What would happen if you took your artistic talent and ventured beyond traditional canvases? Welcome to an intriguing episode where we dive into the fascinating realm of diversifying art on products for sale. Sharing our journey of collaboration with companies and artists, we unfold how this approach helped us widen the horizon of our art. Get ready to unravel the magic of thinking differently, and learn how platforms like Fair can bridge the gap between you and potential buyers. Also, discover the perks of offering wholesale options for stores.
Let's change lanes and zoom into the world of exploring new artistic avenues and products. We spill the beans on the significance of branching out in artistic style and soaking inspiration from different cultures and experiences. I share about how being active in your local art communities and leveraging technology can level up your traditional artwork. Hear my personal tales of venturing into new domains like apparel, home decor, stationery, and drinkware. So, get set to embark on this exhilarating artistic journey, and let's change the way we perceive art together!
Oh…and yes that’s me wearing my pattern I made into a dress with my friends Rachel and Nakia :) Dress is available in my RedBubble shop, link below!!
What would happen if you took your artistic talent and ventured beyond traditional canvases? Welcome to an intriguing episode where we dive into the fascinating realm of diversifying art on products for sale. Sharing our journey of collaboration with companies and artists, we unfold how this approach helped us widen the horizon of our art. Get ready to unravel the magic of thinking differently, and learn how platforms like Fair can bridge the gap between you and potential buyers. Also, discover the perks of offering wholesale options for stores.
Let's change lanes and zoom into the world of exploring new artistic avenues and products. We spill the beans on the significance of branching out in artistic style and soaking inspiration from different cultures and experiences. I share about how being active in your local art communities and leveraging technology can level up your traditional artwork. Hear my personal tales of venturing into new domains like apparel, home decor, stationery, and drinkware. So, get set to embark on this exhilarating artistic journey, and let's change the way we perceive art together!
Oh…and yes that’s me wearing my pattern I made into a dress with my friends Rachel and Nakia :) Dress is available in my RedBubble shop, link below!!
Hi everyone, welcome back to Brutifully Made. Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Happy Black Friday. If that is your thing to go out and shop and get some great deals. I am running some sales myself on my shop online. So if you go to Brutifullycom and you see the little shop button, there will be some sales running for some of my art and products. And that really kicks off my topic for today, and it is diversifying your artwork on products and how to sell it and things that I have done and companies that I have worked with in ways that I have and currently am working on broadening products that I offer. I am really excited.
Speaker 1:
This week I am in my third slash, fourth local location. My products are in Little Sparrow Bookshop, which is in North Canton, and it is this darling used bookstore. Lorraine, I love that you asked me to bring some products in and I will share actually all the locations that I am in in the Start County area in my show notes today. So before I get started, let's see what our doodle will be and so we can chat and draw together. Our handy dandy want to draw has selected your college mascot Skydiving. Oh fun, I love my little bobcat, so let's draw a little bobcat skydiving From, I guess, the perspective. Maybe there's another skydiving friend with them, so they're taking a picture of the little bobcat.
Speaker 1:
Oh shoot, you can tell I don't take any of the things that I make any money on and do my nails. I have terrible fingernails. I wish I had the really fancy shamancy nails. So when you see my hands drawing that they were really pretty, but they're not. I wash my hands way too much during the day from painting and doing things really just ruins of my. Can't keep. My nails break all the time. I have terrible fingernails so maybe we need a whole episode with nail care, but anyway, yeah.
Speaker 1:
So diversifying your portfolio is something you'll hear people that are investing money in. You know where to put your money and so I feel like it's a good subject to talk about when you're talking about investing your time and your artwork and how you monetize or offer your art to hopefully build a business for yourself. If that's what you're interested in, I like to mix it up and I do a lot of projects for donation to. That's just part of my makeup. My heart is is just always if I can do something and, you know, contribute my talent in my time. I love doing that. So I really try to find organizations that mean a lot to me and that I've, you know, tried to support in the past with donations, even if it was my own money or time volunteering.
Speaker 1:
If I can do something with my artwork, I love doing that. Recently we just were at the Red Cross fundraiser and I got to draw. I'm sorry, I did a draw, I drew and then painted a reindeer and it was a three foot by four foot piece of art that animated, it was all of a reality, it was a lot of fun and that raised a lot of money. It was actually the biggest silent auction seller, which blew my mind. I just I can't get over that. Sometimes, when things like that happen, it just means like, oh, I did something that will help others and it just makes me so happy. So my husband made a beautiful wooden flag on American flag and they auctioned that off too and that did really well. So that was just really I mean a lot to us that we were able to give back in that way.
Speaker 1:
So when I try to create pieces that I can sell, there's a lot of things that I want to do to offer it to multiple people, because I'm just not in a position that I can feel like I have either the time or the money to invest in materials to make only original art. I just I'm not there yet. I would love to be, but I'm not. So when I create a piece, I try to photograph it out in natural light or, you know, scan it or create it in a way that I can replicate it through multiple venues online. So I know, when I first started selling anything online, I want to say it was like 2010. I'm always learning something new that they're offering. So that's really nice. But but yeah, it's. It's pretty cool to take your product or your images and your artwork and offer it on products, and you can also collaborate. There's a lot of other artists that offer, you know, opportunities to where your artwork can be sold through their avenues.
Speaker 1:
I have a great friend. She has a card shop Blueberry Road and she has cards and gifts and magnets and all kinds of cute things for like station or stores, and so she is offered to allow me have a couple designs in her cart shop and she sells on fare and fair as a wholesale opportunity. So if you own a store, you can sign up with fair and you can find all kinds of artists and people that offer very unique things for your location and you can order wholesale. Or, if you are an artist, you could reach out to these people and say I make this and I can offer it at this price and you can buy them from me. And that is what Miss Brenda does and Brenda Olson art and her Blueberry Road line. I'm very excited that next year I'll have a couple of designs in her in her card shop. So I'm super, super proud to know her and very excited about having the opportunity to have my stuff on her on her greeting card line. So anxious to to. I think I want to draw a couple new things. She picked out a few things from my portfolio, which I love that she did that. But I love her heart and I love that she wants to collaborate.
Speaker 1:
So you never know what you'll get to do with another artist. So you know, keep in mind that they're looking to diversify what they offer and it can be a win-win for both of you to support one another. So if you are a sculptor and you want to sculpt something different that nobody's doing and you have an artist friend, let's say, that has a great eye for animals. Maybe you collaborate with that person to do a line of like dog dishes or treat bowls or canisters, who knows and then it's both of your names on it. You're both promoting it and that's huge. That does so much for both of you. So just keep in mind that you can diversify through collaboration, which, my gosh, that's like one of my favorite things to do. I love that.
Speaker 1:
Think about how your artwork can translate into different mediums. If you don't know how to work in that medium, find an artist who does reach out to them and I'm like, I'm interested in collaborating. I would love for us to work together. I love your work. I have these ideas. Can we work together? What's it going to hurt? That doesn't hurt anything. If you admire someone, you've seen their work on Instagram or social media and you've got a great idea, ask them if you can work together and put something out there together, because if both of your audiences are seeing it and you're supporting one another, that's only positive. That's so cool. It could also lead you to create in a different style. It broadens your horizons.
Speaker 1:
Maybe someone has wallpaper, for example, that this company loves. It has beautiful wallpaper. You love what they do and they have a whole line of this line art. Maybe you haven't worked with pen and ink and brush and ink for a long time and you've been practicing and you've really got this really cool mark that you're making. Reach out to them and tell them that you are interested in. Can we talk about a wallpaper line? Can I send you some ideas? Order some samples from Spoonflower with your line work on it and see what it looks like. They have great swatches of wallpaper, pre-pasted and temporary ones. I've used them both and you never know what could happen with reaching out for something like that. Hey, I'm so glad you're here today with me. I hope these resources and ideas kind of get your gears turning to looking into these free sites and marketplaces to sell your work in different ways. I will make sure I've listed everything I'm talking about and really a few others in the show notes so you can take a look at those. Some are better for other people than others, but there's probably some I don't even know about. If you have some great ones, send me a message, let me know what they are so I can share them. I love learning about new resources to share our artwork. Don't hesitate to let me know. Thanks again.
Speaker 1:
So, collaborating and changing up a style because you're trying something new, that's huge. It only helps you grow. Find different cultures and different avenues that you've never experienced. Explore those and find out how you can learn through educating yourself with those experiences and the people that you're meeting. I know our area has so many different celebrations with different cultures, and it is wonderful to meet people through those events and find out how you can have a new art experience through learning and growing by educating yourself with new cultures and experiences. So try to open your mind to doing something new through that. I know in my art communities it's growing. There's new collaborations, there's new galleries that are opening up, there's new organizations that are developing and it's really exciting because it's supporting so many different types of art and levels of art and people that have been making for years and it's allowing new people in, like me, and I love that. I love seeing that develop and I think that the more that you put yourself out there I know sometimes it's really scary to do that and you're not gonna get accepted into everything, but it's okay. It's such a learning curve to hear feedback. Remember the last episode and in growing with the communities that are developing. So be sure that you are reaching out and participating as much as you can.
Speaker 1:
And today, when I was taking a look back into all the things that I have done this year, I just really do have so much gratitude for the local aspect. I was just talking about this with a group, my art group, that I'm in my mastermind, that I'm in, and I just felt like, yeah, I'm doing really well locally and I need to expand, but I am just so grateful for the outpouring of local support and love that I have had this year especially. It's just grown leaps and bounds and I'm just so grateful for that. And it's also opened my eyes up to some new subjects. As I was going into the latest store, she's looking over everything and learning. It was just like I want you to design something for the North Canton region and I would love to. And I said I've been trying to and I've kind of stuck on what the subject matters. And then we start talking and we're brainstorming together and I'm like, oh my gosh, you have just opened my eyes on, like what I can do. And she's like I have a folder of ideas, I'm gonna send them to you. I'm so. It was just like, oh my goodness, the subject matter just came to me as I was talking to her, so it was so cool to like have that happen organically and just by her requesting it. So I'm really excited to be working on a new design for that and there's so many different avenues to take your, I guess, traditional work and turn them around through technology.
Speaker 1:
So, like I said, you can, if you don't have like a DSLR camera, use your phone. Phone cameras are really good. Use natural light, take pictures of your stuff, crop it really well, crop it interestingly. Maybe you've got a portrait of something that's really cool and maybe you only did like half the face and that would make a really cool like dress or it'd make a really cool throw. Who knows, experiment with you, know taking that into a program and you know cropping it and putting it on product. Who knows what it will turn into? So don't be afraid to take your traditional work and play with it a little bit and elevate it in new ways. And there are so many different things that you can sell your stuff on.
Speaker 1:
I just need to quickly just talk about all the kinds of products. It's sometimes it's so daunting to think about how many things that you can put that on and again, I've had so many people talk to me about. Okay, we gotta go back, because I have some of my designs on everything from sneakers to pajamas to clothing not just t-shirts. I mean like all over print hoodies and shirts, dress shirts, scarves oh gosh puzzles, towels, blankets I'm telling you everything, so let's just talk about you know some of the things that your designs can go on. Of course, don't forget about apparel. You know t-shirts and hoodies. I've got stuff on leggings. Those are a lot of fun.
Speaker 1:
Totally, look into putting your stuff on wearables, because people love promoting and wearing original art and local art. So, love home decor oh my gosh. I saw a lot of blankets, throws, pillows, wall art, of course, but tapestries like pieces that hang, like banners those are huge, especially during the holidays. I've got those and those do really well. And like flags, garden flags, outdoor banners, things like that those are a lot of fun. Foam cases are huge, still big. It's hard to niche down what ones to offer. That's why the print on demand service is so nice, because they're selecting all of the current ones and then they put your art on those. So I don't put them in my Shopify store there's just too many, but I can have them on like Redbubble and then they put it on the case it's chosen. So that's kind of helpful.
Speaker 1:
Stationery is just like a no brainer. Make custom calendars, notebooks, journals. I just did journals and pens with my Ohio floral design for the bookstore and they turned out so pretty. Just stickers, wassy tape oh gosh. Clear stickers. Decals, bumper stickers oh my goodness. All kinds of like iPad covers and stuff. There's just so many things, just so pretty. Of course you've got all your drinkware, all your mugs, tumblers, even kids sippy cups. I mean just. There's so many different things for the kitchen plates Plates are beautiful it's a little snack. Or you know, candy dishes, stuff like that. Canisters Again.
Speaker 1:
Posters are huge art prints. You can do beautiful canvases, wrap canvases, your stuff printed directly on canvases. I've done tons of those, I've done a lot of art and put it on huge canvases to make sure your stuff is like a really big pixel, a DPI I mean. So those are always popular. I use different resources. There's tons online. Like I said, you can use Shutterfly and stuff, but there's easy canvas prints, canvas champs, there's different snap fish. There's lots of resources out there for canvases. I know Guten and Printify also has them. Tote bags those are huge. I sell a lot of large, medium and small tote bags, purses, accessory bags, vegan leather purses, gosh all kinds of travel accessories. Those are all really, really big. And then again I have my stuff on sneakers. I have high tops, I have low tops, slippers, all kinds of footwear. That's a lot of fun to see your artwork on footwear, and so that's another avenue. And then, of course, seasonal stuff Ornaments are huge.
Speaker 1:
I have done metal ornaments, ceramic ornaments, porcelain ornaments. Um, now some of my suppliers have the pewter ornaments. They have snow ornaments that are Acrylic and that you shake them and the snow falls and the images in the center there's just some is limitless. It's amazing what has opened up when it comes to print on demand and items that you can put your artwork on to sell. And then it's up to you. It is just you know you promoting that, you sharing it, the avenues to sell it. You know tick tock. You can have a tick tock shop that integrates with Shopify and you know there's different you have to have quantities on your stuff for tick tock. So a Lot of my print-on-demand stuff I don't have to have a quantity because I don't have a quantity. I you know you can. It's limitless however many they would have in stock and so if there's things that you want to sell on tick tock, you have to say there's 50 of these. You know they won't let you put it on there as a limitless, so keep that in mind if that's something you're wanting to integrate for for tick tock. And then I had I just had a friend who did something pretty awesome.
Speaker 1:
I've talked about Dave Cheryl from Arrowhead Goods and he's Dave ruins art and he partnered with Poshmark and Goodwill and he loves Doing thrifting and you know we all love thrifting and he takes especially like the motel art is what he calls it and puts and pop culture characters and Things like that. But he painted clothes and shoes and purses and you know sharing that live through Poshmark and was selling it and that was so much fun. I was at his live event. So that's that was a lot of fun to to watch him do that.
Speaker 1:
And I got a pair of shoes. I can't wait to get them, but you can upcycle Things with your artwork on it and those are gonna be one-offs. I mean that's definitely gonna have, you know, unique spin and your original artwork on it. So price out accordingly and you know you're not gonna have it'll be unique and be the one of a kind. But but yeah, you know, I painted on coats and sold those during the farmers market, and denim and like khaki Army jackets and stuff like that. And I used to paint my kids denim when they were in high school and all the mascots were down the legs and things like. And when the girls were a little I would make their clothes and be like big sister, a little sister and then like hand paint stuff. So I've painted on clothes for a long time. But there's there's a lot that you can do really unique with that.
Speaker 1:
So just wanted to give you some ideas on. It doesn't have to just be on canvas and paper and your artwork Can really support what your dreams are. Just think outside the box with it and diversify your portfolio and I hope that kind of helps also have other people appreciate about you know a different level of what they could obtain your work on, because it does help you, especially if you've spent a lot of time on a piece and maybe it's not Affordable for somebody if it was an original, but then if they can get a print of it and they're happy to share your work, why not? You know, think about that. So Thanks again.
Speaker 1:
I just wanted to make sure that I said happy holidays. Thanksgiving was just yesterday and I am grateful for all of you for following me along in my journey and hope you like my little bobcat here, and I've never skydived. My daughter has and I don't know if I ever would. But this was cute, this was fun. So Take care, have a wonderful weekend and I will talk to you next time. All you brutally made folks out there. Take care, have a great weekend. Bye you.