Changes

Since the last post a lot of changes have happened.

I am now in a group with Clym since we decided with the others that our individual ideas were too different for us to be able to work together. But I am still planning to set up a stall inside Ravensbourne with Clym and sell buttons, keyrings, bookmarks and sketch commissions.

As for the progress..

I have made myself a business card and have sent off 100 of them in time for the stall in approx 2-3 weeks and also made a banner which I can hang behind us to promote my art and which I will also be able to use in future events. Just have to wait for the shipping to come through!
Here is what it will look like;


I'm having a meeting with Clym on Skype tomorrow morning to sort out the project plan, our job roles and the name but I think we're sorted and ready :D

Am going to go and buy a button maker at some point and also work out how I'm going to print and laminate the keyrings and bookmarks! Hopefully Ravensbourne has some good facilities that we can use :D

Our schedule!


And by the way... our group name is 'Two Artists In A Corner'. Expect more soon!

Banners and Cards

Just got a reply from my friend who set up a stall before;

'Ellooo!

Banner stands are absolutely NECESSARY! And they're pretty cheap to get now. When I got mine I ended up paying about £80 for it and the quality was pretty shockingly bad. However, I got a new one from these guys and it's amazing! Great price, great quality, quick delivery. Can't fault 'em.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BANNER-STAND-roll-up-display-/140490378145?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item20b5e10ba1#ht_2436wt_905

Business cards are also pretty essential, but you don't need to shell out loads of money for some high quality ones, especially if you're going to just give them out to anyone that asks (and trust me, pretty much everyone asks, even if they're not going to do anything with them). So a company like Vistaprint is fine. Good-ish quality, cheap, and relatively quick if you don't mind paying a little bit for delivery.

Good luck!! Hope you do well :)

which is greatly helpful! now just gotta design the banner and business cards, but want to talk to my group before i go ahead with that.. It might be we only need to buy one or two but I definately want one and dont mind paying for it myself since ill probably use it again at the expo.

Researching My Idea

In October this year, myself and a friend of mine are planning on setting up an artist table at the London MCM Expo, and so we already started some research into this kind of business.

6 Must Dos To Sell Yourself At A Convention
and while Ravensbourne isn't a convention it gave me some things to think about;
-Business Cards
-Advertising

I have just emailed a friend about where the best place is to set up business cards and will probably try to design and buy my own this week but as for advertising and drawing attention to our stall..
keyrings would look like this;

flat images laminated :D

I'm thinking it would be good to place it on the 4th floor since this is where most students go for lunch or to have a break. If I can grab a few tables for myself and my friends we could set up there and then get a board put up behind up showing things like sample commissions, buttons etc. facepainting photos, maybe a bit like this;


Might be good to send an email round the college about it the day before and put some posters up round the ground floor to get attention.

I think I will try and design my business card this week and also think about pictures I've drawn that I can turn into things like bookmarks etc. and even if people at rave would be interested by asking around on facebook.

Skype Meeting

Had a Skype meeting with my group at 9-11.30pm last night on the project.

and we all have a variety of ideas so we're going to go away for a few days, research our own ones then come together again on sunday night and decide on what to do. Emma is thinking about facepainting, Steve wants to hold an SU event and Clym is interested in creating an art book. We can sell more than one product or do more than one thing, and I want everyone to have fun so it would be great if we could each sell a service/product together.

I still want to sell bookmarks/keyrings and buttons if possible, as well as on the spot commissions, so did a bit of research into things people are most likely to buy from artist tables using my website on deviantart to see how popular that idea is;

The URL to this poll is HERE

I'll also ask some more people on facebook later and find out how to get this stuff made..

Laminating Research

We are most interested in pursuing a business venture that involves selling our art among other things, so I asked a friend of mine from outside college Kelly Kimber, who has sold her art at expos and other conventions for advice on how to go about laminating artwork and the best and cheapest way to do so!

Correspondece;
Michelle wrote;
'hiya kelly!

hope you can help me, having a problem with a college project..

I need to start up a business with a group and we thought we would sell bookmarks/keyrings and buttons for it.. but were wondering, where can we get pictures laminated, where is the ideal place to print them and how much for? since you have a lot of experience do you think you could give us some tips? we're going to sell them at the entrance to our college in a couple of weeks...'

Kelly wrote;
'Hmmm well when i laminated pictures i used the laminator from my mums workplace and bought the laminator sheets from poundland..... if you like i can borrow it again (if im allowed and you can come down and use it... or i can come to you XD) Staples do fairly cheap printing depending on the paper thickness. but the one in croydon printed really dark.'

A good start then :D
We must also keep in mind that if we include cartoon characters they should be original as it is not legal to sell those containing a copyrighted characters likeness.

Day One

Had our first E&E meeting today!

We started by learning about what is expected for the unit and some valuable tips.
We have roughly 5 weeks to form a group, plan and create a business then sell our product and record how we market it.
I decided to get into a group with like-minded classmates - Emma Wyton, Steve Pender and Clym Smith.

So far the ideas we have come up with are;
-Selling our art
(buttons, keyrings, prints, on the spot commissions, posters etc.)
-Facepainting
-Selling 3D models of our characters using ones we've made in the 3D program 'Maya' and our college software which enables us to turn them into real models.
-Selling T-Shirts with cool designs on them.

We would like to do something we can all enjoy however so we are going to meet up on Skype later in the week to discuss further.

Other things we learned today to remember;
-You have to spend money to make money
-Capitalism has given us too much choice, aim for a niche market and be in it for the long haul rather than the quick fix (the tutors likened this to music and the success of X Factor albums compared to the longer success of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon album)
-Who on Earth knows how to make a pencil? No one person creates a product, we must rely on others for help.
-'premium models' - selling the first product for free to gain more business and renown.

We will also need to start by asking some of our friends if they will buy our product once we make it and how we will go about making and marketing it.
Will write more soon!