August 8th,
9th, and 10th, 2003.
Otakon was great. Not fantastic, but it was certainly fun. This year, I finally got myself a small space in the Artist Alley and wound up spending nearly all of my time there. And there was, of course, our gimmick, my Mr. Neutron-sized Bunny With Sharp Pointy Teeth (Who John named Bunny-chan for some reason...) which seemed to scare away more people than it brought in. I also got to meet Ian and Matt from Mac Hall, which was really cool. I was too shy to really talk to them, but I still got a picture of Ian with the Bunny. I wish I'd gotten a Cthulhu shirt while I had the chance, though...
Also, I kept a tally throughout the con... 25 people knew who I was! XD (okay, so I lied. I double-checked and the actual tally was 20.)
On the down side, I had all of the money that I made on Friday and Saturday, which was somewhere in the realm of $200, stolen on Saturday night by a panhandler outside our hotel. I'm okay with it now, no one was hurt, I did get a lot of publicity for Fallen on those days and I did make a lot of it back on Sunday... but I was really upset at the time. And I still didn't break even. Selling was a lot of fun, though. I'm looking forward to it next year.
Anywho, on with the pictures. By the way, if anyone does not want their picture up here, please e-mail me and I'll take it down as soon as I can.
Okay, first I should share the reason that most people are probably here, the pictures of Bunny-Chan. So here's a nice little gallery I put together for your enjoyment:
Also, for anyone who doesn't want to read my report, you can check out the general photo gallery, which can be found here:
Now then, my super-crappy con-report.
On Thursday around 4 in the afternoon, John, Eric, Pez, and I left John's house, stopped by Wal-mart, bought way too much junk food, and went off on our merry way. We arrived in Baltimore around 9-ish and got onto the ungodly long line for pre-regs to get their badges. (I got the Fruits Basket badge. Teehee.)
Arriving at the con Friday
morning, this was the first
thing I saw after
stepping into the convention center. It was wonderful. I headed
straight for the artist alley and stayed there for the rest of the
morning and most of the afternoon. This
guy got a commission and
didn't pick it up. As did a group of people who asked me to do a
color picture of their "ship mascot" or whatnot.
(please e-mail
me if you want
them.) Barbara,
(on the
right) who I met at the last
Otakon, and her friend (whose name I never caught) bought my
favorite
postcards. I also met a
very charming Barf
Bag.
After leaving the artist alley, we quickly stopped by the dealer's
room. I got pictures of a fantastic
crossdresser and the
cutest
Sasami I've ever seen.
Then I bought an adorable vibrating makkurokurosuke for far more
than it was worth before heading to Mystery Anime Theatre. We got
there something like an hour and a half early to get seats. About
a half hour after we arrived, this was what the line
looked like behind us.
Also met an absolutely adorable lil
Yuna cosplayer who was
on line behind us. (the
picture turned out horribly.)
MAT3K was pretty funny-- the anime they were watching was FAR
better than last year's, the one that had the half live action/
muppet/ guy in godzilla bodysuit thing going on. And they had
Strong Bad and The Cheat dancing during the Aquaman booty dance.
On the way out, I got to see Tom
Servo.
Saturday morning, we arrived at
the convention center just in time to catch the Trigun
photo shoot.
(I still can't believe how
willing people are to make Wolfwood's
cross...) On the way to the
artist alley, we passed a Godzilla
and a bunch of buildings.
They all went down
the escalator
(I love that
picture) and put on a
little
show. Beautiful.
I met up with John and headed over to the van to get my art brick
and other art paraphernalia. Somehow I found the line
at the Starbucks subtly
ironic. On the way out, we passed the best
cosplaying group I've
ever seen. Damn, they got all the height differences and
everything. Also met a nice
butterfly. At the artist
alley, a nice person named Sarah stopped by and commissioned a $3
naked chick. Then
it was colored. (pg-13)
Captain
Planet passed by, as did
Strong
Bad.
Then John got beaten up by White Mage.
I finished up a postcard of Vash which was promptly purchased by one of the cool fanfic girls from the table next to us (I felt bad about selling him... he was so cute...), and we headed over to the masquerade and AMV awards, which were fun. Saw a badass puchu, and a guy with armor made completely out of Nintendo cartridges. Went back to the hotel and had all my money stolen. On the upside, I got to drive around in a police car.
On Sunday, I wasn't much in the mood for taking pictures. I put out a sign asking for people to buy prints from me and help me try to break even. Someone started a pile of change in front of me, which wound up being something like $3. It was nifty. A lot of people stopped by to give me encouragement or sympathy, a lot of people bought prints, and a few people bought prints for more than they were worth. I wound up making up about half of what I'd lost in only two hours. It was amazing, to say the least. There are some really good people in the world. Some time in there, I finally got up the courage to ask Ian to pose with the bunny. Which he did. (By the way, he's a really nice guy. Shy, but really sweet.) Also cajoled THE Cid (the one from the masquerade) to pose with the bunny. Finished up a postcard of Sumomo which was also promptly purchased.
On the way out of the con, someone was blowing plastic bubbles over the side of one of the balconies. It was entertaining. We passed this guy, whose costume I don't understand at all. But it was quite humorous. Also met the "Where's Tom" people who gave me some free swag in return for taking few pictures. So here they are: One, Two, Three.
Then we left. The end, that was my con-going experience in a nutshell.
I wasn't able to fit all my pictures into context in the blurb, so here's another link to the general gallery. Because I'm horribly unorganized.
First, to John for handling the bunny, scaring passers by, being a good salesman, answering the question, "oh my, god, where did you GET that rabbit?" far too many times, carrying around the unholy art brick, and most of all, being supportive.
To Becky for walking around Baltimore with me when I was nearly hysterical. And for actually coming to visit me in the artist alley. ;_;
To Pez and Eric for carting around my crap.
To Barbara (Yes! I remembered her name!) and her friend for hanging out with me, giving sympathy, and offering me food. Because I am horribly undernourished.
To the Fanfic girls next to me for loving Bunny-Chan and taking care of him. And also for quoting Monty Python and being insanely cool.
To all the fans who stopped by, THANK YOU. I love you people, you kick so much ass.
To all the fans who stopped by and were giddy to see me, you have no idea what you've done to my ego. Bad, bad fans. Please visit me next year, I love you all.
To Ian and Matt. Because I'm a stalker and I love them so very, very much. Also, many thanks to Ian for posing with the bunny.
To Joe from Eidolic Fringe for actually stopping by and chatting, which was badass.
To all the people who stopped by, gave sympathy, gave money, bought prints, and/or added to that giant random pile of change in front of me, thank you countless, countless times. I still didn't break even, but I got damned close. And it was all your fault. Thank you. And to whoever gave me the T-Rex crushed penny, I shall cherish it forever.
To Sarah and her friend for commissioning the $3 naked chicks.
To Bunny-Chan's first servant, for being obedient to the will of the bunny. And for having a very cool Ryo-ohki costume.
To everyone who stopped to have their picture taken with the bunny, whether being devoured, maimed, frightened, or just to battle or hug him.
To the people who asked for the soundtracks, I'm so sorry!
To Spam, dammit, I forgot to do a panel for you. Next year, I suppose. >_o
To Efrain, see you next year!
To Dizzy, you kick ass.
To everyone else, thanks for stopping by. It was a real ego-boost to have people buying my art, or even looking through it. I'll try to have better stuff next year.
everything here was done by aido, 2003. don't take without permission.