Ready to Monetize Your Surface Pattern Designs?
I am so excited to share today’s blog with you. Let’s dive into Surface Pattern Design and all of the different ways you can make money from your artwork.
If you've been in my #annesuniverse for a while, you probably know what Surface Pattern Design is, but many of you may be new here. Welcome!
Surface Pattern Design is essentially any design, illustration, or repeating pattern that gets manufactured onto a surface or substrate. An easy way to grasp this concept is to look around yourself right now. How many things have either a design or a repeating pattern on them? A repeating pattern is also called a seamless pattern where the design goes on endlessly from left to right, and top to bottom.
You may find designs and patterns on your carpet, wrapping paper, fabric on your couch, the duvet cover on your bed, a phone case, clothes, etc. The list goes on and on. Surface Pattern Design is literally everywhere! The industry is huge, and that means the opportunity for us as artists is also huge.
Now that you know what it is, you’re ahead of the game. Most people have never heard of it even though it surrounds us in our daily lives. But where do you start when you want to learn more?
The first step is to learn the process of turning one of your designs or doodles into a repeating pattern using a program called Adobe Illustrator. I’m actually just about to start teaching this process in my From Doodles to Dollars® Coaching Week. Click HERE for more details if you’d like to join us. Act fast because it starts tomorrow: Wednesday, January 15.
You may be a quilter and when you go to the fabric store perhaps you’ve wondered: “How do these designs get put onto fabric?” Or “I can’t find anything I like. I’d love to design fabric with my very own designs on them, but I don’t know how.”
Maybe you love paper products. One of my students Natasha Zahn, who lives in Alaska, has a vibrant creative business. She’s a watercolor and ink artist and puts her designs on all kinds of paper products. When we met she said: “I’d really like to leverage my original pieces and transform them into repeating patterns so I can extend my business into new categories.” And she did!
How can you make money with this? There are so many ways but I’ve grouped them into 7 key categories for you.
Licensing, which means renting your designs to companies for a period of time and for a specific industry.
Selling directly to customers through retail stores or by exhibiting at art and craft fairs.
Sell indirectly by uploading your designs to Print-On-Demand (POD) shops.
Workshops, either live or virtually using zoom.
Commissioned work where you create one of a kind pieces for customers. My student Robin Koza does this with wall paper!
Subscriptions - Natasha (Tash) who I mentioned earlier has a greeting card subscription in addition to selling directly and wholesaling.
Wholesale - distribute your art through local and national retailers.
All of these are fabulous and you don’t need to limit yourself to just one. Although I do recommend that you focus on one to start. LOL.
For now, I’ve got two options for you.
Option 1 is to download my free e-book! It’s called How to Craft a Career in Surface Design and in it, I dive deeper into each of those monetization strategies. It also includes inspiring, real-life examples of students who've come through my programs and are now making money in these various categories. If they can do it, so can you!
Option 2 is to get started right now learning how to create your first repeating pattern by joining my From Doodles to Dollars® Coaching Week. Click HERE for more details if you’d like to join us. Act fast because it starts tomorrow: Wednesday, January 15.
Please share this with a friend. I’d really appreciate it and it helps get my blog into more people’s hands.
See you soon,
xo,
Anne
xo,
Anne
Explore Surface Pattern Design by downloading my free ebook HERE.
Have fun and I’ll see you next week.
Remember,
It’s Never Too Late to Create®
If you enjoyed this blog please share it with your friends and family. Click your favorite social platform below. And join my email list for weekly creative inspiration and an invitation to our private Facebook group, Anne’s Art Club.
MEET ANNE
Hi…I’m Anne!
My creative inspiration comes from a lifetime of observation. I grew up in Paris on the Place St. Sulpice and walked to school through the Luxembourg gardens. And that was only the beginning… Learn more by watching the video on my About page.
