All BLFC registrations are automatically accepted as art gallery bidders. By registering for the con, you agree to purchase the artwork you bid on if you win, and agree to pay fines if you can’t afford your bids.

The Buy It Meow auction system is a reversed bidding system. This means the pieces will begin at their highest price, and be reduced to preset amounts over time. Bidding protocols (ie sheets and stickers) are identical to the standard auction.
Buy it Meow pieces can also be paid for and taken with you immediately, without having to wait until Sunday checkout! (You can also leave them for Sunday checkout if you like.) To make them easy to find, Buy It Meow pieces will be displayed together in one area.
Lower prices may be claimed in advance, but keep in mind, this leaves time for other people to outbid you!

You must be 18 years old to view or bid in the art gallery.

You will bid using stickers, obtained from the art gallery desk. Protect these stickers like cash. To bid on an item, select a price on the item’s bid sheet and place your sticker next to that price. You must choose from the prices on the sheet; you may not write in your own price. Never remove a sticker or place your sticker over another.

For this year only, to avoid crowding, there will be no final bidding on Saturday evening. Regular bidding will end and you must submit proxy bids instead.

For this year only, to avoid crowding, you may submit bids to be placed by proxy. We will confidentially record your maximum bid on paper, periodically bid on your behalf to outbid people, and process all proxy bids as part of Saturday close.

Items never go to “voice auction;” we add bid sheets as needed.

The final auction winnings will be publicly posted by Sunday morning (by Sunday morning). Checkout begins at 10am. If you leave contact information, staff will also contact you. On Sunday, bring your photo ID to the art show to pay your balance due and claim your winnings. If you do not claim your auction winnings by 4pm on Sunday, you will need to pay shipping in addition to your art show win.

The artist retains all copyright and reproduction rights for any item displayed in the Art Gallery, unless otherwise explicitly stated.

Some charity items will be up for bid during the art show, like regular items; these will not be live-auctioned Sunday afternoon. Certain charity items will be "display only" until sold by voice auction on Sunday afternoon.

If you have art or items you'd personally like to donate to our charity auction, thank you! Please bring your items to the Art Gallery on Thursday or Friday to sign in your donation, and we'll take care of the rest!

To protect the art on display from damage, the art show is strictly hands-off unless labeled otherwise. Please do not touch artwork that is on display. The only thing you may touch is the bid sheets, to apply bidding stickers.

Bidders entering the art show area must check bags, cameras, sketchbooks, folders, and the like with art show staff. In the interest of sanitation, you cannot check food (except a closed drink bottle).

Budget carefully; don’t bid if you can’t pay. You will be charged a 25% fine on any bids you don’t pay for, and will be banned from participating in next year’s art show. You will also be banned from attending BLFC until your fine is paid. For example, if you bid $100 on a piece and then don’t pay for it, your fine will be $25 which must be paid before you can register for the convention again.

You must be available at the convention, or name an agent to handle your items for you who will be available at the convention. We no longer accept mailed-in art. Art must be placed by you or your agent by 1 pm Friday. If you are unable to make this deadline, your space will be repurposed!

Putting art in the Art Gallery is free for your first two panels. After an item sells, the convention will take a 15% commission from the final price (7.6% for NV Sales tax, 7.4% for the convention). The convention will accept payment for sold artwork from the winning bidders, and handle sales tax and optional charity donations for you. Your funds will be provided in the form of a mailed check no more than 8 weeks after the convention. If your art doesn’t sell, you won’t be charged for it. :)

“High Value” items (pieces with a starting price over $100) will be subjected to a $3 listing fee, which will be reimbursed upon item sale.

We hope you got a chance to see the Buy It Meow test drive last year. This year, we are giving the option within the auction site to all participants to choose which, if any, of your pieces you'd like to sell using the `Buy It Meow` style.

Buy It Meow is a reverse auction, where you, the artist, will preset a minimum and maximum offer value on your pieces. There is a tool within the bidding system for you to get a feel for what values will be shown on your bid sheet. Buy It Meow is unique in that bidders can pay as soon as a winning slot's time is hit, and take home work immediately. Only one bidder can claim each time slot, so although there are fewer chances to outbid, each bid is in a higher increment than usually seen in silent auction. For a bidders perspective, please also read our Buy It Meow blurb in the Bidder Instructions section.

You may only display art where you hold the creative rights to the characters depicted. Any art depicting characters copyrighted by third parties is not permitted. This means that “fan art” is typically not allowed in the Art Gallery and will be removed if displayed. You retain all copyright and reproduction rights for your items displayed in the Art Gallery, unless you explicitly state otherwise.

You may submit as much or as little art as you like! If your work cannot take up a full panel, we reserve the right to combine it with another artist's work. Panels are 2 feet wide wire grid sections. Two will be free with your submissions, and any additional panels or tables will be $20 each. Tables are also available for displaying non-hanging works. We will provide hanging hardware, or you are welcome to bring your own. We encourage you to protect your pieces with a clear plastic film, frame, or matte while on display!

Adult art is anything that displays nudity, violence, or sexual acts. There will be an adult section of the gallery for those pieces specifically. You are welcome to display non-adult work in the adult section to keep your work together, but we recommend dividing your work to display in both sections.

You or your agent must come in to the art show to pick up unsold artwork by 4pm on Sunday. If your work is still in our possession after 4pm on Sunday, your work will be shipped back to you and the shipping cost will be deducted from your check.

If you chose to donate profits to charity, we will reduce our commission by 1% for every 5% donated. This means a 35% donation has no commission (however, sales tax will always be deducted.)

Whether or not you are an Art Gallery participant, you may donate art or items to be auctioned entirely for charity. If you chose to donate items for charity, thank you! Please get in touch with an art gallery lead to sign your donation in to the charity auction. We'll take care of it from there!

Donated items must be in generally good condition and not require any more than basic assembly. Most charity auction items will be available for bid and will be sold from the Art Gallery, but some pieces will be in our live charity auction Sunday. For the pieces going to live auction, they are display-only inside the Art Gallery, and you have to attend the live auction to bid on them.

Staff will be actively watching the entire Art Gallery while open, and it will be locked while closed. We will take every precaution to prevent damage to or loss of your submitted artwork, but we can do only so much. By submitting art into the BLFC Art Gallery, you agree that neither BLFC nor its staff can be held liable in any way for damage to or loss of submitted art. Submission of art serves as acceptance of this agreement.

Bidders who do not pay their bids by 4:00 pm on Sunday will be fined 25% of their total unpaid bids, will be banned from bidding in next year’s art show, AND will be blocked from attending the con again until their fine is paid. If this happens, the artist will be contacted and given the option to either offer the piece to the 2nd highest bidder, or cancel the item and have it returned. Any fines collected from the bidder will be paid to the artist.