Atomic Lollipop 2013 Report! + sketch dump [image heavy]

This past Friday to Sunday, I attended Atomic Lollipop as a part of their Artist Alley! It was my first time attending, as well as my first time participating in an Artist Alley outside of Anime North. This was their third year and their first time moving to their new location - the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre in uptown Toronto. I've never been to the JCCC before but I thought it was a really nice venue, even though I didn't have much of a chance to explore since I was by myself and didn't have a table helper...^_^"

APOP was nothing like Anime North of course, but it was nice in its own way. In terms of size it probably had 1/10 the amount of attendees because there isn't really anything much around the area and only one hotel is near by, whereas at AN there's a whole cluster. And there were 1/5 the amount of artists in the Artist Alley so I wasn't expecting too much in terms of sales, but I think I did okay! It was a really different vibe and I think smaller cons like this one are much more relaxed, warmer(friendlier), and overall less stressful! Going alone sorta forces you to open up and make friends and thus I ended up talking to a bunch of awesome people. I had so much more fun than I thought I would! Everyone was just so darn friendly and nice...! *___*

Here is what I wore for the weekend. I think I like planning out my outfits this way beforehand and because I always forget or either I'm too lazy to take pics of myself..>_<". I wore the black dress with galaxy leggings (from F21) on Friday, went sweet lolita with a mint and pink Bodyline co-ordinate on Saturday, and dressed more casual-cute/fairy-kei-ish on Sunday. I didn't cosplay this time, but quite a few people did!









Communication with APOP wasn't all that great e-mail wise (probably about as bad as with AN...) but all was well once I arrived and signed in so I guess it's just me being paranoid cause I like to have advance notice of things... when I actually arrived there, I had to find the person in charge, but she turned out to be really nice and it wasn't that hard to find her considering the size of the con. I was shown to my table and then...time to set up! The Artist Alley was on the second floor of the JCCC (it has two floors) so maybe that's why the traffic was a bit slow, but they did put up quite a bit of signs. There were a lot of panels and events going on though, I'm kinda sad I missed out on all of it.


As you can see...there's not a lot of space between the tables, the back of my chair pretty much was right next to the chair on the other side.. >_< and unfortunately for some reason, I always seem to get the table where there's an opening, so people were always going in and out from there. It happened at AN where someone knocked over my stuff, so this time I made sure not to put anything in the way of the entrance/exit... *sigh*. The tables were long ones split in half so each space was 2' x 4', which is on the small side but it was perfect for me.

My table..the layout pretty much stayed the same for all three days...*_* I sat next to Alyssa and her boyfriend and on my other side was Ashley and her brother. Both talented young artists! The majority of the artists were selling prints and 2D art, but there were a few that sold 3D craft items as well, so overall I'd say it was a nice mix. Since there was no restriction like at AN, I could've sold some drawings too but I didn't have time to print and get everything ready... T__T I did give away some paper chibi Erens though cause I made a printing mistake...

Close up of all the new critters I made using a different pattern. I'd bought some black plastic safety eyes for a while but never got a chance to actually make things with them until now.. >_< (it's a similar scenario for about 50% of the supplies I hoard..orz)

 Kuragehime cosplayers, I love how they're so in character! xD

Noiz (right) from DRAMAtical Murder, and I think the girl on the left is cosplaying a character from DanganRonpa because she looks familiar but I haven't seen that many episodes yet to remember all their names.. >_<

There was a carnival bit outside that looked like fun with a bouncy castle and everything but...I didn't have a chance to go there. >_< Anyway, Friday was super slow and the AA was only open for three hours so...it wasn't stressful at all! Which is a good thing I guess because usually by the end of the first day I feel totally drained! xD

On Saturday was the maid cafe, and afterwards Tiff visited me along with her meido gang ^_^ they all look super cute!! They also brought me flowers and food lol..thanks!!:D

So I swear this must be deja vu or something cause I saw but missed these Free! cosplayers the first time around and had to chase after them again for a photo.! At some point someone was playing the Free! ending theme and they were dancing along with it, which was pretty cute =u=;;..at the time, I was eating free pancakes that APOP was giving out...(they were actually giving out a lot of free food to attendees, which is always welcome to starving artists like me lol. At first I refused when someone came around asking each artist if we wanted pancakes...but then...these guys came around with a trolley full of pancakes with maple syrup and everything, like all dim-sum style, so I couldn't say no, LOL!)

 Then a girl I met named May knew one of the cosplayers and got them to come to my table for a photo ahhh *A*..I hope I didn't come off as a creepy fangirl wahh >__<

 Found someone from the Trainee Squad from Attack on Titan!!

 Patty also came by to visit, looking cute in lolita! :)

 Then I recognized Robin, designer of Pinkly Ever After and model, Cotton! They're both so adorable!! I was so happy Robin recognized me from AN..and she told me she loved my stuff and I was like "!!! -dies-o///o I love your stuff!!!" I've always admired PEA's style and I have been wanting to buy their pieces for the longest time but everything I like always seems to be sold out so fast! >__< But I swear one day I'll own something from PEA! >__< Their stuff is adorable, please go check them out~!

 These two girls also came by twice, I wish I got their names cause they look so cute, I love what they're wearing!! *__*

 May cosplaying as Tsukumo from Karneval here! Her Nyanperowna plushie was really cute.. D; (though I stopped watching Karneval..) I had such interesting conversations about psychology with her and now I realize I have a lot of reading and watching to do in terms of books and anime!

 Part of my loot! There wasn't much to buy from the vendor's area...the AA was where it's at! I did end up getting a mini sports drink keychain that I thought would be good for use as a doll prop (I found out later that it's a mini flashlight o.o") but it's a little bit too small for 1/3 scale, but works well with MSD sizes! I also traded with my table mates. I got a print and button from Alyssa (both of DanganRonpa haha) and Ashley in particular kept on gifting me things!!>3< I told her my favourite SnK character was Levi and somehow sketches of Levi in a dress happened, lol. She also gave me a free sticker sheet and a button?? Ahh I felt so bad because the sketch I drew her was so horrible.. >__<;;; Thank you so much Ashley!!!
I recognized another girl from AN and turns out she was an artist too, Oceantan to be exact!! She was dressed up so cutely  and walked around giving everyone free stickers! I also traded Mameshiba beans with May...she made a felt version while I gave her one of my clay ones lol. The pink bunny was from a trade with an artist duo named Cutieshack, they make really cute amigurumi toys!

 Thought it'd be amusing to give the bunny to Kaede! He's like..."whut do i do with this...?"

I had a feeling I'd be bored sitting at the con since there weren't very many people to look at passing by...so I brought my old sketchbook along. Everyone around me was busy drawing too so I felt bad for bothering them to talk. It's funny cause this thing was from high school when I thought it was clever to make it look like a Death Note. I actually had people write down their contact information here though, which was amusing..! xD

Guess I just had to draw Levi...don't mind the sketch spam, they're quite horrible I know since I haven't drawn in such a long time ;A;

I ended up drawing Kise, which is funny because he's not my favourite character from KnB, in fact he kind of annoys me...but he's easy to draw because he's a pretty boy. (I can't draw girls...only pretty boys that look like girls??!)

August 2nd was Kagami Taiga's birthday!! I felt like I had to draw something Kuro/Kaga themed but I ended up putting #2 in there too... it makes no sense, sorry.

I tried to draw Mikasa in a different sort of style..I sort of liked how she turned out except she looks like a pretty boy. OTL.......

I tried to draw Eren in the same style....but he ended up huge and looks way too mature! >_<

Lastly I drew Armin... I didn't look at any references, and well, guess what....he looks like a girl that looks like a pretty boy? LOL....I don't know! It was fun just randomly sketching though...I haven't done that in a while because I felt like ripping to shreds everything I drew... ^_^"

Here are the prints I got! The DanganRonpa one is from Alyssa and the Free! and SaruMi print I bought from Sarah. (fyi Saruhiko/Misaki is my OTP...and the best thing to come out of K Project even though I disliked the series on the whole, I love these two together so much lol) I was a little sad I didn't see any Kuroko no Basuke stuff...but I'm hoping Otakuthon's Artist Alley will have some. I'm also on the hunt for a SnK print since all the ones I've seen are just of Mikasa...I mean I love Mikasa but...it's just a bit boring to see everyone draw the same thing? I need Levi.

In closing, if I have time next year I would definitely attend APOP again! (and actually go out to some events and explore!)

That's all for this report, until next time~!