Building a T-Shirt Business Artist Shops is a platform associated with creatives, designers and artists, but it can be used for anything. What I’ll be attempting in this series is to create a new t-shirt business from scratch within the limitations of 30 minutes a day. Expect a lot of hacks, automation and stealing to get this done. Want to read the other parts? Week Two & Week Three Day One Brand Focus I’ve decided to focus on martial arts as a theme. I’veRead more
Don’t Let Fear of Failure Hold You Back
Whether you fail a test, get fired with a big fat “F”, or just kinda miss your mouth when you go to take a sip of coffee (you’ve done it, we’ve all done it), failure sucks. It’s the one true four letter “f-word”, the internet’s favorite thing to blast in all caps. So naturally, we all have a fear of failure to some degree. But making mistakes and failing is kind of like the puberty of our creative growth: nobody likes it and it’sRead more
How to Boost Sales With Color
In college, I remember talking to a guy who had a disorder called synesthesia, which caused him to see a splotch of color appear whenever anyone spoke (my voice was purple). He told me the experience was so intense that there are people he can’t even talk to because the ‘color of their voice’ is too gross. Such is the power of color. If you’re seeking the secret to what colors are guaranteed to lead to more sales, here it is: there isRead more
10 Ways to Sell Your Art Outside of a Gallery
Starting to sell your art as prints for people to hang on their walls is a fantastic way of getting your art noticed while making some money. Marketing tees and apparel is one thing – you can create lifestyle photography, use your friends as models and walking billboards, create style guides, etc. But how do you sell your art in an engaging way? Here are 10 ways to sell your art 1. Offer different types of canvases Problem: Just like some people prefer tri-blend toRead more
Don’t Let Perfectionism Hold You Back
“Nobody’s perfect” is one of the first things to get drilled into our heads as kids. And yet, we all know at least one ultra-perfectionist (even if it’s ourselves). Perfectionism is often viewed as a strength, something that makes you a better worker. And it can be. But perfectionism is kind of like a drug; in small doses, it helps you just enough to make your work better. But too much perfectionism and we overdose, so caught up in the edits and adjustmentsRead more
How to Take Lifestyle Photos
Have you ever scrolled through, say, Urban Outfitters’ Instagram, when you come across a picture of someone in the forest, and suddenly find yourself wanting to buy the whole outfit they’re wearing? It’s definitely not an outfit anyone would actually wear in the forest, it might not even be your style. But you see the image, associate it with a cool outdoorsy outfit, and want the outfit because you want to look like someone who has that outdoorsy lifestyle. That’s the power of knowing how to takeRead more
What Makes You Click-Worthy? Why Buttons Work
People. Love. Buttons. From pressing every button in the elevator as kids (and sometimes grown-ups), to the trope of the forbidden “big red button” always getting pressed, there’s something irresistible about pressing buttons. I mean, who hasn’t wanted to do this on The Voice? There are actually a lot of things that make pressing buttons tantalizingly tempting. And when it comes to trying to direct people to a product of yours or trying to get them to click into your shop or toRead more
Don’t Get Frozen by Creative Anxiety
“Don’t try to steer the river.” – Deepak Chopra Have you ever come across an old drawing or story that you abandoned because you thought it was trashgarbage only to realize that it was actually pretty dang good? Too often, the ability to appreciate our own work comes to us only in hindsight. But such is the nature of creative anxiety blockage: stopping a project before it can even begin. Creativity and anxiety have gone together hand in hand (er, pencil in hand?) skipping offRead more
How to Sell Your Photography Online and Off
Now that everyone and their Grandma (and sometimes even their tech-savvy Great Grandma) has a smartphone with a camera in their pocket, everyone thinks they’re a photographer nowadays. Figuring out how to sell your photography online and offline in a world where there’s a seemingly unlimited amount of free photography is tricky. But don’t worry! There are many ways to get your photography noticed and sold – it just takes a little extra creativity. Here are 11 ways to sell your photography online andRead more
Introducing Artist Shops 1.5, Now With Wall Art!
Been wanting to print your Artist Shop designs on 100% cotton paper as well as 100% cotton tees? Now you can! Announcing Artist Shops 1.5, now with Wall Art! We’re as excited about this new Artist Shops feature as Apple was about the iPhone 7. Now you can put designs that already live in your shop (as well as any new designs) on art prints, framed art prints, or stretched canvases in a slew of sizes that would make for a cohesive gallery wall. How do I set up wallRead more
It’s About the Process, Not Just the Result
There’s a great episode of RadioLab where they set out to discover the secret of what goes on in a caterpillar’s cocoon while it’s transforming into a butterfly. Most of us assume that inside this chrysalis, there’s some half caterpillar, half butterfly hybrid mid-transformation, kind of like a tadpole turning into a frog. But no. When they crack open the chrysalis? It just looks like sludge. You’re probably reading this thinking 1: ew, and 2: what does this have anything to do with theRead more
Don’t Wait Around for Inspiration
We’ve all heard the phrase, “good things come to those who wait.” It’s been tweeted, tattooed on many-a body, and photoshopped on inspirational nature photos a million times over. Because it’s reassuring to say, “if I’m patient, good things will happen,” especially for creatives in times of the inspiration-less doldrums, or waiting for your first online shop sale – all of which does take patience. But there’s a difference between waiting to, say, push your online shop until you’ve got enough designs uploaded, and just waiting around forRead more