20.10% of the net apparel, mug, and binder sale price will be deducted when one or more of a single product type is purchased and the coupon code NEWYOUZAZZLE is applied at checkout. The net sale price is the price of the product (excluding shipping and taxes). Offer is valid from December 29, 2009 through January 5, 2010 at 11:59pm PT. This offer does not apply to past purchases and may not be combined with any other Zazzle promotional or volume discount offers. If a volume discount applies to your order, you will receive either the discount set forth in this offer or the standard volume discount, whichever is greater. Offer valid on Zazzle.com only.

Well, the contest is over. The results are going to be revealed.

1. Swine Flu Comes To Farm Town
   




2. Ghost Crab Hunters
   



3. Procrastinators Unite...Tomorrow
   




4. Rock and Roll Ex President
   




5. KAB Radio 1340
   

And the winner is...

No one.

Not one person entered. I feel a little embarrassed at the poor turnout. That's ok, though. It was the first attempt at a contest and perhaps it was not a good one. I'll build on that and try again, soon.

If you haven't already seen the post explaining the contest, go here. Put simply, I am giving away an item from my store for free. All you have to do is correctly identify the following five designs and you will entered into a drawing to be picked as a winner. Contest runs from 12:00 AM EST December 14 - 12:00 AM EST December 26th. That gives you all the way to the end of Christmas Day to get your entry in. On December 26th, I will pick a winner at random from the entries with all 5 images guessed correctly and post the winner along with the answers on the site.

Please send entries, one per person, to angrymongo@yahoo.com in the following format.

In the subject line please put Mongo Christmas Contest 2009.
In the body of the message please put your name and correctly identify the images as such

1. Name of design
2. URL of section in my CafePress shop

You will need to go to my shop to retrieve the URL which you can simply do by looking down the left hand column finding the right design and then right click on the link and choose copy shortcut.

Here are the images.

1. 
   
   



2. 
   
   



3. 
   
   



4. 
   
   



5. 
   
   

Good Luck!

It’s time to give back to my fans and hope they are still paying attention. Mongo Angry Mongo Smash is holding a contest beginning December 14th – 25th 2009. You will have the opportunity to win an item, of your choice, from my store. Certain restrictions apply.¹

Here are the details.
Beginning at midnight on December14th, I will post a series of five images on my blog.² Each will be a small piece of an entire design found in my CafePress store.

All you have to do is figure out which design is being shown and email me at the address I give you in the blog post to be entered into the contest.⁶

In the subject line you need to put Mongo Christmas Contest 2009 and In the body of the message you need to correctly identify each design by name and provide the link to the section on my store. ³

Example:
In the blog post you see this picture
1.

In the email you put this
1. Monkey Fighting Snakes On A Monday To Friday Plane
http://www.cafepress.com/Mongoware/6672140

If you provide correct answers for all five images you will be placed into a drawing with other participants who have submitted five correct answers.⁴

On December 26th, 2009 I will post the answers and reveal the winner who will be drawn at random.⁵ If you have any issue with being identified please let me know when I contact you as a winner.

Please allow time for fulfillment and shipping of your prize. Answers submitted after the close of the contest will not be considered. You have two weeks and plenty of time to do the research. Sorry. You will probably have to do some extensive looking at either the images in my fan page photo album or through my store at http://www.cafepress.com/mongoware. Good luck.⁷

Gory details
1. You can choose anything I sell. Meaning, if you find it in my store, you can have it. No substitutions allowed. In the event that the design you wish to receive becomes unavailable, I will first try to offer it to you from a different POD site such as Zazzle and will work with you to accommodate size, style, and color. If that is unacceptable please you may choose another design in any style or color. Products with multiple quantities (i.e. Buttons, Magnets, Stickers, etc) are not eligible.

2. I realize that the blog does not update to Facebook immediately allowing for a few hours of lag time between publish time and import time. Therefore, the link to the post will be put into my status update on the fan page at midnight or within a reasonable amount of minutes after.

3. You don’t have to be exact in the name. The link will give me enough proof that you know what you are talking about.

4. Employees and family members of CaféPress and M.A.M.S. are not eligible. Void in Rhode Island. I’m just kidding, contestants in Rhode Island can participate. I just wanted to see if you were reading this.

5. I wish I could give every person who guesses correctly an item but I just don’t have the means to do so. That is why you can choose a dark hooded sweatshirt which is more expensive than a basic white shirt if you win.

6. I will not sell, distribute, reveal, or spam your email address. Also, I will not become romantically involved with, stalk, or try to get you to join a cult either. I expect you do the same for me.

7. This is just here for no reason. I like the number 7.

8. Why are you still reading these?

I am a born and raised Southwestern Pennsylvania Mongo. I grew up in between the cow patty filled pastures of rural farmlands and the hustle and bustle of the mid size metropolis known as Pittsburgh. I always thought I would be a city boy at heart and always wanted to live in places like New York or San Francisco and the like. It was my background as an actor and love of the electric feel of the urban skyline that made me want to take that plunge, but the high cost of living, traffic, close quarters and quite frankly my desire to live a long life and not end up as a statistic that kept me near the suburbs.

Of course, I still like to visit. I’ve been to San Francisco and would go back in a heartbeat but New York is one of those cities that I really want to love but have problems committing to that emotion. I was there recently on business in 2006 and didn’t get much of a chance to sight see. I did manage to walk from Madison Ave to Times Square and back on more than one occasion. There’s an awesome little bar for small town guys like me called Mulligan’s on the way. I found it after I realized that most establishments wouldn’t like to cater to the sweatshirt and jeans clad clientele and figured what better way to find a decent drink in Gotham than to ask one of its working class heroes, a doorman.

I’d still love to take in my first Broadway show and do all the touristy stuff again, but money being what it is and my ever emerging social anxiety disorder…actually I think it’s more spatial anxiety disorder. I’m getting to big in britches to fit into tiny places…I find myself unwilling or unable to make the trip. So, with that in mind I give you a couple of designs for those of us who really want to love NY but just can’t commit.

With Christmas Shopping in full swing, why not give that special someone a Christmas shirt they won’t be embarrassed to wear around. M.A.M.S The Store is offering several designs with new ones added regularly. Warning, some are not kid friendly and could offend Aunt Harriet so be careful.

First up, we honor the reason for the season and guess what? It’s a Celebration, Bitches!
Depicting what might have transpired between the three wise men before they showed up at the manger with 2 out of 3 crappy gifts. The design comes in black or white with several shirt styles and colors to choose from as well as bags, mugs, and other gifts as well.

Get It’s a Celebration, Bitches!
From CaféPress and Zazzle.

Next up, who doesn’t love A Christmas Story? Here we take some of the best memories and bastardize the hell out of them.

When Ralphie muttered the Queen Mother of all dirty words, we all laughed because we’ve been there, as kids. So, why not show Mom and Dad what you really meant instead of the F dash dash dash word.

Get Oh, Fudge!
from CaféPress and Zazzle

When you win a major award from Italy….it said Fra Gee Lay on the box, you want to show it off in your window. And nothing says major like a fishnet stocking leg lamp. This one combines with the popular phrase “I Love Lamp,” uttered by Brick Tamland from Anchorman The Legend of Ron Burgundy with the soft warm glow of electric sex in the window inspired by the Leg Up Lamp from Christmas Story.

Get I Love Lamp
from CaféPress or Zazzle

The song goes, “I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus” but I think this little girl stuck around and saw what Santa put in Mommy’s stocking. I don’t think it would have been a laugh if Daddy caught them and frankly, you have good leverage to get that pony this year. Design comes in Black, White, or “Hell, I’m embarrassed” Red on any number of style or color shirts as well as mugs, buttons, etc.

I saw what else you did to Mommy
is available from CaféPress and Zazzle

And lastly, you want to let the world know exactly what you got going on by telling it like it is. I’m Hung Like a Christmas Stocking comes in two styles, short and sweet for easy reading, or a little more descriptive with the additional line (by the chimney with care)

I’m Hung Like a Christmas Stocking
is available from CaféPress and Zazzle

Merry Christmas, Hallelujah, Holy Shirt, where’s the Tylenol.

Use Code 12DEALSSHIRT on checkout and receive $5.00 off T-Shirts and Embroidered T-Shirts. You can purchase something from my store or buy anything from Zazzle and get the discount.

You can shop my store or buy anything from Zazzle and get free shipping on orders of $25 or more.

Use Promo Code 12DEALSSHIPS


Legal Mumbo Jumbo
To qualify for this free shipping offer, one or more Zazzle products must be purchased with a net sale price equal to or greater than 25.00 dollars. Enter promo code 12DEALSSHIPS at checkout to receive the free shipping. The free shipping offer is for ground shipping to U.S. addresses only. Shipping charges will apply to oversized orders and orders being shipped on an expedited basis or outside the U.S. Offer is valid from December 5, 2009 through December 5, 2009 at 11:59pm PT. This promotional offer may not combine with any other Zazzle promotional or volume discount offers. Offer valid on Zazzle.com only.

That's right. Yeah, I spend time creating, loading, and marketing designs in order to sell t-shirts. Maybe you would love to do the same but don't have the time. T-Shirt Hell does all the work. You just point people to their store. As an affiliate, you can use your blog or website to promote T-Shirt Hell and if someone buys a shirt you get $5.00. That's it. If someone buys 5 shirts, you get a check for $25.00. (meaning checks get sent out after you earn a minimum of $25.00)

Simple.

You can also promote affiliation and get an additional $1.00 for every shirt sold through your affiliate tree. Click the banner for more details.

DISCLAIMER. Do realize that T-Shirt Hell sells and promotes shirts with sometimes....OK, mostly offensive, crude and rude humor. Please be responsible in your promotion. You have been warned.

You can get free shipping from my store or for any product sold on Zazzle.com

To qualify for this free shipping offer, one or more Zazzle products must be purchased. Enter promo code HOLIDAYSHIPS at checkout to receive the free shipping. The free shipping offer is for ground shipping to U.S. addresses only. Shipping charges will apply to oversized orders and orders being shipped on an expedited basis or outside the U.S. Offer is valid from December 1, 2009 through December 2, 2009 at 11:59pm PT. This promotional offer may not combine with any other Zazzle promotional or volume discount offers. Offer valid on Zazzle.com only.

Have Fun! I know. That was awful of me to make you sit through 9 endless posts about success, promising some sort of silver bullet or holy grail at the end. It was wrong, but you really needed to go through all of that before learning this bit. Above all else, even if you completely disregard Tips 1-9, remember this one. Have fun.

I admit that I spend waaaaaayyy too much time doing this, but I find it fun. Being creative with digital art and actually making some money from it is enough to keep me going. I wish I had discovered this years ago. CaféPress is ten years old but if I could have had this in college I would have probably done things different in terms of careers and education. I would have taken some graphic design courses and gone back for Internet and marketing courses.

But none of that makes any sense if I don’t enjoy it. It is what I, or what Mongo, would call, “Make Funny Shirt.” Besides having a business model that ensures that if I don’t turn a profit the lights go out at the end of the day, I do this because I have such a weird sense of humor and I need some sort of creative outlet to quiet the voices in my head. Because of that, I find new and better ways to make fun of things that people don’t often think about, within reason. As my two year old daughter says when it’s time for bedtime or a bath, “I want to play. Have fun.” I do. I wish I did this full time and that it paid off like a full time job. Maybe I need to reevaluate my life and goals but for the most part the four or five hours a week I spend in the Mad Doctor’s Lab makes life a little more fun.

So, if you are even the slight bit serious about starting your own site or business, whether it be a POD store or some other business you need to determine what you think is success. Having fun is a major component of my definition of success. If I’m not having fun, then why am I doing it? Sure, I’m making money, but there are other ways to do that. Let me give you one, half related, example that speaks to this. In previous jobs I have had to work on holidays. I hated it. I would rather spend that time with my family, doing something fun. However, if someone is willing to make it worth my while, I’ll do it. The stipulation to that is that if I am coming in on my day off or on a holiday, you will pay me more than I usually get. (A full eight hour shift at time and a half or better, regardless of it being over a 40 hr week already.) The reason being is that for me to give up my time, which is already booked as far as I’m concern, you need to offer something better. Up to four hours of overtime is not worth it, in terms of my time, deductions from my paycheck and taxes at the end of the year. I don’t see the benefit of spending my free time on something that does nothing for me. Now, that might seem harsh and a little cold but obviously someone is benefiting from me being there and the least they can do is pay me what my free time is worth.

That means nothing in the case of friends or family. This is just applicable to business. To connect those dots, I do this kind of stuff in my free time because I enjoy it and it pays. Granted, it’s nowhere near time and a half, but if you actually take the amount of effort I spend and compare against the amount of sales that come in, with no extra work, then it pays the same.

And please, if you have any problems with my work or even need help, feel free to contact me through the site or my fan page. I’m always willing and hopefully able to answer a question. Take care and HAVE FUN!

If you have images of a scientist, deep in the recesses of his lab, piecing together parts of dead people, then good. Get a brain from a man named Abby Normal and you have the makings of a great plan. Truthfully, you can only regret the chances not taken when it comes to a business like Print on Demand publishing. For the most part, you have no overhead except your time, so once you have a site or store up and running, you have time to be creative. I mean this one more than one front.

Be creative in your endeavor with graphic design. Try new things and techniques. When it doubt, search it out. I primarily use Paint.Net for my design, although I recently received a copy of Adobe Photoshop Elements. It’s going to take me some time to adjust so I keep plugging away with what works. After all, Paint.Net is free and there is a plethora of plugins available to mimic the effects of a real graphic designer’s abilities. Go to a book store, grab a cup of coffee and settle into an overstuffed chair with a couple of books on design and look for stuff that interests you.

Experimenting with design is one aspect. Experimenting with subject matter opens a whole new ball field to play on for designs. Tackle new subjects and take a walk on the wild side of self expression. Do you have a political voice? Express it and you’ll be surprised who will buy it. If your integrity and moral compass can take it, design for opposing viewpoints to maximize your chance of sales. Before the whole Guantanamo Bay Waterboarding news broke I had never heard of that kind of torture. It sounded like something you did at the beach, like body surfing or boogie boarding. So, I thought it would be funny to lampoon the idea that it was a sport and made a “Property Of” style shirt for the Guantanamo Bay Waterboarding Team. It was purely a joke aimed at the imagery in my head of someone surfing off the coast of Cuba. Little did I know it would become my biggest seller.

While I admit that I am no big red state conservative, nor bleeding heart liberal, I do lean to the left in most cases. The design wasn’t intended to speak to one side of the political aisle or the other, but I’m pretty sure I can figure out which way the majority of people who bought lean towards. It doesn’t bother me. It’s your right to have an opinion and I’m willing to make a dollar off of it for better or worse. Do understand that you should be socially responsible and stick to terms of service when it comes to political messages just like anything else. CaféPress has removed designs centered around Psalm 109.8 and I’m sure other sites will as well. Regardless of the intention behind the designs it paves the way for interpretation that could be considered violent, illegal, and downright treasonous. I don’t always agree with how the POD sites conduct their removal of content, for whatever infringement, but in this case I think it was the right choice.

In terms of experimenting in other ways, do some homegrown marketing for your site. Put up flyers at the grocery store. Buy some of your own stuff and take it flea markets or put it up on eBay. If you have the time and patience, use your online site to run a brick and mortar style business. Create customized order forms and offer to do work on a local basis. CafePress and Zazzle both have products like cards and posters. Offer up your talents to local groups to do shirts for their sports teams, family reunions, and other events. A lot of sites offer bulk discounts for multiple orders of the same product. Have you ever seen families at amusement parks wearing the same shirt? There you go. Some people need the service but don’t have the time to do it themselves. Look online for design contests and try your hand at sites like Fark and Flickr. If you are a good photographer, sites like Flickr can be an outlet to share your portfolio and offer links to products sporting your photos.

While no one wants to send people away from their site, not everyone will like your products. That doesn’t mean you can’t make money offering to show someone the door. CafePress and Zazzle offer affiliate programs that can generate you referral credits and income by linking to their store with a unique identifier. If they purchase something from the site after going to it from your affiliate link, you get paid. Established sites like T-Shirt Hell and Busted Tees offer affiliate programs as well. Yes, all of those links are affiliate links from my accounts. At least I was honest about it.

So, fire up the Jacob's Ladder travelling arc, get your parts together and make some mad doctor success.

To qualify for this free shipping offer, one or more Zazzle products must be purchased. Enter promo code FREESHIP2DAY at checkout to receive the free shipping. The free shipping offer is for ground shipping to U.S. addresses only. Shipping charges will apply to oversized orders and orders being shipped on an expedited basis or outside the U.S. Offer is valid from November 30, 2009 through November 30, 2009 at 11:59pm PT. This promotional offer may not combine with any other Zazzle promotional or volume discount offers. Offer valid on Zazzle.com only.

See more deals here.

Besides having no business degree or experience, I also do not hold any marketing degrees, either. I don’t know why I’m telling you all this as it does nothing for my credibility. Take it as a bit of advice from someone who used to be in the same boat as you. When I first started selling POD products I had no clue what I was doing. Over time I have searched and read up on various techniques and tips on how to be successful.

Of course, every single tip I’m giving you is probably found elsewhere in sites offering tips for success. The 9000 paragraphs I use to explain each one was not. It’s practical knowledge that uses those tips. While I freely admit that I am winging it in terms of experience, I do, however, have a marketing model that possesses a truly dizzying intellect.

While I rely on CP and Zazzle to host all of my designs and drive a majority of sales, I don’t stop there. You are of course reading my blog…I hope. I use this blog to advertise my products from my store, tell semi-humorous stories surrounding the themes or show you tips on how to achieve certain effects. Everything here links back to my stores. It’s a small piece of that overall puzzle but it is a much needed cog in the marketing machine. The trick is, getting people to read it. As a great de-motivational poster reads, “BLOGGERS: Never before have so many people with so little to say said so much to so few.” It’s true. Blogging is like talking out loud at a bus stop. People are all around to hear you but only pay attention if you sound crazy. Guilty. I often joke that I write the least read blog in the world. My original blog has had just over 8600 hits in almost two years. That’s pretty sad. Even worse when you consider how many times it ticks up because I’m on it, just checking the stats. However, if you can apply the SEO development and HTML skills, I referred to in the previous steps, and can generate good quality content, you can get your blog heard among the noisy voices of the Internet. Besides, for the most part, blog sites offer free accounts and you can’t beat what doesn’t affect your bottom line. If you don’t operate or own a domain, a free blog can be useful as a way to get your message out. Granted, you get what you pay for but that all depends on how you use the tools you are given. A hammer and chisel can carve out a simple bench or Michelangelo’s David.

So, as I hammer away at blog posts other applications pick up the message and run. Post your link on websites that index blogs, like Technorati, Ping-o-Matic!, or Pingoat, to name a few. Make sure you add it to Google’s Blog Search Ping Service. That way you can start driving Internet traffic outside of your main store and link directly into it. Another way I get traffic is by using social networks. Once I publish a post, my fan page on Facebook imports my post into my Notes. Then all of my fans who don’t already read my blog, which is about all of them, gets an update from my fan page with the same links back to my store. When my fan page gets updated, so does my twitter feed. This is all done automatically after one post is published.

That’s not to say I just set it and forget it. I regularly go into my Facebook page and update profile pics, change status updates, and upload design images to my photo albums with direct links to them in my store. You can also comment on other blogs and websites. Join other groups devoted to shop owners or graphic design. You may learn more tips on how to be more successful there.

If you’re really serious about driving traffic and gaining visibility, spend $25 on a Facebook ad. My fan base jumped considerably in one week from one ad. You can customize it to only charge you when someone clicks on your ad regardless of how many times it appears on the right hand side someone’s page. Do realize that just because you gain fans, you may not see a lot of sales. It’s all about the visibility and content. Don’t be a pest and over saturate your work with a lot of “crummy commercials.” Do remember to drink your Ovaltine, though.

Once you gain a following keep them updated on your work. Hold contests, offer freebies just for being part of your world. Ok, I admit, I have not done the previous two sentences yet, but for Christmas I will be holding a contest and I will give out something to someone, somewhere, somehow. Why? It builds a rapport. If you’ve already established sales on your sites you could have a little bit of extra money floating around in your account that hasn’t cleared the 30 day period before it converts to cash. You can usually use that as credit towards self purchases. $10 here or there isn’t going to kill you. It might get you more sales in the long run.

Also, besides being visible to your customers, be visible to your fellow designers. Usually, the tips you get on being successful come from shopkeepers at no expense. Meaning, they have given you advice out of the kindness of their own heart. They gain no monetary payment for helping you out and are happy to pass on their success to other designers looking to get in the game. Join their ranks and become a social member of the design community. Share and trade tips with others. No one has all the answers and you may help someone with something that they’ve had trouble with which you figured out in one day. If you use Zazzle, congratulate someone on a “Today’s Best Award” by writing on their wall. Become fan and they might reciprocate. You cannot do business in a bubble. You rely on sales from customers. In most cases, if they don’t come to you for a shirt, someone out there will have something that will do just as well.

This Weekend! Free shipping on orders of $75 or more** Free Economy or Standard shipping for CafePress.com orders of $75 or more, excluding shipping charges and applicable sales tax. Delivery address must be within the United States and cannot be a PO Box. All orders will be Economy shipping unless the order is not eligible for Economy shipping (e.g., order exceeds Economy weight restrictions). Coupon code 75WKND must be entered at check out. Promotion starts on November 28, 2009 at 12:00 a.m. (PST) and ends on November 29, 2009 at 11:59 p.m. (PST). Cannot be combined with any other CafePress.com coupons or promotions and this offer may change, be modified or cancelled at anytime without notice.

You have it all figured it by now. Your shop is up and running. Your design machine is humming along at a good pace. Your store is filling up with great designs and product offerings. Your sales sheet is bare. What is going wrong? So far, you’ve done everything right. Right?

Just because you have great designs doesn’t mean anyone is looking at them. Realize that, while I know nothing about statistics because 42.7% of all statistics are made up on the spot…actually, that number varied when I searched to find the original joke answer…a majority of people, nowadays, will buy something online that they found through using a search engine. It doesn’t matter if that engine is Google, Yahoo, Bing, or even the search engine on a Print On Demand site. What you need to do to be successful is to learn how search engines can drive traffic to your store. Without an existing website and good content driving customers to your store, you sometimes rely on the POD site to generate sales with their own methods. While some POD sites do their best to point customers in your direction, some don’t compensate the designer the same as sales generated directly in your store.* They use methods like SEO, adwords, and paid searches which helps them get on top of the lists but unless you want to spend money you may not have on advertising, you won't be able to compete without them pointing people to your designs, regardless of how much profit they are willing to give you from a sale.

SEO means Search Engine Optimization and it can be very important for someone who wants to gain traffic to their store. Do research on how to customize your store using HTML and keywords to guarantee high ranking in search engine results. Tag your designs appropriately and think like buyer. If you have a design that bridges several possible themes tag it so that more than one customer can look at your design to fit their taste.

For example, I have a design that is rather simple in nature. The entire thing is two words, “got” and “salt” with a question mark at the end. You don’t have to be a pop culture disciple to know it resembles the old “got milk?” ads. Where it gets interesting is that if you ask 10 different people what they immediately think of when they see that design, you could get multiple, unrelated answers. Some might say, “Oh, it’s a shirt for people who love margaritas.” One or two might look at it and say, “It’s a shirt for people who like food.” The others may give various answers but probably a majority of that remaining group will probably say, “That’s a shirt about the television show Supernatural. They use salt to protect against spirits.” Well, each one of these responses is right. Now, regardless of where I have that design put in my store, the search engines will find the design by keyword or tag. So, I tagged it with words like “supernatural, ghost, bartender, salt, food, margarita, etc.” I made sure I thought of what a buyer might be thinking when they see that design or what they may be looking for when they type in a search term. The last time I typed ”got salt shirt” in Google I was first in the search results. That’s not too bad. However, I realize it might be Google’s little slugs infiltrating my brain and pointing itself in the direction of my own stuff. Other search engines do not give me that same self gratifying ego stroking.

Megalomania aside, these are things to think about in planning designs and marketing them. Do some searching on SEO and how to incorporate it into your site. Read Squidoo lens on shopkeeper success. Scour the Internet for tips and tricks and be successful.


*As a side rant, I shall dip back into a major point of contention among CafePress shopkeepers. Pre June 2009, all prices on CaféPress were established by the shopkeeper. Whether you bought a shirt through the shopkeeper’s store on the Marketplace (CP’s main site) the shopkeeper got a commission based on markup they added to the base price for a product. Post June 2009, CP changed their model and sent shopkeeper’s in a tizzy. Instead of the established price set by the shopkeeper, the Marketplace established a retail price which could be more or less than what a shopkeeper charges. All sales through the Marketplace gave shopkeepers 10% commission of the retail price instead of their established markup causing shopkeepers to lose money. Check out the pricing policy to see the changes. For their example, while a Men’s Organic Fitted shirt in a shopkeeper’s store might be $24.99, the retail price in the Marketplace is $26.99. The shopkeeper makes $5.00 in commission from his store but only $2.69 from the Marketplace. While that seems great because the shopkeeper’s price is cheaper, the bulk of all sales come from the Marketplace and now a shopkeeper sees a 46% decrease in profit. Zazzle allows you to set your own royalty based on percentage and all sales, whether generated through your shop link or through searching from their main site pays your preset royalty from that sale.

As I said before a lot of times when I come up with an idea, I check the usual suspects in Zazzle and CaféPress to see if it’s been done before. If it hasn’t been done or hasn’t been done well, I jump on the opportunity to be first in line with a brand new design. But realize that POD sites are the second source for inspiration. Popular Culture is my first.

People always talk about having the next big thing in terms of toy or gadget or in this case, design. If you are an established artist you can skip this step and concentrate on being a success, already. If you are not an artist, like me, then you need to have an edge. You need to be a little clairvoyant and study the subject matter. You need to watch television. You need to keep an eye on upcoming trends. I try to make it a point to keep up on entertainment in general. If anything else, I can at least justify to my wife spending time in front of the television. “Honey, I’m doing market research.”

Here’s two examples of how being in tune with the world helped me to be successful.

Facebook is probably the biggest generator in a decline of office productivity since Fantasy Football. The fact that you can play games, chat, and post funny pictures of yourself online makes for hours of distraction. So much so that people have become addicted to farming games. As I, too, became addicted to farming I noticed that there were very little designs speaking to this addiction and thought, “Why not?” I created three or four different designs like, “I’m a big deal on…” and “Eat Sleep Internet Farming” and really managed to get in before a lot of other designers. Granted, the actual creators of the games have their own official gear and I’ve moved towards being a little generic in calling out a specific name of a game in recent designs.

Another popular entertainment item is Glee. I admit to being a fan of the show and quite frankly, I find myself cracking up over little things that most people would probably miss. What I didn’t miss was the bus, when it came to how much people would take to the show as well as myself. So, I cracked open the laptop and worked on a “Property Of” style of shirt just for fans. I tried to make it as generic as possible to not plagiarize the ideas and fonts while still maintaining that yes there other William McKinley High Schools out there and they probably do have a choir or glee club. It’s a consistent seller and other people may have designs that are just as good, if not better, but I was able to get in before the rush.

If you look at the Top 5 Sellers List on my front page you'll notice the two, above mentioned, ideas. Being successful is about being aware. Keep an eye on what could be popular and trendy and you might edge out competition with a better design.

Here's another way to keep up with what's going on in the world. Read up on blogs, look at gadget sites like thinkgeek.com and other techie stuff. Check out Entertainment Weekly and other entertainment publications. Depending on how you want to position your business in regards to customer base is very important. But if you want to be a success you better know what you are talking about.

Get in tune and be successful.

Remember I said I have one design that sells real well and 15-20 others that don’t? Ok, well, if you have a killer idea for a design. One that you know will sell well on one site. Why not spread it around a bit? The one thing you have to realize is, this is your artwork, granted you are following the terms of service and usage policies. Do you think that Nike sells its shirt designs to just Foot Locker or Wal-Mart? No. They are all over the place. The same rules can apply to you.

There are several POD sites around the Internet. CaféPress is probably the biggest while Zazzle is following a very close second. Spreadshirt and Printfection are up and comers to name a few and Skreened is unique because of its stance on using only American and non sweatshop apparel. I could spend hours giving you the rundown on how each shop is similar or different but on the surface the biggest difference is price.

While all mentioned businesses offer free accounts to sell designs, CaféPress has two models, basic and premium. Basic shops are free but very limited in terms of design and visibility, while premium shops offer more features and possibilities for around $60 a year. Here is the comparison between basic and premium shops. Zazzle, being the other major player, gives you the same options as a CaféPress Premium Shop at no charge. The biggest difference, other than the price, is the layout and controls. Zazzle has a little more complex organizational model and I’m still coming to terms with how to optimize my store. However, while CaféPress operates to have you be in control of your design and what you offer it on, Zazzle gives you the option to let the buyer customize their product around your design. In essence you can sell the design and let the buyer pick what they want it to be printed on when they shop. Still, having everything pre-made in your store allows you to kind of point the buyer towards a good marriage of product and design. I’m still learning about Spreadshirt and Printfection so I apologize for not having much information. However, since both of these sites offer free accounts to host your designs, why not do a little research and multiply your sales potential with having a killer design on different sites.

Each one is different and has its own TOS and Content Policies. I’ve found that certain designs on one site are ok, but on another site they are bad. Granted, I’m sure it has to do with the fact that I am parodying a popular theme and one legal team draws a thicker line over “fair use” versus another. That doesn’t mean you can’t try. Just be careful in how you go about doing business or you could find yourself having bigger issues.

I really have two reasons for why I started branching out into other POD sites for business. The first is that while I really don’t have the additional time to run four or five stores, I can at least put my best sellers out in all directions and maximize profits. When I get time, I can begin to start posting my previous work on the other sites. As of now, I have yet to see the same volume of sales as I did with my original store on CaféPress, but Zazzle is slowly picking up.

The second reason, which I will rant about later on, is because not all POD sites pay equally. CaféPress really toned back their generosity towards shopkeepers and designers this summer when they changed their business model. Premium Shopkeepers pay to use their site and CP pretty much reduced a majority of shopkeeper’s profits by almost half. Now, you can still make the same amount of profit as you did before the change but you have to really market your store as a separate entity from the normal process of customers going to CaféPress.com and just searching from there.

Now, a lot of shopkeepers got extremely pissed at the change, pulled up stakes and just left, closing their store at CP for good. While I commend them for sticking to their principles and telling CP where to shove it, they need to realize something essential in business. CP makes money off the designers, not the product. Designers make money off the shoppers, not CP. You need to go where the shoppers are and by the looks of my sales reports, the shoppers are at CP more than Zazzle. Do I see a better profit margin at Zazzle? You betcha. And you can argue semantics all you want, “I lost half my profit due to the restructuring of the business model” but I, for one, cannot argue that if I were to follow suit and close my CP store, shoppers would just keep going to CP and buying some other design instead of mine. 10% profit is 10% more than zero.

I may only see 10% of all sales from CP, but considering that 90% of all my sales come from CP I’d be cutting off my nose to spite my face. Unless you can convince shoppers to go elsewhere, you are just losing money, plain and simple. That’s why Walmart is still in business. Bitch all you want about Chinese imports, employee healthcare and the fleecing of American small businesses, they are still opening a new store roughly every three days from what I’ve read.

That being said, divide and conquer the Print On Demand business. You own the work, why not showcase it? If you took 100 cola drinkers and 50% drank Coke and 50% drank Pepsi, you could still say that 100% drank cola. Be the cola and be successful.

For a self proclaimed graphic designer, which I use that term loosely I am a horrible artist. I cannot draw to save my life and using a computer to do it is even worse. Because I haven’t spent an exorbitant amount of time or money on products and training to hone these skills I have mainly stuck to faking it. I use tricks and effects built into paint programs or grab an image from the Internet for reference and then use the line tools and paint buckets to try and recreate it from scratch. My biggest friend is the curved line tool in Paint.Net. It allows me to draw a line and then curve it at certain points to mimic the curves on what I am recreating.

However, Print On Demand sites aren’t just about funny shirts and drawings. Let’s say you are a good photographer. You probably don’t want to focus on creating a lot of shirts in your store. You probably want to focus on prints, cards, posters, and other paper or home products. On CaféPress you could even publish your own book of Photography or Art CD-Rom for companies to use in their marketing. Are you a fledgling writer or musician. You can publish your own books and Music CDs with CaféPress. Explore how you can take your skills and turn them into profit.

My Mother-In-Law has a few paintings up in her home that I absolutely love. I tell my wife that I want them when they get rid of them. What I didn’t know is that her mom actually painted them. Now, this year hasn’t been the best for my in-laws. Besides being a 12 year survivor of Stage IV renal cell cancer, my Mother-in-Law ended up having to have a tumor removed from her brain this Spring and another from her abdomen this Summer. She’s been undergoing chemo the past 18 weeks and on top of all this, she lost her job due redundancy in the workplace and her home was flooded during the heavy rains we had in June. They’ve had to dip into their savings, post retirement, to replace her car and do reclamation on areas of their house as well as pay for treatments and medicines.

I put forth this proposition to her. I can take and convert her artwork into digital format and by using Zazzle and CaféPress, I can turn them into stamps or greeting cards or whatever. I offered her the opportunity to have all profit derived from sales of her work. Instead of creating a whole new site on CaféPress and having to charge another $60 for it I can just carve out a section on my site and host her designs. If there is a huge response maybe she can take up painting again in her retirement and make some extra income. That’s playing to her strengths.

Me, I have a lot of weaknesses, like I said. I can’t draw. But I’ve learned to do a lot of cool things by looking up tips and tricks on the Internet and reading up on how to create effects like gradients and feathering. The more you learn, the better a designer you can be and the more successful your shop can be. And don’t pigeonhole yourself into one program. I know I am a die hard Paint.Net disciple but I only use it for the images and graphics. Nine times out of ten I use good old Microsoft Word for text. Word Art is my favorite go to place in order to create shadow effects, shapes with words, and 3D renderings of words. Using these two programs together has had a definite impact in my sales as my top two selling designs would not have been possible without using Word Art in Microsoft Word.

In summary, start looking at the world around you and see how you can use your Print On Demand business to make money not just with funny shirts. Don’t think you can’t learn new tricks and technology. Go out and be successful.

If you are looking to snazzle up your Christmas Cards or postcards with some custom artwork this year, buy some stamps at Zazzle and get $5 off your order until Thursday November 26th 2009. Just use Coupon Code ZAZZLESTAMPS when you check out.

details below

$5 discount applies to any number of sheets of twenty Zazzle Custom Stamps with a denomination of 44 cents. Enter promo code ZAZZLESTAMPS at checkout to receive discount. Offer is valid from November 23, 2009 through November 26, 2009 at 11:59pm PT. Your order must be placed during that time to qualify for this special offer. This promotional offer may not be combined with any other Zazzle promotional or volume discount offers. Offer valid on Zazzle.com only.

I need to buy a new computer but hate the prospect. After all, anything I buy will end up being obsolete in a couple of years and the software I want to run will require higher specifications than what I will have available. I would have to shell out a lot of money for something that has maybe three or four more features than the system I have now. The same goes for being a successful shopkeeper. Plan for the future while acting in the present.

You have to realize that you cannot operate in a vacuum. If you plan on designing for those trendy fads and current events then you need to develop some turnover in order to quickly keep up with the times. If you were to look at my entire catalogue of designs you will see that I often use the same elements in each one. It might be an image of a person or an animal. It might some sort of box around text or some other graphical representation but each one started out as a separate image that was then merged with the overall design.

As a rule, I work in layers. That means that for every element of a design, whether it be an image or text, it exists on a different plane on the canvas. If you’ve ever seen how animators used to do the old Disney movies they used layers which were called cells. The background is on the lowest cell, the characters are on another cell on top of that, and so on. Each one of those cells is then laid on top of each other like a sandwich. I save the overall design as a format inherent to the program I am working in so that the cells stay separate. When I finish the design it gets flattened into a .png format for publishing. I use this method because then I can easily grab those different layers and use them somewhere else for another design.

Here’s a more in depth explanation as to why I work like this. Let’s say you are creating a design for a dog lover. In the design you have a dog, a person, and some text tying the two images together. I treat each of those as a separate layer. The dog is on its own layer because I might have a design that I can use the same dog for and all I have to do is go into the raw design and grab that particular cell or layer. If the image is flattened and there is not a lot of room in between the dog and the other elements, it takes longer to eliminate all of the other parts of the image and requires fine manipulation of the lasso or magic wand tool. So, on my computer, I have a folder for each design. In each folder I have multiple image files for each element along with the finished design. Consider them my own personal stock art supply. Operating in such a way gives you have the ability to put together designs quickly and keeps your store updated with new content that doesn’t take a huge chunk of your time. The last thing you want to do is reinvent the wheel.

Also, think of your website or store as being layered. If you create a storefront and just throw every design on the front, customers may have a hard time finding exactly what they want. If you take the time to plan out some simple categorization you can expand your shop to include several designs organized in a way that allows for quick browsing or searching. As of right now, I have about nine categories or sections on my CaféPress site. They are organized by subject including one for Retro looking ideas from film, designs inspired by video games, television, general Pop Culture themes, and a few more specialized categories dealing with subjects like Zombies and Business/Office Culture. Within each of those sections it gets broken down by design and if there are multiple designs or styles for one idea that gets broken down even further. If you are more of an artist you might consider dividing up your store by product and then by image or theme. Do some research on knowledge management, taxonomy and library sciences. You can apply best practices in these cases.

In the beginning, when I first opened my store, I just put every design up on the front page and never realized how much I would grow after a few months. During this time I posted different designs on my blog trying to drum up business and didn’t realize that I was painting myself into a corner. Once I saw how poorly organized my shop was, I scrapped it and rebuilt everything, categorizing it as I went. The problem was that my blog posts now had broken links to my different designs because when I moved them, the address changed and now I had huge holes in my blog that took a lot of time in filling. If you leave yourself open to growth you can save yourself a lot of work later.

Have a great weekend and start designing!

Before you can conquer you must compete. Even if you have grand designs on how to make it big in the Print On Demand business, you have to start somewhere. Sometimes, one idea is all it takes. Get yourself out there with a couple of good designs and then build from there. I have a ton of designs on my sites and for every one that sells there are 15-20 that haven’t yet. That hasn’t deterred me because those couple of designs, that generate the bulk of sales, are enough to keep me in the black while I test and tweak others.

But realize that you may not be doing yourself any favors by trying to proliferate the market with your work. Careful planning and an attention to detail will go a long way into securing sales and a customer base. I tried to throw everything up at the wall and make it all stick. Sometimes, I poorly planned a design because I just wanted to catch onto a current event or fad and the lack of thought led to those products never selling. Over time, the subject cooled off and there was no interest anymore. Timing is everything and forethought can be a powerful ally but sloppiness and poor planning can hurt you more. Trends and fads will come along at a clip and not everyone is going to have an impact that is sustaining. If you’re an awesome graphic designer, feel free to churn out designs at will, but if you’re just learning how to use graphics programs you may want to build your skills before you tackle every subject that comes down the pike.

Another tip you’ll often find on Best Practices lists is to think like a customer. If you have a design that looks great on a shirt, what about a magnet or a button? Be careful, because this can lead to poorly thought out placement and might turn off a customer from purchasing something. When you work on a design, think about how it will look on products and choose products that will look good with your design. If you have a design that is square in nature, it may not look good on a round button. This could lead customers to think you are unprofessional and have no idea what you are doing and they won’t buy. The same goes for adult themed designs being used for children’s products. Not a good idea. You don’t have to put your picture on everything. I know it seems easier to just design and auto populate by adding images to all products but be selective and careful on what you pick.

In getting designs ready, plant the seeds early and then let them roll around in your skull a bit before tackling them. I have four or five ideas that are almost a year old but I just haven’t come up with a great way to deliver them. Instead of just rushing through to get them out in the system I’d rather take my time and work on designs that I know I can pull off and maybe, along the way, I will get some inspiration on how to go back to the others and figure them out.

Gain some street cred from pushing out a few good designs. Zazzle has a Today’s Best Award which usually will get you a few “Atta Boy” comments on your store wall and maybe a few fans of your work. Taking the time to consistently put out good work will keep your fans interested and perhaps buying from you or recommending your store to their friends. As time goes by and your business grows you can command a much bigger flock of designs. It's not a race, it's a business.

Before you can tackle the world of Print On Demand retailing or any business venture you have to get a sense of humility. What are the limitations to how successful you will be? No MBA program will know who you are but you. What is that you can do? How much time do you have to commit? Where are you going to get the capital? Why are you choosing now? Once you figure all that out, figure out what success means to you. Now take all that Zen crap, stick it in a blender and hit puree. Pour it all out, throw it at the wall and hope it sticks.

Look, If you plan on doing this as a main source of income, you better have a hell of a portfolio and great business sense. I’ve always seen this venture as a supplement to my pitiful income. Quite frankly, sometimes I have to cringe when I hear the horror stories about people who are out of work and can’t make ends meet. If you have a computer, an internet connection, and an idea, you can at least turn a profit in these down times. Now, that’s not to say that you will become an instant millionaire, but every little bit helps. However, before you get caught up in the pipe dream of being a Fortune 500 Shopkeeper realize that the more successful you are MAY depend on how much you are willing to spend. Take some time and do some research. Read up on blogs and best practices. Check out tips for being successful. Realize that success is destination and work is the journey. If you can maintain the amount of effort to keep up with rest of the pack, you might just lead it.

My CafePress store has over 300 sections organized by category. Since I went to a premium account in March of 2009, I have created over 300 different designs to be sold on everything from shirts to tote bags. My Zazzle store, which is just getting off the ground, will probably have close to the same amount before I’m done. Factor in that I have also opened up a Printfection store as well as one on Skreened and we’re talking nearly 1000 product designs in close to a year. That’s a bit insane. My wife confirms it. I spend waaaay too much time on my computer but I wanted to be successful, so I thought I had to be everywhere. Figure in roughly three to four hours a day just on design, organization, and publishing alone and my life is a complete waste. This isn’t my main job. I hold down a 40 hour work week on top of this. I’m nuts. Are you? Frankly, the best time to get in on this type of business would be in college.

I’ve always had a love of popular culture and I am a bit of a computer geek to the extent that I know enough to be dangerous. I’ve also done a lot of work with paint programs over the years. In college I had free access to Photoshop and now I primarily use Paint.NET because it is free, although I have a copy of Elements. I’m the guy in the office who gets asked to “Photoshop” someone’s head onto another body or put them into another picture altogether. This is why I decided to pursue this venture because I have a basic understanding of paint and graphic programs and a twisted sense of humor. I also wanted to start my own online business but was afraid to get into those scam ones you hear on the radio telling you to work from home and sell products you don’t even have to warehouse. Print On Demand publishing is very legitimate if you stick with the major players and you get to work from home and sell products you never have to see, so it worked out great. Package in my quirky nature and amateur design skills and it was easy to see that I had been missing out on a lot of extra income.

Success is what you make of it. When I first got into this I did it because it was free. I bought into the idea that I could just set up a free store, put up a couple of funny designs and wait for the money to roll right in to my hands. If you believe that is how it happens, then I’d like to discuss a real estate deal with you for some oceanfront property in Utah. This kind of thing takes some work and once I started actually paying to use one of my sites, I changed my way of thinking. I said to myself, “Self, why don’t we just see if we can turn a profit? Let’s spend $60 and see if we can make it all back before the end of the year.” So, I did, and at the end of a 15 day free trial for a premium shop I had made enough to cover a year subscription. I operated like I was playing Black Jack at a casino. Only spend an initial investment, make that back, pocket it and then play with the house money. The checks I get each month are a testament to that process and when they stop coming, I stop paying and close up shop.

Now, that is just CafePress. Other sites like Zazzle and Printfection and Skreened have the same business model as CafePress’ premium shops, but are free. I suggest doing some reading up on the differences because it can affect your choices and your bottom line. If you really want to stick with CafePress and have a free shop feel free to do so. Just realize that you have limited availability of products to design for and you can only have one design per particular item per shop. I would need to have over 300 shops to pull that off. Not to mention, basic shops (free ones) don’t get the same kind of ranking in terms of search results as premium ones do and you can’t customize your basic shops design if you know HTML and CSS.

To kind of bring this all back to the beginning, realize that the odds of making more money than a 9-5 job are hit or miss. You need to establish a level of discipline and set some goals. However, don’t buy into something before you really give it a lot of thought. I put a lot of time into my stores but not nearly enough to quit working every day. For now, it helps and I call that a success. That’s why I suggest either being someone who is in college or has the free time to work on this. Sometimes I feel a lot of pressure to keep designing and churning out ideas but all it takes is a couple of really good ones and you can establish yourself a baseline and then freely tackle other projects while you automatically earn a steady, passive income. I have two or three solid performers that I constantly see popping up in my sales reports. These were luck and good timing. If you have some skills and good ideas then you can grow your business by leaps and bounds and then focus on the bigger picture. That brings us to Tip Number 2.

For anyone who has taken the time to read some of my posts or has become a fan of my Facebook page I would like to, once again, thank you for your time. I use the term “fan” loosely as that is Facebook’s terminology, not mine. I tend to think of them all as people who are too nice to click the “No longer a fan” button or whatever it’s called. They put up with my incessant artwork and babbling and I truly apologize for enabling their masochistic tendencies. Just kidding folks, I love ya. Now keep reading, puppets.

With all my delusions of adequacy concerning my bid to take over the world, the least I could do is to pass on, from time to time, a few tips on graphic design or even entrepreneurship, if you so desire. I’ve spoken to a few people, offline, about what I do in my spare time and eventually, after they stop looking at me like I have lobsters crawling out of my ears, they ask how to do it.

The truth is I don’t have the best answers in the world on how to successfully run an online business like this. I don’t have a business degree nor do I claim to be successful enough to quit my day job for this type of work. But, I can tell you ten things that have at least allowed me to turn a profit in one way or another. It all depends on your willingness to make an effort and your sense of accomplishment. Everyone is different and 99% of you are more business savvy than I am. I’m just a man with a warped sense of humor and an Internet connection.

Those two things are probably going to pay for Christmas this year. Now, it’s nearly the middle of November and Christmas isn’t far away. Hopefully, you’ve started shopping. I haven’t. But, I have a dresser drawer that contains enough money to pay off this year’s intended spending for the holidays and I still have two more checks that will be issued this month and next month. If all goes well, I should not even have to have a credit card balance beyond January.

What does this mean for you? If you are really serious about taking the plunge and starting your own POD business you need to get cracking. At least you can pay off those cards when they are due next year. Realize that if you were to start today and make a sale that commission stays in pending status for 30 days. This is the period of returning product for the customer just like any store. Once the 30 day window closes you bank that commission. Once you reach your level of minimum payout, which usually starts at $25, you get a check towards the middle of the month for that amount. So, a sale today plus 30 days takes you to the middle of December and unless you sell enough to get you at least $25 in commissions, you won’t see a check until January. I only mention this because if you had any grand schemes of buying an LCD HDTV and figured you could pay it off with shirt money, it ain’t going to happen for a couple of months.

With that said, be on the lookout for my ten tips for successful shopkeepers. Each one will be a blog post since I can’t just say two sentences and be done. I have to go to Erie to tell a story my wife says. But once I post a tip I will hyperlink it back to this post.

1. Know Your Limits: There’s No Bailout For Shirt Designers
   
2. Dream Big, Start Small: World Domination Starts With a Street Corner
   
3. Think Globally, Act Locally: Paint Brush, Corner, Doh!
   
4. Play To Your Strengths: Exploit Your Weaknesses
   
5. Spread Yourself Out: Right Click On Red
   
6. Stay Tuned: Veg Out
   
7. Research and Development: An Excuse To Be On the Internet
   
8. Be Social: Pimpin’ Ain’t Easy
   
9. Experiment: The Mad Doctor Is In
   
10. It’s a Secret But a Very Important One
    

In its 35 year run, Saturday Night Live has had its share of ebb and flow when it comes to popularity. Looking back, most will say that the best years were during the ones with the original cast back in the 70s. Some will say the early 80s produced the funniest moments when Eddie Murphy was a part of the cast. More will say that when Dana Carvey joined the cast in 1986 with Jon Lovitz, Dennis Miller and Phil Hartman the show had its best years yet. The next renaissance would come with the inclusion of Mike Myers, Chris Farley and Adam Sandler at the end of the 80s into the beginning of the 90s. I could go on up to the present but you see what I mean.

But for every heyday the show had, it also suffered huge slumps that almost cost Saturday night television an institution. However, history aside I can say that for time being SNL has been enjoying a solid run these past couple of years with Andy Samberg, Keenan Thompson, Seth Meyers and Kristen Wiig. Some of the biggest pop culture moments to come out of the show were not even live. They were digital shorts produced by the comedy troup The Lonely Island featuring Andy Samberg. Two of the more popular ones to come out were Dick In a Box and I'm On a Boat.

Having missed the bandwagon for Dick In a Box with shirt designs, I am trying to stay current with what could come next. I've only slightly missed catching the wave for I'm On a Boat. But sometimes you need to take a step back and not jump at the first chance to be trendy. I thought about just doing a plain design with the words, "I'm on a boat." on a shirt but that is too easy and cheap. If you're going to pay between $15 and $20 for a shirt the least a designer could do was to put some effort into it. So, I mulled over the idea and thought, what is the song about? It's about being on a boat, right? But it's about living the pimp life on a luxury boat with champagne and girls and flashy jewelry. Hmmm, that sounds like living large on the Titanic, doesn't it? That led me to think would it be funny to have the iceberg be the one saying, "I'm on a boat!" Funny or not, that's where I went with this one. It could actually be seen two ways. The iceberg could be saying, "I'm on a boat" or the irony could be that you're living large like the King of the World on a boat and some dumb iceberg comes along and ruins it. There you have it.

Get it at Cafepress or Zazzle

People who celebrate Halloween sometimes go all out with the decorations or costumes. A lot of time and money can be spent perfecting that impersonation or abstract thought in the form of a Halloween Costume. For those of you who go out trick or treating you might find that it’s a daunting task to come up with something original or cool in order to impress the home owner holding the candy bowl. However, you could be completely jaded or fed up with continually coming up with a good costume only to have countless conversations involving you explaining exactly what you are. Let’s face it, if you have to explain it, you lose the element of originality and coolness. So, this year, let everyone know that you are in fact wearing a costume and you are just here to get the candy with a couple of different designs which are basically just plain text. Simple and to the point. Both designs are available in multiple styles and sizes of shirts as well as buttons.

Here’s a neat little tip for you designers out there who don’t have Photoshop. Have you ever wanted to make one of those images with a bunch of different colored stripes emanating from a center point? It’s kind of like something in the realm of perspective. As the lines move from the center they grow in size. Here’s an example of what I mean.





Well, I used to be able to do this years ago in Photoshop, but since I primarily use Paint.net…..which I should note, I just got a copy of PhotoShop CS4 Elements but haven’t installed it yet…I’ve been trying to tackle it there. Sometimes, though, even the craftiest of designers need a little help once in a while in the form of plugins. Developers out there, who work with Paint.net create these plugins to do things that the normal version of Paint.net can’t do. One of them is a rectangular to polar conversion. You can read more about it and even download the plugin here.

Simply follow the instructions on how to install it and you are on your way. Now, let’s recreate that image above. You can choose any combination of colors you want.

First off, create a new image. I would keep it as square as possible for starters. I’ll use my normal 2000 x 2000 pixels with 200 ppi resolution. Of course, I’ll shrink it for display, here.

Now, looking at your blank screen, grab one color and switch to your Rectangle tool. Make sure you change the setting to Draw Filled Shape. This will create solid boxes instead of outlines.




Start making stripes running from top to bottom. The more stripes you add the more you’ll get in the end. If you want to cheat a little bit make about five stripes. Then use the rectangle select to draw a box around those stripes. Copy the selection and then paste it back into the image. Drag it to the end of the last stripe and instead of creating one stripe at a time, you now have five. This will make filling up the canvas easier and with less chances of screwing up the widths. It helps if you space them apart, equally. As you get better you can play with spacing to create different effects. For now, make them all the same distance from each other. Like so.


Now, you can do this next step now, or later depending on your own preference. I choose to do it now because….this is my tutorial. Anyway, if you have loaded the plugin, you should be able to find it under Effects>Rectangle to Polar Conversion.





The effect automatically converts the top of the image into a single fixed point in the center of the image. If done correctly you should now see the image below. If you don’t, hit Ctrl-Z and see what happened. You might not have extended the stripes to the end of the canvas. Here's what it should look like.








That’s all there is to it. Go and play around with it and see how you can create effects that you can use in other images.


Q: What happens if I create horizontal stripes?A: Since the effect essentially takes the top of the canvas and bends it into a circle, if you used horizontal stripes you would get circles. A nice effect if you want to do bull’s-eyes or other weird things.





Q: Why do you like layers?
A: Working in layers allows me to create other effects or make changes without having to do a lot of backtracking. For instance, say you don’t like your color choices. If you did everything on one layer, you have to either undo or hope that you can work on top of what you’ve already done. With layers you can change one color or both without affecting the other. Here’s another cool effect if you use layers. Go to your lower layer and choose the gradient tool. Click and drag the mouse from the center to create a gradient. Pretty slick, huh?




Here is an example of how I used all these steps in a design.





Each one of these elements, the sleeper, the text, the burgundy bar at the bottom, the boxes around the outside, and the stripes were all created on separate levels. That gave me the ability to mix and match, tweak and change a lot of stuff on the fly to get more flow from the design. I used the polar effect and gradient tool to create the stripes, just like I showed you. Go! Create! Have a good weekend!

Now, let’s tackle the secondary color. For the example, I'll use white. You can do this in two ways. The first is to choose the paint can and just fill in the gaps between stripes with your second color. The second method, which I like better is to create a new layer below this one and just fill in the entire image with the paint can. Since the layer on top has the stripes it will cover the areas on the layer beneath. Personally, I like the second method because it leaves no chance for bleeding into the other color and depending on the difference in colors it may bleed more leaving you with uneven or jagged edges. It also allows you to do other effects.

I have devoted a sub section of the store to a collection of designs based on or inspired by fictional schools in pop culture. What started out as just a couple of 80s films has grown into ten different schools, so far. They range from high school to college and universities. In most cases, I have tried to recreate the original logos and mascot designs from the original films, while a couple were nods to what was almost impossible to figure out from countless repeated viewings of specific scenes, trying to study the actual logos which were obscured, hidden, or too small to see. What I found after viewing many films was the lack of attention to detail that came from costumes and props being consistent throughout the movie. A lot of the fonts used for school names change from prop to prop. Films are funny that way. Most people don’t notice it because of the angle of placement or amount of screen time.

Almost all of the designs are on the front with a few exceptions of being printed on just the back. In some cases, I have opted to offer front and back side printing for specific characters from a film. One is for the West Canaan Coyotes from the film Varsity Blues and the other is for Shermer High School from The Breakfast Club. This is something I also offered for the Hamilton Mustangs design from Youngblood once I got the hang of it. Here’s what the section has to offer, as of now.

Ridgemont High Wolves

From Fast Times at Ridgemont High

I took some liberties with the mascot design as I didn’t have a good reference point until after I got the opportunity to re-watch the film. Then again, I was hung up on the pool scene… I am also thinking about recreating the Captain Hook Fish and Chips if I can get a good look at the box Brad Hamilton was loading before he goes to IBM in his pirate outfit.

William McKinley High School Glee Club

From Glee

I will say I am a huge fan of the show and wanted to get in front of the pop culture bus instead of being underneath it. It’s already picking up some momentum and I actually like the black text on red shirt design best. This one of the many existing Property of… shirts in the store.

West Canaan Coyotes

From Varsity Blues

I admit when you compare the film to say Friday Night Lights it’s not really a fair assessment of quality, but it terms of MTV generation popularity, there is a huge demographic of people more interested in VB than FNL. It was actually the suggestion of a friend of mine to include this design as well as offer the back side printing of the name and number of certain players. It kind of sucks that it costs an additional three dollars to include the back side printing so I offered the same products with only the front side design and then created three sub sections for the following.

Lance Harbor


Billy Bob


Charlie Tweeder


Jonathan Moxon

Thompson High Warriors

From Vision Quest

Once again, a good friend suggested this idea because of a cult status among his friends. This one comes in a few colors for the designs to take advantage of the two red shirt colors.

Central High School Wildcats

From Wildcats

Football…Football…before they taught a white man to jump or robbed the money train, Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson played high school football together on screen in Wildcats, despite being 24 and 25, respectively, when it was filmed. Maybe they got held back a lot. I searched and searched for an image of the mascot that I could incorporate and finally just decided to go with the logo on their jerseys.

Santa Carla High School

From The Lost Boys

While there is no real mention of any of the characters going to high school in the film, I wanted to portray the age of the characters in reference to actually attending a high school. In this case, the high school is partially based off a real school called Santa Clara High School in Freemont California. The additional traces of blood on the shirt are a nod to the wearer being a snack for all the damned vampires that live in the area.

Wolverines

From Red Dawn

If you were to simply look at this shirt you probably wouldn’t get the reference. I like being a little obscure. There are a lot of shirts out there with the graffiti logo from Red Dawn which is highly recognizable but this is about school designs. Since Calumet, Colorado is where the Wolverines are from, I went with a design inspired by the Wolverine logo on the characters’ jackets and the one on the scoreboard at the field. These were all pulled from watching clips of the opening attacks.

Westerburg High School

From Heathers

This one is perhaps not so obscure. Anyone who knows the movie knows the name of Westerburg High School. Anyone who REALLY knows the movie knows it was named for Paul Westerberg of The Replacements. Finding a mascot was hard so I pulled the inspiration from the cheerleaders design in the pep rally scene.

Faber College

From Animal House

Ok, every shopkeeper on every site from CafePress to Zazzle to Spreadshirt has probably thought about or actually created a mock up of the famous COLLEGE shirt that John Belushi wears in the film. So, why not? Sell out? Yeah. I’ll admit it.

Grand Lakes University

From Back to School

I was surprised that no one else has thought of doing this design. There are some for Thornton Mellon School of Business but none for Grand Lakes University Hooters. This was another hard one to work up with little reference. The cover of the DVD has Rodney Dangerfield wearing a sweater but it’s really hard to see the owl. There is also a scene where a few binders or stationary material show the owl in the book store but still it was really tough to get a clear screen capture of the logo, so I did a lot of guesswork and extrapolating from what I could find.

Adams College

From Revenge of the Nerds

I wanted to stay away from Fraternity and Sorority lettering because everyone else had done it, so I went with the basic logo of an atom for the middle and added the tag line Home of the Atoms underneath.

Shermer High School

From The Breakfast Club

Here’s another multiple offering in the case of backside printing. I have a line of products with just the design on the front and then individual lines for the front side design and a backside text only image across the shoulders denoting each character’s “class” status being Brain, Athlete, Princess, Basket Case, or Criminal.