Showcasing Illustration at its Best

High brow, low brow, check out 

An independent publishing platform for emerging graphic and illustration artists, Nobrow has the most delightful prints and fascinating publications - printed on quality paper. If you are keen to get into print you can send your submissions to Nobrow at nobrowsubs@gmail.com 

Take a look at the Dicephaly Brothers by Ben Newman. Love it!

Branding Your Arts Business

Any good business knows how important branding is to a marketing strategy and we can even recognise some brands without seeing their name (Nike is a good example). Identifying your unique selling point can help you develop your brand and make your on-line arts business instantly recognisable.


Aleximo Croissant

One way to get noticed is to have a recognisable Banner or Heading displayed on your website or on-line "shop". You can also add an avatar to represent your business and reproduce it on all your marketing materials such as: business cards, compliments slips, letter heads, invoices, postcards and shipping labels.

But if, like me, you are clueless about computer design, help is at hand. Rather than displaying a badly designed, graphically messy banner, with blurry images and poor colour, you can now buy a banner or entire marketing package on-line.


Rufflemedia

What are you looking for in Branding Design? Well it all depends what you want. Retro? Vintage? Hand made? Slick? There's a design for everyone. It is cheaper to buy an off-the-peg design rather than custom made but, with custom made you can include images of your work. You can also go back to the designer and request changes until you are happy with the results.


Busy Bree

Working with a designer. If you are going to purchase a custom made design you should be clear about your requirements before you purchase. I usually approach the designer with a few questions before I buy such as, how long will it take to design? How many changes can I request? (3 is a reasonable number) and can I see examples of the designer's work?
It's quite difficult for a designer to visualise something that's in your head and you are describing with words. It's a good idea to send a link of your website and/or some images of your work. I also give a description of the kind of customer I am trying to attract which helps the designer pin-point exactly what you want from the design. Remember - a designer won't want to invest time and energy trying to create the perfect image just to have the customer renege on the deal.


Jennitoo

Don't buy and complain afterwards. If you are not satisfied with the designer's work then walk away but don't mess them around - be honest. You get what you pay for - so if you are looking for the perfect marketing material don't expect miracles with an off-the-peg image. And finally ... copyright. The designer owns that design, even after purchase. You do not have the right to use the test or rejected designs that you did not purchase and you cannot credit the design as your own.

In this post I have shown the work of four designers. They are just my personal taste and not a representation of all graphic design that can be purchased on-line.

Graphics Fairy - Shameless Promotion

The Graphics Fairy has an image to suit your every need.
"The Graphics Fairy is an Angel Company. You are free to use all clip art and photos, with the exception of the banner, in any of your projects created for resale or pleasure. Please do not use more than 4 of the graphic images within any one project, or withing a single page of a blog or website. A link to the Graphics Fairy is very much appreciated, when including clipart on your blog or website."

Visit The Background Fairy Here

Visit Fleurish here

Graphics Fairy on Etsy

Copyright Free

The law regarding copyright of images is simple - don't copy! However, some businesses do offer copyright-free images for either personal or business use. Dover Bookshop is a good example of this. A really good on-line resource for vintage images is The Graphics Fairy. Here Karen tells us about her blog and the images.




"I started my blog in the Fall of 2007. I initially came up with the idea after my hard drive crashed twice, the year before and I lost all of my favorite images on my computer, both times! (and no nothing was backed up). I thought storing my images online would be a safer option and then I came up with the idea of sharing them. At the time nobody was really doing this, many were selling the images but they were not offered for free. (Not that there's anything wrong with selling them!)
I already had a blog for my shop Fleurish so, it was a natural progression to add a second blog. That's how the Graphics Fairy began. Too date, I have over 800 images that my readers can use in their artwork or on their blogs. They are all free and can be used in projects for resale as well, providing that no more than 4 images are used in any one project or web/blog page. I've been an antique dealer for over 18 years and have always loved old paper items. I have loads of paper in my collection and I'm always out looking for more images. Many of my friends are in the antique business as well and they often lend me pieces to add to my site. You'll find a variety of graphics on my blog including, antique postcards, early sheet music, old ephemera, antique flourishes from early Spencerian pages, old children's book illustrations etc. I offer a combination of color and black and white pieces. I try very hard to only include pieces that fall under "Public Domain" laws and as far as I know all of my images are safe to use.
It's an absolute joy for me to see how my readers reinterpret these images into their artwork. I have seen my graphics used in jewelry design, card making, web design, decoupage, home decor items, even quilts!"

On Vacation.....

Back on 26th October with a new post about Copyright Free Images. Don't miss it!