Merch and an update
I made merch and am older and stuff
Good Afternoon Glittery Gumdrops and Fair Folk,
Life has been, well, lifey lately. I have been struggling through a lil depression cycle thanks to the med changes, and dissolution of last month’s mania. I worked really hard not to let this season’s depression storm affect me too much, and my efforts were mostly successful. Although I struggled to update my substack, I did manage to keep making some art every day and I started a facebook group to post my art and art-related nonsense since that felt a bit less important and scary than updating this substack felt. I know they’re like literally the same and this is only as scary as I let it be. But I had all of these big ideas about posts I *should* write and those shoulds felt heavy. I should know better (heh).
The whole keyboard thing I have mentioned before was a factor as well so I bought myself a little bluetooth keyboard for my birthday. I had a birthday this week by the way. I am now 37 which feels pretty much the same as 36 but less divisible by 12, 6, 18, 3 and 2. Is 37 prime? I feel like it might be. But fuck no I am not googling that shit. I am actually typing this post on my ipad using my new keyboard. It’s not like perfect and my fingers need to get used to the spacing and key-feel but It works. AND it works with my BT headphones as well which is nice.
So I removed a mental and physical barrier which is helping me write this long overdue post. It also helps that I am procrastinating other things I could (dare I say should) be doing today. One of the most valuable ADHD hacks is to procrastinate unpleasant tasks with other slightly less unpleasant tasks until those tasks themselves become either urgent or the unpleasant tasks you procrastinate on other tasks with. ADHD is only motivated by urgency, challenge and novelty (some debate about entertainment being motivating as well but those three FOR SURE). And we’re also contrairian so we get some boost by not doing the things we are supposed to do. ADHD brains are weird little electric meatballs.
This post isn’t about my ADHD or my depressive cycle though, at least not entirely. It is also about telling YOU my dear readers. about the FOUR ways YOU can buy my art and have it in your life! I have created four different print-on-demand shops with a variety of products and artworks. Print on demand is the most logistcally feasible option for me right now, because I don’t have the capital or the space to stock physical products to ship directly to you yet. Eventually we will make some cool LE stuff but for now we have this.
Here are some images of my products and the links to the shops
Redbubble -somehow I landed in their premium artist tier and they seem like the most artist-centric POD shop I have joined so far.
Threadless - fewest designs here for now, they’re largely t-shirts and the only designs I have that are t-shirt-worthy are my Honeycomb Brain logo designs.
Printify - I have mixed feelings about this one and while it offers by far the cheapest products and the widest array of product-types the wide selection means less vetting of the manufacturers and multiple products purchased will ship at different times.
Fourth Wall - This one is my favorite so far and may end up being my primary shop down the line. Originally created for Youtube and Twitch content creators, it works well for me as well. They have the most expensive Print on Demand products but I own a pair of their fold-over leggings from my sister’s FW shop and they’re pretty premium. They also have the option for me to list products I have here at home (like original paintings, stickers I get manufactured from print shops etc) in addition to their POD offerings. That hybrid option with no upfront costs is pretty epic.
So yep, not a ton yet but you can get the most stuff on Redbubble right now.
That said I will throw any of my art onto anything (within reason and resolution) so if you want something specific please let me know!
My next post is (likely) going to be about my Youtube exploration and some of the amazing channels I have been watching for inspiration and motivation. One thing they all agree on is more is more. So keep an eye out for more from me! If you want a little sneak peek at the channels right now you can either join my facebook group Julia Star Art (its pinned to featured posts) or look below the paywall for the links.
Thanks for being here and thanks in advance for buying my art. Every sale means the world to small artists like me.
Love, Julia Star
Some YouTube creators I've been watching for lessons, inspiration, practice and business stuff
Dawn Nicole | Procreate Lettering
check them out before my next post where I will be featuring some or all of these channels and talking about how they’ve expanded my art.