NakaKon 2022 - Almost back to "normal"

It's Thursday evening, I've got my badge, and found my table, so now it's time to get set up!

Thursday Set-Up

I am a sucker for that feeling before a show, especially if it's for a longer three day show, that I'll get during set up. That feeling of mixed anticipation, hope, and excitement. Some of it, because of course, there's the whole, "I'm here to show off my artwork and make some money", but also because, at least for me, it's always been the whole, I'm working for myself aspect.

Before you get too far into reading, here's the roughly ten minute podcast episode I did if you're interested in a quick listen. It's a condensed overview of my thoughts about the show.

Last year I had just started really utilizing TikTok [@theartisanrogue] for promotion, and this year, I was recording media content for TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, this blog post, and Twitter, which, was by far the most challenging thing I had to do. I know that sounds a bit silly, but to try and create content that isn't just replayed across the various platforms is very time consuming, and requires me to be able to also edit video and photos when I have time at the show, so the content is put out in a timely fashion. 

It isn't easy, but it has proven to be challenging fun to pull off. I also feel a bit like a news reporter. But without the microphone.

Setup almost always ends up the same in the end, but I added some new things to the display this year.

It took about two hours, of my slowly assembling my setup together, which was fine. It gives me time to think, to go over things and make sure I'd not forgotten anything. And quite to the contrary, I'd brought TOO much to set up. I think things looked pretty visible and orderly, but like any show, and every crowd, you just never know until the crowd comes in, how well it will work.

There were only a handful of people left about 10:25pm or so. I just sat for a while and took in the moment.

Friday - Day One

Friday morning, I got there about an hour early. The showroom floor opens to VIP access thirty minutes before the main crowd gets in, which is around 3:30pm, and then the show is open until 8pm. 

I spent a lot of time before the attendees got in, just walking around, and thinking, looking at displays for ideas, and visiting with a few people I knew. I wanted to approach this year with a more relaxed mentality, and as I mentioned earlier, to allot time for me to be able to get photos and footage as I wanted them.

I was on a tight budget this year, but there is ALWAYS something I end up buying when I do shows...

I play a kind of game every single year I've ever done NakaKon, or for that matter any larger show with vendors in it. I always wonder what the new trend, collectible, or "hot new thing" will be, that grabs everyone's attention and desires. In years past, I've seen it be cute squids, which is the one that really sticks out in my mind, but this year I ended up not really noticing that happening.

Some new things I debuted at the show, the Epic Battle Vest Relics Button Pack 2, and Ardor Issue #1

I have a lot of admiration for anyone that comes to shows in cosplay, and every single time I've done this show, I can count on seeing some incredibly cool creations walking around.

I have no idea who any of these characters are, but I really want to know!

It did really seem like there were far more cosplays of complex and intricate natures this year, and I've heard in passing and seen on some online posts, that during the downtime of no shows, many people really refined cosplays they had been working on to finish levels they may not have normally.

Love all three, but UP's Carl is such a great effort!

Even though I got here early, Friday really seemed to fly by. I made a few sales, but was a bit worried on how the rest of the weekend was going to go. That's a normal thing for me, and I'm sure anyone that tables at a show. It also doesn't help that I got very little sleep the days leading up to the show, as comics, printer ink, and a lot of other things were coming together last minute.

Saturday - Day Two

Show startup is at 9:30 for VIP, and then 10am till 6pm, although, I really wish the vendor room stayed open till 8pm on Saturday. It's something I think I've brought up in years past, but I think I may be in the minority on wanting this. It does make it difficult to find dinner easily after 8pm by the time the booth is closed down for the evening.

I used to cover my stuff at my booth, I still do, but I used to as well. That's a Mitch Hedberg reference.

The day went pretty well, attendees seemed to be in good spirits, and sales started picking up. It was nice to have one or two members of the convention staff stop by to see how things were going. It reminded me of when my friend Beth oversaw the vendor room (it's still not the same without you being there Beth!). But from the get go, from setup till the end of the show, the crew working the show did appear to be making every effort to have things run as smoothly as possible.

Tell me these three cosplays aren't just the most awesome works of art! 

I didn't get a chance this year to play in the arcade area, but man was it nice to see it filled up with people playing and some nice Sega Astro City cabinets with various games on them!.

This room always makes me miss Token Joe's Arcade from my younger days...

Once again, the day came to a close, and tired and fairly satisfied, I hurried to get some posts online, run over to look to see what cool import games one of my favorite vendors had on hand, closed down my table, rearranged a few things, and headed home.

Sunday - Day Three

The last day of any three day show is the one where I do all I can to center myself and remind myself to self promote, engage with everyone, and enjoy myself. Sunday, kicked, ASS. I did the best on this day, and finally got enough perkiness mixed back in to my outlook that I had some fantastic conversations about art, game development, archery, teaching, history, language, SO MANY things. It drove home why I love conventions so much.

Naka had a lot of cool stuff back here to help support the show. I forgot to buy a shirt this year.

I had rearranged my display to showcase some of the original sketches I didn't have on display the first two days, and those began selling quickly. Many thanks to those of you that picked up original art, issues of Ardor and Pagan Zoetrope, and some of the limited large art reproductions I had on hand. I really appreciated it!

Twenty five minutes before the show opened Sunday

There were a few lulls where I had a chance to catch cosplayers that didn't pass my booth, but I wanted to get photos of. I also kept window shopping for just the right import game.

I want to say that the one on the left is inspired by Beauty and the Beast, but I'm not sure.

For those of you that asked me about my shirt featuring Kablam that I wore Sunday, it's the rad awesome company that prints up my comic books. I was running super close on getting my latest issue of Ardor in on time before NakaKon, and Kablam got it to me in plenty of time to board and back each issue for this show. If you want to self publish, even in these times when paper shortages are happening, I highly recommend them. You can find out more at the Kablam website!

[Left] Sitting at the booth attempting to look focused, instead looking tired. [Right] I chose this game.

To the staff at NakaKon, thank you for putting on another great show. I'm over the moon happy that your next show is a go and will be May 26th - 28th. Looking forward to it! For anyone wondering if you should attend this show, it's seriously a great show, and every single person I spoke to this weekend was having a great time.

If you want to see some other clips from NakaKon, you can find them on my TikTok account.

I cover a lot of KC art related things as well as showcase my art on here.

Until next time, remember to support artists and local businesses. Be kind to your fellow beings and always take the path less traveled. We all may live in times uncertain, but kindness, understanding, and believing in the good that is in most each and every one of us is what can bring about better days!

- Mario, the Artisan Rogue
Illustrator, Voice Actor, Writer, Animal Rights Activist

www.theartisanrogue.com

NakaKon 2017 - First show of the year.

(Upper Image) The early set up Thursday afternoon. (Lower Image) Waiting in line to get in... before I realized that there was another way in.

NakaKon is now over, it's Wednesday, and I am still feeling a bit of fatigue from not only the insane idea of daylight savings time, but also just having this be my first show of the year.

I immensely enjoy NakaKon as I've said before, because the show is run so very well, and the attendees and staff are really a joy to interact with. This year was a bit different in that I had a bunch of assorted cameras that I started using to film a small documentary on doing shows. It's been a bit of a challenge, because I wanted it to be more cohesive, and I had to keep remembering to film things, not just photograph them as I would for these blog updates. The good thing was that I got about 5 to 7 hours of footage that I have to start editing through over the next few months. I started filming from the moment I left on Thursday to go get in line (see lower half of photo above), and through the entirely of the show.

I got there incredibly early each day, and left really late all days except Sunday, because my feet were threatening to go all Kicky McAsserson on me.

The plan is to keep doing this at each of the shows I will do this year, and after November, start compiling and editing it all together. In my vlog, I'd touched on the aspect of doing updates when I had something to say, and I covered some of what my idea was behind this. I want to be able to give a glimpse behind the vendor/artist alley table. To see what it's like to do these shows, to get my own reactions, thoughts, and moments down for not only posterity, but so that I can begin helping educate and create a resource for anyone to see as a primer for getting into comic/anime/art shows.

All set up.

So after getting in, and before I got my booth all set up as you see above, I of course didn't know where my table was, so I went to go get my badge, and my friend Beth, who runs the show (excellently I might add), greeted me, gave me my info and tax packet, and a special welcome vip vendor bag, WHICH HAD HOME MADE COOKIES, and a variety of items. I had elected to participate in the VIP program, which was a really good marketing move on my part, and I encourage anyone that is able to be accepted into the show, to look into participating in this program. I know I will again next year.

Become a VIP and get a great VIP supporter bag, which had some kick ass cookies and other goodies in it!

What is NakaKon if not for a lot of amazing and wonderful cosplay roaming the show room floor and hallways of the convention center and hotel?

Some of the first cosplays I ran across.

There are so many times when I tell myself I want to go to these shows dressed up, but let's be honest, I forget my business cards all the time. No way am I going to remember everything that comprises a well put together cosplay.

I am pretty certain that the middle cosplay was a Day of the Dead tinged Cruella de Ville.

I do love that even though Naka is primarily an anime/manga show, you will see a proliferation of character themes across the board show up.

(Left) A little Gryffindor stopped by my booth. The sorting hat evidently was still deciding. (Right) Cool people that picked up cool art.

Now I want to talk about a few things I did not expect. When I got there, I noticed the booth next to me was still unattended, and then just shortly after the show started, the gentleman below appeared and started to lay out artwork on the table. I noticed much of the artwork looked like it had been done in different styles, but because I was still organizing my own stuff, I didn't think much about it until I ran for a restroom break, and in coming back, saw this scene unfolding.

I realized what people were talking to him about, and heard some of the conversations, and there was that slow burn realization come over me. Like the kind a wildebeest that took too long to finish his drink at the edge of a pond and realizes everyone else is miles from the oncoming cheetahs. I use that metaphor to say, I can be a bit slow on the uptake.

Ladies and gentleman, this man below, signing many an autograph, is the very skilled and prolific stand up comedian/actor/voice actor, David Vincent.

Signing autographs like a boss.

Just go to his wiki page and you'll see the insane amount of characters he voices. Here's a mind trip for you, one of my favorite iOS games is Fire Emblem Heroes, and he voiced a character named Robin in that game that had stomped my adventure party into the ground early that morning while I was killing a bit of time. I was listening to the voice of the guy in the booth next to me in an app, never knowing that was him.

To say that I was excited is like saying pandas probably like to eat bamboo leaves. Yes. Yes I was. But only after I finally walked around to look at the 8 foot banner with his NAME on it, and all the characters he played. That's about the time the realization, the fanboy sweaty palms and all that happened.

See, as far as anime voice actors go, without a doubt, David is one of my two all time favorites (the other being Steve Blum), because his gravity and honesty comes out in his work. This is a guy that knows what it's like to climb to the levels he has, with a healthy amount of trial and steadiness.

So later, I attended his panel, which was a huge amount of fun. David knows how to work a room, and I was mentally taking notes on his stage presence, his instant connection that he navigated with the audience, and how he managed to get six young people to improve voice over efforts within a few runs. This is a guy that clearly coaches, but also knows the pitfalls and mistakes he himself may have made early on, and could help people overcome issues on the fly.

I didn't get a chance to tell him how much I appreciated his patience and how genuinely cool he came off as. We didn't get a chance to speak as much as I had wanted, but I'm hoping Naka brings him (and VO director Joel McDonald) back for another run soon.

But speaking of unexpected things, Saturday was met with this...

Ah Missouri, you nutty nutty weather wild state.

Although I do love snow, and man did it make for some cool shots of video, the green was pretty vacant for most of the show because it also was cold as hell. 

As time permitted, I did manage to get out on the vendor room floor and out in the halls to get some cool footage and photos of more cosplay and crowd shots.

Two of the new Ghostbusters, and a silly T-Rex.

The dad and son with the horns were pretty awesome.

THE most laid back photo I took at the show that weekend.

I got a few commissions and sold mainly art reproductions over the course of the show, and a few originals (yeah, I know, I have to update my storenvy site, a few of you have already emailed me about that).

A Night Elf and Chaos Warrior. My first commission was of the new version of the Red Power Ranger.

I also got to attend Joel McDonald's kick ass 2 hour panel where he literally did a phenomenal job, of cutting through the fog of expectations for voice work, and he had a great many of us try our voice efforts out. I was in between using my own voice pitched up a bit for a young character that was more serious, but erroneously chose to use a more gruff voice, and it didn't work. I knew it as soon as I did it. But Joel was right on point, he said I made it sound like the kid smoked 6 packs a day.

That was such a valuable moment, and a reset button for my own efforts. Since not having worked at Hallmark full time in some time, I've not had the direction and push to refine my voice over work as well as I'd like. Between that panel and being next to David Vincent, I realize I have a hell of a long way to keep going. I got very lucky having had some skills to do the work that I did get at Hallmark in voice acting, but if I want to ever rate on the radar anywhere near the attentions of these two pros, I need to work and practice and experiment much more.

A new friend dropped off this little beauty. Which was good, it was late Sunday, about closing and I was tired and hungry.

So that's a quick overview of NakaKon 2017. I got to meet some great people and visit with some old friends. I still have a lot of you that I owe responses to, I am getting onto those email replies very soon. Thank you all who bought stuff, listened to what Incognito Cinema Warriors XP was all about, and have sent me messages, and traded art and toys with me. That was super cool of you all.

To any of you thinking about coming to the show, it's worth it. Especially if Anime/Manga and cosplay is your thing.

For anyone wondering, I use Ka-Blam to get my comics and graphic novels printed. There's a link over on the side if you want more info.

I'm already looking forward to next year's NakaKon. But for now, StealthCon is bearing down on my schedule and will be here in a week and a half. Gotta reorganize and realign my stuff to show off down there. Also really excited to have a chance to meet Phil Lamarr (he is the voice of Samurai Jack and many others), who is going to be at the show.

Now for any of you that like strategy games, I want to show you something cool that Fire Emblem Heroes did. They listed the voice actor and illustrator names on the profiles of the characters. That is UNHEARD of in most games in a layout like this. And very much appreciated to see this sort of thing out there.

First listing is the English Voice Actor, the second listing is the artist.

Until next time, support your local artists, be kind to your fellow beings, and always take the path less traveled!

- Mario, the Artisan Rogue
Illustrator, Podcaster, Writer, Toy Collector, and Animal Rights Activist

www.theartisanrogue.com

NakaKon preshow preparation, and aiming for the future.

(Left) Layout just sent to printer for tall show banner. (Right) Table top banner for shows advertising Pagan Zoetrope.

I'm hoping that a lot of these long nights, projects, creations in progress, and hits to my own health, mental and physical are going to lead to better things.

Not complaining, not at all. I am genuinely happy with things, more than I have been in actually the whole of last year.

But change (especially the kind out of nowhere) is a hell of a thing to endure, and persevere over. In a way, I'm glad it happens. Otherwise, life gets boring and repetitive. But one lesson I learned from a crafty fox as a child was to never let "them", whomever that is, get to you. That fox was Robin Hood, in the 1970's animated Disney flick. Then, just last night, I saw Zootopia. There was a fox in there, Nick Wilde,... oh how your wayward roguish ways and inner hurt spoke to me.

To all of you reading this, we all have critics. Especially the ones who hide behind others and reflections in mirrors. Never. Never let them get to you.

You are stronger than that. Better than they. And more able to understand your view of the world and your place in it than anyone else.

I have five days before I go do NakaKon, and I am pretty stoked. It's been a few years since I have done it. So much yet to do before it, but I'm not going to lose my mind in preparation.

So I'm making this a quick update, and I might get another podcast up in here prior to NakaKon, but right now, I have some art reproductions to create and the printer is a waiting!

Be kind to your fellow beings, support your local artists, and I'll see you next time!

- Mario, the Artisan Rogue
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