Botanica is wearing coral for this weeks #Colour_Collective. There’s a good reason for this. I really wanted to deliver the pun…
She’s a coral leaf!
Hah! Boom! Get it? Take that groaner, readers!
She’s another character I don’t think I’ve posted before (as a #CC portrait!). I’m certain once I post this, WordPress related posts widget is going to prove me wrong…
/MarketingHatOn
Did you know, Botanica is available on my Etsy store as an art print and original drawing? No? Well, she is, and here’s the link. etsy.com/uk/shop/LittleFears
Copper climbed over the last rack into the books aisle.
She recalled the time she tried writing a book. A humorous autobiography. It was a shame there was nobody left to read it.
Her writing started out well. She hit her word counts and noted all the major beats of her life. Until the day she spilt glue all over the book and got it attached to her elbow.
Well, that was her story, and she was sticking to it.
I’ve been trying a new thing today. Embedding a longer image with the story as a hidden image for Pinterest and Tumblr shares. But, with Gutenberg (oh god that bloody thing again), I can’t get the “display: none” HTML option to work. Does anyone know how we hide embedded images in WordPress posts-post 5.0 update?
She arrived in the pharmaceutical aisle. The men’s hair pomades often had petroleum jelly in. They smell nicer than Vaseline, as well. She pulled a couple off tins off the shelf and stuffed them into her bag.
Below the pomades were the ‘men’s wellbeing’ products. Iron, vitamins, zinc and more. A dozen chemist jokes leapt into her conscience. A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. She tried to think of a chemistry pun she’d never heard before. She had heard barium jokes, H20 puns and inert gags.
With a sigh and a smile she figured, all the best chemist jokes Argon.
#Colour_Collective has returned for another year. I’ve been doing them for two years now. Crikey, that means the Fears have been going for two years now. Nice.
Any-who, please allow me to introduce this week’s lovely lady, Quosh. She’s a bit grumpy because Fuen and the chick-lets stole her ice-cream.
WordPress needs to have a parent page for drop-down menus on the website. So we needed a new Shop & Tip Jar page. Following advice I was given long ago, ‘artist, market thyself!’ Main page link: littlefears.co.uk/shop
“You’re right,” replied Fluffeh, “we have multiple shopping outlets and experiences for our fans.”
“Multiple!” gasped Masks. “I know we might get accused of marketing if you answer this out loud, but where can I visit these Fear filled shops and experiences?”
“Well,” pondered Fluffeh, “a lot of things, but obvious examples would be designing posters, creating unique logos, writing articles or creating book covers.”
“How many more ways can the illustrator say “said”?” asked Masks.
“I don’t think we should test that,” replied Fluffeh.
“I guess not,” laughed Masks. “But listen, if there was a way of personally supporting the illustrator, how would I do that?”
“You can visit his Patreon or Ko-Fiand drop a dollar or two into his tip jar,” said Fluffeh.
“Do you think anyone’s going to read all this?” asked Masks.
“Probably not,” sighed Fluffeh. “But you know the illustrator. He ain’t writing a normal shop and tip jar page.”
The vegetable aisle was empty. The worst reminder of the lack of life. Everything had rotted back at the start, devoured by insects. Empty trays remained with seeds and pips left at the bottom.
Copper had tried to grow some vegetables. The only success she had ever had was beetroot. One had grown before the drought had come. She wanted to see how big she could get it.
It was a lazy plant. The beet grew to barely a mouthful. Then the taproots growth stopped.
She recalled stepping out of her front door one day and finding it uprooted, laying on her steps with a knife sticking out of it.
She watched the roots, reaching up out of the ground. Twirling around each other. Tying themselves together and standing tall. She would have run when she saw her face forming in the organic ballet. If only the roots holding her hands and feet would loosen their grip.
Ya know, I was absolutely certain I’d had Durthi as a #Colour_Collective portrait. Can’t find her in any of the usual folders or my Twatter though. I shall remedy this in 2019.
Obs, this ain’t just no straight-up horror post, but an advert too. Cause ya know, I do need a few quid to buy tea!
You can get an original hand drawn Durthi or a print of this fiendish plant lady on my Etsy store. Postage is free and first class wherever you live in the world, and each card envelope comes with a free bird drawn on it. Stick that in ya stovepipe and smoke it.
OK, so, I’ve listed 24 items this week, 18 of them are new products. The Triffids, Fuens chicks, Capricorn and the Bugs have all returned. Now accompanied by Pisces, Aires, Leo, Aquarius and more.
Up until now, I’ve sold around 400’ish prints at markets and events in real life. 150’ish prints through comments and emails. Then 9 through Etsy. A tad bad of me there. It means my Etsy store has very little feedback and an awful sales count. So from now on, I’ll be directing all comment and email sales through Etsy. The fees are worth it for the long term benefits of being established on an online market as big as Etsy.
I’m happy to say Red, up there, is my best market stall seller. Usually to adorn a children’s bedroom. I like that. Certainly never intended, but I can imagine having Red on my wall as a kid.
Any-who, yes, here’s the thing. Before Christmas I had an order come in for 250 of these prints. They’re printed on 200 gsm matte card. I kinda miss having the canvas texture effect of my old prints, but the quality of ink absolutely pastes anything I’ve ever printed myself. So much so, I have conscripted all my old prints to the scrap paper shelf in my cupboard. The ink has so much depth to it, it gives the colours a wonderful kapow that has been absent on my older prints.
My good friend Esme, who rides upon a cloud, put in an order for Fuen and the chicklets the week my order was arriving and nobbled the first of the new prints. Despite having to wait a week, she loved the print enough to give me a 5-star rating. If a print’s good enough for a cloud riding Esme, it’s good enough for me.
As always, despite a background in marketing, I have no idea how to market my own stuff. Anyone got an Etsy marketing class for me? Haha.
I figure a link at the bottom of the post is a good start.
“Wasn’t happy
with the last one,” sighed Bugly. “And I’m not happy with where
I am now.”
“Ah, I see,”
replied Ello. “Can ya see yourself in a better place this time next
year?”
Bugly, scrunched up his nose. “No,” he sighed. “I don’t have 2020 vision…”
Boom! Etsy shop being filled up! You can have a peek today or wait until tomorrow when all my current stocks online. Either way, I’m excited to finally have a full Etsy store. https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/LittleFears
Little Fears 