Honestly, the only time I was a little rude to people was when they demanded to know why my VERY cheap original hand painted acrylic paintings weren't $5 instead of the $60 they were. Considering that the materials cost more than $5 each, I definitely was not having an easy time keeping up a smile when they'd start trying to tell me all the reasons why the art wasn't worth it.
Oh well, that was like 1/1000 people. Most everyone was fantastic there, and I hope I get to return next year. I like a juried process, because honestly EVERY OTHER CON USES IT! I go to different cons year round and they normally have a window to apply, and while first come gets some priority, it's never first come first serve except with anime cons. Most other cons just don't tell you that they'll be using some preferential treatment when handing out tables.
To me, what it really does is make these sort of cons viable for professionals to plan to return to each year. I work professionally and if I go to Fanime I need to plan travel time and a hotel or room, as well as prep my merchandise and actually turn down OTHER cons (Denver Comiccon is the same weekend). I assume a jury will attempt to make sure the artists fit in well with their chosen crowd, which is fantastic! If I won't fit in well, I'd rather know early than stress out later due to poor sales. Not to mention that a juried selection works for artists who WORK a lot of the day. It gives me a window of time to apply rather than stress out and needing to be in the right place at the right time. That said, it IS imperfect right now, and I hope the staff continues to improve it.
Honestly the biggest issue I had with the con last year was that they took FOREVER to get artists in during check in. That was far more stressful than the application process x3
Good luck to everyone, though!
Oh well, that was like 1/1000 people. Most everyone was fantastic there, and I hope I get to return next year. I like a juried process, because honestly EVERY OTHER CON USES IT! I go to different cons year round and they normally have a window to apply, and while first come gets some priority, it's never first come first serve except with anime cons. Most other cons just don't tell you that they'll be using some preferential treatment when handing out tables.
To me, what it really does is make these sort of cons viable for professionals to plan to return to each year. I work professionally and if I go to Fanime I need to plan travel time and a hotel or room, as well as prep my merchandise and actually turn down OTHER cons (Denver Comiccon is the same weekend). I assume a jury will attempt to make sure the artists fit in well with their chosen crowd, which is fantastic! If I won't fit in well, I'd rather know early than stress out later due to poor sales. Not to mention that a juried selection works for artists who WORK a lot of the day. It gives me a window of time to apply rather than stress out and needing to be in the right place at the right time. That said, it IS imperfect right now, and I hope the staff continues to improve it.
Honestly the biggest issue I had with the con last year was that they took FOREVER to get artists in during check in. That was far more stressful than the application process x3
Good luck to everyone, though!