ok I've got the table, how do I get people to come over!?

      Wondering what's a good approach to get people to come to your table? Are you bored with no customers? Are you some kind of shy quiet artist person!?? Well hopefully this very insightful blog post will help you get some people attracted to your table..

      ok so first of all, you might want to have a nice pretty display. Nothing too bulky but not too plain either. If you refer to the pictures page up there you can see our table both years at Castle Point Anime Convention. Here's a link for you. Pictures  If you looked, you can see that the first year we had a bland table, sure it had some posters hanging up but it just looked boring :(
The next year we went we had the right idea, those stackable cube things are really great! Although we kind of overdid it and it looked kind of cluttered. It's up to you what you want to do but in my opinion you want to have those cool stacking things, probably two towers on each side and only put up your best work or work that you can see well from far away!



     Well ok so you've got your table set nice and pretty, but you're still not getting that many customers... what now?

    A good way to draw people over is to be active at your table. If you're going to do commissions all day then you won't seem very active, or friendly to some people. You might want to bring a friend along that can stand up behind or in front of the table and greet people, and socialize.

   When we went to the convention this year I wore a Princess Peach cosplay and Joao dawned a Mario hat. I decided to stand out in front of the table (not blocking the artwork of course) and wave and smile at people. Ah, just like royalty :) well needless to say I got a lot of pictures, and those people who took the photos of me then took a look at our wares. Anyone that walked by our table I would say hello to them.
It's also fun to call out the name of a character someone else might be cosplaying.
So if you see Morrigan walking past your table, don't just stand there gawking, yell out something like, "hey it's Morrigan! Morrigan come over here and kick my ass!" The person cosplaying might not come to your table straight away but they'll see you and your table, and probably stop over later if not at that moment.

      If you're shy, cosplaying can also make you feel more self assured. You're not simply putting on a costume, sure you might look silly but you'll also FEEL like the character you're wearing. Most cosplayers know this feeling. Therefore when I had a princess Peach dress and crown on, I felt like I could reach out to people especially other cosplayers. Because I was a famous character that everyone knew. So if no one knows who you are personally, they'll know the character you're portraying and feel closer to you!

    If you're not comfortable with cosplaying, at least dress to impress. No don't show up wearing a prom dress or tux, just put on your coolest most badass clothes B) or at least wear a funny shirt or something.. and if you don't want to stand out in front of the table, try standing up behind the table or if you sit down, do something like tidy up the table cuz a lot of stuff will be getting shuffled around anyway.

     So what have we learned? if you want to draw more people to your table stand up and shuffle around or pretend to be doing something. Try to cosplay as a known character, but still a character you like, or bring someone who is cosplaying so you can show em off in front of the table. Dress in cool clothes if you're not going to cosplay and remember to HAVE FUN!! I think that there's nothing better than just chilling in the alley, talking to other artists and whatever cool people show up at your table. and of course the best part, when someone buys your art because they genuinely love it :)