How I Launched My First Art Collection

Why Head in the Clouds?

To keep it simple: I have an silly obsession with clouds. I even follow a Facebook group dedicated to the appreciation of them! For years I’ve looked up, gotten mesmerized, and whipped out my phone to take many pictures of the scene above us.

I think the average person would roll their eyes and make fun of me, but I am pretty amazed at how the sky gives us something different to look at every single day. That itself is a privilege to witness as human beings on a floating rock in the middle of the void called space! Come on, you know it’s true.

And it was that fact that made me think: I’ve been hoarding photos for years about this thing that I like, why don’t I use this inspiration to create some new artwork for my shop? I’m pretty sure the last time I made a full body of work like this was in the beginning of my current graphic design job (4 years ago! Jeez.), so it was exciting to do something solely for the purpose of liking the subject, and not having the pressure of grades, criticism, or a boss looming over me.

You could argue there is some pressure in having to make sales, but since this art shop technically isn’t my main source of income, I could take the time to make something I purely enjoyed for the fun of it.

I wanted to create some fun, dreamy art that invoked the feeling of peace and softness, with pastel colors that calmed the eyes and positive and/or relatable messages where it made sense to include them. I also wanted to use a mix of my existing photography and make some new original art that I could paste onto multiple different products. I needed it to work in a way that I wasn’t making new art for every single thing, so I could be more efficient.

Moodboards & The Design Process

Sometimes, planning is even more fun than the execution. I think probably a lot of creatives would agree with me there. There is some solace is the planning stage of creating something, where you don’t have to think about logistics and can freely daydream about whatever you want to make.

And this is/was the first collection I would be releasing for my small art business, so I definitely took some time to daydream (It’s also how I came up with the name for it, too).

I knew I wanted to start creating new product types with this collection, so I started there. I was haphazardly adding things to the list, without really thinking about how they all fit together as a collection. While that was fun, it felt too scattered in my brain.

I realized that I should probably be using some kind of collage, or Pinterest board, or SOMETHING where I could visually see everything I was planning beforehand. I use Notion for all my other small business planning, but it wasn’t what I wanted to use for this kind of thing. And not to sound like an ad (cause this isn’t sponsored!), but that’s when I remembered about the existence of Milanote! 

There was a time a few years ago that my husband, the ever-loving supporter of my art endeavors, showed me a YouTuber that he’d been watching where she used this tool. So I looked it up, created an account, and dumped everything I was thinking of. And this is the result of that brain dump:

So you can see I was able to nail down a color palette, freebie ideas, notes, and even my own sketches along other random images that I felt matched the vibe I was imagining in my mind. While everything I was thinking of didn’t make the cut, the creative vision was so much clearer after doing this small exercise.

I definitely plan on doing this same thing for future collections. Conceptualizing really is an important part of the process, because it helps you move to the next stage where reality sets in and you have to start thinking about budget, logistics, limitations, and all that fun stuff.

Outsource When You Can

One of the goals of this collection was to introduce new product types into my store. Namely: sticky notepads, sticker sheets, and buttons! I have always loved stationery and the fact that I now get to make my own versions with my art on it is so exciting to me. I had to decide what to make in house and what to outsource.

I already own everything needed for sticker making, so it would save me funds to just make the new sticker sheets in house. I was also able to grab a low-cost button maker on Amazon that came prepped with a lot of free stock that would last me a long while and would work for making my freebies.

Then, I decided to outsource the sticky notes with Vistaprint. I have experience working with print vendors at my day job, so I’d already had them in mind. They ended up turning out amazing! I’d definitely like to work with them for more standard style designs in the future.

At the time of this writing I have only made two sales on my new collection, but both have included the sticky notes, which seems like a good initial sign of investing in getting them made. It does take a little while for them to be shipped to you, so definitely plan to do any outsourcing in advance of doing your in-house production. In the future, I would like to outsource more, but I am enjoying creating my shop products at home so I will continue that for now.

The Ups & Downs

Of course, everything wasn’t as easy as I’d have liked it to be. With this being the first official collection for my shop, there were bound to be ups and downs. While I had everything scheduled to be done in April (and I actually was on schedule!!), my computer decided to break down literally the day after I finished creating all the artwork that was to be printed in house. It really just stopped working!

I had also planned on starting a digital marketing course for my day job that would be taking up my time outside of work. Thankfully, I had enough savings to cover for a new PC, and I was lucky enough that I didn’t lose my artwork, but it did put me behind several weeks. By the time I secured my new PC, I was way behind schedule, and already well into studying for my course.

Studying for 6-10 hours every week after work was pretty grueling for me, and I knew I had to put aside my shop duties to prioritize the weekly modules I was expected to complete. So, I did exactly that. I felt a little guilty, some FOMO (because I’d spend days scrolling and seeing everybody else work on their own shops), and ultimately lost confidence cause I felt like I’d failed...something (not sure what, though, but that’s something to unpack later).

Eventually, I did finish that course, and passed with flying colors! So I was proud of myself for that. And what I learned in that course were something I could take with me immediately and put to use both in my day job and my shop! So it ultimately was time well spent.

If you are in the midst of preparing for the launching of your art shop or your first collection, here are some tips I’ve come to learn now that I’m on the other side of this situation:

• Create a moodboard for all of your thoughts and ideas as early as possible. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy!
• Set a REALISTIC time frame for completion, even if it seems “slow.” Art takes time. It’s okay to take the time that you need to create your vision!
• Plan your budget and pricing at the beginning too. It helps when you’re in the administrative process of creating your listings at the end of your project.
• Your audience likely doesn’t care how long something takes for you to post, especially if you’re just starting out. Take advantage of that and use that time to make your products with the utmost care and attention!
• There WILL be roadblocks and unexpected situations that arise. Take them as learning situations rather than failures or setbacks! They will make your future launches easier!

Looking Ahead

I have learned so much about myself and my art over the past couple of months while completing this collection. I’m really grateful to have been able to start AND finish an entire collection when just two years ago I couldn’t finish a single drawing and was on the verge of giving up on art forever. If this is the first time you’ve come across my blog and store, this is how it turned out:

If there’s something you REALLY want to see in the future, just shoot me an email or DM me on social media and let me know! I didn't really mention it here, but I've also made some freebies related to this collection that you can collect as a more affordable option.

I’m super motivated to continue working on the next planned set of releases. It might be a little while before I have another full collection idea, but I’m definitely looking forward to the next couple of product releases and I hope you are too! Find me on social media @chunchunstudio or sign up for my newsletter below for more behind the scenes peeks and shop updates!