improve something else for you. Once you've done it, you'll feel more satisfied and determined. This will naturally help you want to get better in other aspects. It relieves some of the pressure from trying to conquer your art block. Then go back and enjoy some time drawing again.

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I hope this list will be of help for someone. I still think of myself as a beginner artist even though I've been working with digital art for five years now. It is always easier to keep drawing when you take a look back and enjoy your own art. I don't have problems with hating my art because sometimes I still can't believe how far I've gone and it amazes me. So it pains me to see someone hate their own art. Remember to enjoy the time you spend doing something you love and God bless.
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Life After Grad

5 min read
Facebook | Tumblr | Livestream

This is an update of what I've been up to this year.

In January, I participated in the Global Game Jam and made a visual novel with two other amazing girls. We were the only full female group at the Vancouver site so I'm glad we represented! I was the background artist and secondary programmer. We had three days and two nights to come up with a concept and create the assets on site.

(Full details and gameplay available here:
globalgamejam.org/2015/games/y…)

I thought this was a crazy way to challenge myself at the beginning of the year and it was definitely worth the experience.

I mentioned I graduated last year and will be looking for jobs at game design and
cartoon studios. However that's not completely true.

I started looking at my options and even wrote up some cover letters and made my portfolio but I haven't actually applied for anywhere. "Lazy!" is what people would think, but I have my reasons. But the people who know me in person, and especially those who have worked with me, "laziness" is far from how I carry myself in life.

One of my reasons is that I am working towards a dream of mine. It's an old dream I've had since high school. The dream is to sell my art at a large anime convention. I want to accomplish this dream before I work towards my long term goal of being part of a studio to work on a long term series. This is going to possible this year since our artist table group won the mascot contest and was awarded two full tables at the longest-running anime convention in Vancouver, Anime Evolution. But that also means my dream just took a huge shortcut and I need to dedicate my time in making enough art to sell.

I remind myself to have a clear direction of where I want to go. I don't like planning 
ahead, but I know what I am aiming for. And that makes me happy.

So after graduation, and I have no job? Right now I am working part-time job and I get commissioned once in awhile. My part-time job is teaching kids how to draw at a
daycare. Half the time I have to teach the kids how to apply English. The hours are short so I am living from paycheck to paycheck but I am comfortable with that. I noticed I have acquired a great skill from teaching kids, whenever they get rowdy and accidentally injure my toes, I can smile it off and they quickly apologize. However if they injure my hands, I am less forgiving and give them the death stare hehe.

My health has seen better days.. three days ago I experienced vertigo for the first time. I think it was due to straining my neck from drawing. It's a type of dizziness where the room was spinning continuously and rapidly even though I was lying down and not moving. It lasted for about half an hour and when I closed my eyes it felt extremely uncomfortable. Since I am highly sensitive to motion sickness, this meant a huge kick to my stomach and a brick in my head type of feeling. I am still trying to recover. When I lie down, I feel nausea and once every few hours I get a huge headache. Now I know what vertigo is and I hope this doesn't happen again anytime soon.

The relationships in my life are amazing, two best girlfriends, tons of close friends who
never judge, and a loving boyfriend. I really can't imagine how I can function without
them. My family is also well but I rarely see them, so I need to work on that.

That's what I have going for my life, I hope my fellow deviants are working towards a better life for themselves as well.

Cheers and have a great day~

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Donations are a great way to help me keep drawing. I'm grateful for any amount.
Thank you so much!

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Featured

Artist Alley Tidbits and Deeper Topics by Liansa, journal

Artist Alley Announcements by Liansa, journal

Life Update + New Links by Liansa, journal

When You Feel Uncreative or Uninspired by Liansa, journal

Life After Grad by Liansa, journal