*long unstructured ramble incoming* FWIW, my sales have been in the green for AA and have a handful booked for the rest of the year BUT AA income is not enough to support me and my whole family. I work a full time art job, juggle 3-5 freelance gigs, try to manage an ecomm shop, and am trying to make a future for Space Maria all while being a father of 3 and husband of one. I have a tremendous amount of respect for AA who can fully support their craft from AA income alone. AA first and foremost is a business investment = spending money to make money. It's not free. It's not easy. It takes literal thousands of dollars and months of planning to make these events possible. It's full of stress, long nights, no sleep, and lots of scheduling. We do ALL of this to share our passion with others at niche events with people that hopefully share that same love of art as yourself. We get to nerd out about video games, anime, comics, and other artists we idolize. Being able to share your art with others is priceless. Artists are incredibly vulnerable people especially in-person at events. Our greatest fear isn't going financially in the red, it's having people come up to your table and tell you that your art is ass. The first thing we think about when sales are down is not the money, it's "Am I just bad? Do people not like my art? Why did I do this? What am I doing wrong?" There's no easy street as an artist and hasn't been since I started doing it 30+ years ago. There's no golden ticket to carry all of your financial burdens as an artist. It's a constant grind and hustle to ensure you and your family are covered. Art was only possible bc of the 10+ years I put into the restaurant industry bc it funded my passion. Full time restaurant while moonlighting the art grind. You have to make things work and evolve and adapt constantly. Especially in the incredibly fickle art/animation/gaming industries. So if something isn't working for you as an artist or sales arent hitting what you need, what are YOU doing to try and adapt to the situation? You have to evolve and adapt especially in a creative industry. Artist alleys are fun bc you meet and talk to so many amazing people face to face. You meet other artists and create a camaraderie with them bc we know all too well the emotional and mental toll it takes to put yourself out there like that. Art is hard. Art hustle is harder. And I wouldn't have it any other way.