4 Pro Artists Told Me How They Make Money at Conventions

[@KristianNeeTV]

Consider supporting me by getting these courses! Introduction to Figure Construction by Michael Hampton: www.proko.com/s/FLC2?af=706140 Introduction to Drawing by Ryan Benjamin www.proko.com/s/nkat?af=706140

[@hemig2869]

Just did my first con and can't wait to do another Best advice I received at the show was to diversify my product range. I only did prints but saw most people were drawn to pins, badges, key chains, stickers and tshirts

[@derbunstm2191]

yup, so people who can't afford prints may be able to afford pins or stickers, it also comes down to preference of the buyer but it is good advice.

[@calinacer2003]

Great content, following the Proko scheme. I would recommend having each artist's name visible during their chats, so that people that don't know them can look them up and discover their art & support the artist.

[@Sasha444luvs]

What happened with proko?

[@TimRidleyArt]

A good friend of mine and an amazing artists told me "don't try to be the best, just be prolific" If you just put out content long enough you will learn along the way and people will start to pay attention. Just make sure you like doing it, so you're not just suffering for "fame" haha

[@AgeOfGarSkew]

The formula to succeed as an artist: 10% talent + 90% work = 100% Skill

[@phishdough]

It’s 10% skill 90% luck

[@thenot-so-smartfox4145]

what about 15% concentrated power of will, 5% pleasure and 15% fame?

[@sufeiiiii]

@@phishdough nothing lucky about hard work. luck can only speed up the process, but work will always get you there

[@deshawn1995]

Peter Han gave the best advice for those who want to do this

[@octonolite_0]

This was excellent. Some of the best and most sought after artists in the industry ( David Finch being my favorite penciller) sharing the grounded, real world stuff at the core of a world of artistry that seems so fantastical and many levels out of reach for most of us. Very encouraging and educational. Thanks for doing this.

[@PreparedDeath]

Every artists is their own biggest critic

[@ratchetandchank8648]

I love watching and rewatching the old proko videos at these cons. Thanks for this!

[@flyingjunkies]

Boots on the ground with real artists!!! Great insight into the artist mind and how it’s affected by the market. Glad you let them speak their truths without interruptions, bravo 🙌

[@timkongart]

Love this man! I really like how you go about doing these interviews and asking the really grounded questions that people can be afraid to ask sometimes. Its really interesting hearing it from the point of view of sucessful artists and what their thought processes are.

[@TheRogueSquid]

Those were fantastic interviews.

[@RossDraws]

omggg its mEEEE

[@KristianNeeTV]

Thanks again dude!

[@krissteinz1728]

This is really great advice. After art school, I spent a few years just wandering aimlessly through the motions. No passion or drive put into my work. But last year I refund the spark and a style I love to work in. Persistence really is key

[@JonJagsNee]

Hello brother, can you tell mom that I want pizza for dinner?

[@KristianNeeTV]

lol yeah Hey everyone, go subscribe to my brother

[@bgck2798]

That's so true - Talent are the support wheels when you start, it might make things easy for you and easier to keep committed. 80% is practice, 20% Talent, my art teacher often said. 😅

[@MatijaVuk-z9n]

so what's true ? without talent they would hardly even start, give it some credit dear artists, its not all about your hard work or smart work.

[@bgck2798]

@@MatijaVuk-z9n sorry, if I caused confusion. I strongly encourage everyone to start something they love. And Drawing and Painting is lots of fun. And you need no talent to start. I mean, Talent is overrated and when you feel you have no Talent, don't let it stop you from trying. Like Bob Ross said - "Any time that you learn, you're not losing. Because if there's a secret to this style of painting, or any style of painting, it's practice, that's all, just practice." 🙏

[@RoscoArt]

Thanks a lot for this Kristian! David Finch is one of my favourite artists, always great to hear his thoughts. Peter Han is legend too - I’m currently in his Dynamic Sketching class✍️

[@sajophoe]

those were pretty great pointers ;D

[@barvelo26]

This is gold. Thank you for making this video, thank you for asking the pros so we can pursue sales with our work.

[@jonathanvergara162]

Very insightful 👍 thank you!

[@clydene326]

I love the energy of this video. It’s very helpful to get people motivated.

[@romulo560]

Wow this video is so encouraging! Do you have any more like this? Great stuff!

[@KristianNeeTV]

Most of my videos cover similar stuff, just longer format

[@freeloaderinmiyazaki]

Thank you so much for sharing this, doing all the work and having the courage to interview all of these great artists! I actually have had a booth in Comic Con artist alley in Tokyo, Osaka and Okinawa the past few years, and this info really helps!

[@abs6272]

Even in Robert Greenes book Mastery (talks about process of mastering a skill). He says you should never chase the money, because at some point if you spent all your time chasing and not developing skills. Someone younger is just going to outshine you

[@spaka1]

Create and have fun, learn always, teach others, create more, more fun, then die. Righteous life🤙🏽

[@pampamtamtam4001]

Loved this so much! Super cool hearing about these artists' experiences. Thank you!

[@Sky_TEC_Illustraition_Systems]

Good to see David

[@bebekgambar]

This is just what I needed

[@raycornett5854]

Appreciate this channel after discovering I gotta fufuill my childhood dreams and become a artist in some way so the interviews you do and shit is plain art to me 😂

[@AMARGUSMAXIMUS]

At the beginning i though RossDraws was the worst advicing, i am happy i stayed to listen the whole interview. He did say good things at the end.

[@skratchforce9785]

David Finch wooooooo!

[@Paul.E.Pencils]

Man. I needed this video!

[@Oliver-gammarART]

I always wonder how many popular artists sell fanart without getting slayed by the original rights holder because of copyright infringement. Or better: How sell these artist their fanart without copyright infringement.

[@jordanthegenderthief]

I watched a video on this recently. It depends on the company, but most actually benefit from you selling fanart, because it’s generating interest in the franchise. Typically they’ll only go after artists if they’re selling in the merchant hall, which is supposed to be reserved for official merchandise, or if they think that the artist might become competition for them.

[@TheJun07]

Thank you very much for this video.

[@freakish1732]

9:55 I feel the same everyday too

[@danielcalencar]

You reach master level content when your interviewee asks great questions to other interviewees haha

[@AxelEztudio]

Super insightful interviews thanks so this !

[@hazeleyedrebel]

I love this!!! Yes, i subscribed😉

[@KiloGraham]

Talent is small compared to commitment.

[@sketchingwithscot]

Nice video. Although doesn't apply to me, I am 69 and retired. Now i spend many hours a day drawing, sketching and learning.

[@bamb3928]

That sounds wonderful. You could always attend smaller markets in your community just to meet and appreciate other artists. I find it fun. I went to community driven life drawing classes before the pandemic and although I was much younger than the rest, I got to talk about art with someone who was less confident and provide some advice. So I definitely recommend looking for similar events in your area or clubs, I think it’s a wonderful experience to connect with others through art. Best of luck to you. ❤

[@ewelinko]

Super cool that you took the time to interview some of the pros. Thank you for uploading this video 🌷 The advice is appreciated and that you shared it on here.

[@MusicForMyDemons]

Very interesting video, thank you

[@sanfordgreene106]

great video presentation

[@Avaskyl4r]

thanks for this 🥳🥳

[@RealMuperSan]

I still think talent is critical lol.

[@simonzhang3D]

nah its not. Its really not. unless you are crazy talented like crazy crazy. Other than that it really doesnt matter that much. its more about disciplin

[@deshawn1995]

Even if your crazy talented nah because if you can't interact with ppl and show proper etiquette you won't sell

[@MarkDaMak]

How can you make art like batman lets say and sell it if you aren't authorized to sell the character? if u sold a batman print that u drew and made $5k off of it and DC catches wind would they hit u up for a cease and desist order?

[@KristianNeeTV]

Probably not. A lot of these companies are pretty relaxed about that sort of stuff. A lot of their artists make a pretty large portion of their income doing fan art at cons, and going after those people is a bad look. That being said, there are instances where people were have been hit with a cease and desist. It's also a changing landscape. I'm sure as more people get into it, and AI gets becomes a bigger part of the economy companies will likely restrict IP more. It's sort of something you have to figure out on through experience.

[@lrdalucardart]

Unless you making millions, most IP holders won't hunt you down. If anything, you making a few 100bucks out of it, for them its just "free marketing" for their IP.

[@RebelCannonClub74]

The fear of working at Macdonalds forever is a good motivator.

[@i-ng3576]

Спасибо за видео! Много важного для себя вынес

[@longlei276]

did someone set off a thumper?

[@SpaceBandit666]

What was the question at 10:57? Not even captions understood

[@KristianNeeTV]

It was essentially “how do you deal with self doubt as someone who’s been in the industry for a long time”

[@QuillColor]

Would you address artists that don't live near a convention, that might have the right work for it, but would have to travel to even have a first attendance experience?

[@inuendo6365]

That's a very broad question. Are you 100km away and able to drive to convention as a normal attendee? Or are you in Darwin and you'd need to pay $800 for airfare and a room in Melbourne? Are you somewhere in between? I would say go to a convention you're interested in as just an attendee to see what the crowd is like, but more importantly to ask the artists what the cost and availability of tables are first. Some artists alleys operate on a lottery system which definitely isn't worth the investment if you're far away.

[@GreenUnicorn06]

I'm sorry, but the idea that "talent doesn't help" is just silly. Talent is real. People start out with proficiency in different skills. That doesn't mean there is no hard work involved. Usain Bolt still had to work bloody hard to be able to run as fast as he does, but he does have a talent for running and it is helping him. If I followed the exact same training set that Usain Bolt does, I would definitely be a faster runner than I am today, but I would never ever reach the same speed as him. Personally I have always had a talent for writing. Words come to me very easily and I can write pretty darn long texts and have always received top marks with much less effort than most of my peers. That doesn't mean that I haven't had to work to refine my skill, it doesn't mean that I don't have anything to learn or improve on, it doesn't mean that I never have periods where I stumble or struggle. Talent doesn't mean that someone is born a master of their craft, but claiming that a person born with perfect pitch doesn't have an easier time learning music than someone who was born tone deaf is just stupid and patronising.

[@KristianNeeTV]

@@GreenUnicorn06 it’s more that at a certain point the external validation someone gets for being talented isn’t enough at a certain point to push through the difficult parts. No matter what you’re going to face rejection, even if you’re the most talented person in the world. “Talent doesn’t help” is a little bit of a crude version of “having talent, money, or connections still means you need to work incredibly hard and learn to deal with rejection”.

[@keithrowsell6847]

Art and Business is an abusive relationship. Art is all about pushing the limits for beauty. Business is all about low expenses vs high profit. If an artist has a month to do a painting, they will take a whole month to make it beautiful. Business wants to have 1000 paintings done in a month for maximum profit. So no, "talent" is actually counter productive. Finding a way to make simple, easy and cheap things that can be mass produced is what business needs.

[@Stroggoii]

That's absurd. Most people who buy art buy prints and stickers which are products with high profit margins. You can take a whole month to do a painting if you wish, you will not only take just your newest print and nothing else to a show. Art doesn't expire. If your art speaks to your audience, new people will keep buying the prints you made ten years ago, because to them they're new.

[@Hddrawing117]

If you do fan art how do u sell it without getting in trouble with copyright

[@marielcarey4288]

Like the others, just do it anyway 💀

[@fwoggangidk]

I'm gonna guess the dog's the best out of the 4 🗿🙏

[@baked-beans6474]

woooooooo

[@RobbScottVideos]

Does the print making not require licensing. Or do the artists have licensing?

[@KristianNeeTV]

It depends, a lot of that stuff falls under fair use or fan art. There are cases where people go after artists, but it’s few and far between and usually for other reasons.

[@RobbScottVideos]

@@KristianNeeTV Interesting. Thank you for the clarification. Definitely makes it easier if you don't have to pay licensing.

[@solarydays]

@@RobbScottVideos technically you have to, it's just some companies don't care about it, other will go after you. there are also convections that limit the amount of fanart you can sell.

[@RobbScottVideos]

@@solarydays Thank you!

[@MarkDaMak]

@@KristianNeeTV what other reasons?

[@christopherk7920]

in my humble opinion, talent speeds up your learning curve but does not guarantee success

[@fuwabnuuy]

If they made enough money to live as artists, they wouldn't be selling art at conventions. It's pretty self-explanatory. It's just a sad reality for us artists.

[@wudly9195]

Isn’t selling art at conventions still making money off their art ?? It’s just an extra revenue stream

[@TheRealArtDoctor]

You still need talent though. Aft without meaning is just decoration and there is an oversaturation of it. Its bad enough that the average dude wants to monetize his hobbies, the affect that meaningless nothing pictures and anime is kinda bad in the grand scheme of things. Talented people tend to not be business men and the overaaturation takes away. Also stop calling everything art, it hurts everyone. Fanart isnt really art, just free advertisement in the end.

[@neru_d]

Sorry but what? Why would you "still" need talent? Plenty of "talentless" people who made it big. Also if "talent" can be even considered real, where do you find it? What part of the brain? Even if it does exist, how do you know that someone "has" talent, even if they say that they don't? What if there's someone without "talent" that puts a lot of work and gets good, just to be called "talented" Sorry but its just a bad take, that "you still need talent"... Can agree on meaningless art and that there's too much of it. But even then- so what? People do and draw whatever they want. What's wrong with "average dude" monetizing his hobbies? Is it better if the dude was "special"? What meaning do you even want from someone's art? Why can't fan-art be art? By definition it can be art. (it also is a form of art by wikipedia and dictionaries).

[@thecomicstyleartist]

that doesnt sound like David Finch's voice - weird

[@ThePortjumper]

Sup

[@KristianNeeTV]

sup

[@MommaKnowsBestest]

Just use more expensive materials

[@william5159]

oh great, now talent isn’t important for creating ‘ART’. Haha. Tell that to history’s greatest artists.

[@marielcarey4288]

If you think it's all talent, you're probably just a lazy person making excuses. History had plenty famous artists with varying levels of 'talent'

[@timz9862]

Can’t stand when artists do all fan art stuff. If you didn’t work on a comic or IP, maybe have a piece or two that you did for fun, but I’d rather see your original work. When I go to conventions I don’t know how many people I see that just take a frame from the Deadpool movie and redraw it in pencil. And people are buying that crap. I don’t get it. It’s not creative and it’s not being an artist. It’s just wanting to make money. And they are wasting space at conventions and possibly keeping a “real” artist that does original work from having a space. I actually wish that Marvel and DC would kind of police conventions and stop people from selling their Batman (or whatever) art if they didn’t ever work as an artist on the comics. Artists complain about AI stealing their art, but then they are selling Spider-Man pieces at conventions.

[@bamb3928]

Absolutely wild to compare Ai stealing from artists to making fanart dude. Nothing will ever justify Ai taking advantage of artists and stealing their income, no matter how you slice it. Artists make fanart because the reality is, it’s a safer bet when it comes to sales. Most people don’t really care about original works especially if they aren’t familiar with the artist. No one wants to waste their time at a booth and not make a profit. Also, some artists just really love making fanart. I hate this idea that artists shouldn’t sell out. No, you should. Profit any way you can because it’s hard enough to make money off art. I’m more interested in working in the gaming and animation industry, do I deserve less respect for it? I don’t think so. There’s many ways to be an artist in this world, it’s not your job to police which ones are valid or deserving of respect for their craft.

[@timz9862]

@@bamb3928 Copying a photograph that a photographer (another artist) took is not being an artist. It is ripping off other artists' work. Just like AI. If you can't create art that other people want to buy at conventions, then you simply shouldn't be doing conventions. Instead, become a fine artist and do gallery exhibitions. If you can't get galleries to display your work, then try other art shows that are not comic cons. If you can't make money that way, well, then maybe you shouldn't be a professiona; artist and just do it as a hobby.

[@ooo1o8o1]

People learn art by copying and remake what they like, that's the first step Majority of professional artists start with fanart What you are calling real artist is what we call professional skilled artist You are simply hating on beginners If you don't give a beginner chance you will never get a professional in future

[@timz9862]

@@ooo1o8o1 That’s what art classes are for. Life drawing, still life, etc. There are MANY people that are not beginners that I see at comic cons that are simply copying photographs. That isn’t art. It’s copyright infringement.

[@ghostrangerp.8819]

Some of this advice is stupid..

[@ghostrangerp.8819]

Talent exists in all of us...the biggest question is does that person have any connections in that industry that will make the push to get him/her get realized by someone...and even if that person gets noticed will you do what's right to keep what you have going successfully....we're seeing this consistent trend today where many talented people are sacrificing what they have all for something that makes no sense and something that doesn't attract people at all...also yes talent ok...but with no knowledge of knowing anyone in the industry you'll still be a nobody...unless you are willing to sacrifice and today's generation really doesn't understand that word...