CTN Interview: Robbie Erwin

Robbie Erwin
http://robbieerwin.blogspot.com

1) What term are your, or when you graduated. Talk about your experience at CTN: How was getting ready, what did you expect, if it was accomplished, what did surprise you, and what would do different or better next time?

    I graduated from Art Center in August of this year.  This was my first year exhibiting and second year attending.  This year’s CTN was even bigger and the whole experience was a blast.  I started working on new art for the show in October but, broke my foot the same month and started a new job so I didn’t have any new work to show at CTN. Next year will be different.  My main goal for this CTN was to network and to show my work to a larger audience.  Having the table helped me accomplish both of those things.  I was surprised by how much they improved the new talent tent, the traffic was actually better than I expected.  I am already making plans for next year; you’ll have to come to CTNX14 to find out!

2) Will you do it again? Was it good profit?

      I will definitely be attending next year.  Profit was okay but we didn’t spend a lot of money this time around because we didn’t know what to expect in the way of sales.  I know at this point of my career that I am still unknown and wasn’t going to have a large demand for prints of my artwork, so I only printed a few at first just to see how they would sell.  Michael and I put together a collection of sketches and sold that alongside our prints.  The feedback was good and we sold a fair amount of both prints and books.  Knowing now what type of art the attendees are looking for will greatly increase our revenue next year.

3) Did you learn anything new from doing this?  Any tips for people that may want to have their own booth on the future?

    Most of all be outgoing!  Say hello to people as they walk by and try to strike up conversation.  Keep it small your first time exhibiting at CTN or any other convention. Use it as a learning experience and a tool to gauge how others receive your artwork.  Be gracious and open to hearing other people’s opinions about your artwork.  

Thanks!