Branching out as an artist

Last night, when I saw @barbaarseevelien's post about getting a painting of hers printed on a dress, I couldn't resist reading it.

Many of you know I do a bit of painting and sketching of my own when I can find the time for it and I've been thinking of ways to put myself and my work out there a bit more. @bex-dk first suggested it to me months ago, after she saw some of my watercolours.

I really did like the idea but I had no clue about where to start. Selling your works of art can be done in so many ways that newbies like me just get lost.

But I digress. What else is new, right?

Right. Painting printed on a dress. She did this through a website called Redbubble, where independent artists can upload their works of art and choose which items they want them printed on. @barbaarseevelien has a Redbubble webshop that is worth taking the time to check out. I especially fell in love with this adorable coffee mug featuring a print of hers.

She wrote another post, detailing the process of setting up a Redbubble account.

I had to go and have a look. There was not a single brain cell in my head that doubted it. I read through the FAQ and set up an account of my own.

Uploading your images to your portfolio is really not that hard to do and you can choose the items you want to sell with your design on them. As an artist, you get to decide the size and layout of your prints and you get to set the price.

Redbubble has a base price at which items need to be sold. Above that, you get to set the price and define your profit margin. Your prices default at a twenty percent profit margin if my calculations are correct, but you can adjust your prices and make more of a profit, should you wish to. Important to know is that you retain all rights to your work and you are free to remove works from your portfolio, replace them with others, or change the items you offer with that design on them.

So I'm going to stop talking and start showing. I started out with two of my paintings. Some of you may recognise the poppy I started with after a ridiculously long sabbatical, and the butterfly I painted on a dark and stormy night while listening to the illustrious Shane and Muxxy show.

I have both prints on a dress that I'm definitely going to get for myself at some point.

But there's more. I had fun designing coffee mugs, tote bags, phone cases, clocks and notebooks.

Redbubble also offers wall art prints in different formats like framed prints and canvas or metal prints.

I'll be adding other pieces to my redbubble portfolio, including printed and handwritten poems. What better way to drink coffee than from a mug with a coffee poem on it, right?

The best part of all of this is that it's blondproof. If I can navigate this thing, so can you. I predict lots of fun to come with this little webshop of mine.

Hugs

Tiny

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If you would like to read more of my work, feel free to have a look around on my off-Steem blog page by clicking the banner. My library there contains all of the pieces I’ve written since starting my blockchain adventure, as well as the paintings I've posted.

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_{The mug shown in this post is a design by @barbaarseevelien and it's shown with her consent. The other images feature my own designs.}