We are entering the festive season and it's time to remind everyone to support small businesses and artists as the gift shopping season approach. But this year I want to elaborate on it a bit because I feel there is still a LOT of misconception about where to support artists and small businesses. I'm sure all of you believe the myth that Etsy is ethical and Amazon kills small businesses in the name of corporate greed for example. The reality though is that Amazon and Etsy are both market places that levy charges on sellers, and make a big profit, and want to keep investors happy. And, you will find a good number of small businesses on Amazon who take advantage of the fact that unlike Etsy, Amazon offers the option to take over the shipping. So if you still believed this overly simplified narrative of Amazon = evil and Etsy = good, it's time to let it go. I myself ended up shutting down my Etsy shop in 2022 because they hiked the fees and it made no sense for my business anymore. Truth are most big platforms these days have started levying fees for artists. There was Redbubble introducing membership tiers and fees on entry level accounts, and Society6 levying shipping fees. There is also Teepublic differentiating artists in two categories and two different royalty earning structures and I am sure many more will follow suit in the next couple of years. Here is what I as an artist will tell you all who are wondering how to support artists during this festive season : We artists set up shop in various places and it's not fair dismissing us based on where we sell. Some of us find selling on Amazon more convenient, others prefer Etsy, some like me prefer selling on Print on Demand websites like Redbubble, Teepublic and Society6. Others will only sell in county fairs and markets, and there are people who prefer opening a Shopify shop on their own website. Know though that EVERY options means an additional party makes a profit, you can't support a small business without supporting a larger one which helps small biz to get out there...PERIOD! Business is business no matter the scale and us small business owners make decisions that are a right fit for ourselves in order to grow. So please do not think less of us for not selling out of the back of our trunk or in our basement, just because some of us sell with a big entity as production partner doesn't make us any less small and deserving of your patronage. For example, a LOT of artists and surface designers like myself are in the business of creating art that is meant to go on products or be sold as art prints (which is a product too). It makes more sense for us to team with a production partner like Society6 because they take care of shipping, manufacturing and customer care for us. Those tasks are tasks that if we were handling ourselves would eat in the time we have left to create more art and more designs, not to mention have us shell huge amount money on inventory that might not sell. So, those companies take over that burden, as they have the capabilities to manufacture a product on demand because they get volumes on their platform that makes it worthwhile and they just need artists to lease them the designs. PoD platforms like Redbubble and Society6 are in a licensing type of business, where they pay royalties to artists on each sales made. What is important when you buy your Holidays presents and decorations is that you know who gets paid. With a reputed print on demand platform, I can assure you we artists get paid our dues on EVERY SALES, in fact both Society6 and Redbubble let us artist set up our own royalty percentages. There are also companies like Raspberry Creek Fabrics that are a win-win for all of those who really want to support as many small businesses as possible with one purchase. The company itself is a family owned business that is passionate about fabric printing, and they rely on surface pattern designers like myself to build a library of designs for every tastes. When a client of theirs chose my patterns, they get to buy the yardage they need, Raspberry Creek prints it and ships it, and again, I get a royalty on the sale. Fabric buying is a great option for all you you who likes to make your own Christmas presents, home decor and clothes and it is yet another way to support an artist and a small business during the festive season. Plan ahead of time if you want to buy your gifts with small artists. The reason I am writing this lovely PSA blog post is that when you deal with a small business or an artist selling through PoD, you need to factor in time, and sometimes your own budget as well as those products could be priced a lot higher than mass produced stuff available in big box stores. The first hurdle is shipping time, it is something you need to be particularly careful with when it comes to Etsy as not all sellers might live in the same country as you. When I used to sell on Etsy, shipping from India to the US took 3-4 weeks, so check where the seller lives and ships from. Also know that if you are commissioning a custom piece, there will be a lot of time to produce it to factor in. With Print on Demand companies, pay attention to their shipping deadlines to get your gifts delivered before Christmas, they all start people know about it by November or so, and for Society6 the deadline to get things delivered by December 24 always fall around December 12 on US based orders. If you live outside the US, always refer to their international shipping estimates. Budget wise, I am a HUGE fan of spreading gift shopping over several months. I don't have to do it as much here in India where it's really just us, but as a student in Switzerland, you can bet I was starting to plan Christmas shopping as early as October, if not earlier. Gifts shopping can be expensive, so if you have a family member or friend with a specific hobby or interest and you stumble over the perfect artwork, or t-shirt or mug, buy it, even if it's only June. For Holiday themed designs to decorate your home, start looking on PoD sites early too, the beauty of Society6 and Redbubble is that artwork uploaded and made available for sale by artist lives on their server year round. No need to wait until stores in your neighbourhood start selling Christmas decor items anymore. This year my first Christmas themed sale was in August! It was gift wrap paper. Watch for sales campaigns to strike a bargain. Society6 has offers every week on different products, usually offering 30-40% off select items and you will always find something that is at least discounted at 20%. The discounts usually get huge on Black Friday / Cyber week too, so if you have your eyes set on a product, watch the website regularly and sign up for their newsletter so you know when the good deals are coming. Society6 also has interest free financing available for those who prefer buying and paying in instalments. Around the festive season, all print on demand companies tend to run promotions so it pays to keep your eye peeled or subscribe to your favourite artist's newsletter. I usually send an email out when there is a particularly HUGE discount going on. I also announce it on my various social media handles. I also always say that with gift, less is more, in this time and age of mass consumerism, I think it's important to remember that you do not have to get every single items on your kids' wishlist. One quality thoughtful gift is worth 10 mass produced poor quality items that will break after a month. So if your budget for one person is 100$ get them one or two gifts that mean something rather than try to buy a truck load of tiny things. You don't have to make a purchase to help While as an artist, I think I can safely say that all of us in the creative business industry love when you buy our designs and want you to consider supporting us no matter where we sell. We also understand that it's not always possible to support us financially, but that doesn't mean you can't help, far from it, here are things you can do to support artists and small businesses during the festive season : Spread the word! You might not feel like buying a cozy blanket on Society6, but you might know a friend or relative who will be interested, so please tell them we exist. Like our social media posts, in fact share them if you can too, the more active you are with accounts you follow the more our content will be shown Sign up for our mailing list on our website, mine is linked to the members only Freebie page (it's free to become a member). On these wise words I will conclude this blog post saying that as an artist, I would appreciate that you consider my shops (I have several on several platforms) for your Holidays shopping, you have no idea how much it means to me each time I get a sales notification. Most of the PoD I work with ship worldwide too, so don't let location ever stop you.

Do you feel stuck, stagnating, bored or like your life has no sense of direction anymore? It could be that you need to take stock of everything in your life and see what could be holding you back and do some serious decluttering in order to bring in new opportunities. I'm sure you've hear the saying "Out with the old, in with the new" or the French saying "Balai neuf, balaie bien" which translates roughly as "New broom sweeps better" This idea that cleaning brings in a breath of fresh air in our lives exist in many cultures. In the Western world we usually believe in spring cleaning to get the stuffiness and stagnation of long winters out and welcome warmer and more fertile days in. In India, Hindus clean their homes thoroughly before Diwali (in October or November depending the year) to welcome in Laxmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity. I'm sure we've all experienced this sense of bliss and renewed energy after purging our wardrobes of all the things that no longer fit, or deep cleaned the kitchen, or updated our living room with new curtains, throw pillows and wall art. decluttering isn't just physical Nor does it only apply to material possession for that matter. Chances are you either read or heard of Marie Kondo's book (Amazon affiliate link) or watched her show on Netflix. This means you are familiar with the concept of her asking people to get rid of belongings that no longer spark joy and only keep what matters. It might seem like a big pile of woo and voodoo to many but the reality is that we form energetic bonds with our belongings, and surroundings and in the end those have the power to elevate us or bring us down, and yes it does affect how we think and perceive the world as well. If you come home every night to a messy home when you only dream of a clean, clutter free space, what you want and what you get aren't in alignment and it will only serve to make you more frustrated and angry and the cycle will repeat. A few years ago, I read both "Lucky bitch" and "Get rich lucky bitch" by Denise Duffield - Thomas. Both explained that concept and how what we do and how we think affects our lives, the author explains that the first step toward a change, any change, is to first know what we REALLY want and write that down, and then see what in our current lifestyle supports that growth and what doesn't and then get rid of what is holding us from reaching our goals. In her webinars and workshops she even says that it can be as simple as shaving your legs. The point is you need to invite the change in for the change to happen. the material purge - aka declutter your home This is the most popular and well known form of decluttering. The results are visible to all, and there is something liberating about getting rid of old stuff. And if you make it a regular habit, your home usually gets to stay clean in the long run. For that type of decluttering, I 100% recommend just getting rid of anything that is worn out, broken or hasn't been used in over a year if there is no emotional attachment to it (what Marie Kondo identify as sparking joy). Don't keep things out of obligation when you conduct a purge. That ugly pudding set you received as a gift from a family member close or not has to go. If questioned about it later, simply be honest about it saying that it's been gathering dust and you have no use for it so it made more sense to donate it so that someone else who has a need could use it. The cute dress that brings back bitter memories of a breakup with an ex? Donate it! The underwear with holes? Trash them and get new ones, you deserve better than that. All the spices and herbs in your kitchen that you rarely use and are probably expired anyway...in the bin they go! Remember, when you purge what doesn't matter, you always make more room for what does. digital decluttering This one is less obvious, and certainly a lot less noticeable but no less important. The amount of digital junk that lives on our device is impressive, can eat GB of storage and can be distracting as well. Do you really need to have all those old emails about the school carnival even that happened 5 years ago in your child's elementary school (when they are currently in high school no less). Or that months old newsletter you forgot to delete? But beyond your mailbox, what about all the pictures on your phone that no longer have any purpose, like the picture of your parking spot at the mall taken 5 months back? Or the 20 pictures, all near identical of your daughter's birthday cake? Pick one or two and delete the rest. Our parents didn't have that problem and knew better than waste an whole film roll on just you blowing the candles on the cake, they had 2-3 of them, pasted them in a photo album and that was it. This fear of missing out we all have is pretty much enabled and pushed to extremes when we no longer have to worry about the cost of developing a film roll, so why not take 300 photos of a birthday on the principle that it's better to have them in excess than be sorry. This is actually an example of how a mindset could hold us back, do we really need to be invested in making sure we have 20 pictures of the cake cutting, living the moment through our phone camera, or just take 2-3 and then enjoy the moment? Digital clean up also applies to social media. Thanks to internet how we network and treat relationships have evolved. But are all the people on your friends list really your friends? Chances are, you probably accepted friends requests from coworkers and random distant acquaintances just to be polite without really wanting them to have access to your life. Aside from learning to set better boundaries, it's also helpful to purge your friends list every now and then and only keep the people who REALLY matter on it. Treat your Facebook account as your digital home, and if you look at a friend on your list that you wouldn't even invite over in your own physical home over for coffee, it's time to let that person go...no hard feeling. The same applies to online groups, you may have been into scrapbooking 10 years ago, but if you aren't anymore, why does that content still needs to pop in your feed? Subscribing to content that no longer serves you might prevent you from seeing content that matters because algorithms do not quite keep up with all your likes and dislikes in real time. mental decluttering All of us are over-thinkers, and there is a lot going on in our heads at all time, and it's not always good. In fact a lot of the habits we have as adults and how we think and operate comes from the patterns our subconscious mind created in our early childhood. Our parents taught us things to keep us safe and operated from what they thought was the most sensible course of action in their time, but chances are your brain and mind is running a whole lot of outdated programs that are holding you back from the life you want to create as an adult. There are several ways to clean up that brain junk out there, some might work, some won't and you might need a combination of several : Therapy with a professional to address deep rooted trauma and mental blocks Reading self-help books to understand where to start digging and when or if you need a therapist Journalling Meditation For me reading self-help books, journalling and meditating has proven to be the winning combo that works right now. Will it work always? No idea, but for now it does and that is what matters. Ultimately, you need to make an habit out of getting rid of anything that is holding you back, brings you down, or no longer serves any purpose to be able to grow. Cleaning your home can kick start your mind into finding new ways and opening it to opportunities, writing down your goals, fears and desires will gradually get you there. Growing up I often found myself in "This or that, you can't have both" situation, thanks to growing up with adults who thought that way. What I found out as an adult, is that it's never all black or white, this AND that is pretty much a thing and you don't have to pigeon hole yourself into just one thing.

So, you decided to take the plunge and put your art out there and start selling it. You've researched all your options and decided to stick with Print on Demand, aka PoD because the initial cost is low to none, but this in turn raise one more question : Which Print on Demand shop should you start with? Many new designers and artist have this idea that they should commit to one and ONLY one shop and want to chose the best there is. After all, don't we all want to be profitable and maximise our chances of sales from the start? Here is the thing though, you DON'T have to sell your soul to just one PoD company, and they certainly do not own you or your designs, so there is no reason to figure out which one is best as if you couldn't pick more than one. None of the Print on Demand company out there owns the rights to your designs and the vast majority of them do not even demand exclusivity rights of licensing. What this means is that you are completely free to upload your designs on as many platforms as you want. But where should you start? Which Print on Demand website is the easiest to get started with as a beginner? How many to start with? Can you expand over time? When I started back in 2017, I opened a Society6 shop first and right after that (as within a week or so) I opened a Redbubble shop as well. Since I live in India, I wanted to find an India based PoD as well in hope my audience from India would find it easier to buy my designs. I joined one called "Cupik" which ended up going bankrupt, and then 3 others that...yup! all went bankrupt without paying me my dues! My advice from this experience : never stick to just one Print on Demand shop/website company because you NEVER know when one will shut down operation. And most certainly NEVER think that just because you live in a specific country you should absolutely have a shop that sells to your local audience. Most of my audience in India never bought anything from any of my shops. What you want to do as a newbie, is stick to websites that are already big and established and have an audience of their own and the traffic. Sure, you will have to drive your own traffic to your shop too, but it helps to be on a platform that is already having their own customer base, as there will be more potential to be found in searches over time. I frankly recommend starting with 2-3 platforms and upload the same thing on all 3 and see what works on each of them in the long run. Then as you expand, open more Print on Demand shops on smaller platforms and start with uploading you clear best sellers there as well. You'll notice fairly quickly that not everything will sell the same on different platforms and that there isn't much logic in why something sells on repeat on Redbubble but not at all on Society6, other than maybe the fact these two websites have different main target audiences to begin with. pros and cons of different pod platforms So, which one should you dive in with first among the reputed ones? My advice is to go with the ones that are a better fit with the type of art you do. If you make art that looks good as art print Society6 is going to be a much wiser choice than Teepublic for example, because S6 kind of specialise in wall art and home decor. If you are making t-shirts with fun typography, Teepublic and Redbubble are probably worth considering before Society6 as they put more focus on apparel. Each PoD has their pros and cons, and each have uploaders that work slightly differently too. All the Print on Demand websites below are platforms I have shop with and have experience with. Society6 They are one of the most well known platform in the PoD industry and while art prints is what they started with, they now have over 90 different products you can upload your designs on. The vast majority of my sales with them has been art prints and soft furnishing items like throw pillows and curtains. This means that if you do stand alone artworks and/or pattern designs, you have a better chance at selling with them. They do t-shirts and mugs too, so your graphic tee designs could sell there as well, but it doesn't seem to be what the vast majority of their own audience is really after. My portfolio has a little of everything and designs with quotes aren't my bestsellers on that platform. Bear in mind that Society6 started levying shipping fees on each sales as of 2023 and hiked the joining fee from 1$ to 5$ in an effort to discourage less sincere and authentic artists. Pros: Wide catalog of products to enable your art on, large audience, and quality printing (I ordered a few items over the years). They let you set your own margins on all products and if you want to make money, you will have to set them at at least 20% to 30% on all products to recover the shipping fees and still make a profit worth your time The platform is regularly scouted by big retail brands too, so if your art is good, this could be a springboard to licensing deals. Deny Designs, their sister site also onboard artists to be on their wholesale platform, so it pays to be consistent, follow trends and produce quality designs. Cons: Society6 is infamous among designers for having one of the most complicated uploader and design studio there is. You will need to create several different files to fit different products and uploading and enabling everything just right can sometimes take over an hour. Redbubble Like Society6 it is one of the big name in the industry and they have been at it for a while, and like S6, they have a catalog of over 90 products to enable your designs on. I can't vouch for the printing quality there as I never ordered anything from them (their shipping fees to India are insane) but I know that unlike Society6, their bestsellers aren't art print or home decor items. The vast majority of my sales comes from stickers and apparel. So if you are more into art that sell as stickers, or t-shirts they are your first choice of platform. Bear in mind a few things though : They started a membership tier program and all new accounts start at "Standard" tier on which hefty fees levied on earnings. They do so to encourage artists to produce quality work to move up to the Premium tier were no fees are charged You ABSOLUTELY need a transparent .png file for your designs as t-shirts and stickers require a transparent background. Pros: Their uploader is one of the easiest, most beginner friendly there is. You are pretty good just uploading a png file and then add a background color on items you do not want as default white and it also has the option to tile a design into a pattern, so you do not have to upload large pattern squares on products you need a repeat design, simply upload the seamless tile and select the tile option. Like Society6 they let you set your own margin, I recommend 20% on everything and 50% on stickers. Cons: As much as I welcome the move to charge fees on entry level accounts to encourage new designers to produce quality, they can be as high as 50% of your earnings if you earn around the minimum payment threshold amount in a month. It's definitely something that could be a deterrent to a lot of genuine artists even if the intent was to flush the spammers and scammer out. Teepublic Like its name suggest, their strength is t-shirts, and that's about 99% of my sales with them, so only upload art that looks good as a t-shirt and comes with a transparent PNG background. I started in 2021 with them and it took me about 5 months to make a sale and within a year they became regular. I actually own one of their t-shirt and it's one of my favourite, it's in the wash almost every week and 2 years later it hasn't lost shape, frayed or even saw the print on it fade or flake. They don't let you set your own margin, but have an account category system that decides how much you earn on each sale. You are either an apprentice or an artisan, the decision is widely based on what type of artwork/designs you produce. If you produce unique, clearly hand drawn quality designs, you will be categorised as Artisan, if you are more into vector graphics you re-use over and over with generic fonts you are going to be an Apprentice. Apprentice earn 2$ per t-shirt sale at full price and 1$ if there is a sale/promotion going. Artisan earn 4$ at full price and 2$ during a sale/promotion. Pros: The uploader is fuss free, and I love their keyword generator. You enter one main keyword that describe your art the best, and then the field for secondary keywords will suggest other keywords similar to the main one. Cons: They have a very limited product range, not surprising considering they are t-shirt specialists, but they could have a few more and I think it wouldn't hurt. They also do not let you upload individual files on specific products. So the main t-shirt file is what goes on everything, even if one item would benefit more from let say a pattern file like maybe the phone case. You can at least put a specific background color on non-apparel items. Threadless Despite the fact that it has quite a few unique products no other PoD seem to be doing like shoes and skateboards, it seems the only thing that consistently sell there are t-shirts. But of all the PoD this is one of my least performing one. They seem to have a system where you can opt to have them manage your margins which I went for, and an option to be included in the Threadless marketplace, where they decide which of your designs to include on their website shop. If you don't enable that feature, you are 100% responsible to drive traffic to your shop in order to get sales. Pros: uploading designs is fairly easy and they have a few very unique products like shoes, and skateboards and a round rug. Cons: It seems to be a lot harder to make sales there, their managed pricing option and being included in the market place option is a bit more complex and if you plan on making that one your main shop, it seems you'll need to pull more weight in marketing than on other platforms. You also will need very specific files using their own templates for some products like shoes, leggings and duffle bags among other, so that is a bit of extra work. Now of course there are more PoD I sell on, but I listed only the ones that are the most beginner friendly. I recommend you regularly keeps yourself in the loop of what's new in the PoD world as you keep going and join new ones regularly and see where it takes you. The advantage of starting early on a new platform is that you will get seen more than on a super saturated platform like Society6, but it also means it might take a lot more time before you make that first sale as fewer people will know about a smaller, newer business, but it's worth tapping into these opportunities.

It's June and along with the printable calendar page, there is a new set of printable stickers for your journaling needs in the freebie zone. May has been a hot month over here, and I for one am looking forward to the monsoon and cool rainy days. I got busy updating my old Contrado shop, worked on a few new designs, and watched as much TV as I read books (it's all about balance people). With my energy levels set on low, thanks to this heat, I'm keeping this blog post short and sweet, it was just a friendly announcement to remind you all that the members only (don't worry it's free to join) gets updated on the 1st of every months with the new calendar page and there are still several sets of stickers to download at any time.

What if I told you that there is a way to change your whole life that is both easy and free and is accessible right away? You'd probably think I'm crazy, and unrealistic at best. It doesn't change the fact that there is indeed a way and that it's easy, but only IF you are willing to give it a fair chance and let go of things you might have believed in until now. This near magic power is called positive thinking and it is available to anyone, anywhere, right about now, or anytime you are willing to tap into it. It opens doors that you didn't know existed before and pretty much changes how you look at the world around you (the world itself was always there). I know some of you are saying things like "Easier said than done" or "It's not possible to be positive ALL the time", or still yet "Being positive doesn't make bad things go away"... But ask yourself this first : Is being negative, or complaining about how everything is going bad helping at all? life is 10% of what happens to you, the other 90% is how you react to it. I heard this quote or one going along those lines in one of the Fearless motivation speeches I keep on my iTunes playlist. I have been practicing positive thinking and the law of attraction since I was a teenager and stumbled upon a set of sophrology audio tapes my parents had at home. For those who don't know, sophrology is a type of dynamic relaxation / guided meditation developed by Alfonso Caycedo, a Columbian neuropsychiatrists back in the 1960's. The core idea is that if you go in a deep state of relaxation and then visualise goals and outcomes, you are more likely to see them through in your everyday, active state because the idea that you can has been planted deeper in your subconscious. I remember playing those tapes on my walkman when I was around 15 and really enjoyed them and actually put all the exercises into practice to help me perform better in school and in my synchronised swimming training. They worked, gave me results and that was the start of a lifelong dedication to adjust my mindset in order to go through life. I think when I was around age 20, I even took a sophrology class in an evening school just to understand it and myself better (some people in my family thought I was nuts) Since then I have read, and still read a lot of self-help books, meditate frequently, practice the art of gratitude and of course I journal. That quote above? 1000000000000% true by the way, I had a friend in high school who was probably a more dedicated student than I was, the type that would pull all nighters to study for an exam persuaded she could always use more studying. I was a bit more laid back in my approach to it and quite frankly in some topics, I bordered on having a "Tourist" approach. Yet, I used get high grades, at time even higher than my friend. The difference was in how we thought to begin with. We had the same classes, same teachers. The difference was in how we approached exams. My friend was a near constant worrywart, persuaded at all time that all the odds were stacked against her at all time and that her only shot at not flunking a class was to study to her possible grave. She was often playing all kind of negative scenarios in her mind, persuaded that if she wasn't ready to face a possible apocalypse, she would fail. Me? I knew my weaknesses, I knew my strength and I knew that the key was to remain calm. rich of my sophrology training and having learnt visualisation techniques, I simply took time out of my studies to go in a deep relaxation state and visualise how I wanted my exams to go, especially the spoken exam where you are one on one with the teacher presenting a random topic. I would go to great length in those visualisation to get as many of the details right, and usually decided before hand what paragraph of a book I wanted to be interrogated on before hand and visualise myself talking about that. It never failed, I ALWAYS picked out the exact topic I wanted in the lucky draw before a spoken exam. In a way it was the first experience of the law of Attraction I had, but to be fair, even if I had picked a topic I was not super prepared for, I would still have pulled through because I was positive I would pull through thanks to visualising how I wanted it to go. I chose before hand to stand tall, keep going even if that meant winging it. My friend frequently got the ONE and ONLY topic she didn't aggressively prepare for and would go in a state of panic in her exam because she had set up her mind from the start for the potentiality of something, anything going wrong, and lo and behold that is exactly what ended up happening and it just confirmed her innate belief that the entire world was out to attack and destroy her. It's easier said than done! Agreed! it actually requires a HUGE leap of faith to see things positively, mostly because it goes against deep rooted self-preserving instincts that are probably coded into our very own DNA. Seeing danger is what kept the human race alive, and it has its merit in plenty of situatio even today. The problem is that this very instinct can also play cruel trick on our mind and what kept your ancestors safe from a trampling herd of mammoth is also preventing you from seeing non life threatening events in a rational way, or pushes you to react in a defeatist way toward a challenge. Of all the self-help books I read, Jen Sincero is the author who explained it the best in her two books : Your are a Badass and You are a Badass at making money (affiliate links). Somehow, we tend to believe that being critical, and afraid of certain things, or buy in the general doom and gloom of the world, we are keeping ourself safe, and that it also keeps things under our control. This is why the comment section of even the cutest baby animal video online will inevitably have a bunch of people pointing out something horrible, or why you can't post a beautiful photo of spring flowers without people trolling you pointing out how inconsiderate of people with allergies you are. Positive thinking doesn't change an even, it changes how you perceive it. We all have crap happening to us, nobody is immune to it. Bad things happen all the time and yes they happen to good people (including me). But deciding for YOURSELF to not collapse on the ground in a big mess and throw a tantrum about it is not living in denial. Deciding to keep looking at what DID WORK out a crappy situation is not naive, it's actually what will get you to find a way around the problem, and keep going. See it that way : If you are on a journey that requires you to cross a deep river and you walk down a path at the end of which a bridge should be there to cross that river, only to find out the bridge has broken down or been washed away, what would you do? Which kind of thinking will get you were you want to be? You have 2 choices there : 1) Scream and throw yourself on the ground cursing the entire universe for being against you, claiming this always happen to you and that it's why you never get good things in life and walk back defeated 2) Look at the situation at hand and say "Okay not what I expected let's figure out something else" and then assess your new options saying things like "Lucky there is enough wood around I could use" or "Hey good thing I know how to swim" or "Maybe there is a better bridge downstream". The person who think that way is also positively certain they will achieve their goal anyway, so they don't see an obstacle as anything but a slight delay. Ultimately, the only thing we are truly in charge of are our emotions and feelings. Thinking negatively is as free as thinking positively, we all have that choice, but the way we think release different hormones and chemicals in our body and brain. Negative thinking usually triggers an adrenaline release in the body to keep us in constant fight or flight state that over time has huge impact on our health and gives way to long term disorders. Positive thinking triggers endorphins because you are in relaxed, happy place that not only allows you to see things more clearly in the moment, but takes out the stress in the long term and safeguard your health. Faced with these two options, the incentive to work toward positive thinking as a natural state of mind should be a no brainer. How to get started? It may sound cliché, but meditation, just 5 minutes a day at first, is a good place to start. You can do that with just observing your breath for 5 minutes and see how it affects you. You can also join a guided meditation class if you aren't confident being able to do it alone at first, we all start somewhere. Then of course there is journalling about your experience, I even have a blog post with journaling prompt to get you started. You can also, and in fact you SHOULD read a few self-help books along the way. They all more or less will teach you the same thing, but in different formats and words, reading a few will help you resonate with the same ideas better. Aside from the two Jen Sincero books I mentioned above, some of my other favourites are "Lucky Bitch" and "Get rich Lucky Bitch" by Denise Duffield-Thomas. And of course there is "The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne which qhite frankly is good but not as good as her other book "The Power". All the books link above are Amazon affiliate links by the way. If reading isn't your thing, I suggest you listen to podcasts, just search for "manifesting", or "Positive thinking" and you should get quite a few results as they are very popular topics nowadays. You can also find guided meditation on iTunes and Spotify. Just don't expect to be a master at it overnight, it takes time to change your mindset, especially if you are an habitual worrywart. Treat yourself with kindness and love and keep going. None of the techniques you will read about or hear about in books and podcasts give instant results, just keep going at it everyday and build a habit of being grateful and positive into your daily life, it will add up.

Redbubble wasn't the only one to drop some massive news this April. In fact Society6 was the first to announce some changes in their artist earnings payments with the introduction of shipping fees on ALL artists account and this got the artist community talking and debating the move. Along with the introduction of shipping fees starting on May 4th, Society6 also announced they would roll out a member's subscription plan later this year but so far there haven't been more details on it other than it's likely to roll out around September 2023. What do the shipping fees mean? Society6 explained that in the recent years, their shipping cost has drastically increased and that in order to keep them from being a burden on the customer alone, they took in some profit cuts themselves, but it's no longer enough and they decided to also put some of that burden on artists by levying a flat rate that can go from 0.30 $ to 8$ depending the product. You can find the complete shipping fees list on their help page. All the basic items like art prints, t-shirts, mugs and phone cases are under 1$ and a vast majority of the products will attract a shipping fee that is under 2$. The big tickets items like the credenza and other furnitures are the ones with the biggest shipping fee, but most will stay under 5$ the only item that will attract a 8$ shipping fee is the credenza. What should you do about it? The gut reaction of many artists was to shut down their shop immediately in disgust. But I think this isn't really the first option one should consider because those fees are NOT going to put you out of pocket, they are levied on your sale's earnings and the new earning structure goes like this : Artist markup on the retail price - shipping fee = finalised earning This means that if you let's say have an art print that is selling for 10$ and your markup was 10% your earning would be 1$ before fee deduction. Art prints have a flat shipping fee of 0.80$ meaning your actual earnings on that sale would be 20 cents. BUT!!!!!!!!!! If you left your markup at 10% you made a poor business decision. Society6 introduced custom markup on all products back in 2021, this means your first move should be to check if your margins are still making your earnings worth your time with the new shipping fee. Unlike Redbubble with their tiers fees, Society6 is not levying their fees as a percentage but as a flat rate. This means that no matter what your markup is, the flat rate for Art prints is going to be 0.80$ and 30% of 10$ means 3$ which means your earning after the deduction is going to be 2.20$ which is still quite fair if you ask me. I started selling on Society6 back in 2017 when back then, the only products you could set your own margins on were art prints, I set it up at 30% from the get go and it has NEVER been a deterrent to sales. Art prints are the items I sell the most frequently on Society6. I sell most of everything else at a 20% markup too and have increased a few products with bigger shipping rates to a 30% markup as well. understanding the logic behind their move Most artists flamed the decision and blamed it on corporate greed which I think is way too simple as far as reasoning go. Shipping costs have been rising in the retail world since the pandemic hit. On top of that, Society6 and Redbubble are the two biggest player in the PoD industry which has been attracting a lot of scammer looking to make a quick buck. Just head to Quora and see how many questions there is just for Redbubble alone on how to crack the SEO code to quick sales or people looking for the magic formula to overnight success on the platform, not to mention the amount of people stuffing their shop links in questions and comment hoping to drive traffic to a shop that inevitably contains a lot of stock photos, clipart and graphics if not stolen ones. Hosting high resolution artworks and designs cost money to begin with, and I can't blame PoD for wanting to raise the bar in term of quality. Too many poor designs that do not align with their brand is also going to cost them potential customers. My opinion on the matter I said it already when I wrote the blog post about Redbubble's tiers and I'll say it again now : I think it's a great move. In the case of Society6 I hope the introduction of subscription tiers will not leave Indian artists out of it as the RBI guidelines regarding recurring transaction has made taking international subscriptions challenging at times and I got contacted by a few people on Instagram about how the verification fee charged by Society6 via PayPal is not going through depending which cards you use. Ultimately it's more of a PayPal issue than a Society6 issue, but it could potentially impact how some people could access the paid subscription model that will roll out later this year. Personally, I am not going to worry about it too much until then and will then reassess how I go about it all. My opinion on it all pretty much echoes Cat Coq's view on the matter of fees and PoD. These fees is the price of being in business and it wasn't unexpected. There are a lot of changes happening in the art world, one of them being the introduction of AI art, which is a gray area still when it comes to copyrights, and unfortunately it has become quite easy to generate AI art in the first place and then open an account on a PoD platform in hope of selling these computer generated designs. There is no denying that setting up shop on any PoD platform is frankly way too easy, with minimal verification processes in place, so it should really come as no surprise that these companies are tightening up in order to maintain a certain level of quality going. In the end, PoD are running a business too, they aren't running a charity, non-profit program to support small artists. Just like Cat's, my advice is to DIVERSIFY you income streams as much as possible. Again, I see too many questions on Quora that are about "Which PoD is best" as if it was ever a "This or That" situation. It never was a this or that choice, the truth is you 100% SHOULD open a shop on several platforms all at once, as long as those platforms do not demand exclusivity over a design, you can upload the same one on several PoD website. The truth is that some designs will sell on repeat on one platform and not at all on another, and you could be missing on a massive amount of sales by deciding to stick just to one platform. There are also new PoD coming up all the time, the earlier you join one, the more likely you'll make sale when that PoD will peak and become popular, so you will need to stick around to find out. And, yes, it's a big gamble too, because some of these small PoD platform will go bankrupt before you can cash in, or some will change their business model in a way that will no longer make it worth your time, or they will cancel the licensing model to become more like Vistaprint. I've had a presence on 5 PoD that either ended up shutting down without paying me my dues or changed the direction of how they do business. It's a risk worth taking, and it's very much part of business. I think the wise thing to expect right now is that all major PoD will start introducing some fees or a curating process. Redbubble and Society6 weren't the first ones to do so to be fair, and they won't be the last ones either. Spoonflower has had that policy about surface pattern designer BUYING a proofing sample before they are allowed to put their designs up for sale and Zazzle has had an inactivity fee going on past earnings if a designer didn't upload new work at least once a month.

The wind is turning for several print on demand companies these days and while the designer world was all talking about a set of new fees Society6 is rolling out (I'll write about it later), one of the other big change that just dropped is coming from Redbubble and its introduction of account tiers and account fees. The change is due to roll out on June 1st but if you are an existing user, you can already view which tier you made it to on your account dashboard. Proud to announce that Home Cyn Home made it to a premium account for now and I'm really stoke about it. but hang on! what does it mean? From now on, it seems that all account, new or existing will get allotted to a tier with certain perks and benefits associated with each. Those tiers are : Redbubble Standard, Redbubble Premium and Redbubble Pro and from what they have explained on their website, people would be eligible for a standard account after opening shop with Redbubble and be able to move up in rank if they meet certain activity and sales thresholds. Redbubble Standard accounts are the only one who are going to be subjected to an account fee, which according to Redbubble will be levied on sales, as no artists should be out of pocket. The fee will be calculated based on your monthly earnings if they qualify for payout and the amount will be deducted from said earnings at that time. To know more if you belong to the Standard tier, Redbubble has put together an article page for your to read. You do not pay any fees if you are at the Premium or Pro tier. probably an unpopular opinion but... I more than welcome that move from Redbubble, this platform, more than others have been attracting frauds by the dozen and Quora has no shortage of questions along the line of "How can I make money on Redbubble" and "How can I get more views" or "Why am I not getting any sales". I've answered many of these over the years, reminding people that just because you upload the artwork once doesn't mean you can just sit back and relax and wait for the money to come in. What shocked me too is several wannabe "artists" contacting me on Instagram in hope to get my secret formula for success and the ultimate way to crack their algorithm. It never failed, these people had shops filled with designs that were stock graphics they didn't even create themselves. I've also encountered blatant theft of my designs on the platform (and reported it). Some people will resort to anything in hope of a quick and easy payout. Redbubble is the one paying to host all those designs, and victim of their success I bet those hosting fees amount to a LOT and it must be annoying them to know many of the designs on their servers are bogus, fraudulent ones, or from accounts that have gone quiet. The tier system is a way of flushing out the people that are just trying to crack the system and make money and encourage serious artists to upload consistently and build a brand on their platform. Society6 has been hinting at rolling out a subscription model later this year as well, probably for the same reasons. pay your dues and move up in rank This new system will have all newbie artist start at the bottom, and the more consistent and active you get on the platform without violating community guidelines, the faster you'll get to move to the free, fee-less Premium tier. Still on their website, here is what they say about moving up in ranks : To give your account the best chance moving into the Premium or Pro tier we recommend the following: Creating based on trends or themes your customers are searching for Increasing the commercial success of your designs Driving direct high quality traffic to your Redbubble store Uploading designs that showcase your unique creative skills Uploading your best work with attention to image resolution and product formatting Completing your bio and adding links to your social profiles This is something I have been saying for years on Quora by the way, the only way to make more sales and show up in searches on Redbubble is to look beyond the SEO, relevant tags and keywords is something everyone is doing. Their algorithm rewards people who are ACTIVE on the platform. I'm hopeful that those changes on Redbubble will really improve the visibility of artists who are putting in the work and get all the "I want to get rich quick" people who aren't even designers to give the platform a miss.

When it comes to selling your art, especially on print on demand websites like Society6 and Redbubble it pays off to take your time and create as many file options as it requires for your design to look good on a product. Why? The plain obvious is that you maximise your chances of getting a sale if you do it, but when it comes to your long term career, it will show a lot more professionalism if you take the time to go the extra mile, no matter how tedious it might seem at first, and I get it, with some platforms, it can be a drag. Society6 being the most famous for lengthy upload procedure among artists because they don't offer the option to tile a design or alter a background color in their artist studio like several other PoD do. For me, this usually mean uploading an artwork and all it's variants can take over an hour at time, especially when I need to create new files to fit certain products as I go. But it's totally worth it in the end. The way I see it, it's a good way for them to separate the wheat from the chaff so to speak. serious, dedicated artists and surface designers are more likely to put in the extra work than the ones who tend to see those platform as a quick and easy way to make money (which it is not). go in for the long game I'm pretty sure all of us seasoned commercial artists and designer have at one point or another decided to start with Society6 or Redbubble as a side gig or a launch pad for something more while we figure things out. The thing is the earlier you start treating it as a serious business, the more you'll get out of it if you really go all in and really go the extra mile with your art files. It's especially true with Society6 which has Deny Designs as a sister site, which is a company that only deal with whole sale clients and counts Target, Nordstrom and Urban Outfitter in their rank just to name a few. Artists who keep showing up, and put effort into their work are more likely to catch their attention. Not to mention that several media and retail companies also look at Society6 and could spot something they like and would love to license. I see it a lot in questions on Quora where I actively participate and write answers. People are usually asking how they can make money with Redbubble or how can they sell quickly, or ask if selling on PoD is profitable at all. The answer is that it's not quick and easy money, but yes, it's profitable if you put in the time and effort into it, and it starts with quality artworks and files. I usually create the same standard 5 files to begin with when I turn an illustration into a sellable design : 1 JPEG art print file, usually 24 x 30 inches at a 300dpi resolution 1 Square 10k x 10k pixel JPEG file with the illustration in the center, this is so that it goes on larger products with enough margin to resize without cropping the artwork, and it works as a square mural file on Society6 1 seamless tile file at 3600 x 3600 pixels, this is to go on the wallpaper on Society6, and can also be uploaded as is and tiled directly on Redbubble to fit certain products. Now That I sell in more place, that seamless tile file becomes handy to sell my designs as fabric on Contrado and Raspberry Creek as well. 1 large pattern square, I usually create tis one solely for Society6 because they do not have the option to tile a design in their artist studio, and the pattern file is my to-go to for curtains, and comforters in particular. I usually do a 12k by 12k pixels square and use my seamless tile file to fill it and create the pattern Last but not least : 1 TRANSPARENT png file, where there is no background around the illustration. This file is mandatory to have your work printed as a kiss cut sticker or on dark colored t-shirts. On Redbubble where the hot sellers are t-shirts and stickers you can't do without that file, ditto with Teepublic which sells mostly t-shirts. For this one I usually remove the background from the art print file and I am good to go. Then there are all the specific sizes that work for certain products like table cloths, Apple watch bands, yoga mats and outdoor floor cushions on Society6. Society6 actually has a LOT of products for which you are often better off designing an entirely new file. Sure you could slap the pattern file on a lot of them, but sometimes, just going the extra mile works beautifully and I urge you to spend those few extra minutes to do it. Some of their products have the option of downloading the psd (photoshop) template so you can create a design that looks just right on that less straightforward product. Duffle bags, backpacks, leggings, socks and floor cushions are all products were you should explore the possibility of creating a separate file if the pattern square won't do, or quite frankly another option would take your product from "fine" to "wow". This is what I did with the bench in the picture. The pattern file would have looked acceptable but a bit too "vanilla" for this design, so instead I made a file specifically for the bench and put 2 sea turtles facing each other. It took about 5 minutes to create that file from my existing assets, and a minute or so more to upload it. I frequently do it with outdoor floor cushions, coffee mugs and yoga mats, because those really benefit from taking a few extra minutes of my time to create a special file. The bonus is that some of those files work on some of the other products Society6 has to offer too and you only need to upload the file once with them, after that it shows in the asset library for that specific design, which comes in handy when they launch a new product, about 90% of the time, one of the existing asset uploaded will work on the new product. Out of all the Print on Demand websites I sell with, Society6 is the most demanding when it comes to art files, so I always create my assets and upload them first with them, and then with other PoD platform because chances are the files I created for Society6 will work almost everywhere else without me having to create anything extra later on. Back in 2017 I started with just Society6 and Redbubble and now a quick glimpse ate my shop page will show you how it expanded from there over the years.

I first heard of print on demand and the potential to sell my art back in 2015 or so when I was following a blogger who sold phone cases with her art on them which got me down of a rabbit hole of learning more about potentially selling my art online, a thing I never explored or knew about before. Back then, blogs were still doing good, and my aim was to be lifestyle blogger. And Home Cyn Home was intended as such in the early days. I took the plunge into FINALLY getting started back in April 2017 and opened a Society6 and a Redbubble shop. Back then my husband ran into job issues and most of that year's theme was financial insecurities. The prospect of starting to make money from my art was appealing, and at the least I needed something to help me stay grounded and sane during that trying time. Looking back at my journey, I'm of course super proud but there are a few things I wished I knew when I first got started that probably would have helped me. I learned those things over the years of course, and let's face it, we all start ventures without being 100% prepared, and it's more than ok, that's what makes the journey more interesting. I just think those snippets I learned over the years could help someone get started today a bit more ready than I was without shielding them from making mistakes. don't wait for everything to be perfect to start Seriously, DON'T! I waited until I was sure I had it all figured it out, until I was sure my art was perfect. Turns out I had exactly nothing really figured out, and among the first few artwork I uploaded, there was this series of watercolor medallions that are cute, but quite frankly, not my best work at all. You'll learn as you go, you'll get wiser with every steps, and no amount of "book smart" will get you there, we all learn through experience, and most importantly failures. You'll never know what your audience like, or what it is to open a print on demand shop until you start. You can read all about it online, from blogs, from Quora, and from watching YouTube videos, but what it really shows you is the insight of one person. Watch too many and you'll be completely confused before you even start. be open to learning and constantly try new things When I got started in 2017, I had basic skills, never tried creating a seamless pattern tile, and my watercolor digitizing skills were a bit wonky. I had my first wake up call a few weeks after getting started. Back then I wanted to be onboarded by a company called "Daily Objects" who does print on demand in India (where I live) because I figured out it would be easier to buy products from them to use in my photo shoots, and I would anyway have more of my existing audience buy from them. I'm actually about a 100000000000% glad to have been rejected by them knowing how unethical they are in their process now. But back then, them making me upload 40 master files and sign a contract only to then tell me "Your work isn't neat enough and has pencil marks" was a blow to my self-esteem. To be fair a few had pencil marks, but not all of them, so I figured out I might as well turn this rejection (which again was a HUGE blessing) into a constructive criticism. If I was going to make this commercial artist thing work, I was better off learning how to edit my work digitally better. So, I turned to Google who in turn pointed me to Skillshare and Cat Coquillette's very first Skillshare class. I have since then taken or at least watched all her classes. If you are a surface designer or commercial artist, or aspiring to be, she is one of the teachers you must follow on Skillshare (among others). With Cat's classes, I learned how to digitise my work, learned how to recolor my artwork to create more versions of it and how to tap into trends. I also learned how to up my social media game, learned how to use Photoshop better, learned how to use the drawing app Procreate and created fun projects and designs along the way. I of course learned from other teachers as well, and as an artist, you never really ever stop learning new things, you just have to embrace it. you'll only ever find your artist voice if you practice and create a lot of work You probably read it over and over, how it's important to have your own style and own creative voice and create your artist brand from that. Trust me though, this is NOT the thing you want to worry too much about when you get started. An artist style or voice is not something that is suddenly bestowed upon you by a magic fairy/muse and you shouldn't wait for that to happen to take the plunge. What you need to be doing is : create, create, create, and then create some more, and see where that takes you. In time you will notice you prefer using certain colors over others, or prefer a certain aesthetic in how you draw/paint things. THIS is what your artist style/voice is! And you only get to figure it out with time and practice. Oh! And don't worry about it evolving and changing over time either. You probably heard of Picasso's blue period. It was a time between 1901 and 1904 when most of his work was painted in shades of blue. Picasso's career went until his death in 1973. during the span of his life, he explored many genres, Cubism being only one of them. Not all your work will become a signature style, and you should never be creating anything with that goal in mind. The focus should be on having fun. Let people decide what like best. That said, branding still does matter when you are a commercial artist, so if your brand's focus is on colorful art, avoid uploading black and white ink drawing you might be doing in your spare time on Instagram. If a black and white design is too good not to upload then sure go ahead and put it in your shop, but it doesn't mean you need to promote it. Curate what goes on social media or on your website/blog to match the general tone of your brand. it's more than ok to have several income streams I read a lot of questions about "Which print on demand platform is best" on Quora. My answer to all of said questions, is that each platforms has their pros and cons. The perfect PoD does not exist. What's more each of them has their own unique style and target audience, so you might as well upload on several of them right away because what sells on what platform might not sell on another. There is a watercolor dragonfly stickers that sell over and over and over on Redbubble but that doesn't sell much if at all on Society6, Teepublic and Threadless. Selling on just one platform will limit your income potential a lot. My advice is to get started on 2-3 in the beginning and join new platforms regularly. Some will do great, some others might flop. Over the past 6 years I joined several platforms that no longer exist because they went bust or changed their focus. I also pulled the plug on Zazzle because it was too tedious for me. Started an Etsy shop that didn't work out well enough for me to keep up with it and there are several PoD I have a presence on and never made a sale on so far. It's part of the game, not everything will be a hit. Along with selling art on PoD platforms, I also teach classes out of my home, earn affiliate money from this blog, earn from answering questions on Quora and have a Patreon account with cool exclusive printables and wallpapers for my patrons. don't limit yourself Back when I first heard of selling art on products, it was because a blogger I follow : The Wonder Forest, was selling phone cases on Casetify. I somehow imagined myself selling phone cases and I thought that was all there was really. I think my initial non-seamless patterns were all really thought with the idea of selling them as phone cases. Fortunately after joining Society6 I realised that there was scope for a lot more. And every single one of my attempts to join Casetify failed (another blessing). I see those questions on Quora a lot too : "Is it profitable to sell art on t-shirt" or "Should I sell t-shirts"? From the look of it, it seems t-shirts are the new phone cases and a lot of people seem to be under the impression that they should focus on that alone. I think I even saw questions like "Should I enable other products in my Redbubble shop or stick with just t-shirts". If you want to really grow as a commercial artist and surface designer, never lose focus of the fact that you are selling art, NOT t-shirts or phone cases. So don't limit the scope of your designs to just one type of products because you might end up also limiting the number of shops and ventures you can join later on. Case in point, in NONE of my shops are phone cases the hot seller item I believed it would be when I first started. I sell mostly art prints and cushions on Society6, stickers are the bulk of my sales on Redbubble and I sell mostly t-shirts on Teepublic and Threadless. having a diverse portfolio of designs that include patterns has enabled me to start selling on Raspberry Creek Fabrics, which does fabric and wallpaper and EXCLUSIVELY relies on seamless pattern tiles. Deny Designs, Society6's sister site that focus on wholesale onboarded me last year with a number of patterns too. don't expect to make a lot of money quickly The internet is divided in two camps when it comes to selling on Redbubble and Society6 (and other PoD) : - It's easy money because it's passive income - It's a scam because those sites are saturated, don't do it. If it was ever so simple and black and white! The truth is that it's not easy to make money quickly, but not impossible to sell at all either. It's better not to expect being an instant success when you start selling anywhere, online or offline. Building a business takes TIME, period. With selling on PoD, you want to go in for the long run and treat it as a marathon race, not a sprint. Your success widely depends on how much of your time and effort you put in in the first place. You'll need to show up everyday, even if nothing happens, with no likes, encouragements or sale and keep going at it, day in and day out until it goes somewhere. And if you are dedicated, motivated and really love creating art and patterns and show that to the world, things WILL happen, not all at once, but over time. Which is why the point about having several income streams and not putting all your eggs in one basket stands rock solid and remember those who succeed at anything are usually the ones with the most grit and perseverance. Accept you will fail, and will fail a lot, get up, learn from your mistakes and keep going. That's actually the secret sauce recipe to success in general, selling your work on PoD included.

Designers and creative always look forward to the time Pantone, the global authority in color matching, to announce their color of the year. They do so every December and they base their choice among other things on trend forecasts. 2023's pick is called Viva Magenta, and is a bold, saturated reddish pink hue that speaks of boldness, power and strength. Having followed the color of the years for a quite a few years now, I noticed they often miss the plot, I think every designers and artists remember the ugliness that was 2015's Marsala. But this time around, they are right on the money when it comes to Viva Magenta. I have seen bold saturated reds and pinks pop everywhere in the last 6 months, Valentino pink anyone? I remember wearing those kind of bold colors in the late 90's and early 00's, including magentas. With that era making a comeback and gaining popularity with the Gen Z who were babies back then, it not surprising that the color along with a lot of the 90s aesthetic is coming back right now. I once upon a time, around 1999, had a long sleeved t-shirt, form fitting and a bit cropped, that came in a swirly/paisley pattern with the color palette of that retro circle pattern I created and am selling on Society6. While as a now 43 years old who was a teenager and young adult during that era, there are things like crop tops, low waist and chunky shoes that I don't feel like revisiting, they only look good on teens. But the colors? Hell yes! I've always been crazy about bold hues and seeing them come back in trends along with fun geometric patterns is refreshing. I welcome this move from Pantone because truth be told, I was getting a bit bored of their fairly safe picks in the past few years. 2022's Veri Peri while not a bad color in it self, felt a bit too much like a washed out, toned down version of 2020's Classic Blue, which was already pretty dull and ahem! Boring. Viva Magenta pretty much resonates with people being done with bland, boring and safe, 2 years of pandemic restrictions can do that to oneself. We all want to live again, and embrace a bold, fun lifestyle. So let's all step into what Pantone calls the Magentaverse.

Trends and styles come and go, what was in decades ago, went out of style only to come back in with a twist. One of those trend you need to watch for if you are surface designer and commercial artist is the "Mod" trend because it's been making a big comeback as of late. Probably as an extension or followup to another big design trend : Mid century modern. For a few years now, the late Millennials and Gen Z have been on a retro kick, probably trying to get a feel of a "simpler" time through the style and fashion trends of their parents and grand parents, this is the reason why the 50's, 60s and 70s aesthetic has seen a massive revival. Plus, all the vintage stores and thrift stores are now full of gems belonging to those decades in just the same way antique shops were filled with stuff from my great grand parents' time when I was a teenager. But what is mod? Mod is described as a subculture that started in London in the late 50's and early 60's, in term of fashion and style, it's the era of psychedelic patterns, and colorful geometric designs. Think mini dresses with stripes or checkered pattern in contrasting bold colors, bold geometric designs in every colors imaginable, swirls, circles and more. If you are above the age of 35 at the least, and definitely if you are a child of the late 70's and early 80's, I bet you had at least one grand parent, or even your parents having some decor elements from that period into their home, and you probably saw your parents pack away swirly pattern mini dresses, and checkered pants away. I myself remember an accent wall at my paternal grand parent's place that had a wallpaper with intertwined circles in a color palette similar to the one I used to create that Mod inspired pattern on this Society 6 credenza. While it was definitely not the style of my grand parent's era and the rest of the house was done in a more mid century style, that accent wall was in the bedroom my uncles shared and this was totally a type of style in vogue with the baby boomers when they were kids. My bedroom growing up was more of 70's style but had some of those geometric elements from the mod era still very much present : avocado green geometric wallpaper and orange carpet anyone? key elements to remember as a designer today In terms of colors, that style era was pretty much "anything goes" the pastel tones from the 50's still existed but got replaced by bolder tones in those same colors and as a surface designer and artist today, you need to pay attention because these colors are coming back in force. Just look at the bold yellows, pink, orange and green making a comeback in the fashion world and take your cue from it. If you have a teenage girl either as your daughter or as a relative, watch how they shop for clothes, or simply visit the teenager and young adult section in a clothing store, you are bound to see a rainbow of colors in those bold hues, paired with classic Mod patterns. Just this weekend, my daughter bought a bunch of Mod style sweaters, and bell bottom pants. The sweaters are a 60's colors and pattern meet the 90's cropped cut and as a 13 years old, she qualifies as late Gen Z, this is the generation that is just now getting their purchase power and you definitely want to pay attention to what they are into if you are in commercial art and design. Their lot is really into exploring what they perceive as "simpler times" through the aesthetic of that time, be it with the cottagecore trend or the Mod one. If you ask me, the Mod trend is an easy one to adapt to our time and as a color lover myself, I totally see the appeal. Working with geometric patterns and elements is actually a lot of fun, and because the 60's color trends are so wide, you are bound to find a couple of colors that are a match made in heaven with your own branding and style. So, if you haven't yet keyed on that trend yet, now is really the time to start exploring it because it's really starting to peak and will probably be around for a few years with it's bold checkered patterns and psychedelic swirls. If bold colors are not entirely your thing, just explore the 70's aesthetic instead which still has many of the geometric elements but with a more muted palette than the one from the early 60's

Every now and then, I buy some of my artwork on Society6 products to check the quality and use them in my everyday life. A few months ago I reviewed their water bottle. Back on the old blog I did review their Apple watch band, carry-all pouch and cutting board (don't worry they will be reviewed again here...soon) This time around, I bought two of my designs as iPhone though cases taking advantage of one for the biggest cyber week flash sale deal they had which made them shipping to India worth it. Back then they were 60% off but quite frankly, this is one of their product I would buy even at full price because so far I don't think I ever had a phone case that high in quality...EVER! I place the order on November 17th and it was marked as printed and shipped on November 18th with an Australia Post tracking number as they have a production partner there that probably cater to the whole Asia pacific region. For India this is also good news as usually parcels from Australia aren't subjected to custom fees the way even tiny items of low value from the US are. Past experience told me that the delivery would take 10-15 days to my home in Mumbai. Since this time around it was shipped from Australia, I got regular emails from Australia Post about my order, one of which was that it landed in Mumbai and was waiting custom clearance, that was exactly a week after placing the order, on November 24th and the parcel was dropped in the lobby of my building on November 26th by the India Post officer assigned to my area, and was told by email later that same day it got delivered. Which I knew already as I picked it up on my way out to the dentist. It arrived neatly packaged in a cardboard box and each phone case was wrapped in a protective pouch as shown in the picture above. I ordered two iPhone 11 cases and opted for the "though" variant rather than the slim case. I'm the least prone to dropping phones in our family but there have been a few instance of my cat sending all electronics devices off the furniture or my dog knocking my phone off my hands so I ALWAYS opt for cases with some sort of cushioning and raised edges, better safe than sorry. Choosing which designs to get on my new cases was the hardest quite frankly in the end I opted for the "Blush pink and navy floral fishes" and "Mint and gold spring floral pattern" (both links are affiliate links by the way). Those cases have a glossy finish which I LOVE, because all the cases I managed to get printed in India over the years had a matte finish I didn't quite like. Matte cases pick up all the dirt and just scratch the same way as any cases. Since I went with the "Tough" case, they come with a silicone sleeve liner that fit snuggly around the phone and in the case. The black silicone sleeve is what give the raised edge and protect your phone's screen if you place your phone face down. The print quality is as usual superb, Society6 can really be trusted in that department, all the colors are very close to the on screen version of the artwork, which in this case is also a digital design. It's a known fact that there will be a tiny difference in colors between the on screen file and the print version, but some companies, like Society6, are able to make that difference near to unnoticeable. If I really wanted to nitpick at this point, and for the sake of an honest review I will, I'd say that the navy blue on the fish phone case is quite darker than my original on screen color, but again, that kind of thing is expected to happen, especially with dark blues that are close to black in the first place. Over the years I dealt with enough bad phone case printing in India (muddy colors and all) that the fact a Navy blue background looks closer to black than navy is really not a problem at all. On top of them being printed perfectly, and having a glossy finish, I really LOVE the fact they fit on my phone very snuggly with no chances of them popping off during a potential fall. In fact swapping cases is proving to be a tiny bit hard as they fit too well, so be prepared to have to do a bit of pushing and pulling when you want to swap cases. Another thing I really appreciated is that the case has no sharp edges and bits poking. I have that problem when my designs were sold with Cupick, Paintcollar and Colorpur in India, as well as with independent printing services that all used the same super cheap, matte polycarbonate cases. I scratched myself a few too many times on those cheapo cases and it's good to know that there are quality printing companies in other part of the world that care about giving you a quality product that is worth the money you paid for it. Ordering on society6 from india I have several products bought over the years that prove once and for all, that ordering from India IS possible with Society6. They even got better at it over the years. Back in 2018 the cutting board and pouch I ordered were both shipped from the US. The Apple watch band and bottle I ordered earlier this year were shipped from Korea and the phone cases, as mentioned above were shipped from Australia. Both South Korea and Australia have trade agreements with India which means small items of low value do not attract the duty fees that are now plaguing parcels coming from the US. Back in 2018 it is worth to note I never paid custom duty either, but this has changed recently it seems. So Society6 having trusted production partners in the Asia Pacific region is great news. The US Dollar / Rupees currency exchange rate is not really in the favour of Indian shoppers though, but just the same, several of their products are actually worth the expense and aren't even that insanely costly when you compare it to some brands sold in India, minus the perk of having a unique design, and the fact you genuinely pay an artist with each purchase. The key is to wait for a sale or promotion on a specfic product, they have new promo every week and I post them on this website's home page. So if you have a specific item in mind, simply wait until it gets an attractive deal, usually there is always something going on at 30% off. Shipping comes on top of it, and it's dictated by the weight of the product, I paid 8$ on shipping for these two cases and it's pretty much the kind of shipping I paid on each orders I placed in the past. In this case, ordering one or two cases didn't affect the shipping at all, it was 8$ so I ordered 2 right away. If you are an artist with them, they will also deduct your royalty markup from the final price, so as a designer, you get your items at an additional discount nobody else has, making it extra sweet. Back in 2018 I found out that it wasn't possible to pay with an Indian credit or debit card on their payment gateway, but you can do so via PayPal. Designers selling on Society6 have a PayPal account by default, so for me it was never a problem and I never tried using a credit card again since that first time in 2018. I have no idea if as of 2022 they changed their card policy to allow Indian cards to be processed through their payment gateway.