Use 

1034 creative works found

• Sixteen Ways to Increase Your Sales
  by Stephen Mitchell

  I’ve seen so many people still asking why they’ve still not sold any artwork on Redbubble! So I’ve compiled all my enterprising, marketin…

  I’ve seen so many people still asking why they’ve still not sold any artwork on Redbubble! So I’ve compiled all my enterprising, marketing, sales and money-based articles written over the last two years. I really REALLY hope you enjoy reading and applying them into your sales-campaign. First, let’s take a look at you, the artist within. Wait, that sounds like the first article… 01. Defining the Artist Within / 02. I Have a Special Condition! / 03. Keep that Entrepreneurial Spirit Alive / 04. Two Crafty Ways to Become a High Profile Photographer / 05. Playing the Popularity Game Without Caring if You Win or Lose / 06. What Makes You Think Your Art is Good Enough? Here is the guts of this article, the really in-depth stuff that should help understand how to better use Redbubble in your venture to either make money or make a name for yourself: 07. Are You Selling More Artwork ? / 08. Helping YOU Make a Profit on Redbubble ! / 09. Pleasure from Profit from Pleasure / 10. Quality Marketing Equals Sales / 11. Selling Your Art Successfully / 12. Sell, Give, Donate and Use Your Skills / 13. My Marketing Strategy / 14. How to Sell Anything / 15. Selling My Artwork At Amended Prices / 16. Twelve Months on Redbubble The trick is to read each article, and then ask yourself: ‘How does this apply to my situation?’. I’m very sure you’ll find a way to incorporate the ideas I’ve used here to improve your situation and increase your sales! I look forward to hearing how much more sales you make over the next few months!! EDIT [11:32 PM 15/05/2009] / Some of you will now want to run an exhibition, gallery or stall of your artwork. For that I have compiled another list of links that should help you! / ... Running Sheet for Exhibitions Since this is my article, I have to get a few shameless-plugs in here somewhere. I have T-shirts for sale that will get you noticed! / ... Your Name on a PHOTOGRAPHER Shirt / ... Photographer Shirts / ... Redbubble Shirts for Artists, Writers and Photographers Postscript / I started writing simple tips that any Redbubble Artist could use. I don’t write them so much any more, but I keep them here for my own reminder. I hope you enjoy these two that relate to this post enormously: / ... Tip #001 / ... Tip #004

• The Easy Guide to Creating the Orton Effect using Photoshop - UPDATED
  by Peter Hill

  The aim of this Guide is to provide easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions to achieving the Orton Effect without the necessity of bei…

  The aim of this Guide is to provide easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions to achieving the Orton Effect without the necessity of being a Photoshop guru. I still call myself “new to Photoshop” and I have found a lot of tutorials on this topic assume a much higher level of knowledge than I have and are not very intuitive. I have revised the Tutorial to show a shortcut to the 2 Blending Option steps, which I only found myself after posting the original tutorial (doh), but I have left the long way as well, as you may wish to play around with the default settings applied by the short way. To achieve the Orton Effect you will be creating Layers, but don’t worry if you haven’t done this before. I hadn’t. The method I am about to describe is the simplest I have found. It’s not my method, but the description is all mine. When I have more time (yeh, right) I will revise this tutorial to include screenshots of the various steps. But for now, you might like to print this Guide and have it next to you while you create your first Orton Effect. I use Photoshop CS2 v9. The method described below originally came from someone using Photoshop Elements, so you can see this is not advanced stuff. The steps described below assume almost zero knowledge of Layering, and ignore other adjustments you might be making to the image, for example Sharpening the image before you start work on it (recommended). Step 1 Choose your image. Any image will do, you are just learning at this stage, but if you have that favourite flower shot or portrait – cool. Step 2 Open Photoshop. Open the image you have selected to be your first amazing Orton Effect image. Feel the excitement. This is your Background Layer. Step 3 Look for the Layer toolbox on the right hand side of the Photoshop work area. There should be a rectangular box with a small eye icon, a tiny thumbnail version of your image, and the word Background in italics. Right-click the word Background and select Duplicate Layer. A small box should immediately appear in the middle of your screen. It is asking you to Name the Duplicate Layer. Name this Layer Focus and click Enter. (Note: It doesn’t really matter what you name it, but Focus will do for our current purpose.) Step 4 There should now be a new rectangular box immediately above the original, and called Focus. (If there isn’t, stop, curse quietly, then try Step 3 again.) Pause now and look at the tiny eye icon. You will see that it is now the Focus layer on your screen, so this is the “copy” you are working on. OK, moving on ….. Right-click the Focus rectangular box and select Duplicate Layer again. This time when the naming box appears just click Enter because we will use the default name for this Layer, being Focus copy. Step 5 OK, now we are going to blend the Focus copy. There are 2 ways to do this – the long way and the short way. I will show you the long way first, just in case you want to go back and play with it after you get familiar with the process. Long way – Right-click the Focus copy rectangular box and select Blending Options. This will open a new box with lots of options. Ignore them for now. In the top part of this box you will find a window showing the Blending Mode and the default setting of Normal with a pull-down menu (A downwards arrow). Open the menu (left-click) and select Screen. Click Enter to close the box. OR Short way – look at the window which shows your layers. See the drop down menu at the top left, showing Normal as the default? Scroll down the menu and select Screen. The Focus copy layer should now have a bit of a washed-out look to it as a result of selecting Screen as the Blending Mode. (I have found that if the Screen effect still leaves a fairly good image, the Orton Effect will be enhanced. Too washed out and the Effect is diminished.) Step 6 Right-click the Focus copy rectangular box again, only this time select Merge Down (it’s near the bottom of the menu). This will collapse the Focus copy layer onto the Focus layer. Step 7 Right-click the Focus rectangular box again and select Duplicate Layer again. Name this copy Blur. Click Enter to close the box. Step 8 Now, find and open the Filter menu on the Tool bar running across the top of your screen. Select Blur. Another menu should open. Select Gaussian Blur (don’t ask). A new window should open. You will see a Preview of the image with a default blur Radius setting of 15.9. You can play around with the radius later. For now, just click OK to close the window as we will accept the 15.9 (I have found 15.9 to be right for most images anyway). The blur you are to achieve with this step should be enough to discern the shapes without the detail. Step 9 – The Magic Happens! This is the fun part. We now make one more blending option. Again, here’s the long way and the short way. Long way – Right-click the Blur rectangular box and select Blending Options. As described in Step 5, this will open a new box with lots of options. Again, ignore them for now. In the top part of this box you will find a window showing the Blending Mode and the default setting of Normal with a pull-down menu (A downwards arrow). Open the menu (left-click) again and this time select Multiply. Click Enter to close the box. OR Short way – Click on the same drop down menu you used to create the Screen effect, only this time select Multiply. You should now be able to see the Orton Effect! Step 10 If you want to accept the result, right-click the Blur rectangular box one more time and this time select Flatten Image (it’s the last option on the menu). This basically collapses all the layers into one final image and is the last thing you do in Layering. You can now save the image as normal. Does it look something like this? If it looks too dark though, you can adjust the Opacity level with the sliding bar before flattening the image. Look for the tiny Opacity tool in the top right of the Layering toolbox. But if you find you need to go below 90% the Effect is significantly lost and maybe it wasn’t the right image. Another option is to adjust the Fill and leave the Opacity at 100%. Have fun! I am. Peter

• 

  The future's a concept we use to avoid being alive today
  by onetonshadow

  US$3.99–US$91.20

  Eurostar, Brussels Central Station, Belgium Untouched Medium Format scan Part 3 in a series

• Using Facebook to Sell Your Art
  by selling

  For all of their pluses, there are plenty of confusing aspects of Facebook and Twitter. The biggest positive…

  For all of their pluses, there are plenty of confusing aspects of Facebook and Twitter. The biggest positive is that Facebook and Twitter leverage your relationships with contacts. And we all know that relationships help sell art. Additionally, Twitter allows you to “follow” people that broadcast information and links that can broaden your understanding of topics, industries, etc. For example, I follow 100+ t-shirt designers via my Twitter account, and have found that the their tweets keep me “in the know” about seasonal and pop-culture merchandising trends. RedBubble has both a Facebook page and Twitter account. Back to Facebook. As an artist and designer, Facebook can be a great awareness builder and sales driver. Here are three easy ways to promote your art and design on Facebook. 1. Friends, and friends of friends, buy art / You may already have a growing list of contacts that Facebook defines as friends. Tell friends about your art and design via: Link to your RedBubble profile page or Bubblesite from your Facebook profile. Post new artwork in your Facebook status. This broadcasts an image, a link, and associated text to your friends. Create a collection (or collections) of artwork as a photo album. Be sure to note the artwork URL in the image description. Note: You might want to watermark your images or overlay your RedBubble URL on the image. While Facebook down-samples files to 72 dpi, expressing copyright is never a bad idea in digital public spaces… though one would hope that your Facebook friends would give credit where it’s due. Use Facebook Notes to tell the story behind the creation of your artwork. If you’re a writer, you can tease your work in the Notes section and link to your writing portfolio on RedBubble. You can also install the RedBubble Facebook slideshow found in the Promote area of MyBubble. Status update of an artwork and link. / Addition of a photograph / B. Groups contain focused, interested buyers / Join Facebook Groups where members share common interests related to your artwork content. By being active in Facebook Groups, you can subtlety migrate interested parties to your RedBubble profile and/or Bubblesite. It’s helpful if you can use your art and design to educate others and gather feedback, e.g., post “New images of Yosemite National Park. I’m interested in feedback about which images I should place on RedBubble.” You can obviously use this same technique on RedBubble. / / C. Use Pages to create fan clubs / Facebook Pages are separate from your personal Facebook profile and are also free to create. Think of your Facebook Page as a business page where you can give people a view of your studio, news of a recent exhibition, show work in development, etc. It’s also good to use RedBubble journal posts to do the same for those watching your RB profile. The distribution power of Facebook Pages comes from their ability to update “fans” whenever you post something new to your Page (like your status update, but for your business). However, note that your friends need to become a “fan” of your Facebook Page in order to receive updates. The Pages updates won’t duplicate nor conflict with your personal Facebook profile. You can also announce promotions on your Page. Here is a contest example created by Diesel Laws. Contest created by Diesel Laws / Advertising is easy, but demands attention / Facebook advertising is easy to set up, but not a “set it and forget it” exercise. You’re dedicating funds to this exercise, so consider the following when creating your ads: What images will capture the viewer’s eye best amongst all of the other Facebook page clutter? What designs sold best for you previously? What art or design is at a price point that will attract a first time buyer? What outcome would you consider a success – exposure and sales, simply sales, etc.? FB ads work on a pay-per-click basis, which means that you’re only paying for the clicks that you receive. You can cap the cost per day, so if you want to test ads at $5 per day it’s simple to do so. FB ads also feature demographic (age, location …) targeting, as well as psychographic targeting (interests, hobbies, career …). This allows you to show ads to people you know or estimate to be very good targets. You were once only allowed to create ads for businesses with websites outside of Facebook, but now you can create ads for Pages and Events too. Start simple / My advice is to try the free options first – especially if you already have a large Facebook friends list. Personal referrals will often convert (create a sale) better than a paid ad. That’s not to say that a targeted ad can’t work well if you present the right image, copy and URL. Let’s close / If you’ve found success with Facebook personal, business pages, events or paid ads, please add your comments below. We’re always looking for success stories or warnings about sales and marketing programs as they relate to selling your art and design. And finally, if you want to help other members sell, you can join our “You Can Sell Art and T-shirts” Group (by invitation). Bubblemail me with the topics you feel confident sharing. Thank you. Regards, / Jason BTW, click here for our Twitter tips and tricks. It’s also worth noting that Twitter integrates with Facebook; your tweets can be broadcast as your Facebook status. Janis also pointed out a great Twitter guide on Mashable.

• Using Art Subjects to Target Shoppers
  by selling

  Let’s look at the subjects that people favor when purchasing art. By extension and personal experience, these are big buckets that are se…

  Let’s look at the subjects that people favor when purchasing art. By extension and personal experience, these are big buckets that are searched for often, but are hard to win through search engine optimization and expensive to buy through pay-per-click advertising. In a survey of 2,000-plus art buyers ages 18 to 65 (selected based on their previous purchase of art), shoppers aged 45 and above favored landscapes, flowers and gardens, and country traditional themes more than those who are younger. Shoppers aged 35 years of age or younger favored photography, abstract/surrealism, European subjects, and movies or celebrities (pop culture) more than the older [in age, perhaps not in spirit] consumers. Here are the art themes that had the strongest appeal to shoppers (in ascending rank). One caveat: keywords that are a direct hit, e.g., Star Wars, Barack Obama, etc. don’t apply below; it’s a given that brand names are targeted by their very nature. 1. Landscape / 2. Photography / 3. Flowers, Gardens / 4. Wildlife, Animals / 5. Abstract, Surrealism / 6. Impressionism / 7. Tuscany, Paris, Cafes (scenes of Europe) / 8. Still Life / 9. Country Traditional / 10. Pets (dogs, cats) / 11. Sports (baseball, cricket, football, futbol, soccer …) / 12. Religious / 13. Pop Culture / 14. African-American / 15. Brand Icons / 16. Hispanic Art / 17. Other What can we do with this information? We can use the above keywords for tagging, artwork/group descriptions, and Bubblesite text, as well as integrate them into titles, description copy, and hyperlinks in from external blogs, personal websites, and other credible referral sources (e.g., press, social shopping websites such as StyleHive, Kaboodle, etc.) when linking back to your RedBubble pages. In no way should these tags be applied to unrelated work; you’ll drive page views, but not sales. Plus, it’s poor form. There are many excellent categories missing above, e.g., nude art, self-portrait, dance, etc. The recommendation is to think about how you search online. Use common terms and keep it simple. If this article bores you to tears, we suggest that you take a bit from the above and then go with your gut. You know your artwork best, and by thinking like a regular art shopper you might find that fewer tags in a simplified structure will help categorize your work – both in your own mind and for the shopper and buyer. Bringing it all back home. All this sales talk is great; thanks for listening. However, I don’t want to lose sight of the fact that the outcome is to provide an amazingly great work of art and design to someone that appreciates it… that we artists made something that someone loves or gave to someone they care about. In many cases, the shopper will come to think of you as a contact or friend; or at the very least, someone that they feel they know a bit about. Regards, / Jason

• 

  Seldom used road
  by signore

  US$3.99–US$91.20

  Fine Art photography. / Photo manipulation. / By Gina Signore / Dahlia House Studios. / Michigan Autumn Road.

• 

  Still Useful
  by Lois Bryan

  US$4.83–US$110.20

  Featured in Nikon D40 (x) Users June 22, 2009. / Featured in Nostalgic Art and Photography May 19, 2009. / Featured in First Things May 16, 2009. / Featured in A Beautiful Blur May 15, 2009. Best Viewed Full Size I discovered this wonderful antique bike at the Juniata Crossing Mercantile on Route 30, near Breezewood PA on May 10, 2009, and couldn’t resist the image. Used the Nikon D40x and the 18-200mm vr Nikon lens, cp filter was probably still on. Post processing included a trip to Photoshop for removal of distractions, then to Photomatix for hdr (hand held camera, single image +/-2), then back to Photoshop for a light Orton and other final tweaking.

• Using Email Marketing to Sell Your Art
  by selling

  Email marketing is a powerful tool that should leverage your existing relationships with family, friends, previous customers, clients, an…

  Email marketing is a powerful tool that should leverage your existing relationships with family, friends, previous customers, clients, and acquaintances to create awareness and sales. You can also purchase email lists that are targeted to people that are apt to buy art or apparel (corporate art buyers, retail shop owners), however, the fastest way to lose credibility is to send a bulk email to strangers without providing context, purpose, and pointing out an immediate benefit to the recipient. Always ask yourself what job the email is doing for the recipient. What’s the benefit? OK, you’ve decided to send a mass (aka bulk) email. Now what? 1. Identify your mailing list / Your list can be your webmail contact list, an export of your computer’s address book, Apple or Outlook Address Book, Palm Contacts, etc. Members interested in buying lists should ping me via Bubblemail. Don’t be dissuaded by a small list of just a few people; email marketing works based on list quality and not the total size of the list. Email marketing can be as simple as sending an email to previous customers from your Gmail account. 2. Segment your list / Divide your list in order to test several groups. You can segment the list by sales potential, e.g., purchased from you in the past six months, inactive for six-plus months, new prospects (new to your list and never purchased art from you), etc. You could add a second qualifier if you have the patience, e.g., purchased a t-shirt from you in the past six months… or you could just go the full monty. 3. How will you mail? / This is the juncture at which you will decide if you’re going to send the email from your webmail, personal mail, or if you’ll send email using a bulk email tool. There are many free and pay-per-use bulk email tools online. A few names include Constant Contact, Campaign Monitor, Campaign Master, SubscriberMail, ExactTarget, etc. Look for a service that does not charge an up-front fee, little or no monthly fee, and that charges less than a cent/penny/pence per email sent. Why use a third-party email tool? a. You preserve your personal email address’ white label status (favorable view) with Internet Service Providers – making it unlikely that your address will be blocked due to an email blast. b. These tools provide templates that make email creation very easy. Some tools make adding content to an email as simple as “drag-and-drop.” c. The third-party will manage your unsubscribe and spam lists, so you won’t need to remember who wanted off the distribution list. Similarly, some services allow you and interested parties to add subscribers using a form; you won’t need to manually add subscribers. d. Third-party tools often include reports that will show you how many people opened your email, how many clicked through (and on which links), as well as unsubscribe and “spam” rates. 4. What to write? / Perhaps you dislike the “hard sell” and choose to send an editorial email that targets everyone in your list. The content of this newsletter could focus on: a. New work / b. Artwork in process – a behind the scenes peek at upcoming work / c. News about you and your work, e.g., recent shows, groups, charity work / d. Photos of you and your studio – or other personal images / e. A short, witty anecdote, etc. lead-in If you’re interested in creating a merchandised (sales-y) email, consider: a. Keeping the copy short and the calls to action obvious. Don’t make clicking through to your RedBubble page hard for the reader. / b. Capitalize on seasonal trends or life cycle events. Holidays are a great reason to talk about your work. / c. Readers love of collections, e.g., art for shared spaces, pop culture t-shirts, landscapes, etc. / d. Show lots of pictures, but keep the file sizes small. If you use Photoshop, use the “Save for Web” function and tweak the JPG quality so that images are small yet attractive. / e. Make any incentives obvious and put them in both the Subject line and at the top of the email newsletter. E.g., if you’re having a sale, offering a free item with purchase (free digital downloads are nice; e.g., wallpaper, printout), etc. 5. Subject line time / Subject lines make or break the number of people opening your email. You can get crazy and send the same email content – using different subject lines – to similar audiences and then measure the different open rates (the number of people that opened each email). My best advice is to include an offer in the subject line (if an offer exists). Otherwise, keep the subject line short and to the point. Humor and personality helps if it’s not obscure. Want to know if your email subject line is too obscure? Send a test to a few friends in the target audience and ask for their opinion. 6. Prepare and test / You’ve got your list, created your email message, and chose a distribution method. Next, paste your message into your email client. If you’re using a third-party tool, load your content into the template you’ve chosen. The only other note I have here is to send a test email to multiple email clients. For example, open a Gmail account, employ Apple Mail, Outlook, Yahoo Mail, etc. if possible. Send your test email to make sure that you like the way it looks in each email client. Some third-party tools will show you a preview of your email in multiple email clients (for a small fee). Here are the email clients used by RedBubble members: 25.0% use Yahoo! Mail / 15.0% use Outlook 2000, 2003, Express / 13.0% use Apple Mail 3 / 10.9% use Hotmail / 9.6% use Gmail / 5.8% use iPhone 2.0 / 3.1% use Apple Mail 2 / 17.5% use All others combined 7. Time to send / Good luck. Spell check, recheck, and check your copy again. Then push that send button and be sure to record the results. Basic stats include: / a. Emails sent / b. Emails opened / c. Clicks from the email to your artwork / d. Number of sales – both transactions and total dollars A next step would be to monitor the lifetime value of the customer, e.g., how many sales, dollars, etc. started with that one email. I’ve probably rambled on far too much, but I hope that this article got you started and provided a few new thoughts, tips, and tricks that you’ll test in the near future. If you use email marketing to sell your art, please Bubblemail me or add your anecdotes or pointers below. Oh, one last thing. If you have blog, you might want to look at FeedBurner.com as way to automatically email people each time you post a new blog entry. Feedburner provides the opt-in (sign up) form and automatically distributes the email for you. I can see that many members also use Feedburner through Blogger.com, and feature a link to these feeds and newsletters on their RedBubble Profile Pages and personal blogs, e.g., Jordan Clarke / thickblackoutline / and Stephen Mitchell among others. If you already create articles about selling art, please point us to them below. More information about selling your art can be found under the Selling member name. Regards, / Jason

• 

  Homestead
  by Naomi Frost

  US$4.66–US$106.40

  ISO200 / f/8 / 5.0sec exposure / R72 Filter / Shutter Release / Broken Tripod / / Processed in The Lightroom and Photoshop Elements 0.4 / Location: Tumut, NSW, Australia. / My Husband’s Great Grandparents Homestead / / I wanted this one to have an “old’ feel to it, considering the home was built in the 1920’s.

• 

  Sunny 16 Rule - White
  by Alessandro Arcidiacono

  US$25.94

  The useful Sunny 16 rule always with you! Version printed in black:

• 

  she used to dream in bleu prussien...
  by mimi yoon

  US$5.82–US$133.00

  she used to dream in bleu prussien / the color of spanish sky at night he used to dream in ombre / honey and maple syrup / they are the colors of her eyes / where he’s once drowned she knows this / because she’s held him once that is… / in her eyes . o2.18.2oo9 / colored pencil (prismacolor) / in/on moleskine® / digital (leaf and shadows) .

• Using the Group Sales Widget to Attract Art Buyers
  by selling

  We previously talked about how RedBubble Groups bond artists by subject matter, and how they are also powerful search silos....

  We previously talked about how RedBubble Groups bond artists by subject matter, and how they are also powerful search silos (marketers call them verticals) that can direct shoppers to targeted subjects on RedBubble. Say you’re shopping for abstract art. RedBubble has a beautiful collection of abstract art in Groups. The abstract art group is flush with relevant text, fresh with a diverse art collection, and gets lots of Google love because of third-parties (you and me) link into the Group page. Here’s a free and easy way to help the last point – for any group. Group Hosts can enable a widget that shows Featured Work in a small and attractive slideshow. This widget can be added to personal websites, and as Denis Leary says, “bliggity blogs, facey spaceys and tweetie pages.” This Groups widget features the same format as the personal artwork widget that many members already use; found in the promote area of MyBubble. The opportunity for search engines to home in on a Group page is bettered when there are many links into that page from content rich websites, blogs, social media pages, etc. Why? Google’s magical black box of calculations factors links into a page as part of a website’s Quality Score, i.e., how well the search term matches the page content. If every member posted a link to their Group(s) on their blog using the Group subject as the link, e.g., Abstract art prints, calendars and greeting cards, along with the widget, there would likely be a measurable effect on Group page visitors via natural (organic and unpaid) search results – which is good for everyone in the group. The result is compounded when those links come from sites that already have a good PageRank on Google. Are you still asking why you should promote your Group in addition to your own work? The simple answer is that the collective power of Group referrals helps direct visitors (shoppers) that might otherwise never see your art. Simply put, a better Google Quality Score equals more search engine exposure, and more exposure is good. All of us are pursuing art for different reasons, but most of us want exposure, validation, mind-share, and sales. And in a collective, creative space like RedBubble, good karma, back scratching, collaboration, and referrals go a long way. To allow Group members to use the widget, Hosts need to go to the “Settings” area of their Group and tick the box next to the “Show promote tab?” text. Here are images of the Promote widget and the tick box. / Promote widget / Activate the Promote widget Final note: Hosts control the widget at this time; there is a simple on/off function. In the far future we’ll look to give members control of whether or not to have their work included in the widget. We researched this option after receiving feedback, but it’s a bridge too far at the moment. Thanks! Regards, / Jason

• Widgets, Toolz & Web'y Goodies You CAN Use IN Redbubble!
  by webgrrl

  As we have already noticed, Redbubble dont speak the same lingo, as in, it doesnt use HTML or CSS etc, which means; we cannot use a lot…

  As we have already noticed, Redbubble dont speak the same lingo, as in, it doesnt use HTML or CSS etc, which means; we cannot use a lot of the widgets, scripts and all dem goodies out there in here. Which is ok, but sometimes i found that i wanted to promote about my other sites/projects here in my profile.. but couldnt.. till now :) / (well, I figured it out now..prob been able to for ages already..hehe) As you that may have read my previous post, i discovered more of Feedburner goodies recently. In that discovery i found a Widget that can animate your RSS feed – that doesnt use html or scripts, which means we can use it in here! I utilized the RSS Animated widget in two ways : First, i’ve been wanting to bring my journal post entry titles further UP in my profile, but cuz ive got a pretty jam packed profile on the left hand side..it forces the Journal Entries way down to the bottom end, and i dont know if people scroll that far down! LOL! So with animated rss widget from Feedburner (i chose the Email option/display) I can now place (like below for example) in the higher end of my profile, where it will ‘flash’ the most recent post (utilizing my rb journal rss feed), Hopefully giving it more attention.. the second way i used it.. / is to take the half banner size option on white background of the same Animated Widget – with feeds from my two sites, Artdictive and Webgrrl’shop – flashing the most recent posts there.. / WANT TO MAKE A QUICK ANIMATION OF YOUR ART * / for display purposes like the moving images below ? / Go to PICASION where you can Create Animated GIF online for free! Upload your pictures or grab them from Flickr or Picasa Web, make avatars or funny animations and post it to MySpace, LiveJournal, Facebook or Redubble. No need for Flash FOR THOSE WHO LIKE TO SEE STATS / At the bottom of my profile you should be able to see LIVE STATS, free service by FEEDJIT . Make sure you get the Run-Anywhere Widget (link takes you directly there) Usually they all are scripts, but this one is not and i’ve been quite happy using Feedjit services on most of my blogs for free interesting stats. See how it all looks at my profile (clickty click) Have you found tools and toys you can use in Redbubble?*

• 

  No more stupid shirts
  by mrsize

  US$27.31

  No time ? no problem ! this shirt is for you

• 

  She Used To Believe In Romance...
  by myoriginalsin

  US$4.99–US$114.00

  I know this is a little different for me but flowers were my first love… ..::Stock Photo Credit::.. / Flower – my own / Butteflies If you like this, please check out: / / /

• Using Twitter to Sell Your Art and Your Story
  by selling

  Twitter.com is mainstream due to exposure from Oprah Winfrey, Ashton Kutcher, and a number of other high-profile…

  Twitter.com is mainstream due to exposure from Oprah Winfrey, Ashton Kutcher, and a number of other high-profile players. The now debunked rumor (in the U.S.) was that a Twitter television show (that box people watched before the Internet) was in the works. A quick, boring background: Twitter is a self-described “service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?” (in 140 characters or less) The full story is on Wikipedia (where everything is true). While there are no rules for using Twitter effectively, there are strategies and tactics that work better for selling art online. To see Rule #1 for using Twitter for purely marketing and PR (public relations) purposes, click here now. Despite the above guidance, there are no shortage of opinions about how to use Twitter for marketing and PR … 629,000 at last count. So, if Twitter isn’t a marketing and PR tool, “What is it good for aside from announcing that awesome breakfast?” At its core, Twitter is a messaging system and relationship building tool. In aggregate, your Tweets should give people more information about you, your artwork, and your creative process. You can use Twitter to engage followers in a discussion about [your] art. Here is my shortlist of tips for using Twitter to further your artistic bone fides. Please feel free to add your tips and tricks in the comments area below. If you want to be effective using Twitter to promote and sell your art: DO / - Use search.twitter.com (also see Twitter Advanced Search) to find and follow people interested in art, t-shirts, design, interior design, office management (these folks buy office art), etc. Essentially anyone with an interest in creativity. - Use Twitter to alert followers about: + Your progress about a current project or series. Use a RedBubble Journal article, Twitpic.com or another service to post works in progress; people love to see work in a fluid state. You can engage and pre-sell people on the design, solicit feedback, etc. + Tell people the beginnings of “the story behind a work.” Continue the story on your RedBubble Profile Page or on the ‘Show Work’ or ‘Configure Page.’ Note: The one thing that most Twitterers are lacking is great content; content is the most expensive tool in a Twitter toolbox. The good news is that you already have this content in your RedBubble Profile and/or Bubblesite. + Link to relevant content such as a RedBubble Journal Post or an article by an industry thought leader. Use TinyURL.com, Bit.ly or another free service to shorten your links. + Announce the addition of new work to your RedBubble profile. + Announce a promotion, e.g., a short-term reduction of your royalty, or a RedBubble-sponsored promotion. Always announce the promotion with a deadline. You can send one reminder when you’re 24-36 hours away from the end. That’s all though; no Tweet spamming. + Live ‘tweet’ an event. For example, every gallery in my hometown opens its doors on the Second Saturday of each month. Restaurants, musicians and street vendors also use the event to gain exposure. Twitpic, post to a RedBubble journal article, or simply tweet the goings-on – show your work, other work, action, etc. Give context to your work and your story. DON’T, if you want to use Twitter effectively for selling art … - Don’t use Twitter to announce what you had for breakfast. - A lot of people are voyeurs, but you’re looking for action, so create a call to action. E.g., use verbs like “see, click, view, read, try …” - Be ultra-efficient with your words. Get the point across and add a link if needed. A preamble isn’t needed for a Tweet. - Don’t use Twitter as your soapbox for negativity. On Twitter, no one can see you; they just hear you. If your language is ugly, well … EXTRAS You can customize your Twitter background to include pictures of your art and design, as well as your RedBubble URLs, a personal website address, phone number, or some context about you and your work. Remember to keep it simple. Note that I didn’t tell you that it’s imperative to use Twitter. Twitter isn’t for everyone. It’s an exercise in dedication, efficient use of words, and restraint; verbal diarrhea is not recommended nor effective. Please add your commentary, ideas, etc. below. Regards, / Jason, aka Jersey2J and 50Champ

• I used to Live in a World where...
  by Brett Foster

  I used to live in a world that / Prized courtship / And romance. / Now dating is on speed.

• 

  Id
  by Shawn Coss

  US$3.99–US$91.20

  As a once psychology major, I was intrigued by Freud’s theory on the id and ego of the human psyche. It has been many years since those classes so my words may be somewhat off. But this piece is a self representation (aren’t they all?) of myself and how the “id” and “ego” play in our life decisions. We all seek pleasure and that constant feeling of euphoria, and our “id”’s only goal is to achieve those feelings without worry or care about the consequences of such actions. It is our “ego” that keeps the “id” in line, allowing us to think before we act, and to be able to foresee what may come of this pleasure seeking. It is a constant battle that wages on beneath our skin and sometimes the “id” overcomes. Some choose to live only by the “id”s bidding and never realize the destruction they leave behind when seeking their pleasures. I have been through that lifestyle once, and as much as I enjoyed such pleasures in bountiful amounts….the aftershock of those actions can still be felt today.

• 

  Where you used to hold me
  by Angelique Brunas

  US$6.65–US$152.00

  Empty strawberry with a little heart :D © Copyrighted Angelique Brunas all rights reserved. / Do not copy or duplicate without my written permission.

• 

  Careful Use of Naughty Text
  by raae

  US$27.13

• 

  Reflections of the way life used to be
  by Kitsmumma

  US$6.65–US$152.00

  Untouched reflection photograph. Best viewed LARGE

• 

  The Black Moon
  by micmac

  US$3.99–US$91.20

  A macro of a the top of a garbage can,all rusty… :)) The whole is almost 2 inches wide,I guess they have to do it that way so the racoons can’t open the top of the can…I think you have to put your fingers in the whole to lift up the top…. :))...not sure though…

• Using Tags to Attract Targeted Art Buyers
  by selling

  In the journal post titled Relationships Sell Art I reas…

  In the journal post titled Relationships Sell Art I reasoned that each artist is their best salesperson; that establishing a relationship with shoppers and buyers through context – a story about the artwork – can aid sales. Most buyers want details that can be shared when they’re asked about the print, t-shirt, calendar, etc. that they’ve proudly displayed in their home or office, on their body, etc. Now let’s step back and look at the factors that the typical consumer considers when buying art – aside from the ever-important context noted above. In a survey of 2,000-plus art buyers ages of 18 to 65 (qualified based on their previous purchase of art), the factors that influenced their purchase of “things to hang and display on walls” included: 60% just liked it / 43% said that it matched the style or design of their home / 39% said that color was a factor / 30% said favorite theme/subject / 29% said it fit their collection / 25% said size influence them / 19% were simply filling a space / 13% said investment was a factor / 9% purchased on impulse / 8% factored a designer/decorator recommendation How can you use this information on your RedBubble pages in order to sell your work? Although we artists can’t control subconscious attraction or a designer/decorator recommendation (unless we know the designer), we can tag our work with 5-7 very targeted terms that will drive visibility via RedBubble search and organic (non-paid) search results. Style, color, theme, and subject keywords are all in our control. In combination with context, smart tagging can help drive and make the sale. What won’t work? Tag cramming or spamming won’t do anything for your sales. It’s the equivalent of marketing a horse when you’re trying to sell a cow. Deception will drive viewers, but not sales. It’s important to note that the above information applies to shoppers and buyers that don’t know you personally. As we’ve discussed before, the easiest sales come from your personal network of family, friends, existing clients, and their extended network of contacts. In the next post we’ll look at genres and the keyword terms that are searched for most often by those looking to buy art. Regards, / Jason

• TUTORIAL:Using tags on Redbubble
  by D R Moore

  There are many reasons for using tags 1. Creating links to make it easier for your visitors to find what they want / 2. K…

  There are many reasons for using tags 1. Creating links to make it easier for your visitors to find what they want / 2. Knowing what images are in what group / 3. Help your visitors find what they want faster. For keeping track of what images are in what group, I’ve found that the easiest way to do this is by Tagging the image with the group name. Then making a bookmark for easy access to Group lists, This method will also show new images as long as you add the tag when you enter the image to a group. / To add tags to images Click your “art” button or Here , Then next to the image click “edit”, The tag box is below the Description box. / Tag Example: All images that I’ve submitted to the Group “Animal Kingdom” , I’ve added the following tag “animal kingdom” remember to separate the tags with a comma ( , ) / Search Example:The following will work for all users as long as you put your username, and tag in the places indicated in bold below / http://www.redbubble.com/people/yourusername/art/everything/tags/tagname / Once you get the results Bookmark it, Now the next time you try to remember what images you have in a group or have I reached the group limit you can click the bookmark and see what images are in that group and how many. / Bonus: Using the links from above to organize your images for visitors, Link an Image or text with the Links you created above. / You can see some of your links using tags by clicking your username in the top right hand side of any redbubble page (this takes you to your public profile page) / then click Art, Calendar, or T-Shirts then on the next page on the left there are text links with the tags that you have added to your work. / ( if your not sure how to do this See this post Creating Links Etc…on redbubble ) EXAMPLES: / Linked text "Birds":http://www.redbubble.com/people/yourusername/art/everything/tags/tagname / Birds / Linked image / !www.imageishere.jpg!:http://www.redbubble.com/people/yourusername/art/everything/tags/tagname / You can click the link below, It will open in redbubble it won’t give you any results but then you can then change the username in the address bar click “go” or just hit enter bookmark the result or add it to your “favorites” for future tag making . / http://www.redbubble.com/people/yourusername/art/everything/tags/tagname How to tag your journals / writings The above method does not work for my journls or writings / Example:I have a few How-to’s in the How to Redbubble group and I’ve tagged them with”htrb” So if i create a tag like above it would be / http://www.redbubble.com/people/envelope150/art/everything/tags/htrb / unfortunately the results give me a blank page (click the link above if you don’t believe me) / Here is how we can get the results we need (want). / See Here http://www.redbubble.com/search/envelope150%20htrb/journals / If you have a lot of writings it might be a good idea to tag these for many reasons. 1. Keeping track of what groups they are in / 2. Easy reference for other bubble members / 3. sorting by topic / 4. and many more…. I will try and explain the easiest way to do this and hopefully make it as painless as possible. / I will explain how I created the above results for my How to journals / Fist and most important tag all your work with your username / Step 1. Tag the journal I’m using “htrb” / Step2. Make a link to the list of journals with this tag / To do this we will need to use the search box / Enter your username and tag “click Search” I’m going to enter envelope150 htrb / Step 4. When you get to the results page copy the address from the address bar or bookmark it. / If your tags are fresh give it a little time for redbubble servers to catch up(up to 10-min) / Now you can use the address to make links to your journals for easy reference or group tracking. / I high lighted my username and tag below in bold, When copying the results you will have the %20 where the space is suppose to be. http://www.redbubble.com/search/envelope150%20htrb/ Click Here to see the results if you like Using the method above to create links for your images adds the ability to use more than one tag / Example: If I want to make a link to my osprey(bird) images I would use the search box and enter envelope150 bird osprey click “search” and I get this / http://www.redbubble.com/search/envelope150%20birds%20osprey only my images that include the 3 tags will show up / This method would be good for the Flower Lovers to separate their Flowers images not only by type of flower but color as well. Using tags like username flowers roses red and then searching those tags to make a link to their “My Red Roses Collection”. / Hope this tutorial helps in getting you started in fully customizing or just organizing your bubble profile. Bonus Tip To make a text box appear when someone hovers over a link add text in (these) like below "Landscapes(View my Landscape Collection)":http://www.redbubble.com/people/yourusername/art/everything/tags/tagname / See how it works below just place your mouse pointer on the link but do not click it / Landscapes / Happy Bubbling / Dan / Get the Firefox and Internet Explorer Tool bar for Redbubble Here / See more info See all my How-to’s Here Includes “Framed image on Bubblesite home page”, “Adding Calendars to your bubblesite”, “feedjit Live Traffic Feed”, “Using tags on Redbubble”, “Add a visitor counter to your bubblesite or profile page” and More © D R Moore This written work cannot be reproduced or posted on the web without my written permission