by Jennifer Yuan
www.ebbandpflowlookbook.tumblr.com
jennifer@ebbandpflow.com
Here is an example scenario. This can apply to any design, whether it be jewelry, paintings, doodles, finger puppets, you name it.
Okay, so you have perfected the art of doodling and you are quite proud of them. You might even have them stashed away in a drawer on pieces of torn out notebook paper. Your friends might have seen them laying around and complimented you for such extraordinary hidden talents. They have asked why you haven’t tried selling or publishing such work? You yourself have often fantasized about your secret doodles making it big. Can you sell such artwork?
YES, you can! And NO, you don’t have to run out and incorporate just to sell a doodle or two. Start small. Rome wasn’t built in a day.
1) First you have to figure out what you want your final product to be. Do you want your doodles to be sold as wall hangings. Would you like to turn it into a wall sticker? Perhaps you would like to incorporate them into small flip books for gag gifts. How about your doodle on a t-shirt? This can go on forever, you get the point.
(Keep in mind that you can have a doodle empire someday, but you have to start somewhere, so pick one or two categories that you would like to try.)
3) After you select the final product you would like to sell your product as, then check out the competition. Is there any? Is there a lot? Is their work selling? Is it not? Get a feel for the industry.
4) Check out the prices of buying the equipment necessary to make your product versus outsourcing the production. If the equipment is cheap, and you have the cash handy, go for it. If it is expensive, then consider the cost of a small batch run from a local company or a company online.
5) Brick and Mortars are fine and dandy, but why not try selling it online? There are a plethora of venues and most of them do not cost anything if much to use. Here are some examples of sites that you can consider depending upon your product. Some of these are juried.
* Etsy
* Mindt
* Artfire
* Smashing Darling
* Stars and Infinite Darkness
* Trunkt
* 1000 Markets
6) Don’t forget things like signatures, tags, packaging, etc. Special touches impress customers and adds a professional touch.
This post is just a generalized synopsis of how to take a design from concept to product form. Please feel free to email us at ebbandpflow@gmail.com or make a comment if you have specific questions.
