@Rich-Green great info, thanks Rich!!!

After a long while not working on that piece, I am trying to finish it. I am more or less satisfy so far, but the girls hair still needs some work, or? What do you think? Any idea to get the hair more shiny?0_1463317198519_Chocolaterie SVS.jpg

I don't know if I'm going nuts and missing this, but I can't find the video of the Spring Critiques anywhere .... @Aaron do you think it will be coming online anytime soon?

Thank you so much, @smceccarelli! That means really a lot to me. 🙂
I will change the other text accordingly, and I will also see if I can improve the soundwords.

Cute idea! 🙂
I like the texture of the wings. I would suggest to give the brown strips a stronger curvature. Like now they really flatten the bumblebee, which would be much cuter in it's naturally round shape.

Amazing work Nat!

It's all right. And, digital.

Thanks to all for their comments. It sounds like InDesign is the one to use (if I can figure it out). Maybe I just need to scan them and send them to the printer and see if there are corrections to be made. Ugh.......wish i had a computer chip in my brain 🙂

@Bobby-Aquitania So glad to hear from you Bobby - I was worried about you too and wondering how things were going. I hope that your TACE procedure has the desired effect, all fingers crossed for you! Hope we'll see you again soon. And thanks for sharing the video!

for your information, no fortune cookies in Ireland either ^_^

@Lee-White To answer your question 5: Is there any advice I have for others wanting to try this market?

First of all, biggest piece of advice is to research your market thoroughly before diving in. I knew the market beforehand, because my first long-term job after university was working on a specialist magazine which was all about card making. It was my job, amongst other things, to know exactly what crafters were interested in, to know every new product on the market and to write features about them. So by the time I went freelance and started this I had lots of contacts and could see where the gaps in the market were. I think whichever market you’re aiming for, you need to do the equivalent thing - check out the competition and see where you could do better than them. Then you can start putting together an alternative product that might have the edge over the existing ones.

Second of all, you need to be prepared for the long haul. It really doesn’t happen overnight unless you’re super lucky or a genius or both. We started putting a business plan together back in 2008, launched later that year and really it took a while to grow. I was freelancing at the same time to make ends meet while the business grew…so if it didn’t work out we had alternatives to go back to.

Thirdly, you may need to tweak your product and/or be prepared to change as the market changes. Our first ever stamp set didn’t sell very well, and I had to work out why. We talked to people, got feedback and found out that they would prefer a smaller sized, more affordable set. We changed it and the next set sold better.

Fourthly - you need to create products for your customer and not yourself (within limits) Of course you want to do creatively fulfilling work, but your customer will only buy something if it chimes with their own taste and if it is useful to them. Hopefully you can find that wonderful place where your taste and their taste overlaps - that is the perfect job! - but to do that you need to know what they need and what they respond to.

Thanks Lee, that's very helpful! I had started trying to feather the edges of the black but that ended up looking off (not like metal) so I changed it to what you see above. I agree the rounded PhotoShop brush doesn't look right and I like how you changed it.

@Sarah-LuAnn Wow! These look amazing! Thanks for sharing 🙂

@Chip-Valecek Oh! That sounds like a great project! I'll be interested in seeing how it turns out! After researching all day I think I might have found a possible printer in my area that can do my book. It's small so it doesn't need a spine and hopefully, can be saddle stitched 🙂 I've also been learning about isbn numbers, tax permits, registering a copyright, and so forth. I even made a logo for myself: Blue House Independent Publishing..ha! ha! ..and I finished the back page sans cool people saying my book is good 🙂 It's been a long day but I'm feeling more in control now.

I was just getting ready to buy an isbn number. I am wondering about buying more. It's a lot cheaper but will I need them? Do people who self publish need one at all and can a person buy one after a book is already published? Can people do a group buy on isbns or would they have to be in one persons name? Just wondering. Thanks. BTW, I may have found a local printer who can do small runs to huge runs digitally. We'll see what happens!

Thanks, Russ 🙂 I will go with the Grandson 🙂

I know the one you mean, @Russ-Van-Dine I saw that too and was looking forward to it, but it seems to have disappeared. There's an explanation of the challenge in Will's Creative Composition class, he says he sets the challenge for his college students every year, you have to fit 50 items into a single composition.

You can do the challenge yourself, by working through the Creative Composition class and then having a go at that challenge - I think it's near the end of the class.

When I saw it on the calendar I thought maybe a group would be doing it together and sharing feedback etc which would have been cool. Doesn't look like it's going to happen now though.

Cool image. I'm going to be doing this challenge as well. The only thing I'd say is that you need to find a way to point the cat towards one of the other characters because right now he's leading us out of the image.

Great style love the line work. I got the idea once I read your comment but I don't think it's coming across in the image quite yet. Looking forward to seeing where this ends up.