I just launched several weeks ago a new version of my website Toonstyle.com/ with cartoonish (sometime retro or doodle) vectors. There are also some editorial stuff: political cartoons. Comments and critics are truly welcome!

I am also wondering if there are any symbiostock websites with similar content?
Thanks!

Nice work you do.
On the other hand I'm surprised - I thought this kind of work is more valuable than just 0,30$...

I'd definitely bump those prices up a bit ...

Nice work you do.
On the other hand I'm surprised - I thought this kind of work is more valuable than just 0,30$...

Much more and buyers will pay more.

I raised the prices though we can't beat shutterstock (or any other major stock site) subscription prices...

Look at the stocksy pricing.  If you have something different you can price higher.  You aren't doing yourself a favor by trying to compete on the lowest price.

I know I'm double posting but ...

Editorial cartoons make money ... quite a bit of it actually if you can get syndicated. Have you ever looked into doing that sort of thing?

I have mixed feeling about editorial cartoon industry. On one hand as a profession it is almost completely died in United States - I heard like last staff editorial cartoonist laid off recently and that is truly sad.

On the other hand Shutterstock not so long ago announced that they are now open to editorial illustration and editorial vectors and that is a really great news in the world of stock images. I already have some growing set of editorial vectors on Shutterstock (though they rejected couple of my too aggressive images - for example they rejected this one on Obama: http://toonstyle.com/image/december-9-2014-vector-illustration-of-president-barack-obama-as-a-lame-duck-politician/?r=toonstyle.com):

http://www.shutterstock.com/sets/3747336-editorial.html?rid=321775

Maybe we'll see some changes soon in this industry, who knows.

I don't know how much it has "died" the publication I work for uses syndicated editorial cartoons every week, and most weeks they are quite political. Actually, https://www.facebook.com/LaMontagneCartoonInk https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gary-Varvel/216216295106639 Are just a couple I know that make their entire living on editorial cartoons and I feel like your work is at least on par ...

Not trying to say you're in the wrong spot or assume anything at all but, you seem to have a real talent for portraying characters ... I'd hate to see it wasted on Microstock :/ (unless microstock is making you decent money, in which case have at it. lol)

Great start on your website! Your illustrations are very well done also. Love the editorial stuff. My thoughts: You upgraded your pricing and it is still too low. Minimum should be $10 at least, but try for higher. Pricing should also be across the board and simple, no cents - I see odd prices here ($9.90, $4.90, $2.90) Also, for every illustration, you have five options to purchase - four JPEG sizes and the Vector artwork. Only offer one option - the vector illustration with a JPEG version included. Here is what is going to happen if you don't - a client will visit your website and select an illustration, then pick one of the lowest priced JPEG options. If they are going to use it in a newspaper or in some ad, they will buy the small version and blow it up for whatever they need it for. Most people don't know the difference between a vector or a JPEG and will say "Why should I buy the $9.90 vector when I can buy a small JPG for only $2.90 instead?" You'll wind up undercutting yourself. If you haven't bought the "Graphic Artists Guild Hand book for Pricing and Ethical Guildlines" then I suggest you run and grab a copy, it has everything you need if you're going to freelance and is a rough guide to industry pricing.

Editorial cartoons - yes it's not what it used to be but there is still a market for them. You now have the entire world at your doorstep and you just have to market yourself. You might try contacting Daryl Cagle and submit your work here - http://www.cagle.com/ as he and other cartoonists are marketing their work to the media. You need to make more political cartoons with other figures. How about the G8 leaders for starters? Once you get more work under your belt, contact the art directors of newspapers, magazines and political blogs with some sort of promotional postcard or letter to get noticed. Think clever.

Your website - when I look at your home page I see text on the top "News" and "Watch how it's Made". Shove that down and feature a large horizontal image on your homepage. Big group shot of all your characters - show em what you can do. Better yet feature several images that are timed in a "slider" fashion. An example of a website I did for a friend: http://cmurraygolf.com/  Look at the professional microstock websites - big images. That upper section of your home page is first thing a client sees. Make it good.

If you want to be professional in this business your pricing needs to reflect it. When you hire a professional lawyer he doesn't say "Um, well yeah I'll charge you $80, no make it fifty bucks... um let's do $30 is that OK with you?" He looks you in the eye and says "My fee is $250 an hour." and that is that. Market yourself, sell yourself. Become Toonstyle the professional. Forget the Shutterstock sub. model. Question: Why do people pay $80,000 for an Audi or a Porsche, or a Cadillac? People are buying the "assurance of quality" brand. Create your brand and value it wisely. Don't piss it away for pennies.

Welcome to Symbiostock Toonstyle.com

You have several ways to promote your vectors and to drive some traffic to your web

- Twitter
- Pinterest
- Tsu,  a free new social network that give me some good results +35% visits since I signed up - see the link in my signature.
- Facebook
- Google+ ...

ARTPUPPY, thanks a lot for your detailed suggestions!
Do you have only your own vector selling website without selling your images at Shutterstock, iStockphoto etc? My big concern is how to drive decent traffic to my website to make sales.

Quote from: Ariene on January 09, 2015, 04:18

Btw, haven't you ever sell your work on shutterstock for 60-100$? I did, many of us did and looks like it's possible...

Ariene, you mean single sale like extended license or enhanced license for one image? Or monthly income?

I'm still exclusive with istock but will be going out on my own soon. How to drive traffic? Ask yourself "Who will buy my work?" On a budget, take advantage of low color printing costs for postcards, business cards and full page flyer/brochure. Start where you live if you're in or near a big city. Grab the phone book and find advertising agencies, marketing, graphic designers and art directors of local newspapers and magazines. What is your local media? Pick up the phone and call to get contact names or contact directly. Create a promotional piece that you can deliver/mail (or better yet meet in person and hand it to them). A full color brochure or full page flyer showing who you are and your work and your website. Attach your business card to it as well. As a "bribe" you can also attach a candy bar to it. Shouldn't cost you more than a couple of bucks per person. Maybe an illustration of you at your drawing board surrounded by your illustrations. You want them to know who you are, what you are creating, and where they can go to purchase your work. At the very least you might be able to get some freelance work from it down the road. Create and build a contact list from this.

Other options: Facebook - set up a facebook account/page for Toonstyle & become friends with people in the industry like art directors of agencies and media. When you create a new illustration, post it. Linkedin - great for professionals in the industry. Again, create your profile and find your contacts that you made locally and then find their contacts, groups, etc. to spread out. Fiver.com - for $5/job you can get some online marketing created for you. For a $100 budget that could be a big help. PRWeb.com - Create your own press release, useful to launch your website. Or once you have a collection of Editorial cartoons. If you can't write one, fiver.com has someone who can. MailChimp - create email newsletters. For monthly updates or just holidays/events for your client list. Plan your 2015 year - what will you do for Easter? Can you create a Christmas card? Joke/cartoon of the month? Simple fun reminders that will keep Toonstyle in the minds of your clients. If you're thinking of editorial cartoons, find business/political blogs/commentators or magazines/newsletter media and send your contact/info promo piece to them. They can add your illustrations to their newsletters/magazines if they know who you are.

Lots of info on low budget marketing just by searching. Here's one: http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2014/10/01/marketing-ideas-for-small-businesses#.

You should also start submitting stuff to The New Yorker. One of my old bosses gets a cartoon published now and then, and he can barely draw. They just featured him on Facebook last week. Facebook page is important...everyone will expect you to have one. And it's very inexpensive to advertise there. You can promote a post for as little as $1 and choose your target audience (people in publishing, advertising, etc.)

Lol...you already have a Facebook page. I liked it. You should add that header to the top of your website to feature your work, as ArtPuppy recommended. And promote your posts.

Yes, I already have FB page, Twitter, Instagram and I have  about 10 years  of experience in commission works:)  And I even used to have a huge rotating slider of my images on the homepage of my website - there were several designs I went through. Maybe I return it to the homepage - that's not the case.

If we talk about artist's own image selling website as a passive income - is anybody know examples of that website that successfully compete with Shutterstock or iStock. Why customers should buy images at your website when they can easily find the same images at major stock sites for much lower prices or on subscription basis? that's the point.

I'm mostly a designer ... we subscribe to http://www.creativeoutlet.com/ it's an unlimited monthly subscription ... It's 150ish bucks a month. We use 5-20 per week depending on how many advertisements we have ... They make quite a bit off of us but, the subscription is a hell of a lot cheaper than a single image purchase somewhere. Even SS:


A few weeks ago I was shopping for a photo of a prime rib dinner for a freelance gig. My cheapest options were like 2 bucks for the smallest size that would fit the application ... and that was on Symbiostock ... Imagery isn't very cheap, we're just seeing the peanuts on our end ...

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