A Much Needed Update...

Hello! It's been months since I've updated this blog but I feel the need to share what's currently going on in my life.
I'm working on my own personal website and building my art portfolio.
You can check out my website at brooketomlinsonart.com
I've been updating my blog over there a few times a week, I really think you will like the content.

My etsy shop is still up and running, and you can check it out here.

I will be opening another etsy shop soon, to sell prints of my artwork.

Head over to my website and see for yourself what I've been up to, and be sure to sign up for my email list to never miss out on an update!

How have I grown?

How have you grown?

I think that over the course of this semester, I have grown significantly.

When I first entered the course, I had no idea what I wanted to pursue after high school. I knew that I was passionate about design and art, but there are so many different pathways with design that I didn’t know what to do. I was excited when I found out that there was a magical course called “IDC” where I could decide what I learned, what I created, and how relevant it was to me.  

“I am excited to study something in the classroom that adds value to my life outside of it.”

I decided that I wanted to make a range of feminist merchandise, this let me combine graphic design, fashion design, illustration, and product design, as well as marketing, branding, business and entrepreneurship. This project was a big step for me, in the sense that I was being open about my feminist ideals and before then have been too shy to talk about them.

I now know that I want to combine graphic design and illustration, as well as continue my Etsy store and make new products for it frequently. I also grew a lot as a designer, and the reality of this project (the fact it was actually going to be real and people were really going to see it with real eyes and everything) was a huge motivator for me. I think that this was a big step for me, deciding what it is that I want to do after high school. I found something practical, but also something that makes me incredibly happy and really proud of myself.

That was another thing I learned; how to be proud of myself. I am feminist and vegan; two things that can easily start heated arguments. I don’t like arguing or fighting, so I never used to bring these things up and if they did come up I would find a way to bury them, or laugh them off as if they aren’t 2 of the most important changes the world needs to make. This project showed me how to put myself out there and be proud of who I am, not ashamed of it.

I also learnt that when I am proud of myself and put myself out there, people notice. That all this time I was expecting negative attention when it becomes known that I’m feminist or vegan, but in this case I saw that was not always true. I met a ton of other feminists at school, and was not “accepted” despite my feminist views, I was supported because of them.

I learnt a lot about time management. I never used to take my own deadlines seriously, whether it was promising myself I would study for a test or cleaning my room. Since starting this course, where I not only had to set my own deadlines but also follow through with them, I have become more efficient. My grades and reputation as an Etsy seller were on the line if I didn’t hand in my deliverables on time. I have noticed that since starting this, I have taken my own deadlines and goals seriously. I created a schedule for myself and worked hard to finish things on time for this course, but I have also carried this skill outside of the classroom and use this new-found efficiency to be productive with other tasks. I am more efficient with homework from all of my classes, not just this one course, as well as at home with personal goals and chores. It showed me that my goals are serious, and deserve to be taken seriously. I got to see the reward from committing to those goals and accomplishing them, and think that this was an important learning experience for me.

I learnt a bit about the business world as well. I’m obviously no expert, but I did learn about the process of manufacturing products, marketing them, and selling them. I made a marketing campaign, and priced my products accordingly (I profit approximately 80% of the sales), and learnt how to appeal to my target market. I learnt about making commitments, to myself, customers, and manufacturers/business partners, and that there are consequences to not following through with those commitments. One example would be that I promised myself that I would keep up with online marketing but I didn’t follow through with that, and I suffered the consequence of only selling 2 products on Etsy over the semester (but I have since sold an additional 9 products on Etsy) and that was largely due to the lack of marketing I did. I assume that the majority of Etsy sales that I made in the last week were because of the feature I recieved on instagram that promoted my Etsy store.

I improved the quality of my Etsy store significantly, and it will forever be better because of this project. I put a lot of work into it, and am really proud to show it to people now.

My group changed our CBL project topic, which I think was also a growing experience for me and my group. We committed to a topic that we were not all passionate about, and one that we couldn’t see change in in our community. We switched to Pet Mills, and saw a lot of progress, This showed us how much we really can do when our hearts are invested in something. We received support from over 1,800 people all around the world and brought the issue of pet mills in Ontario to the attention of our peers. Again, the reality of this project was a huge motivator and showed me not only how to make real change; but that it can in fact be done and it is incredibly rewarding.

FINALLY

Here is a photo of Natalie, Rikki Lee, me,  Remira, and Kallyna selling my merch for the Fearlessly Girl sale. It was only the first day so word still needs to spread and hopefully we will get more people today. I am planning on carrying the sale throughout next week, since it was delayed 3 days due to weather. 

We sold almost 1 of everything (we didn't sell any patches) and sold 2 of one button and 1 sticker. 

PSA

Just wanted to warn everybody out there that there's an evil witch or voodoo man or probably both going around controlling the weather and cursing projects.

New Posters

I was looking at my posters that I made for my in-school sale of my line of feminist merchandise, and noticed a disconnect between the posters, my products, and my Etsy shop. None of them tied together and I wanted to change that. 

Then I decided to add photos of my products to the poster, to tie the products into the advertisements so that potential customers aren't mislead by the difference in styles. 

I had trouble getting them to look nice on the poster and quit part way through the design, and started a new one. 

This time I used the full photos from my Etsy listings to ensure that everything was cohesive.

I'm really happy with how they turned out and think they are neutral enough for Fearlessly Girl to like them, while still giving off the same vibes as my Etsy shop. I also really like that I could incorporate most of the pieces in my line so that people will have an idea of what I will be selling and know what to expect.

New Thumbnail Photos

Today I took new thumbnail photos for my sticker listings and added my patch listing. The photos I took of my stickers originally just had a plain brown background, which didn't really match the aesthetic of my Etsy shop. 

So, to make everything more cohesive, I took some new thumbnail photos with my mustard yellow blanket as the background.

 Mustard yellow is the accent colour in my shop logo;

so I have been using that blanket as a prop in a lot of my thumbnail photos.

I also added by "Girl Power" patches to my shop and took photos for them as well. I used the same blanket as a background as well as some denim to tie in the thumbnail for my "Feminist" button. Here is the thumbnail photo I decided on:

And a couple of the other photos I included in the listing:

I have found that the keys to taking good photos for Etsy shop listings are natural lighting, a cohesive theme among listings (A colour scheme, texture, background, prop, etc.), and a decent camera. I usually use my canon digital camera but couldn't find it so I just took these with my smart phone, and they look just as good as my other listings. Good lighting really does make all of the difference!

First Etsy Sale

I got my first sale a few days ago and I was super excited. I've had Etsy sales in the past but this was the first one from my line of feminist merch, and knowing that somebody liked my design enough to buy it. My first sale was a "Less Catcalls More Cats" pinback button. I packaged it in a bubble mailer and added a hand written note, as I do with all of my sales, and decorated the note with cute Lisa Frank stickers, and to make it cohesive with the brand of my shop I doodled elements of my logo and shop banner on the envelope which isn't shown. Following orders will be similar to this, so I thought I would make a post about my Etsy sales since you will mostly just see stuff about my school sales for my IDC project.

My Etsy Store:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/InkAndDust