Design Tribe Podcast

Originally aired on Harmony Hardin's YouTube Channel.  Check out the video version here.   From Harmony: Ah, art style. The elusive "thing" we want to be known for as artists. Have you been stuck on that big topic, wondering what to do to find your art style, what all goes into developing an art style, not knowing if you've found yours? Or even where to start? Do you struggle with thinking you need to actively develop a style, or that it should come naturally, but it just isn't happening for you? Are you still copying other artists for practice, but stuck in art block as soon as you try to come up with a style and concept of your own? Uff, it can feel frustrating and confusing, for sure. On the 15th episode of art business podcast "Harmony & Friends", Terry Runyan, Nina Cvijovic and Lauren Lesley share their personal path to finding their current style, and their insights into how you can get there, too. Join us live if you can! It's lots of fun to hang out with the community in the live chat, and by joining, you have the chance of getting your question displayed during the livestream and answered by the panel. Share the link with a friend too, the more, the merrier! If you enjoyed this conversation, consider subscribing to the channel, where we have a conversation just like this one approximately every 2 weeks. Though we do not give you step by step art business advice or tutorials, the conversations shed light on 3 different examples, 3 different lives experiences. You will hear directly from successful artists about a specific income stream or art business topic, and how it works specifically in the businesses they have built. Enjoyed this video? So many more fun & insightful artist chats this-a-way: https://www.youtube.com/@HarmonyHardi... //   ARTISTS: Terry Runyan Visual Artist & Creative Encourager Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/terryrunyan Website: https://terryrunyan.com YouTube: @terryrunyan   Nina Cvijovic Illustrator & Pattern Designer Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/diujdi Website: https://diujdi.com   Lauren Lesley Textile Designer YouTube: @laurenlesley Website: https://laurenlesley.com/sketchbookin...   Harmony Hardin Host & Watercolor Artist NEW Etsy Shop: https://harmonyhardin.etsy.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/harmony.har... YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@HarmonyHardi...      

ART STYLE ACADEMY:  https://www.laurenlesley.com/asa-sales-page-35-spots DM me on Instagram:  @LaurenLesleyStudio   Do These 6 Things BEFORE Going Full-Time as an Artist Hey!  How are you?  If we haven’t met before, I’m Lauren.. I’m your host of the Design Tribe podcast, and I’m an artist and textile designer.  In the last episode, I went into pretty great detail about what it was like working as a full-time artist and licensing surface pattern designs.  So if you missed that episode, be sure to check it out.   I know a lot of you are either trying to make it as a surface pattern designer OR you dream of one day being able to leave your day job to license your artwork to companies.   I spent 2 years as an independent artist, and although there were many things I loved about working independently, I ultimately went back to an in-house job as a Senior Textile Designer.     A lot of these tips I’m about to share with you are things I WISH I did before making the leap to being a full-time artist.  We’ll talk about all the money stuff in the very last tip so be sure to stick around for that juicy topic.   Okay, so my first tip is to…   Publish a class to Skillshare. This might not be the advice you were expecting, haha! And to be honest, I’m a little annoyed with Skillshare, because last year they cut their teacher’s income by almost half - with no warning. From a business perspective, I understand if they needed to do this, but they really should have been up front about it and approached the cut in a much more gradual way.  So, it felt really crappy.. Especially when a lot of teachers relied on this as a dependable stream of income. BUT! The reason my first tip is to upload a class to Skillshare is because when you go full-time as an artist, you will need some recurring revenue coming in on a regular basis.   When it comes to teaching, Skillshare is one of the easiest places to start, because they already have such a great built-in audience with lots of students who are creative.   Domestika is another popular teaching platform you could choose if Skillshare has lost your trust.  I haven’t personally uploaded classes to Domestika so I can’t comment on whether I like the platform or not, but other artists seem to really like it. Another reason to upload a class is to just get your feet wet and see if you enjoy teaching. A lot of full-time artists teach on a platform like Skillshare or sell a course as a way to supplement their licensing income, which if you’ve ever done any licensing, you know very well it can fluctuate a lot! Your first class doesn’t even have to be related to what you WANT to do moving forward.  It’s easy to think:  “Well, I can’t teach about that, because I don’t have enough experience yet.”  And you would be right! Instead, think about where you were 5-10 years ago.  What have you learned since then? Your course could be about learning how to use Photoshop or how to draw a Still Life.  What are some things you learned in school that you could teach?  What did you major in?  It doesn’t even have to be art-related! It does help to keep your class topics related in the long term, but for your very first class - it could really be anything. The idea is for you to discover A.) if you enjoy teaching - e.i. Filming yourself, doing a little video editing, etc.  and B.) to start generating some recurring revenue. Develop your Art Style When you’re working as an in-house designer, it can be really hard to find your own Art Style.   Often when we work an in-house job, you get really good at doing ANY style… depending on what the project needs. Companies often try to fill out the white space in their line by covering a range of styles from traditional to modern to boho, you name it.  That means, as the designer, you develop the skill of designing ANY style. The problem with that is… you start to lose a sense of your own style and who you are from the inside out. You might get excited by new trends or a new project that changes things up.  When you like soo many different things, it can be really hard to narrow down to just ONE look.  Especially, when you don’t know what’s going to sell or which style might be the most reasonable to pursue.When you can do any style, HOW do you pick?! This gets very tricky, because in LICENSING… companies are really only interested in licensing when your art brings something new to the table… something that they don’t already have from their own in-house designers. Companies want to know what YOUR perspective is. Think of the Jungalow brand. Justina Blakeney brought a brand new perspective to home décor by covering her house in an explosion of plants and colorful textiles.  In a time where Minimalism and white sofas were extremely popular, she did the opposite thing… and by staying true to her own vision, this Boho Maximalism style exploded. Think of Rifle Paper Co. and the unique style of Anna Bond’s florals.She brought a brand new look to florals that really highlights her own unique style that’s painterly, colorful, and friendly. Oftentimes, companies want to license work that’s the same, but different.  This means the subject matter is often the same… like the florals that are so famous from Rifle Paper Co.  But the WAY Anna Bond painted them was so different. Style is all about technique. If this is something you’re struggling with, I do offer a self-paced online program called Art Style Academy.  When you go through my program and do the work, you will develop your own style by the end of the course.  If this sounds interesting to you, you can check out the link in the show notes or check out my website at LaurenLesley.com - and Lesley is spelled with an E-Y. Create a Portfolio with a Large Body of Work Once you’ve developed your Art Style, the next area of focus is to build out your portfolio.  It will be sooo much easier to get the ball rolling if you already have a full portfolio to sell. From there, you can decide if you want to work with an agent, upload to an on-demand site, or exhibit at a tradeshow. So, you might be wondering… “Okay, but how many pieces do I need to have in my portfolio?” Honestly, you probably need close to 100 pieces in your portfolio.  I know this sounds like a lot, but it’s important to work in collections and some of these could be coordinates.  For each collection, you also need to work in a limited color palette and make sure your pieces are looking related to each other. If you are cold-emailing Art Directors, you don’t necessarily need 100 pieces to start.  You can pitch collection-by-collection. But if you’re investing a lot of time, money, and energy to exhibit at a tradeshow, I recommend going in prepared with A LOT of work.  You’re more likely to gain contracts if you have a collection that really resonates with a client. Okay, so what else? Start uploading to ONE On-Demand Site Etsy Society 6 Spoonflower Creative Market Patternbank MintedUploading to On-Demand sites can be a bit tricky for a lot of reasons.  I feel like that might be another whole podcast episode. But I think a lot of artists try uploading to one site, find that they’re not having success so then they switch and try a different site. A lot of time gets wasted posting and re-posting your designs on so many different sites. I think it’s important to figure out WHICH site you like the best up front - before you quit your day job.  Figure out which site is converting to sales. For example, my Character Builders sold really well on Creative Market.  Customers on Creative Market are usually other designers and they understand how to use programs like Illustrator.  They buy these products to save themselves a little time. However, when I tried to sell the same designs as Clip Art on Etsy it didn’t do very well.  I had too many customers sending me private messages wanting me to customize the clip art for them and I was trying to get away from hourly work. I ended up preferring Creative Market to sell digital products, because I made the most money and customers weren’t asking me to customize the artwork for them. I also like Patternbank the best for uploading pattern designs to the internet.  But I’ll admit I have a love-hate relationship with this platform.  When a design sells, the money is a lot better than other sites I’ve experienced.  However, I’m constantly agonizing over which patterns I want to remain in my Licensing Portfolio and which ones I want to sell on Patternbank.   If there’s something I no longer love, or don’t feel as strongly about, in my Licensing Portfolio, I sort of think about it like putting those patterns on clearance by posting them to Patternbank.  It doesn’t make them bad, but it’s something I am just kind of “over” and I want to get rid of it.   Because I spent time on it, I want the ability to earn some kind of ROI, but I don’t love it enough to continue spending future-time on pitching it to clients. I think artists have a lot of different opinions on these ON-DEMAND sites.  Some feel that it devalues the industry and isn’t worth the low pay.  But other artists sometimes “get found” on these sites and it can really boost their career. Other sites like Minted and Spoonflower offer design challenges that I think can really help you understand what types of designs sell and how to level up your artwork.  So, if your artwork skills need developing this is a great place to get an education! The main point I want to make here is to play around with this option and figure out if you like it BEFORE quitting your day job.  I’d recommend only choosing one or two On-Demand sites you like and stick with it.  If you try to post to all of them, you’ll spread yourself too thin and you won’t make any progress. Start Outsourcing Hire an Assistant DesignerBelieve it or not, when you become a Full-Time Artist you have also decided to become a Business Owner.  You’ll need to set up an LLC (if you’re in the U.S.) and save at least 3

Art Style Academy:  https://www.laurenlesley.com/asa-sales-page-35-spots Guest Episode Application:  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdIGrg1q59yw4c47VniYirOBpp2aoEYjA33N9o9a4eWgYR_tw/viewform?usp=pp_url   Transcript: Hey, how are you?  I basically disappeared from this podcast for the past 2 years and I owe you an explanation!   If this is your first time listening, hey, I’m Lauren of Lauren Lesley Studio.  I’m an artist and textile designer, and I started The Design Tribe podcast back in 2019 as a way to add some transparency to someone who was just getting started in surface pattern design and the whole licensing world.   In this episode, I’m going to spill the tea on what it’s REALLY like being a full-time artist…. Full disclosure:  it’s not exactly how I thought it would be.   But first, let me explain where I’ve been and what the plan is for the Design Tribe podcast moving forward!   Back in the Fall of 2021, I decided to go back to an in-house job and I found out I was pregnant all in the same month!    On top of that, my husband and I decided to move houses to have a more suitable neighborhood for our baby to grow up in.  The idea of moving after our daughter was born really stressed me out so we were on an intense timeline trying to find the right place.   The housing market was incredibly competitive when we were moving and it basically took up 150% of my time.   We literally closed on our old house one week before my daughter was born! Then, she came into the world and my full attention was on her.   So, I’m very sorry that I’ve been gone for so long.  That was never exactly the plan, but you know, sometimes life gets in the way of creative pursuits.   So, what is the plan for the Design Tribe podcast moving forward?   During this season of life, I have to be realistic about the fact that I just don’t really have time to conduct a lot of interviews myself.   But, that doesn’t mean I won’t in the future.  I personally hate the idea of letting this podcast die just because of my own time constraints.   So, I started thinking outside the box and was wondering what WOULD be feasible for the podcast moving forward.   Sometimes, as artists and designers, we simply don’t have time to create ALLLL of the content all by ourselves.  It’s probably been a year since I’ve even created an Instagram post for my actual feed..  I am way more active in my Stories though!   But, the point is…. I started thinking what if The Design Tribe lived up to its name and became more of a collective effort?  Wouldn’t it be great to be able to hear from different voices and different artists who have different experiences?   SO!  I’m opening up the podcast to publish more guest episodes.   That means, if you are an artist or designer who has conducted your own interviews… either in podcast format or on YouTube… and you’d like to repurpose your episodes for further reach, please get in touch with me!   Especially, if you find yourself unable to keep up with a demanding weekly interview schedule on your own podcast… I’d love to collaborate with you!    Wouldn’t it be great to slow down and put our content efforts together… and get a bigger bang for your buck?   Imagine if you could relax the pace and schedule out one interview per month.  The Design Tribe is the perfect place to contribute those podcast episodes and reach more people.   If this sounds interesting to you, please look in the show notes for an application.       OKAY, so now let’s get into the good stuff.   Why the heck did I return to an In-House job and what was it REALLY like being a Full-Time Artist?   So, I dreamed about being a full-time artist for as long as I can remember.  Back in college, I was an oil painter so back then I envisioned doing something more along the lines of Fine Art.   But upon graduating, I realized I needed a JOB and a stable income to pay the bills.   So, I got my first job in Graphic Design at a T-shirt company.  While I loved some of the people I worked with, I still longed for something more creative.   That’s when I discovered Textile Design.  I ended up pivoting to a Textile Design job and have honestly really loved working as a Textile Designer.  It’s 10X more fulfilling than Graphic Design ever was, for me.   However, at my first Textile Design job I worked with a lot of licensed artists.  This is where I first got an education about licensing.  And I started thinking, huh… how do I get onto the OTHER side of this licensing thing?   I saw that these artists had their own style, their own brand, and their own name on their designs.  They got to keep the copyright and license their work across multiple products.  And what was really cool is that they were totally independent business owners!   That sounded like something I really wanted to do.   Long story short, I went independent and started my own design business back in 2019.  I worked really hard to develop my own art style, I exhibited at Blueprint Trade Show, and I landed my first licensing deal.   Things were starting to happen!   But, the reality with licensing is that it takes a LONG TIME to get paid.  I kinda already knew this and thought, “Okay… if I get can multiple deals throughout the year then it will start to build up… and I can probably replace my old salary by the end of the year.” And friend, let me just tell you that is NOT what happened.   I quickly realized how difficult the licensing world is in terms of making a full-time income.  I even signed with an agent, but it didn’t prove to be very fruitful.  I wasn’t getting a lot of deals through my agent and I became really frustrated since I had no control over the process, and when I did get a deal, I had to split my income basically 50%.   I thought that the agent was going to get me enough deals to make their cut worth it, but that’s not what actually happened.   Now, I realize that some artists are able to build 6, or even 7, figure businesses from licensing, but the truth is that licensing income can fluctuate A LOT!   I learned that most artists are supplementing their licensing income with multiple streams of income, and I can guarantee that the majority of those 6, or 7, figure art businesses are doing the same.   I made a lot of friends in the surface pattern world, and I’m so grateful for their transparency and kindness, and willingness to talk to me.   Most artists supplement their income either with freelance work, a YouTube channel, teaching, coaching, selling books, or some other means of reliable income.   This is just the reality of licensing for 99% of artists!   I basically tried all of the things, which took a LOT of time.  Sometimes, I felt like a chicken with its head cut off running around trying to make this independent artist thing work.   I always felt spread too thin, and maybe if I had concentrated on only 1or 2 alternate streams of income, I could have had more success earlier on.   But the truth is, without some experimentation you just don’t really know what you enjoy doing or what’s going to work for you.   I realized that I absolutely hated doing freelance work, but I really enjoyed making YouTube videos and teaching classes.   The funny thing is… I always thought I would love freelance work!  I fantasized about working from home, making my own schedule, being able to travel and take my laptop on the go, and choosing the clients I worked with.   And hey, some designers do really love working with their freelance clients!  I think if you can nail down really good clients who repeatedly come back to you with a reliable stream of work, it can be a lot better.   I had so many people contact me who gave me a design brief, said they wanted to hire me, and then… crickets.  They would ghost me completely.   For the freelance gigs I did have, I felt nickel and dime-d to the point where I dreaded working on their projects.   I know, I know.  Lauren, you need to charge more.   I really feel like I tried to charge an appropriate amount, but I felt resentful that so many people wasted so much of my time.  A lot of that time spent emailing and sending quotes and, of course, I never got paid for that time.   I understand that you need to charge more to account for this if you really want to make it as a freelance designer, but that just wasn’t the reality I was experiencing.    I kept thinking that all I ever really wanted to do was license my artwork and see my name on my own art.  I wanted to see it exist out in the world.   Of course, I wanted to earn a living from it, but that could take a lot of years of build up and I didn’t have that much time to spend on my portfolio alone.    I kept thinking that if I need to do THIS MUCH WORK to supplement my licensing, wouldn’t it just be easier to supplement it with an in-house job?   You see, a lot of the ways artists supplement their income ALSO take a long time to create.  It can take at least a year to write a book or create a class.  With teaching online, there’s all of the planning, writing, filming, editing, uploading, and designing the pages.  Then after that, there’s all of the MARKETING you have to do to make sure people know about your class.   And yes, I enjoyed creating classes (and plan on doing more in the future!)… but I also felt like it was taking a lot of time away from actually creating art.  Which is WHY I wanted to be a full-time artist in the first place!   I spent so much time and energy trying to supplement my income that I was probably only spending about 10% of my time actually making art.   There were definitely a lot of things I enjoyed while being a full-time artist, but ultimately, I was really stressed out about not being able to replace my old salary from my Textile Design job.   So, lo and behold, a new position opened up at my old company for a Senior Designer.  I was extremely interested in the category and re-joined!  And in the same month, found out I was pregnant, haha.   So, needless to say, the past 2 y

In this episode of the Design Tribe podcast, I'm chatting with Jenna Rainey and Julie Turkel about how to get your art in retail stores + so much more! Jenna Rainey is a successful licensed artist with an incredible YouTube channel with over 120K subscribers. She provides tutorials for illustrators, calligraphers, and watercolor artists. Jenna has collaborated with brands like Papyrus, Anchor Brewing Company, and Target!   Website: https://jennarainey.com/ YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqWj...   Julie Turkel is a licensing agent who started at Nickelodeon, building the brand collab business from the inside out. Julie left Nickelodeon to then go on to represent Jonathan Adler, Nate Berkus, Dabney Lee and Jenna (among a few others). After 25 years in the business, her expertise is in brand licensing and she and Jenna have a unique experience working together on fun projects like a calendar line in Staples, a collection with Toki Mats for baby mats and more!   During the livestream, we discussed: - How to get your foot in the door and products on the shelves of retail stores - How to build a profitable licensing business - What is licensing (brand collaboration) and is it for you?  - What getting your work in Staples, Target and big box retailers really looks like - Trend Research and Informative Research to help with developing your signature style and strategy as a creative entrepreneur - Key elements to building a brand that everyone must know ➡️ Take my FREE MINI COURSE, Art Style Secrets: 1.) Subscribe to my Channel 2.) Like this Video 3.) Click the link below 👇 https://bit.ly/2UitNqB .   ➡️ Get my 2022 Trend Guide:  https://www.laurenlesley.com/trend-2022   🤓RESOURCES: https://www.laurenlesley.com/resources    ART SUPPLIES http://bit.ly/2H4z8uc  BOOKS http://bit.ly/2J2DeGF  DESIGN TOOLS http://bit.ly/2DS7PTo  SKILLSHARE CLASSES **Get 2 weeks free!!** https://www.skillshare.com/r/user/lau...  YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT http://bit.ly/2V4nnsI 🔴 Be sure to SUBSCRIBE + click the bell 🔔 for more design tutorials, business tips + creative strategies:  http://bit.ly/2LGqRNE

➡️ Join my free mini course, Art Style Secrets: https://www.laurenlesley.com/sign-ups-art-style-secrets   🎧 LISTEN TO THE DESIGN TRIBE PODCAST: ⭐️ Be sure to leave a rating + a review! iTunes: https://apple.co/2xZIPsy Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2LHe2TB   📲🤳🏻 SHARE IN YOUR IG STORIES + TAG ME: http://instagram.com/laurenlesleystudio #laurenlesleystudio