For 4 days straight, my diet consisted of a pack of beef jerky and a big bottle of Vitamin Water (Energy). Such diet lasts about 12 hours each day. I realized that on the 4th day that I lost about an inch of waist, as my jeans slid down far enough for my heels to step on the edges. 5 pounds of my weight were lost over the weekend, a combination of super low carb diet and minor dehydration.

So... Anime Expo 2008 Artist Alley... was more like a cheap swap meet, filled with self-doubting artists lowballin' their own "artwork", and thus themselves, in order to make a sale. My neighbor, a talented young girl, priced her commission price at $1.00 each. ONE DOLLAR! The paper and pencil for the commission cost more than that. It takes her thirty-five commissions to match just ONE of my cheapest commission. 35x the work? I told her to have confidence in her own work and don't sell herself short the way she does. The artwork itself will attract people who can truly appreciate the work. Besides, I personally wouldn't want some cheapskate to own my artwork, anyway.

And seriously, to those who cried out "Jesus Christ!" upon finding out my commission rates: Have you even looked at my work and see how good of a deal it is compared to other industry professionals?!

Then there's the "artwork", if you can call them that. Maybe I am too traditional when it comes to the idea of an artist alley, but I always believed that it is an opportunity for me to show off the progression of my skill as an illustrator, and an opportunity for creative expression. But walking down the aisles of the Artist Alley in AX, I saw few of that. Most artists just drew different characters in the same poses, like how a photographer would take photos for a high school yearbook, totally hiding their weakness in their ability to draw anatomy instead of facing it. I do understand their mindset. It was the quickest, painless and brainless method to crank out large variety of artwork for sale. That, of course, saddens me to see artists whoring themselves out at customers with quantity instead of quality. The artists that weren't cheating themselves outta their integrity made me question whether they should be considered artists at all. They made keychains, pins and other nice accessories. But in my opinion, those are "crafts". Not art. One may point out that there are indeed artwork on the accessories. But that those repetitive looking artwork just further prove my point about these artists losing focus at what becoming an artist is about.

There's still a few artists that I am glad to see, pushing boundaries of creativity and expression differently. It was a pleasure to have met all of them (again) and I hope to see more of them and their work in the future.

Again, I wanna thank everyone who came out to see me. I promise I'll try to stay in touch through out the years.

**Please see xanga.com/tracerhank for artwork and photos**