Turning Art Into a Career with Paola Harris
We talked to Paola Harris, full-time creator behind the successful online shop Paola’s Pixels and got a few tips on how to turn your art into your career!
What’s your drive?
Does your existing nerd-dom not carry your preferred aesthetic? Paola’s original goal was to make clothes for people who like DnD AND colors! (No offense, black t-shirts.) “I always want to create something new that no one has done.”
Find 12 customers to start.
Paola says that she first got started using the website Cotton Bureau. When Paola got started, the rule was that you had to have at least 12 folks buy your design, but that rule doesn’t appear to be the case nowadays. Cotton Bureau claims to pass over 90% of submissions, so make sure you’re really ready to put your best and favorite artwork forward when submitting to them!
Limited storage space? Print on demand!
Paola uses a service called Printful to print and ship her shirts, because who has the space to keep boxes and boxes of t-shirts just hanging around?
For bigger projects, turn to Kickstarter!
When Paola has a lot of designs she wants to invest in at once, it’s easier to turn to a platform like good ol’ Kickstarter.
Be prepared for unexpected customer service!
Paola says her day-to-day routine involves a lot of customer service these days: answering customer questions, packing orders, posting on social media, etc.
Bonus Advice: Just go for it. Be shameless. (Design for yourself first.)
Where Paola got started:
Check out Paola's amazing stuff:
https://www.patreon.com/paolaspixels/
https://www.etsy.com/shop/PaolasPixels
https://www.instagram.com/paolaspixels/
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/irrel/natural-defenses-enamel-pins
