...That's what I want to say (in a gradually more silly, and sarcastic yet somehow still somewhat genuine sort of way-- if that makes any sense). Yet even with all those superfluous exclamation marks and the overtly zealous capitalization, it just doesn't do justice to just how much of an impact this experience has actually had on me as both an individual and a creator, and what this all could mean for my artistic career in the near future.
Check it out--above is a picture of my table setup and background display pre-floor opening on Saturday-- everything looks pretty darn sweet (if I may say so myself), except for the fact that I practically look about as strange and socially awkward as I actually am. *sigh*
Honest to god, I had a lot of fun.
The con itself-- the 30,000+ attendees, the setting, the environment-- just the overall atmosphere was a flared up contagion of bubbling excitement and non-stop geek adrenaline. Despite how awesome it all was, the months leading up to this point, and even the two days spent at the show itself, were cram-packed with seemingly insurmountable quantities of craziness and infinite obstacles to overcome.
My stress levels were off the charts-- but I wouldn't have changed it for anything.
Each day I got to talk to and interact with people who not only were excited about my work and the connections they made to it, but had more questions, suggestions, and compliments than I have pokemon cards (...which happens to be a LOT, OK?!? It's not weird...Stop judging me).
I also had a lot of people stop by and ask to take pictures of my booth-- which I was happy to oblige. I even got to see some tweets of my work on Twitter, which you can check out there on my Twitter page.
I met someone who bought a print of my princess peach collage from the stain glass window of the castle in Super Mario 64, went home and framed it, then came back to show me a picture of my framed print the next day. One woman recognized my "Skin Deep" artwork (above) from when it was on exhibit at Linn-Benton Community College and came over to tell me how excited she was to see it at the con-- and that she couldn't wait to follow me on Twitter. I got to watch multiple people catch sight of my Jurassic Park lunch boxes (which sold out, by the way-- *wink* *wink*) and custom-painted Star Wars action figures, and witness the exact moment that pure nostalgic excitement overcame their entire faces in the form of this fantastic, excited grin, again and again.
Every time someone saw a print that made them smile automatically or got genuinely excited about something they saw at my table, my heart just about burst. Every. Single. Time.
That's when it hit me. I like this. I like this a lot.
Maybe... ... .... ....Maybe I should do this again.
...
...
...
Only this time take pictures. Lots and lots of pictures. Because somehow I forgot to photographically document my first con as a vendor...Who does that?!?
...But I did manage to somehow get a photograph of this cosplayer dressed as Foxy from Scott Cawthon's Five Nights at Freddy's. So maybe not all was lost?
I learned A LOT from this con, and frankly, I'll probably make an entire post dedicated to that a little later on. Something along the lines of what NOT to do when headed to your first con-- complete with tips and advice from my experience. I'm headed to the Vancouver Toy Junkies show tomorrow, so expect a cool post about that too--I was going to suggest you check out my old post about it, but apparently I never actually got around to posting it. This girl has GOT to get organized.
On one last note, I'm seriously considering making prints of my artwork available online. So if you're interested, make sure I know! Your comment could be the deciding factor in my decision, after all. Leave it here, tweet it at me, draw a fanart of the Foxy above with a hidden message-- or something.
Sooooooo, while I take care of figuring out what's next for me and organizing my social media life, enjoy my awkward "End-of-Rose-City-Comic-Con, Trying-to-take-a-selfie-without-looking-like-that's-what-I'm-doing," selfie:
And that's a wrap! See y'all on the flipside, lovelies!
Krystal Dawn
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