Designs

Membership Tiers: Ideas and Feedback Request

| Talizmyn

I have been deciding what membership tiers to bring back to my Ko‑fi page without making things too complex. I have decided I want two tiers, at least, but I’m open to a third “in-between” tier should anyone want that. (And, if so, what kind?)

As it works now, anyone who supports or spends money in my Ko‑fi shop for at least $3 gets access to the Supporter Downloads folder (contains colouring pages and wallpapers) and gets 10% off future shop items or 5% off commissions for that month.

In addition to that, I want to add membership tiers for those interested in something more. None of these membership tiers are active, but I’m considering adding them next month if there is interest. I would also appreciate any feedback to help me decide that we can all appreciate.

Membership Tier Ideas

Price: $3 / month
Membership Benefits: 
* Exclusive Content: AAccess the Supporter Downloads folder containing wallpapers and colouring pages. There is no set date to add to this folder, but I plan to make it every few months at least.
* Exclusive Discounts: 10% off shop items and 5% off commissions.
* Behind-the-Scenes: A sneak peek into what I’m working on, such as blog posts or a specific folder showing my experiments or practice projects.

Price: $15 / month
Limited Availability: 5-10 members, probably
Membership Benefits: 
* Exclusive Content, same as above.
* Exclusive Discounts, same as above.
* Behind-the-scenes, same as above.
* Merchandise: Physical merchandise is sent to members every third month. It will require a shipping address. Members will receive a personal thank you every three months, a postcard featuring my art, stickers, and a jewellery item I created. The jewellery items are random: members can tell me their favourite colour(s) and what items they want (or don’t), such as necklaces, earrings, bracelets or keychains. (I wouldn’t want to keep giving earrings to someone who cannot wear them, after all.)
* Exclusive Requests: Members may request a custom jewellery item for the sixth month after being subscribed to this tier for five months. Choose everything from colour, style, artwork, flowers, whatever it is. 

Feedback Request

So, what do you think? I would love to hear feedback on pricing and what folks are looking for. Due to logistic reasons, the Mailer tier would have to be limited to Canada and the USA. If there’s interest from folks outside those areas, I would need to do more research to see if that could work. At the very least, it will likely require a separate “Worldwide Mailer” tier that accounts for extra shipping costs.

Catching up and a ko-fi shop

| Talizmyn

Shop Updates and Return

Earrings are up in my shop on ko-fi!

These earrings are printed designs behind 12mm glass cabochons. Some are printed photographs, original artwork, and washi tapes. They’re also stainless steel and are generally considered to be hypoallergenic!

Since these are the first earrings I have made, some have flaws, such as bubbles, small scratches on the side of the glass, or discolouration. But they’re also handmade, so what’s a little imperfection? 😉

So, which ones are your favourite? I would love feedback on which earrings I should make more of in the future. Would you like studs instead of fishhook earrings? Pendants? Let me know! 😀

It’s Been a While

I last updated my blog over a year ago. More than two, even! That does not mean I haven’t done anything, quite the opposite, but I haven’t done much in the way of art like I had been. A lot has changed in the art/creator world, with AI tools becoming more accessible. On the one hand, it’s exciting and valuable. On the other hand, some artists are getting their work stolen and losing their livelihoods.

My work hasn’t been stolen, as far as I know, but commissions for pet portraits have dropped completely. And why not? Why pay a digital artist $70 and wait 3 weeks for a digital portrait when some text can be put into a tool to generate a pet portrait in seconds? Sometimes, even for free?

This is one of the reasons I have moved away from digital art and toward more physical, tangible creations. There’s always a demand for homemade, handmade things, and my first in that direction was creating designs for print-on-demand products in my Etsy shop. And while those have done alright, I have wanted to take it further to create more and more myself. Take over more and more of the process and remove the unnecessary middle person. (In this case, Printful.)

For a long time, I have wanted to create something tangible with my hands: move away from digital art into something handmade, something physical that can be held or worn. Doing this would give me a more significant share of the profits (which means growing my business!) and more control over every aspect of the process. Creating the items, purchasing the packaging, designing the cards or stickers to go inside, and shipping things out will all be in my control. If you’re interested in finding out more about this, I have blog posts on my ko-fi page that go into more detail.

I hope you stick around and see how this goes with me. If the earrings or future resin jewellery or crafts interest you, please take a look at my ko-fi page and give it a follow.

Thanks,
Talizmyn

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

Twitter Art Raffle

| Talizmyn

Click Here to Enter!

I’m running an art raffle on Twitter, with the draw on April 25th!

Three (3) people will win a free coloured sketch from me, of a character of their choice.
Anyone can enter! ❤

Art will be in a similar style to the image in the original post (see above). Character can be your original, an avatar from a game, or one from your favourite show or even book. Make sure to have a visual reference if you win! ✨

To Enter
⭐ Follow me on Twitter, and
⭐ Retweet this post

The Draw
⭐ April 25th 2020 at 1:00pm PDT

Winners will be chosen randomly. 
Check it out on Twitter!

To those not on Twitter: Sorry! If there’s enough interest I may hold another either on ko-fi or through my blog. Let me know if you’re interested in that, or have any questions. 🙂

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

Stay for a Coffee, and Maybe Buy Me One Too

| Talizmyn

Why fit in when you were born to stand out?

Dr. Seuss

Over the last few months I have been considering Patreon and Ko-fi as options to give fans of my work more access to me as a creator. It has taken some consideration, and I have decided to go with… Ko-fi!

Maybe this isn’t a surprise as my page has been accessible since October, but the current plan I’m using is Free. The change will be that I’m moving to Ko-fi Gold, a subscription to both support Ko-fi’s development and to give me access to a number of features that I can put to good use for those following and supporting my work.

I am aiming to be ready to go early February.

As a note, this does not mean my blog and portfolio won’t be updated anymore. However, how I update will change. Ko-fi will be updated first with work in progress and final images, and have some exclusive content. I’m still working out the exact changes, and feedback is not just welcome but heavily encouraged.

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Keeping Busy with Design

| Talizmyn

Earlier this year I mentioned that I began taking courses on Udemy and how much I was enjoying the process. That’s still the case! I have finished the Photoshop Essentials and Advanced courses, and moved on to both the Illustrator and InDesign Essentials courses by Daniel Scott.

And for being a person who was using InDesign and Illustrator CS6 on a daily basis for work last year, I’m surprised at how much I have learned about both programs in just the Essentials courses alone. I didn’t consider myself an expert, but felt comfortable in InDesign especially. And while I was competent in the program, I had (and have) so much more to learn not only about working more efficiently but also the real capabilities of the program itself.

And we haven’t even touched on the interactivity in PDFs yet.

Projects

My goal of late has been to create more recent graphic design work for my portfolios since much of what I have done in the past has been proprietary. It is fine if I am pitching to those who have seen my work but, alas, most have not.

Taking the courses on Udemy has been really good for building the portfolio, and it’s part of the reason I chose to check out Daniel Scott’s courses: he lists that there are many real-world projects for just that purpose.

And that’s just what I need.

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Learning and Designing and Editing And…

| Talizmyn

The last two months have been busy for me, so there has not been much in the way of content going up here. It’s the kind of busy-ness that’s productive, but doesn’t offer much to show for it in the short-term.

For those who keep up with my devientART Gallery, you will have seen a few designs popping up in the last month or so. That’s a small portion of what has been going on around here. I have much to show you!

Website: Tali Gibson Designs LLC

In July, my husband started up a business, Tali Gibson Designs LLC. Since then, we have been working on creating content for the website to showcase examples of the services we offer through the company. Being a new and small company, I’m both Graphic Designer, Website Administrator, Social Network Admin, and Whatever-Else-We-Happen-To-Need.

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devientART Gallery Additions

| Talizmyn

In the continuing effort to Actually Update Galleries and Blogs™ I’ve posted photos that I have edited over the last few years on deviantART and my Portfolio. The goal is to do this every few days for a couple of reasons:

  1. I don’t spam everyone who follows me with Everything All At Once.
  2. I don’t get burnt out on the tedious uploading/pinning/posting processes.
  3. Consistency is always better than bulk uploads.
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Updates and Society6

| Talizmyn

It has been a busy few months! 😮 The blog has been put to the side amidst helping the SO create their own business, and working on my own art projects. (More on that, below!)

There was also an issue in late May that turned my mental state on its side. I won’t get into the details, other than to say it was a stressful and expensive time and now, finally, it’s sorted out as best it can be. I’m getting myself back into a space where it feels like I can create and enjoy the process again. I have a lot of ideas, and I’m exciting to see where it goes from here.

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