Working on some new licensing work with illustration and lettering. I started with a cupd line drawing and am now sketching out some "accessories" to accompany him. Who knows what he'll show up on!

I'm getting back into my grove of everything I want to accomplish in my business and I've been going full throttle since Monday. I hired a designer to help me with some licensing things and it's like we have the same brain! What she comes up with is exactly what I've envisioned. I'm so excited about new opportunities and the chance to full-fill some goals that have been waiting to be checked off for way over a year. Stay tuned! I hope my energy lasts!!

Coming Monday: SURTEX planning update #3

I can show this now since it's at its new home. This was a way overdue baby gift for my cousin and the picture isn't the greatest because I forgot to photograph it before I framed it. I hate when that happens!

I'll be posting more SURTEX planning updates this week and also be working on a new venture that has been on my to-do list for a couple of years and it kind of all came to fruition this weekend. It's going to be BIG, BIG, BIG!! I'll give you a hint, it has to do with my (abandoned - so sorry!) Living the Creative Dream site. Stay tuned!!

Labels: junk-a-doodles

From my last Surtex update I really only got #1 done: My business cards. I did get a lot of other "thinking" things done though. I really had to decide on why I felt like I was feeling so nervous and overwhelmed. After having a planning meeting with my licensing manager and lunch with my husband, I decided that I needed to focus more on the art itself rather than planning for the show and getting bogged down with how it will all look, my own self consciousness of selling myself face-to-face, so in order for me to stay on track and to accomplish what I want to accomplish art-wise, I've decided to hire a part time designer to pass some work off to. She starts tomorrow and I really hope we fit together well. I'm excited to see how much more work I'll have ready to show come May.

I also got some relief when the Surtex guys finally posted their set-up manual. Exhibiting at Surtex became more real and manageable after reading everything from how to get all my materials into my booth, to working on press kits. It's not so overwhelming now and I'm really getting excited about it. I'm sure everyone else in the world knew this but me, but I found out that I had to go through an underwater tunnel to get to Manhattan. I could have done without knowing that until I actually went through it and it was too late to turn back (yes, I am a bit of a weenie). I know it's no big deal and I'll close my eyes when we go through it, but I will literally freak out if I see water pouring out inside the tunnel. My husband told me not to go back and watch Daylight before I go. If anyone if familiar with these tunnels, please do not tell me anymore about them!! I don't want to dwell on it until May :)

Last Monday I did do a little booth research by going to a trade show here in Nashville. The subject matter wasn't very interesting to me but I wanted to see how people had their booths set-up, their graphics, and how they were able to get the most out of their spaces. There were only a few booths that really stood out. This one was actually stretched fabric squares on a grid (done by one of those exhibit making places). I liked the dimension it had but it didn't take up a lot of footprint space:



And I saw another that I really liked. Simple but a way to show off several images and it worked great for istockphoto.com:



I also signed up for twitter this week since one of the things I wanted to do was give updates from my Surtex booth. You can follow me here. If you're not on it, it's addictive. Kathy just wrote a great post on it.

To get me back on track with working on all the ideas in my sketchbook, I'm going to get back on track with my daily creative warmups. Hopefully each day I'll come up with a new line to license.

So...on my immediate to-do list this week:

1) Use my Creative Warmup time everyday to flush out sketchbook ideas

2) picked up from last week -- Start printing out my pages for my portfolio (which I will have set up for buyers to flip through at my booth) print out 5-10 pages a week. I kind of have everything in layers on one photoshop file so I need to get them all separated first - UGH!

4) picked up from last week -- Start designing a mailer to send out, inviting people to my booth. We have about 325 companies on our list and we are in the process of getting contact info from their buyers.

5) this will be on the list weekly - Keep researching artists that have been at past shows to see what did well for them or how they designed their booth

Labels: surtex, surtex planning

I went with rounded corners on my business cards from Overnight prints and just pulled them off the porch. They look fantastic. Great print quality and I love the smooth satin finish! The two cards on top are actual just one card that's double sided. Me on one side, my licensing manager on the other. When opening them I realized that about 6,000 people go to Surtex so I'm going to need a lot more. Good thing their prices are low!

The bottom one are cards I'll put in my my photography orders.

One thing I really love about licensing is you can draw one thing way back when, and use it for something, use it for something else, and then take it use it for something else. The first image is a tag I put on the back of the baby gifts I make, I then later took it and put it in my doodle+daddies™ collection and then reworked it for a shower invite.

I've been doing more Surtex planning and feel a little more confident and in control of it now. I'm deciding if I want to spend any extra money on on-site marketing now. I'll be blogging and update on the planning process in a few days. Oh, and I'm on twitter now. One of the things I'm going to do during Surtex it twitter during it to give everyone first hand accounts on the show. If you're on twitter, follow me!

Labels: licensing, surtex, surtex planning

I've spent the last month doing some Surtex planning and getting a to-do list together. I've been scouring the web seeing what other artists have done with their trade show booth. I've found some great references here (includes great tips too!), here, here, here, here,here, here and here. I have a 10x10 corner booth that will be on the top floor. I tried to search for the person who had my booth last year but the layout seems to be different so I couldn't find them. I did find that Carol Eldridge had a corner booth once and this is what she did.

My main focus for Surtex is presentation. What am I going to show and how am I going to display it all. I'm still thinking about all this. I know I don't want to spend a lot of money because I don't think I would use any or much of it again. I know I want some kind of dimension to it rather than just flat panels and am considering mocking up some products to display. We will be driving rather than flying to ensure that my display get's there in one piece. It will be a long drive from Nashville to Manhattan but being my first show, I don't want the added stress of worrying about having my display getting lost in the mail or the airport, plus I'd like the opportunity to bring some back up things like a printer, etc. in case I need to print something I forgot.

So...on my immediate to-do list:

1) Get business cars designed - My info on one side, my licensing manager on the flip side. I received some print samples from overnight prints and I really like the satin finish on them. Now, to decide if I should get the straight cut or rounded corners....

2) Start printing out my pages for my portfolio (which I will have set up for buyers to flip through at my booth) print out 5-10 pages a week. I kind of have everything in layers on one photoshop file so I need to get them all separated first - UGH!

3) Get my listing set up on the Surtex site which I have done. See it here

4) Start designing a mailer to send out, inviting people to my booth. We have about 325 companies on our list and we are in the process of getting contact info from their buyers.

5) Create 5 new designs a week

6) Keep researching artists that have been at past shows to see what did well for them or how they designed their booth

Labels: licensing, surtex, surtex planning

Just some random hand lettering while large files saved this morning. Still getting my Surtex planning post organized. I have some info on my laptop and some on my desktop so I'm trying to purge everything and combine it. I will post about it tomorrow though so stay tuned!

Labels: lettering