Carlsbad artist and designer N.C. Winters had shown his artwork at Comic-Con before, but 2019 marked a milestone. This year marked the 50th anniversary of Comic-Con and the first time Winters decided to have his own full booth at the event.

Given San Diego Comic-Con International’s status as a major pop-culture hub for movies, television and comics, it might be easy to overlook the numbers of independent artists and entrepreneurs who count...