Wednesday, May 11, 2016

You're Sketchy...

I've been dealing with a lot of stuff while I've been practically laid off from work.  Mostly stuff in my head, like all the feelings that I don't want to really think about.  At the same time, I've been making some breakthroughs as well.

I've been dealing with an art block for a lot longer than I want to think about.  It hasn't been just a few days or weeks.  It's been years.  But, Shaunna Rai had asked me if I would draw up a cartoon logo for the "Shaunna Rai Brand," now that she has merchandise available.  So, I did.  I'd tried to draw this logo for a while, and could never get the idea in my head to translate to paper, and actually look at all like Shaunna.  So, I had written it off as my just being a crappy artist with no original ideas in my head. (You know, because that's what you do when you can't get something to work...isn't it?)

So, getting through the whole drawing, and having it be approved as actually looking right, I was excited.  My drawing was going to be on a t-shirt.  The expectation was that it would probably be only on one t-shirt, because, well, that's how things tend to go in my life.  So, when it went live, and there were a couple of orders for it, I was really excited.  People were wearing something that I drew.  And, I didn't have to pay them to do it, or talk them into it or anything.

As soon as I posted the final product for Shaunna's stuff, I got requests from other people to do drawings of them.  I'm going to have my artwork potentially given out in Boston for Pride for promotional material.  I'm in talks with a queen from Tampa to do a portrait for her.  I've got a couple of potentials in the works as well.

So, once I got Shaunna's line of merch going, I figured it was time to try again, to launch my own line of stuff.  I've got a shop through Teeblaster, and another through CafePress.  I'm looking for ways to branch out, and offer more than just t-shirts.  But, it's been exciting to be able to get my artwork seen by the internet world...even if my mom is the only one who's buying my line of work...The point is, I'm trying to do something new, in hopes that it will help me in the long run.  I just need to get a better grasp of how to market through social media.

But, the point is, that I've broken through my art block, and, I look forward to drawing again.

And, if you know of anyone who may be interested in having me do a portrait, for them, shoot me an email at Swd88880@yahoo.com.   

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