Last Labor Day weekend, I assisted my sister, Betty, also known as Kafaid, with her Pop Artist Alley booth at Dragon Con 2025. I didn’t originally plan to blog my experience, but as the date approached I realized perhaps I could still gain valuable insight worth documenting. So here’s to my first ever Table Assistant Review! Hang tight, this one’s a doozy.
This review is a bit all over the place, in part because I’ve written it over a month while distracted by hit indie game darling, Silksong. But also! Because Dragon Con is such an action-packed weekend, you’re bound to be left in a daze afterwards.
Dragon Con is one of the largest nerd conventions in the south east, if not the entire United States! Over thirty years old, Dragon Con has grown over the years to encompass several hotels and city blocks. As for us merchants, well, there are three halls in total that you may apply to for the honor of selling your wares to Dragon Con attendees. The Vendor Hall, for general wares and craftsmen, the Art Show, for fine artists and the Anime Market, and finally the Pop Artist Alley, for comic book artists and other contemporaries. Artists are also allowed to sell in the Vendor Hall as well. Why are there so many choices at Dragon Con? Look, we can’t get into that right now. The important thing is my sister, Kafaid, had her booth in the Pop Artist Alley.
While I didn’t get accepted myself, I’ll try to recount what the application process for Dragon Con was! So, as there are three markets there are also three different applications, with different opening and closing dates. Of course, your girl applied to all three and got rejection emails each time! I will say the rejections did come in right on schedule. Betty on the other hand, has been a Pop Artist Alley staple for quite some time now! It does seem Dragon Con in general favors returning artists to their Art Show and Artist Pop Alley, but there are exceptions. Betty went for a larger booth space, which did incur a higher cost, and we were put near the back of the floor. Our friend Lauren, of LABillustration, was also accepted and would be our booth neighbor.
While I have assisted Kafaid with Momocon, this would be my first time helping her with Dragon Con. Since I’ve never gotten accepted in all my years of applying, I wanted this opportunity to study the Pop Artist Alley and gain insight on what Dragon Con staff look for in their artists. Together, with her boyfriend, Zee, we’d be a dream team of three!
Thursday Setup
Dragon Con, is it four days or five days? The partiers weren’t the only ones who’d be pre-gaming because Thursday was setup for us vendors! Betty already had suggestions on which parking garage would be best for us since we’d be spending the majority of our weekend at the Americasmart Building. Four whole floors rented out to Dragon Con, with the first three for the Vendor Hall and the top fourth for us, Pop Artist Alley!
Now, due to downtown Atlanta not being amendable to long lines of cars, Dragon Con has devised a system where those who’d like to drive their cars into the Americasmart Building for load-in would have wait at an off-site parking lot first to wait their turn. Betty didn’t want to deal with that since everything in her booth could fit in a few utility wagon runs, so off we went on foot to the loading dock directly. This would be the street entrance that would be reserved for vendor use all weekend with guards stationed to check our badges.
Check-in was a two part process, with Betty giving her name to staff members just before the loading deck and they gave us temporary name tags to get past the guards. Then when we arrived to the fourth floor via freight elevator, a second set of staff gave us our official Dragon Con artist badges! All the tables were labeled with name tags making finding our spot very easy. I must say, the staff certainly got their organization down for load-in day.
We were some of the first to arrive to the Pop Artist Alley that’ morning! The whole floor was just pristine with white table cloths and curtains. Thursday we focused on setting up the main structure of Kafaid’s table and then we’d bring in the main stock on Friday. We were actually able to get out just past lunch, sooner than I expected. A smooth set-up!
It’s Friday, Friday
Friday morning, we arrived two hours before opening and there was already a line wrapping around the block! I even saw a couple of people playing Magic the Gathering with the cards and playmats on the sidewalk, I wish I could’ve taken a photo it’s one of my biggest Dragon Con regrets!!! But alas, I was hauling a utility wagon full of stock so I need to keep moving. The morning line ended up being an everyday sight through Dragon Con, even on the less busy days like Sunday and Monday. It really goes to show you how many people come to Dragon Con to shop.
We entered through the loading dock with our wagons full of merch. After some finishing touches to the booth and we were good to go! I’m not sure how but even though we arrived early every morning, we were pretty much always tidying up right until opening ^__^;; This year, Kafaid had art prints, vinyl stickers, acrylic charms and magnets, note pads, wall scrolls, enamel pins, and dice for sale. A broad selection of items and fandoms.
I was surprised by how quickly shoppers made it to us right after the halls opened at 10 AM sharp. It turns out, this is because just before opening some of the line is let in to all four vendor hall lobbies! Amazing, I have no idea how they handle this crowd control, but it basically meant we started working immediately.
And almost just as immediately, I began running into friends and free ribbons! Started strong with three kpop ribbons from my friend, Jessica! She had been waiting outside for two hours to be one of the first visitors in the Pop Artist Alley!I had heard that Dragon Con was a “ribbon con” but even my expections were blown when by mid Friday I had seven ribbons! There was also a lot more trinket trading that I had been expecting. I guess it’s very common for cosplayers to have little freebies be they ribbon or some other manner of trinket. So, if you’re a collector, be sure to give out those costume compliments!
Across from our booth was ABV Gallery, and they were hosting live paintings all weekend! On Friday they even had Greg Mike, the designer of this year’s Dragon Con badge, do a huge painting of it! And on Sunday, our friends Chris Alvarez and Courtney Hicks were the featured painters! It was really fun to watch them work on their huge murals throughout the weekend.
While there was ebb and flow to the crowd traffic throughout the weekend, at no point would I describe the floor as dead. I think this may be a bit subjective, because I’ve heard a few other artists describe moments as slow, but personally the floor always seemed alive to me. Even towards closing, there were always a few stragglers so we never closed up super early. Though, security was on top of it to kick everyone out of the building, including vendors, 30 minutes after closing at the latest! Which does seem a little fast to me, I’m more accustomed for vendors to have an hour after closing so we’re not rushed out. But, I’m sure it’s difficult to secure such a huge space, hence the urgency.
Making Labuckbucks
Friday was a strong start, but Saturday was looking to be a doozy! Betty’s boyfriend, Zee, would also be joining us for the rest of Dragon Con to assist. We three folks behind the table, that meant we were able to trade off for breaks fairly often. Since Betty is used to having assistants, she has a pretty good organization system for all her merch. It helps us find what a customer needs even if she’s not there!
This meant Saturday was when I was able to observe the Artist Alley properly, and not just as I was rushing by to the rest room. Spending the weekend in the Artist Alley allowed me to study what the staff were looking for in their artists.
Overall, clearly the best of the best were together in this room. Every just by a cursory glance at their booths, you can tell most everybody had a strong portfolio, was a published artist, or both! There seemed to be an emphasis on comic artists and illustrators. More towards the front of the Pop Artist Alley were rows where comic book artists would have huge banners with their name, and copies of their issues for sale. Usually, their set ups would be more minimalist with a focus on star power to draw in their customers. Then gradually, as you came towards the middle there would be a shift in more illustration focused artists, where tables would be full of finely rendered environmental art prints. Many of them have even been commissioned by Wizards of the Coast or Disney for Magic the Gathering or Lorcana card illustrations
Towards the back end, was where the Pop Artist Alley placed their largest booths, 10×10 spaces, which was where Kafaid was! This area was less organized by theme, I believe because the artists who got these spaces chose to pay more to have more space. But generally, the larger booths tended to lean more towards illustrators from my observation.
Most of the artists I saw favored realistic or naturalistic styles, however a couple of really strong more graphic styles stood out to me. But basically, it became very clear to me why my own portfolio wasn’t chosen for Dragon Con, haha! Perhaps to over simplify it, I certainly don’t have strong background presence in my current spread of work. I think… in general, I noticed a strong presence of story telling in everyone’s booths. It’s tough competition to get into Dragon Con, so it’s given me food for thought.
Curiously though, by Saturday it became evident that there were a few unclaimed tables in the Pop Artist Alley. Their blank surfaces just making for bad feng shui around their neighbors. I was a little surprised to learn that Dragon Con doesn’t have a system for other artists to claim no-show tables. I understand that sometimes life happens and an emergency keeps you from coming to a show, which is not a situation I envy. However, it just seems a little strange for Dragon Con, which is such a long running convention, to not have a system in place to fill in these empty spots. I can’t guess as to why that may be.
In case you’re wondering about the food situation at AmericasMart, there were food and beverage vendors on every floor. You had a few pop-ups like Chick-fil-A and the usual fare of convention type food: pretzels, pop corn, boba tea, etc. I did also see an express Nakato, which is a local Japanese restaurant, and a Chicken Salad Chick that seemed to rent out larger take-out units. Seating was fairly sparse, and tables and chairs were only around the lobby areas of each floor where the escalators were. Of course, everything was priced for the convenience of not leaving the building! So there is plenty of food access in the Dragon Con vendor hall, but we still made a point of packing our own lunches.
Sunday, Sunday, Sunday
I learned from Zee that there is a gaming hall at Dragon Con! I suppose it may seem obvious that such a large convention about nerd culture would have one, but legit I had no idea. Fortunately, it was just a hop, skip, and a jump over in the AmericasMart building next door! I wanted to stop by and look for vendors selling Magic the Gathering singles. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to stop by until Sunday, and it seemed most of the selection in the Gaming Hall was picked over. BUT, luckily on Monday when I was in the vendor elevator before opening, I saw another vendor with a badge ribbon “tap for two mana” and asked where they got it. Turned out they were a Magic vendor on the second floor!!!
Later evening, we finally had an opportunity to visit the Art Show over in the Hyatt. Every year the Art Show hosts an award ceremony for the winners of their gallery after Sunday closing. I actually didn’t realize that those of us in the Pop Alley were allowed to attend, but it turns out both Artist Alleys share the same badge design. Apparently, Lauren had been dropping by their award ceremony for years!
Unfortunately, we missed out on the awards ceremony itself, but there was still plenty of mingling to do! The Art Show had catering and even a live band to show appreciation for the hardworking artists. I had no idea it’d be a whole affair! We got to be introduced to new folks and walk through the gallery to see who the winners were.
On our way back to the car, we found one of my favorite cosplay and ribbon for Dragon Con 2025! DC is well known for its party culture, but I was still surprised to get a free jello shot with a mini-waffle garnish on Sunday night. I really appreciated the group’s dedication and generosity, but Zee talked me out of consuming snacks from strangers. ^^;;
Garfield hates Mondays
Life South is a non-profit blood bank that services the southeast. Their partnership with DragonCon goes back forever! It’s one of Life South’s largest annual blood drives and they bring in phlebotomists from all over. And in true DragonCon fashion, there are exclusive collectibles for donors such as the DragonCon shirt that is always illustrated by an Art Show artist. If you’re lucky, you may receive a Marriot carpet Life South enamel pin! I have two myself! And of course, they also have badge ribbons.
Since Monday would likely be less busy, I made an appointment to donate plasma at the Life South blood drive for that morning. I’ve had an unbroken streak since 2018, when I donated my blood for the first time at Dragon Con! Little did I know, Monday morning would be when Artist Alley staff would finally confront the AI vendor! And I missed most of it!!! My right arm was all hooked when my phone started blowing up with texts about what was going down in the Artist Alley! It was such a bummer, because it turns out I’m not good at texting with my left arm and I had to patiently wait for my procedure to be over.
Otherwise, the rest of Monday went by pretty smoothly once I returned to the Artist Alley. Even as the “least” busy day, there were still plenty of people browsing around. We even sold off the very last ones of Betty’s sparkly dice and I got some time do some shopping myself.
Load-out went off without a hitch, with three people we were able to make light work of tearing down the booth. Plus it helps that we were all experienced with how Betty liked to pack. Monday was probably the only day we packed up a little before closing, maybe only 15 minutes? We didn’t use the option to drive into the building, and instead loaded our wagons to make trips to the parking garage next door. I brought my car as well so we could fit everything! Thanks to the power of strength training, we were able to load up our cars and leave downtown in time for dinner.
The AI-lephant in the Room
While the vast majority of Pop Artist Alley booths were brimming with beautiful pieces, there were a couple of vendors that were… less inspiring. On Friday, I’d noticed two booths that I suspected had AI generated imagery. My initial gut reaction was disappointment. Did the Dragon Con staff not mind accepting AI prompters into their Pop Artist Alley? Dragon Con is known for its high standards, which I could very well see around me, but the presence of these two vendors seemed to directly contradict that. Was Dragon Con perhaps somehow tricked into accepting these vendors? Would they even care if it was a mistake?
I tried not to let my mood dampened and focused on helping Betty finish out Friday. After the Vendor Hall was closed, we had dinner with a few other Pop Alley Artists and the AI booths came up in conversation. Overall, we were angry that AI generated imagery had somehow gotten into the space curated from the best artists in the country. Not only had they taken away the opportunity from other human artists, but the customers who seek out the Pop Artist Alley to buy high quality art in-person. By selling AI imagery under the pretense of it being human-made art, these AI vendors were taking advantage of the trust attendees had in Dragon Con to curate a professional artist alley.
By Sunday, the Pop Artist Alley staff hadn’t publicly acknowledged the AI vendors in our presence. And at this point, my colleagues were riled up enough to seek out Jamey, the Pop Artist Alley head, to complain directly. We table helpers stayed behind to hold down our respective forts, of course. When they came back, they said Jamey was aware of the situation and had already received at least 20 complaints. Which, dang!! 20 complaints?? It made me feel better to know we supposedly weren’t the only ones who were upset. It makes me wonder what the breakdown of complaints were, between other artists or regular attendees. The reason why Dragon Con hadn’t moved yet was because it had been run “up the chain” so the Artist Alley staff themselves were still on standby.
Which is frustrating, but seeing how the events played out, I understand why Dragon Con wanted to get their ducks in a row before acting. Now, I’ve heard multiple people get frustrated because Dragon Con forbids AI imagery so they should’ve acted more swiftly! I wasn’t able to find this anti-AI policy when I browsed their Pop Artist Alley applications or website, but Betty was able to share with me the 2025 Artist Alley Agreement she received and it was there under clause number seven:
No AI artwork of any kind will be allowed to be sold or distributed in Comic and Pop Artist Alley. Failure to comply with our AI policy can lead to immediate removal from the show floor.
Now even though it’s clearly in the Artist Alley Agreement, ultimately, Dragon Con is a business and they’re gonna protect themselves first. My guess is running it “up the chain” meant passing everything through their legal team to make sure Dragon Con was safely in the right to avoid lawsuits from the vendors involved.
My colleagues had also heard from Jamey, that one of the vendors had not only come with suspiciously AI-generated imagery, but also did a bait and switch with their application. Both the “artwork” and the vendor’s name were different in their application versus who actually showed up to set up shop. Allegedly, the vendor’s story was that the name on their application was actually their romantic partners and they did their art business together, however, this is also a clear violation of a second Artist Alley Agreement term. Where only the artist who applies is meant to show up and sell only their own artwork, and that there is no sharing of their table space with other parties in clause six.
The rights granted to the Artist may not be sold, sublet, given or otherwise transferred to any third party.
So from what I understand, since only this vendor’s partner’s name was on the application and agreement, without any mention of their own, that was in violation of DragonCon’s third party policy. Yes, it’s common for romantic partners to go on to become business partners in the art world, however, if that were truly the case in good faith, then that wouldn’t explain why the artwork used in their application were different from what they came to sell with. And so with two clause violations, I’m sure Dragon Con felt a lot more confident they were safe to remove this vendor… and they didn’t go quietly!
I wasn’t there to witness them being escorted off the premises myself, but Monday morning right around opening, first the Artist Alley staff approached the vendor to ask them to leave. When they refused, the Artist Alley staff came back with police escorts to really make their point across. By the time I returned from my blood donation, their booth was completely gone only the white draped tables remaining. It didn’t take long for Dragon Con to swoop in with its tradition of pop-up shrines and soon pro-human made art and anti-AI imagery messages sprouted forth on the empty space. A few times I walked by and overheard attendees express things like “good, I’m glad they’re cracking down on this” and see them take their own photos and selfies. It was really reassuring, as an artist sometimes I get worried that only other artists feel that AI-generated imagery is wrong, but I’m glad to hear even those who just enjoy are can find it distasteful as well.
The second AI vendor was able to continue business unfortunately, but I’m sure they felt a message loud and clear from the example Dragon Con made. My theory is that while Dragon Con has their anti-AI clause, their legal team probably made a point that it may be difficult to prove that this vendor’s image were AI-generated in the event of a lawsuit and apparently, this vendor has a reputation for being quite litigious! While Dragon Con themselves didn’t make a move to kick them out, plenty of people on social media expressed disdain for the vendor’s AI-generated works, and they tried to sue some of those whose accounts became viral!
So overall, while at the time I was very frustrated looking back I think I understand why Dragon Con took the course they did and I’m glad they chose to eject at least one AI vendor to set both a precedent and example. Sometimes bureaucracies can be slow to act, and of course I wish that nobody was tricked into buying AI imagery at all. I’m sure there are people who wouldn’t mind either way, but the fact that these vendors were using Dragon Con’s reputation to curate the world’s finest collection of artists to sell their imagery I think speaks to the real possibility that some of their customers would be heartbroken to realize the truth. I’ve also wondered if by delaying the forced removal, they also avoided having the situation blow up even more over the weekend when Dragon Con already has so many other plates to spin.
In the end, Dragon Con’s course of action was much better than the worse case scenario which would’ve been to do absolutely nothing. I think they did what they did to try and preserve the trust they’ve built with both artists and attendees to curate a space that celebrates visual arts, and I hope moving forward their jurors are not duped again.
Here’s reporting from a few other accounts that I’ve linked here if you’d like further corroboration.
- Personal account by neighboring artist Monkey Minion on Blue Sky
- “DragonCon AI Artist Removed by Police” by Inkwell on Youtube
- “Fan Conventions are Drawing the Line on AI Slop” by Rob Salkowitz on Forbes
- “Disney AI ‘Artist’ Threatens Lawsuit Update” by Inkwell on Youtube
Final Thoughts
Dragon Con is a special event put on by the efforts of hundreds, if not thousands of people. It’s a real cultural touchstone for Atlanta, and I got to see lots of friends and colleagues visit Betty’s booth, some whom I didn’t see since before the pandemic! With all those people, of course it’s one of the most competitive Artist Alleys to get into, and I was really able to learn a lot over the weekend there. I’m not sure when my own work will make the cut, but I’m definitely gonna try with renewed vigor to get into bigger shows! Here’s to the future!
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