Manga Tutorials -

Well, it's come and gone but it was all worthwhile. Attending AnimeNEXT 2006 was like one big roller coaster ride! *_* You'll see what I mean... read on to find out!

Pre-AnimeNEXT 2006

I've had a good six months to prepare for this convention... But you know what I did? Yeah! I waited for the last minute to get all my stuff together~! I had two weeks to run around like a chicken with it's head cut off and get my stuff together which included a banner, a binder full of our tutorials, make and print the free Manga Tutorials flyers, make some table signs, get some artwork ready to sell, and of course, essentials such as having change, bringing a water bottle, and drawing materials including the well used colored pencils. All this plus plugging in what I'll have there in my deviantART account and a few reminders in a couple of forums. Guess which one of them was! ;P

If you ever set up an Artist Alley table - don't do what I did and wait last-minute. Trust me... You'll thank me for it. Anyways, on to the good stuff!

Day One: Friday, June 16, 2006

Woke up bright and early and double-checked whether I had everything I needed. Ate breakfast but with a stomach full of butterflies... I didn't quite finish it. 8 o'clock - AnimeNEXT, here I come! :3

After getting lost due to bad directions, I finally arrived at the convention center! Wohooo! Nirvana! I parked and headed to the first line I saw... and boy, was I lucky! It's actually short! Several minutes later... I find out I'm on the At-Door Registration line! D'oh! I make my way to the other line (and took some shots while I was at it) and - dang! The pre-reg line was three times longer than the one I was on! :O Seriously, this pic on the right just shows the tip of the iceburg when it came to the pre-reg line...

After waiting over an hour on line, I made my way to the registration and got my badge! Hooray!

I took my time setting up the table plus getting all my stuff ready for the first con-goer's. 12 o'clock sharp and people streamed in droves to the Artist Alley. A bunch stopped by my table and after several minutes, about half my stack of flyers where gone! O_O Maybe I shouldn't have put out all the flyers on the table at one go...

I've met some forum members plus other casual surfers of the site (not forum or oekaki members) and it was nice to actually meet people in person instead of seeing text and an avatar or visitor stat numbers. To those who dropped by, thank you! You've made my weekend.

Around 3 o'clock, the last of my flyers was taken and a couple of hours later, so was my stack of free photo-copied drawings. At closing of the Artist Alley, I was beat... But there's no rest for the weary! I had to make some more flyers, more free drawing print-outs, and more colored fan art to sell for the next day. -_-

Day Two: Saturday, June 17, 2006

After a late-night session of printing and coloring new materials, I headed back to the Artist Alley. This time, I was going to be there 8 long hours from 10 am to 6 pm. Hopefully, I don't pass out by the time I have to leave... <.<

This day was pretty much like the previous day, except this time, I got smart and dealed out the free flyers like a miser... and it held for four hours! ^_^ (Okay, an hour extra than the previous day isn't much difference but whatever... :P )

What I truly remembered about this day was a rabid :cough: I mean avid, Ascot fan from Magic Knight Rayearth. After snagging a Caldina and young Ascot coloring I did, she commissioned me for an original Ascot; young and old; drawing! :O I was game and before 6 o'clock rolled around, I was finished with the original piece and when she came to pick it up - priceless. (Of course, I was dead tired by that time and I think may have had an unhappy demeanor but I was happy inside. Really! ^_~ ) Anyways, before I gave it away, I took a picture of it with my handy-dandy camera phone!

With a mantra of "one more day, one more day..." I proceeded to print out my last batch of flyers for Sunday and the usual stuff of replenishing my free drawing copies and new colored artwork to sell. This time, I'll go with something simple I did - Xellos!

Day Three: Sunday, June 18, 2006

...And Xellos was hot! I sold two copies of him; both reserved before the image was even done; plus I got a coloring job for one of my free print-outs. They all walked away happy, so I was thrilled! Folks this day also showed a lot of love for my Ragnarok and Ojinko pictures which sold more this day than the previous days. Also, a big "Thank you!" to those of you who picked up my original works! You know who you are... ;)

A friend of mine was able to take some pictures while I was manning the table of various cos-players plus an event called "Anime Chess". Check 'em out:

At the end of the day, I was beat but very happy! So happy in fact that I went to a Japanese supermarket, Mitsuwa, and bought myself an Unagi-Don set at one of the mini-restaurants called Kayaba to celebrate! Yuuuummmmy! <3 <3

All in all, a very tiring experience but oh so worth the effort! Did I mention I've got stuff to give out? Check back later to find out more!

Comments? Drop by the forum!

If you're interested in setting up at an Artist Alley, be sure to check out my tutorial. If you're going to set up a table, drop me a line and tell me how it went!

Fellow Artist Alley Attendees

Other Artist Alley attendees who stopped by the table. Check out their stuff:

Christine Yen Chong of Altar Studio
Leelee of Stolen Make Believe, and...
Charles O. Lucas and JC Padilla of Bungee Corp.

Con Pictures!!

All the convention pics and scans all in one convenient place. :D

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