In a previous episode of my Fearless Artcast podcast on Anchor, I talked briefly about print on demand resources. However, you may think you don’t have the expertise to create designs for these sites. I am here to tell you that you can.
Recently I’ve been taking Skillshare courses by surface designers. My favorite right now is Cat Coquillette. Check out her Instragram here. She shows you how to make seamless designs you can easily upload to any products on these print on demand websites. As a matter of fact, I created a seamless design called Spring Florals recently that I uploaded to my Redbubble account. You can check out those products at papercrfternook.redbubble.com.
Some of the design tools you can use include Procreate for iPads, Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator on your PC (purchased through Adobe Creative Cloud for a monthly fee), or even free options such as Gimp or the free version of Canva. For Canva you can upgrade if you want to access the pro features. But to start I would recommend trying the free version to see how it works for you. What is nice about Canva is that it provides templates for different social media sites. Just be sure to check the terms and conditions on what you can and cannot use their images for sale. Usually, you can use some as long as you change them significantly. Check those terms and conditions just to be sure!
Going back to that Skillshare class with Cat Coquillette…She mostly uses Procreate, which I personally prefer. For the record, this blog post nor my podcast are sponsored by Skillshare or Cat. I just love both and want to share these valuable resources with you.
If you don’t want to pay for Skillshare or are on a limited budget, you can always check Youtube for tips and tricks on how to create surface designs. And, also don’t forget the tried and true…Books. Personally I love books. I have multiple books on art, crafts and how to create and sell your art. But, I’ll leave that for another podcast and blog post. For now, I urge you to put yourself out there and try to learn these surface design techniques and get your work out there. You’ll never know how well your designs will be received until you try and try again.
Good luck & Keep creating…