Why I Stopped Doing Art Shows

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about why I pulled out of art events. Around midway through 2025, I decided to make a big push to sell my art and try to see if I could make a go of it.

Not much happened.

I sold very few pieces, and I didn’t give up. I pivoted to blogging and including my art with my writing, merging my two crafts. I feel relieved that I don’t have to do many, or any, events anymore.

There are a few reasons for that.

Fear of Being Perceived

Doing art shows and markets is a performance. I enjoy them once I’m there, and I’ve had some really good experiences and met some really cool people. But you’re also really putting yourself out there.

You have to smile for everyone, read their body language. Let them read yours. Figure out, do I engage with this person or let them browse? Do I push for a sale or sit back and let them decide?

Everyone has their own preferences on how they like to be approached, and we have to guess at all of them. It’s mentally exhausting.

Writing a blog, I’m still putting my work out there, but it’s a bit more anonymous. I’m not doing shows or events, and if I did, it would be more of a networking thing and less pressure to sell and perform.

I Hate Hauling All That Crap Around

When I was younger and writing books, I loved doing shows and comic cons and didn’t mind lugging tubs of merch and books and tables and chairs and displays all over. It was hard, but once I got set up I was fine.

Now I’m 53, and that shit kicks my ass.

By the time I get set up and then sit down for the show, it takes me a good hour or two to recover, and even then I’m sore for days after. Doing it on a multi-day show or back-to-back weekends is really a killer. Earlier this year, that’s what I was doing.

Plus all the sitting. You’d think sitting would be easy, but just being “on” for 10 hours a day, waiting for people to talk to you and being on alert, makes things hard and tiring.

Lots of Investment for Little Return

It goes without saying I picked maybe the worst time to try and be a full-time artist. The economy sucks. Everyone is broke. Everyone is angry, and my art is kinda weird.

Many people have told me they love my art but aren’t sure where they would put it or what to do with it. I’ve put it on T-shirts, but once again people tell me it doesn’t really match their aesthetic, but they do like to see it.

Maybe that’s a polite way of telling me I suck, but I hope not.

It’s a LOT of work to sit at a show for six hours or a full weekend just to sell 2-3 prints or a couple original drawings. I get it’s all about getting your name out there and things, but it’s just a ton of heavy lifting for very little to show for it.

When you’re mentally and physically exhausted, it becomes demoralizing.

Blogging Gives Me Time With My Family

My mother-in-law is currently going through treatment for cancer. She has radiation five days a week and chemo three days every other week. She’s in her 80s, so it takes me and my wife to help her to and from her appointments.

I don’t mind doing it, but at the end of the week, the last thing I want to do is go haul all my stuff to a show and sit with strangers all weekend.

With blogging, I take my laptop and tablet with me. I’ll do art at the appointment while waiting and even blog in the waiting room or manage my socials. I can do it on the go, and I’m only selling subscriptions, not physical pieces, so I don’t need to ship or pack anything or maintain inventory.

I’m good at writing and think I’m pretty good at art. So this way I can use both of my talents to share with the world. But it just feels way less pressured, and I notice people respond to blog posts a lot more than they do abstract art.

I may get a like or two on my art, but my blog posts will start discussions, and my art can enhance that with the visuals.

I don’t publish or write books, nor do I have any desire to. Trying to market a book in today’s climate is a nightmare, and I have no desire to go anywhere near that mess.

My blog is my art, and people can find almost anything they want to know about me there. There is also a wide range of searchable topics.

I will say I do one event usually. That’s the Second Saturday art walk at the Haus of Etchcraft in San Antonio. It’s only a few hours long one night a month. It’s pretty chill vibes with live music, live painting and several cool vendors. I enjoy it, especially around spooky season.

It’s just a fun event.

One funny thing: numerous times I would book an event, and then the morning of, I’d start dreading it and wishing I hadn’t. Once I was there and set up, I was fine. But the lead-up and loading the car and setting up was mental torture.

I think I’m just in a different place mentally and spiritually…not to mention physically, than I was 10-15 years ago when I was doing lots of conventions and festivals.

It doesn’t help that so many shows cost so much now. I hadn’t even touched on that yet.

Back in the day, a two-day show was about $50-$150 for a table for a weekend at a good-sized show. Now, they run $300-$1,200.

Yes, there are a ton of people at these things, and I know it’s a numbers game. But selling prints for $20-$40, I would just have to jack my prices way up or sell so many it’s hard to even fathom either course being successful.

And I just cannot afford to take a hit like that.

If it’s a comic con type show, then you have the celebrity factor. Years ago, celebrities were a fun add-on to the show. You would have lots of quirky vendors with a handful of celebrities, and it was like a big party. Everyone was checking everything out, then deciding what to do next.

Now, shows are loaded with A- and B-list celebrities who charge $50 up to $500 or more for autographs and photo ops. Not to mention long, long ass lines.

By the time people spend their money on their celebrity of choice and stand in line for six hours, they are done. They don’t even look at the vendors.

Vendors of which the quality has gone down a lot as well. Now at shows you’ll see numerous MLM sellers, Funko Pops, T-shirts, 3D-printed merch and even AI art for sale.

Some smaller shows try to crack down on some of this stuff, but the larger ones generally don’t care. If they pay the vendor fee, those fees pay for the venue and celebrity flights and hotels.

I could go on and on, but I don’t want to sound bitter. I know many artists who still vend at shows and do well, and I support anyone out there hustling.

It was just no longer for me.

In the end, we each have to decide what is best for ourselves. Being in public with all eyes on us is scary and intimidating, worse if you have social anxiety.

Blogging is a way for me to create art, convey a message and connect with others without driving all over Texas and breaking my back carrying stuff.

Now we just have to get this thing to lift off and we’ll be in business!