More “USA” designs

I did experiments on original stars and stripes about a week ago, and made some patterns of stars and stripes for future use. For “USA” and an American eagle design, I typed a big “USA” as a separate letter in the center of the canvas, put a couple of stars on the blue background on “U,” vertical red stripes on “S, ” small stars on “A,” and placed a flying eagle in regular stars and stripes over “USA.” The overall color of the design is a little too flashy. The concept is good, but it didn't turn out to be what I wanted to see. So I changed the background color of “U” and “A” to red, and “S” to blue, and the font style from “Rockwell Extra Bold” to “Franklin Gothic Heavy.” The design still looked a little flashy since I'm using a lot of styles of stars and stripes, but I wanted to organize the multiple elements in the design. Next, I changed the font again to “Franklin Gothic Medium,” changed each letter of “USA” to solid color, and put the grunge texture on an eagle and “USA.” Simple is better. This is the final product. 

USA by tmktshirts
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“USA” designs

I have ongoing “USA” drafts that I have been working on since last month. They are “USA” with an American eagle, “USA” wearing an American hat, and some more. I tried different font styles on “USA.” There are many fonts in Photoshop, so I wrote down the font name when it looked good with the design. I use more sans serif over serif fonts. I found that “Rockwell Extra Bold” looked good with an American eagle, and “Ravie” with an American hat. Font changes the overall impression of the design especially when there are some additional graphics in there. Also, I added “Mosaic Tiles” from “Filter” on an eagle and the letters, but the design became darker, so I removed it. I felt that something was missing or was extra, and not exactly right. What I thought was simple and easy sometimes turned out to be more difficult, and the original draft before I add something fancy is better. I kept doing experiments, and one of the final products is here. The font ended up “Algerian” that is one of my favorite fonts, and I put an American hat on “S,” and the fireworks above “S” and “A.”

USA by tmktshirts
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First Post at Zazzle Forum

I started looking at Zazzle University and Zazzle forum recently.

They have a lot of video tutorials at Zazzle University.

I should participate in the forum to drive traffic to my store, and interact with people.

I posted at “CP (CafePress) Refugees Check in Here!” at the Zazzle Forum for the first time.

“Happy 4th of July 2011” designs

I have “Happy 4^th of July” with a heart in stars and stripes that sold well in 2009 at CafePress. I modified that for 2011, and uploaded it at Zazzle. I wanted to see if my old design will sell if I add some adjustments. I looked at the design that had uploaded at Zazzle again, and thought that it would not sell by instinct. So I decided to modify the whole thing, but not from scratch. I can still use the heart shaped American flag, and the Statue of Liberty. First, I changed the font style from “Stencil” to “Rockwell Extra Bold.” I added “Posterize” on the Statue of Liberty, but the picture got bright spots, so I increased the value of “Posterize.” Also, I added “Grain” from “Filter” to make the Statue a little bit textured. I turned each letter of “Happy 4^th of July” into original stars and stripes by using different patterns that I have been working on. White stars on the red background on “Happy,” blue background on “4^th, solid blue on “of,” red stripes on “July.” I uploaded it to CafePress. I thought that the heart is a little too big, but I will sleep on it. Also, I created another version, and changed the color of “Happy” from red to light blue.

Happy 4th of July by tmktshirts
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My CafePress Store

I have two stores at Zazzle and CafePress.

I modified the file sizes and uploaded some 4^th of July designs at CafePress.

I make adjustments in designs for each product for each store. Yet, they are often the same or similar.

I know that a lot of CafePress shop keepers left CafePress and opened at Zazzle since 2008 when CafePress lowered commissions to only 10 %. Someone said that CafePress was better than Zazzle in 2004, but now it seems that Zazzle has been thriving more. I'll keep two stores for a while.

I made my first sale of “4^th of July 2011” at CafePress today. I hope my products at Zazzle will start selling soon.

Sold T-Shirt at CafePress

More original stars and stripes

I made some original stars and stripes on “USA” yesterday, and I have a draft for a new 4^th of July design that I created a couple of days ago, which is big letters of “4^th of July” in original stars and stripes style with an American hat, fireworks, and firecrackers. I added “Happy” above “4^th of July,” and tried both red and blue background with white stars.

I considered how to combine these elements together to make good designs. I have been working on multiple designs now.

I have a simple “USA” in regular stars and stripes that I created a couple of weeks ago but haven't uploaded yet because I feel something missing and it's not going to sell. I added an American hat on “USA” I tried some different patterns of “USA” and the American hat. I'm doing similar experiments on an American eagle.

Original Stars and Stripes

I looked around my past work in old folders. I saw one of my old designs from two years ago that is the Statue of Liberty with fireworks and the American map in stars and strips. This design sold well in 2009 at CafePress, but I don't think the same design will sell at Zazzle again since it kind of looks out of date. However, I want to try to modify the design by adding current trends, and see if it will sell, so I will add grunge, make the graphics look brighter, and turn the messages into unique stars and stripes.

Next, I saw another design of an eagle flying over “USA.” This didn't sell at CafePress, but I can modify something to make it look better. I changed both the eagle and “USA” into my original stars and stripes in a different pattern, and saved this as a draft for further work.

I have been doing experiments on original stars and stripes. For example, I typed “USA” as a separate letter, put small stars on the blue background on “U,” vertical red stripes on “S, ” and solid blue with a red star on “A.”

drafts of "USA"

It's interesting to look back around at past work. It reminds me of what I was thinking and what I was trying to achieve. The graphics I made before are reusable even if they didn't sell before. I can use them and make them look better for sale.