“Happy 4th of July 2011” designs

When I was driving on a slope named Fountain Hill on Memorial Day, I saw a girl riding a bicycle who wore a T-Shirt with stars in different colors and sizes. It gave me a hint for new ideas, and I sketched glitter stars in red, white, and blue with different brightness on the paper, put the Statue of Liberty in the center, added tiny dust around the stars, and deformed some stars.

I will concentrate on designs for the 4^th of July this week.

Since there are a lot of products at Zazzle, I can not add each design into all the products, so I will pick up some products to put my designs on, which are T-Shirts, bags, mugs, buttons, magnets, and stickers. Maybe, I will add stamps later.

I already uploaded some 4^th of July designs at my Zazzle store. I added the year of “2011” after the slogans in the designs such as “Happy 4^th of July 2011” because I got decent sales by doing that for other seasonal events at CafePress. I'm not sure if it works at Zazzle. Zazzle is more flexible allowing users to customize the design, and users can add any word they like. Anyway, this is the first seasonal event since I joined Zazzle, so I will try both with and without “2011.”

Happy 4th of July 2011

Happy Memorial Day!

I didn't create designs for Memorial Day this year since I focused on the 4^th of July, but I have created some patriotic designs in the two sections on my store which are 4^thof July, and USA. I have been kept adding more and more. Come check my store frequently, and you will find something you like.

Happy Memorial Day!

Third Sale at Zazzle

A T- Shirt of “OBAMA got OSAMA, Justice has been done” was sold today. This is the third sale in total so far, and the first sale for a T-Shirt at Zazzle. I set up only T-Shirts, buttons, and stickers for this design. Since it was sold, I added it on some other products such as magnets, mugs, and keychains.

OBAMA got OSAMA by tmktshirts
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I made a different style of “4^th of July.” I typed a big “4^th of July”in the middle of the canvas, and turned it into a stars and stripes style, and placed an American hat, fireworks, and firecrackers. I saved this as a draft for the future.

I have some “God Bless America” designs that are almost finished but not uploaded yet, because I have still been thinking about what I can do to make the designs look better.

The background of “God Bless America” is solid black with small scattered stars, so I should put it on something other than T-Shirts such as square magnets, stickers, and keychains. It might look nice on postcards. I haven't created a greeting card or postcard at Zazzle yet, so I browsed at the “Cards & Postage” section at Zazzle.

“My First 4th of July”

I have a finished “My First 4^th of July” for baby apparel and already uploaded it on CafePress, but I started feeling something should be improved in the design.

A subtle white space sometimes changes the overall impression of art work. “My First 4^th of July” at CafePress is not bad, but I reconsidered the balance and distance among items in the design.

I made the distance between the baby stroller and the letters closer, slightly adjusted the length of the balloons, repositioned the fireworks, made the red on the baby stroller brighter, and the color of the balloons lighter. Here is the final product.

My First 4th of July 2011 by tmktshirts
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Exploring Splatter Brushes

I finished some ongoing 4^th of July designs by adding or deleting items.

Here is the 4th of July section on my store.

I will create some other designs for 4^th of July, and try some different styles such as abstract using Brushes in Photoshop.

I used artistic ink and grunge brushes in Illustrator for making bubbles on beer, and blood splatter for the past designs. It's time to use Photoshop more. I downloaded and installed some watercolor and splatter brushes in Photoshop, and practiced using them to explore cool effects. I want to draw scattered fireworks, splattered stars, and a chaotic universe for future work.

More “Love” designs

I kept working on “Love” designs from last week.

I created some different versions by changing colors and compositions.

I looked at the “Love” sticker that I uploaded last week on my store, and started feeling unsure about a grunge style on sticker, so I made another version without grunge. Sometimes simple color looks better on some materials. Also, I made three hearts by rearranging the hearts and cherry blossoms, and added it to the bag. Here is the final product.

Love in Japanese Kanji by tmktshirts
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I set up Google Analytics on my store. It allows website owners to track and analyze where people come from and what keywords they use to find the website.

“Love” in Japaneses Kanji

When I saw the template for a star shaped sticker at Zazzle, I came up with a new idea for my “God Bless America” design, so I scattered fireworks on the edge of the star. However, when I saw the template for the heart shaped sticker, I suddenly remembered an unfinished heart design for the Japan Tsunami Relief in April, and wanted to work on it. I rearranged the cherry blossoms and changed the messages on the heart, and placed “Love” in Japanese, but I felt something was missing, so I added another heart around the existing one in a lighter pink that make them look like two hearts. Also, I tried other combinations of colors and compositions. This is the final sticker.

Love in Japanese Kanji by tmktshirts
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More “God Bless America”

I have been working on some “God Bless America” designs. I put the sparkles on “God Bless America” from yesterday by using Brush Tool and Layer Mask, and finished it up. I keep the font simple since it's shining gold, and don't want to make it too complicated.

I made the second “God Bless America” by rearranging the first one. I tried some cursive font styles on the American flag, and placed fireworks on Washington and Florida on the map diagonally.

Next, I came up with ideas for the third one. I clipped the shape of the Statue of Liberty, and applied the same effects from the letters of “God Bless America” to it so that the Statue of Liberty looks like shining gold. I will sleep on my designs I made today.

God Bless America

I have two ongoing “God Bless America” designs, “God Bless America” in gold letters, and in silver with the Navy SEALs emblem. I considered how to add American elements on the gold letters, and will make some different versions. 

 

I created the universe with stars by adding “Noise” and “Gaussian Blur,” and adjusting “Levels” with Photoshop. And then, I placed some fireworks in red, white, and blue around “God Bless America,” and adjusted sizes and layouts. Also, I placed the American flag and colored it in black and added “Inner Grow” so that the edge of the map looks like it's shining.

“4th of July” designs at CafePress

I filled in “Member Profile” and “Store Owner Profile” at my Zazzle store. I didn't realize that there are two profiles for store owners at first, but I figured it out now. Also, I added the banner on thestore front.

• About Me: I joined Zazzle in March 2011. I have been in the IT field for a while doing web developments and animations.
• Artistic interests: ”I would like to become an unknown artist who will shine in the darkness of a mind.”
• Personal interests: web technology, fitness, and cats.

The American map is a useful graphic for any other American designs. I often work on designs for Zazzle and CafePress at the same time by adjusting product sizes and layout. I added some 4^thof July designs at my CafePress store this week. I finished up drafts I have been working on since the last month, and turned them into grunge style. Grunge style is popular nowadays.

"Happy 4th of July" at CafePress

More “USA” designs

When I was browsing the old files, I found a heart and star shape in American flag style in the last year's 4^th of July designs. I copied these to a new file, and placed them diagonally, and typed “USA” in the middle of the canvas, and placed the Statue of Liberty, and fireworks behind “USA.” I did some experiments on “USA.” First, I colored it in simple red, white, and blue since the background is colorful, but I felt something was missing. Next, I put white stars on the “U” and “A,” and stripes on the “S.” I adjusted the number of stars on the letters, and decided to keep the “A” in simple blue with a red star in the middle. This is the final product.

USA by tmktshirts
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When I looked at the “USA” and “Election 2012” sections at my store, I got a new idea for “Election 2012” T-Shirts. I typed a big “Election 2012” that occupies the canvas, and placed graphics inside the letters. I had uploaded two election T-Shirts so far with the Obama and anti-Obama logos, and still have been thinking how to look good while two logos exist in the same design.

Also, I created simple a “USA” in stars and stripes with an American hat, but I felt something was missing in the design, so I will save this for the future.

I have two ongoing drafts of “God Bless America” now, “God Bless America” in gold, and “God Bless America” in silver with the Navy SEALs emblem in gold. Also, I came up with an idea of “Since 1776” on the old American flag, and perhaps will add something retro.

Content Usage Policy

Since “OBAMA got OSAMA” got two sales, I decide to add the same design on the different products. There are a lot of the products at Zazzle I want to create, but I can't set up all the products at once, so I will add the design on more products, if it is sold. Currently, I have T-Shirts, buttons and stickers for “OBAMA got OSAMA,” and will add magnets, mugs, and key chains.

OBAMA got OSAMA by tmktshirts
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CafePress had suspended my “Osama Bin Laden”designs because they said that my images that include blood splattered on his face didn't comply with the official guidelines. However, Zazzle allowed me to sell them. Different companies have different rules and policies, and I always pay attention to content guidelines when I create my designs. I created “OBAMA got OSAMA” as a historical moment to remember the time when the terrorist was killed, wishing for the end of “war on terrorism.”

Starting Web Marketing

I made my first sale yesterday, and the second sale for the same product today.

Now, it's time to think about how to promote my store and bring traffic.

No matter how wonderful our artwork is, it's meaningless if nobody sees it.

First of all, I should finish setting up my store. I will learn about Zazzle tools more and participate in the forum. I have been looking around “Tutorials and Guides” and “Promotional Tools” in “Dashboard.” It contains a lot of information, and some of them are quite new to me such as “Store Builder PHP,” “Associate ID” to earn referrals when purchase made by clicking my link, and so on.

SEO, Search Engine Optimization, is important to bring traffic to my site. I try to write effective and accurate product titles and descriptions as well as “tags” for Zazzle marketplace so that search engines are more likely to pick up my site. I must learn about SEO more, but for now, I put it aside for the near future.

Building a network with social media is also important. I started blogging just a month ago, and Google Blog is free and easy to use. I started using Twitter last October, but never used Facebook. I will set up a Facebook account as soon as my store is ready for that.

When I was browsing Zazzle forum, I found that I can get my domain name directly linked to Zazzle products. This is exactly what I wanted to do for my store.

Since I have experienced CafePress for a couple of years, I know it's hard for individual designers to sell their artwork online. I don't expect immediate results. It requires hard work, and takes time to get decent sales.

First Sale!

It has been a month since I started uploading my designs at Zazzle.

I have five sections with 16 designs so far.

I got my first sale today.

Thank you to that someone who bought my product.

OBAMA got OSAMA by tmktshirts
Browse Osama bin laden Buttons

“4th of July” designs

When I was thinking about the designs for the 4^th of July last night, tons of ideas came to my mind out of nowhere, so I got up at the middle of the night, and sketched them on some paper. It sometimes happens all of a sudden. Also, I sketched Japanese Kanji designs that came to my mind along with the 4^th of July. I added some effects on the peace symbol and made it look like gold, and typed “Peace” in Japanese, and added similar effects on it to make it look like silver.

I had some preliminary ideas for Memorial Day, but I decided to focus on the 4^th of July designs, because I'm not sure if people shop T-Shirts for Memorial Day. Most of the graphics and slogans for the 4^th of July are almost ready as I created them last month and there are some past works at CafePress.

I will place the messages of “Happy 4^th of July,”“USA,” “God Bless America,” “American Girl,” and so on. When I added the year of “2011” after the message such as “Happy St. Patrick's Day 2011” on some designs at CafePress, I got decent sales by doing that. I think that people like a new design and get it to remember the year they bought the product. I'm not sure if the same idea works at my Zazzle store. Zazzle is more flexible for customers as their products are customizable for individual needs and preferences especially for text. Anyway. this is my first year at Zazzle, and I should enjoy experimenting. I will try both with and without “2011.” Also, I will use the Navy SEALs emblem as the symbol of a current event and patriotism. It's important to add an up to date image.

I placed the American map behind “USA” as the background, and put a hat on the left top of the map, and scattered some fireworks. I came up with another idea that is similar to “USA” I'm working on, and I copied the same file and placed the balloons in red, white, and blue over the American map, and typed “4^th of July.” I played around with the graphics, and here is the final product.

USA by tmktshirts
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More “Election 2012” T-Shirts

I have been creating more “Election 2012” designs. Once I finish creating graphics, it's time to work on the layouts to produce multiple designs on the same subject.

I placed a circle of stars in red and blue as the background, and put the Obama and anti-Obama logos on the balloons in red and blue, and “vote” on the white balloon. 
Also, I placed the same boxing donkey and elephant from the design I uploaded yesterday, and “Election” in the middle, and “2012” on the bottom. I tried some font styles on “Election, ” and decided to use “Bookman Old Style” this time. Although I left the color of “Election” in black because I used a lot of red, white, and blue colors for graphics. However, I colored “Election” in red and blue in gradient, and changed the values in saturation and brightness. It looked nice, but I felt something was missing, so I added Bulge style from Warp Text on the letter and bent it a little bit. Now it looked better as it pops up in the middle of the circle with fighting animals in the boxing match. A small adjustment changes the impression of the overall design, and that adjustment often requires another change in a different part. I tried different sizes of the animals and balloons by making them smaller or bigger little by little.
Also, I reconsidered the font style on “2012” to match “Election.” After doing some experiments, I settled down with the same “Bookman Old Style,” and “Bold Italic” to look like it is tilted a little bit. I uploaded the final product.

Election 2012 by tmktshirts
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If you are kind of in between pro-Obama and anti-Obama, this “Election 2012” design is perfect for you. “Election 2012” and a donkey and elephant fighting in a boxing match with a circle of American style stars in red and blue, and the balloons with the Obama and anti-Obama logos.

Integrating pro-Obama and anti-Obama elements

Last week, I had worked on “Bin Laden Dead” designs. I will work on the new designs for the next events which are Memorial Day, 4^th of July, and Election 2012. I already created some elements for related subjects.

Since President Obama declared to run for the Presidential election in 2012, “Obama” is a popular keyword in some T-Shirt sites. In addition, as his approval rate has been increasing for killing Osama Bin Laden, more related keywords are getting popular. I have some drafts created a couple of weeks ago, and it's time to finish them. I opened an “Election 2012” design with a donkey and elephant wearing gloves and fighting in the boxing ring. Since I wanted to integrated pro-Obama and anti-Obama in a respectful manner to describe the nature of Election 2012, I placed both an Obama logo and Nobama logo which is an oblique line in red on the design.

I wrote the description; If you are looking for interesting Election 2012 T-Shirts, this is perfect for you. Unique combination of a donkey and elephant wearing boxing gloves and fighting for the Presidential Election 2012, and the Obama and Nobama logos on the both sides.

Memorial Day is approaching at the end of May, and I have some ideas for “Never Forget September 11” designs. When I saw the picture of the burning twin towers with smoke for the first time in a long time, I thought that the twin towers looked an 11. I came up with an idea that I can place a 9 to the left of the 11 in the twin towers and the image of Osama Bin laden shot in the smoke, and the message of “Never Forget.” This is my preliminary idea, and I will work on this later.

Obama logo and U.S. Soldier

I finished up one of two drafts of “DEAD” by adding grunge style in the design. The description for the product is that “DEAD” with a cross hair on Osama Bin Laden and the sea background as he was buried at sea, and the American flag on the top of “DEAD” with the slogan of “Mission Accomplished. May 1, 2011.” The final product is here.

The other “DEAD” is still ongoing. I just added some shark pictures with the mouth open and tried some layouts to see how they look with the sea background. I will draw sharks with Illustrator later.

As I got an idea and sketched it last week, I put the shadow of a solider holding a gun and aiming at the target on the left bottom of the Obama logo. I wrote the description; cross hair on Osama Bin Laden in the center of the Obama logo, and a U.S. Soldier aiming at the target to kill the terrorist, and “OBAMA got OSAMA” in cool grunge style.

I have been thinking how to add the American flag and Navy SEALs emblem in a respectful manner.

I opened a draft file I created last week and roughly placed the American flag and Navy SEALs emblem, and added the shadow of a solider, and made the American flag in a round shape. I typed “Mission Accomplished” on the upper part of the circle, and “May 1, 2011” on the bottom part.

It seems that Zazzle finished the “Bin Laden Killed” section on the homepage. I still have some ongoing designs and ideas, but I stopped making “Bin Laden Dead” now, and am moving on to the next designs.

More “Bid Laden Dead” T-Shirts

 T-Shirts are sometimes simple. I saw a drum man wearing a peace symbol T-Shirt in a yoga exercise video today. I will make an American flag style peace symbol. I put the American flag on the peace symbol and chose clipping mask with Photoshop. I will add some extra elements on this design later.

So far, I have 4 designs uploaded at the Zazzle site, and eight designs are in progress. I sometimes focus on one design and finish up in a short time or work on multiple designs little by little over a couple of days.

I have been working on two “DEAD” designs. I placed a picture of Bin Laden and the sea inside of “DEAD” by clipping mask, and put the American flag on “A” in “DEAD,” and typed “Mission Accomplished, May 1, 2011.” When I looked at the picture of the sea, suddenly the image of a shark came to my mind. I imaged what will be happened to Bin Laden's body buried at sea.

Draft of "DEAD"

As I sketched the raid scene on the Obama logo yesterday, I placed a black and white picture of Bin Laden at the center of the circle, and a cross-hairs on his head. I tried to place small cross-hairs in different colors around the upper blue part of the Obama logo, but I deleted them since they looked weird. Instead, I typed “OBAMA got OSAMA” along the round part. Also, I have a plan to put a gun or helicopter on the bottom part of the logo so it will look like a gun battle from Team Six.

I often go back and forth with my ongoing designs. While I was working on “DEAD” this evening, I suddenly came up with an idea of Bin Laden scattered and faded out into the sea, so I add cracked patterns on his face to express he was scattered and disappearing into the dark.

“DEAD”and “Mission Accomplished” Designs

I uploaded two “OBAMA got OSAMA” designs for T-Shirts so far, and another two designs for the same slogan are in progress. They should be finished by the end of this week.

I adjusted the size for stickers, magnets, and buttons for the same design I uploaded yesterday, and slightly changed the background by removing random scratchy texture, and added the pattern of crayon on charcoal paper with Photoshop. The round background is sheer black now which should look good on magnets and buttons.

I placed the Obama logo on the “O” in “OBAMA” and colored the letters in red and blue, and the target on the “O” in “OSAMA”and colored it in green, and scattered some blood stains on the letters. Also, I put gun fire on the “o” in “got” so it looks like the gun shot on Osama Bin Laden. This is the final product.

I started working on “DEAD” and “Mission Accomplished” now, and have been thinking how to add the American flag and Navy SEALs emblem in my design. When I accidentally looked at the sticker with “Las Vegas U.S.A” in silver letters on the American flag on the shelf in my room, I decided to make “Mission Accomplished, may 1, 2011” in gold letters on American flag.

I came up with the idea of the peace symbol instead of a target on Bin Laden since I wanted to make something different. So I roughly sketched my idea on paper. As I drew the peace symbol, I also drew a big Obama symbol because I suddenly came up with another interesting idea of the raid scene with gun target and Navy SEALs emblem on the big Obama logo. This is my preliminary idea. I'll polish it up later.

Keep Adding “Bin Laden Dead” Designs

On May 4th just three days after Osama Bin Laden was killed by U.S. forces, the designs of “Obama got Osama” has increased to 2000 and “Bin Laden Dead” to 3500 which was 1200 and 2300 in 24 hours after the mission accomplished on May 2nd in the evening.

“Bin Laden Killed” section is featured at Zazzle homepage now. “Bin Laden Killed” and “Obama” are the top two searching keywords in the Trending Now section. I decided to commit to Bid Laden related designs this week because I saw the announcement on Zazzle's homepage saying that they will donate 10% of orders to the Yellow Ribbon Fund to help injured service members and their families. I immediately decided to participate in this charity.

I adjusted the size of my “OBAMA got OSAMA. Justice has been done. May 1, 2011” design that I uploaded yesterday for bumper stickers, buttons, and magnets.

I wanted to express Bin Laden was buried at sea, so I made the background of the sea and put Osama's dead face in the middle. And, I wrote the description, “A gray picture of Osama Bin Laden as the dead man and the sea background as he was buried at sea, and the slogans of “Obama got Osama. Justice has been done. May 1, 2011” on the cross hair and fire in the raid.” However, Osama's dead face didn't show up well when I published it for the product, so I changed from the gray face to black and white picture. This is the final product.

Next, I came up with an idea of “DEAD” in grunge style with a targeted Bin Laden face and the sea in the background. I'll make it tomorrow.

"OBAMA got OSAMA" T-Shirts

It's May now, and I have been working on the next event which is Memorial Day and the 4^th of July, and have a plan to make “USA” and “God Bless America,” designs.

On May 1, 2011, the breaking news saying that Osama bin Laden is dead surprised the world. The most wanted terrorist in the world, Osama bin Laden died in a gun battle on Sunday by Navy SEALs and CIA paramilitary forces at his compound 35 miles north of the capital, Abbottabad, Pakistan. I heard President Obama's announcement on the car radio that evening.

I checked some T-Shirt sites and found that “Obama got Osama” and “Bin Laden Dead” stuff was already uploaded right after the news, and I'm sure that the related designs will be increasing in the next couple of days. The next day, I saw the number of designs displayed by a keyword, “Obama got Osama” increasing from 800 in the morning to 900 in the afternoon at the Zazzle site. Also, 1700 “Bin Laden Dead” designs are already displayed, and I'm sure that more related designs have been added with other keywords. Indeed, it was 900 designs around 2 o'clock, and increased to 1000 at 3:20 P.M, and from 1700 of “Bin Laden Dead” designs to 1900. By 10 o'clock in the evening, 1200 designs of “Obama got Osama” and 2300 designs of “Bin Laden Dead”were uploaded.

I read the news and watched the videos about this news, and picked up some words that can be used for T-Shirts such as “Justice has been done” “A good day for America” “Al-Qaida is something in the past” “Bin Laden, Al-Qaida - old news”

I started creating “Obama got Osama, May 1, 2011,” and put the peace symbol on “O” in “Obama,” and drew a cross hair on “O” in “Osama.” Also, I wrote the description for the product as below.

The slogans of mission accomplished, “Obama got Osama. Justice has been done. May 1, 2011” around the cross hair in grunge style, and a picture of Bin Laden shot in the head with fire in the front.

This is the final product.

Election 2012 T-Shirts

Whether you are for or against Obama in his 2012 re-election campaign, T-Shirts for the presidential election are a popular theme. I started drawing the elements related to the election campaign in Adobe Illustrator such as stars and strips, donkey, elephant, and so on. In addition, I drew USA elements for the upcoming 4^th of July such as fireworks, balloons, American hats, and also retouched the Statue of Liberty with Photoshop.

When I placed a donkey and elephant on the screen, I came up with an idea of the boxing ring with the donkey and elephant wearing gloves and fighting in the ring. I tried to modify the shape of the donkey and elephant to look like they are standing and fighting, but I had a little difficulty making the four legged animals stand up and fight. So I sketched on a paper for a while, and finally got a decent shape.

Draft of fighting elephant

I drew a baby stroller a little while ago, and saved it as a symbol in Illustrator so that I can use and modify it for any other baby designs. I painted the baby cart red and blue and turned it into “My First Election 2012” for baby apparels. I know this is an unusual design, but I wanted to create something unique, and someone might like it to remember the year 2012 as the baby's first election.

I often see “Obama 2012” and “Nobama 2012” created by individual designers, and the Obama campaign logo is placed on the design. Also, I often see an oblique line in red on the logo to show disapproval of President Obama. I have been thinking how to make humorous Obama T-Shirts without offending people.

Whether you approve or disapprove of him, he is the current President of the United States, and a candidate for the 2012 Presidential Election. Some people might oppose some of his political strategies, but don't dislike him nor love him either, and are sort of in between pro and anti Obama. The red oblique line on the log is too strong, so I put a question mark on the Obama logo.