I 3D printed a nib holder from Halftone Hospital at the Joliet Public Library and it’s Digital Media Studio! The print seems to have gone well and the part screw together well with my G-nibs! I can’t want to dive into a bigger drawing!
Continue readingAuthor Archives: Mastafran
Overcoming Art Weakness
Getting motivated to leave your comfort zone is tough, and even the best struggle with doing art tasks. In my case, I have trouble with backgrounds. But in this clip, I talk about trying your best to stretch your skills!
Olivia the Dragon Knight
This is a short process article about how I draw my Dragon Knight Copic Marker illustration in five hours at Sablecon back in October 2023!
This a throwback to an older Copic Marker style that I rarely use but I can give you insight into the five hour process I spend drawing between sales and conversations with guests
Continue readingHalloween Dogs
Happy Halloween to all! These little doggies are ready for a spooking good night!
Continue readingAutumn Convention Announcements
I’m still on the grind with conventions as I announce the places I’m going to throughout the autumn season!
WaukeCon 2023
First, a big reminder that I’ll be up north at WaukeCon in Waukegan,Il once again! For my second year in the convention and my third time doing a show after my surprise visit to ArtWauk, Waukegan is a nice town with passionate artists doing their best. It a cozy show of local artist showing their love of the Sci-Fi works of Ray Bradbury!
Continue readingPastry Cat Playmats Are Back
After a long couple months, the Pastry Cat Playmats have finally returned on my Etsy Store! Now with new stitching!
For this new printing, they now have a fine black stitching at the edges so they won’t fray and split apart!
With the same fantastic color and quality from Custom Mousepad, you’ll love to game on these Cat Mats!
Don’t forget the rest of my stickers on that you can from my Etsy Store! You can buy up the same stickers I display on my convention tables and I will personally mail them to you!
Post-Summer Recollection
My workload keeps slipping as I’m flopping between making new art, promoting old art, learning about art, and making posts about art. With the time crunch, I can’t let it bring me down.
Continue readingAlley Art Festival 2023
This Saturday weekend in Downtown Aurora,IL, I’ll be tabling at Alley Art Fest on August 26th!
It’s an outdoor show so make sure you prep for the elements.While you’re enjoying the sun and smiles, stop by my table to grab a sticker or two!
Mighty Month of Cons
Summer wasn’t as eventful as I’d wanted but I was working on a large illustration to fill the time. I’ll elaborate on this at a later date, but for now here’s a fast time lapse of the process.
Between that and my dayjob, I tabled at a decent amount of conventions and shows during he last weeks of July!
Continue readingThis Indie Author talks about her experience as a vendor at CODCON 2023
As prolific as I am with this conventions, most of my knowledge is from the school of hard knocks. If you want a break-down of the arduous task of tabling at these conventions, take some time to listen to Alice the Author as she goes through her hour-to-hour break down of selling books at CODCon!
Most of this stuff I learned in the School of hard knocks myself, so Alice’s vid has fantastic insights on selling work at conventions.
A current new thing I’m doing with my setups for smaller conventions is to take a smaller amount of inventory with me. I don’t go more than a dozen of each of my large stickers, and I don’t bring every print or book I have with me on my trips. Library shows are a smaller one day showing, so even if I sell out, It’s not a big problem.
This system has also been a good way to not just manage my sale but analyze the rate my items sell. If demand is low for an item, I stop printing more and keep my table setups lean.
As I go around Artist Alley’s at conventions and hear about them, I write them down in a Spreadsheet on Google Docs. The majority of this list consist of events in my home state of Illinois. It’s not perfect, but it’s a start for any other artists seeking to do more conventions.
I have a full year packed with cool conventions and events! Take a look through my Convention Schedule to see where I’ll be next!