Shadow Puppet Prints

Available through my online social media outlets, £8 inc P&P

They worked out at around £1 each to print in the Reprographics resource and postage is about £1.50.

I think charging eight pound is good because it isn't quite 10, but I am still working to a 100% mark up.

£2.50 for printing and posting, doubling that is £5 but I also have to consider my time spent making them. I can never do this as I never know what is selling myself short. I figure making £3 per print is fair. 

The Birds: Orlaith Conlon and Lauren Dennis

When we were briefed on our collaborative practice for Responsive Orlaith and I decided that we really could start a collective, and that the John Lewis could be our first joint brief.
Why 'The Birds'?
My nickname is Wren (Lau Wren) and I had been toying with the idea of using that as my personal branding. Through looking at people like Lord Whitney and Nous Vous it became an idea that we could do it too.
I was looking at a nest in the trees, had recently rewatched Hitchcocks' film, we were chatting away and I suggested it. Orlaith immediately jumped on board and we were so excited we started bouncing around ideas for branding then and there.

What's what?
I already had my 'bird name' but Orlaith didn't really know what to call herself. She'd recently been singing dumb caberet show tunes to me, so became the Starlings. And starlings are notoriously brave, chatty and friendly, like Orlaith. I don't know if that means i'm little and fat like a Wren.
I painted the birds while Orlaith did the text. I also formatted our Cargo (and then taught Orlaith how to)

We are aiming to create things together as The Birds, but also separately which will be branded as The Birds. I'm thinking of basing Wren around this so it all links together for my individual practice.

Practitioners to look at: Selling work

Small Adventure Shop:
This is a really great example of how you can use range to create multiple products from one idea. Take the poster of succulents, these can then be split into a set of 8 postcards, and also stand alone prints. From 8 drawings there is an accumulation of 10 products from the same body of work, if not more. 
There then could be wrapping paper, greetings cards, notebooks. 
This is a good example of producing and proposing a range. This artist in particular does this for each set she creates; birds, succulents, cabins, fish, ecosystems, guides on what to pack, flowers, african animals...
This ties really beautifully to my 505 research, optimising profits and exploring how to fit work to different dimensions and frames.

Min Pin
Another practitioner i've been looking at a lot that explores range is Min Pin Shop, ran by Penny Ferguson. Ferguson has a massive range of products, from jewellery to prints to tea towels to cushions. Over the years I have experimented with making various products but never to a standard where I could mass produce and sell them. Something I really want to explore is making my own jewellery again, to do this I could start by making painted brooches and move onto more complex things. 

Another example of expanding on existing work, a printed pattern made into fabric, made into a product. My plan for level 6 of my degree is to look into printing fabric and making products as I think it will give my work more of a purpose. 

Study Task: Personal Presence

My identity:

I'm not really sure who I am as an illustrator, but I don't think that my uncertainty in myself is something to focus on, probably something to avoid! 

Interests creative and otherwise:

- writing poetry

- original vinyl pressings, or ones that are scratched and grainy, they sound more interesting.

- birds

- 1960s cinema

- stripy T-shirts

- driving my Vespa

(I sound like a Parisian wannabe)

I think it's important to have identity as an illustrator, for some I assume it creates a professional front that people can trust, but I always tend to gravitate towards practitioners that are more personal, but I think that may be because they make it seem more achievable. 

In my pack:
Business Card: For an obvious call to action.
Stickers: From personal experience I stick them on my laptop or material case and remember exactly who and where they came from. They are fun but also memorable.
Creative CV: Possibly folded funkily, or will this reduce legibility?
Example of work: Possibly an a5 postcard on lovely stock, something that can be framed if they wish.
Wrapping paper: I want to wrap my promo packs up like presents. I tend to use brown paper but I am finding a soft spot for pattern, I'm thinking of wrapping them in my own pattern work so each person gets a little buzz when opening it.
MAOAOAOAOOAM's: Colours may vary have sweets for the taking, what better than to give people something sweet and nice, Maoam's are also flat and easily packed in.
In this I hope people remember me, if they can't meet me in person it would be incredibly good if they have a sense of who I am.

What do I want to achieve?
I think I am still focused on my own practice, enjoying exploring rather than thinking about wether people would want to buy things. I am aware of trends throughout illustration and ceramics and other items at the minute but knowing that doesn't make it easy. I don't want to create something for its commerciality. I also realise that while Alex Sickling is great at what she does, ceramics is hard, her loose painterly style is not. It's something I could probably mimick if I wanted to, and sell, but that's beside the point. I don't want to sell my soul, making money is great but I want it to be through charm and love, not what is "in trend" at the minute, If I was bothered I would spend my evenings making floral bunting.

I am beginning to build my online presence through social media rather than my actual website, mainly because it desperately needs updated, but also because it is so easy to share things with a certain immediacy. (I can also force my friends to look at it). I found through social media I can maintain the approachable vernacular that I have in real life with contacts and also online. Something that isn't as easy in static text accompanying a static image.