Featured Artist Of The Week – Nadine May

I love you by Nadine May

I met Nadine on Facebook where she posted some of her Zazzle designs, and knew that I had to get to know more about  her work. Thankfully, she agreed to sit down for an interview with me. Her bright and colorful florals are featured in her store “Just Kidding”, such as this  King Potrea Pillow while her store “The Awakening” features fantastical images that are stunning, beautiful and visionary.

Me: How long have you been working with Zazzle?

Nadine: The 14th of October 2015 was my first anniversary with Zazzle.
I found out about Zazzle when two friends were chatting to each other on a Skype group about Redbubble and Zazzle. I was clueless as to what they were talking about so I asked them. That was my first introduction to this wonderful possibility that anybody can design images for products and can earn royalty payments. For the rest of that week I looked, read, and practised while now and then chatting to my friends on Skype.
My normal job doing book cover designs for Kima Global Publishers was going through a quite rough time, so I found myself glued to my computer chair for hours creating images for the Zazzle templates. I thought of all the leather work, drawings and paintings I had done over the years and was keen to see them displayed on their products.
I love illustrating – telling stories through imagery, and today I love working with Photoshop. I’m self taught and learn each day what I can do with this amazing program.

Fairy Kingdom Postcard

Me: What made you choose Zazzle?
Nadine: Zazzle has a lot of products and a very easy platform to create an online presence for a designer.
Kima Global Gifts shop
An idea came to me one morning that I could use many of my book design covers and I format these for the Zazzle templates and at the same time promote the title of the book! I thought the authors would be my first customers! That has not happened so far….but they do like my efforts.
Just kidding shop
It is here that I post all my past and present artworks, especially the leather work. I still have to do a lot of scanning, but now I had to start organizing my computer by creating files for the many images and photos I want to use for my designs.
The Awakening shop
I write articles for Hubpages. Most of these posts are about the research I’ve done over the years for my visionary fiction novels. I love creating images for these articles, but they are more about very alternative topics, so I created a different shop for these designs and two weeks ago I started to prepare an online doodle workshop using Zazzle products. I can also add the article links to the designs for visitors just in case they are interested

Me: How would you describe your process as an artist?
Nadine: I’m a visionary fiction author and learned over the years that to write a book is a lot easier than selling a book, and so I know that the same applies to images. As an artist, I had to invent myself all over again. I’ve created two blogs for all my product designs. One with WordPress and one with Blogpost. I do have other blogs that are more connected with my published novels available on Amazon and many other platforms, and I often post a product image on there if it links to the topics of my writings. I learned a great deal from other Zazzle designers on Facebook, and the friendships I have made with them are an added bonus.
I share theirs and my own products on my own Facebook shopping page and on Pinterest and Google+. I try to be creative by using Polyvore for display purposes. Now all I need is to be able to stretch “TIME”

Spring Basket Gatherers

Me: What do you think are your greatest obstacles in creating and selling art for an online platform?
Nadine: To reach an exposure level that results in sales takes hard work and time.
Many people would never spend the hours that I do each day after I have told them what I have earned so far over the one year period, but I have every confidence that each year my earnings will multiply. What is for me the most important is that I LOVE what I do. I could never do anything solely for the money, no matter how financially lucrative it might be.

Best of Zazzle – Pillow Edition # 2

I love how easy it is to add accent colors to our home, by simply adding some pillows. It is an inexpensive way to freshen up your living room or bedroom and add an extra creative touch. Here are my current favorites available at Zazzle.

Moroccan Quatrefoil Pattern

Purple Pattern Pillow

Heart Fretwork Scroll Pattern Pillow

Yellow and Gray Floral Pattern

Whimsical Retro Flamingo Pattern

Persian Carpet Pattern Pillow

As always, thank you for supporting independent artists.

Have a wonderful day!

Claudia

Featured Artist Of The Week: Lisa Marie from DawdlingDoodles

Funny Cartoon Couple Girl Kissing and Boy Mad by DawdlingDoodles

Do you like quirky, yet pretty art? Then Dawdling Doodles has exactly what you need. Artist Lisa Marie has created a charming series of adorable and sometimes funny pieces of art, that are softly colored and simply beautiful. I had a chance to ask her a few questions a few days ago and wanted to share this interview here with you.

Me:  How long have you been drawing and creating art?
Lisa: Pretty sure I was born with a crayon in my hand. But I’ve been making art professionally for about 5 years now (opened my studio after I completed my MA in Art History). The doodles started about 1 year ago. Mostly in my studio I create fine art portraits and I needed a way to decompress artistically, so I began doodling on scrap pieces of paper. After a while, I had a pile of cartoon images and I figured I would put them to work – that’s how my doodle blog was born.

Me:  Your Dawdling Doodles are charming, and showcase a quirky sense of humor. How did you come about putting them on Zazzle?
Lisa: Thank you! I already had a Zazzle store showcasing my fine art drawings (http://www.zazzle.com/nosesnposesfromalm), hence opening a second store showing silly doodles (http://www.zazzle.com/dawdlingdoodles) was a fun side project at first. But then they became very popular and it just started to grow and grow! Now it’s just part of my regular studio routine.

Cartoon Child with Wolf Drawing by DawdlingDoodles

Me: What is your favorite aspect of creating art for Zazzle?
Lisa: I love seeing where all my customers come from! The idea that someone in Ireland or Switzerland is wearing one of my doodles on a t-shirt makes me smile! And around the holidays, when the store gets really busy, it’s really fantastic to think that people all over the world are giving my doodles as presents! Sometimes I think there’s no greater gift than the gift of humor.

Me: Take us through your process of creating a piece. Do you sit down with a specific idea in mind, or do you let your creativity flow without boundaries when you sit down to create a piece?
Lisa: Heh, ummm……it’s pretty sporadic. Doodles happen when I need a break from some realistic portrait that I’m drawing for a customer. Usually, I just grab a piece of paper and start to play. Eventually, one particular doodle catches my eye and that’s the one I commit to finishing. If I really want to make something pop, I’ll even put it in Photoshop and enhance some details. But I have a strict rule to never take my doodles too seriously. If I overwork a cartoon, it loses that impulsive playful feel.

Me: How can the audience connect with you outside of Zazzle? Do you have any social media accounts or blogs you want to mention?
Lisa: Oh, I’m all over the place! They can find me on Instagram (ArtistryByLisaMarie), they may see my fine art portraits at ArtistrybyLisamarie.wordpress.com, and they can see a new doodle every Monday on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/DawdlingDoodles

Me: What would you like to tell an independent artist out there, who is trying to get the nerve up to put themselves out there?
Lisa: There will never be a “perfect time” to start, so just go for it! Really, sharing your art can be one of the greatest hurdles for a new artist. You just have to look the computer square in the keyboard and put your stuff out there!

Thanks for taking the time to answers these questions.

As always, please support independent artists with your purchase. And stop by again next week, when I will feature another exciting independent artist.

Have a blessed day!

Claudia

Making Money On Zazzle – How To Add Tracking Codes To Your Zazzle Referral Links

Every Zazzle designer has their own Zazzle Associates ID code, via which you receive referral pay when you promote your own work or that of another designer on Zazzle. But did you know that you can also add a tracking code to
your referral links? This can be particularly helpful if you are running a promotion or are testing a new strategy in your Zazzle sales.
While it might be a little time consuming, it is quite simple to execute.

Let me show you on this example

The following is a completed link I would use to track one of my items ( A Spooky Heart Halloween Pillow)

http://www.zazzle.com/heart_pillow-189963342484307757?rf=youruniqeassociateidhere&tc=Halloween

This section is your product code:
http://www.zazzle.com/heart_pillow-189963342484307757

?rf=youruniqeassociateidhere  is where your unique associates referral id would be – which is unique to you, and will be assigned to you by Zazzle. Your Associate ID can be found in the Associates tab of the MY ACCOUNT section within the Zazzle website.

&tc=Halloween is the unique tracker I added in order to keep track of my Halloween sale stats. You can create your own combination of letters and/or numbers to create whatever tracking code you would like to use, and makes sense to you. I highly recommend that you keep it simple, though.

Put together, you can use this uniquely created link to check up on your promotions and sales.

If you want to add a tracking code to your Zazzle Pinterest pins, you will have to manually add your tracking code AFTER pinning it to your board. This can take some additional time, but it is really worth it, if you are serious about tracking the performance of your individual campaigns or products.

Have a wonderful day!

Claudia

Featured Artist Of The Week – Octavi Navarro

 

Pixels Hu by Octavi Navarro features fun designs that drew me in because of the artist’s unique ability to draw from video games, and bring that inspiration to life in digital applicable art. I had a chance to connect with him over the last few days and allowed me share some insights into his work and life as an artist.

 

Octavi Navarro – The Painter

 

What is the main inspiration behind your art?

I don’t think I can point out just one source of inspiration. The ideas behind my works always come in a very natural way, sometimes while watching a movie, playing a video game or reading a book. It’s really important for me to tell an interesting story in my illustrations, something that feels touching to me in some way, so these kind of sources are always useful.

 

Octavi Navarro – The Flood

What are the techniques you use and why?

I try to get as close as possible to the classic pixel art feeling of the early 90’s video games, but mixed with my own painting techniques. I’m pretty obsessed with lighting and shadows so I use the techniques that allow me to achieve the effects I want, even if it moves away from the “purist” idea of pixel art.

Octavi Navarro – Day Off

This charming technique is actually one of the aspects that drew me to your art in the first place, so I think you succeeded with your mission. So, how did you get started as an Artist?

As far as I remember I’ve been drawing and painting all my life. I was a very shy kid so I always used my drawings as a way to express myself. While working as a graphic designer in a technology company, I started looking for illustration clients and that’s how I started my career as a freelance children’s books illustrator. I had lots of fun those years but at one point I wanted to make something more personal. Something that really talked about my personality and my feelings. Pixel art was the best medium I could think of to make that possible.

Octavi Navarro – The Toy Maker

How can people get in contact with you?

I can be contacted from wy website: www.pixelshuh.com
Also, I try to be pretty active on the social networks too, so people can find me on Twitter (@pixelshuh), Facebook (www.facebook.com/pixelshuh), Behance (www.behance.net/onavarro), Dribbble (dribbble.com/pixelshuh), DeviantArt (octavinavarro.deviantart.com), Pinterest (www.pinterest.com/octavinavarro), and of course Redbubble (www.redbubble.com/people/pixelshuh).
Those who like my work can also support it on Patreon: www.patreon.com/pixelshuh

Thank you for taking the time to sit down with me today!

As always, please remember to support independent artists. Independent artists create a unique variety of creative art pieces, that are always worth a second look. You can find something for every taste and in every style. Thank you!