MEFCC

So MEFCC happened! Such an amazing experience! Met so many lovely people, learnt so much and I am just so thankful for the opportunity and the doors it has opened for me!

Things that happened:

I went to set up my booth the day before the con, but it was already quite late when I went and I was still exhausted from my flight. What made me more anxious was when I found out that the tape that I had taken with me to put my work up was not strong enough to hold most of them up for very long. I decided then to stop everything, pack up again and off I went to the supermarket near where I was staying and bought new tape and called it a night. I came back the day of the con a couple of hours before it opened and finally set everything up. 

I really thought that my booth would look quite bare because 2m x 2m is quite a big space for someone who is just starting out! but I realised the most important thing is not the amount of stuff you have but the quality. And as long as some thought have gone into the layout, you would still be able to achieve something quite nice and professional looking. My booth was quite simple, with minimal stuff on show but I don't think it was a bad thing as it gave people the chance to look at my work a lot longer and in detail than having a lot of stuff which can distract the eyes or make it too overwhelming to look at because there is just too much information for the brain to process.

I have been really lucky during the three days as I have had a couple of people from different disciplines and media come to me to ask/tell me about collaboration opportunities. Two people have asked to interview me for an online magazine, a game developer company based in the UAE and the marketing team from an animation studio based in Egypt showed a lot of interest in my work and have asked for my contact details and they also gave me their promo pack (below). 

I ran out of business cards on the second day so I used my prints that didn't come out so well and wrote my details on the back of it for the 3rd and last day - but I was quite selective with who I gave these ones out to - mostly special looking people with badges/people from the industry haha. If people are as serious as they sounded on the day, hopefully, I should be receiving a couple of emails soon! (or maybe I should contact them as well). Oh! Also, I wanted to bring a couple of my own promo packs with me but the print room was closed the day before I went back home/bank holiday, so I couldn't.

Selling prints, I was also able to see the kind of work people are into. It was really surprising how many people took an interest in my Marie Curie illustration that I did last year! People even wanted big posters of it which I unfortunately did not have. All the prints I had for sale (except my Coraline ones) were all A5s and people have asked me if I have an online shop where they can buy my prints in bigger sizes - I currently have a Society6 shop where people can buy my prints from, but not quite sure if its the best one out there, so I think I might look around and make more things available for people to buy soon! All my 'Other Mother' screen prints were all sold out as well! In total, I made around 2,370 dirhams (£440) from selling my prints which well covered my flight and printing costs! I was so surprised, I couldn't believe it at first!

Overall I am just so thankful to have been given this opportunity! It was really nice to get my work out there and have people say things to you that makes you appreciate how lucky you are to be able to do something that you really love doing and call it a job/career. It just motivates you a whole lot more!