Art Auction

[JessLyra]

I've not found an existing thread for it, so made my own.
I'm saying this on behalf of myself and other artists who put hard work into drawing up artwork for the auction, we're not as known or perfected as some of the big names that were there, but we find it unfair that 10 bids put a piece into the live auction. The live auction seemed super short as well, its always been a highlight for me to go watch and join in, but this year I could not help feeling that it was rushed and in favouritism of the more detailed skilled artists. We want to see more of the newer raw talented art get into the live. So I have gathered up a few requests and suggestion from other artists and dealers who have discussed this year's organisation with me.

First off, please could we have the bid count back down to 6? 10 is pretty high. I saw several pieces a bid or few down from making it into the live auction. We (my artists discussion group) think that its a lot more fun to have more things in the auction that are at a lower starting bid, like Jencen's silly items. The auction was FUN at one point and not all about "oh how much more money than Tani's tablecloth can we get these prints to?" (no offence to Tani) but it has become the same thing in the live auction each year. WE WANT UNDERDOG ARTISTS IN THE LIVE AUCTION!!!

Next could it be possible for all 100% to charity pieces to go straight into the live auction? I know how badly you as a charity supporting event want to raise money, why not add all those pieces in? There was the odd piece, including my own, that did not get ANY bids.

This is a suggestion from a fellow dealer, could we experiment with swapping the live auction day with dealers den days? I'll try to make it clearer. Have the auction earlier in the week, that way anyone who gets outbid on something they've seen in the silent or live auction that they REALLY want can have a second chance at getting it in the dealers den, especially if it's a print you can pick up from the artist, but I guess this idea could work if the den had an extra few hours/day. This would also mean more profit for dealers in general, because most people I know will have saved their money for the final mins of the auctions. If they saved money and got outbid in the auctions theres a chance for some dealers to earn a little more from those outbid people.
 
I hope you take these points into account, they're not all from me, but from a group of artists and dealers. I just decided that these points should all be in one place for you to read.
Thanks for reading.

[Shirik]

I agree with many of the points Jess has brought up here! it seemed there were a lot of people saying to dealers "I would have bought from you but I wasnt sure if I had won X at the auction." - maybe have the auction a day before the den closes (or if possible have the den open an extra day afterwards, or even a half day?)

Also agreeing on the 100% to charity items - there were a lot of 5% donation items at live auction which had reached the 10bids needed but also items in silent bidding that were 100% with no bids.Even if the pieces sold for a small amount it would still be almost an equal donation for some of these high selling 5% items (eg: a piece sold at £300 with a 5% donation is a £15 donation, not hard to reach at live auction!). Obviously I understand if there are a high volume of these items it can be hard to include them all due to time constraints but maybe if some more could be selected next year? Also I want to point out with this I'm not griping about people only giving the min % - artists have to eat after all and a donation is still a donation.

There was also an issue with the bid closing this year - con veterans will know that the standard proceedure is going panel to panel and closing off during last hour. A lot of people were unaware of this and the wording in the conbook caused confusion as it did not specify that this would happen. This lead to a lot of anger and frustration with some congoers - in future PLEASE have better wording in the book and more visible signage about this!!

[Bezel]

Having the den open after the auction would also allow the auction to act as "advertising", perhaps encouraging extra interest in obtaining comissions...

[Rwylin]

There was also an issue with the bid closing this year - con veterans will know that the standard proceedure is going panel to panel and closing off during last hour. A lot of people were unaware of this and the wording in the conbook caused confusion as it did not specify that this would happen. This lead to a lot of anger and frustration with some congoers - in future PLEASE have better wording in the book and more visible signage about this!!

I think that was a last min thing to get a few more pieces in the live auction?

[ferret]

Hi Jess, Shirik

I'm not auction or dealer's den staff, hopefully one of them will come over and have a look at this feedback soon.

Good feedback overall, keep it coming.  I know that this year's auction was a bit of an experiment, as previous years' auctions were too long and had items with 0% charity in them.  It may be worth trying to find something in between.

I'm not sure about 100% items always going to auction.  That might stifle bidding and discourage people who don't plan to attend the main auction at all.  I also don't know anything about what happened with the auction closing, but I can believe it could have been a last-minute change.  If it was me bidding on things, I would be unhappy if I came in in the last five minutes and something I wanted to bid on was closed (although, if it had simply been chosen for auction instead of actually being closed and sold, I wouldn't mind).

I'm not sure I understand how your description of moving the auction earlier.  At the moment the dealer's den and the art show with silent bidding are on at the same time effectively, and then the auction opens when the art show closes.  If the auction was moved much earlier, how would the art show work?

I don't really have an opinion of having some dealer's den availability after the auction as a concept, as I'm not a dealer.  But as a buyer I haven't really felt the need for this.  My viewpoint would be that if I saw some good stuff in the auction (and I did), I can always contact the person after the convention.  In fact, I have a whole list of people whose stuff I saw in auction and dealer's den who I will be approaching soon.

- ferret

[Tailen]

Thank you for your feedback, we will take it into account for next year.

Following feedback from last year criticizing the auction for being too long, we worked to shorten it this year. This was partly accomplished by increasing the number of bids in the silent auction. We are looking at other ways of accomplishing this, but our goal is that the live auction should not be much longer than it was this year.

We tried one year to construct the live auction for maximum fun, high charity cuts and exposing new raw talent as you suggest, and were massively criticized by the artists and the bidders for favoritism. Now we have a list of 10 bids and no favoritism, the bidders decide whether something goes to auction or not.
Talented artists having more people bid on their items is not favoritism, but the choice of the attendees.

Unfortunately we cannot have all 100% charity items going to live auction because it would run far too long.

As long as the Dealer's Den is the only place large enough for us to do the art pickup, for good reason it must be closed before the auction starts. The artshow is open for two days so the auction cannot be held earlier.

The closing of panel by panel process will be made clearer next year. It was marked as a separate event in the conbook and event schedule. It was also described as an event where you should show up to defend your bids, but we will try to make it clearer next year in the conbook.

[suburbanfox]

Could 100% charity items at least be highlighted somehow? Perhaps with a sticker on the bottom of the bidsheet with text to the effect of "Charity item -- all proceeds to convention charity"?

And maybe the same for the 0% items -- a similarly sized "Note -- non-charity item -- All proceeds to seller" sticker, perhaps on a red or danger-stripe background?
I'm only half joking here -- I was purposely avoiding anything with less than a 10% charity percentage this year. For some of us, it does affect what we choose to bid on. I can appreciate some sellers may rely on the art show for their income, but to put an item into auction without even five or ten percent to the charity seems rather tight fisted... almost Ebenezer Scrooge tight-fisted...

(Own opinions only, as usual)

[ferret]

This year any items with less than 5% charity percentage were automatically bumped to 5% for the charity auction, based on feedback from the year before.  This seemed to go well so I hope it will continue into next year.

As for identifying pieces, currently we do this spacially - high charity percentage items tend to be clustered closer to the entrance.  Perhaps something subtle with bid slip paper colour could work?

- ferret (not auction staff!)

[Canis Rufus]

Hi, on the subject of hi-lighting 100% charity pieces I would just like to point out that every item in the art show has a bid slip next to it. On the top of this bid slip next to the starting bid is the charity percentage, so it's on display with every item.

[Tungro]

Hmm, a suggestion - a star next to the bidsheets for the 100% items to make them stand out? You know, a small version of the ones you see in some shops saying "SALE!"  "25% off!"

[Axle]

Killing 2 suggestions with one stone here from a personal POV.

If people want more of a highlight to the 100% Charity items and would like to see them into LIVE auction quicker...

• maybe change up the bid sheet for those items so they stand out a little more (to make the the 100% charity figure more obvious)
• and drop the 'to live auction' amount down to half (5 bids) so they are more likely to make it there?

[MorbiusMonster]

I was quite impressed with the variety of the auction collection. It was a little small and I was expecting a little more NSFW, but hopefully the total for this year fundraising might inspire others to pick up their pencils and start sketching.

Also, a few more things I might add. Perhaps next year, consenting artists should considering having a card next to their work which lists the links to their respective art pages, such as Fur Affinity, deviant Art and other places, or perhaps even a QR code for people to scan so you can have a link directly to their portfolios. So if it does come from a lesser known artist, bidders can have a little look at their work just in case they might have seen other pictures belonging to that person (you never know).

Secondly, are the adult comic books in the adult section available anywhere to buy, like Rabbit Valley? If so, does anyone remember the titles? I think Genus Male was one, but I cannot remember the other.

Lastly, I think the spread was a little minimal; there were a LOT of gaps in the adult section that could have been filled. I think if I'd been pushed more for a picture I would definitely have submitted something, either for the normal categories or adult section. Since the artist auction is perhaps the largest contributor to the charity, it should be really pushed on the front page with something like "ART AUCTION SPACES OPEN - APPLY NOW!" on the front page. Make it stand out, because I thought it was private auction containing just pictures from the dealer's gallery.

[Fairlight]

Why do people need to be pushed? Either you want to have your art on display or not. I don't understand why people need to be pushed to do stuff...

[MorbiusMonster]

Why do people need to be pushed? Either you want to have your art on display or not. I don't understand why people need to be pushed to do stuff...

Some people only really realise when they've been pushed.

[Rorschfox]

As an artist who also had artwork in the artshow, I've got to agree with the points raised by Jess and Shirik.

Maybe it would be a good idea to introduce a countback system - that way, it's not just the pieces with 10 bids that make it to the voice auction, but some of those that fall a little short can also make it. That way, it gives a lot more incentive for the lesser-known artists at CF to have a chance at having pieces in the auction.

Also, moving the dealers' den opening times so it's open for another day AFTER THE AUCTIONS CLOSE could only be a good thing, both for dealers and artists. (Going by the fact CF is running from Friday to Tuesday next year, maybe have the auction on Sunday evening, and re-open the den on Monday?) It's just a suggestion.

One final thing: why the censorship of the pictures on the screens during the auction? There are no minors at CF, and this is the 21st century: so why the throwback to the Victorian era? (Personally, I thought this was really offensive; and since most of the artwork I had in the artshow was of a mature nature, I would have been exceptionally peeved if my work had been treated in this way.)