Today I collected this travel mug from the post office. This is a Society6 travel mug with my illustration printed onto it. I thought I had better start testing out the quality of these things if I am going to continue to promote them.
Like the mug? Find it here.
Recently I’ve awakened to the print-on-demand revolution. I’m somewhat of a latecomer as this has been around for years.
Over the past 8 years I have relied heavily on shops to sell my work. I have developed good relationships with the owners and I’m happy to consider special requests for images and designs. I’ve wanted to test out my artwork on products however that can be tricky as you often end up with a massive upfront cost and some products that don’t shift as well as you’d hoped.
With POD, there isn’t that massive financial risk. You upload your image onto lots of cool stuff then hold your breath and see what happens.
This isn’t entirely passive as there are many hours of work that go into setting this up. You have to consider the time to create the artwork then add the image to the POD websites. You also have to self promote which I’m unashamedly doing here.
I think in order to be a financially sound artist, you have to consider lots of different income streams. It isn’t enough to have your work in one gallery. Or even 5 galleries. I often find myself asking the very necessary question “How can I make my art pay for my rent/bills/ travel etc?” The options are limitless if you open your mind to them.
This is how I roll 