Friday Thoughts (Ep. 20!) (Patreon)

Can you believe this is my 20th week of writing these little updates? Are you tired of me yet? Cause I‘m not tired of me!! Let’s go, twenty more weeks, and more!

How was your week? Are you super busy this summer, or has it bee pretty chill? I was thinking this week about how some jobs are very seasonally dependent, like how the restaurant I worked at was crazy town in the summer and less crazy town in the winter. And I feeling like illustration is very seasonally dependent, as in making art for Halloween, Christmas, etcetera, busy commission times for holidays and mother’s day. But are all jobs seasonal, with busy times and slower times? Or are some the same day in and day out? Huh!

So after a (thankfully) very busy month or so (it felt like late July-early august was one big month,) I have a little self directed time. But, I’m trying to keep the momentum going! This week was started with updating my Etsy store with all of the leftover prints that I have after the two art shows. This is something I felt like I was putting off for a long time because I didn’t know exactly how I wanted to do it. But I kicked off Monday with forcing myself to getitdone!!

So previously any time I uploaded a listing for a print I would wait to make the print, and then photograph each separate print on its own, and then EDIT each and every one of those prints. It took forever, it didn’t look great, and as a result I didn’t list very many prints at all. A month or two ago I heard a suggestion in a Skillshare class to use a pre-edited photo of a white piece of paper at the size of the print, then edit a digital image of your print on top of THAT photo. Genius! That way you only have to take and edit about  10 photos instead of 50!

See how that works? I was able to upload 10 separate prints in a fraction of the time. Work smarter, not harder. I literally scheduled two days for all of this and completed it in one.

Tuesday I was able to skip ahead to updating my portfolio website:

I updated the featured photos at the welcome page to include my new logo and paintings, changed the color of the buttons to be more on brand (red, blue, white, yellow, etc.) I also tried to work a little to improve my SEO (search engine optimization) so my portfolio would be easier to find on search engines by adding my location and titles in my title and information.

If someone were to search “ragon illustrator,” “seattle illustrator,” or “Seattle artist” I want to be easily found. I also did similar adjustments for the titles of my Etsy products, lengthening them with more keywords! Who cares about elegance, I want to be found!!

On my website editor (I use Square Space!) I added all of my newest work, took out some older, and changed the gallery layout to more clearly display my art. If you click one of the photos with this grid layout, the photo pulls up in a larger shadow box! Professional! I also added links to where visitors can purchase the art that’s shown. I’m working on constantly providing an easier way for customers to buy from me!

I also quickly created my own favicon of a green plant in a red pot, loosely my logo, that displays in the tabs in every browser except safari. Basically I deepened my brand even further!

On Etsy I also created this listing for the custom letterpress prints that Annie’s made with me! They’re so beautiful and there’s only 17 of them left, find them here!

I finished the very last of the series of 8 rabbits and cats with the digital illustration above! I think next week I’ll upload a full process video for them.

I don’t have any photos for this, but after doing all of these other things this week I really did not feel like creating my resume or looking up agents, like I had scheduled. But guess what, I made myself do it anyway. Do I get an award? All I wanted to do was lay on the couch and watch Netflix, but instead I compromised for myself and set up my iPad while I slowly did the other work on Zach’s computer. Actually I don’t think I’m capable of fully vegging out at laying down and relaxing, I always have to be doing something at the same time. I don’t think that’s a good thing. More on searching for agents next week.

So those were my major tasks this week aside from social media management and correspondence th possible future clients. A good business management week! (Not my favorite but very necessary.)

NON-Art Week!

For once I had a very exciting and happy week outside of art!

I played Dungeons & Dragons with my closest friends: my roommate/partner/boyfriend Zach (who is doing amazing work this week sharing his art on social media!) and fellow SCAD-alum swing dancing artist friend Tori (who is doing equally amazing work on client commisions while also querying both a graphic novel and a YA fantasy novel, dang!) Can you tell I’m surrounded by amazing inspiring artists?

I went to a new local swing dance scene with Tori, that’s in walking distance from my home! I spent the $25 amazon gift card I won in my family scavenger hunt on a new yoga mat made of natural cork and rubber (because I hate foam and plastic! So! much!) so now I won’t have to do my home yoga on a folded up blanket! I bought a deep conditioner for curly hair and new conditioner and shampoo because the other ones I have are literally the worst! I bought three new shirts and a pillow from Goodwill! I cooked two big pots of chickpeas and black beans!

What a good week!! I’m feline fine! 

I’ll end with this link to two of my favorite playlists on Spotify right now so you can jam with me:

My Faves 2018 I used to be very into making playlists but I just have not taken the time lately. So now anytime I here a song I like I just dump it in here, so it is pretty eclectic. Funky, a little 90s style girl rock, a little modern dance, give it a try!

Maggie Cole’s Summer Vibes A summer playlist by an artist I love. Very long, lots of oldies and 70s music, a little bit of newer folk. Happy and fun.

Check these out and then I would love any playlist recommendations from you!

Alright folks, I hope you have an amazing weekend! Thank you for being here for me, you give me life and energy and love, and I hope I can give a little back! Rock it out. Get it done, believe in yourself, live your best life! 

xoxo

Ragon