Ai-kon 2016, finished
This year’s Ai-kon was very, very different for me.
I was sick so badly last year that I couldn’t go – and in the 700-some days between the last Ai-kon I went to and this new one, a lot had changed. My art, the convention centre, the fandoms, the people I went with… even myself, as a person, along with the reasons why I wanted to go to Ai-kon.
As you can imagine, after such a long time of being away my art-table skills were very rusty and I apologize to everyone for not being sociable like I used to be. My sister had fallen and hurt herself on Friday morning during set up, and I was very concerned (even though she was more cheerful than I was, ha!)
But it was wonderful seeing all of you again – I don’t know many names, but I know your faces and I remember you. Even after all these years. It was great to see you all, whether you’d been to my table before or not. I really appreciated any support given even if it was just chatting about fandoms, because that meant a lot to me!
This weekend was more than me being an artist, though.
I’ve always felt like I belonged in the artist fair. I was content with that… I had never considered that I needed to balance that with being a person too. To some extent, I couldn’t before. But this year, I got to spend time with friends I missed dearly – friends whom are like family to me.
I got to learn about them, their life, and also learn about myself and some new things about being an artist.
I made new friends, and watched my sister participate in the Idolmaster vs LoveLive “death match” panel – many LOLs were had. And I am so grateful for that.
Now, for some contact details:
Despite what my pages say, I am possibly open for commissions. Please feel free to send me an email, message, note, etc about what you’re looking for and we can discuss the details then!
I do have some other sites I have posts on, so please take a look to the sidebar on the right for links.
Photos:
This year I will be posting all the photos my sister and I took on Facebook, in the Ai-kon group. Please keep an eye out to see if you’re there! We got a lot of LoveLive, Vocaloid, and Haikyuu cosplayers especially, but there are some others too.
I cosplayed as Edward Elric, and my sister cosplayed as Rin Kagamine (casual outfits, usually with a black jacket) so if you have pictures of those characters, please let us know!
I will also be starting to post new artwork soon, as well as a link to our online store when it’s set up.
All in all, I had an amazing weekend and just typing this blog post has given be a strong case of The Feels. I can’t begin to describe how much this year meant to me.
Ai-kon and the community it has never ceases to leave an impression on me, and help me grow as a person – this year was no different.
So, thank you everyone for the support – thanks to you, I get to come back next year and I absolutely cannot wait! :D
~Sloan
Designs by Sloan
