My First Moo Products Review

 As it is early days with my artistic freelance career one of my objectives is to keep my expenses low. I was in need of promotional products, so I researched a few printing shops and online stores. I came across Moo.

This online design printing store is stylish and very appealing. Sign-up and apply because they offer a sample pack of some their business cards. 

I do like the foil business cards in the free pack however, I knew I could not afford this at first, so I researched what was in my budget and ideal for my illustration needs. 

You can start designing your business cards right away and utilise the save button to your advantage. This gives you time to create more work, edit and resize your designs to place in the designated space areas on the business cards. I love this feature! 

Whilst I was working on more illustrations and artwork to add the design slots I received an email with a discount I could apply to my business cards. This is valuable! Take advantage of great offers like this to help keep your business expenses low on promotional tools. Plus, by going for the cheaper option it is a great way to test the service out.

I went for the Matte Laminate Business Cards with space for fifty designs. I chose my best and diverse designs for the front of the cards and then for the back I kept my brand name, keywords relating to my business and links to my website, social media and email organised as simple as possible for a well-balanced composition. There are quite a few delivery options, so I opted for standard delivery as I was in no rush. 

The package arrived on time and fitted well through the letterbox. No waiting around for the delivery person!

Inside was a rectangle slide box that holds my business cards neatly, organised and compact, making it easy to carry around and hand out to potential clients. Check out my business Moo promotional materials in the images provided.

Once I have run out I will upgrade my business cards and take more advantage of the design spaces with my next order batch. I am thinking the Letterpress or the Gold Foil Business Cards.

I also highly recommend investing in the Moo stickers. It was an affordable treat for my freelance business. I uploaded my logo brand name in black and white and ordered them in soft rounded square stickers. These are a nice touch to the back of my cello bags for packaging up orders for my online stores. The sticker pack is an excellent and low priced promotional item for marketing your business.

Take a look for yourself and browse the vast array of options that Moo.com has to offer. Here is a referral code for your new Moo promotional materials enjoy!

The Start of My Online Business

I have been away for a while completing my final year of university, working a full time office job and having a rocky but interesting dating life. Now I am here starting out as a freelance illustrator full-time. I am no longer at my previous employment but now self-employed on a creative journey and tackling my biggest challenges.

At first I was in shock but then after a few days I got myself together and started working towards my creative passion. I have always been self-sufficient and it is how I am going to continue to be.

When you find yourself newly self-employed after working since you were seventeen for big companies and in my case it is daunting and that fear of the unknown can be overwhelming. However, I have always wanted to be a freelance illustrator/artist and I am giving it my best shot.

It is not easy. There have been bumps in the road. Mixed emotions. Lots of areas for improvement. They are parts of the journey. I am doing what I love and it will not be smooth sailing but I am happier than I have ever been. 

I budget, pay all the bills on time, have the tools I need, eat better than I did last year, exercise a few days a week, have a weird but great family and friends and have a roof over my head. I am grateful for what I have and as long as I have what I need I can focus on my artwork. 

I used to obsess over printmaking years ago and then was intimidated by it and felt like I was not good enough for this field, so I gave up. This was how I felt drawing portraits as I compared myself to the many talented portrait artists and illustrators around the world. I stopped and felt unworthy of drawing. I felt low but I was still and currently obsessed with art, portraiture and printmaking. The comparison game can be deadly and crush you. I feel it sometimes but getting back into portraiture and printmaking was the perfect opportunity for me to get back into the game and helping form my business. Also, I hated Abstract art years ago but have come to appreciate it and be fascinated by the process. I like to think I have matured a lot more since my foundation art degree 18 year old me. This is an area of art I use to experiment and play around with mixed media in my journals. It is very therapeutic.

I have doubts sometimes but to help me grow I push aside the negative feelings and create. I do not have a distinguished style and a lot of work but I am ok with that. I am on a creative, scary and exciting journey and I feel awesome!

The beginning of my journey so far: 

• Decluttered my life
• Invested in the materials and tools
• Put together a business plan
• Created a competitor analysis
• Revamped my website and online stores
• Gained new online stores
• Acquired social media business accounts
• Made a financial report to help me budget
• Constantly working on my SEO
• Journaling my ideas down
• I create 

If anyone has suddenly lost their job, been fired or taken the leap to quit and decided to follow their dream passion I would love to hear about your experiences and journeys.

Jellies

I was inspired by jellyfish even with them being one of the scariest things on the planet and a source of some of my nightmares. I used the triangle as a base and layered over it with the quick ink marks, tipex and bleach to create a water like effect and make the jellyfish look as if they are floating.

It is available as a print and many other items in my Society6 page.

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Sketches

 

 

 

 

 

Quick sketches.

 

The Skull experiment

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love skulls and wanted to experiment with tipex and other media. I used indian ink with touches of water colours for the base and to create the shadows of the skull. Then instead of using more black I added bits of blues and purples. Once dried I used tipex to create different textures on the skull and around it, layered the canvas with highlighter pens and more watercolours. I like the grim look of it and I want to keep experimenting with tipex.

 

 

Eyessss

I like to draw eyes. It's a good way to warm up and experiment.

Liverpool art and craft fair at st George's Hall

The Liverpool Art and Craft Fair at St George's in Liverpool in December 2013 was festive, busy and had amazing creations on offer. I loved the hustle and bustle. There was a lot of stalls and creatives in St Georges that day I went and my favorites were GeekCycled and SophieGreen.

                 

I got myself two sets of amazing earrings. Rogue and Gambit and the words of Game of Thrones. They do other home ware and accessories too and you can find out more through their twitter and fb. 

I purchased these lovely postcards from Sophie Green. I definitely need one of her prints in my life! Check out Sophie Green's twitter and fb. 

I only went to two art fairs last year and it wasn't enough. So 2014 is the year to get out more, go to galleries, events, markets and art fairs.

It's nearly Christmas!!!

A section of one of my quick Christmas illustrations using fine liner and blue inks. Once my scanner starts working again I will add some seasonal illustrations and more organic work to my Society6 profile.