A Little Momentum...

Alright friends I'm back from Florida Supercon 2013! I have to say it was a success!!! Thank goodness. I was really REALLY worried about attending my first "big" convention and showing my face in Artist Alley. The 4 day convention really tested me. First of all to even have the funds to afford the table I had to take on several big commissions. I managed to collect all the payments up front and I used that plus some savings to reserve a table for the event. I have to say I had a lot riding on this. It was one of those situations where honestly if I didn't do well at the convention I would not have had money for food, rent, bills, etc. So I went there with a warrior mentality that I was going to take any and all commissions that come my way. I brought all my tools, ink, pens, brushes, pencils, markers of all kinds, charcoal (just in case), toned paper, bristol, big and small sizes, basically if I could draw on it I brought it... I even had a white wallet for sale that I could draw custom art on. So once I was there I found my way to the 2nd floor and set up my display which consisted of prints on short metal wire walls on the table and some large prints suspended from the tablecloth hanging across the front like a banner. Not much, nothing fancy. The first day started off really really sloooow for me. That early portion of the day had maybe 10 or so people actually come past my table and glance over at my work at all. Worry began to creep up my neck after the first hour of this slow torture. Then suddenly, a young woman appeared and requested a drawing to which I promptly agreed. Now busy on my first (and possibly my only commission) I did my best to draw something that would she would love... and it worked. She lit up when she saw the piece and became somewhat emotional too (the drawing was of Wonder Woman) and I believe it was for a friend who was having a very difficult time in life and this kind lady was bringing it to her. After she left I felt renewed and I held on to the fact that I may have helped someone feel a bit better, not just given them a cool piece of art. And that means a lot to me. Over the next few hours the commission waves started assaulting the shore, one after the other after the other! I was a machine. It wasn't until a woman requested to purchase one of my originals that I even looked up from my paper for a few seconds. My Wolverine had caught her eye and she purchased it right on the spot. And with that single purchase along with the commissions from that day, I had earned enough money to pay off all the financial things I had listed at the start! It was a very good feeling indeed. Hard to put into words. Just a very good feeling of "I was right, I can do this" as cheesy as that sounds. Doubt and I know each other all too well lol. Anyway, day two and three were just all a blur of commissions for me. I took some pictures and posted them here of those pieces. I made a bunch of sketches to do those two days in particular and on the 4th day I wrapped up the Deadpool drawing. The guy who commissioned the Mohawk Storm is actually the same guy who commissioned the Deadpool one with all the bullets, he was really a cool guy. Well I don't want to drag this on too long but, I wanted to share some of this victory with you all since, honestly, you all have been fighting this battle with me. Your comments, advice, criticism, support and views in general (that really does motivate me sometimes lol) really do help me keep pushing myself to get better and keep heading towards my goals. Really couldn't do it without you all. So... thank you, friends.