Fumi Hirano to be at Anime Fest 2016!

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Akage
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Re: Fumi Hirano to be at Anime Fest 2016!

Post by Akage »

I really think the money, both in terms of sponsors controlling their guests and how much artwork sells for at auction, are the deciding factors and not the amount of people that show up for autograph sessions. I can still get decent sketches at small cons like PMX because they don't have any auction (yet). Staff there usually grants sketches to the first 10 people and then autographs for the rest. But at conventions like SakuraCon where they understand the value of artwork and/or have guests sponsored by Viz, Aniplex and PonyCan, I can't. All three companies are very anti-sketch.
DKop wrote:Yuki was at Animazement a couple of years back, and the con staff stated that it was strictly for autographs and no sketches. Well, it takes the one dummy to ask for a sketch before everyone else wanted to get one, which is why the link took way longer than usual.
I was sort of a facilitator in all this. Yuuki blew threw the line as he was just signing his name the first time around. Staff wasn't quite sure what to do as he still had about half an hour of his autograph session left, so the person in front of me decided to ask for a sketch. Of course, that's what a good portion of us were there for, so staff became irate when I asked for a sketch as well. There was some French woman staffer who got up in my face about it, but I told her that since I just spent $5K on his artwork at the charity auction that I pretty much could do whatever I wanted. She decided not to press her luck, so we all received sketches...and some people just stuffed those in their back pocket and walked away. This is partially why I'm happy that they don't give sketches out in panels anymore. When you've seen countless people fold them in quarters or just stuff it into their bag after refusing to sell it to you because "they've never won anything before", it just grates on your every nerve.

Yuuki was pretty chill and con staff facilitated my request of having him take pictures with the charity auction sketches. Here's one of them -

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Akage
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Re: Fumi Hirano to be at Anime Fest 2016!

Post by Akage »

^ Eh, I was thinking about Matsubara when I wrote that. Really wish this forum had an editor feature.

I'm surprised you had an problem getting stuff from Yuuki at Animazement. Staff called us greedy, but he was really ok with doing quick sketches for everyone. I don't remember staff getting upset with sketches during his session. I remember they were upset that we were double dipping when others hadn't gotten one yet. But as we told them, there was nothing to stop them from getting in line the same time as us...
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Re: Fumi Hirano to be at Anime Fest 2016!

Post by DKop »

Here is the best description of Animazement con staff when it comes to the autograph line, from what I have observed the past few years.

If there is less than 50 people, anything goes, it's all good, no one is going to yell at you. If it's more than that, all you hear is some angry woman yelling "ONE AUTOGRAPH PER PERSON, NO EXCEPTIONS!!!" by the time I get in the line to the time I leave, which give or take is between 30 and almost an hour.

I have also had some interesting experiences with this rule. When Mikimoto visited in 2013, I showed him a copy of Clash of the Bionoids on VHS that I own, and told him "Hey, this is the only version of DYRL we ever got in America, just wanted to let you know." He already signed my Gunbuster DVD set, but was intrigued so much by Clash of the Bionoids from the interpreters telling him what I was saying, that 'he' broke the one autograph rule for me because of that and signed my Bionoids tape. Also, after every autograph, Mikimoto got up from his seat and shook every persons hand in that line. I have great respect for him by seeing that.

My other instance was getting turned down from Ryusei Nakao because he must have thought that only one person is allowed one autograph from ONE guest in that line, meaning when you have 4 guests at a table, you couldn't get one item signed by each of the guest. I wanted him to sign my Crying Freeman DVD, and he politely told me what the rule was that he heard, which is what I also heard, but I had a different interpretation of the rule since next to him was Toshio Furukawa who signed my Bubblegum Crisis dvd set. Long story short, I underestimated the ink drying on my BGC dvd and put the Crying Freeman dvd over it after being denied by the voice of Freeza himself, which smeared the autograph a bit on my boxset. Lesson learned, but at least its a unique autograph and a story to tell, since I just told it.

But that is a cool story Akage. Honestly, there are some crazy, rude, and insane con staff people that ive met, but at the same time ive known some really cool ones, so its give or take depending on the person you run into. Sure, I can say that AZ staff that runs the autograph lines can only be run by example one, but example two con staff people can hook you up with a free AZ t-shirt when I am helping out my friend running a game booth that so happens to run a game company that the con staffer really supports which my friend hooked him up with a free tshirt beforehand. So its a good way to pay it forward and save around 20 bucks too.
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Re: Fumi Hirano to be at Anime Fest 2016!

Post by DKop »

^ Also to add to that, where was that photo taken? It looks like the lower levels of the Raleigh Convention center.
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Re: Fumi Hirano to be at Anime Fest 2016!

Post by labsenpai »

I know we're threadjacking a bit, but until they have a SIGNHUNTER thread... :P

I carry a portfolio for artwork, with pages of blank bristol board in sleeves. I'd consider bringing a whole tablet of good paper to signings to benefit the crowd. I do enjoy when cons bring artists and voice actors from the same project; enabling sketches that can also be autographed by the star. A lot of products don't have enough blank space for multiple autographs.
One thing I also do to increase the slight odds of a sketch is to have polite questions/autograph items for ALL the guests on stage. Even if you are just there for sensei so-n-so, you should be appreciative of everyone invited and not coldly brush by.
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Re: Fumi Hirano to be at Anime Fest 2016!

Post by Akage »

Yup, that's Matsubara on the bottom floor of the Raleigh Convention Center. I was really surprised that Yoshimi (head of guest relations) allowed this to happen. She's very anti-collector and, while she likes our money, is never happy to see us around.

When Mikimoto was at Animazement in 2013, staff were awful in regards to attendees. They only allowed us to receive an autograph, and after that, we were kicked out of the room so that they could all get sketches. One of the staffers went up to my friend, who happened to win the charity auction sketch, mocked him and told him that he received exactly what my friend did without paying the $3K he paid to win the sketch. This was the first year that my friend and I attended AZ, and the first year that their charity auction artwork prices skyrocketed (so much so that the 2014 & 2015 auctions became art heavy). Staff typically refers to my friend as "Not you again".

Yeah, I've had the same experience in regard to crowd size and sketches at AZ....unless Aniplex sponsored the guest. If the guest is sponsored by Aniplex, there's a 90% chance that guest won't sketch. The sole exception is Shingo Adachi. Even if Aniplex sponsors him, there's a chance he'll draw.

Heh, I feel like out-nerding you regarding your convention supplies, labsenpai. Here is what I carry around at every convention -

- 2 9x11 acid free pads, packed inside a B4 plastic container.
- Standard size shikishi (I usually bring 15-20 to a medium-large size convention, but I'll have about 5-8 on me at any time), packed inside a B4 plastic container. Shikishi will vary from Daiso 100 yen specials to Copic shikishi, depending on the con.
- 1 11x14 Itoya Profolio (I store cels and sketches here, as well as spare mylar or poly bags)
- 1-2 Copic Marker cases. For most conventions, I bring the 24 pack w/ 26 markers (includes 2 black liners). For conventions where commissioned sketches are a high possibility, I'll bring the 38 pack. Or both.
- A fan. Because cons no longer give out soap, let alone goodie bags, anymore.

I usually carry a Viz Media Inuyasaha/Bleach bag around with me at cons. The old Viz bags work really well for shuttling all this stuff back and forth. I make sure I have a spare bag and a lanyard with me. I really, really hate the Crunchyroll lanyards. And it gives me a chance to use some of the cool ones that cons used to give out.

It's funny that you mention how rude it is to ignore a guest if there's a group of them. I've seen Japanese attendees ignore guests signing together at cons. There's usually a couple Japanese tour companies that offer an Anime Expo package, and I've watched their tourists walk up to FictionJunction (Kalafina) with Yuki Kajiura present, give Wakana, Yuki and Keiko gifts, and then completely snub Kaori & Yuriko. I bring gifts for every guest that I plan on meeting at the convention. Most of the time, I never receive anything different for giving a gift and it's largely a waste of money. Sometimes, though, giving gifts does pay off. And then there are times when, if a guest really has gone out of their way to draw something nice for me without asking for anything in return, I'll compensate them with a gift certificate. It's the closest I'll get to being able to directly contribute to the wellbeing of those that create my favorite anime and manga without licensors and distributors all taking a cut.
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Re: Fumi Hirano to be at Anime Fest 2016!

Post by DKop »

Man, this past Animazement I was stuck downstairs in the dealers room helping my friend sell video games the whole weekend, the only time I got upstairs was in the evenings to either hang out with people, race on Initial D, or I went to record Robert Woodhead panel that Saturday afternoon. I am not sure what my freedom will be next year, well just have to see. I also don't like the fact that AZ wants you to fully register online in order to submit a panel, when chances are, they won't approve of it or give you the time you didn't request for. I did have something submitted for AWA coming up that was in tentative hell for a few months, but after asking about it and it seemed the panel person there was checking up on trying to get me in, I still didn't get through. I guess my strategy next year is to submit one and then ask about every month or so the status of my panel to see if it will go through.
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Re: Fumi Hirano to be at Anime Fest 2016!

Post by labsenpai »

Akage wrote: Heh, I feel like out-nerding you regarding your convention supplies, labsenpai. Here is what I carry around at every convention -
I can't even get copics or shikishi in my area, except by mail order. I always dreaded the first day at events when I'd have to carry autograph books, art show paintings, and purchased merchandise around for most of the day. The cons I attended alone were punishing in this regard; I appreciated having a friend with spare bag space.

I stuck with 11X14 art paper when I realized that many guests would take advantage of the size. For example, you may get the important bust line drawn in addition to the face ;)
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Re: Fumi Hirano to be at Anime Fest 2016!

Post by Akage »

Nice sketches.

If you try to whip out a 11x14 pad with you at any con now, not only will staff prevent you from doing so, but a lot of the guests will either refuse to draw on it or simply draw something small. I've seen staff turn people away from bringing large pads and extra large shikishi boards. I had one guest complain about the size of my 9x11 pad until their translator mentioned that that was the standard size sold in the US. So, most people don't even try to bring the large pads anymore because they know it's not allowed.

The same goes for Copics. Very few guests will gravitate towards using them, unless they're really ticked off the con staff and are going to do their own thing. I've only had this happen a couple of times in all the years I've been attending numerous conventions. Usually, I just provide the black Copics. I'd prefer they use those instead of *shudder* permanent marker. I bought my Copics on E-bay in large batches. It was much cheaper than buying them in craft stores, where they're usually about $8/marker.
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Re: Fumi Hirano to be at Anime Fest 2016!

Post by labsenpai »

As you've mentioned prior, the staffers seem more confrontational these days, or simply quick to resolve issues with a boot from the line. Only enforced rule I remember (going on 15+ years now) was the refusal of autographs on bogus/pirate label items.
Indeed, a portion of my art was drawn small on the 11x14 sheets; I gotta crop them one day. I just never found the ideal binder for all the types of boards one might need. Still, not as bad as trying to buy document frames in metric sizes. Every poster I want to hang means a day in the woodshop and a trip to the glass cutter.
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