Selling in Your Sleep - Artist Nic Squirrell

Valentine's Days is coming up and I have read now so much about what to like or not like about this particular occasion that I can't help it but smile.

But In the world of commercial art this is another opportunity to either sell or license art. I am trying to do both, license and sell through wholesale manufacturers and through POD sites. So I have create some designs for tablets and smartphone cases which could make cool gifts. They are available for purchasing at Keka.com.

LoveLove Collection

Speaking of POD sites, today I've invited artist Nic Squirrell to share with us her story and how she has been selling her art through online venues.

© Nic Squirrell

Nic lives in a village in Kent, England, "with The Chef, our daughter, and three cats (somewhat pesky studio assistants)" she says. Her family moved around a lot, and she grew up in Japan and got to go to lots of interesting places. She studied Creative Visual Art & 3D Design at the University of Greenwich and after graduating sold her paintings in local galleries, restaurants and cafés. She tells us: "One day I saw a magazine article about digital art and it was a revelation. I got a small graphics tablet, taught myself to use Painter, and started my blog. Since then I have been selling most of my art on POD sites."

She then continues, "I love to paint quiet landscapes, slightly wonky towns and cities, and quirky animal characters which surprise me by falling off the end of my pen. Birds often sneak into my pictures."

© Nic Squirrell

Her techniques? Most of her work now is digital. She starts with sketches, photographs them, and uses iDraw (vector) or Procreate (raster) apps to work them into a digital image. "Using the iPad is great as I can work anywhere. I often use scanned hand painted textures to finish off in Painter or Photoshop," she adds. "I use Painter for my more complex landscape paintings. You can read about my process here. My favourite 'real' art material is watercolour. I love the unexpected runs and bleeds, the clear colours, and the lack of undo."

© Nic Squirrell

Nic also says, "My head is full of ideas, places and creatures waiting to get out. Everything about it is exciting, and I love seeing my art on products for sale."

Her main sources of inspiration are colour, nature, and life. In recent times she has been working on an exciting project, in fact she just finished an Advent calendar and started an ABC series. "So far I have finished A...", she says.

Nic is an artist who uses multiple social media platforms and understands how to use marketing to promote her works and sales. She simply but wisely says: "My blog publishes to my website, my Facebook page and Twitter. I blog sketches, works in progress, and finished pieces. I use LinkedIn and Pinterest. Marketing is really just telling people about what you are doing. Nobody buys art they haven't seen, so the more people who see it the better."

© Nic Squirrell

She is pretty new to licensing and hadn't even heard of it until last summer. "I have just finished the first part of Lilla Rogers' MATS course and learned a huge amount from it, as well as making lots of new talented artist friends who are kind enough to share their knowledge and experience. I'm looking forward to the second part in a few weeks."

Here are some tips for other artists: "When selling on POD sites, use more than one. Some images sell really well on Site A, but not on Site B, and it is hard to predict. It takes a long time to build up your sales and you have to do your own marketing - don't rely on buyers stumbling upon your work among all the other artists out there. But it is fun to wake up in the morning and see what you have sold in your sleep."

Nic's future aspirations and goals are to build up her portfolio and really get going with licensing her work this year.

© Nic Squirrell

Find out more about Nic Squirrell here:

Website: http://nicsquirrell.weebly.com/

Blog: http://nicsquirrell.blogspot.co.uk/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SquirrellDesigns

Society6: http://society6.com/squirrell/prints

Twitter@nicsquirrell

Retro-Inspired Art - Artist Claudine Hellmuth

In my travels I sometime meet some interesting people and artists. They make beautiful art and products. Sara of Julian Quilts Plus is one of them, a very talented lady who I just met in Julian, California - an historical landmark where I stopped for lunch. She makes quilts in her shop and the one below for Valentine's day is a beauty. Her prices are very reasonable too - she asked me to please design more fabrics with red on beige or ivory backgrounds because she has a hard time to find them for her quilts, so I am posting this request for all textile designers and quilt manufacturers to take this great feedback into account for their next collections :). You can contact Sara directly at sarasquilting@gmail.com if you want one of her beautiful quilts!

Quilting Artist Sara

What makes people get inspired? What do they like? My new guest this week, Claudine Hellmuth, talks about retro-inspired art and licensing.

Artist Claudine Hellmuth

TMFMA: Please introduce yourself - Hi and thanks for having me here for an interview! I'm Claudine Hellmuth and I'm an artist and illustrator. I live in Washington, D.C. with my husband Paul and our dog Maggie and our cats Mabel and Brian.

TMFMA: What's exciting about your creative work? I love the challenge of solving creative and visual problems for my clients. Each new illustration has its own challenges and it's always exciting to think of solutions that fit with my clients needs and incorporate my own artistic style.

© Claudine Hellmuth

TMFMA: Who or what has inspired you in your art? I am always inspired by the retro campy magazine ads from the 1940s and 1950s. I love how over the top they are with women showing how excited they are by their new oven or dishwasher. I have an old Sears catalog from the 1940's that is endlessly inspiring. I also am inspired by folk art, too. The American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore is my favorite museum!

TMFMA: What's your favorite medium or tool/s you create with? For illustration and licensing work I create with a hybrid of computer and by hand. I prefer to use Photoshop for illustration and licensing because that way I can respond quickly to art director's requests and almost always there are some changes needed so this way I can quickly adjust color, size etc.

© Claudine Hellmuth

TMFMA: How long have you been doing art licensing? I have been licensing my art for use on products since 1998. In the early days I was more in the home decor markets and now I am licensing to the craft and gift markets as my work has evolved to a more whimsical look. Licensing is a tricky business. As soon as I feel I am making good headway in it something falls through. I often feel like with licensing it's two steps forward and one step back. If you are interested in licensing your work, artist Tara Reed has some great information on her web site to get you started. 

© Claudine Hellmuth

One thing that is good to know about licensing is that it isn't as much money as it appears to be! It looks like an artist who has her own stationery line would be raking in the $$ but when you look at the numbers, she's probably only making $0.15 per notepad sold. You've got to sell a lot of notepads to pay the rent!! Still, there are some artists that make 6 figure incomes on licensing so there is the possibility to really make a good income if you hit the right markets.

TMFMA: What brought you to exhibit for the first time and how many shows have you exhibited in? I have only shown at Surtex a couple of times and both times were with an agent or rep and were quite a few years ago. It is enormously expensive to do it on one's own but many artists go for it and have great shows! I began attending CHA in 2003 to promote the release of my first book. Since then I have attended every year but under the umbrella of a manufacturer or publisher. 

© Claudine Hellmuth

I have never had my own booth but my products have been in manufacturer's booths. This year I am having a designer table which is a table display in a special section on the booth floor. We'll see how that goes!!

TMFMA: Do you work with an agent or do you represent yourself? I work with an agent for my illustration work; her name is Jennifer Vaughn and she is fabulous. We have been together for nearly 7 years!

TMFMA: Please give us your analysis of the market based on your own experience and contacts. Illustration continues to be slow. So many companies that used to hire illustrators are now relying on stock. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of illustrators out there getting work, but the jobs are not as plentiful as they once were.

© Claudine Hellmuth

TMFMA: In your view, what was of major interest to manufacturers this year? What do you think the main trends are for 2012-2013? I think the collage mixed media art style is still very strong. Manufacturers also love quotes and text with artwork and that trend seems to be holding steady as well.

TMFMA: What advice would you give other artists that are considering the illustration or/and art licensing fields and that maybe want to exhibit in a show (like Surtex for example)? I would advise them to walk the show before exhibiting. Follow the artist Tara Reed, she has tons of information on her web site about licensing and also hosts great phone calls with experts that you can listen to.

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View more of Claudine's work and follow her at:

web: http://www.collageartist.com

blog: http://claudinehellmuth.blogspot.com

twitter: http://twitter.com/collageartist

facebook: http://facebook.com/claudinespage

etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/claudinehellmuth