Back from Los Angeles!!

Hello my lovelies! I have returned from a fantastic trip to LA, partly for Anime Expo, the largest anime convention stateside, and partly to see MY HOT SEXY FRIENDS.

AND ALSO TO EAT ALL THE THINGS IN LA.

Anyway, this was my first time with an artist alley table at AX, and so I was a little bit nervous! I haven't had a "newcomer" experience in a long time, and one of this scale--AX draws over 100,000 geeky nerdfaces people a year, and there are over twice as many artists at any convention that I normally attend, so it was JUST A LITTLE BIT DAUNTING.

Photo courtesy of Iris Chen

THERE WERE JUST A FEW PEOPLE THERE. D:

Luckily, as mentioned previously, I had my dear friends with me who were also artists as well. Here is us working really hard at our tables:

Working hard? Or hardly working? You decide.

Paula was my trusty tablemate and tarot card reader extraordinnaire, so, not only did I know my table was in good hands while I was peeing / walking around / buying shit I shouldn't, I also was vaguely aware of my future, as told through the cards.

I had prints for sale as per usual, and took a couple of commissions that all ended up being very inspiring or hilarious (famous one among my friends was Lady Gaga in Samus' Zero Suit destroying Katy Perry in that crazy outfit from the ET video), and I ended up taking a couple home (including that last gem) to give them THE PROPER TREATMENT. I've updated my galleries with SOME THINGS I DID.

If you haven't been following me for very long, I've been venturing out into the world of skate decks, and I brought THIS GUY along with me to AX:

Please excuse this photo of me testing the rig at my table in my horrifically unkept room.

Because, like I mentioned, this was my first BRAND NEW ARTIST ALLEY experience in a long, long time, as well as my first con on the west coast, I had to pack and plan VERY VERY CAREFULLY. I have texts to prove it that I was planning ahead of time and not the night before as usual. GREAT SUCCESS. I even had these fancy business cards made:

only to find out the day before that THE SKATEBOARD DOES NOT FIT INTO MY SUITCASE. And it wasn't off by like, an inch or something--it was off by SEVERAL INCHES.

ARGH.

After digging around for a millenium in my closet, i found a duffell bag that could KIND of work and I shoved all my clothes around it to protect it, and it was DEFINITELY not up to carry-on standards, but somehow I got that thing on the plane and safetly to LA.  Unfortunately, that picture of it is the only one I have of it because I'm a moron and always forget to take photos when probably necessary.

Speaking of this problem, I ended up not taking that many photos at the con--I think I was caught up IN THE HEAT OF THE MOMENT (read: forgot). The only two pictures I took of costumes were, of course, Legend of Korra related:

So, both these lovely couples were HILARIOUS and assumed what is arguably the best poses for my pictures. My dear friend and forever table neighbor Annie brought her husband to the convention, who had a legit-for-reals camera that took legit-for-reals-and-better-than-an-iphone photos that perhaps I will be able to share later on.

What I DID remember to take pictures of much to Annie and my delight was ALL THE FOOD WE ATE.

AND WE ATE ALL OF IT:  

I also ate about 400 other things, but this is the delicious abridged version.

So, because I ended up selling fairly well, and also because I have a desperate need for material things when I am in LA for some reason, including the skate deck (which sold in the last fifteen minutes of the con THANK YOU TO JUSTIN WHO SO KINDLY BOUGHT MY SKATE DECK SO I DIDN'T HAVE TO HAVE AN AWKWARD CARRY ON ITEM <3 <3 <3), I was instructed that it was an appropriate time to...as Aziz Ansari on Parks & Rec says...

To TREAT YOSELF.

Last year, I had a mini love affair with Apple 8, my favorite booth at AX. SOMETIMES I JUST NEED ALL THE THINGS. This year, however, I needed to curb my spending because of a certain elderly pit bull pee machine and so I only picked up a couple of items from the booth this year, including this REALLY CUTE RING.

AND ALSO THIS ADORABLE METAL GUITAR LOCKET. Sarah from Apple 8 told me to NOT PUT DRUGS IN THERE, ONLY VITAMINS. <3 <3 <3

I thought my spending would be curbed, but then I was accosted by a necklace at a boutique in Little Tokyo:

And before I could calm down, cupid's arrow STABBED ME IN THE EFFING GUT WITH THIS BEAUTY:

UMMMMMM WHITE WOVEN LEATHER ROSE GOLD DETAILING AND SPIKED PANELING, ARE YOU EFFING KIDDING ME, GET ON MY SHOULDER RIGHT NOW, BAG.

Look, I'm not even a huge handbag person. I have like, 2, and one has holes on the bottom of it and the other is mustard yellow on one side and a puke green on the other side that rubs against all my wannabe goth black clothes. But, I had a SOMEWHAT VISCERAL REACTION TO THIS BAG.

JUST IN CASE YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND:

Lord.

Have.

Mercy.

I sort of love this bag.

Anyway, while I was out in LA, I got to see one of my vury vury best friends Iris, who I GREATLY MISS ever since she moved out west a year ago to work for Sony as well as basically managing the h.naoto San Francisco store. Iris was working the h.naoto booth at AX, but took some time to hang out after hours on Saturday and Sunday before she had to drive back to the SF area. ;________; I NEVER HAVE ENOUGH TIME WITH YOU, BB!!

But, we did however, have time for a PARKING LOT PHOTOSHOOT:

Photo courtesy of Iris Chen

Photo courtesy of Iris Chen

When we took these, I realized that we have all known each other for the better part of almost a decade and have nearly zero pictures to show for it. REMEDYING THIS RIGHT NOW. It's these lovelies and you lovlies that brought me to where I am right now, who believed in me from the very beginning. So, you can see why these few hours once or twice of year with my con-friends are so important to me, and probably why I'll keep doing cons in general--I get to see these faithful friends. Guys, I was a WRITER or something in college. I never took an art class until I was, like, almost 24 years old.  It really was artist alleys at conventions that gave me the confidence to even TRY to make art my career, and now I'm doing it, and I've got the nerd in me and you to thank for it.

/end rambling mushy mush

Well, I think I've sufficiently rambled on long enough about my new bag, so another update will be forthcoming--thanks for reading!!  And thank you to all the new people who found their way over to this blog / site from AX! Definitely keep in touch with me!!  I'm on EVERY SOCAL NETWORKING SITE EVER IN EXISTENCE. You can always drop me a line through any one of those sites, or at my email katie@seekatiedraw.com. 

Kisses and squishes!

Comments

[San Smith]

Your trip looks so fun :O!!!!!