Follow-up: Using RedBubble.com

I mentioned in a previous post about using RedBubble.com and I wanted to follow-up on my experience using their custom product/printing service. I first tested them out by ordering a couple of t-shirts using some of my 2015 INKtober sketches: T.H.E. Walking Dead and Batman vs. Baseball. The shirts arrived in less than a week after the online order was made.

Image showing the high-quality T-Shirt printing

The quality of the t-shirts was excellent. Tight coverage and spot-on color. The shirts are very comfortable and light, great for spring and summer wear. (My only issue was that some of my designs had transparent backgrounds, so those parts of the images blended into the color of the t-shirt. This could make the print look muddy if a dark colored t-shirt is selected.)

Metal traveling coffee mug using my image "T.H.E. Walking Dead", created using RedBubble.com
Link to the T.H.E. Walking Dead product page CLICK HERE

After getting the T-shirts, I purchased 5 other items from Redbubble: pouch, travel mug and pillows. All of these items were very reasonably priced for the high-quality made-to-order products. It used to be, (not too long ago), you had to buy a costly minimum quantity to get this level of quality. 

A zipper pouch using my design "Ghostie Emojis" on RedBubble.com
Link to the Ghostie Emojis product page CLICK HERE

I've added several other designs in the past few months, which have already been selected by other people to create their own products. There is also cash back sent to the artist for each item being made using their artwork. It's not a HUGE amount . . . but still, it's nice to see others enjoying the artwork.

There are so many great gifts and self-promotional ideas that can be used with this service.
Imagine creating products using your child's artwork, creating a prototype sample of an idea or design or making personalized "inside joke" t-shirts for friends, etc.

I highly recommend Redbubble.com
They often have discount sales from 20%-30% off . . . sign-up to get email notifications when these sales happen. (I suggest only purchasing when there is a discount sale. Usually, their best discounts occur around holidays.)

To see all my designs available on RedBubble.com - go to: Arrrggghhh's Shop

Pro Art Sketchbooks Review

Few words on sketchbooks.

I have several sketchbooks of different sizes and brands available around the house, but there is only one brand I find I'm most comfortable with -- I find Pro Art sketchbooks are the best. Here are my key reasons:

#1) The spiral binder: this allows you to sketch the entire page without having to deal with the pinch (or gutter) of a normal binder. It allows the sketchbook to lay flat without having to constantly hold the book open. This also allows better scanning since you can lay the page flat on the scanner bed.

Examples of several sketchbooks I randomly use at random times - I only draw on the right side pages of the sketchbooks because I have a heavy hand, (which causes too many pencil line indentations for me to draw on the reverse left sides.)

#2) Perforated Pages: This allows any drawing to be taken out of the sketchbook with a clean edge. This is great for book fairs, book readings or anywhere I may need to draw something to give/sell to someone.

Pro Art sketchbooks come in several sizes and also in normal book binding form, but the spiral binding works best for me and the way I work

#3.) Price. These are very affordable compared to other brands. I get mine from any Michael's Arts + Crafts store. Recently Michael's had a big sale on these sketch books. Prices were from $3 for the 4" by 8" to $7 for 11" by 14", each with 80 sheets.
The paper is also acid free. I stocked up on about $40 worth of sketchbooks, but even without the sale, the prices are usually very reasonable year round.

The Pro Art brand logo on the bottom back of the sketchbooks

#4.) Paper Quality. The paper is an above average quality which handles mixed media very well (Like pencil, ink and charcoals. Note: Markers will bleed through the page, so be aware and add spare sheets between your pages when working with markers.) I find the paper is very durable, enough to easily erase over the same area several times if needed.