This is Sian Ellis

The portfolio of Illustrator Sian Ellis

Author: sian

Half Year Goals Review

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I know it was only April when I reviewed these goals but I always wanted to review them often. Reviewing them means changing them too. I need to take frequent stock to work out if they are the right goals for me at the right time.

On that note, I think I will have to change them too, but for good reason. I have nearly, acheieved them all! It’s not so much amending them, as setting new ones. Not only have I reached my annual goals in only half a year but my business is totally different too.

Different how?

Well my aims are still the same but I’m doing a lot better than I ever imagined, for a while people have been telling me that my illustration seems to have ‘taken off’. That’s always the phrase they used and I always thought I was just doing a good job of marketing. It’s only recently when Iv e had back to back commissions and smashed my goals list that I’ve started to agree.

Ok, so back to these goals I keep hearing about

Get 1200 followers on instagram
Have products stocked in 2 stockists
Increase to 100 sales on Etsy
Have a stall at a niche market
Get 20 reviews on etsy
Increase etsy product number to 50
Secure a large commission
Invest in a new type of product

 

The only ones I haven’t achieved yet are the 1200 followers on Instagram and the 100 sales on Etsy. I have 1100 followers and have about 20 sales to go. I am well on my way to achieving both. The number of stockists interested in my work has doubled. I have reached the large commission goal a whopping six times over. My product range is still growing but I don’t think it should be rushed. That goal needs a rethink.

 

Gulp. I’m going to have to set new goals

 

It’s nerve wrecking but necessary. That’s freelance life in a nutshell. Visit my next weeks blog to find out what my new goals are going to be!

Ceramic Commission Case Study: Punnydukes

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I previously announced (very excitedly!)that the magical Adventureland of Punnydukes was to become one of my new stockists. As well as stocking my prints,patches, badges and stickers, the store also commissioned some new bespoke pieces from me too.

We partnered to create some mini ceramic Punnys. Punny is the mascot of Punnydukes. A teal wizard cat created by Katie Abey. In Katie’s distinctive style, he’s cute and witchy and everything Punnydukes. It was an honour to be asked and a brand new challenge, I’d never done a ceramic commission before.

It’s a risky job to take. Ceramics is unpredictable at the best of times. It’s a slow medium to create with as items need to dry before they can start multiple firing. As I work in a community studio there is often a bit of a kiln queue too. Being able to create pieces within a lead time that is comfortable for someone wanting to commission you, whilst also building in time for testers is tough. I decided to build an ambitious but doable lead time and set to work on the commission straight away.

The heat is on

My lead time banked on my pieces working without testers. I created a series of possible products I could create at a range of wholesale price points depending on size, detail, functionality and complexity. The product sketches ranged from figurines to jars. I like to be creative and give a range of options for clients to choose from. I ensured that the designs featured underglazes and glazes that I have used previously and am reasonably confident in how they would come out.

Famous last words?

Unfortunately yes. The glazes I were so confident in unfortunately did not come out how they previously had. The beauty and the curse of the art form. It appears that the glazes I had successfully used before had been suffering from being overused without being stirred. This leads to the ratio of the contents being skewered and so the effect of the glaze differed. It’s a science as well as an art afterall. The cherry blossom pink glaze I had chosen had come out much paler and more watery than I had planned. I just was t happy that it was up to my standard and so Iwas going to have to start again.

Bum bum bummmmmmm

Damn right it was suspenseful music time! I’d built myself enough lead time to potentially deal with an issue like this, but it would be really tight. There was every chance the order could end up late, and I have never sent out a late order before! Should I risk trying to get the order in on time or be honest about the challenge right now, that there’s a chance they might be late?

Of course, I chose the latter!

I’m just that kinda guy. I emailed, apologised, said the pieces might still be on time but there was a chance they could be late and I’ll throw in an extra figure for free by way of an apology. My very gracious clients told me not to worry. Being honest is ALWAYS the way to go.

I was back at the drawing the board. However, my brain is something of a Catherine wheel, and I never have an idea that has just one way to do it. I studied the first batch of Punnys, made notes on what to amend and cracked on it again. Second batch in the kiln and all fingers crossed. It’s a bit like Christmas waiting for your pieces to come out of the kiln, and a pleasant surprise they were when they did. The second batch was a success. Packaged up and hand delivered just a day or two after the original due date and with an extra Punny in tow to make up for the lost time.

The Punnys are now on sale in the beautiful, magical Punnydukes store. The clients were really pleased with their execution and I was really pleased with the effect of the glazes. Perhaps my favourite part happened just after I dropped the Punny’s off in person. I went to grab lunch and returned about an hour later to show some friends the shop. In that time they had already put them out for sale and sold one! The best compliment of all is a sale of course, and so my first ceramic commission seemed a real success to me.

 

A Hyperactive Artist’s Guide to Venice

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I travel with two things, my belly and my appetite for culture. Holidays for me are beasts of undertaking. A combination of my hunger for beautiful things, collecting experiences and event planning make it so. My trips need research, before during and after for me to feel that I’ve gotten the most out of my travels. I’ve decided I’m this blog that I’ll share my little travel guides every now and then, as a hyperactive artist’s guide to Europe.

First stop, Venice

Venetian style isn’t something I tend to think of when contemplating styles that resonate with me. I find appeal in lowbrow art. The majesty of Venetian design is a world away from my usual style. It’s a city of grandiose statements. Whether the array of paper mache masks or the collages of pillaged architecture. Big, bold and flaunted. My trip to Italy was most certainly guided by my belly more than my artistic notions.

However, for the past 8 years since I last visited the city I have continued to remember Venice as home to one of my favourite galleries in Europe. The Peggy Guggenheim collection. The gallery exhibits an impressive collection of art which belonged to its late namesake. Born into two power families of absaurd wealth and an insatiable passion for art, the American heiress collected pieces at a target rate of a painting a day. Peggy married artist Max Ernst and exhibited works in galleries in the beginnings of the careers of heavyweights including Rothko and Pollock.

The Peggy Guggenheim collection houses an impressive selection of work in an equally impressive location. Based on the Grand Canal the Galleries surround a courtyard garden peppered with statues. The garden itself an oasis on a floating island and the art within it displayed serenely. The building that houses the rest of the collection is literally an unfinished palace.

The Galleries indoors are split into two with the permanent collection in part and temporary exhibits in the other. The temporary exhibit when I visited was a Dadaist artist. The name escapes me but frankly wasn’t too far up my street anyway. It’s the permanent collection that I was there to see.

What a load of Pollocks

The most impressive modern art collection I have ever seen is treasured within its walls. Cubism, surrealism and expressionism paintings and sculptures from a sea of the movements biggest names. Dali, Magritte, Kandinsky, Chagall, Klee, Picasso, Miro and a room full of Pollocks are the first few that flow from my memory. The gallery opens onto a small yard of sculptures upon the Grand Canal itself. A perfect spot to steal a quiet second of beautiful views with a few less tourist around.

Have you ever seen a view like this from a gallery before?

Hop on the water bus two minutes from the Peggy Guggenheim Collection and after a transfer or two you can reach the island of Murano, famous for its glass. Through a sea of tourist trap glass shops the gem on the island is the glass museum. You can learn about the history of glass making on the island, and see some exquisite examples. My highlights were the glass octopus chandelier near the foyer and the incredibly detailed miniature cane pieces.

Although the museum gives you an insight into the process of how the pieces are made, it’s difficult to find anywhere that you can actually watch glass being blown. I’d recommend that you research this before you visit to ensure you have a plan if this is something that you want to do.

Running an Instagram Giveaway

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I have been thinking for a while that once I hit 1,000 fans on Instagram that I’d like to do a giveaway. There are a combinations of reasons for this. Firstly, and most mushily, it’s a thankyou. When I set up my Instagram account it did that thing where it automatically finds followers for you from your Facebook friends. I think it got a grand total of 60 followers or thereabouts from this. It’s not very much when you look at other people’s personal accounts. Probably because I am such an old lady with regards to social media these days at the ripe old age of 32. What it does mean though is that the majority of my followers have followed me to follow my art.

That’s worth a thankyou right?

And a giveaway is just that.  Yet it’s about business too. Followers are more likely to stick with you if you incentivise them. These days you can read a lot of about new types of business models. One of these is the freemium economy. It’s the idea that freebies are a huge way to engage potential customers. It also creates value for money if you are willing to throw in extras for your customers. I do this throughout the year by offering free stickers with certain purchases from my store.

You had me at hello

Of course. A giveaway should help you to find new followers too. The trick is finding the right ones. You want to gain good reach for your post to engage people who might not know your work. By including interaction with your post as an integral part of entering the running to win the giveaway this should certainly improve the reach of your post. I’d avoid using hashtags like #giveaway if you don’t want to invite folk who might follow and unfollow once the competition ends, but if it improves your reach then that’s up to you. The giveaway will cost you the same to run whether you get 10 entries or 1000 but I’d just feel better about the winner being someone who I think would genuinely appreciate my work.

But what to giveaway?

This takes more thought than just picking a random item from your arsenal or something that hasn’t sold yet that you’ve had for a while. If you want your giveaway to have a high engagement, the prize has to be what people want. It also has to be worth whatever you are asking entrants to do for it. Following ten accounts, tagging five friends and sharing a post in their feed isn’t really worth it for a five pound mini print or a pack of stickers.

I’ve taken the approach of promoting a new product through my giveaway which is a great haul of a prize too. The product is my Mystery Hauls. Each one has unique contents which include at least a mini print, an A4 Print, original sketch, a badge pack, a sew on patch and a sticker. Phew! That’s just the minimum as well, each one will have extras within too. Each pack is worth at least £50. A Mystery Haul seemed the perfect value of prize for the engagement I was seeking for entry. Plus the chance to advertise a new product is great too.

Remember, it’s great to thank your fans and it helps to create a wonderful sense of community in Instagram. Just don’t give away anything that you can’t afford, and think about hidden costs too. Do you want to offer the prize worldwide? Would you cover the shopping cost if someone on the other side of the world won? The choice is up to you. Good luck!

A hyperactive artist’s guide to Bologna

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Recently I visited Bologna for the first time. My other half had watched a Rick Stein show where he had visited and it had stuck with him. Very much a trip about food, I didn’t know much else about the terracotta city.

Mambo

Our air bnb was ten minutes walk from Mambo, the Modern Art Museum in Bologna. The museum’s permanent collection charts the journey of Modern art in Italy from post Second World War and onwards. Displayed chronologically you take this journey through time as you physically walk through the gallery.

My highlight from the gallery, however, was the Mika Rottenberg temporary exhibition. Mika’s video and installation work is surreal and slightly creepy. It reminds me of Freud’s The Uncanny. Human figures acting in an alien way. Inanimate objects become animated and live like humans. Each video well crafted and something hypnotic. Installation pieces included flailing ponytails and film montages viewed through the smoking mouth of a sex doll-like disembodied mouth. This was my first encounter with the Argentinian artist and I wouldn’t hesitate to view her work again.

University quarter

Bologna is home to the oldest university in the western world. Walking through this district of the terracotta city the earth timed walls become speckled with street art. From sticker tags to painted shop fronts there was much to admire on a stroll. The art enhanced the youthful vibe of this northern part of the city centre and carried strong political calls for equality.

The university itself holds many treasures if you know where to look. Several museums which are free to enter and open to the public are housed within its walls. I have always found museums a wealth of inspiration for my art. One thing I always enjoy on a free day is to go to a museum and draw.

Anatomy Museum

We first visited the Anatomia Umana Normale museum of abnormal anatomy. I’d read about it before the trip and felt intrigued. Unfortunately, I hadn’t thought about completely grotesque the museum would be. Featuring waxworks of squirm inducing diseases and birth defects, we also saw mummified remains, skeletal specemins and preserved human foetuses. The macabre always appeals to me, but actual dead babies is a step too far.

Zoology and Anthropology Museums

The next museum we visited was the Zoological museum. Several floors of taxidermy specimens is my ideal sort of drawing space. The quality of these specimens however was awful. Poorly applied unnatural shades of painted slopped upon grey birds, reptile and fish. The gem of the museum were the floors of skeletons. There is an impressive number of specemens from a range of species. Even preserved organs too. I took some photos that I intend to draw now I am back in the U.K., as something about drawing skeletons always appeals to me. If I want in a rush to explore a city I’d have been happy to spend the afternoon there drawing. Above was the small anthropological museum which has interesting exhibits on the evolution of Man.

What I did struggle to find in the city was much work by local artist. There is an arts and crafts market but the selection is not wide and it feels very geared towards tourists. I always like to pick up handcrafted pieces on holiday but I struggled to find anything in Bologna apart from a delightful gift shop called Riceteria.

The real art in Bologna is of course the food. It would have been nice to have a few more galleries to walk the food belly off with though.

New Commission: Elmer’s Great North Parade

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I’m really pleased to announce that I’ve been semester as an artist for the Great North Elmer parade. This Wild in Art project will run across Newcastle and the surrounding areas and raise money for St Oswold’s Hospice.

 

St Oswolds in one of several charities across the country celebrating our patchwork pal with Wild in Art this year. 2019 also marks the year that Elmer turns 30 years old. The recognisable character has been made famous through children’s books since 1989.

 

I just got De ja vu

 

No there’s not a glitch in The Matrix, Elmer will be my fourth sculpture with Wild in Art this year. The first was a Wallaby on the Isle of Man for Wallabies Gone a Wild. The second and third were both Gorillas for Go a Wild Gorillas with Durrell Zoo Jersey. Here’s hoping that I’ll feel like a seasoned pro by the time it’s pick up a paintbrush in Newcastle.

 

My design is fun, bright and bold and will be revealed when the trail launches in August. My design is called ‘it’s nice to be nice’ and focuses on just that. It celebrates diverse characters and the positive power of compliment giving.

 

I haven’t learnt who my corporate sponsors are yet, so I am nervous and intrigued to find out! Another new aspect of this campaign in comparison toothed Wild in Art projects I have done is that I have received an invitation to exhibit at a Fairwell Elmer event in November. I don’t know much about the event yet but will share when I do.

 

Wild about Wild in Art

I’ve really enjoyed being part of these arts trails this year. My portfolio of public artworks and mural works is growing. It’s work I love to do. I still feel naughty like I’m doing something wrong and vandalising! Being bake to follow the public on social media enjoying my work is really special too. My Wallabies statue was revealed to the public in May, and the experience so far has been great. Finding out where my Elmer will call home will be an excited moment too. The biggest moment of all these trails will be the auction nights though, where we find it how much more money they can raise for their partnered charity.

 

Fitting in the time for these trails and the travel and overnights associated is not easy. It’s worth it though. The chance to be part of it and to meet other artists has been invaluable.

 

Wallabies Gone Wild is on display now, Go Wild Gorillas launches at the end of July and Elmers Great North Parade will launch in August. Fingers crossed for more adventures with Wild in Art 2020

Pulp Fiction poster design process

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  1. This August Whirlow Hall Farm in Partnership with Henry Boot are bringing Hollywood to Sheffield and inviting audiences to dive with us head first into one of the coolest films in cinema history. on August 10th they will be showing a summertime screening of the Quentin Tarantino cult classic ‘Pulp fiction’. They’ll have their largest screen yet at their pop up cinema event on a real working farm.

Slick, Sleek and effortlessly cool this film favourite will be accompanied by shakes, burgers, bar and jiving as a live rock n roll band aim to get the audience of movers and shakers in the mood before the film begins.

I first created film posters for the Farm for the Halloween Witches in the Woods showings in 2018. I was really pleased with the bold designs I created and the impactful marketing campaign they produced. When undertaking the design of the Pulp Fiction poster I wanted something equally impactful but reflecting of this cult classic film.

I wanted to create something eye catching, bold about more than just the film but capturing it straight away. I wanted it to be simple, stylish and bold. The first thing a Tarantino is though is cool, so cool the poster just had to be.

I toned down my chaotic colouring for abold but limited palate. The bright colours make the poster impactful and arty but the use of simple characters, black and whites and bold design make it classical cool. The patterns Nd colours are designed to invoke that retro Tarantino feel. The atomic Sputnik patterns invoke the 50s diner theme of the event taken for, the movie. The ‘Pulp Fiction’ title font references the original poster which in turn pays homage to vintage thriller fiction. Hence the film title.

The copy is short and snappy and the design translates well into half page formats for versatility in print distribution.

Find out more about the event and how to book tickets

at www.whirlowhallfarm.org/events/Pulp-Fiction

What the hell am I doing?

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Finding direction in self employment

It’s been just over a year now since I started my journey as an illustrator. Now we’re over 200 products later, from 25mm badges to 5ft wallaby statues. 30 commissions, 950 instagram followers and a handful of collaborations. Heck, it’s even 31 blog posts. I’m really proud of what I’ve achieved in this year, but it’s not just been win after win and out there on your own can be a daunting place.

 

What do now?

My business strategy has been something of a headless chicken approach so far. I’ve been like an excitable puppy, running around looking for opportunities and jumping at them, tail wagging. It’s worked well and is the reason that I have achieved so much in this first year. A lot of graft, determination and research! Is it enough though? Probably not. In terms of long term I have some ideas but I’ve never tried to strategize them. I’m a bit of an energy ball and I throw myself at things quite passionately.

 

The problem is that when I can’t find any suitable opportunities I start to scratch my head a bit. Taking time to caretake, practice and just wait doesn’t come naturally to me. I’m not particularly scared of burnout because I’m so happy with everything I am doing and I don’t begrudge myself days off when I need them. My struggle is more with dialling down that puppy behaviour when there isn’t something endlessly exciting on the immediate horizon.

 

How important is a business plan anyway?

Unfortunately I’ve a feeling that the answer is probably pretty important. I think that I’ve gotten by so far because although I don’t have a document labeled ‘business plan’ I’ve got the components of it. My toolkit comprises of a thorough budget and I analyse products, fairs and marketing costs and income. I listen to feedback, I think about what I’d like to achieve and as I’ve said before, I do a LOT of research. Plus I have an incredibly comprehensive and colour coded calendar spreadsheet which keeps me on schedule and I use Trello project management software to track everything I do right down to this very blog. In fact, I’m so obsessive about my admin that surely a business plan would just be like a collage of all the info I already have? Even this blog encourages me to reflect on what I’ve done so far and where I want to go.

 

Five year plans are not, and never will be my style. They seem so inflexible. The fear of becoming obsessed by a predetermined list of goals written four years ago is not a responsive enough methodology for me. My annual goals are the closest I’m comfortable with, and even they are out of my comfort zone.  

 

I guess the main thing I need to be wary of is to do the unfun stuff too. Prospecting is repetitive, HMRC forms are unavoidable. Being reflective, on top of the paperwork and focused are the only ways that this thing is going to work.

 

Wish Me Luck!

Kickstarter x Site Gallery

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Recently I attended a Kickstarter event at the newly(ish) revamped Site Gallery. It was such a positive use of an evening that I want to share it with you all. The event was free and the subject was intriguing. As was the chance to look in the gallery which I haven’t visited since the renovations, and so I signed myself up upon first discovering the event.

 

The idea of doing a Kickstarter has been in the back of the front of my mind for some time now. There are several projects that I’d love to explore and think that the Kickstarter format would suit really well. I just haven’t chosen which one. Or when to do it. Or started to out a plan in place. This event seems perfect for the stage of thinking I was at.

 

Straight away the Kickstarter representative told us that the evening wasn’t a sales pitch. If it wasn’t then I’m not sure what it must have been exactly, either way I didn’t mind. Sell it to me!

 

And sell it to me they did!

 

For a start, I didn’t even realise that there was such a strong Kickstarter scene in the UK that it warranted a UK arm of the website. To then learn that Sheffield is one of the UK’s largest hubs of activity with regards to the kickstarter site was a revelation too. I guess I shouldn’t have been suprised. Knowing how much entrepreneurial skills, creativity and digital strengths lie in the city, but nonetheless I was.

 

Throughout the session we listened to local artists who had used the Kickstarter platform. It was valuable insight and brought the platform to life. It helped that one of the speakers was the ceramicist Meghan Downs whose story seems to resonate with me the most as her practise is so similar to my own. The free wine and food softened me up so I could start to begin dream of my kickstarter funded art.

 

The main thing I wanted to know was about how much traffic Kickstarter generated. I was pleasantly surprised to hear that 40% of donations come from within the site itself. It’s always hard to tell if you are just promoting each strand of activity to the same loyal supporters or if you are finding new ways to engage new audiences so it was positive to learn that Kickstarter seems to have the latter.

 

We learnt about average donations and a little insight into the mind of a Kickstarter backer. All good help for designing a campaign too.

 

What I took away from the session was the belief that Kickstarter could be the right thing for me and all that’s left is for me to pick the right project, plan the right campaign and take the plunge!

 

Northern Ink: My First Niche Fair Appearance

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In April I attended Northern a Ink at Northern Monk Refectory in Leeds as a trader. This was my stalls first appearance in my former home town. It’s also the first time I’ve attended a niche fair. Northern Ink was a celebration of Print, illustration and tattooing. The event featured a curation of alternative artists, live screen printing from the ever fabulous Awesome Merch and live tattooing. There were limited edition prints created especially for the event and a tattoo and tattoos flash available of each. It was run by the reputable Northern Craft who, I have wanted to work with since I heard about them,

The event opened at 11 and an immediate queue formed at the tattoo stall. Within 2 minutes all the tattoo spots were fully booked. These guys were clearly pros. This Meant that the fair was pleasantly full at the beginning and sales started early. It was difficult to predict how many visitors came to the event and what that meant for sales proportionally so I will opt for listing some pros and cons as I observed them.

Pros

The clientel are more targeted. This helps with what items you bring for your stall and your display. It was great to see so many like minded people with similar tastes and passions. There were a lot of artists visiting too and I always love to talk to people about their art.

We also got food and a drink included in the stall fee. This is incredible rare and extremely appreciated! Finding food and spending cash you might not have made back on your stall fee yet is tough sometimes.

The niche crowd was friendly, relaxed and the atmosphere was great. There was comerardery, and the tattoo were an excellent source of conversation. The event really did feel like a celebration of the arts it championed.

Cons

I’ll start by making it clear that I’m being harsh here calling them ‘cons’. Observations is probably more astute.

The niche nature of the fair means that the artists gathered can be quite similar. This is a pro and a con. It’s a pro because it is excellent to work alongside these artists, meet them and discover their art. I did some great art trades and it was wonderful to discover new artists with some awesome art who as a bonus liked my art too. It’s a con because it means that your target audience is their target audience and people only have so much money to spend. Those who might have ordinarily purchased from the stall are spoilt for choice and the purse strings become understandably tighter.

The other con do this is that I spent all my profits and then some on the excellent art available! I left Leeds with 2 new prints (including one of the tattoo flashes), a T-shirt and sculpture. It’s a pro for my art collection but a con for my bank balance! The trouble with being an artist is that you know how great it feels when people support your work and so in turn I find it irrisistalble to support other artists too!

The event space above the bar was also a new kind of event experience for me as most guests were drinking. This was something I have been nervous about in the past as a ceramics seller, but I know other traders find it encourages a few more sales. In this specific space I found that it encouraged people to do a lot of hanging about, which is great and it’s nice to chat but sometimes it can be difficult if people stand in front of your stall without any intention of shopping but block your stall view from others. It also makes it difficult to judge how busy an event is but it does create a good atmosphere.

Verdict

I had a great time! I made a profit but I did spend that and more on the excellent art available. Also I found new artists too which is rad. From a business perspective on this occasion I definitely shopped more than I brought home, which is not really the goal. However, I had a great day and got some awesome art so I would certainly recommend.