Ok, yes. No “artwork” to publish here, folks, as I was busy preparing myself to enter into the insane asylum by dealing with marketing yet again for HoopPretty. It never stops. I’m not complaining. I’m just saying.
Good news is I launched an affiliate program today and things should quiet down on the marketing end and start gettin’ busy on the art creation end. They have to. Hells yes.
However, who says that banner ads aren’t art? It’s an art to make them look appealing in a very small space, that’s for damn sure!
So here’s some fun animated gifs for you. This entailed drawing and scanning and cleaning up. I was having fun for a bit there.
Such is the life of someone trying to build a brand on their lonesome.
Hey, a lil trivia for you… animated gifs were how my husband charmed me on our first date. True story. He said “do you want to see an animated gif I made?” and I said “um, sure”. The rest is history.
I got out of the house the other day and ventured to the local mall to de-gellify my brain, get some inspiration and get a little exercise in. Yay for multi-tasking! I stopped in at, I believe, Boston Store, and saw the new Fossil handbag collection and was like, OMG, adorable and stylish! I looked closer and noticed these were actually sturdy laptop bags and I have to say it’s about time manufacturers are delivering laptop bags with adorable pattern. (The last laptop bag I bought I had searched + searched for and actually ended up buying off of Etsy ~ alas it was too flimsy for me to actually use as a laptop bag, but the fabric pattern was what I fell in love with. I mostly use it as a tote now.)
This is much better than your standard lame dot or cutesy floral, folks. Fossil combines patterns in a sophisticated way. I’m trying to think of the name of the artist that these patterns remind me of, but alas, it evades me. Maybe I’ll just sneak that in later. Oh wait! Orla Kiely!
I even like the quilted floral option near the bottom! Jazz!
Check ‘em out…
The rest of the collection ~ cosmetic baglets and such…
What a week. I just launched the reincarnation of the site for HoopPretty, our lifestyle brand for hoop dance enthusiasts. (I designed + built this site myself by hacking some templates up. I’m getting really good at that.) AND we reached our goal of 500 fans on Facebook! Time to ceLeBrAte!
I had hoped to concentrate solely on design after this launch, but have done so much PR, blog posting and research on affiliate networks and… I sadly had no time for actual design. And JUST NOW I’m realizing that the artwork-creation-to-marketing-it ratio is about 40:60, I’d venture to say 30:70! No one ever told me this in art school and I always felt bitter and slighted because of it. Why not teach the business side to art? Let’s all just be starving artists. Well, you can leave me out. (See below about the exciting new tool from friend, savvy biz lady + fellow Surface Designer, Mizz Khristian A. Howell. I’ve been following her for the past year and visit her blog daily. She’s great inspiration for a successful artistic + entrepreneurial career.)
Any of these could’ve been my title this week:
- “Nerd/Programmer”
- “Marketing Douchebag”
- “Social Media ‘Expert’”
- “Very Pretty Socialite/Public Icon”
- “pr whore” (yes, all lowercase)
Thankfully, I like the variety. I’m actually enjoying the marketing aspects; however, I’d really like to find more time doing what makes me feel fulfilled, which is creating and sketching and designing. I’m thinking it’s maybe time to hire a PA or intern :)
The great thing is that I am learning SO MUCH about what it takes to be an entrepreneurial creative person and know it’s only a matter of time before this lil project of mine + my sister’s will be a success! I’m counting on it! It’s so gratifying to help give us both a platform to display our sassy creativity ~ eek, I’m tearing up a bit. My mother always said she’d hoped we’d one day work on something together and I’m so happy that this is where we’ve landed.
Next week is definitely a design-only week. Please hold me to it. If I don’t post any artwork on this here little blog please leave a dirty comment.
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Speaking of marketing + art, Khristain A. Howell is set to release “Showstopper*“ ~ a new tool for those thinking about exhibiting at Surtex, the art world’s marketing mecca. I have always found trade shows more than little mystifying… I’ve always felt like art licensing world has been so secretive and it’s great to see that artists like Khristian + Tara Reed are using what they’ve learned to clear things up + help artists reach their career goals. Click here to sign up for all the pre-sale details on SHOWSTOPPER! I’m sooo excited for this!
She also has an e-book out that’s like a mini intro to the bigger “Showstopper” tool, so if you want a little taste of what Surtex is all about before diving in too deep, check out “Confessions of a First Timer“.
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*Links in this post are affiliate links ~ I will get a commission if you purchase via these links, which helps me support my art supply addiction. Thank you!
Here’s some of my latest for hoop dancers. The new HoopPretty shop will be debuting soon! My sis and I have been busy coming up with some new craveables for our hooping friends.
I especially like the new “freak of nature” design ~ circus-inspired, elegant and fun.
Olaf Hajek is one of my new favorites and he is from Deutschland. I love his work not only for the vibrant + beautiful colors, but also the circus freak vibe that surrounds many of his pieces. And the humor.
He reminds me very much of Maira Kalman. Delicate, gouachey and not overly sophisticated (in a good way, I think). What’s different about his work is that he seems to like to put flowers on heads and merge human + animal together a lot. A LOT. But I like to do that too, so I don’t judge.
Here’s just a few of the ones that stood out to me, but honestly, I could look and pick all day. His site is split up into different categories and I didn’t even look at the “Maps” section yet. Will have to do that another day as I’ve spent too much time already looking and frothing at the mouth.
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This one made me laugh…
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In a neutral-er palette… underwater freak show! Love it…
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| OMG Chuck Berry looks really cute in this for some reason…. |
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| Possibly the prettiest Coke ad I’ve seen. |
Some new art I did for HoopPretty! A lil hooping tutorial/diagram with instruction by a pig.
I discovered I enjoy including silly writing when I draw, so the idea of creating diagrams is natural to me.
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