Note: Thursday is Art Business day. Every week we will focus on a business idea that is helpful to an artist.

Copyright 2009 Pia f. Walker

When thinking about what kind of products to incorporate your art into, the idea of themes really comes in handy. Having a line of similar-themed artwork can easily be placed in a line of greeting cards, t-shirt, and eventually, a calendar.

In 2008, for example, I had a large grouping of artwork that centered around children. In 2009, a large portion of my artwork focused on female figurines. Both of these groupings made it easy to think about a 12-month calendar as an end-of-the-year product.

Retail calendars are planned about two years ahead of time. While your project does not need to be that started that far ahead, there are several time considerations to ponder:

• If you’ve visited retail stationary stores during the summer, you may have noticed that some sell half-year calendars, starting in June. This is an option for you, especially if you are planning on participating in heavily attended art fairs and shows.
• The end-of-the-year calendar buying starts in November (if not in October). Customers will shop for them as gifts and for themselves. Plan on starting to sell these around Halloween.

How you decide to create your calendar will determine how far ahead of the selling season to start planning. There are a variety of product-creation options when dealing with calendars. You can:

• design it yourself: you’ll need graphic software programs if you are doing unique page layouts or computer skills to upload photos to design-ready layouts
• hire a designer: most designers make it a habit to work with a printer that they trust, so not only will you be paying for their graphic work, but they may deal with the printer and make sure that the test prints are the quality you are looking for, and that the job is turned around in a timely matter
• print it yourself: you’ll need to incorporate time and materials into this option
• use a commercial printer: you can either use their design-ready calendars or print your own design.When printing your own unique design, there are usually minimum orders of 250 calendars when working with a printing facility.
• use a Web-based company like Zazzle or CafePress: you can use their design-ready calendars, send your customers to these third-party websites that automatically print and ship and give you a percentage of the sale

Copyright 2009 Pia f. Walker

If you are planning a small quantity and will be designing and printing yourself, two weeks before your first sale should be sufficient. Using third-party vendors will allow you to focus just on picking the artwork and outsourcing the rest of the operation. Companies like Zazzle and CafePress will just need you to upload your photos, allowing you finish the project in a matter of hours before your calendar promotions begin. With designers and commercial printers, it would be judicious to start about 2 months in advance, due to other customer commitments and press time (if your commercial printer is quite busy, fitting in a small run might not be a snap).

Whichever method you decide to use, having people see your artwork every day, brightening up their work space or house office will be a constant reminder of you as an artist. Have fun creating these calendars!

Pia