Art Business Blog - Starting Print on Demand?

It’s been about three months since I started my art journey. Honestly, I really shouldn’t have started to write about journey long time ago. Moving forward, I’ll try my best to update weekly. This time, the post will be a bit longer to catch up on everything that’s happened over the past three months.

Two Months Ago - Learned a tough lesson about demand

Ever since I quit my 9-5 job, I had been working on the character and booth paintings for my Night Market Under The Sea collection. The collection was nearly finished, and I was getting ready to move on to the large scenes. At the same time, I also had to start researching about what merch I can make with my illustrations.

It was around that point I realized my social media marketing wasn’t working too well. My reach was constantly stuck at the same level, with barely any growth in number of followers. As someone who had quit a 9-5 job without a backup income, I started to spiral into anxiety. While I had somewhat expected this to happen before resigning, actually experiencing it still hit hard, especially the financial stress.

So I began repeating this frustrating and meaningless cycle:

1. Realize the low traffic

2. Feel anxious

3. Realize I can’t survive without income

4. Get so stressed that I can’t sleep

5. Think that I have to do something

6. Open Indeed and LinkedIn in the middle of the night

7. Look at job postings similar to my old work and feel sick

8. Start exploring other options, hoping to pivot

9. Apply to random jobs the next day

10. Hear nothing back, keep drawing while waiting

11. Realize the low traffic again... (Back to step 1)

(image from Unsplash)

It became a vicious cycle, one that drained my focus and magnified every negative thought, slowly eating away at me with anxiety and self-doubt.

Yes, during that time I did manage to finish the illustrations for all characters and booths, and even produced my first batch of stickers. But I still feel like I didn’t use my time and energy as effectively as I could have.

Turning Point

Everything started to shift when my spouse gently reassured me. She said she had always expected that my art career wouldn’t generate income right away. She also knew that going back to my old job wasn’t an option for me. She even said that once my savings run out, we’d just borrow money and get through it together.

Her words moved me deeply, and at the same time, filled me with guilt. As a typical INFJ, I spiraled into yet another round of internal conflict.

But once that storm of emotion passed, I knew I had to stay the course, and do it with even more determination. I owed that much to the trust and support she had given me.

Around the same time, I started noticing opportunities I used to turn my nose up at: Upwork and Print on Demand (POD).

So, sacrificing the cost of one meal, I bought some Connects to start sending proposals on Upwork (each proposal requires Upwork Connects to submit). After a few weeks, no replies. Maybe it’s because I don’t have a strong track record yet...

Meanwhile, I came across a YouTuber I used to follow to learn Affinity Designer (Detour Shirts). Turns out he’s been doing POD this whole time. I had no idea the insights and experiences he was sharing were so valuable until I watched with fresh eyes. That convinced me to start exploring the POD route myself.

A Possible Realization...

The more I watched Detour Shirts' videos, the more I deeply understood the importance of market demand, and the more I could clearly see why it's necessary to follow trends. I used to only grasp these ideas on the surface, but now I truly get it and am trying to act on them.

Back when my social media exposure wasn’t growing, I already felt that I should’ve started by drawing things people love (like fan arts) to ride the wave of big IPs. But instead, I began by posting my own original creations, which was a risky move, and now I’m dealing with the consequences.

So, as I think more seriously about what people actually want, I’ve started to focus on more practical designs. I still love drawing and painting, but reality is harsh. A piece of art can offer emotional value, but when compared to something that’s both functional and visually appealing, people usually prioritize the functional one.

On another note, after finishing the characters and booths for my Night Market Under The Sea collection, I found that printing both characters and booths as stickers didn’t turn out as well as I’d hoped. Mainly because the designs were too detailed. And yet, I spent a lot of time refining those details during the painting process. That brings me to another harsh truth: my ideal audience is the general public, and they probably don’t draw. So for them, having all those details or not might not make a huge difference. In fact, too many details could backfire. By designing with their needs in mind and keeping things simpler, I can save time, create better products, and leave customers more satisfied.

Adjusting Course For My Art Business

(image from Unsplash)

Building on the two points I mentioned earlier, I quickly adjusted my strategy to focus primarily on POD design for my art business.

Benefits of POD

Focusing on POD comes with several benefits:

• POD designs are usually simpler, which forces me not to obsess over tiny details.

• POD designs can be created quickly, and I don’t need to produce the physical products myself. The platforms will take care of the production and fulfillment.

• POD is essentially a numbers game. Once there’s enough volume, income will eventually come in. For someone like me who urgently needs income, this may not immediately cover living expenses, but at least it shows more promise compared to only selling original art and merchandise on my own.

• POD designs can also be repurposed as digital products like phone wallpapers, and sold on my own website.

Challenges of POD

Although there are many benefits, POD still comes with its challenges:

• Before designing, I need to research keywords with sufficient demand and create art based on those keywords.

• After publishing designs, I have to observe which ones resonate with the public and keep producing similar designs.

• Since it’s POD income really depending on the design volume, ideally I should upload new designs every day. The more I upload, the sooner I can make sales, and the sooner I can use that data to refine my design style.

• While I need to produce a large number of designs, I also have to maintain consistent quality. I can’t just flood the store with low-effort text-only designs to pad the numbers.

It’s not that I’m planning to give up on drawing and painting. I’ve just come to realize that simply creating what I love won’t immediately solve my financial needs. Once my website is more complete, I’ll definitely keep making illustrations. But before I paint, I’ll first research what the public actually wants. At the very least, this approach has to continue until my POD and online shop revenues are on track. Only then can I start creating more of what I personally love.

Current Progress

At the time of writing this blog post, I’ve already registered accounts on Redbubble and TeePublic, and uploaded over a dozen designs (including my illustrations from the Night Market Under The Sea collection. Even if they don’t work as t-shirts, at least they can be sold as art prints).

In addition, I’m also applying for Merch by Amazon and hoping to get approved, since the platform is said to have quite strong organic traffic.

While working on these, I’ve also been enriching the content on my own website/online store (both blog posts and products) to improve SEO and increase the chances of potential buyers discovering my site. SEO is another long-term strategy that requires steady effort over time, but if done correctly, the more work I put in, the more rewards I’ll eventually get. Currently, there are already more than a dozen blog posts and products on my site, and I’ll continue uploading new ones.

In short, I’m casting a wide net for now. Wish me luck!