Wondercon 2009 Day 2

When I got to Wondercon on Friday, the foot traffic was not bad. A few people stopped by, some customers who had never seen my work bought a few copies of my book, and it was good. But, it didn't seem like I could sell much.

This is my Day 2 shirt. day 2 was such a rush, I took this picture while brushing my teeth. That's my toothbrush in my mouth in the upper left corner...


Anyway, upon entering Day two I had similar sale expectations for Saturday as I did on Friday. The Ghostbot guys whom I was sharing the booth with were also thinking the same thing. So to drum up foot traffic, they had decided to offer free sketches. They even let me tag along and do a few sketches of my characters! This is the booth at early morning setup:

And sure enough, once that "Free Sketches" sign went up, boom! Actually, more like KRAKA-SROOMA-DOOM! There was a flood of people all over the booth! The Ghostbot guys had to keep a waiting list and have people come back to the booth to get the sketches! On top of the free sketch idea, the crowd was different on Saturday.

A lot more families, kids, teenagers, people with costumes, R2D2's, The Watchmen, Spiderman back packs... you name it! Everybody and their mother was there (Actually one of the Ghostbot guys mother was really there)! It was that double whammy that just made the day go by so quickly because we were all drawing sketches at such a breakneck speed, selling the books, hob-nobbing with the fans... whooo!

Here's a view from my corner of the booth as I witnessed the power of Ghostbot! I didn't get fifth Ghostbot, Kris into the pic who dealt out some sketch madness as well...

I don't think I've ever drawn my character that fast in so many poses! But for every sketch I did, each Ghostbot must've done 3 in that time! I mean, I know the amount of work these guys (and gal!) have to do on a normal workday, but I've never seen them in their working state! And lemme tell ya that was impressive! It was like that scene in Raiders of the Lost ark when Marion and Indy have to shut their eyes when the Holy Spirit is released from the Ark! I had to close my eyes otherwise I would melt like a Evil Nazi with glasses...

Here's a pic of Ghostbot breaking down the booth at the end of the day... What a day!

Anyway, the day went by so fast and a few friends came by, I met a few nice people in publishing and people also trying to get their own stuff going, it was really fun. Thanks to my friends who brought by food, I didn't really leave the booth much but we were well stocked with Beard Papas, Dim Sum from Yank Sing, a Turkey sandwhich from Firewood and Beef pot pies! Yeah, I ate alot!

I've almost sold out of my stock! I think I have 7 books left. Definitely, my sales were better than I expected, I was actually hoping to just sell 10! Good thing my friend told me to print more and I bumped it up to 50. So, thanks to everyone who bought my book! You guys definitely made me more optimistic in cranking out more issues! Okay, I gotta get ready for Day 3! Woooondercoooon! And Awwwaaaayyy!