Andrew Fraser
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Andrew FraserParticipant
Thank you. and as an affiliate link, you get a cut? Merry Christmas.
Andrew FraserParticipantThe problem was that I had to do two sales pitches.
one to explain the machine and one to sell the comic.
After I explained the machine people would walk off…
People would also ask if the machine was for sale.
At the same time I had one inch buttons on the table and kids would try to stick them in the coin mechanism.- This reply was modified 6 years, 7 months ago by Andrew Fraser.
Andrew FraserParticipantNo. Gross revenue was a loss. I only made $80 in total sales.
I did sell some to a local comic shop at $25 for a lot of 50.
so…$105 total.
Andrew FraserParticipantallright. When I bought the machines there was no key for the coin boxes. Add $25 to get a replacement key from Tomy in Japan. The machines also still had merchandise in them. About $100 worth. Took that to the local comic shop and sold it for $25. Then opened the coin drawers to find $20 more dollars in quarters. FREE MACHINES! yay whoop-dee-doo whatever.
Like I said I cleaned them up and disassembled one into a single unit. Made comics, and spent most of my time at conventions explaining the machine to people. Few people where interested in the actual comics.
I had plans. I was going to scale this up. Get my production costs down by printing and packing eggs in china. I was looking into a pad press so I could stamp my logo and information direct onto the eggs. Hire major talent to make comics. Make my own toys. Get this listed in Diamond. The works. I had a mini series about Platypus’s in Space with plastic space ships, and a heart warming tale about a fish with a swim bladder defect “Walton the upside down fish” it would sell with a little plastic fish.
I shelved the whole shebang after my last convention (2014?). I never made more than $10 per show. and at one to two shows a year, thats not worth hauling those heavy machines around. Last show I did I refitted a Dicemasters Gravity feed box with art from the comics and put in a mix of giant robot and superball. That did better by $12. Without the machine the eggs where more visible and people were curious.
Maybe shorter print runs and contact with local shops that had capsules vending machines looking for merchandise. But to make that viable I would have to cut my prices in half or just recoup my costs. All that work for a passion project doesn’t seem fun.
The choking hazard thing is something that slipped past me more than it should. I always worried some kid would think the superball was a gumball, but I never did anything about it.
And as for the guy with the vending machine. It’s at a fixed location, he restocks it with contemporary comics (diamond?), and machines like that are easy to reconfigure for item value and size. He can set it to $3.00 a comic or so and adjust the shelves to fit the merch.
There’s also that in Japan Manga is sold via machines, and has so for years.
So I will take back what I said about it not being a golden idea.My Idea was more of a Pyrite.
Andrew FraserParticipantHa! I do remember you saying something about that. And about that time I had a long list of why that idea wasn’t as golden as you thought it might be.
so first the eggs. I misspoke they are 8¢ each and you have to buy them in lots of 1000. They come in two cases, one for tops and one for bottoms. And you should wash and dry them all.
The superballs are packaged to fill a standard machine. 250 balls, 4¢ each, about $10. also wash and dry.
The robots were about $6 for 150 and I bought some paratrooper robots to throw some random surprise into the mix.
200 each run. “Superball diaries” and “Ian’s giant atomic robot” (wrote that with my son when he was five)
Superball Diaries was a finalist for a S.P.A.C.E. Prize
Each comic took about a month to write, illustrate, print and pack into the eggs.
Andrew FraserParticipanthave you tried Speedball super black?
I use Copic multiliners’s, They look and feel like microns, but they’re refillable.
I still sometimes use Koh-I-noor Rapidogragh technical pens. They’re fussy to clean, but the results can’t be beat.Andrew FraserParticipantok.
Last year at Gencon I asked Steve Hamaker, Phil Foglio and Cheyanne wright all the same question.“When did you feel successful as an artist”
I got widely different answers from all of them. Meaning Success is subjective. (am I using that word right?)
its not success, it’s happiness.
Phil’s low hanging fruit for this cause the guys got a smile that glows in the dark.
He’s damn happy making comics.
So is Cheyanne and Steve.Why do I feel burned out. Because Bridgette (my comic) is a chore. A white whale to murder. When I think about the comics I want to do next, then I feel that spark of happiness. That crazy urge to make comics. Thats why I dream of bande dessinée and Manga.
If I’m happy, I’m successful.
Andrew FraserParticipantI love the art form, I dream about it in my sleep, and If you let me delete this post, I promise to never again use this forum for marriage counseling. Had a rough nite and vented in the wrong place.
Andrew FraserParticipantUpdate: Running full CS5 on current Mac OS X with out any issues.
Andrew FraserParticipantThank you all for the advice.
I played the “You don’t want to burn out” card.
I talked to her earlier today and she sounded stressed out.
I gave her an out and she took it.
Andrew FraserParticipantUpdate:
I got my site back up.
Thank you very much for your help. Much appreciated.Andrew FraserParticipantThe host sent me to the Forums, which is like finding a needle in a haystack of needles.
so I wiped the site and attempting to reload WordPress.
now it’s giving me a Database error.Andrew FraserParticipantSorry for the double post. I panicked.
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