Whether it’s selling drawings of famous comic book or anime characters, or adding a bit of color to your Dungeons and Dragons session, artists at Fan Expo Cleveland may be able to scratch that niche a person may be looking for.

Fan Expo, a three day event held at the Huntington Convention Center in Cleveland, offers con-goers a place to meet their favorite celebrities, participate in panels and gather as a community to celebrate the different aspects of fandoms.

In addition to a gathering of multiple communities, local artists also set up to sell handmade products and advertise their businesses to con-goers.

“I’ve been going to conventions for over ten years,” said Lillian Clifton, who runs Trillium Designs. “I love attending them and from that have grown loving to sell at them.”

Clifton’s Columbus-based business offers handmade products such as pins and wearable arts. Because they work a computer job outside of events, they said the side business helps to keep their hands busy instead of focusing on a computer. 

Clifton started by collecting buttons and wanting to find a way to display them. This would lead Clifton to begin making pin boards for themself and soon finding a business for other people to enjoy.

“Selling them at cons is a great way to connect with both my community in terms of personally as well as professionally with my business,” Clifton said.

Faith Lockwood, also known as “ArtfullyFaith,” also had a reason similar to Clifton’s for attending cons.

“When I was younger and in middle school, I always really loved the idea of going to conventions,” Lockwood said. “Later on in high school, I was finally able to go to some. When I went through Artist Alley for the first time, it was a very exciting experience for me who was already very artistic.”

Lockwood sells Dungeons and Dragons-inspired pieces, including hand-made dice sets with various designs. They described the process of making the dice sets, detailing how they fuse the dice with silicone molds and resin. While it takes four hours of hands-on work, it takes about 24 hours for them to cure.

Lockwood started creating dice in 2020, but they said they had previously worked at a grocery store. However, due to the mistreatment there, Lockwood decided to leave that environment.

“I was very fortunate to have a safety net under me where I could chase after my dream,” Lockwood said.

Alex Atkinson, who runs Golden Light Dice, sells handmade dice and candles. Their booth is fully customized, utilizing a nature backdrop and their products are lined on wooden shelves with ivy.

Atkinson described the process of making the dice and candles, claiming the process to be very tedious. They said they make their own silicone molds for the dice and then they place florals inside of them, They then cast the molds in resin and sand polish them when they are finished. For the candles, Atkinson said they melt the wax for the candles and then add the unique scents that match the unique names.

Atkinson’s online shop offers dice sets varying in colors and even names. They also sell a product known as the “Potions of Healing,” which are cork bottles that have a red resin on the bottom with a set amount of red four-sided dice for Dungeons and Dragons.

While Atkinson spoke about the products of their own booth, they also recognized the other artists in Artist Alley who sold similar or different products to their own.

“All of the artists here are so great,” Atkinson said. “One of my favorite things about going to conventions is getting to go around and see other artists’ booths, and all the artists here are so great.”

Lockwood agreed on this point, going more into detail about what they thought.

“It’s incredible to be in a room with so much talent and so much ambition from everyone around you,” Lockwood said. “It’s so inspiring seeing how other people have drawn similar characters if you’re doing fan art and taking elements of their personality and their story and finding a whole other way to visualize that in the pieces they do.”

While Fan Expo in Cleveland ended on April 14th, Fan Expo in Philadelphia starts on May 3 and runs until May 5. To keep up to date on future Fan Expo conventions, visit the Fan Expo HQ page for more information.

Joseph Dziak is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected].