Well, first of all is practicing with a 1 meter table how to set up everything up and making it catchy. Its important to practice like this first since in most cons there may be an over abundance of artist and sometimes you'll end up having to share space.
Structure wise, try to have your goods visible but not repeated, that way you can keep samples as the main view then grab the extras for packaging, that way you don't have to re-stock and won't waste space.
If you're having stuff like keychains, try to tie them to the cardboard or expository you'll be putting them, since you're at the other side of the table you may not stop in time some thiefs at cons, so having stuff glued or tied up is a way to avoid losing goods. If you have stickers, either stick them to a thin MDF board or have them in a folder using trading card sheets.
Try to have merch on one side, portfolio folder in another, then probably a few note holders to put stuff like
"I do pencil drawings for X price" "Payment methods" and such
At cons some people like to get porsonalized illustrations, don't be afraid of taking commissions there, traditional art sells well at cons.
Remember the guidelines (At least the general ones I know about):
- No obstrucing the walking path
- No obstructing the view from your booth neighbors
- Not having anything of your booth outside the limits of the space provided by the administration
Don't do this
Censoring their name, still it doesn't matter much they got the backlash of the century
Like really, evade "shading" others, and stuff outside your booth. This person got called out for disturbing several booths at cons, especially when they are at the end of the row. If you're covering the last booth people will assume yours is the last one.
Your best friends for booths
Da friends
These cell organizers, easy to transport and re-arrange.
- Extra batteries for your phone/tablet/mobile credit/debit card reader
- A nice suitcase with wheels
- A sober tablecloth that doesn't have a design that distracts from your goods, white or black are the most common ones, there is people that use a dark red or brown
- Folding chair, sometimes there aren't enough chairs
- Pins and stuff to keep your stuff in place if the artist alley is outdoors.
To sell, well... Try to mix some fanart and original artwork on your booth, fanart is for exposure and bring people to your booth easily, then its all about the charisma to start small chat and introduce people to your original stuff.
Avoid printing a bunch of stuff or having several types of merch, when you're starting try to go low, many commit the mistake of producing a lot and then require several cons to finally sell everything.
Try with the basics first: prints A5 and A4 size are usually the standard, stickers of 8cm or 4cm, traditional commissions, a few keychains or pins.
I wouldn't recommend making fanzines yet, usually those are the least successful to sell (At least on my experience)
A tip I would recommend is to have both presentation cards and a personalized stamp.
Not many people like presentation cards since they are a waste of space or ditch them on a trashcan once they get home, but stamping the back of your posters or the bags where you'll be giving your goods once purchased is a nice touch and allows people to actually check you out without obstructing the goods.
For example, you have a nice print, no watermark obstructing the view nor social media icon + @username . But then, on the back which is meant to be blank, you have there a stamp with your logo, name and a social media where to find you. Its a better touch since many like to put their prints on their walls, having to put the tape on the back and having there the stamp is a less annoying reminder.
