SELF AUTHORSHIP- Brief:
In this project you will consider the potential of the illustrator as author. You will explore the practicalities of this pathway and you will demonstrate examples of your own work within these contexts.
In this short project you will create a collection of work for direct sale whilst considering a number of industry factors.
Steps:
1. Research the world of 'illustrator as author' or illustrators who sell 'personal' work online. What sort of work are they selling? What formats are they selling the work in? Is the process as simple as making some images and slapping them on 'stuff' or is it more considered?
2.Explore ideas for a subject that satisfies both your own personality and which may realistically find a home amongst an existing community.
3. Develop a collection of illustrator authored work, part of your development is to focus on the outcome, not just the illustrations. e.g. my initial plan might be to produce a hardback book - thus I will have to consider page size and type content. In other words, in this example illustrations are only a part of what I'm doing, I'm also designing a book and all its content.
4. Your outcomes should be presented in such a way as to make your intentions clear and believable.
Don't ask your audience to 'imagine' what your intentions are - show them.
You will need to create promotion for the work. This could be in the form of social media posts which give information and get the word out, better still, it could be a video of you creating or talking about the work.
REMEMBER taking the path of least resistance will never provide you with the greatest rewards, whether in terms of project grades or in terms of success as an illustrator author.
In this project you will consider the potential of the illustrator as author. You will explore the practicalities of this pathway and you will demonstrate examples of your own work within these contexts.
In this short project you will create a collection of work for direct sale whilst considering a number of industry factors.
Steps:
1. Research the world of 'illustrator as author' or illustrators who sell 'personal' work online. What sort of work are they selling? What formats are they selling the work in? Is the process as simple as making some images and slapping them on 'stuff' or is it more considered?
2.Explore ideas for a subject that satisfies both your own personality and which may realistically find a home amongst an existing community.
3. Develop a collection of illustrator authored work, part of your development is to focus on the outcome, not just the illustrations. e.g. my initial plan might be to produce a hardback book - thus I will have to consider page size and type content. In other words, in this example illustrations are only a part of what I'm doing, I'm also designing a book and all its content.
4. Your outcomes should be presented in such a way as to make your intentions clear and believable.
Don't ask your audience to 'imagine' what your intentions are - show them.
You will need to create promotion for the work. This could be in the form of social media posts which give information and get the word out, better still, it could be a video of you creating or talking about the work.
REMEMBER taking the path of least resistance will never provide you with the greatest rewards, whether in terms of project grades or in terms of success as an illustrator author.
Research
I thought I best start my research with examples of work I see all the time on social media. the next three artists are prime examples of people who only draw what brings them pleasure and makes a living from it- illustrator as author.
Alexandra Redyuk
As you can see from the few examples below, this artist has a large enough following on social media that she primarily draws foxes and through promotion on her social media sells her work.
Feefal.
Although this artist has a distinct style her subject matter seems to differ a fair bit. However, thanks to her large following, once again she stays releveant and sells her artwork online.
Wolfskulljack
Whitby goth weekend.
Whitby goth weekend is somewhere id love to not just attend but sell at someday. I thought this was a lovely example of the kind of market im looking to explore and so I had a look at some of the traders that already attend also. As the title suggests Whitby goth weekend is for people that love the alternative scene, that including everything from music to art. People tend to dress up in 'goth' and dark attire and attend the extremely successful event twice a year.
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Grace Moth.
Here is a great example of a stall holder you would find at whitby goth weekend, another showcase of the demand 'gothic' artwork has. She has bot an etsy store and a personal website that she sells through too. Alongside this she attends different conventions, both spooky themed and not.
Looking at artitsts like this make me all the more confident in my chosen niche of customers.
Here is a great example of a stall holder you would find at whitby goth weekend, another showcase of the demand 'gothic' artwork has. She has bot an etsy store and a personal website that she sells through too. Alongside this she attends different conventions, both spooky themed and not.
Looking at artitsts like this make me all the more confident in my chosen niche of customers.
Possible places to get my work printed/made.
Awesome merch
Prints
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Stickers
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Insta print
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Prints
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Stickers
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Self promotion
One of the best and most obvious ways of promoting your own art is through social media, I have already posted two of my final pieces from this project onto my Instagram page. Art cannot be discovered if it cannot be found.
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Another great way to self promote is a now considered more old fashioned way, meeting people face to face. I plan to mostly sell my work at convention stalls so I would be there in person promoting myself and my art to the consumers. This is a lovely way to work also I think because my target audience would be the type of people who would attend the conventions.
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Exploration
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Thumbnailing/sketches
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Blue dragon print.
This work is initially being made up to be sold as a print. I have made the canvas fit A3 so that if wanted, I could print a larger version/poster rather than just a4.
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Final outcomes and promotion.
Prints
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Stickers
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