Work on our book continues. It doesn’t look like much yet, but it will be so pretty π
See how it looked before: Working on our book #1
Working on our book #2
Vaguely Aware of Social Norms
Before the pandemic there used to be parties and gatherings. It’s not like I miss them because I didn’t really use to go to that many. I like spending time alone, in my apartment, working on things and drawing. So I didn’t go out often, but every now and then I went to meet my friends. Sometimes, if there were a lot of people or loud music, I would get tired of the noise and the talking. I can’t count the number of times that someone asked me if I was feeling alright or “why are you sitting alone and did something happen, you seem sad“.
It often seemed to me that others are better in social situations, more cheerful, know what to say, how to behave, they can talk with others for hours, and not get tired. That is, sort of, what inspired my design “Vaguely Aware of Social Norms”.
I must not be the only one feeling this way because when I posted this design on Threadless, people loved it. I like drawing something personal and then finding out that it’s relatable for others too.
Existing
Recently Threadless added one of my designs to their store. I wrote about that here.
Now, Threadless selected another one of my designs:
It’s a cat that has no motivation to get up. So, it’s relatable.
It has already been for sale in my Artist Shop. Threadless adding it to their own store means that more people see the design and more people buy it.
It’s good to have as many designs as you can create in your Artist Shop so that Threadless can browse them and select something for their store.
Also, when your design is selected, you usually get a $250 gift code, which is a nice bonus. I keep spending them on hoodies and t-shirts for my friends π
Get “Existing” here.
Overthinking and also hungry
When my “Not Today” design suddenly got so popular, I created more cat designs, like this one here:
Cat designs are popular because a lot of people love cats. But it’s not enough to just draw a cat, you need to add something relatable to a design.
I always try to think of a story for a design. That’s why I add texts that reflect feelings that all of us have. I sometimes lie on my bed and don’t feel motivated to get up, I overthink stuff I said or stupid things I did. From what I know, a lot of people sometimes feel like that too.
You can never predict what will be popular, but you can sort of see why a design like the one above was so well received. We worry, we overthink, we don’t feel like moving at all.
You can get this design on Threadless or Hot Topic.
Make your first 100 mistakes
Quality doesn’t matter, quantity does. It’s better to do 100 drawings than spend all that time on a single drawing.
Starting a blog is scary, but I knew I would only get better if I wrote a lot. The first 100 designs are going to be awful, get them out of the way as soon as possible. Same with photography:
Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst.
Henri Cartier-Bresson
This reminds me of the story about a pottery class. Students who practiced a lot made better pots than the ones who were focused on creating one perfect pot.
Quantity over quality. This is the sort of thing that I need to remind myself of.
I hired a law firm (Update #1)
Two weeks ago, I wrote that I had hired a law firm to help me fight illegal sellers of my design “Not Today”. Time for an update.
For a start, we sent requests to 19 sellers to stop selling my design and to pay me a small compensation.
Of those 19 sellers:
- 18 sellers removed all the listings with my design, 1 of the sellers is still selling it.
- 7 sellers decided to pay the compensation, which means that the matter is settled with them, and we will not sue them.
- 12 sellers need to be sued, and we will start filing lawsuits in January. I expect I will have a lot to write about. It will take 2 to 4 years to win compensation in court, but that’s ok, I am prepared for that.
In the meantime, we found others selling my design, and we will send requests to them in January.
Also, under the previous post, someone asked me whether I can really prove that the design is mine. Yes, I can prove it, this is not going to be a problem in court.
Another possible issue would be that the sellers might claim in court that I have no proof that they had been selling my design at all. I am prepared for that too. Before my lawyer sent the requests, I had asked a notary public to authenticate the print outs of the websites where my design was sold.
Summer Paws
I already wrote about two of the games my brother and I made. Our first game was Hidden Paws. We started making it exactly 3 years ago and then published it 3 months later.
After that, we made Hidden Paws Mystery, which is our worst game yet.
The third one in the series is Summer Paws, which is also about kittens but takes place during β this will surprise you β summer.
After the many failures of Hidden Paws Mystery we sort of knew what not to do:
- Don’t create too complicated graphics. Low poly art looks nice and pleasant, and there’s no reason to go for a realistic art style in a casual game about kittens.
- Don’t create a confusing game. There were graveyards and tentacles and cute cats in Hidden Paws Mystery! That’s a weird combination.
- Don’t make the levels too difficult. Again, it’s a game about kittens, so players don’t expect to have to look for a white cat in a mostly white level.
With that in mind, when we worked on Summer Paws, we made the game really pretty. It’s easier to market a game on Twitter when screenshots look nice.
Cats are hidden well, but not in a mean way. All the islands are places that you would want to visit.
If you like it you can get it on Steam π
Working on our book #1
My brother and I started working on our cat book. It will be a children’s book with lots of cats.
Here is a sketch of the first page. It’s a kitchen with a bunch of cats.
Last design of 2020
I was thinking that you have to reject what others want from you and do your own thing.
Best Christmas Gift
Our Mom gave my brother and me a magical scratch pad for Christmas. Actually, my brother got it, but we have both been taking turns to draw in it. It’s a sketch pad that consists of black pages, and you draw in it by scratching off the black paint with a wooden pen. Underneath is a sort of silver holographic background, so wherever you scratch off the black paint, the silver shines through.
I drew the first piece of wall with vines, and my brother added more wall, I added a window, he added the table and the jug, I added a bowl of apples, he added a rabbit, and so on, until we made a complete painting.
It’s a perfect gift for artists, we had so much fun! We will make another drawing tonight.
You can get a scratch pad for your favorite artist here.