Hey, everybody...
Sorry for the long break in between posts.... with Celebration Europe being so close to San Diego Comic-Con, my 'free time' has been at a premium. No time for love, Doctor Jones... I've been trying to meet all my deadlines while doing all these mega-shows, and it's taking its toll! I have unopened toys in boxes, awaiting playtime. I can't rmemebr the last time I got to mess around with customizing a figure...
Thanks to all who made CE the fabulous cavalcade of big funny ha-has that it was. As for the Leia sketch, it's not THAT original an idea. In SPLINTER OF THE MIND'S EYE, she's piloting her own Y-Wing at the beginning of the novel. The sketch request was for a 'cool Leia', so.... that's what I tried for.
As for its level of detail, I was trying to give the folks at CE their money's worth for their sketch dollar. CE was very expensive for ALL who attended, even us. ESPECIALLY us.
Folks were asking why I charged twice as much for the exact same litho/print ($150 as opposed to the $75 for the C4 version). Well, here's how it goes...
It cost us more to print. Why? Because we got a lower quote on the printing when we did it for C4, because we got a total of 6 artists to go in with us on the print job. The more prints run, the less per unit cost. Why were there less artists going in with us? Because flying to London in July is more expensive than any other time of the year, and that was one reason a few artists opted out of going. So, our prints cost us more to make.
Then, shipping them to England was was wayyyy more expensive than shipping them to Los Angeles.
Then, in addition to paying for our own travel expenses to the show, and paying for our own hotel (two perks usually provided for by any normal convention), and on top of the % taken out of sales for Lucasfilm, and the % taken out for the folks that run the show, there was ALSO the Queen's cut. Her Royal Highness, Queen Elizabeth II, got a WHOPPING 17.5% of every pound we made at CE. So, that's a total of about 35% of the sales I don't get to keep. And, when I get home to America, I have to pay state, federal, and self-employment income tax on what I was left with. So, figure in the printing and travel costs, and that leaves me with very little profit. And I sold more prints than anyone else at the show; a lot of my fellow Art Show guests turned a loss, a major loss, at C4.
I'm sorry I had to charge more, but it was that or nothing. One can't really run a business, even a small self-owned one, on charity unfortunately.
I guess I felt I needed to spell that out, as several folks have asked me for an answer.
I hope all of you have been doing well, and enjoying the summer. I'm looking forward to putting San Diego behind me, and getting back to the trult important things in life: playing with toys.
-AH!