AA Prints! Artists I need advice!

[Malocide]

As an Artist I am asking. For this cons AA and other cons.

Are they worth it to sell ? Where do you buy them to sell? What sizes sell best?

Any and all help or redirection would be helpful!

[Hachimitsu]

uhm do you mean the AA prints that you see from the book pamphlete? or other artists who work hard and print themselves out and sell them?

[phr34kish]

And are you asking as purely a customer? Or do you plan on getting an AA table this year? Your question was kindof cryptic. ;)

[Malocide]

Sorry as a artist. Let me fix that.

[Hachimitsu]

normally alot of people just go on websites and make prints and such for over 25 images with their artworks labeling at 11 x 17 (standard poster size)

I just go to Officemax and buy a small certain amount of prints...like 10-15 copies.. because i don't know what their interests if they are liking my work!


just curious can I see your work? (please PM me your works.. kinda interested on what you have)

[Malocide]

None of my print work is online yet Its hand drawn stuff I am reprinting. I will scan some up later when I have time. My other work is on my deviant but that is not any of my drawings to print.

[Hachimitsu]

None of my print work is online yet Its hand drawn stuff I am reprinting. I will scan some up later when I have time. My other work is on my deviant but that is not any of my drawings to print.

okay, well whenever you got the chance...

[phr34kish]

None of my print work is online yet Its hand drawn stuff I am reprinting. I will scan some up later when I have time. My other work is on my deviant but that is not any of my drawings to print.

Keep in mind you need to scan your work and have an online gallery for review before you apply for AA. Part of the registration process is an evaluation of your "portfolio". :)

[chibimonster]

None of my print work is online yet Its hand drawn stuff I am reprinting. I will scan some up later when I have time. My other work is on my deviant but that is not any of my drawings to print.

If you're scanning, make sure your art converts well to CMYK. Sometimes I find that my scanner (which is kinda cheap) messes up the colors.

As for getting prints, I heard that Costco actually makes really good prints - they use inkjet printers, which I personally prefer over laser printers. However, I've had great success with Office Max. All the stuff I've gotten there has turned out really well. However they don't have good deals for smaller prints like 5x7, so I'll usually stick two of them onto one 8x10 sized document and cut them apart later. Also once you get bigger than 11x17, printing at Office max gets really expensive.

I sell 8x10 and 5x7 prints, and I find that the 5x7s sell a lot better.

If your work is hand-drawn, perhaps you could consider doing commissions as well. I have a friend who went to AOD last year and did nothing but commissions (in watercolor, in fact!). She made $80 in one day, which is a lot for a small con.

[Malocide]

Commissions are a for sure. I will check out office max and compare to Fed EX Office.

I finally put up some of m possible prints there on my DA under AA stuff.

[unicorn_lord]

http://www.iprintfromhome.com/
works very well for smaller prints. Just remember to give your order enough time.

Also
http://www.shortrunposters.com/
for posters.

[HyottokoProductions]

If you happen to be a San Jose local, you can visit my print shop. I do a few prints for artists from time to time along with my own prints for Fanime.

Here's the link if you want to take a peek. If you checked out last year's artist alley, you might recognize us.

http://www.hyottokoproductions.com/

[Malocide]

I totally remember you guys! I would like to know your pricing and if you do scans of the work or if I must bring in by USB? Should I email you?

[HyottokoProductions]

Pricing depends on the paper you wish to print on--its cheaper to print on matte than say glossy. Artists tend to ask quite often which is the best paper to print on. It really depends on the actual artwork. Very solid colors, like vector-style artworks, look best on glossy. On the other hand, artwork with lots of contrasting colors and transitions look best on matte.

Matte is typically within the $3 range, while glossy is in the $4 range per print for a 11 x 17 paper. We recommend you bring your USB or register for a Dropbox account. You can simply visit the shop (it's really a house), and we can do a couple of sample prints, free of charge, so you can be accustomed to the quality and the services we provide.

For more details, I suggest you e-mail me through my personal e-mail, [email protected] or the business e-mail at [email protected]. For immediate response, it'll be best to use my personal e-mail.

[AnimeJet]

If you can't find a good local place, there are a few online places. I find online places tend to be more competitive in pricing at larger quantities, and most artists tend to make big orders (since you'll probably want 5+ copies of each print if you're doing more than one con).

I've used costco, fireball printing and cat print in the past. Costco is way too expensive for anything larger than 5x7 prints, since they use photo paper it's like instantly more expensive ($1.50 for 8x12, $3 for 12x18). fireball i used last year and they were pretty good, but recently i've been hearing horror stories about them sending prints with bad colors or poor cutting and not offering a reprint or a refund >_<, and i didn't want to risk that this year so i went with http://www.catprint.com which gets recommended a lot on the con circuit. Summary, they're a bit pricier than fireball, but their colors and coating are way nicer? And no where near as pricy as costco hahaha. And i've never heard of anyone having problems with them, so less risky IMO.

Both offer free hard proofs to make sure they look right, you'll want to start sending prints about 2 weeks or earlier before your con date to make sure you get any issues hammered out.