The Artist FAQ

[Dev Kimiko]

Hello, and welcome to the Artist FAQ. As you will notice, it is very long... But hopefully, it will also answer many of your questions about how to go about selling your artwork and other creation at conventions~

This guide is currently a draft, so if you have any questions please ask

Table of Contents

PREPARATION

• Consider your market
• Budget

PRINTING

• The basics – DPI and CMYK
• Setting up
• Purdy paper and other things
• How many copies should I make?

MAKING DOUJINSHI

• What is a doujinshi...?
• Where do I start?
• How do I make sure my comic is formatted right?
• Layout Design
• How do I go about printing my finished comic?
• Is there somewhere I can submit a comic for publication?

THE DAYS BEFORE

• Get monies
• Make sure you have what you need
• Plan how you'll get you and your stuff there

ON THE DAY

• Eat!
• Sneak out during cosplay
• Have fun

WHERE-TO AND HOW-TO

• Printers
• Badges
• Binding
• Heat pressing
• Screen printing
• Remember...
  

[Dev Kimiko]

PREPARATION
Consider your market
What sort of products will you be selling, who do you expect will want to buy it, and how popular do you think it will be? Balancing the budget-book and being confident in your sales are important things; the market for selling cosplay accessories or badges will be different from the market for a Naruto Doujinshi, which in turn will be different from the market for an original artwork or publication.

As a general tip, cute, cheap and accessible merchandise sells well. Things such as badges, accessories, postcards and bookmarks are always popular because they're fun and inexpensive for the consumer. Fanart generally sells better than original art because the customer has already developed an attachment for that series or character. However, fanart relies on fanbases, so expect fanart from big popular series to move faster than an obscure niche title. Original artists fear not, for there is always an appreciation for great original artworks. If you're unsure what people would want to buy, a little market research never hurt. Ask around on convention and other online forums for feedback and advice.

What's a good number of products to have?
I think five is a good starting number in terms of product range. By this I mean five unique images or designs which you might then make into a number of different products (This can be as simple as offering different sizes). It helps to spread things out across a variety of items to give people diversity and cater to different buying tastes. For example, you might have three different postcards, five different badges and four posters. Or you might have two different doujinshi and a set of bookmarks. Your range will also depend on the type of product you sell; something like a doujinshi takes a lot more time and effort to produce than a set of badges. You'll never cater to everyone, so it's better to create a range of items you enjoy and have fun with, rather than making something for the sake of sales.

Time is always a big constraint for prospective artists. There's usually a lot of stuff we'd love to finish for conventions, but ultimately other things catch up with us. Try setting goals and targets for things you want to finish, but don't be too disappointed if you don't make it. After all, there's always next year~

Budget
I'm a bit bad at this part. But that doesn't mean you have to be! The main priorities for your budget will be the cost of the convention, printing costs, and working out what kind of margin you can afford on your goods. This is a simple way to break down a budget plan;

• How long can you wait to break even? You may want to break even after a single convention, or plan your budget around a whole years sales.
• How much does it cost to produce your work, how much are you prepared to invest, and how much can you make off each item? Remembering that, generally speaking, the higher the volume of product the less each individual item will cost to make. For example, if you invest $100 you might get 40 copies, but if you invest $200 you might get 100 copies. However, the extra margin on the $200 investment is moot if you only sell 40 copies anyway, so be wise.
• Which conventions are financially worth your while to attend? This can be hard to gauge if you have never sold anything before, and the market for your goods will differ slightly from event to event. But once you know your expected profit margin on each item, you can calculate how much stock you need to sell to break even. If you don't realistically think you can sell that much, or if Convention A takes away too much of your profit compared to convention B, then that convention may not be worth going to.

If you're new to the whole Artists Alley shindig then you may want to set your targets in the middle rather than at the top. That 'break even' guide can also be very useful to keep track of your sales during the convention. Remember, a lot of that cashflow on the day is covering costs you have already outlayed. Avoid the temptation to spend the cash in front of you unless it's profit. Setting prices for your goods can be fickle; some customers may buy it at whatever the cost. But you should consider precedents set by other artists, the quality of your work, comparable merchandise prices, production costs, and the spending budgets of people who are most likely to buy your products. Avoid underselling yourself; do what you feel is reasonable to yourself and the customer.

[Dev Kimiko]

PRINTING
The basics – DPI and CMYK
DPI is 'Dots (pixels) per inch' and refers to the resolution quality of an artwork. 300 DPI is the standard minimum for print design. This is important because it's really hard and time consuming to scale a picture UP for print quality. Therefore, it is always prudent to work at a high resolution for artworks that you want to print. An A3 picture at 300 DPI is roughly 3500x5000 pixels, whereas the average size of an image you put on the internet isn't going to be more than 1000 pixels in any one dimension (Around 72 DPI).

CMYK is Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black (Key). Unlike monitors and televisions which emit light and output to RGB (Red, Green, Blue), CMYK is an absorption of light on a surface. It's the colour method used by printers, and importantly, there are some colours which RGB can project but CMYK cannot (Such as extremely saturated colours). This can create problems when you go to print pictures from your computer, only to find they look duller on paper. This is most likely because your file is in RGB and some of the colours are outside of the spectrum of CMYK. For this reason it is important to either work with your files in CMYK, or save them as CMYK before you send them off to get printed. The option for changing colour format in Photoshop is listed under 'Image' -> 'Mode'

Setting up
Now that you have all your lovely images finished, it's time to get the file format right~ In general, most printing shops love PDF's because they are universal and can be opened by pretty much anyone on any computer. They are also very handy because you can create multiple page PDF's which have the exact number of copies of an image you want. So instead of handing a printer a CD with ten files and asking them print X, Z and Y amounts of each, you can give them one file and print it once, or twice, or however many time you need. You can also fit images of different sizes on one page, and printing as a single run will save on time and cost. Bear in mind that the most useful and extensive program for laying out a batch PDF is Adobe InDesign, which takes a some getting use to. Some programs won't export as multiple-page PDF's either, although under 'Automate' in Photoshop there is the 'PDF Presentation' option.

Whenever you save a final image for printing, make sure it is of the maximum quality; ideally you should prepare them from their original working file such as a PSD. Also, NEVER EVER EVER delete final copies of printing files unless you have a backup in your hand and another on the table. This happened to me once before and it is full of pain and stress and ARGGG D':. Also, give yourself plenty of time to get your prints done, ideally at least a week from the convention. Don't do it a day or two before; the last thing you want is for the prints to be late or wrong or your CD doesn't work.

Purdy paper and other things
When you hand your CD over to get printed, make sure you are clear about what you want done. Don't assume they will know what paper stock, weight or size you want. Paper weight is important because standard paper is rather flimsy and won't do your prints justice. Standard printing paper is around 80 gsm, whereas postcard stock may be 300gsm (Grams per Square Meter, used to express the weight of paper stock). Something around 200 gsm is a good weight for normal prints; Not too thick but it has a good feel to it. The weight will also depend on what you're using the print for; eg, badges work better with a thinner, standard stock. You can also request glossy or matt stock, different paper types such as textured paper, or laminates/celloglaze (Handy for bookmarks). Be aware that all of this will cost extra, however.

You may also want to check whether they crop your prints at an extra cost, if it's free, or you may want to crop them yourself. Because printers can never print all the way to the edge of a page you will be left with a white border. Generally speaking cropped prints look better, but it's up to you whether you crop or not. If you crop at home, make sure you have a good metal ruler and plenty of fresh blades. Dull blades will frazzle the edges of the paper.

How many copies should I make?
This is a really tricky question, and the answer will be different for everyone. It does, as always, have several factors to take in to consideration;

• How many conventions does this stock need to cover? Am I making them for a whole year of sales, or just for this event?
• How popular do I think this artwork will be? What is my market for it?
• What sized prints do I want to make for this image? (Bookmark, A6 postcard, A4, A3, etc...)
• How much does it cost to make?

It's easier to move 20 postcards or bookmarks than it is A3 posters, so the type of product will influence how many copies you want to make. Don't be afraid to do a little market research and find out which images people like better. You may also want to prioritise your prints in order of what you think will sell best, and decide on approximate print numbers for each group. Your least popular images you may make 5 copies of, whilst your most popular images you may make 20 copies of. Somewhere between 5-15 is usually a good standard number. You may be happy to sell out of all your copies at one event, or you might want to print extra to sell at other conventions during the year. It's up to you.

[Dev Kimiko]

MAKING A DOUJINSHI

What is a doujinshi...?
Doujinshi is the Japanese word for self published works, and are usually referred to in terms of fan-manga and original works. They are mostly the work of amateurs, but professional artists also use them to publish material outside of the commercial industry. Doujinshi have short production runs and can become highly sought after. Groups of artists are known as a Circle, and many famous and well known manga-ka began their careers making doujinshi. The word is also used in the West to describe self-published comics in a manga style; usually fan comics of existing anime and manga series.

Where do I start?
Key ingredients to any comic creation are a story and characters you can be inspired by, plenty of motivation, and time~ Once you have an idea of what you want your comic to be about, you can begin brainstorming, scripting and storyboarding. It's important to have some sense of planning and direction, otherwise you might find yourself stuck, unmotivated or having to scrap parts and start from scratch. Don't jump straight in to the final product; try getting a rough story outline and script down, and then sketch out the panels of your pages. Doodle character sheets and practice getting a feel for the characters through poses and facial expressions. A comic is, in many ways, a very different beast from pinup art and stand alone drawings. More than just looking pretty on a page, comics tell a story, so there's things like dialogue, pacing, and the 'flow' of a page to consider.

Once you feel confident to start the final product, you can begin putting ink to paper~ (Or Wacom to computer, as the case may be). There are special papers to aid you in this if you are a traditional artist; these are heavy stock comic papers such as Deleter and I.C, which come in standard comic sizes with margins and guidelines already marked out. These guides are a special cyan blue colour which doesn't show up when scanned in black and white. Comic paper also takes inks much better than art cartridge paper, and doesn't bleed as much when alcohol based markers like Copics are used.

If you are using Photoshop to draw your comic, it helps to set up a template PSD with the margin guides marked out. Work at the full 300dpi resolution, and save memory by working in greyscale mode.

There are also a number of commercial comic creating programs which will streamline and simplify the creation of comics on the computer.

How do I make sure my comic is formatted right?
First up, make sure it's 300dpi. If you are using digital screentone, it must be the right resolution. Scaled or incorrect screentone will result in warped patterning where parts of the tone clump together. This isn't as much of an issue if you use flat digital tone (such as shades of grey).

Books are by nature much more complicated than posters and other single page designs. Some applicable book 'printing lingo' for comics are:

• Bleed. Because printing is never 100% perfect, it is important to leave a bit of slack (about 3mm) in case of misalignment in printing or cropping. Internal bleed is inside the trim area, and critical information must never fall inside this space. External bleed is anything extended outside the trim area. Full bleed refers to when an image is bled off the page so that it goes all the way to the edge when cropped (The first image shows the bleed guideline in red. The second shows the two corner panels extended into the area as full bleed. The middle panel only stops at the edge of the page, so there is nothing 'extra' to crop off and it might not show up as a full bled image)
  
• Creep is where the innermost pages of a folded booklet stick out. This means that the middle pages in a trimmed book will have more cropping.
• Drawing frame (dotted line). Panel borders are aligned to this guide, and all text has to fall within that area. The margin (shown in blue) is the printed area outside the drawing frame. For example, in B5 comics the full page area is 18x25cm, but the drawing frame is 15x22cm. Full bleed images extend in to this margin space.
  
• Oversized stock is paper which is larger than the final product, so it can be trimmed down to the right size. Printers cannot print to the very edge of the paper, so if you wanted a final product that was A4 in size, then you could print it on oversized A4 stock. In very large printing presses this is not an issue, because they print from rolls, not individual sheets.
• Spine roll. Not a technical term persay, spine roll is the 'valley' created by the spine of a book. You don't see this problem in saddle stitching or hardbound books so much because the folded pages can be opened up all the way. But when pages are stacked and glued as in perfect binding, if an image is too close to the inside edge then it will be lost in the valley. For this reason it is important not to place text too close to the inner margins;
  
• Trim area is the size the final product will be cropped down to. Crop marks are little crosshairs printed on the blank area of a page to indicate where it should be trimmed.

Don't be too overwhelmed by all that~! Basically, just make sure the important bits are away from the edges, you keep the drawing frame in mind, and give room for the sections that are extending to the page edge. Also make sure your font is legible and the right size for the job.

Layout Design
Having a good presentation will give your Doujinshi that extra lift and create a really special, quality product. So it can pay off to spend a bit of extra time and effort on the finer presentation details.

• Cover
  Your cover will need to be a little bit wider the the size of the comic itself, since it needs to wrap around all the pages. So for example, the cover for an A5 comic will be A4 landscape plus the comic thickness. Perfect bound books will have to allow for their much wider spine size. How much extra you require will depend on the end thickness of your comic, so check with your printer first. If you do not compensate extra for your cover then you will need to trim down the whole edge of the book for a flush finish, so keep this in mind.

• Blank page
  Adding a blank page before the table of contents or start of your comic will give your product a more professional look. This can be as simple as a plain white page, or you may want to choose a colour or stock which matches the style of your cover.

• Page number
  For a single story doujinshi this isn't necessary, but if you have an anthology or multiple-story comic then you should include page numbers. You do not have to number every page; pick the ones where it will not intrude much on the artwork. If you have a table of contents then it makes sense to have page numbers to refer to.

• Reading direction
  Left to right, or right to left? This must be made obvious to the reader, otherwise it will cause unnecessary confusion. Original comics will feel more natural in the english left-to-right method, whereas you might decide a fan-manga is better suited to right-to-left. It will also depend on the original language of your doujinshi. Above all you should be consistent and clear.

• Extras and details
  Some doujinshi have extra material such as colour postcards, illustration pages, commentary or omake comics inside. This can be a great way to even out the page count in your comic, or just add some extra value to your publication. Also make sure the table of contents is laid out properly, and pay attention to the style and consistency of icons and other small details. A well thought out comic will look more complete and add value to your publication as a collectors item.

How do I go about printing my finished comic?
First off, you'll need to look in to the different book binding styles and see which one best suits your product and budget.

• Saddle stitching (Works under 35 pages). Saddle stitching is a binding method whereby pages are folded and stapled in the middle using saddle wire. This is a simple and economical way of making a comic; you can do it at home and still get a quality product.
• Perfect binding (Works of any size, though usually 35p+). Perfect binding is where stacks of pages are glued along the spine and a cover is folded around the pages. This produces a professional finish but costs more and is often only feasible in high volumes. Hand made book binding of this sort is certainly possible, but very time consuming. Burst binding is a more durable variation on perfect binding, whereby perforations are made on the binding edge of the folded pages. Glue is then pushed up through these holes in the binding and covering process.
• Hardbound. This is not a commercially viable option for large print runs, but it can be fun to look in to as a hand-made side project. If you want to, you might make a couple of hardbound copies to sell as special edition versions, or even as a more durable memento copy for yourself. Hardbound books are a labor of love, so don't expect to do a print run of more than 5-10. Unless you have lots of time and patience, anyway. There are many useful books and guides on how to go about book binding, so check your local library or artbook store.

Is there somewhere I can submit a comic for publication?
If publishing your own comic seems like too much of a daunting task, there are publications you can submit your work to as part of a magazine or anthology. For the publication of original manga in Australia, the two leading groups are Generation and OzTaku. Generation is an annual anthology containing 60-80 pages of professional quality short stories and artwork. OzTaku is published several times a year in a magazine anthology style. Most of its 200 pages are filled with original comics, but there's also extras like convention reports, letters and Horoscopes.

Publishing as part of an anthology or group effort is a great way to get that first step up in making your own comics. It takes away a lot of the complications of self publishing, but you still end up with a professionally printed end product. Keep in mind that the above publications deal exclusively with original content and do not publish fan manga.

[Dev Kimiko]

THE DAYS BEFORE
Get monies
And not necessarily of the spending kind. It is important to organise sufficient change for patrons; banks can easily provide you with bags of coins. Do this beforehand, as you will not be able to go to the bank on the day of the convention. Gold coins and small notes are the most important, but it's also good to have a buffer for when someone has a fifty dollar note to break.

Make sure you have what you need
Print off/write up any price lists and signs beforehand, as well as making sure you have all the equipment you need for sticking up said signs and display prints. Most fabric backing boards hate bluetac and stickytape; masking tape is your friend in this department. Invest in a box of rubberbands and consider how you are going to organise your notes and coins on the day (Cashbox, tin, waistpouch, pencilcase, etc...). Unless you're going to bolt it to the table, it's probably not worth investing in anything fancy to hold your money. Something inconspicuous and easily taken with you is often best.

Also know how much space you will have at your table in terms of organising your display. If you have a half-table and want to put postcards, badges and a display folder for your prints, it makes more sense to have an A4 folder, not an A3 one.

Plan how you'll get you and your stuff there
The last thing you want is to be half an hour late for the opening of the convention, or get stranded in the middle of nowhere on the wrong bus with several kilos of prints and folders hanging off one arm. Bump-in times will be advised by the convention organisers, but you will need to get there at least half an hour before opening in order to set up your table. Get some sleep, eat something for breakfast, and make sure you know how you're going to get to the convention. And importantly, how you'll get your stock there.

[Dev Kimiko]

ON THE DAY
Eat!
This should not be understated! You would be surprised how easy one can forget to, well... eat food of substance when sitting at an Artist table. Especially on the first day, you'll have to get an early start in order to be at the venue on time to set up your table. So you're looking at a full day from 7am wake-up to 6pm pack-up. And unless you have a friend who can cover for you at length, chances are you'll be spending a lot of time at your table. Therefore I advise you to bring a trusty old bottle of water, something to snack on, and plan a time to take a break and eat a good solid meal. Artists cannot survive on Ramune and Pocky alone.

Sneak out during cosplay
Cosplay is without doubt the biggest event of most conventions. Use this time well, as you won't be doing much trading. It's a great opportunity to stretch your legs, check out the vendors and get some food. When you need to take a break from your table during more regular trading hours, it helps to bring a sign (The flipside of a pricelist is a good place) to notify patrons. If you have a friend or neighbor they can also cover for you and trade on your behalf while you are gone.

Have fun
The most important part of all! Relax, have some fun, make friends and enjoy yourself.

[Dev Kimiko]

WHERE-TO AND HOW-TO
Printers

• Kwik Kopy
• Fedex Kinkos
• COFA Digital Print and Copy
• Online printers (To be added)

Badges
Your Uni is the best source for this, as many student associations have badge making machines they will let you use for free (You have to pay for the badge parts though). There are some companies you can hire badge machines from, though they do this for a fee. Alternatively you could consider investing in a badge making machine. If you can source the materials in bulk (ie; really cheap) you'll pay off the cost of the machine in due time.

Binding
Most printers will also offer binding services (usually of the spiral binding and stapler type), as does COFA. If you have a small production run and don't mind spending the time and effort, you can always hand-bind.

Heat pressing
Heat pressing is the process by which a pre-printed image is transferred on to a material, be it metal, wood or clothing. Another form is iron-on transfers which can be done at home, but the quality is lower than that done with a professional heat press machine. Specialist paper stock can be bought by itself, but sourcing a heat press machine is harder. Some photo processing stores may have one for printing personalised gifts like t-shirts, mugs or pillow covers.

Screen printing
Screen printing or silkscreen is the process of printing images on materials by forcing ink through a screen mesh. The desired image is created via a physical stencil placed on the screen, or via photo emulsion (using a light-reactive chemical to turn the silkscreen itself in to a stencil). The versatility of screen printing is that multiple prints can be made from the one screen, and the cost incurred is just the price of ink. Medium sized silk screens can be bought from some art stores for around $40.

Remember...
To ask if there are any student discounts. Even if there aren't, they might be nice to you and shave a little off the price

[Chuc]

Excellent writeup. Do you have anything on doujinshi printing? (or maybe Poshua has a better idea on it  )

[Dev Kimiko]

Thanks~

Sadly no on the doujin front, however . Poshua knows more than I would, but I do know she gets Generation and other doujinshi printed overseas in Taiwan. Your best bet would be to look at printing companies that do brochures and booklets (Harder if you're doing a small run), or making it yourself.

Appropriating from Whirlwind Print's useful lingo guide, there's three main ways of binding;

Burst binding – Burst binding is similar to perfect binding, however it is more durable. The spine of each section is perforated during the folding process. Glue is then pushed up between the perforations during binding and the cover drawn on. Burst binding is used for books and booklets that are greater than 35 pages.

Perfect binding – Whirlwind stacks single sheets of paper together, applies an adhesive to the binding edge and then wraps a cover around the pages. This binding method can be used on booklets and books that are greater than 35 pages.

Saddle stitch – A form of binding commonly used by Whirlwind to create books and booklets from 8 to 64 pages. The book or booklet is stapled through the middle fold of its sheets using saddle wire.

COFA also has a big stapler machine for saddle-stitching as well as spiral binding, and there's the old fashioned hand binding methods (Bookmaking books are sexy ...)

InDesign can organise pages for double-sided book printing (ie, making sure the correct pages are in the right spot), otherwise you can do a mock-up and work it out that way.

It also depends on the volume of work you want to produce. A lot of printers who produce booklets are doing so from a corporate perspective, so you'll find the minimum you can order may be 500 or 1000. Not so good when you're looking at 50 or less. With this in mind your best bet may be double-sided printing and hand binding. If you can get a nice stock, the right crop marks, make sure everything lines up, then it's perfectly feasible to get a very nice professional looking end product.

When I have time I'll probably be doing some images and templates to go along with the guide (Things like crop marks, layouts and bleed are best described with pictures, I think...)

[Syku]

I've been looking at Doujinshis too. I doubt this'll be much help but you can always check out the pretty common online ones:

Cafepress.com
Lulu.com
Blurb.com

Blurb and Lulu are probably better if you're planning on doing full-colour artbooks. Also, if you happen to be in the Sydney area, KopyStop does saddle-stitch books but I'm not savvy on their details as I had someone else ask for me so I couldn't cross-examine the people there myself. Ask around local print shops if they do Saddle-stitch, too. I'm still hunting.

By the way, excellent stuff on the FAQ, I've been looking forward to this for a while now. Kimiko, you wouldn't happen to have an idea, for first time artists, how much variety of prints one should have available at the store, minimum. Of course, the bigger variety the better (like five different original artworks and five different fanart artworks... etc....) but with real tight time restraints, we can't produce lots of artworks with high quality, you know. So I was wondering if you could recommend a minimum goal before the conventions.

[Dev Kimiko]

Vanity Press/Print on Demand companies are also an option, although I've seen the more in terms of written publications. You'd have to check to see how much it costs to produce though. Rae has perfect bound graphic novels she produced herself (She's been at some Animania conventions and I've seen her manga at King's Comics), so there must be some good places around~

As for how many items, I've done a quick write-up and added it to the guide

What's a good number of products to have?
I think five is a good starting number in terms of product range. By this I mean five unique images or designs which you might then make into a number of different products (This can be as simple as offering different sizes). It helps to spread things out across a variety of items to give people diversity and cater to different buying tastes. For example, you might have three different postcards, five different badges and four posters. Or you might have two different doujinshi and a set of bookmarks. Your range will also depend on the type of product you sell; something like a doujinshi takes a lot more time and effort to produce than a set of badges. You'll never cater to everyone, so it's better to create a range of items you enjoy and have fun with, rather than making something for the sake of sales.

Time is always a big constraint for prospective artists. There's usually a lot of stuff we'd love to finish for conventions, but ultimately other things catch up with us. Try setting goals and targets for things you want to finish, but don't be too disappointed if you don't make it. After all, there's always next year~

[SPN]

*cheers* YAY thanks soo much <333 Really well explained

[Darek Khort]

Great stuff! Thanks for the guide! ^__^

[Dev Kimiko]

No problem~

I'm working on a doujinshi section now as well (For all you awesome aspiring comic artists~). Complete with helpful tips from our own Generation-publisher Poshua

[Dev Kimiko]

Doujinshi section added~ @O@

Next semester I get to do an elective in typography and print production *is excited*