Art: AnimeNext 2010

Here are most of the commissions I did for AnimeNext. It's mostly fanart, as per usual at this convention. I slightly lowered my color prices, though, and I ended up with a lot of them.

The first one is some headshots of someone's characters, inspired by Avatar: The Last Airbender in a modern setting.


I also had to draw this very odd-looking Pokemon, Blaziken. Bipedal, humanoid Pokemon irk me. The fire in the background was fun to do, too.


I was also asked to draw Taokaka from the video game Blazblue. I like how this one turned out.


I spoke with Yoon, and she said my commissioners kept coming to her to pick up work I was doing for them. Do we look alike? Haha.

The next day, I drew a couple cosplaying as characters from .hack.


A friend of mine also asked me to draw his youngest daughter with her favorite Pokemon, Eevee.


I sketched out a couple as chibis.


This piece is one of - if not the - most elaborate piece I've done. Two original characters for a constant, returning customer. I threw in the semi-background to thank him for his loyalty. This one piece paid for the con for me, but it took all of Sunday to draw!

Art: Draco Dormiens, Color

And, seven episodes of LOST later, another print...

Art: Dies Irae, Colored

For this con season - since it'll be my last, rather than make new prints, I'm re-touching some old ones. It still takes a long time, though. I tried to do it on Livestream, but my internet connection keeps dropping out.

I made some Gaia work which I'll post when I'm finished all of them.

Writing: Convention FAQ, Call for Questions

I tried doing this once, and now I'm trying again. I've always wanted to help the Artist Alley community but collecting the vast business knowledge I've accrued from marketing classes and convention experience.

Please comment on this entry (or e-mail me, or IM me, or whatever) if you have a question you'd like me to answer. It may take me a little while. Please bookmark this blog, under the "convention faq" tag. I'll add more entries if people ask me more questions.

Writing: The Issues with Convention AAs

As part of my final project in Japanese Popular Culture, I am researching the Artist Alley community here in the United States. I have already taken information from my previous travels as well as closely, statistically, documented one particular event. The final product will be published on DeviantART - but be warned, it will be long.

If you would like to provide me with information (quotes, experiences, opinions, etc), you can comment bellow, contact me on AIM/MSN, or e-mail me at fongmingyun@gmail.com .

The following is the best I can do to clarify, in writing, the issues that faces this community. I hope, if you are interested in being a con artist (no pun intended), that this short essay gives you insight into what you will encounter.

The Artist Alleys at American anime conventions differ greatly from the Japanese Comiket as well as those at United States' Comic, Science Fiction, and Fantasy conventions. Comiket is filled with doujinshi, amateur comics written by groups of people called "circles." American Comic Alleys have professional artists signing and selling his latest issues they worked on. On the other hand, at anime conventions, most artists are students, some of which have no interest in studying art professionally. Given the differences between each artist community, two major issues have arisen : fanart and crafts.

People are more likely to purchase things they are familiar with. Therefore, people buy fan art. Comiket thrives due to fan-made comics. Most American comic conventions frown on, or even restrict unlicensed fan art. However, many people who come to anime conventions treat the Artists' Alley as a handmade, sometimes cheaper, alternative to the Dealer's Room, where companies sell licensed merchandise. This has led to a "bootleg flea market" atmosphere. Otakon, in Baltimore, Maryland, went through an issue where a handful of artists' fan work actually threatened dealers' profits and caused the con staff to hire lawyers to discuss the issue. Anime North, in Toronto, Ontario, is famous for "lowballing" where artists loudly sell their work less than market average to increase sales. All fan art only exists in a legal gray area of "parody," but if fan art were banned, many artists would not make enough money to support themselves.

However, at anime conventions, the term "fanart" has begun to encompass crafts as well. This broader interpretation of "art" means that more people are competing for the same number of spaces. In 2008, Anime Boston sold out of Alley tables in 34 seconds, and many people complained the system was "unfair." Traditionally, artists have sold prints. However, since shoppers prefer practical items, many people now make dolls, bags, and cosplay accessories. In turn, many illustration artists have delved into a trinket market. Keychains, buttons, stickers, with cute, semi-deformed, "chibi" are consistently popular, and sometimes make more money than printed work. This is especially true in a tough economy where people are unwilling to pay as much for a piece of colored paper. However, in trying to make items cheaper and more practical, the Alley has become more focused on "mass production" and come in direct competition with the Dealer's Room.

I wish I could explain this better, but the issues the Artist Alley has are all intertwined. Explaining one leads to explaining another. However, I hope my attempt at summary makes the situation clearer to those in and out of the anime artist community in America.

P. S. I need a summer job...

Writing: Anime Convention, Social Norms, and Identity

I chose to discuss the Eron Rauch photo essay because its content intrigues me most. After struggling with the convoluted words and lengthy sentences, I realized there was no point in searching for a clear thesis statement. It is the opposite of an academic essay: a personal musing about experience with subculture. Thus, even though it provides no conclusion, it calls a very interesting point into question: what is the relationship between fandom and identity?

Most anime conventions cater to fans rather than industry. When members of a subculture gather, they become comfortable enough to express their interests, to the point where they purposely alter their behavior to breach social norms, which in turn forms new social norms. For Rauch and tens of thousands of others, anime conventions create bonds of eccentricity, and otherwise improbable events, like cosplay sex, can occur. The irony here is that, at the convention, fringe behavior becomes the main stream. When groups form, they begin to cultivate their own ideals – like cat ear headbands – and reject others – like business suits, an “us vs. them” situation. Take, for example, the 2008 commercial released by Sakura-con. It asks, “What if, for one weekend, the tables were turned?”

I feel this may be tied into American attitudes towards individuality. As we have learned, in Japan, cosplay outside of certain locales is frowned upon, and boys’ love forms only a fraction of the anime and manga market. However, here in the United States, cosplayers purposely wear their outfits at ordinary eating establishments to see how locals react, and boys’ love readers ridicule those who prefer heterosexual couples.

Personally, as an artist, I go to conventions with business in mind. I straddle the alley with one foot in fandom – because all anime relies somewhat on art – and one in reality – because I cannot give any series the same dedications as I do my own creations. While Rauch is accepted in this fan world, I am silently rejected. My work has been criticized many times over for having a visual style far more realistic than most manga and anime. However, as an outsider with no romantic or sexual intentions towards conventions, I felt Rauch’s essay gives a decent glimpse into the mind of another integral member of convention structure: the entrenched fan.

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