Thought Bubble: An Afterthought

Quantity
I think I printed too  much of my prints. I was being overly optimistic with it, some sets had 20 or 30 copies. I only sold a handful of things and by printing so much I only increased my losses.
Next time I will do small set of between 5-10 copies at most, this will make transport easier and storage.

Pricing
The prices I gave my things were quite under priced I think my screen print was £5 and everything else was between £1-3. I think by giving them such low prices it made it obvious that I was not a professional or at least not up to the standards of the other people in the main room. I was pricing with myself in mind because normally when I go to thought bubble I only have a certain amount of money with me and so I'm very picky about what I buy and like to get lots of small cheap things. But I think that it's not really down to price, it's really about whether people like your work or not.

Presentation
The stands worked well on space saving but by being individual stands they were flimsy and easily knocked over, next time I would like to make a tiered stand that could hold multiple prints. Its a more sturdy design and the majority of table display stands were of a similar design. The price tags we used were just arrow shaped post its and I think that we should have used something sturdier, the post its fell off quite a lot and we had to stick them directly on the comics and it made people unsure on which they were allowed to pick up and purchase.

Student Life prints
These didn't sell well at all and they received little interest. I think the issue was that at first people thought that they were three different sets because they are packaged together. And then I put a little sign but it would have been clearer if I put individual stickers on them and packaged them properly. I think doing a project on being a student was a little cliché, most people have done something on being a student before. But I never considered it from a buying perspective, I don't tend to buy prints specifically aimed at student because they normally make sweeping generalisation. The idea of a student buying it seems weird now its more like a present you'd receive off some relation who doesn't know much more about you other than you are a student.

Jump
I think this was one of my most successful comics. It still didn't sell masses but more than most of my other products. I think the size caught a lot of peoples attention, mainly women. As a woman I am always drawn to things that are miniature versions, like travel shampoo and baby shoes. So I think the size added a lot of charm to the piece.
This was a comic I ended up trading with another person who was selling. I had been over to her table earlier and bought a comic but expressed great interest in a tiny comic she made about ant puns. She came over to our table and offered it up as a swap. I never realised that I could go round and offer up trades to other sellers. It was a good way to chat to people.

Procrastination
This was my favourite comic I did, I enjoyed making it and it was something everyone could relate to. Unfortunately my screen printing skills leave much to be desired and I think I butchered my design with it. But I sold two of them and they were my proudest sales. The first one paid £5 and I was really excited that someone would hand over note money for my work. The second one was on the second day though at which point I'd reduced the price to £4 in the hopes of encouraging more sales.

Ugly Simpsons
I think this piece didn't work because it had an unclear audience. The recognisable characters drew in children which I thought was great because I figured since it was only a pound a print it was within a child's price range. But a couple hours in I realised that I'd drawn Maggie holding the middle finger up. Children had been coming over interested in the Simpsons and then the parents would swoop in when they saw the obscenity. I think in future if I do any work aimed at kids I should have it in a separate section and obviously labelled so. If we have a tiered display stand next time then the things with adult references in can go at the top out of reach of children.

Amazon woman
I only sold one of these and it was to Hollie because she was sad no one bought one because it was her favourite. I think that having an illustration class around all the time we've started to appreciate work for different reasons and we see it in a design aspect. But to some one without any of that it was just a woman's face in green and purple for no apparent reason. I think my projects need a clear purpose and audience before I start  because otherwise I end up making just a random drawing, its not illustration because it illustrates nothing.

Socialising
The event was really good for making creative acquaintances, we went round and chatted to people who were selling. One guy works in Leeds and was a recent graduate, he rested our minds on certain things and says that he doesn't really have any trouble getting illustrative jobs, which is reassuring.
Our table was next to Dilraj Mann who I ended up chatting to because Hollie was still at college printing off comics when the convention started. I had been singing to myself under the assumption that no one could hear me since no one had reacted to my noise. It turned out he could hear me. The whole time. But after the initial embarrassment we had a lovely chat. It feels encouraging to have some one like him liking my work.
Kristyna Baczynski came over to our table and bought two of my comics which I was really happy about. Because most of the day people hadn't even approached our table so I'd spent most of it chatting and eating snacks continuously.
We also chatted to these american guys who had done a load of risograph prints, the layering of colours and textures in their work was highly enviable and beautiful. We chatted to them about how they started up their own studio and got their first risograph printer.
I think going around and chatting to people was the most useful thing that I did at thought bubble. It answered a lot of questions about what happens to us after uni and how hard it is to get jobs. It was also just nice making friends in the illustrative world. I like talking to the people at similar stages in their career as me because it's a fun comparison and in 1 years or so they'll be my competition and it'd be great to already have those connections.