This is Sian Ellis

The portfolio of Illustrator Sian Ellis

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Applying for a Million Craft Fairs

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It’s probably not a surprise for me to say that Illustration is competitive. Having a makers business in general is competitive, but print makers especially so. 

Did you know in the U.K. you are never more than 3 feet away from an illustrator?

Ok, so I made that up. It’s not true. Sure feels like it though, right? Thing is it’s not just the attention and adoration of joe public you are competing for. Shelf space with stockists and table at markets are competitive too. Not to mention anything from big social media account shares to commission opportunities. 

In this post though I’m going to focus on fairs. At the time of writing this it may be summer but we are coming to the end of the season for applying for Christmas craft fairs. There seems to be more and more popping up, but still not at a rate comparable to the amount of new stallholders emerging all the time. 

Christmas is, obviously, the busiest time of year for makers’ retail sales. It’s exactly the time of year you want people to be thinking of you and browsing your products. But successfully applying for good fairs this year has been difficult for me this year. At the beginning of this year I was accepted to some really well regarded fairs and it was brilliant. Fast forward to now and I have currently applied for a whopping 20 fairs for the Sep-Dec 2019 season. I have been rejected by 8, accepted by 2 and still awaiting the outcome of 10 (although I wouldn’t like to hold my breath for any). These are fairs in my home city and across the country too.

So what to do?

What to do indeed. Although it’s upsetting, it’s just a reality. I’ve come to terms with it and have a few ideas for things to do. Firstly, I still have my stockists and online store. I am not going to miss out on Christmas sales altogether, just some market ones. I’ll ramp up my online promotion, focus on my stockists and promote the butt out of commissioned pieces. Plus I have some commissions to complete right now anyway and last Christmas I got a few specially commissioned Christmas orders. This year my business has grown and so I expect more this year.

Secondly, I could just let myself have a break. I have plenty of other things to keep me busy beyond markets, and I have worked really hard this first half of the year. I did a lot of markets in the spring and I have had a fair few large painting commissions over the last few months. Not to mention new stockists. I haven’t created much art for arts sake and I’ve barely touched clay in months. A break without fairs is pretty well deserved at this point. 

Thirdly, I can just critically analyse my stall and try again. I’ll see what the success rate is of these outstanding applications. Ultimately, I can just work harder to improve my craft and branding. This is something I would do whether I got accepted or not, but it at least gives a clear response to my work from a stall organisers point of view. I can think how to stand out from the crowd a bit more. On the other side, maybe I can look into new markets too. Find my audience, my crowd, my niche. 

Lastly I just want other makers to know that I am going through this too. A rebellion against all that is making yourself look flawless in the internet. It is hard work, it was always going to be. Accepting rejection is just part of business, and if you can do that then the only way is up from there! 

 

Kitty Barn Portrait Commission

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It’s been a while ago now since I undertook this commission. This blog has been popping with all sorts of announcements instead. I mean, there’s still announcements but let’s take a break from those and look at some commissioned work. 

Kitty barn Sheffield

The Kitty Barn is a new cat cafe that has recently opened on Chapel Walk in Sheffield. Just a couple of doors down from one of my stockists, Birds Yard. The owner of the cafe is a keen supporter of local art. She set about to showcase some Sheffield talent on the cafe walls. The cafe is home to 10 cats all rescued from Millhouses Animal Sanctuary.

I was commissioned to produce a painting of one of the cats, Kit. His distinctive markings and beautiful eyes made painting him in a surreal style irresistible. It was brilliant to be given the artistic freedom. This really shows with the breadth of art produced for the cafe. It’s great to have a local business feel passionate about supporting local artists and offer a platform to them.

Recently I reached out to the Kitty Barn Owner Sophie Petford to ask her why she has such a focus on supporting local art.

“I wanted to work with local artists because I always think handmade products have a lot more heart put in to their production.

I also believe that our consumable products are the same – they have been lovingly made and what sells them isn’t a big, corporate name, it’s the quality and fantastic taste, so we know we will be providing a good service stocking them in the café.

A lot of our artists are quite young as well or are just at the start of their journey, so purchasing and displaying their pieces helps support them both mentally and financially”

You can find more info on the cafe, including deals and how to book on their website https://www.kittybarn.co.uk

 

New project announcement: The Great York Ghost Search

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I was approached by Snow Home UK in early June about taking part in their Great York Ghost Search. The event will be in its third year in 2019 and takes place in shops across the city. I had seen the Easter bunny version and thought that I would have liked to have taken part. To be specifically approached for a ghost version of the project therefore was most exciting. If there’s one thing for sure, I’m ALWAYS up for painting a spook! 

I don’t know if you noticed but I REALLY like ghosts

York is such a beautiful and interesting city with a rich supernatural heritage. I think that even just as an excuse to visit, the project is well worth getting involved in. The project consists of 26 artists customising 26 porcelain ghost lamps. This is a lamp for each letter of the alphabet. The lamps will be displayed in store fronts around the city centre. Maps are available for the Visit York tourist office to help you on your way. The trail runs October 11-November 1st, to cover Halloween and the half term holiday. 

There are even mini ceramic ghosts up for grabs on the trail too. Although I’m not sure if they are hidden or won,  but I am sure that I want one! I am donating my time to the trail which raises money for charity through an online auction at the end. The trail is the perfect half term family activity. Plus I t’s also as a dream opportunity for me to display my favourite kind of spooky art in a city I love. 

Feels a bit familiar?

The trail is similar to the Wild in Art trails I have been an artist with several times recently. Obviously on a much smaller scale! It’s a nice compromise to bring these arts trails to a city whose infrastructure I would imagine would not allow WIA participation.

Follow my Instagram page to see my design come to life, and visit my Etsy store for some of my York inspired artworks too. If you get chance to visit the trail, don’t forgot to tag me in your pics! 

Instagram Giveaway: The Results

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So I recently held an Instagram Giveaway. It cost me products, time and cold hard cash, What did it get me? Let’s find out.

 

There seems to be quite a few giveaways going on at the moment. I hadn’t tried one before. It’s the sort of thing you need to try to see if it suits you, but you need to try at the right time. Working out when that is, is tricky. 

 

You might wonder if there’s a reason I used Instagram. It’s the main place I’ve seen giveaway happen and it’s where my biggest audience is, so it made sense to me. I did advertise it on Twitter and Facebook though. It would be a shame not to include those platforms even if it’s not where the giveaway action is.

 

Eyes on what prize?

 

I offered the chance to win a big bunch over goodies worth over £60. Choosing the prize is a consideration in itself. The prize needs to be incentive enough for someone viewing the post to want to interact with it. You can’t give away a £1 badge and expect people to like a post, share it and tag 20 friends. It also worked as advertisement for my Mystery Hauls. They are a new product I launched that includes a surprise selection of goodies worth at least £50. This giveaway advertised them and illustrated what they are.

 

What did it cost?

 

My investment in the giveaway was not just the stock. I invested my time in promoting it and creating artwork for it. I paid the postage to send it to the winner (congratulations Bella!) and I sponsored the post. Where I went wrong was that I didn’t set any goals for the giveaway, so in terms of expectations and outcome I don’t have much detail. However, I felt it was a success. The post got lots of engagement and I got new followers. About 100 of them. I can’t tell you if I got any sales out of it, I can’t really trade that. Plus I might have got new followers whose sales or commissions are yet to come. 

 

What did YOU win?

 

Since the giveaway I have had steadily rising followers and surprisingly I don’t think I lost any after the giveaway was drawn. I think followers potentially feel more valued if you reward them with things like the chance to win free loot. The increase in followers is difficult to track how helpful that is too from a business perspective. Are recent stockist and fair successes partly due to a strong social media presence? Who knows. I have noticed a huge boost in the likes my unsponsored posts get too. And when I say huge I mean HUGE. One post of mine recently got nearly 700 likes. It really shows you the power of the Instagram algorithm.

 

Ultimately, I was pleased with the giveaway. It was nice to engage with my followers in this kind of way. Thank them for taking this journey with me. Give someone a free bundles of goodies in the post. I’ll definitely do more, so make sure that you’re following me for the chance to celebrate my next landmark and see what you could get your hands on next time. 

 

A Hyperactive Artist’s Guide to Manchester

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You might have heard me gushing about this city in last week’s blog. It’s just a 50minute train ride from Sheffield and perfect equidistance for me to meet my mates from home. So this is a Hyperactive Artist’s guide with a twist as I’ve spent years visiting and finding my favourite places in Manchester.

Galleries 

Manchester is a wicked city for art. Both in high profile events and right down to its thriving independent creators scene. Home is always a good bet to find something cultural. Only opened in the last couple of years, Home is a cinema complex and exhibition space. It hosts a variety of film festivals throughout the year and free art exhibitions too. Most recently, I visited the David Lynch exhibition as part of Manchester International Festival. Alongside showings of Lynch’s classics the exhibition showcased some of his surreal art. From watercolours, to large mixed media’s to working lamps even. David’s skill for exaggerated and round about storytelling translated into his artwork. Manchester Art Gallery in the centre regularly hosts exhibitions of note and not far behind is the Whitworth a short bus ride down Oxford Road near Rusholme. 

Local artists

I also grabbed the chance to visit Alex Sicklings ceramic display inspired by the use of ceramic as a storytelling tool that is prone to misinterpretations and fake news. The collection was displayed at the Manchester Craft and Design centre. It focused on the Peterloo Massacre, a dark day in Mancunian history. 

There are plenty of independent stores chock full of local makers too. Afflecks Palace is home to the Fox Fairy and Swalk. Both feature a curation of local artists goodies. Afflecks Palace is also home to a menagerie of alternative stores and the best homemade ice cream in the North thanks to Gingers Comfort Emporium. If you are ever lucky enough to catch a day the French Ellis is on offer, make sure you get a taste of its banannay, peanuts, caramelly french toast goodness. 

A little further out of town amongst the uni hustle and bustle of Oxford road lies the hatch box park. Go for the food, beer and vibes, stay for the shopping. Shop Small MCR is hatches independent makers store, and features work from yours truly. Visit Magma on Oldham Street dor a selection of high brow arts publications and high end gifts. Pop round the corner to Travelling Man to support your local comic book store.

A City for Artists

Manchester is certainly my a city made from artists. As well as locally made goodies you are treated to some quality arts supplies stores. Cass Art is the best option for quality vs price I have ever encountered. I can get the brands I love at a good price. Plus their own brand sketch pads are a staple of my art supplies. Fred Aldous however has the opposite charm. Two floors of gifts, stationary and supplies for all mediums, Fred Aldous isn’t cheap but you will be enamoured. The perfect place to find everything you need to start a new hobby. Fred Aldous suits those who like beauty alongside functionality in their craft tools. 

The best thing about Manchester is how it keeps up with the times. There are corners of culture all of the city and always something new to enjoy. The history is impressive though too. Visit Europe’s oldest library in St Peters Square before meeting Stan the T Rex at the Manchester University Museum. A city I always thought I would live in yet never have, there’s always something new and memorable to do on a visit to Manchester. 

New Stockist Announcement: Shop Small MCR

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I am on fire with new stockists at the moment. I started the year with none and by early July I had six stockists in five cities. Shop Small MCR is the fifth one I am introducing in this blog. Maths whizzes will work out that this means another one is on the way, but that’s another story for another time.

On the sixth day, God created Man(Chester)

I am super pleased, as a start, to have a Manchester stockist. Manchester is one of my favourite art cities. It’s the cultural mecca of my youth. Growing up in Blackpool there wasn’t a big selection of art and fashion. I’d take the train to the hustle and bustle of the city. Grab some new kit and visit a gallery. To this day it remains a hub of internationally reknowned cultural celebration. Heck, even on the day of setting up my stock I visited a surreal David Lynch exhibition and a ceramic exhibition by the talented Alex Sickling too. Of course, I also went shopping, and picked up a wicked ceramic treat from a lucky dip Gachabon  machine in Magma and got some Fernandez Makes goodies from Swalk in Afflex Palace too.

So..erm…weren’t you talking about stockists?

YES! Yes I was. Shop Small MCR does not have a role in my nostalgia driven memories of Manchester because it brand spanking new! Open just 3 weeks when I dropped off my stock. It’s not just Shop Small MCR neither. The shop is located in a brand new shiny box park that has sprung up on Oxford Road. In student central July might be an awkward time to set up shop there but it’s a chance I’m taking and s punt I’m playing.

The box park is called Hatch and is following a trend for shipping container housed indie businesses in metropolitan cities across the UK. It might not even be just the U.K. I can picture this kind of thing in somewhere like Melbourne. All I know is that I’ve seen couple in a London, one in a Newcastle and one is being built in Sheffield as we speak. Hatch is a sprawling shanty town of cool under the bridge near Man Met Uni. There are still some units to let, but it’s already brimming with art, bars, food and craft ales. The empty units are just exciting potential currently and they’ll no doubt be snapped up soon. 

Before even dropping off any stock I’d perused a small ceramics shop, and had a beer and some fresh and tasty Vietnamese food on a Pinterest-porn converted double decker bus. It’s the sort of place you can idle away a day without realising. Shop Small MCR does exactly what it says on the tin. A unit celebrating local(ish) makers and each maker with their own dedicated space. I am excited to be part of the beginning of something as cool as Hatch and I hope I can celebrate success with Shoo Small MCR along the way. 

New stockist announcement : Design 44

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In July I joined the Design 44 family. The store is based in Derby City Centre and boasts over 70 designers in its walls. I shared the news on social media by comparing the shop to the warehouse at the end of Raiders of the Lost ark. The cavernous store stocks independent maker upon independent maker in a very impressive space. I find curation of the store is equally impressive. If you spend long enough perusing it’s treasures you could make a serious dent in your bank account.

First Derby stockist 

It’s my first stockist in Derby. It follows a successful first visit to the city with Northern Craft at a Bustler Market in May. The shop has got brilliant reviews and does a fabulous job of attracting new and regular customers. I have a 3ftx3ft space in the store. Upon a repurposed green door which now makes a stylish table sits my stock.  With a backdrop of glorious exposed brick, is a selection of my prints, patches and badges on the first floor of the shop.

Additional stockist announcement 

The shop seems genuinely unique. It seems to embrace the pop up and event based nature of independent selling. Not only does the store seem to take stalls at events, but they are also about to take a big step. From mid August they will have an additional pop up store in Derby’s Intu shopping centre. They have secured a retail unit for an initial 6 weeks which they are working to extend.

I am pleased to say that I will be one of the artists joining them in the pop up shop. They will create an impressive frame wall where up to 10 of my prints will be framed on display.  It’s exciting as Intu should be a prime selling location. If the pop up can weather the demand for empty retail units at Christmas time and if I can stay in there at that busy shopping period then it could be a successful first few months in the shop. 

Kickstarting my Kickstarter Campaign

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A few weeks ago I wrote a review of a Kickstarter information event held at Site Gallery Sheffield. Fast forward a couple of months and I’ve taken the plunge. I’m running my first ever Kickstarter Campaign. The goal of the campaign is to raise £300 towards the production costs of 200 enamel pin badges of my always ever popular Skeptics design.

Making an enamel pin is my dream come true!

The great thing about as I’m writing this is that I’m just over a week into my 30 day campaign and I am 192% funded! Woohoo! If I’d have written this a week ago I’d be talking about just how stressed I was. It’s that weird, adrenaline fuelled addictive stress though. Obsessively checking your total stress. I kinda thrive on it, whilst I think it’s simultaneously horrible. All in all, it’s enough for me to be glad it’s over, but enough that I’d do it again.

The all or nothing Kickstarter approach is what feeds the fear. Even upon being funded the fear of mass cancellations remains, but it feels great to get this far.

Its amazing, you’re amazing, thankyou!

What has been especially interesting is the backers. The supporters who you’ve known who really step up to get behind you. Reminding you how awesome your supporters are! Then there are the new supporters. A great deal of traffic comes from Kickstarter  itself, but also it encourages you to find new audiences.

I turned to new reddit threads to promote my campaign. The product itself, an enamel pin, opens new audiences to enamel pin fans. The big new thing I tried though was working with influencers.

Like, Kardashian size influencers?

Well, micro influencers. Niche influencers. Whatever you call folk with good followings of fellow folk who like creepy stuff! My aim was to avoid being spammy at all costs but try and engage with accounts that felt synergetic with mine. I offered praise and thanks and packages of goodies. I won’t name an shame those who didn’t reply, I’ll just say this is to of course be expected. There was some excellent support though, so as well as gaining pledges to my campaign, I was getting new social media followers too.

My goal is funded but I am still accepting pledges until my rewards are sold out. The pin production will be totally funded, but it helps me to book stalls and promote the designs across the country too.

You can check our my kickstarter at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thisissianellis/skeptical-ghost-hard-enamel-pin

Thankyou to you beautiful folk that have backed me on this, it really means the world!

Work/work/life balance: getting it right, getting it wrong

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We are all told how important it is to get a proper work/life balance. What about when you have two works? How do you balance your work/work/life balance? What about if what is now your work, always used to sit as a hobby in the ‘life’ part?

Before I go any further I should make one thing clear. This is not a how to, it’s a confession. I don’t balance these things very well at the moment. As you may know, I work part time on my business and part time as an events fundraiser. My charity work leaves me three days and evenings each week for everything else. And there’s a LOT of everything else. Friends, family, loved ones, pooch, pub, eating, drinking, Netflix and holidays.

Then there’s the everything else else. Admin, emails, murals, digital sketching, posting orders, applying to markets, selling my work, monitoring my stockists, practicing my craft. Then there’s my number one love of my life; good old fashioned sleep. Plus, there’s the times that my fundraising job steals extra hours from my weekends and evenings as well as my brain space in other hours too. My job is wonderful and I love it but it’s pretty full on and there’s always lots to think about. How do you do it all?

Spoiler alert: I don’t.

Well,I do. But I don’t get the quantities right. I always want more lie ins, more puppy cuddles and more time for the people who mean the most to me than I am currently getting and giving. Visiting family is hard when it is going to take at least a weekend with all the travelling, but there never seems to be a weekend free.

Then there’s my business. I have a huge to do list. At first it was a ‘one day I want to try this’ to do list. Then it became a ‘things to do when you get chance’ to do list. Now? Now it’s a ‘here’s everything due soon’ to do list. There’s no time to learn new artistic skills, explore new avenues or research new opportunities. 

Spend your time wisely

I am slowly learning that the reality is that until a cure for needing to sleep is invented, there is just no way to have it all. The trick is to priorities. Learn to say no, value your time and carve away time for what is important to you. If it helps to block out a night to spend time with friends, do it. Make it obvious in your calendar and don’t shift it for anything. I find booking tickets for shows makes me not miss those dates, so do what you have to to keep that time for you. Monitor your work balance. make sure you only agree to jobs you have time for. Only jobs you want to do. Your time is precious so treat it so. When you know you are going to be busy with something else, take on less.

and perhaps most importantly…

TAKE.TIME.OFF.

I can’t stress this enough. Don’t feel guilty about recharging and relaxing. it is vital and necessary. Schedule it in and stick to it. In the midst of all of my million commitments I always allow myself time for me. It keeps you sane and helps you to have the clarity of mind to decide how you want to spend the rest of your time and how to priorities it.

We all want to build successful business, and the income can be a strong allure. Just make sure that you are never letting it cost you too much from your energy and life. If it helps, remember this,

No one on their death bed ever regretted that they didn’t work enough days in their life

 

 

New Half Year Goals for 2019

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As discussed in my last blog post, my annual goals for 2019 are almost all achieved. I’ve allowed myself some time to celebrate and now it’s time to set some more. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s tempting not to. To pat myself on the back and let myself relax and go with the flow until 2020. I know that it would be a waste of the momentum I’ve built this year though.

Seriously, it’s been awesome!

Surpassing my goals has taught me to have more confidence in what I do too. I thought that the goals were achievable but tough. Of course I worked hard for them, but I got them all in half a year. Some I had completed within a month or two and some I have just smashed. They were big jumps when I wrote them but now my business is in a different place. What’s more, I’m prepared to make some goals that are really ambitious.

There’s no shame in not reaching a goal as long as you try.

I’m not the type of guy to beat myself up if I don’t win at something, I beat myself up for being too scared to try though, so here goes:

-Secure a mural commission using my characters and style

-be approached for a large scale commission without applying

-trial a pop up shop

-run an arts event (market, workshop, drawing class)

-get agency representation

And none of it is based on followers or likes. Not to say that it’s not important, just to say that it can give you tunnel vision with your art if you’re not too careful.

Something of a scattergun approach?

Maybe. They are all quite different and about quite different avenues. The list doesn’t focus on retail or commissions, it looks at both. It even looks at events which is something of the elephant in the room. Events is my skillset. It’s where my fundraising career has refined and culminated. To run arts events just makes sense. Thing is, I run A LOT of events. Do I want to run events in my art life too? I guess what I am saying is that if I don’t achieve that goal, that’s cool with me too.

Plus, if I don’t achieve it, honestly it will be because I won’t have pursued it. The only thing standing between me and running and arts events is and always will be just me. I don’t think you guys will blame me either. You know that when I’m not organising a huge christmas fair that I’m somewhere organising a music festival or an outdoor cinema. I think you guys won’t mind if I put my feet up on organising extra curricular events just for a little while.

I wonder what will have passed and where my business will be next time I write a review post?