Earlier this year I got really into the idea of tabling at a convention or market. I got lucky and checked my local community service page and saw they were hosting an art event September 15th and 16th, so I quickly grabbed a spot! This was back in June I believe, so I knew I had a couple months to prepare. At the time, I had been finishing up a deadline and had planned on after making a new series of illustrations for the market but the deadline and final edits took a little longer than expected, plus I was suffering with pretty severe burnout from finishing two picture books pretty much back to back. I ended up using art I had done in the past which worked out pretty well and kind of fit for the theme I had in mind previously which was California themed illustrations.
I ended up making these illustrations into square postcard prints, stickers, and bookmarks. A modest amount of product since I had no idea what to expect. I made sure I started placing the product orders in the beginning of August to make sure they all arrived in time. Here’s how some of the products turned out!
I made a Butterfly bundle which included 2 butterfly stickers, matching bookmark, and print. I also wanted to have some freebies at my table so last minute I made my butterfly illustration into line work for a coloring page as well as another California themed illustration I was working on of some sea animals you could see on the California coast. You can download the butterfly coloring page for free here!
The day of the art market arrived fast and I was so excited after months of prepping my products and table! Day one started at 3 and ended at 7 I got to the event and got set up by two. I met my lovely booth neighbors Donna and Sue who make and sell beautiful jewelry and Dave and Nanette a husband and wife who make pottery. It was a slower day in all but I really enjoyed getting to chat with everyone that did stop by.
On day two we got a earlier start it started at 10 a.m and would go until 5 p.m. It ended up being kind of gloomy and sprinkly most of the day. It got busier as the sun started to come out. One of the highlights of the weekend was I had someone with their family come visit me from a TikTok I posted which was so cool! The reactions I got to my artwork in person were priceless I had hung up my pieces for display and seeing people point and smile made me so happy. I handed out coloring pages to kids and they would politely thank me I had one little boy tell me “I was a nice person” as I handed him one.
Overall, I didn’t make back all the money I put into my table BUT I do think it was worth it. It was a pretty small local event so I wasn’t sure I would break even anyway but the connections I made with fellow artists and people who chatted to me meant so much. My booth neighbor Dave gifted me a small bowl he made and told me I would have a great career. My other booth neighbors gifted me some of their jewelry. It can be such an isolating career at times so getting to interact with other creatives and people who liked my work touched me. I ended up leaving with happy tears in my eyes.
Final Thoughts…
That was the main event for me this September and I really wanted to share a more detailed account of my experience. I highly encourage you to check out your local community events to participate in. As artists we are usually shy introverted people but after this event I think I’m going to make more of point to try and so things like this more often.
I loved reading this! I've been debating re-opening my shop and maybe dabbling into markets but it does scare the introvert out of me a little.