dragonimp

Fanime

2016-06-05T19:25:09Z

For those who haven't seen it on Facebook or tumblr, Fanime happened. I was only there for two of the four days (I only asked for Saturday and Sunday off, because I knew I wasn't going to be the only one asking), but one of those days had the FMA meetup.

(BTW, the ONLY reason that dress was staying up Sunday was because Tierfal brought me toupee tape. The fabric had relaxed so much from the day before that just breathing was sending it creeping down.)

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SacAnime photos!

2015-09-15T00:22:39Z

I split things into three different albums to give it a little organization. Here was our weekend:

SacAnime General

SacAnime Shipper Trash

SacAnime Bonus Content

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SacAnime and life in general

2015-09-09T19:07:33Z

I started the new job, and it's going fine, although right now I am *ahem* a LITTLE BIT peeved at my schedule being changed from a 6:00-10:30 (that's AM, folks) shift to a 4:30-9:30 (PM) yesterday without my knowledge, but other than that. I'm working in the print center at the local OfficeMax, so I get to work with printers and trimmers and laminators and binders (when I'm not working the floor or the cash register). And yeah, I'm horribly under-employed, but at least it's money coming in. I'm still adjusting to the new schedule, which is why I've been even more MIA than usual. I've been spending the majority of my free time making food or working on a sewing commission I need to finish up and have barley sat down at the computer.

And also, last weekend was SacAnime and we had a blast! I mean, the panels all looked lame, there was no art gallery, and the Dealer's Hall and Artist's Alley were in the same room (which is still think is a poor design), but 75% of the reason I go to cons anymore is to hang out with folk and that was awesome. Tierfal is amazing and sweet and the most adorably huggable Ed you ever saw, and I got to meet Mthaytr and Inkdropfox (who IS Alfons Heinderich), and we took lots of shippy pictures and generally goofed around. (Some of which you've probably seen if you're on my Facebook, because tumblr mobile's latest update apparently decided to turn on the crosspost feature without telling me. ^^;) I'm in the process of putting them all up on flickr and I can link the albums here, too, if anyone's interested. AND ALSO I got to meet Hacha who gave me arts!!! These ones!! Everyone was super sweet and we all had a great time.

Still playing catch-up with Life. Hope everyone is doing well, and I'll try to peek in a little more. I'm also trying to find some time to write, because it's been a little too crazy and my fics have all decided to hit complications all at once.

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on the Art Gallery:

2015-05-26T00:42:02Z

If anyone was curious. Copy/pasted from tumblr:

Now that I’ve had a little time to collect myself and I’m not typing on my phone in the parking garage, here’s the deal with the art gallery. These are the two pictures they put up. Maybe because they were small; more likely because they’re consistent with each other.
Because that’s what they were looking for; a consistency, or a “brand,” to visually tie an artist’s work into a cohesive unit. And - hah - if you’ve seen more than one or two pieces of mine, you’ll know my art is anything but. “Varied” would be a polite way of putting it. “Scattered and inconsistent” comes to mind.
And I know that. I know I’m left of center. I know I’m often to the side of what fandom is looking for or expects. I know people often don’t know how to take my pieces. I thought I could play in the sandbox anyway. But in this case - I can’t. The fact that I’m an oddball with no consistent style or technique or theme or anything means I’m not what they’re looking for - I’m not welcome. Right now I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to submit a body of work and be accepted, because I’m just - too abnormal.
That’s the main issue. The secondary issue is, nothing on the web site indicated that this would be a juried show. It’s never been juried. Past years it was show up, ask if there was space available, pay the fee, put your art up. Two years ago they were doing good that they had a form for you to reserve a panel ahead of time. We never got any kind of confirmation that it was reserved, we just had to show up and hope they’d gotten all the paperwork together. So when I failed to get an email this year - I assumed it was the same thing. But no. Apparently the fact that I didn’t get an email was my rejection notice. And nothing on the web site told us that.
The reason for this miscommunication was that the art gallery has changed hands. Which is good, over all, because previous years really were poorly organized. The woman running the gallery now is running it like all the other art shows she’s done - juried - and didn’t know we had never been juried. Didn’t know that not getting a confirmation email was par for the course. Assumed that we would assume that no email meant not accepted.
So yeah, today was not a good day. Started with the zipper on my dress completely failing, and moved on to this.
Pretty sure this means I’ll never see hide nor hair of the piece that supposedly sold three years ago.

Picking up the two pieces today, I got the I-hope-you-submit-next-year line, which I know is supposed to be encouraging - but that's the problem. that's the kind of thing you say to be nice. I told her that what I submitted this year was pretty typical, so if they're looking for some sort of artist's brand or cohesive body of work... well... She told me they're judging it on a case-by-case basis, but if what I submitted this year wasn't cohesive enough, I don't see next year being much different. I'm not even sure I want to try.

Right now it's really kinda killed my desire to do any kind of finished art. Why even bother.

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Back from con

2014-09-15T04:08:38Z

Not dead tired, but tired enough, so in brief. We kinda spent most of the con a)wondering where everyone was; and b)feeling old and out of touch because who are these characters and where are these costumes/merch from?? This was tiny compared to the last two times I was at y-con, and I can't help but think the move to SoCal and back really hurt them. To give you some indication, Dealers' Room and Artists' Alley were in the same (not especially large) room (who does that??), and we saw it kinda crowded maybe ... once? And they sold out their hotel block, so either it was a really small block, or people were ... elsewhere? Had abandoned the con? But still, we had fun just hanging and doing the small amount of people-watching we could manage (the space was really not conducive to it). I hope they manage to pick it back up somehow in the future, because as a con, this was ... kinda disappointing.

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Yaoi Con

2014-08-07T18:41:17Z

HOLY SHIT yaoi con is early this year. I thought it was still going to be late October again so I thought I had some time. But according to the website pre-reg is over and the hotel block is already sold out. Yikes.

So, uh ... who's planning to go? IS anyone planning to go? Any hotel plans yet? I need to figure out if this is something I can afford.

Anyone?

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Fanime!

2013-05-28T19:59:21Z

Still kinda worn out from the Marathon Con Weekend. Haven't downloaded the few pictures that I got yet, so those'll be in a separate post, but I thought I'd do a bit of a report.

It was hectic and busy and tiring but I had a GREAT time! Got to hang out with tierfal and friend who's internet name I don't know (ack sorry!!) and also got to meet up with actionranger.

But first, the con itself:

( long post is long )

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Fanime

2013-05-15T17:20:56Z

If everything goes according to plan - i.e., the gallery doesn't implode or fall appart or something - these pieces will all be up for auction next weekend in the Fanime Art Gallery.

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Fanime (finally)

2012-05-31T19:28:55Z

Coming home with a cold makes the post-con unpacking and cleanup take much longer than it should. Anyway.

The con went well, over all. Not horribly but not wonderfully, either. I netted about the same amount as last year. But it's not really enough to justify the hotel and all the prep and stress, so mom and I are both thinking that we might pass next year, depending on how this year goes financially and otherwise. Plus we both miss actually seeing the con. Especially since they've spun off the steampunk into it's own sub-con. Yeah, the badge gets you into both and there's a shuttle back and forth, but when you're stuck in Artists' Alley from 10 to 7 you really can't manage to get over there.

But on to some specifics:

( pics under cut )That's about it. It was mostly a lot of sitting around and watching people go by, really. There were a lot of cool costumes but I only managed to get a few pictures. It's hard to catch people when you're stuck behind the table.

The cold has mostly gone away, BTW.

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dragonimp @ 2012-05-29T14:37:00

2012-05-29T21:32:32Z

Back from con and slightly ded. Seem to have picked up a cold or something. Will post more later when slightly less ded.

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Fanime!

2012-05-25T06:37:25Z

Off to Fanime tomorrow morning... I may or may not get time to check in over the weekend, but either way, see y'all Tuesday :3

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dragonimp @ 2012-05-15T12:33:00

2012-05-15T19:34:30Z

See, the problem with getting things done not at the last minute? You then think of a whole bunch of other things to do in the time you now have.

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"..We now return you to your regularly scheduled panic."

2012-05-04T19:57:07Z

Okay. Artwork is matted, prints and bookmarks are made. If all goes well, the following pieces will be up for auction in the art gallery:
Winry
Goliath Brooding
Kraehe (print)
Sailor Saturn
Momiji

Prices are updated, items list is updated (I think - I keep finding things I hadn't put on there) and printed. Still need to lay out the display. Food is mostly made (want to make one or two more batches of crackers, but that's not necessary). New cosplay is finished (need to try it on one last time). I still need to pack, of course, but I think I'm on track.

....and in the meantime my brain is over here in the corner planning out how to make shoes. BECAUSE I'M NOT DOING ENOUGH ALREADY, ARGH.

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"...the walls will eat me"

2012-04-27T18:20:11Z

Fanime is barely 4 weeks away so I'm in a bit of a frenzy. I probably don't need to be, but you have to understand the ADD sense of time: everything is either NOW ("OMGthismustgetdoneRIGHTAWAYpanicpanic") or NOT NOW ("eh....I'll do it later"). So to keep myself from doing things at the last minute (again), Fanime is very much NOW. I could go with what I have and be fine, as far as items for the table, but there's five pieces of art that I want to mat in hopes of displaying them in the art gallery (can't find anything on the art gallery on fanime's web site, which isn't helping any), small prints and bookmarks to make, and FOOD (we learned our lesson last year), and just generally assessing things and getting the display planned out. Oh, and I have to call the BOE because they've changed the rules and I need to get a sub-permit to sell at a separate location -_-;;. Which I can see the reason for, but it's one more thing to have to deal with.

Anyway, this means that things that don't have this deadline have been pushed aside for now. There's a growing list of "I'll do that after Fanime". Unfortunately some things can't wait, or wait long, like the overgrown weeds in the back yard. I'm sure someone with better time sense would be able to work more things in, but do with what we have ^^;

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fanime 2011

2011-06-02T01:34:27Z

Okay. Fanime. This was the first time I've had a table and it went moderately well. I didn't sell many prints - maybe 4 prints and 3 bookmarks - but overall I did make back table cost plus some. If I was to include hotel and parking it would still be at a loss, but it wasn't bad. I got an idea of what people are looking for and what sells there, and I have some ideas on how to improve the display. I met up with an old friend from high school who had found me on facebook, and met the person behind PaperDemon, who seems cool. I do have some pictures but they're not imported from the camera yet, I'll post those later.

The hardest thing, though, is dealing with meals. I'm not sure what people do when they're by themselves.

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dragonimp @ 2011-05-21T22:04:00

2011-05-22T05:15:35Z

Didn't get Raptured. Went wine tasting instead. Probably had a lot more fun.

And it was fun. But between all the wind today and the wine I've had a bit of a sinus headache all afternoon. Not a bad one, but enough to make it hard to focus on much. Consequently wasn't up for chat :(. Next weekend is Fanime so I might not catch you all until the week after that. Tomorrow starts the buckling down and really getting ready for the con.

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overdue post

2010-10-20T19:10:21Z

Yeah, so, I obviously didn't get to this when I thought I would c_c. So yeah, weekend! Part of it was spent getting a new phone, obviously. To be honest, I didn't want a smart phone so much as a newer PDA, as my Palm Tungsten is 6-7 years old and starting to fail. But since solo PDAs don't exist anymore, it was either get an ipod touch - which I'm not really keen on - or a smart phone. So far I really like the Pre Plus. There's a couple things that my old Palm did that it doesn't quite, but nothing major. My only complaints right now are that I wish it had an audiobook player and a document editor. Both may or may not be in the works, but I haven't found apps for them yet.

The other big thing was a trip to Fries, which - for me - turned out to be a bust. The connection between my computer and the external drive I use as a backup failed several weeks ago, and since the problem seemed to be either with the drive or the cable, I figured the cheapest thing to do would be to replace the cable. No good; the computer still can't detect it. I don't have the money for a new external drive at the moment, so that's sorta dead in the water.

The other goal was to get a new mouse. The Gyration Air Mouse I've been using for the past 5 years has started to die, and I figured I had better get a new one before it goes out completely. The one I have was the lower-end model of the time, so I got the current lower-end model, figuring it would be a newer version. Well - no. Yeah, it's a gyro mouse, but that's about the end of the similarities. It's much lighter, which itself wouldn't be a problem, but the weight is balanced funny, it's also smaller, so I end up holding it up in my fingers instead of against my palm. Those two things make the gestures awkward and make me constantly feel like I'm going to drop it. I was also tensing my hand, which kinda defeats the purpose. Also, instead of a rechargeable battery, it uses 2 triple-As. Since this would be my primary mouse, I'd end up going through a lot of batteries.

The upshot of all that is, I need to drive back down to Fries - a 40-minute drive - and exchange it. Gyration has another model that's a)bigger and b)rechargeable that should work much better.

Other than that, I've been spending my time trying to get a bunch of last-minute things done before the con - not all of which have to do with the con. BUT - Sunday evening my mom was kind enough to help me with the costume I've been working on for the past *mumblemumble*. It meant I missed FAP, but under the circumstances, I'd say it was justified. Just a few more touches and it should be done! Which means I should actually have a cosplay!

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y-con art gallery

2010-09-09T04:04:18Z

(Wow, thinking ahead ^^;)

Y-con charges $6 per piece, so I was thinking of submitting 4-5. These are the pieces I submitted to Fanime, so they're already matted, and I was thinking of the base picture for the Holiday Card as well. So, which do you think?

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Con wrap-up

2010-05-31T23:54:50Z

No bids; no one wanted my art. Disappointed but not surprised, that's on a par with how my stuff is generally received.

Aside from that and the general lack of organization the con went really well. I wish I'd been able to get the costume done, but that kind of sewing was really not going to happen. It's still not going to happen, not any time soon. But I really enjoyed the panels - though the chairs in those rooms were killing my back for some reason - and got some nifty swag, so it was a good weekend.

I also found a local(ish) art group and am pretty excited about that - I've been needing some source of critiques, never mind the whole support and socializing aspect. And they welcome writing as well as visual art.

So yeah, that's about it. Back to the real world, which right now is knocking on doors and annoying people.

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Fanime day 2

2010-05-30T02:01:46Z

I bought Copics.

Only 3, but 3 Copics is like $20.

I also bought a shot glass, but a hand-etched custom shot glass is totally worth $10!

No bids on the art yet. I'm half not expecting any, my stuff never really attracts much attention.

More later, still two more days of con left!

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ARTWORK for sale at Fanime, this weekend!

2010-05-28T04:57:11Z

Fanime.com is being LAME, but if all goes well, the following pieces will be up for sale in the Art Gallery corner of Artist's Alley:

Sleepy Night of the First Day (Inuyasha and Kagome)

Fullmetal Fanservice

Shadows of War (Roy and Hughes)

"Do You Mind...?" (Ed reading)

Venetian Guise: Sun Prince (Ed)

Moving Forward (young Ed)

Hatsuharu

And a marker-colored copy of Ed linework

(Those links go to PaperDemon, but the pictures are also up at deviantART and y!gallery.)

All pieces will be matted into standard frame sizes. I'm not sure if this'll be a silent auction or if I'll have to set prices, I'll update when I know.

UPDATE: It's a silent auction!

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fanime

2010-04-12T18:57:44Z

Mmmm..... don't remember if I pre-reg'd for FanimeCon last year or not. Kinda remember the table being closed, but I don't know if I'm remember last year or the year before, or.... Maybe I should check my bank records. I have until May 19th to get the current price, at least.

They don't have the art gallery registration up yet. It just says "available soon" ... that means I have to remember to check back. Dammit.

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dragonimp @ 2010-03-19T10:32:00

2010-03-19T17:33:28Z

Looks like I might be on my own for a hotel room at ycon. I was hoping to split the cost.... I don't want to wait much longer, though, or there might not be a room available.

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Fanime

2009-05-25T19:15:21Z

We didn't even push that hard this year - and only went two days +Friday evening - but somehow we're both exhausted. My mom has the excuse of essentially being out of town 5 days a week, thanks to her job, but I didn't even any hours last week.

Anyway, we both really enjoyed the con. We didn't do a whole lot of people-watching and didn't get any pictures - we realized that neither of us was in the mood this year - and didn't go to the masquerade, but we saw some good costumes this year. Mostly the usuals, but I saw one Princess Tutu, which was cool.

We spend most of our time in the panels. A couple on web comics, which were more interesting than I thought they were going to be. One on resin casting, which was really neat. We went to one on anime influences on American cartoons, which was not as coherent or informative as we had hoped, but was interesting from a sociological point of view. The presenters really didn't have anything to present, and were basically trying to do a focused discussion - which, of course, quickly lost focus. There ended up being quite a lot of audience ranting on Adult Swim and editing/censoring and what is not allowed in American cartoons and the general state of American cartoons nowadays. There's always one or two people in the crowd who think they know everything and feel obligated to share their great wisdom with the masses 9_9. But like I said, it was interesting.

Didn't buy much this year, just a few manga volumes and some daifuku. Being completely broke doesn't help much. But my mom bought me the "Oooh, Shiny!" shirt we both liked from last year. I wanted to get a Hughes/Roy doujinshi but it was beyond my petty cash, and I didn't feel right getting Mom to buy that for me ^^;;. Another time.

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Website :fail

2009-05-20T04:28:07Z

Fanime's site ... really sucks this year -_-;;. Yeah, it looks pretty, but I can't find anything, and the cross-referencing is non-existent. And the schedule page is a joke. Actually, everything to do with the panels or the video rooms is a joke. Whoever designed this site should be fired.

Anyway, I'll be there Saturday and the last half of Sunday. Mostly in the panels, though I'm going to try to catch some of the AMVs. I always seem to miss out on the AMVs. Not really up to cosplaying this year, though (;_;).

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