After having not slept for all of Wednesday and two Thursdays, I was able to get some rest on Second Thursday evening to wake up bright and early on Friday morning to trek down to the Convention Centre. We had about a 20 minute walk from the hotel, and even so early in the morning, it was evident San Diego was still in its warm weather. It was very reminiscent of Queensland both in looks and humidity. I heard the sound of seagulls and crows for the first time on our walk down, they’re slightly different sounding here compared to Australia, and experienced the absurd amount of time it takes for a pedestrian road crossing to set off.
We had a little time to set up before each day started, despite the Securities lack of communication, which rerouted us 10 minutes out of the way on the final day which was super unnecessary and annoying. Our booth location was right in the middle of Artist Alley, but right underneath the window with the most sun. The booths had walls on either side, which from an artists perspective is nice because we had much more space to hang up our artwork, but it also made it an oven from about 12pm to 3pm, so we were sweating at times.
Our booth looked amazing though, and I very much enjoyed being in my bubble up in Artist Alley, although I did wander downstairs once or twice to check out the rest of the convention. It was certainly the largest convention I’ve ever been to, and honestly I would not attend if not as an artist with a booth, as it was very overwhelming and absolutely catered more towards gamers. They had a whole bunch of activities down there such as game demos, as well as things like sponsors tables.
I met so many people, both viewers and other streamers, and some who came specifically to our booth to say hello to me!
I met AndyRaeCosplay, who I’ve known from Twitch for a while now through mutual raids of each other, she’s such a sweetheart!!
I met Kasey Golden who is more known for her YouTube videos and also how I originally found her. I looked up to her for a long time and it was a joy to meet here and give her some of my art, and in return she gave me a bunch of stickers!!
I met the wonderful TwilightFangs (otherwise known as Cody, who is actually Mitch's in real life friend!) and some of his amazing crew.
I made new friends like GalacticElliot who was so kind about my artwork. He streams Pokemon content on Twitch so to have his praise about my Pokemon artwork was heartwarming. There were a few people who followed us on Twitch on the spot too, and who have come to almost every stream since!
And I had the privilege of meeting some people who visit mine and Mitch's channel often too. To meet those who have supported us as artists and streamers was such an amazing feeling. I am always so thankful to those who show up and support the us, so to be able to meet some face to face sure was something!
One thing that surprised me was how shocked people were that Mitch and I both streamed our art. I would’ve assumed most people in Artist Alley at TwitchCon would be artists on Twitch but apparently that was not the case. I did go around and say hello to as many as I could and took business cards with me to look at later, but very few of them were streamers too. My art was a hit though, and I felt very honoured that people liked the paintings that weren't just fan art but my original characters. All of it just makes me want to do more markets once I’m back in Australia!!
I tell you what, security here in America is intense, and power trippy. It’s so unique compared to what I was used to. Whilst my experience at TwitchCon as a whole was quite a positive one (in comparison to many recounts I’ve seen of the event) the main letdown for me was the security and the way the artists were treated. We were told different things by different staff and rerouted numerous times, but on the final day, the securities lack of communication with Twitch Staff caused Mitch to need to carry a full suitcase of our set down about 4 flights of stairs as security were very rudely shooing us away from the elevators. They were less than impressive at the afterparty too, which we stayed at for approximately 20 minutes - let’s just say it wasn’t really our thing…
Despite that poor communication mishap, I'd absolutely do it all again!
TwitchCon ran from early in the morning to 5pm, so we had time afterwards to explore a bit of San Diego. We visited Seaport Village which was so lovely, decorated with lights and pumpkins. They had a carousel which looked very similar to the one in my home town!
We went to the Cheesecake Factory which was something I wanted to do because of Big Bang Theory, and it was here that I began my quest to eat anything Pumpkin Spice. It is absolutely not a popular thing in Australia, so I needed to get in as much of this magic flavour as I could, so we ordered a Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake.
We went for walks along the docks and saw the ships and boats at night time, as well as some..... interesting characters along the way.
We finished off the last day at a rooftop cinema, where we watched 10 Things I Hate About You - the only movie showing that wasn't a horror movie. Since it was the month of October, the Halloween preparations were in full swing, which is great for aesthetics, but not great if you're a scaredy cat like me who doesn't enjoy horror films! I tried this insane cheese sauce you get given with a pretzel, I don't know if it can be called cheese sauce, perhaps melted plastic is more accurate, it was not quite to my taste! Watching the movie under the night sky was so lovely though, and despite the fact that it was cloudy, it wasn't too cold up there.
We headed back on Monday afternoon after a breakfast comprising of Pumpkin Spice ice cream underneath a glass dome on the water. I was very thankful to be going through this airport with Mitch by my side this time, and thankful to be going to somewhere quiet and cozy.
~ Scroll Through the Gallery ~