Lately, I have spent some of my spare time designing cards. I like to work on these because they are small and I am able to flex my designing muscles without having to spend weeks on something. There is a sense of instant gratification to designing these. I can work out some ideas that I have brewing in the back of my head without having to commit to a major project. Plus, they allow me to work with text - which I love to do.
I bought some paper and envelopes in hopes of maybe offering these in my etsy store. I’m not really sure I want to go down that path. Maybe I will just add them to my portfolio. Or better yet, I will send them out to friends. Either way, I have fun with them and sometimes that’s all that matters!
I am working on putting up a website related to my artwork and graphic design. Through the process of gathering material for my site I am realizing that my portfolio is really thin. I have been concentrating on album design alot lately and haven’t had the time to really go out there and pursue projects. Also, I am not exstatic about the stuff that is in my current portfolio. I have a specific direction that I want to go in and a good portion of this work doesn’t really portray direction.
SO…I am running a special of sorts. I hate to call it a sale. Maybe portfolio building special? Anyways, the idea is that I am looking for clients that are interested in working with me for a very, very discounted price. I am talking about charging a ridiculously low fee.
I am looking for people who need postcards, business cards, logo design, brochures, website concept and design, and fliers. I think this is a great opportunity for both parties involved. You get a great design for a great price and I get solid work for my portfolio!
If you are interested please email me and we will discuss the details and if we would be a good match. Of course, check out my etsy shop and anything I have posted here, along with my wedding album design website: Elioso Design. Here you can get a good idea of my style and if you’d like to work with me.
Please feel free to pass this on to anyone you think would be interested!
Just finished my wedding album design website! Please feel free to check it out and let me know what you think! I am by no means what I would consider a website designer. But I did everything in terms of design and setting it up. I used dreamweaver, so hopefully the coding is at the very least acceptable. I would love any constructive cristism on the site itself (does it flow well? does it serve it’s purpose correctly? etc)
www.EliosoDesign.com
For a while now I have been thinking of separating the wedding album design aspect of my business from the art and design. As of now Leoa Design Studio will only encompass art and design. Elioso Design will be the name of my album design company and my plans are to add a separate blog for this and transfer everything album design related over to that. I am also (still) in the process of creating my websites. Things just seem to take alot longer than I think they will around here. Between actually doing work for clients, painting, raising baby and sometimes sleeping getting my website finished is usually last on the list. It also doesn’t help that I have taken it all on my own - designing and learning dreamweaver as I go along.
In other art related news - I am just about finished with six new paintings that I am very excited about. I can’t wait to show them. I think that I won’t be offering the originals for purchase because I intend to find a gallery at some point to show them. However, I will be offering prints in my etsy shop. Stay tuned!
Just listed in etsy shop!
digital illustration, © Leoa Design Studio 2008
Just listed “Afterall” in my etsy shop. This is a limited addition print of 50. Printed on archival paper with archival pigment inks.
Come check it out!
More Than You Know, Digital Illustration, © Leoa Design Studio 2008
Digital Illustration © Leoa Design Studio 2008
The way I look at it, I have three major areas of my business to keep up with. Wedding album design, fine art, and graphic design. The most important is wedding album design. I am hoping that once my website is up, this part of my business will take off. I know that with more and more wedding photographers outsourcing their album design needs, there is quite a bit of competition out there. I feel pretty confident in my abilities to deliver consistent quality album design. I may not have a huge number of clients right now, but it doesn’t worry me.
Etsy however, is one place I feel myself struggling. To be successful at etsy, you have to post new items all the time and I think it’s best if your shop has a really strong theme. The majority of the work in my etsy store is older work and I don’t feel like it is the best representation of what I do as a fine artist. I have a good idea about how I would like my shop to be and what I would like to put up there but it is hard to find time to make new work. My mind is constantly overflowing with ideas of new paintings. I just feel like I haven’t quite found my rhythm in the art making department.
I haven’t really found any solutions yet. Maybe I need to set goals for myself. Finish one painting a week? How hard can that be. Make Sunday (or any one day) my painting day? I suppose when you run your own business you really have to be consistent with your time and have clear cut goals.
Another thing is that I would really love to have a show of my work this year. It’s been a LONG time since I have been in an art show and I think it would be wonderful. So far, this year has been pretty good to me. How awesome would it be if I could finish it out with an art show, a few more album design clients, and a successful etsy shop?
The next few days are going to be busy, work-wise. I have three sample wedding albums I am working on for a client. Plus, revisions to another wedding album. I also have to get six sample albums uploaded to my server for my website that is in the works. I have three ready to go, the other three I am tweaking a bit. Plus, I’ve decided to take a trip to Ikea this Saturday to purchase a new desk for my office, along with some additional stuff for my kitchen. On top of that, I have my one year old tornado of a baby to keep entertained and fed. Busy, busy, busy!
I am not complaining, mind you. It really is feast or famine when you are working for yourself.
Well, since I mentioned wedding album design and I have yet to show off anything in regards to that- here is one of the sample albums that are on my website - EliosoDesign.com:
© Leoa Design Studio 2008, Photos: © Scott Patrick Photography
Please click on the photo to open up my wedding album design website and see several sample albums.
