Ramblings
3.18.2008
I think the real catalyst for getting Linty Fresh out there locally is going to have to be in-person sales. I'm going to be selling at ICE for sure in June, but I don't think it'd be a bad idea at all to think about doing some smaller shows to. ICE is great but it's only twice a year, which seems a little hit-and-miss. Either way, local recognition will be a huge step for me, especially if I'm ever going to think about opening a shop... which I am.
I know, I know, it's a LONG shot from where I'm at now, but it'd be just too awesome to run a little Linty Fresh storefront and maybe even employ some of my friends. I'd have a little gallery section showing off local young Atlanta artists' work, a "work-in-progress" bulletin board where people could check out my preliminary designs, and of course all kinds of LF goodies from tees and hoodies to skate decks, shoes, snowboards, and art prints. And at that point I might even consider doing collaborations with other guys (I've got dozens in mind from Flickr and Emptees alone)
...But on the other hand, the one thing I've been ultra stubborn about is doing all the design myself up to this point. Everything. Every piece of packaging, every character, every graphic on the site, every image shown on a product page, and especially every tee. It's tempting to hire other artists; from a profits standpoint, it makes complete sense. I'd be getting all kinds of new flavors and styles which would certainly bring new customers to the site, all for a couple hundred more than I'm currently spending per print. But I refuse! This probably sounds like megalomania, but I guess what I'm trying to get across is that LF isn't just there to make me as much money as possible. If it were I'd pick a theme and start hunting for other artists instead of tackling it all myself.
A few sites I frequent have done this. Coincidentally, a few of them started around the time LF did, but their ranges of styles and designs surpassed me ages ago. It can be a little discouraging, to be honest. But what I try to focus on is that fact that LF has always been (and will hopefully always be) more about me as a person and an artist than just a site with cool designs. Not that I'm in any way ragging on those other guys - I keep in contact with a lot of them and buy their stuff, even - it's just not my gig.
In a way, I almost approach LF as a portfolio or a photo album, a documentation of my progression and development. The cool thing is that this seems to be appreciated and respected by a lot of guys in the industry. And that's one thing that blows me away in all of this - the support from the competition! I recently found out that I was getting traffic from Seibei, the owner of whom I know and have chatted with a few times. How cool is that? Despite being competitors, he's totally plugging me on his links page.
Just one of many things that make me love this - it's just one awesome experience after another.
Labels: business, ideas, indie craft experience, linty fresh, seibei, tshirts
posted by Mr. Linty @ 9:53 PM,
2 Comments:
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At 11:57 PM,
jimiyo said...
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hey LF, i was wondering if you were aware of ICE. i participated twice in the last couple years. you'll be one of the only males there selling your stuff. ITS GREAT!! heheh. anyways, best of luck. im sure you will do well.
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At 5:02 PM,
Mr. Linty said...
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Yeah man, I'll be there in June! You based here in ATL too?
