Design
Social interactions…
Now that there’s a pandemic, we spend more time alone, we see our friends and family less often. And yet, some days, I still feel like this:
NO.
My new design:
I drew it after reading this. I recommend you read it if you have trouble saying ‘no’ as I have. Now that I think about it, saying no — and, as a result, disappointing people — is a complex issue, and I will write more about it in a separate post.
Stop that
The other day I was at a hairdresser’s, and a woman sitting next to me was complaining about everything, and I mean everything. That she had to cook dinners and it took a lot of time and she hated it. That it rained too much. That these were difficult times. That it was too hot on sunny days. That women were shallow and cared too much about their looks. That men preferred those kinds of women.
Real-life situations often inspire my designs. I had to suffer listening to all that, but at least I knew what I wanted to draw when I got home:
That reminds me of an article I once read: “How Complaining Rewires Your Brain for Negativity”. It’s worth reading, but in case you don’t read it, here’s a relevant quote:
Repeated complaining rewires your brain to make future complaining more likely. Over time, you find it’s easier to be negative than to be positive, regardless of what’s happening around you. Complaining becomes your default behavior, which changes how people perceive you.
The designs I am most proud of
Over the years, I’ve created hundreds of designs. A few days ago, I went through them all and selected my 10 favorites. Even I was surprised by the results, but more on that later. First, the designs:
Space Botanica
Black Sands
Zen Maze
Space Painted
Wild Flowers At Night
Among Trees
Dark Woods
Get Your Own Pizza, Human!
Saturn the Cat
Galaxy
Conclusion
One thing that you probably noticed immediately is that they are all rather dark. My store is full of funny designs with ridiculous cats, but the designs which I consider my best are not like that at all. Most are either about space or nature. 9 out of 10 are on black backgrounds.
Recently, I opened a new store with cute designs because I had a lot of ideas for designs like that, and I didn’t want to add them all to my main store, which already has a bit of everything. But now I think, maybe I should create a store with nature or space designs since it looks like those kinds of designs I like best?
Fun fact: only 3 of my favorite designs are in my top 10 bestselling designs.
My most summery design
It’s so hot outside. Here’s my most relevant design:
This is not a popular design — it has just reached $100 in total sales. That’s not much, but I like this design, it’s so pleasant to look at.
Cat with flowers
I drew a cat 🙂
It’s, of course, started with a simple sketch on reMarkable:
But then I spent way too much time painting all the flowers. I was thinking it would look good on greeting cards and t-shirts. I added it in my TRUFFLEPIG store.
TRUFFLEPIG
Today, I opened my new store on Threadless. It’s called TRUFFLEPIG because I like pigs and it’s a funny words. There will mostly be cute and humorous designs there. The main reason why I had decided to start a new store is that my main store, Fox Shiver, has gotten too big and is a mess — there are all kinds of designs there, no consistency.
From now on, I will be adding most of my designs — if they match the style — to my new store. But designs that aren’t funny and don’t have cute animals I will submit to my old store. I am also planning on opening yet another store with a completely different style. But for now, I want to make more designs for TRUFFLEPIG.
Here is my new store: TRUFFLEPIG
And here is my main store: FOX SHIVER
I am slowly finishing designs for my new store…
That should solve it
“I will sleep until my problems disappear” is my new design, and I will add it to my new store soon.
I am experimenting with different colors. Most of my designs used to be black and white, but in my new store, I plan to have more variety.