AnthroCon is a furry convention, one of the largest, and I have gone every year since… oh boy… since 2009. I’ve grown up with the convention, and am now on staff by dint of the volunteer work I do for the convention’s security team, organized by the Dorsai Irregulars. Add to that the load of a dealer table and art show exhibit and you’d think I’d be content. But no! I ran a panel on mapping fictional worlds and held a reading. And yes, somehow, I managed to sleep also. For that you can thank my Wonderful Mother (WoMo for short) who made me oatmeal in the hotel coffeemaker and assisted at my table and, at the last, tore down my art show exhibit.
Going in I did not feel prepared. Never mind that I felt much the same last year and it had been fine. But I couldn’t remember how it had worked. It just had. So here I was, trying to do it again. Would it work?
It did. Somehow. I still don’t know how, even though I can remember what happened.
Tuesday night I flew to Pittsburgh. This is easier than it sounds. I am in Central Oregon. The nearest airport (Redmond) does not have direct flights to Pittsburgh. The best it can do is fly you to San Francisco and then to Pittsburgh. Which, when WoMo and I bought our plane tickets, was what we thought we would be doing.
United had other ideas.
So it was fly from RDM to SFO, but from SFO (where WoMo joined me) we went to… IAD? Oh well. We went to Dulles. We did not even get to ride the Jawa Tractors across the tarmac. From there we flew to PIT.
I have only vague memories of this time, and mostly they are of pain. Or that special feeling of knowing that you will be in pain the next day from the seat you’ve been sleeping in for the last five hours.
Wednesday morning we arrived in PIT and were shortly transported via shuttle to Pittsburgh proper. At least it felt short to me (I slept most of the way).
Hotel. We got to the hotel. Things firm up again around here. We checked in. WoMo was having multiple system failures so I made her lie down. She was actually asleep as soon as she was horizontal. Adorable. Later, when we were nominally cogent, we Bike Share’d up river all the way to Point Breeze to meet Chronographia for lunch at an adorable little restaurant called Point Brugge, where WoMo demolished a small mountain of moules and I ate a regrettable number of frites. Then Chrono took us grocery shopping. It was delightful.
All this, so that she could deliver the box of books I had drop shipped to her three weeks earlier, since I’ve now expanded my stock beyond the capacity of two checked bags under 50 lbs each. I will be forever grateful. Thank you, Chrono. You should thank her too. Here is her Etsy.
Somewhere on Wednesday I made it across the street to FedEx to buy pens and paper for my mapping panel. I got fun stationary printed to look like it had an old scroll on it. Perfect for drawing maps! It was one of those happy accidents wherein I had not prepared ahead of time because I was overwhelmed, and my last-minute solution turned out better than anything I could have planned.
Thursday started at 2:30 a.m. for the first of my three Dorsai shifts. Renegade (the contract officer) is very understanding of my commitment to my dealer’s table and does not schedule me during the convention proper. Outside those days, however, it’s open season. So I got to spent three of the nicest hours of the day hanging out in ConOps on the off chance that anyone needed anything (they didn’t), chatting with my D.O. and doodling. Then I went for my annual run with WoMo, down the river trail to Confluence Point State Park, where we ran around the fountain which was not running and back up the trail into the growing light and humid heat. Everything was very beautiful except for the sweat which kept getting in my eyes.
Breakfast at last. A nap. Then, to kill the odd hours between waking and dealer setup, we went and worked registration for a while. They put us on pre-reg badge pickup, and I got to hand out badges to a string of adorable people with nick names like Minty Wolf and Sploosh! and, on one endearing occasion: Mom.
Lunch. Dealer set up. This took almost four hours and I had to break in the middle to eat, but it got done. WoMo took progress pictures, which will save me a lot of words.
Another break. Then art show set up. This went relatively quickly because I did not have room (weight) to bring many pieces. Thank goodness!
Dinner. The chicken we ordered turned out to be twice as much chicken as we thought, and deep fried. We were too tired not to eat all of it. It came with waffles. It was delicious.
I had my second Dorsai shift that night. I got to rove the dance. They gave me earplugs. It was wonderful and magical. No one dances like a bunch of happy people in animal costumes. This year there were kids, too. It was great. There was one point where there were potential fursuit nipples, but it was a false alarm.
Friday morning we took advantage of the Westin’s magnificent gym to do a kettlebell workout. WoMo taught me the fast handoff for snatches so that was cool. I did not break anything, which was even cooler!
And then Friday Happened.
It was a lot like previous Fridays at AnthroCon, except more so.
For the first fifteen minutes there were people running past my table to get to the real popular artists. And then everyone came to me.
Okay, only three people, but when three people all want to buy stuff at the same time and your Square reader isn’t cooperating it feels like everyone. But we got them sorted out. We got the reader sorted out. (It wasn’t the reader, it was interference from all the surrounding dealers using their phones as personal hotspots since the pay-for dealer wifi wasn’t working.) Business happened. There were some merch sales but a lot of commission orders. It was exciting because they were all commissions I was eager to do. I’ve been lucky in my last few cons with people who want to commission the kind of work I like to do commissioning me. I hope it continues.
It was hard to walk away from my table to go do my mapping panel, but I am glad I did. Over thirty people attended, and most of them even stayed through to the end! After laying out the very basics of mapping a world (“Tectonic plates are a Thing, oh and mountains cast rain shadows that’s why Deserts are also a Thing”) I opened up for questions and spent the remainder of my time answering them. There were some great ones. People had questions about mapping underwater, about mapping underground—one young person asked about mapping a very cold world, which confused me until I asked if this world had a molten mantle. Person wasn’t sure. It was interesting in that most of my answers were simply asking the questions that would whittle away possibilities until only a few believable ones remained.
At the very end someone asked what conditions would allow for frequent hurricanes between two continents, effectively stalling sea transport. I said something vague about equatorial waters and looking at the Gulf of Mexico. Then someone else put their hand up and mentioned that they were studying hurricanes in the U.S. and were happy to advise. So that was a wonderful meeting I was glad to facilitate.
The one thing I forgot were my business cards that I had labeled with my table number, but I did have a few spares and so a couple people were able to find me afterwards. They told me that they had a really good time. Someone suggested I do a panel on mapping fictional cities next year. I do not feel prepared.
Meanwhile, we had befriended Ursula Vernon’s table assistant, so she and WoMo went out to collect food and bring it back to the Secret Artist Room where I and several others were staying up (early! It is always Early in the Secret Artist Room!) finishing commissions.
This is something AnthroCon has over all other conventions. It’s not just the room (other cons have offered space to dealers after den hours to do work), it’s that Diana Harlan Stein is there. Diana radiates a calming, creative atmosphere and I am convinced she is 99% of the reason I was able to finish the commissions I so gallantly took earlier in the day. Her and Heather Bruton and Sandy Schreiber, who are all so skilled and encouraging. We say “Ding!” when we finish a piece and then get to show it off to the whole room, who “Ooo” and “Ahh” and tell us how much they like it.
Don’t be fooled. This is how Real Professionals™ do it.
I did take a break around [Early] to go to the Artist Reception where I ate too much cheese but managed not to get any on the pieces of art displayed there. WoMo also placed a lot of bids, which made everyone happy.
An aside: I’d been giving out Medici Achievement ribbons all day, and gave out more at the reception, and more on the following days. I am not sure if they actually got anyone to bid who wasn’t already, but the people who got them were very happen and that’s really what matters most. I’ll continue to give them out, under the same conditions, at every con I go to that has an art show.
Thus encouraged I returned to the SAR (a considerable walk, actually, involving three escalators and a vehicular intersection) and finished my commissions. I’ve found it works best to do all my pencils (preliminary and final) first, and then move on to inks. Inking uses less executive brain power than penciling, and so suffers less when I’m working at [Early] O’Clock in the [Early].
Saturday I slept in and did not make it to my table before they let Supers and Sponsors in, but WoMo did, because she is my Wonderful Mother and enjoys selling my stuff even more than I do. Also, she did not go to bed at [Early] in the [Early].
This Saturday was also reminiscent of past AnthroCon Saturdays. After the rush of commerce and expenditure of Friday sales were fewer and smaller, though I still got enough commissions to fill my second night. Partly because I’d taken a couple extra on Friday that had rolled over.
Aside: I only take commissions I can complete and deliver at the con, since once I get home there is other work demanding my time. These are usually done overnight for pickup Saturday morning, and then I repeat the process on Saturday for Sunday pickup. I have been strict about this in the past but am realizing that, since fewer people place orders on Saturday, it makes sense to take orders on Friday for Sunday pickup from those who don’t mind waiting.
One special commission I did at my table. It was a con badge for a Very Good Doggo who worked as a service animal for another Dorsai volunteer. I think it is possibly my favorite of the whole convention.
Outside of that I did get to explore the den a bit. Got over to the O and N rows (I was in D) to visit friends. Added to my sticker collection from RoaminBison and got to chat with another IlluxCon Showcase artist, which was encouraging. Her name is Kaysha Siemens and her art is incredible.
This year they did not route the parade through the den which meant that the dead stop of sales from 1:00 – 2:00 was only mostly dead, and I got some commission work done anyway.
WoMo got us Thai for dinner and it was Very Spicy but also Very Good and I was able to finish half my Sunday Pickup commissions before my reading, which I’d asked to be scheduled after den hours so my friends could come. This apparently meant 9:00 p.m. Saturday night, but it was my best-attended reading to date. I think almost ten people came. Some of whom I didn’t even know personally!
(This is a big deal for me. Don’t judge. We’re not all Neil Gaiman.)
I read an excerpt from Eyes in the Deep which went much faster than I’d planned, so I chatted about Professor Odd for a little bit and then read The Kazmurin Serpent which still left time for a Q&A. I think the miscalculation came from my timing estimate of 10 pages per 30 minutes coming from my Read Aloud editing, which tends to go slower than when I’m blazing through a performance with no pauses for corrections. For future reference: for a one-hour reading slot, 20 pages should be better.
Went back to the SAR and stayed up drawing until [Early] when I finished my commissions and hobbled off to bed. I am still pleasantly surprised at how well they all came out. I credit Diana Stein. And Lizardbeth, who was my table buddy and was a comforting and encouraging presence.
Sunday I was on escalator no. 1 when they opened the doors to the den but once again WoMo was there, even though the one person who came to pick up a commission had to wait anyway because I had all the finished commissions oh well.
Sundays are funny. It’s a mix of “oh no I already spent all my money” and “okay I have Decided and now I am Ready to buy $80 worth of prints!!!” I can’t take overnight commissions and so I do quick brush pens at my table. At AnthroCon I donate a portion of the proceeds to the con’s charity, which this year was Pearl Parrot Rescue. Normally I donate $5 per commission, but in honor of the charity I donated $10 if the commission involved a parrot. Also because I like drawing parrots. Here are some of my favorites.
I got one break, in which I made it all the way to the Artist Alley to meet and buy stuff from Katie Thierolf, who I’ve admired from afar for months. It was great to meet them in person. Their art is fabulous. Check them out.
WoMo left me alone for the final half hour so she could go pick up the pieces she had won in the art show, and then tear down my panel. This is something I always plan for, since I rarely sell originals in art shows these days. It is somewhat discouraging, but understandable. I’ve stopped under-pricing my originals, even in minimum bid, and this puts most pieces I consider show-worthy above the average range of equivalent pieces. I could go on a big long rant about how artists under-pricing themselves hurts us all and devalues our work, but I want this to be a Happy Post and so I won’t. Except to say that too many do and it does and I am sorry for it.
On the up-side, furries are incredibly appreciative of custom work, and so whatever I lost in potential sales in the art show was redeemed in the work I did [Early] into the [Early] after den hours. I also sold a lot of prints, which was quite gratifying.
Most joyful was the merch trade I did with Ren from Split Hares who shyly asked if I would trade them for a pack of my shiny fish stickers. When I went to their table I was confronted by this awesomeness…
…and shyly asked if a pack of fish stickers could be put toward a purchase. Which led to them getting a $30 credit at my table and I will be getting my very own salmon child in the mail once pre-orders ship. It will go nicely with my collection of Purrmaids. I am so happy.
Of course the best part of Sunday was the Staff Dinner. I am highly food-motivated and so I would probably work staff just for the food. Also since so many of my friends are on staff in different departments this gives us a chance to actually visit. Also the food is good.
And then I got to go rove the hotel until [Early], managing elevator lines and ushering people out from in front of stairways and exits. At last I joined the line to go all the way up to the top of the hotel for the Dorsai Debrief, which consists mostly of a table full of whisky and a lot of very tired people happy to be out of their red vests at last. When I arrived there was also sausage and baklava. Which paired very nicely with my mini-flight of Glen Morangie, Cragganmore and Ardbeg. It might sound scandalous but don’t knock it until you try it. Especially with spicy sausage.
Monday is a blur of pain and sleep depravation. At one point at ate sushi, so it wasn’t all bad, and I managed to drive myself home from the airport safely. I even stopped for groceries on the way.
That night I got an email telling me that I’d been approved for a half table at Further Confusion. It could not have come at a better time, because I am never more enthused about going to conventions than I am right after a convention.
Which is just as well, since next week I’m flying to San Diego for Comic-Con International. I’ll be working, but working for Kikidoodle selling Purrmaids, so all I have to do is bring myself. It’s gonna be awesome.
