Con: Patron of the Arts Hayop at Halaman
Dates: February 21-22, 2026
I registered for this event the moment they announced that registration was open. It was around a month or two after I got laid off from my 3D Generalist job (fuck you paul). Initially, I was filled with excitement. I wanted to change, a rebrand, better social life, and just get out there. The first few months after registering I was filled with ideas of items that I want to sell. I didn’t want fanarts or art prints since I wanted to stray away from my initial art name, Elscaith. As much as possible I wanted something original.
The theme was Hayop at Halaman (Animals and Plants, and I’ve always wanted to see more of the capabilities of the drawing software that I used, Clip Studio Paint. So I learned how to make seamless patterns. I first made roses, which was difficult since there’s a huge chance the rose would turn into cabbages. But the final product was so worth it. It was art that was easy to make, and so fulfilling to see once finished. And the best part is that I could reuse it in an endless list of products. For this current event I made letter sets, patterned paper for journaling, bookmarks, and some stickers.
My Aunt got me a good printer (Canon Pixma G4770) back in April, but I barely used it since at the time I didn’t know what to make yet. But slowly I bought more equipment such as a Guillotine paper cutter, round corner puncher, normal puncher, envelope maker thingy, etc. and well, I just started making what I can. There was peace in making these things that I didn’t expect. Doing mindless, repetitive tasks may be tiring for some, but to me who spent most of my teen years until now with numerous voices barking in my head, it felt like I was alone with no one to tell me that I’m doing something wrong.
About a month before the event, anxiety kicked in. I was extremely worried about sales. What if no one bought, what if the things I sell are so niche that I don’t have an audience for it in PotA. I wanted to cry and back out. But then I thought that this was what I wanted for a long time, if not now then when?
I was able to convince my mom to sell with me. She has a hobby of making bracelets and she had an idea of making pet collars for PotA. Her accompanying me was one of the reasons I was able to push through.
On the day of the event I came in at 8:30am. Mama prepared drinks and sandwiches for us for the day, then my sister drove us to the venue. By the time we came in, our tablemate, Gel of LikharteStudios, had already set up. I already had that thought that I should be friendly to my neighbors, but mama beat me to it because she started fangirling over our neighbor’s products. They bonded over jewelry making lol.
During set up, I told my mom to set up her displays on the grid wall that I made, and when she was done, I asked if she could set up my bookmarks on the acrylic display. My mom, with her typical mother pride said, “Yoko nga, iyo yan ih!”(I don’t want to! That’s yours!) I looked her dead in the eye and said, “MAMA ASSISTANT KA,”(MAMA YOU’RE THE ASSISTANT), and she just laughed and said “oh right.”
My fear of not being able to sell disappeared the moment someone browsed through our products and said “OOH! STATIONERY!” She asked me lots of questions and bought patterned paper from me. She even exclaimed that I was the only one selling envelopes, which gave me the courage to make and sell more. Over time I get even more customers. They mostly bought my bookmarks
Another bought all 3 variations of my patterned paper, and asked me if my potion stickers were connected to a fandom, which I told her no. I think it was a good idea to have my art a bit more general than to be tied down to a certain show or game. In my head I wanted my art to be sold and used by other artists. “Art that supports Artists”. I didn’t really want to make something worthy of a centerpiece but more of support that makes other Art created by others shine.
My whole family and some friends came over to buy from my stall as well. I felt immense support from them, especially from my partner who also became my assistant on the times that my mother got tired.
We barely made it even during the event. But to be honest, I didn’t even expect we’d earn that much haha. I joined this event for the sole purpose of getting myself out there and that’s what I did. I’m proud of myself for doing so and it made me realize that maybe this is what I wanted in life, to be part of a community filled with appreciation and love of arts.
