Event Appreciation Day

There are two big events in Los Angeles this weekend. Fangoria's Weekend of Horrors runs Friday through Sunday at the LA Convention Center, and the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books is Saturday and Sunday on the UCLA campus. The real Baby Tattoo will be at the Festival of Books while Baby Tattoo's Evil Twin will be at Fangoria.

By the way, does anyone else think the "When Books Attack" art for the LA Times show is much more horrific than Fangoria's "Does Anyone Have a Napkin" image?

April 25-27 - Fangoria's Weekend of Horrors, Los Angeles

April 26-27 - Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, Los Angeles

May 10-11 - Emerald City ComiCon - Seattle, Washington

May 17-18 - Glamourcon - Los Angeles

Shameless Plug Sunday #16

Ragnar's debut collection of pinup art, Chromaphile, is sold out at Baby Tattoo, and is officially out of print. His follow-up collection, Vernaculis, is destined for the same fate. Don't miss out; pick up a copy of Vernaculis now.

A third and final book in Ragnar's pinup series will be released this summer. Symptomatica will be the same size as the two previous titles, so if you want to collect a complete set, and you don't have Chromaphile yet, keep an eye out on abebooks.com for a secondary market copy.

New York Comic Con - Day #3

Kids day boasted plenty of kids. Good deals and good times were plentiful on this final day of the show. A number of exhibitors with past New York Comic Con experience, praised the show's growth. Here's to the next one. Baby Tattoo will be at a lot more conventions, fairs and trade shows in the year between now and then, so check back on Event Appreciation Day (aka Tuesday) to learn where you can find us next.

New York Comic Con - Day #2

Crowds seemed big from Baby Tattoo's 100 square foot vantage point. After the usual and understandable lack of early sales that results from consumers wanting to check out their options before spending their money, people started buying. Sales were brisk and moods were good.

Baby Tattoo is already looking forward to next year. Tomorrow is being touted as Kid's Day, and it will be interesting to see if the super-young marketing hook pulls in a meaningful number of families. In preparation for the posibility of a room filled with the under-twelve set and their parents, Baby Tattoo is segregating our family friendly books from our more mature titles. Sometimes naughty needs to be separated from nice even though Baby Tattoo likes to see the two intermingle.

New York Comic Con - Day #1

Sales were good, but networking opportunities were even better. The professional-only hours from 10:00AM - 3:00PM genuinely provided some solid time for doing business with all sorts of folks from the book trade, the comics business and the art world.

New York Comic Con Opens Tomorrow - Woo!

Visit the Baby Tattoo Booth (#1851) at New York Comic Con. Bob Self will be on hand as will Baby Tattoo associate (and model) Cristina Maxwell. In addition to Baby Tattoo's entire line of books, the booth will also feature books by extraordinary east coast artists Viktor Koen and Michael Whelan. Viktor will be signing at the booth on Saturday from 12:00 - 1:00, and Michael will be signing on both Friday and Saturday.

Missing Blogger Found in New York City

Wow. Things went silent there for two weeks. I'm sorry about that. I got overwhelmed and the whole daily posting thing went poof. I arrived in Midtown Manhattan today, and I'll be loading 17 cartons plus one giant suitcase of merchandise and marketing materials into the Javits Center tomorrow. That's right, New York Comic Con opens this Friday and the daily posts are back... hopefully. I will retroactively upload all of the missed posts so that future Baby Tattoo Blog visitors might be fooled into thinking I am more on top of things than I really am. But we'll know the truth, won't we?

- Bob Self

By the way, the image of the city is a properly purchased royalty free stock photo. I will post some thoughts on royalty free images at a future date.

Change Has Come (Sort Of)

Back in February, there was a post titled "Change is Coming; Change is Good". The post promised imminent relocation of this blog to a redesigned Baby Tattooville web site. Well, the Baby Tattooville site has been redesigned, but the blog is staying right here for now. So, change has come, but it changed.

In case you missed the two links above, click here to visit the redesigned (but still changing) Baby Tattooville site.

Things Bob Likes

I've been a fan of Darren Waterston's art ever since I discovered his book Darren Waterston. Maybe one of these days I'll email him and introduce myself. Maybe this post is a good excuse to email him introduce myself right now. Maybe I'll just keep procrastinating.

Check out his work via the link above. The image is, of course, copyright Darren Waterston.

-Bob Self

Little Friday is Little Business Day

It might be fun. It should be rewarding. But it's not going to be easy.

Whatever the industry, whatever your plan, regardless of all your best efforts, in spite of your experience (or lack thereof); it's not going to be easy to run your own business. It might be easy to start your own business, but starting it and keeping it going are two different things.

Running your own business can certainly be a positive journey - empowering, creatively stimulating, life-changing, life-affirming... you know the buzz words. But it's a difficult journey; that's its nature.

Don't be discouraged, but don't be foolish either. If you are considering entrepreneurship, ask yourself, "Is it going to be easy?" If your answer is, "Yes," keep your day job.

Thanks to Michael Whelan for use of his copyrighted image "Edgedancer". Michael would probably be the first to tell you that being a professional artist is the same as running your own business. Once again, not easy.

Subscriber Surprise

Many current subscribers to Hi-Fructose magazine received a gift from Baby Tattoo along with volume 7 of the magazine. The gift was a copy of Ragnar's Kings of the Road aka "The Strangest Book Baby Tattoo Has Published". The magazine is fantastic and is well worth the cover price without a bonus book, but who doesn't dig an occasional freebie? If you haven't already, you should subscribe to Hi-Fructose right now by clicking here.

The photo of the magazine and book combo is from Brad Colbow's Design blog.

Event Appreciation Day

April 5 - Eric Pigors Art Show and Book Signing at Hyaena - Burbank, California

April 18-20 - New York Comic Con - New York

April 25-27 - Fangoria's Weekend of Horrors - Los Angeles

April 26-27 - Los Angeles Times Festival of Books - Los Angeles

May 10-11 - Emerald City ComiCon - Seattle, Washington

May 17-18 - Glamourcon - Los Angeles

Marketing Monday

Perhaps Marketing Monday was too ambitious an idea. Maybe there is not really that much to say. How does Marketing Every-Other-Monday sound? Oh, right... it sounds sucky. So, Marketing Monday it is; not only because it sounds good, but because there really is that much to say. And then some.

The force-feeding image above is a detail from a painting by Baby Tattoo friend and visual wild man Jonathan Wayshak (adult content).

Shameless Plug Sunday #13

Sturdy enough for little kids, yet sophisticated enough for discerning adults... it's Popping Through Pictures, a collection of paintings by Amanda Visell presented in a rigid yet fun board-book format.

Audrey's Evil Twin

Audrey Kawasaki has a newly updated web site. Check it out to see where she has been. The image above is apparently an indication of where she is going... somewhere dark and wonderful.

Hotel Tip

I'm a big fan of Priceline's Name Your Own Price for Hotel Rooms feature. I've had great luck with selecting four star hotels and naming a price that's about one third of the published prices for four star hotels in the same area. Sometimes you have to go as high as half price, but it's still a great deal. As long as you select the four star quality option, you're unlikely to be disappointed.

Little Friday is Little Business Day

If you are about to start a small business, do yourself a favor and set your bookkeeping up properly from the beginning. Consult an accountant who understands the industry you are entering and establish a solid system for keeping track of all of your financial data. This is not a fun or sexy part of startup, and it can cost quite a bit of money, but it will be well worth the effort and expense. If this advice seems overly simple, it is; if it seems dismissible, it is not. Remember, you are starting a financial enterprise; success is entirely dependent on understanding your business' actual worth at any given moment in time (starting now).

The image above is from the Computer Science @ Columbia University web site.

Ahead Of Their Time

Dakin Dream Pets originally debuted in 1957, and they reappeared briefly in 2004. These unusually charming characters could easily hold their own in the current designer vinyl/plush movement. Unfortunately for us, they were ahead of their time (twice). You can buy them (or just check them out) on this atrocious web page.

Event Appreciation Day

April 18-20 - New York Comic Con - New York

April 25-27 - Fangoria's Weekend of Horrors, Los Angeles

April 26-27 - Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, Los Angeles

May 10-11 - Emerald City ComiCon - Seattle, Washington

May 17-18 - Glamourcon - Los Angeles

Marketing Monday

Brian McCarty aka McCarty PhotoWorks is the preeminent photographer of contemporary art toys. Just as the question, "Are they toys or are they art?" swirls around the objects, the question, "Are they commercial work or are they art photography?" swirls around McCary's images. Perhaps the answer is, "They're both." (In both cases).

The use of art photography to promote art toys helps to solidify the notion that these products are sophisticated designer showpieces.

Never underestimate the importance of the quality of marketing materials. The look and feel of any given message will likely extend to the perceived nature of the advertised product.