MicrostockGroup
Illustrators Corner - Microstock Illustrators Forum => Illustration - General => Topic started by: EO on January 10, 2021, 21:49
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Hi, fellow illustrators in microstock. Let's have an ongoing chat.
Tell us about your style. Your favorite subject to illustrate? What are you working on now?
I work on paper and digital. I sell vector illustrations with minimal lines and highlighting, heavier on cel shading, lean towards realism. I also aspire to have a giant port of glitterized illustrations because glitter is fun. ;D My favorite subject is figure drawing. I'm currently illustrating a set of figures getting vaccinated--nurse, doctor, patients.
Who's next? And feel free to leave a general question for everyone to discuss.
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I do old school spot illustration with black outlines. I mostly don't use gradients, so I can make vector files that translate to the widest possible number of editing programs.
Once in a while, I'll break out into something more artistic.
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I love the look of line art. It has so much character and it's widely applicable. Do you have a favorite subject to illustrate?
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My favorite subjects don't overlap well with what sells. Erotica and mythological creatures.
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Oh, nice! There's definitely a market for that in literature and gaming, even POD, but not really in microstock that I've seen. I'd like to invest different styles and subjects, like fantasy paintings, but illustration for me is work. I'm not innately great at it but I continuously study and practice a lot at my craft.
How do you balance creating for work/money and creating for personal fulfillment? I sometimes feel guilty when I take time away from building up my portfolios.
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Microstock is micro stock. You get a a bit of chump change with multipurpose collections. You own the rights to the image/graphic and someone has the right to publish it for a limited time and or per use on stuff.
If you do get some jobs in designing video games, you obviously must get more royalties because its more specific. Its more on the RM side after all. Well for some. That is if you sell the whole rights to an image or character design then you only get one fixed price.
Or if your lucky enough you get to be an in house artist/designer and get an actual wage. Still, there are some places you can still do better then that. If you find it and or know someone. Or.....have built up a pretty good reputation, you can go far. :)
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How do you balance creating for work/money and creating for personal fulfillment? I sometimes feel guilty when I take time away from building up my portfolios.
I never feel guilty for personal creations. I just add them to my t-shirt shop and call it business. Sometimes, they sell!
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Yup every one does that. Its called multipurpose usage. And then some too. Just have to try a bunch of things and find what is most suited for your assets. :)
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I should diversify my style then, because I illustrate mainly for web and digital use. Here's a great old reddit thread where a bunch of graphic designers and printers left suggestions for vector illustrators. Lots of good pointers.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Design/comments/vzb62/im_a_vector_stock_illustrator_what_do_designers/ (https://www.reddit.com/r/Design/comments/vzb62/im_a_vector_stock_illustrator_what_do_designers/)
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Nice! Thanks for sharing. 😊
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No problem!
One thing they mentioned was creating one color or fewer color versions. Here's an old illustration I'm fiddling with. They also complained about disorganized layers, lol! I try to group things logically, for my own sanity, but I stopped naming layers.
(https://i.imgur.com/h0SrwgDl.png)
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Any illustrators here on society6?
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I sell on Society 6. Sales are moderate. Uploading is a freaking pain.
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Yes, the uploading and formatting is extra. I haven't done much with my shop since I started, but here it is:
https://society6.com/pursuitofnatural (https://society6.com/pursuitofnatural)
I was featured last year and the uptick really showed how dismal traffic and discoverability normally is over there. I'd like to follow more illustrators over there too, if you feel like sharing your link. I had this brainwave for collaborations on there, where each artist creates a piece for a collection and each sells a particular product for that set exclusively. So a bag, a hoodie, and a phone case all designed to go together but sold separately through each artist's shop. It would depend on having similar styles, I think, but would be good for building community, discoverability, and cross promotion.
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I've FINALLY discovered what the name of this recently ubiquitous illustration trend is! "Corporate art". Originally started at Facebook, unsurprisingly. I get the appeal. It's not for me.
Here's a brief critique:
https://youtu.be/lFb7BOI_QFc
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Yes, the uploading and formatting is extra. I haven't done much with my shop since I started, but here it is:
https://society6.com/pursuitofnatural (https://society6.com/pursuitofnatural)
I was featured last year and the uptick really showed how dismal traffic and discoverability normally is over there. I'd like to follow more illustrators over there too, if you feel like sharing your link. I had this brainwave for collaborations on there, where each artist creates a piece for a collection and each sells a particular product for that set exclusively. So a bag, a hoodie, and a phone case all designed to go together but sold separately through each artist's shop. It would depend on having similar styles, I think, but would be good for building community, discoverability, and cross promotion.
I see. This is just another custom apparel site. Similar to Zazzle. For now, just trying out the mentioned. So far I only had one sale, but the amount of "stuff" I have there is minuscule compared to other people who have more stuff and been there longer.
Just one of the many things I'm trying out to supplement my side venture and to supplement my main ventures. :)
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I've FINALLY discovered what the name of this recently ubiquitous illustration trend is! "Corporate art". Originally started at Facebook, unsurprisingly. I get the appeal. It's not for me.
Here's a brief critique:
https://youtu.be/lFb7BOI_QFc
Oh yeah! Seen that style around. Reminds me of Nick park's stuff. Love that guy's "stop motion" animation.
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Anyways. I wonder if there's a good place anyone could recommend that would have custom night shirts available to be custom designed? So far I haven't seen those offered at any place where you can design custom products.
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Now that you mention it, I can see some Nick Park influences in the 3d design.
I don't know of any places offering night shirts, but these sites are adding more items all the time. Maybe they'll get around to that soon.
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Zazzle has nightshirts. I think they call them dorm shirts, or shirt dresses.
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First of all I want to thank you guys for starting this chat, I can't remember the last time the illustrators/vector artists had anything interesting going on on this forum. It was a good read. I am a veteran considering that I registered on Shutterstock in 2005 and so many things happened since then, but I was doing okay with my vector graphic designs and illustrations all this time until recently. My style is absolutely eclectic, I always tried to go with the flow and please what the market and ongoing trends demand. The changes in June 2020 at SS made me think that I should shift my focus from microstock towards other areas like POD sites. I love creating seamless patterns so now I am focusing on that too.
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Howdy, medveh!
The changes in June 2020 at SS made me think that I should shift my focus from microstock towards other areas like POD sites. I love creating seamless patterns so now I am focusing on that too.
I figured the same, especially as POD sites and Etsy note the uptick in people buying for their homes because they are stuck at home most of the time. It only makes sense to invest a little more time into my portfolio there.
I like to plan out illustration sets or mini collections around a theme, and I definitely want to have some seamless patterns. They look great on pretty much every product offering and have been fun to make since I learned how to. My goal this year is to create a xmas holiday collection around one of my better selling pieces on society6 and see how it does.
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Zazzle has nightshirts. I think they call them dorm shirts, or shirt dresses.
Ah that explains it! You learn something new every day!
Sort of like the best baked potato I ever had is called a Jacket potato and it comes from the UK.
But yeah thanks for the info! Never heard them referred to dorm shirts.
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Howdy, medveh!
The changes in June 2020 at SS made me think that I should shift my focus from microstock towards other areas like POD sites. I love creating seamless patterns so now I am focusing on that too.
I figured the same, especially as POD sites and Etsy note the uptick in people buying for their homes because they are stuck at home most of the time. It only makes sense to invest a little more time into my portfolio there.
I like to plan out illustration sets or mini collections around a theme, and I definitely want to have some seamless patterns. They look great on pretty much every product offering and have been fun to make since I learned how to. My goal this year is to create a xmas holiday collection around one of my better selling pieces on society6 and see how it does.
Only thing is that if you're a regular person, the products being sold are rather expensive. I mean if I really wanna T shirt with a design on it, for me, I would rather spend a few bucks compared to about 20-30 or more bucks in Canadian.
For a Canadian, those products are a bit pricey. This is concerning for me especially if buyers might see this as expensive. Oh well. Still I have to try just like anyone else.
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I've FINALLY discovered what the name of this recently ubiquitous illustration trend is! "Corporate art". Originally started at Facebook, unsurprisingly. I get the appeal. It's not for me.
Here's a brief critique:
https://youtu.be/lFb7BOI_QFc
Thanks for posting this. Great video. There's a lot of this style on the free sites (quick and easy to produce by their in house staff) so I think that is fuelling a lot of it too.
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Just a note. Corporate Art has been around since the 1960's. Elevator lobbies have been decorated with it almost from the beginning of elevator lobbies.
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Interesting reading, thanks.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9e/Keep_On_Truckin%27_1968.jpg)
1968
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Neat image. Is that ye olde corporate style? I seem to recall a lot of oldie cartoons had this similar style. They have the disproportionate bodies we're seeing again today, but they still have a lot of detail work. I wonder if there are any more simpler examples from back then.
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Neat image. Is that ye olde corporate style? I seem to recall a lot of oldie cartoons had this similar style. They have the disproportionate bodies we're seeing again today, but they still have a lot of detail work. I wonder if there are any more simpler examples from back then.
I had to look up corporate style after Hannafate mentioned that. I'm not an illustrator as such and not up on trends and styles. But I really enjoy reading a forum where people talk about something besides what we see repeated here more recently.
R. Crumb interesting guy. His Keep on Truckin' was adopted by the Hippies. I didn't know until I looked him up, because of this thread, that he hated that. I always liked his work and his forward thinking.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Crumb (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Crumb)
And "I became acutely self-conscious about what I was doing. Was I now a "spokesman" for the hippies or what? I had no idea how to handle my new position in society! . . . Take Keep on Truckin... for example. Keep on Truckin'... is the curse of my life. This stupid little cartoon caught on hugely."
Heck I didn't know he was still around: https://www.crumbproducts.com/ (https://www.crumbproducts.com/)
So thanks for the interesting and informative thread that's not "that other stuff" 8) and
(https://i.postimg.cc/zvXKhs6T/keep-on-truckin-sq-300.gif)
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Whoa, that biography. :o
"In Crumb's own words, it was a lengthy drug trip on LSD that "left him fuzzy for two months" and led to him adopting the surrealistic, psychedelic style for which he has become known"
That certainly explains some things, lol.
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Whoa, that biography. :o
"In Crumb's own words, it was a lengthy drug trip on LSD that "left him fuzzy for two months" and led to him adopting the surrealistic, psychedelic style for which he has become known"
That certainly explains some things, lol.
Good old fashion, hippie days, drug induced, permanent damage. ;D I hadn't caught that part.
Reminds me of a true story. I'm sitting at a bar and some local dizzy person, maybe acid drug burn out, comes in and splashes a pile of nickels, dimes and pennies on the bar and says, "What can I get for this" and the bartender says "Maybe a knuckle sandwich?" He did give the kid a beer, but it was pretty funny.
There was a local, Hippie Dave, he even had posters of himself and ran for office. He'd hide his stash every night, somewhere secret in the park, when no one was following him, because if the police broke in, they couldn't bust him for having marijuana. Paranoia wasn't uncommon during the days of Free Love.
I still think R. Crumb was an interesting creative with his own style and ideas, which I always admire. Mr. Natural, now I remember that one. Fritz The Cat! WOW, takes me back. Hi Brows greeting cards: https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=ox%2B6I7k0&id=A1E763BF1D63E9EF27C4ADFC8EBE393AE6D9194B&thid=OIP.ox-6I7k0AUEMtmO7lCG60gHaIk&mediaurl=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.catawiki.nl%2Fassets%2F2014%2F8%2F21%2Fa%2Fe%2F0%2Fae0b8cc0-2962-11e4-8061-d544494ba147.jpg&exph=700&expw=605&q=american+greeting+cards+r.+crumb&simid=608010981512511488&ck=486C0DBF4BFE41DA309EE2323F3136A8&selectedindex=3&qpvt=american+greeting+cards+r.+crumb&form=IRPRST&ajaxhist=0&vt=0&sim=11 (https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=ox%2B6I7k0&id=A1E763BF1D63E9EF27C4ADFC8EBE393AE6D9194B&thid=OIP.ox-6I7k0AUEMtmO7lCG60gHaIk&mediaurl=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.catawiki.nl%2Fassets%2F2014%2F8%2F21%2Fa%2Fe%2F0%2Fae0b8cc0-2962-11e4-8061-d544494ba147.jpg&exph=700&expw=605&q=american+greeting+cards+r.+crumb&simid=608010981512511488&ck=486C0DBF4BFE41DA309EE2323F3136A8&selectedindex=3&qpvt=american+greeting+cards+r.+crumb&form=IRPRST&ajaxhist=0&vt=0&sim=11)
(https://i.pinimg.com/736x/5d/3b/ae/5d3bae106e6d876f68012e5d6a7c5e7f--comics-news-robert-crumb.jpg)
OK sorry for the hijack, corporate art, interesting.
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Only thing is that if you're a regular person, the products being sold are rather expensive. I mean if I really wanna T shirt with a design on it, for me, I would rather spend a few bucks compared to about 20-30 or more bucks in Canadian.
For a Canadian, those products are a bit pricey. This is concerning for me especially if buyers might see this as expensive. Oh well. Still I have to try just like anyone else.
Yeah, they all seem expensive. The only ones that sell for me are the cheaper/smaller products. Still a good margin, I think, if you can get to a nice volume in sales. I'll probably focus on those small products, stickers, small art prints, face masks, etc. I don't know how many mugs and water bottles a person can own and use!