A Guide to Asking for Signatures and Drawings at Conventions

I recently got asked on my Facebook page if I could share my thoughts on fans asking for autographs and sketches at conventions. I thought others who are new to attending conventions might enjoy hearing the basics of this process. I can only offer my perspective, but it might prove useful for anyone approaching other artists or celebrities at conventions as well.

Speaking for myself, I’m happy to sign anything I’ve worked on for fans at a convention, whether they’ve bought it from me or not. Sometimes you’ll see celebrities at conventions who charge for their autographs, or will only sign the items they’re selling. This tends to be most common with actors selling photographs of themselves at conventions. Usually celebrities with these kinds of restrictions will have signage at their table clearly stating their policies.

While those policies can be frustrating, keep in mind that such revenue is probably a big factor in that celebrity being at the convention at all, and convention appearances may be an important source of income for them. Often the celebrity is willing to sign a personal item for a fan, but if I’m going to wait in a signing line to speak to a celebrity at a convention I try to purchase something from them as a courtesy. I feel like it’s my way of paying for the opportunity to meet them and have that brief exchange with them when I get my turn at the front of the line. Otherwise I’m taking up their time and trying to get something from them for free when they’re trying to make some money and there is a line of people behind me waiting to do business with them.

Regardless of what a given celebrity’s policy is, if you’re going to ask for a signature on an item you’ve brought or for a photo with them, ask politely. And if they decline, accept that decision politely. You might think you’re only asking them for a small thing, but to that celebrity, doing it for you may make them feel obligated to do it for everyone. And that might be more of an obligation than they can afford to make.

As far as asking for artwork, I’ll often have fans ask me for a free sketch, and typically I’ll politely decline. I’ll occasionally throw in a quick head sketch with a signature for young fans at the conventions, but it’s at my discretion. It’s something I like to do for kids, but it’s very dependent on how much time I can spare at that moment. On the other hand, when an adult asks for a free sketch, it can come across as “I want the service you’re charging for, but I don’t want to pay so why don’t you just give me something for free?” Also, although this is rarely the case where I am concerned, it’s important to note that sometimes an artist is at a convention but they aren’t doing commission sketches at all. They might be there to sign autographs and sell pre-made prints or books, but aren’t drawing at the show.

(Here’s a tip – If you want a sketch from an artist at a convention and can’t afford what they’re charging, be on the lookout to see if they’re doing a signing for a publisher. Sometimes an artist will be doing quick sketches for free in such a setting that they aren’t doing when at their own table. Free sketches tend to be relatively quick and simple – you get what you pay for – but they’re better than nothing, right?)

Regardless of the setting, if you ask for a sketch, again – ask politely. And if the artist declines, accept their refusal politely. It’s expensive for creators to travel to attend a convention, and often they’re paying for that table in an Artists Alley. Commission sketches are a big part of how artists try to offset some of those expenses – with no guarantee of making enough to show a profit.

As a rule, creators and celebrities love meeting fans. It’s always great to hear from people who enjoy your work. But there are mercenary fans who try to ruin it for everybody. It’s not uncommon to see a convention sketch or autographed item for sale on eBay or elsewhere, usually for a higher amount than what was paid to the artist/celebrity (assuming they were paid anything.) And, the surest way to make a creator whose work you enjoy feel terrible is to act entitled and treat them as though by showing up they’re now obligated to do whatever you ask of them. So, well, don’t do that. Just be polite and courteous and you’ll both have a great experience!

“Can I please get a photo of you Mr. Freeman? I loved you on The Electric Company!”

Don’t get me wrong on any of this – I love meeting fans. I really enjoy attending conventions and encounters with fans are almost always the biggest highlight of the weekend for me, and I think most comics pros feel the same way. But I’ve been approached by a lot of fans both the right way and the wrong way, and the fondest memories are definitely of the fans who did it the right way!

So for the final time – our two recurring themes:

By all means ask for that autograph, personal photo or whatever, but do so politely.

If the answer is no, accept that answer politely, and understand that there may be a good reason that no needs to be the answer.

I’ll be a GUEST at GallifreyOne 2014

I had a great time at Gallifrey One this past February, so I couldn’t be more delighted to announce that I’ll be returning in 2014 as a Guest of the convention! 2013 may be the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who, but 2014 is the 25th Anniversary of the world’s largest and longest-running annual Doctor Who convention.

Gallifrey One: 25 Glorious Years will be held February 14-16 2014 at the Los Angeles Airport Mariott Hotel. I’m excited to be joining the already-impressive slate of guests they’ve announced for 2014, including Colin Baker (The Sixth Doctor), Katy manning (Jo Grant), John Levine (Sgt. Benton), Richard Franklin (Sgt. Mike Yates), Frazer Hines (Jamie McCrimmon), Paul Cornell (Writer, “Human Nature”), Gary Russell (Novelist/Script Editor) and MORE!

I’ll be announcing what panels and signings I’ll be doing with the convention gets closer, but in the mean time I’ll have to see how many new Doctor Who prints I can get done by then!

You can always read up on all my planned convention appearances for the coming year on my Appearances Page!

Gallifrey One 2013 – Part 1 of 4

I’m back from my whirlwind trip to Los Angeles and Gallifrey One, and what an adventure it was…

THURSDAY

Traveling with my partner-in-crime Hal we arrived in L.A. the morning of the Thursday before the convention and took a shuttle to the Airport Mariott, where the convention would be held that weekend. That wasn’t where we were *staying* that night, mind you, but it was the closest location to the car rental location we wanted to reach. While Hal babysat our luggage in front of the Mariott, I walked over to fetch us a car for the next two days. Once I had the rental car I zipped over to pick up Hal who was happily soaking up the California weather (February in L.A. is much nicer than February in Minneapolis), and took us both down the road to the Travelodge, which was significantly cheaper than the Mariott when the convention rate isn’t being offered! Our room wasn’t available yet at that early hour, so we left our luggage in the car and grabbed a surprisingly good brunch at the Denny’s that adjoins the hotel.

After the taping Wally emerged and found Hal and me in the audience. He led Hal and me across the tonight show stage and took us back to see the edit bay where his sound booth is located. It was rather surreal to walk through the very impressive facade of the Tonight Show stage and suddenly be in office space. We’d planned to grab dinner with Wally but first he had to make a pit-stop at home to feed his animals, so Hal and I walked to our rental and Wally was going to drive around and meet us. Rather than stop so we could confer on where we were going, Wally did something of a drive-by, leaving us to follow him through across the highways and byways of deepest, darkest Burbank following his vanity-plate branded convertible, Wally’s hair blowing in the wind, hoping desperately we wouldn’t miss a turn and lose him on the way there.

Afterwards we met up at Jerry’s Famous Deli for dinner with Wally and some other of Wally’s friends including Brittney Powell, star of the long-running High Sierra Rescue television series with Robert Conrad. She was also on Safety Geeks: SVI and something called Xena: Warrior Princess. She was actually a lot of fun and planned to stop by the Gallifrey One convention on Saturday.

FRIDAY

Friday morning was going to be busy. I’d tried to arrange a time to get together with my Young Justice collaborator Greg Weisman while in Los Angeles, and the only time that seemed to be available was lunch on Friday. That means lunch had to happen in a narrow window of time between Art Show set up at Gallifrey One Friday morning, a 45-minute drive to Greg’s office where we were going to meet before walking to a nearby spot for lunch, and then leaving in time for the drive back to the Gallifrey One hotel and dealing with parking before a panel at 2:30pm that I was on!

Unfortunately we weren’t able to start setting up in the Art show until about 10:00am, and the process of fitting pegs to pegboard in a carefully-spaced pattern, fitting binder clips to all my prints, hanging them, and then entering all the prints into the computer system so we could print out the control sheets and post them took us until noon. Sadly, I had to call Greg to let him know that our plans had gone awry and we wouldn’t have time to get across town to meet him for lunch.

OH NO! LUNCH PLANS WITH GREG WEISMAN DASHED!
Could we re-schedule?

Would I miss this rare opportunity to see Greg in person?

SPOILER REQUEST! NO COMMENT!

Now with a little extra time to spare, Hal and I began exploring Gallifrey One 2013, and tried to meet up with our friends Mike and Alicia who we were sharing a room with at the convention. Soon it was time for the first of my two panels at Gallifrey One: Design and Illustration, which featured Paul Hanley, Blair Shedd, Maureen Starkey, myself, Richard Starkings and Charlie Kirchoff. None of us knew exactly what the panel was supposed to be about beyond the title, but given the backgrounds of who was on the panel, we tended to focus on the process behind creating comic book art – which certainly meant that I was right at home!

By the time the panel got out we were finally able to get into our room at the Mariott, so I fetched the luggage from the car and we moved in. After that there was just a little more time for wandering and exploring the convention before it was time for Opening Ceremonies. The lineup of guests was especially impressive at Gallifrey One this year year, and usually despite the best of intentions to the contrary, the weekend flies by without my having made it to panels or through autograph lines to see more than a fraction of them, so I didn’t want to miss seeing them all file out onto the stage at Opening Ceremonies. There were plenty of guests I’d have loved to meet, but at the top of my list was Sylvester McCoy. Not only was I a big fan of The Seventh Doctor, but I hoped to give Sylvester a framed copy of the new print featuring his Doctor and Ace battling Daleks that I had completed just in time for the convention.

After Opening Ceremonies, everyone in our group was ravenous. Having missed out on lunch with Greg, I hadn’t eaten all through a busy day. Since in anticipation of that lunch I’d held onto the rental car for a second day and didn’t need to return it until Saturday morning, so I offered to drive our party somewhere for dinner, as it would be our last chance for the weekend to go somewhere that wasn’t in the hotel or within walking distance. Alicia found a listing for a Mexican restaurant about 15 minutes away by car, so we headed there and stuffed ourselves with fine south-of-the-border style cuisine. Margaritas were had by all – except for me, as I was driving! I dropped the rest of the crew off at the hotel, then swung by a gas station, topped off the tank in the rental car, and returned it to the rental place since I wouldn’t have need of it again before it was due back the next morning. I then hoofed it back to the Mariott.

By the time I got back, I had the energy for a quick tour around the lobby, but for all the people there chatting (fans at Gallifrey One call it “LobbyCon”), I wasn’t seeing any familiar faces to engage in conversation with and didn’t have enough energy left to try to insert myself into a conversation with strangers so I decided to call it a night and be better rested for the next day.

NEXT: SATURDAY

You can find all the installments of my Gallifrey One 2013 trip by clicking the link.

My Gallifrey One Schedule

I’ll be attending the Gallifrey One convention February 15-17 at the Los Angeles Airport Mariott Hotel. I’ll be spending most of the weekend attending as a fan and catching up with some Los Angeles area friends, but I will be on two panels:

Design and Illustration
Friday 2:30pm – With Paul Hanley, Blair Shedd, Marueen Starkey, and Charlie Kirchoff.

Superheroes as Pop Culture
Saturday 1:00pm – With J. Fialkov, S. Gates, Len Wein, and Marv Wolfman.

I’ll also have many of my Doctor Who art prints in the Art Show, including these new ones:

Edit: All of these prints are now available for purchase in my Etsy Store.

If you’re already pre-registered for Gallifrey One 2013, I hope I’ll see you there! If not, sadly they are sold out! I hope you can join us in 2014! You can watch for social media traffic from the convention by watching the facebook page or follow the #gally1 hashtag on twitter!

P.S. If you have Young Justice stuff you need signed and you’re going to Gally, feel free to ask!

Heading to New York Comic Con!

Click the image to go to my Facebook page and “like” it!

Attending New York Comic Con on October 11-14? Come say hi to me in Artists Alley (table D2).

If you show me that you “like” my Facebook page, Christopher Jones Comic Art, I’ll give you a *FREE* signed Young Justice mini-print or Christopher Jones Comic Art button!

I’ll be signing at DC Comics (Booth #1238) Saturday 10-11am and Sunday 1:30-2:30pm.

Sunday from 2:30-3:30pm I’ll be on the Drawing DC: Kids Edition panel in Room 1A06.

Chris & Young Justice cosplayers at C2E2

Are you a cosplayer? I’d love to take your photo to share on my blog, and I’d especially love to have a photo taken *with* any cosplayers wearing costumes from Young Justice, Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, or any of my other projects! Stop by and I might just have a freebie for you, too!

Can’t wait to meet you all!