LightBox Expo 2019 Review - Amazing First Year!

LightBox Expo had its first year this past September in Pasadena CA, and I have to say it was great. Knowing Bobby Chiu, and the experience Jim Demonakos has under his belt, I'm really not surprised, but I was still extremely impressed! Our booth by Artist Alley, inside the main hall, was great. We had wonderful neighbors, Expedition Art, and really got to enjoy seeing the artwork all around us. All types of artists in the Entertainment Industry were represented. Everyone from animators, concept artists, storyboard artists, background painters, illustrators, to character designers, you name it!

Even though the turnout was overwhelming, to say the least, we didn't feel overcrowded because the venue itself was more than enough to accommodate the crowd. Being at the Pasadena Convention Center, they had multiple buildings to expand and showcase specific workshops, demos, artists, and after parties. Although they probably could have fit one or two more rows into artist alley to fill in the gaps. It felt like our neighbors across the alley were miles away! 

If you weren't in the Main Exhibition West Hall buying prints or watching demos, you were probably in the East Ballroom, where they held larger workshops, panels, and screenings. I only had time to catch about 15 minutes of Finnian MacManus' demo, but it was great to see just a bit of what these professional artists are doing in the industry, very inspiring to a novice artist like me! The only other silly criticism I have is that there was too much to see, even if I wasn't working at our booth, I don't think I could've made it to every panel/demo I wanted! However, I believe LightBox is putting most of their recorded panels and demos up on their YouTube page for free! Hopefully we'll see those soon. 

Wacom had their official booth in the next room, adjoining Artist Alley. Since they technically don't sell physical products on location, we teamed up with them (as usual) to sell a bunch of Cintiqs and Tablets on Special Promo just for the event! Many of the Cintiqs were up to 10% off! We were also able to showcase some of Wacom's newest products like the Cintiq 22 and the debuted of the MobileStudio Pro Gen 2. Artists were able to sit down and give the new and improved MSP 16" a test drive. 

We honestly can't wait till next year, September 11-13, 2020, to see how much LightBox will grow after such a successful launch. If you don't believe me, just find all the numerous videos on YouTube of everyones' first impressions of the Expo!
Also check out a few snapshots we took around our booth, and Bobby Chiu's vlog summing up the event, posted below.

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