Keep calm and merry on and my self-exploration

I have been reading a lot lately. Both books and blogs. Most of them focus on illustration, design, creativity and art business. I have begun to be addicted to reading artists' lives/behind-the-scene since I took Creative Courage class, in which several insightful artists' interviews were provided. Before that I basically browsed blogs by pictures as in leisure time. Long English-written posts always got overlooked. Until I got serious about my dream.

I remember my very first dream came to me when I was a little kid drawing repeatedly similar big-eyed dolls imitated from several sets of paper dolls I collected. The dream was to be a fashion designer. Then being a kid who didn't think much, I forgot about it and drew less. I just lived my life reading books, studying languages which I knew I liked but not really knew exactly what I would want to do with them. I got in a university majoring in English and selected Spanish as minor, still not sure what I would work after the uni.

Then one day in an English poetry class, I suddenly felt like the big white ceiling of the classroom was pushing down on me. I felt suffocated. I began to get sleepy in classes and question why we had to interpret some old poetry so seriously (maybe the poet might just want to express their emotion purely, with no serious meanings?)

I still liked books, loved to learn more languages. It's just that I couldn't see myself working in the field. Not sure how I came up with the idea of working as a graphic designer. Maybe it's a combination of two things that I love, drawing and reading. After graduation, I took another degree in graphic design then worked as a freelance book designer and now I think I'm becoming a stationery designer.

Why do I suddenly talk about all of this? I don't know. It seems that I have developed some kind of self-exploration lately. Before Make Art That Sells class, I was lucky to work in the field that I liked but they were all clients' works. I hardly had my own design, my own projects. Now I become more acute of what I like and dislike, what I want to do and don't want to. I have said no to some job offer and really focused on my MerryDay, my own stationery brand.

I am taking a risk but, strangely, I think I'm happier than when I knew exactly how much I would be paid for my freelance projects...

This year is my learning year. I take e-classes, read several books and blogs about art business and artists behind the scenes and give myself more time to work on my illustration/stationery design. My next drawing collection should be unique and wonderful enough to make more people recognize my MerryDay.

Am I too ambitious? Can I make it happen or will I be still be blogging this same thing next year? I don't know but the latest Etsy order I have just got today tells me that it's no use to worry about what have not come yet. The only thing I can do right now is keep working :)

Keep calm and merry on, that's what I'm saying now :)

Thanks for coming. Again, I wish you a merry day :D

MerryDay playground journal cover Global Talent Search submission

Here is my journal cover designed for Lilla Rogers studio's Global Talent Search.  I don't usually participate in any design contest that requires a fee to enter. However, as a student of Make Art That Sells class, I was automatically eligible to join in the contest. I didn't expect myself to win from the beginning. This doesn't mean that  I gave up right from the start or I didn't think I was good enough. It's just that, after 5 weeks with Lilla's class reviews, I kind of had a glimpse of what she liked and what she felt so-so and I didn't think my work fell in the first.

Then, why did I still enter? This is because I viewed it as an extra assignment to accomplish (Lilla actually said this to prevent us from getting too tensed with the competition). It's challenging to work on a piece that has a real client, in this case Lilla herself and Paperchase. It would be great if I could get to the next round and if I couldn't, I still had this good piece for my portfolio :)

In this first round, we were assigned to work on a journal cover in the theme of 'playground'.  I started it by sketching things that related to the theme, swing tire, jungle gym, sand box, horse on spring etc. I'd like to add my merry characters in it too and then a whimsical idea of combining the playground theme with tea time bakery just popped in my head. Why tea time bakery?, I'm not sure, maybe because I associated fun in playground with kids and kids like dessert and sweet candies. I always like combining unrelated things together and transform it into new aspect. Just as I did with the tea cup and kettle as the see-saw in playground :)

Then, I tried to think more of bakery/playground theme. So came the candies swing, the strawberry Pocky jungle gym, the donut swing and berries tart sandbox. I really enjoyed working on each elements. I have to admit though that although I said I didn't care if I would win or not, I think when you work very hard, you just can't help hoping. However, at the back of my mind, I still thought that this would not be what Lilla would fancy.

Lilla always emphasized that good artwork had to read well in small size, meaning if you reduce the work into stamp size, the work should still be catching and attractive. This means you need to have strong contrast, great characters and compositions and stunning colors. I tried doing that but just as I said in the previous post, people really see things differently. I thought my journal popped up when reduced small but maybe it's not in other people's view? I don't know. It's really a matter of point of view.

Anyway, I didn't get through to the next round and I'm ok with it. This piece may not be the best ( I think there's still something that can be improved) but it is good enough and the most important thing is that I really enjoyed doing it and really happy to receive good feedbacks when I shared it in the class group. Besides, I already have a ton of ideas to make stationery items based on this design for my MerryDay shop. It's not a waste of time at all :)

So, this post is officially the end of Make Art That Sells class part A. I'm moving on to another e-course posts. This one is more relaxing and more play. The class is Painted Pages workshop.

You think I'm crazy girl addicted to taking e-courses? Yes, I think I am :) I have just realized recently that while I am learning new things from the classes, I'm also exploring my inner self spiritually too. I'm not sure if I will be able to express myself properly but I think it's an interesting and exciting topic to blog about. Let's see what I will have for the next posts.

Thanks for joining in my creative journey. It will never end and I hope you enjoy it along the way :)

Have a merry day :D

MerryDay Goes to School : what I think about Make Art That Sells Class (part 2)

Continuing from the previous post about what I think about Make Art That Sells Class, the big question I got from the beginning of the class is :

Do I think the class worth the money?

I have always had positive thoughts for e-classes both before and after class. My rule in life is that you have to accept the result of your own decisions. If the result is good, you are right and lucky. If it's not, it's not worth the time to fuss about what already passed. Learn the lessons and move on, that's what I always tell myself. Like I said in the previous post : Life is getting shorter :)

So, I already thought the class worth the money right from the beginning. Then while the class was progressing I was more confirmed. There are two majors points for this confirmation :

• The class REALLY brought me to focus on my dream path. 
Sometimes you know what your dream is but you just don't know exactly how you will reach your dream. I feel that this class sets practical guidelines for me. Each week we had a specific topic and we started the week with 'mini-exercise' on Monday, which was to draw/paint/experiment anything relating to the topic. Then we set out to do the week's assignment on Wednesday and the deadline for the work would be on Sunday.

One of my friends said that anyone could tell you to draw a lot and set your own guidelines but I think it's not just that. I agree that I can come up with my own commitment to draw everyday and to complete an artwork a week but the hardest part is 'to do it successfully'. This commitment needs to be in an inspiring environment. This leads to my other major point, the student group.

• Being among those who have the same passion really helps you grow in creative journey.
Being a freelancer, I have always worked by myself. My best friend to consult about design or technical issues was the internet and going through creative blocks or depression alone was not really fun. So, I'm so glad to find that fellow students in this class are so generous and supportive. We went through 5 weeks of tough assignments, anxiety and creative blocks together so it's like there's a bond among us, which I think it's hard to find in this virtual world.  Even when the class ended, we are still connecting, sharing and growing into some other sub-topic groups. I realized that this kind of connection is something I have been looking for and now I find it and it becomes one of the reason why I think this class, which brings us together, worth the money :)

There's also one important point for those who are considering taking the next session of this class : we didn't get one-on-one feedback from Lilla in this class. Due to the large amount of students in the class, each week Lilla would pick only15-20 art pieces to review. This is a major point discussed among those who were in class and those who were not. Some of the students are still a bit upset with not getting personal feedbacks and some who are interested in taking the class are hesitating.

As for me, I thought the class would have limited seats and it surprised me a bit that they kept promoting the course even when there were already a lot of students. I didn't expect to have personal feedbacks from Lilla though. I may think differently from others. I just think that getting feedbacks from one person doesn't really help you grow much, especially if that person doesn't have the same taste with you. Even if she or he has the same taste or same style, it's likely that you will become attached to that person and the attempt to please her or him will have a chance to ruin your own style.

I said this from my personal experience. I admired some teachers in my college time and it took me some years of struggling to realize that I was all wrong. The best way to improve your works is to listen to your own like and dislike plus feedbacks from other people, a lot of people, not just one person. Art is a matter of taste. You cannot satisfy the whole world as people really think and see things differently.

That's why I say that being in the student group with different points of view is really worthwhile :)

I think this is all my thought about Make Art That Sells class. In all, taking this class is one of my best decisions and I'm looking forward to learn more in part B which will start this October :)

There's one more thing relating to this course. I participated in Lilla's Global Search Talent. I didn't get in the next round but maybe you still will be interested to see my design?

I will write about it soon. Thanks for coming. Hope this post is helpful for someone.
Have a merry day :D

MerryDay Goes to School : worries, distractions and what I think about Make Art That Sells Class

Life always has unforeseen interruptions. Last week I was very excited with my carefully laid-out plan for my future business. This week I spend all of my time at hospital taking care of my parents who get sick at the same time. It scares me a bit. It's inevitable fact that old age comes with sickness. My parents are quite old right now and I am already in thirty-something. A woman who decides to go back to the very first stage of building up her new career path, which will take years to accomplish. Life's getting shorter everyday and I wonder if I can make it happen at the end...

But that's only one of million things in life that I'm worried about. I'm glad that I have aged and learned enough to know you should not add worries to worries.

I have just read Noreen's post of Winston Churchill - 6 Things to Do. The very first is "Focus on what you are doing right now." and someone commented on this post with "80% of what we worry about doesn't come true."---Two statements that I need to focus :)

So, enough with my worries and distractions, I'm coming back to focus on my illustration and design work skill now.

Above is a compilation of all my assignment done in Make Art That Sells class (Click to see the larger image here). Things haven't changes in term of design and style but I think there's a lot of improvement in details and background, which I used to consider as my drawback. I generally drew my subject in kind of stand alone format---no background and not a lot of details and sometimes didn't even have a story. So doing more details and building stories and backgrounds is what I intended to improve from the very first week of the class.

This comes to my main topic for this post : what do I think about Make Art That Sells class?  It's the question I have been asked often. To answer it properly, let me start with the question of "What did I expect from this class?" first.

Before starting this class, I expected that :

• I would learn more about art business in general.

• I would learn about how to use my art in different products.

• I would get to know more people (and get people know more about me).

• I would improve my skill in illustration and design (doing more details, backgrounds and stories)

Then when the class finished, I found that :

• I think I learn more of art business, not in specific details but I have a glimpse of what art business is like and how I can learn more about it.

• I definitely learn more about how to use my art in different products and markets. Lilla had planed this course neatly by categorizing each week into different markets and she did wonderful job in giving us details of how each market worked, how to get your work into that kind of market (although this requires personal talent and hard work too) and there were tons of beautiful art samples to keep us excited and inspired.

• I'm not sure if fellow students know more about me but I certainly get to know more people and being with those who are also in creative journey really helps me focus and stay on my track. I have to say that the class student group is the best supportive art community and I am glad I'm a part of it :)

• I think my skill in design and illustration has been improved, not technically but in term of thinking and implementing more details which is exactly what I want to improve.

This post is getting long now. I think I'm going to break it into 2 posts. The next post will be about the big question "do I think this class worth the money?"

Thanks for coming. Have a merry day :)

Sunday Sketch and my gratitude

Peaceful Sunday. I have tried to leave Sundays in my planner blank for each week. It's supposed to be no-work day but some Sundays I just can't help it :) It's going to be sketch-only day though so that I won't feel drained out too early next week.

Sunday sketch today is also my work, a new drawing collection. I call it 'secret garden' at first but maybe it doesn't completely go with other keywords I set for drawing which are flowers, fruits, birds and grateful. The theme of gratitude comes from a friend's post on my facebook feed about her husband noting down three things he felt grateful for each day. It's a common idea you hear constantly but it is really an idea that we tend to take it for granted especially when we are so busy with our lives. It's also strange that people tend to focus on bad things that happen rather than good things that we have.

I'm still working on how I present the theme in different formats. A Thank you card for sure and cute little gift tags. I also want to see it in bookplates and how about letter set? People write letters less but there are those who cherish the more intimate friendship activity and it would be nice if I can make some lovely paper that someone would love to put their writing on and send to their friends. I have just got a feedback from a customer who bought my Flower Kraft letter set saying that she can't wait to write letters to her pen pals. It's just a simple feedback but it struck me that my work could be a part of someone's loving activity and I feel really happy. To be honest, I'm still struggling with my sales on Etsy but you have to know that a short line feedback like this really keeps me going. I think this can fall in the gratitude theme :)

I think I need to get going and do some more sketches. I hope you enjoy my 365 days I draw project. I'm really far behind the schedule but believe me I'm trying to draw everyday :) There are two more posts I want to talk about Make Art That Sells class too. This needs organized thoughts and as I'm writing in English which is not my native language, it will take some time :)

Thanks for coming. Hope you have a merry weekend.

:)

365 days I draw (day 123-126)

Hello Saturday. Still working on my new drawing collection, my 365 days I draw and try to write another Make Art That Sells post. I feel a bit overwhelmed sometimes but they are all what I love to do so I shouldn't be complaining :)

Here are what I have drawn so far for my 365 days I draw project.

Have a merry weekend!


day 126 : entrance


day 125 : plot

day 124 : salad


day 123 : literature

MerryDay Goes to School : Gift (pouch design)

Two more posts plus an extra one about Make Art That Sells Class. I wish I could be more disciplined in both writing and reading other lovely blogs. But here I am trying as best I can...

Make Art That Sells class's last week is about Gift. Everyone in the class has his or her own favorite topic they had expected to learn more. Most of them including me said it's children book week we eagerly waited. It was a fun and challenging week but after class ended, I found that the Gift week is related to what I have always wanted to do most.

My MerryDay on etsy is focusing on stationery design and illustration items which can be produced at home by myself as I want to start it small first. But I have always imagined it in my head that, in the future, I would have a range of various kind of products--coffee mugs, tote bags,  pouches... anything in gift shops.  This class helps direct me to focus on what to do to reach that goal :)

We had done pattern, plate design, children's book, wall art and in this Gift week, we got to do a pouch.  As usual, we started with a mini exercise first : to gather things you love to collect.

Most students had large collections of various kinds of things, buttons, miniature dolls, stones, stamps etc. As for me, I don't collect anything seriously except children's picture books which I have started collecting recently. I have also just moved from my parent's big house to live with my husband in a small apartment. So, I had really limited collection here.







The reason Lilla wanted us to collect things as much as possible was that we had to do a hyper-lush pouch for the main assignment.  I heard the word hyper-lush for the first time but it didn't take me long to picture how the pouch would be with such style as Lilla had tons of examples to show us.  If you wonder what exactly is the 'hyper-lush' style, you can get a general idea from these google images.

Basically, the style involves around vivid colors, a lot of large and small flowers or photo objects overlapped or crammed in. This was quite a challenge for me as I usually work in simple graphic style and when there's too much going on I tend to lose my grip on overall design. Lilla said we didn't need to do the hyper-lush, she just showed us the current trend in fashion which could be done in gift product line too. I was quite sure that I couldn't do it but it never hurt to try :) So I started by sketching things from my little collection.



I tried doing photo collage and failed so I went back to something I was more familiar with, digital illustration. I still want to have a look of the hyper-lush with my own illustration style and here is my initial pencil sketch of the pouch.


I found that it was much easier to do the digital work when I had the pencil sketch. The sketch was quite complete and I could imagine how it would turn out so I didn't have problem to visualize it into this digital form.



Before I started this drawing, the idea of this color palette, mint, magenta and taupe, suddenly came to me when I saw a mini-cooper car in cute mint color drove pass me one day and I thought 'oh, I'm going to have a mint pouch!' and magenta and taupe sort of come along after that. You have to love the moment when inspiring things happen while you are doing something else :)

Above is the hyper-lush pouch in my style. I tried imagining this design in various kind of products and it's very exciting to see that there are so many possibilities from only one theme, one design!

So, this is the end of the Make Art That Sells class part A. I'm going to join in part B this October. I still feel the energy and inspirations going on in me and I think I have more focus on my goal too. I will wrap it up about how I feel and what I have learned from this class in the next post.

Thanks for coming and have a merry day :D