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

"Mommy Kisses" Note Card Box

Last week (due to the nearness of January 1st) we focused on calendars as a side product or byproduct of your artwork. But a longer term product line that can be easily constructed is along stationery, including items like note cards or greeting cards.

Today we’ll focus on note cards. First of all, it is necessary to note which of your pieces of art are most popular or well-liked by your customers. Because I have a set of greeting cards that I sell (and I keep a spreadsheet tally of what sells when), I’ve been able to tap into some hard facts when trying to choose pieces of artwork that will fit into note cards. Out of these top sellers, I also keep in mind comments that customers have passed along to me, especially if they mentioned why they were purchasing the card, what kind of occasion they were using it for, and the type of person they were buying the card for.

Since note cards are quite often purchased as gifts, I rely on customer comments when choosing from my best-seller greeting card list. The pieces of artwork that fit the most generic customer and occassion are the ones that make it into my note card set. These sets are primarily given out as hostess gifts or holiday stocking stuffers, so think about that when picking out artwork for your note cards.

Packaging and bundling come next. If you go into any card store or visit stationery websites, you’ll see that most sets come in packs of 10 or 12, and are usually prices between $8.95 and $15 (yes, there are sets that cost more, but these usually involve handmade cards with embellishments, etc.). Whether printing these cards yourself or through a commercial printer, you’ll need to calculate how much each card will cost and what kind of bundle you can put together (without breaking your own bank!).

With note cards, you’ll not only need to figure out the printing costs, but also the envelopes plus the packaging. Most third-party envelope/package vendors offer card set boxes, ranging in the standard rectangular sizes. These options include clear covers and cardboard boxes, or complete see-through plastic containers.

Another packaging option is creating your own (whether you put these boxes together in your own studio or hire a commercial printer to do them for you). If your set will be on the higher end of cost, a beautiful package does help in convincing the customer  that the product is worth it (and if it is exquisite without being wrapped, it’s extremely convenient for the customer as well).

Note Card set display

As to the cards themselves, take note of what kind of paper you will be printing them on (whether it is light-weight paper or heavier stock in a creamy color), as well as whether you will offer your customer a folding card or a single-sheet card (folding cards are typical greeting cards, where one piece of paper is folded in half, whereas single-sheet cards are a single piece of paper without folds, just a front and a back).

When putting the whole package together, be sure to include, whether inside the box or on the bottom of it, your basic info and artist information, as well as where the recipient can get replacements or more cards or artwork from you.

Not only will these be great products to offer your customers, but these can also become your own stationery when putting together thank you notes to customers or agents or gallery reps.

Note: Tuesday is Art Planning day. Every Tuesday we will publish an entry geared towards planning, whether it be an art project or a business venture.

In the last entry, we focused on coming up with big, overall themes for your “year of drawings.” Now it’s time to start fine tuning the details, in preparation for getting your brushes dirty and pencils sharpened.

Start breaking down your goals and creating a timeline by asking yourself:

1. How many paintings/drawings will you create per theme? Think about whether these pieces of art will be their own exhibit or if you are working out an “art” problem and will focus on just the best 2 or 3 pieces out of the collection.
2. What sizes/dimensions will each theme be? Are you working towards making bigger pieces and if so, will you jump from a small 16×20″ canvas to a 4×4′ piece, or will you gradually move upwards? Is there a small-canvas competition that you have your eye on (like the typical 20 pieces on 8×8″)? Does your typical customer shop for bigger single pieces or do they look for smaller collections of groupings?
3. How long does it take you to plan a theme,  get ideas for all your drawings, purchase materials, do working sketches? If you’ve planned out a collection of art pieces before, you can use that time as a starting point for your planning. If not, think back to a single piece of artwork that you completed and break down the process – or start taking notes on your next painting. Does your planning process take longer than the actual painting? How often do you revise the final painting itself?
4. Will the commercial aspects of art be an integral part of your planning or not? If you are a fine artist and just draw, then this won’t really play a part in your planning. If, however, you sell your art through commercial venues (like product placement or licensing), will a consistent theme/pattern/style, etc., need to be evident in all of your themes so that you can market all of your drawings and be creating a recognizable brand? This may affect the sizing of your drawings (keeping in a 3/4 sizing ratio, no squares or unique shapes). It may affect the placement of items in your drawings (greeting cards have the most important part of the drawing on the upper third of the card). It may affect the coloring scheme (will a 2-color print job be less expensive than a 4-color print job?).
5. What other things do you have going on? If you have art agents and marketing experts at your beck and call, then you know that you have 100% of your time to dedicate to art. If you are like the majority of artists who are working, painting, marketing, selling, etc., than you know that at least 50% of your  time is dedicated to other “business” things that have nothing to do with holding a brush or doing some plein air painting.

After going through these five questions, you should have a basic timeline for how long 1 painting will take you. If you have a set goal of how many paintings per theme you are going to do, then you can start to figure out how long each theme will take you. Pull out a 2010 calendar and start penciling in when you will tackle each theme. You might choose to do all the fun themes consecutively or alternate between drawing what you know with what you will want to experiment with.

Your overall theme planning may have produced more themes than what fit in one year. Keep those ideas close at hand, however, because they might be beneficial when thinking of artwork for exhibitions or competitions. Knowing that you have a sketch that doesn’t fit into your yearly themes but is the perfect entry for a national art competition will have you one step ahead!

Now that you’ve started to schedule your days, it’s time for the fun of sketching and creating to begin.

Pia

Note:  Published once a month, “A Thought Among Many…” focuses on random thoughts and how they relate to my art, to my art business, and to my growth as an artist and a businesswoman.

My brother revived an old holiday tradition this Christmas. Many moons ago, I bought a 1,000 piece puzzle of Van Goh’s Iris painting. After my decadent Thanksgiving meal, and before the desert and coffee, I brought out the puzzle and let my family at it. The eight of us divided up the task of setting aside borders, grouping pieces by colors, etc.

After the easy border was completed, we were left with only purples, blues, and yellows. It began to get competitive, as one of us looked at these single, small pieces and instantly knew where they belonged. Quickly, big chunks of the puzzle began to take shape. After everyone left, the puzzle was continued in spells and finally completed. For Christmas that year, another family member bought an even more challenging puzzle and brought it out for us to complete.

Puzzles began to appear at different holidays, each time being more complex and challenging. And so I find myself, again, this weekend after Christmas, spending 8 hours on a 3,000 piece puzzle. And yet as I managed to pull myself away, to go out for a cup of coffee and breathe fresh air, I began to see the correlations between this puzzle and the current business planning stage that I’m going through.

As I tackle one area of the puzzle at a time, I can get big chunks of it done. As I tackle one area of my business, give it my full attention for a complete day (or two), I see big improvements and headway. And just as I can get easily burried with just one area of the puzzle, it helps to simply straighten my back, take a look at another area (or another pile) and I can quickly begin to put pieces in place that half an hour before had stumped me completely. It’s the same with planning and business: one problem can stomp me from moving forward, and get if I walk away from it and do something else, I somehow manage to come back with a clear mind and a different persective, and wham, I get an idea and a possible resolution.

Even though I’ve got about ten groups of puzzle pieces going (sky, chapel, ground, lights, columns, obelisk), I can’t make heads or tails of any of it unless I have the complete picture infront of me. Attempting to put the pieces together without looking at the overall map is just a waste of time, and frustrating. As clueless as I was when I first jumped into this art business, I have (stubbornly) realized that having a map, a plan, an idea, a goal (or several) ends up being way more productive. The map may change (there is a plus for being flexible) but having an idea in place, a final destination, allows for better use of time and LESS frustrating moments.

So, I’ve got a bet that I’ll complete this puzzle in 96 hours (to be used up by February). This is a certain motivator to keeping me focused and on task. It is the same with my business plans. Knowing that I have to hit certain targets, certain deadlines, is quickly becoming a determining factor. Having someone to be accountable to for those deadlines (my brother for the puzzle!) is something that I’ve also instilled for my business goals. Monthly calls with a self-employed cohort keeps me on the ball.

A 48×32″ photo of St. Peter’s Cathedral is being created on my kitchen table. I’m focused on keeping the same energy and determination that I have on completing that puzzle as I do on completing my goals for 2010.

Pia

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

Note: Tuesday is Art Planning day. Every Tuesday we will publish an entry geared towards planning, whether it be an art project or a business venture.

Ideas for art themes. 2009 Pia f. Walker

Last week I wrote about planning on being consistent about my drawing schedule. The sprinting starts of art in 2009 managed to produce a good quantity of artwork, but it wasn’t consistent. So, once I decided to commit to drawing at least 3 pieces of artwork a week through 2010, I needed to put in place a framework of what kind of art I wanted to do.

On a big single piece of paper, I started writing down:

• location based art themes: during any trips in 2009, I had taken photos of locations and interesting art ideas. Ideas from Long Beach Island, Monterey, and the Amish valley in Ohio were put under this umbrella.
• action based themes: plein air sketches filled my notebook. During the down times at art fairs and shows, I would pay attention to the people around me. Interesting outfits and kids playing were quickly sketched down as reminders of possible future drawings.
• experiment based themes: pastel pencils are my love, yet during my background series, I fell in love with the wonder of acrylics. I also have notes taken from museum visits and gallery openings, where noticing another artist’s technique popped a light in my head and started off an idea.
• mood based themes: the majority of my artwork is either about discovering one’s self or discovering the beauty in the single moment.

To help you get started, ask yourself:

• Are there techniques that you would like to experiment with?
• Would you like to explore a certain mood, and do so with a limited color palette?
• Are there some trip sketches that can become part of a theme of drawings?
• Is there a conversation with a friend that brought to life a topic that begs to be explored through art?

It doesn’t matter if you have 10 ideas that fit into one theme or not. At this point, write down all these possible drawing ideas. If there are tons of single ideas, write them down anyways and then inspect to see if a pattern develops. And even if you can’t think of other drawings to match a pattern, keep that idea on the page anyways. It will come in useful during the year (more on that topic in the next entry).

At the end of this part of the exercise, I had come up with 12 different theme/grouping possibilities. After the general groupings/themes were penciled in, on another piece of paper I wrote down one of the general theme ideas and then began to see if there were any single drawing ideas that could be placed under each theme. I repeated this for each theme.

This resulted in 12 themes, with about 2 to 6 drawings per theme. Not a full deck by all means, but a good start to a year of drawings. Place these pieces of papers in a binder or separate folder. This will be a work in progress throughout the year.

Next: The actual monthly/daily planning to make this year of drawings a reality.

Pia

First step: Practice sketch and color scheme.

Final drawing being colored in.

“Sharing” :: 12×12″ pastel pencil on textured paper. 2009 Pia f. Walker

Notecard Set of 8 cards/envelopes

When I first started treating my art as a business, I thought of bread and butter. Yeap, I thought about food; in particular how I would get money to buy the daily bread and butter staples I would need to physically survive.

I knew that bypassing a miracle, I wouldn’t just wake up one morning and have an art agent that had placed me in galleries throughout the country, dozens of licensing agreements, and generous art patrons. I needed to get there, but how would I survive, financially, until that “magical” scenario occurred?

As I looked at my very first 10 pieces of art, I began to think about products. Why is product creation important? Although I would have customers who would purchase my $100-$150 originals, I would have more customers who would be willing to separate from $5 or $20 dollars for products that they could use every day.

• Customers are willing to give art products as gifts
• Customers are willing to show your art off, by wearing t-shirts or carrying around bags
• In today’s recession, customers are more willing to spend on “usable” items (like clothing) than “luxury” items

In thinking from this perspective, ideas for greeting and notecards, mugs, t-shirts, magnets, bags, and calendars began to pop in my head.

In planning for what products to create, the artist needs to think about the sales arena they will be in. The majority of my business was coming from weekly farmer’s markets, where customers were comfortable spending $50 but not $100. It was also a perfect place for gift type products, as a percentage of customers were from out of town, looking for memorable items they could take back home. Other artists who deal mainly in galleries have created simple yet elegant coffee books of their arts (the 20/20 or 50/50 type shows are perfect for this, as customers can walk away with all 20 or 50 drawings in an art size book for $19.95).

The sales of my greeting cards, for example, also provide me with wonderful customer feedback as to which art pieces are more likely to sell. The same drawing is not only a hot-seller as a greeting card, but the customer appeal translates to prints, magnets, and t-shirts.

So as you go about your daily artwork, start also seeing the “reach” of that one piece.

• Will it work as stationery?
• Does it make a fashion statement?
• Can you create other drawings in a similar theme, and therefore create an art grouping, perfect for licensing?

When thinking of taking your art to the business world, think about whether you will remain a “fine art” artist, working primarily and solely on canvas and paper, or will you integrate some “commercialism art” into your art, and provide multiple affordable art items that more customers will enjoy and incorporate into their lives?

Pia

Do you create products of your art? I’d love to hear what kind of customer feedback you have received.

Photo by Pia f. Walker

As we near another New Year’s, another day to revisit and revise our yearly resolutions, I am committing to creating an art theme calendar.

In looking at all of my art from the last two years, I already see threads of common themes occurring throughout each drawing. Yet I am eagerly looking forward to a year of “themes.” Why?

Although I do manage to produce at least 40 pieces of art each year, my drawing schedule is hectic to say the least. Ideas come and go; a trio of drawings take shape with similar characteristics, while another duet have vibrantly different color schemes, etc.

When I planned and scheduled my “Backgrounds” theme this past summer, I found myself dedicated daily to my task. Twelve pieces of art in less than 30 days. Having a planned theme

• keep me on schedule,
• kept me productive,
• improved my art and expanded my techniques,
• deepened my style and artistic voice,
• and offered me the chance to experiment new art techniques, all within set parameters.

My goal for this intent is to see my creativity deepen while I increase the output of my artwork. Having a yearly deadline for drawings also ties in to other business goals I am planning: the more productive I become in my art, the more opportunities I can apply my artwork to (more on these opportunities in upcoming blog entries).

While it may sound overly systematic to plan and schedule “creativity,” I have found that the further I move away from my art, the more antsy I become. I am an artist first, a marketer and business person second, and a writer third. I smile when I draw; I don’t smile when I’m putting together marketing packets. Therefore, I must be persistent in placing my artwork first. As an emerging artist, there are still many techniques to learn, many new experiments to try. Without doing that, I will simply wither and stall in my artistic process.

So as you find yourself stuffed after the Christmas meal, sit and ponder whether planning your art ahead of time would be beneficial to you, your sanity, and your pocket book.

• Do you dedicate a set amount of hours each day to simply drawing, or do you try to fit it in amongst all the other “important” duties?
• Do you continuously work to incorporate new colors, images, or materials into your artwork?
• Do you produce enough artwork to provide your patrons with multiple choices to buy from?
• Is your art portfolio big enough to allow you to wholesale your art into greeting cards, or to license your artwork?

To fully benefit from planning ahead, keep your eyes peeled for future entries on: How to plan themes, Questions to ask when planning a year full of themes, and How to remain flexible while keeping to your schedule.

Pia

Send me a line if you consistently plan ahead in your artwork. I’d love to hear your experiences!

My last art series threw me into the wonderful world of acrylics. Finding out about new colors (or how to mix these vibrant new colors) was a learning lesson. Seeing how the paint dried, how it shimmered in the light (in comparison to the less expensive acrylics), how it reflected, provided texture and volume, and began to speak, was all a series of individual lessons compiled to create art and learning.

The first step into paints has been taken and I am ready to take another. The size of the paintings is bigger (16×20″). The material is different (instead of canvas paper, actual stretched canvases). The topic: taking the abstract that lies all around us, primarily in everyday items and views and locations and tying them into reality. How do abstract colors affect our moods, our own reality, our own existence? And just how common is abstract in our everyday life? If you look at a sunset, in its whole complexity, your brain will let you know that it is a sunset. But if you were to cut out a small square, and look solely at streaks of mango colored pink against a deep, carribean blue, would your brain be so quick to state that it is a sunset? Or will your brain, and your breathing, and your eyes, and your heart try to figure out what this little square of color is? Will your toes tingle as you think of an afternoon on a beach? Will your nostrils flare as you smell a mango that you roasted over an open fire pit last summer?

Pia

Rule # 1 of teaching (and art and business): Assess

As I head into my third week of teaching young children how to break the boundaries of art, I am learning as much as I am teaching.

While art is meant to be a source, and a means, of self-expression, it has rules. And a majority of museums are devoted to those rules: paint realistic pictures, use materials that go together as they have for centuries. While abstract art has become more commonplace and acceptable, it is still outside of the artistic mainstream. So how do young children, who are just learning about art and how to draw, fit into these rules?

Therefore a class about experimenting first, letting the creative juices flow, before instilling in children the need to have skies be above grounds, oceans be blue while mountains be green, birds in skies and horses in fields. So far, the class has gotten great feedback and I am glad that I have taken this opportunity to share this with kids.

But as I mentioned earlier, I am learning from this experience as much as I am attempting to teach, or rather encourage. Right after my first class, the documentary “The Principal Story” was shown on my local PBS station. While I learned about how children from “bad” neighborhoods can be poets and wonderful human beings, there was something grander that I took away.

Assessment.

Not necessarily in the sense of tests and results, although that in the end does provide teachers with feedback, but in the sense that a teacher cannot, and should not, go into a classroom assuming that the students know what they need to to understand the lesson.

The same assessment rule fits not only in teaching, but in art, and in business.

• In teaching: although having a classroom strategy and planned lessons, there needs to be a good amount of wiggle room in the teaching plan for flexibility. The class should start with assessing what students already know, and also how they learn (are some children more into construction while others are free spirits?). Once that initial assessment is acquired, the class can proceed. But remember to keep looking at the classes’ temperature gauge: your students are (usually after they have already spent an hour with you) extremely willing to let you know what they liked or didn’t – listen to them.
• In art: while practice can make perfect, have you assessed what your skills are, where you need to improve, or where you want to go with your art skills? Take the time to assess each of your drawings/paintings and see what you like, what you have learned, what gave you trouble, how did you overcome it, what would you like to repeat.
• In business: the old comment applies, in that if you have specific skills, use them, and if there are some that you lack, either study up on them or find someone else who can do them. If money is tight and outsourcing isn’t an option, don’t allow it to be a detriment, either. Think about trading services (remember those skills that you are good at? Cash in on them).

Take a second, or a minute, every once in a while, to assess, to see if the path you are on is correct or if you should swerve, even by a couple of degrees. And when you don’t know what path to take, assess even more! Hearing people provide feedback is a great way to get your own creative juices flowing.

Pia

PS: To view the full documentary: POV: The Principal Story