I am not good at selling myself.  I’m horrible.

You might say, “wait, don’t you WORK in marketing??”  And I would respond with “I am a graphic artist.  I just put together eye-catching imagery.”

Once, after I got out of the army, I had a job where I had to call up existing clients and offer to schedule them for their yearly meetings.  It was the closest thing to a telemarketer I had ever been (even though it was for EXISTING clients who probably NEEDED to schedule their yearly appointments), and I was often treated as one.  I hated it.  When they were short with me or shoot me down, my attitude was, “Oh.  Okay, then.”  Way to make that hard sell, Mica!

I’ve SEEN people be good at it, and it’s sort of amazing to watch.  I was once a graphic artist for an auto ad sales department, and worked with some amazing salesmen who could pull out the charm and still talk you into something you’d be happy to have, and not in a sleazy way, but in a “Oh!  This would be a great deal for BOTH of us!” sort of way.  It always felt genuine, even though you know it was a sell.  It was always impressive to see.

I am not one of those people that even knows how that works.

There’s a quote I quite like, by psychoanalyst D.W. Winnicott, that says: “Artists are people driven by the tension between the desire to communicate and the desire to hide.”   I like that.  It makes a LOT of sense to me.  It’s very true for me.  I am an introvert, but I want to connect with like-minded (and sometimes different-minded) people.  I have no desire to be “famous,” but I’d LOVE to share my work with a lot of people.  If you ask my opinion on something, I will tell you everything I feel–until then, I keep it to myself for the most part.

This does not mean I am shy, by any means.  I have learned to hold my own in my interactions with complete strangers.  I just don’t grow in the spotlight.  (I’m a little more like moss that way.)

But from time to time, even though I think I have tooted my own horn a-plenty, I still get asked, “do you sell your artwork?”  and “do you have a book/t-shirts/prints?”

I do speak a lot better about something when I’m truly proud of it, or if I truly want to share my opinion. So I thought I’d share a bit about what I feel is awesome, and what I’m proud of.  I’m going to tell you what I have for sale, where to find it, and what it’s like…

1.  THE BOOK

I am VERY proud of the book we made.  Thanks to so many backers on Kickstarter, I was able to put together and print the collection of our collaborations.  It tells the story of how our collaborations began, how we do our doodles, and even has some doodle pages you can finish yourself.   You can buy copies of “Share With Me” here.

We even had enough funding to print a little animal book of short stories I called “Tail Tales,” which you can buy here.

Both of these books are very near & dear to me.  Not only do I think it’s amazing to see all the artwork Myla & I did together, I worked tirelessly putting them together myself, laying them out, sorting the files, and it’s wonderful to see all that work turn into something beautiful in the end.

1.  SOCIETY6 ITEMS

When I first posted the “Collaborations” story, I put a few of our collaborations up on Society6.  I had seen a friend’s work posted on there, and tried it out myself by ordering one before I ever made the post.  Their art prints are beautiful, printed on very nice archival paper.  The color is beautiful, and I found them to be a VERY close representation of the original artwork.   (First off, let me say that I don’t get any of this stuff for free; I have to pay for it myself, just with only a slight discount.)  So I’ll tell you a little more about the other items they offer there:

Mugs:

Their mugs are BEAUTIFUL!  The color is excellent, and the printing is so clear.  Once, I got a mug that was great except for the signature, and the lower part of the mug, which was completely smeared.  I took a photo, sent it to them, and they sent a new one right away.  I have a couple that I mostly keep pens & paintbrushes in…

Tote Bags:

I LOVE the tote bags!

The printing is so cool and clear on them.  The big one is BIGGGG.  I bring it with me to Myla’s gymnastics class.  At first, I felt it was a little TOO big, but the more I use it, it’s just right.  It’s one of my favorites to carry around.  I initially thought the small one seemed a little TOO small, but actually, I can fit my sketchbook, Ipad, and quite a few other things in there.  It’s not bad when you just want to carry a few things around without taking up too much room.  (If you promise not to tell, I’ll let you all know that I plan on giving a tote or two as teacher gifts…)

Pillows:

The pillows are nice!  We have quite a few of them, thrown all over the house, because I couldn’t decide which ones I wanted.  They’re sort of a canvas-y material, and they’re quite stiff at first, but they do soften up after awhile.  Myla even uses one to sleep on at night.  I changed it out once, thinking it was too rough for her, but she asked for it back once she realized it was gone.

T-shirts:

Okay, let me say this. Their t-shirts (at least the three I tried) are SOFT.  That being said, I’m not quite as crazy about the printing style they use.  It comes looking nearly faded, and I have gotten a few comments about the quality.  One of mine was actually stuck to itself, which tore part of the design.  When I contacted them, they did give me a full refund.  If a faded sort of look and a VERY soft shirt is what you’re looking for, that’s what they’ve got.   (I now only offer just a few on Society6).

My favorite t-shirts, however, are on RedBubble…

2. REDBUBBLE ITEMS

I was contacted by RedBubble awhile back to give their store a try.  I had gotten many requests like this from a variety of companies, but I had seen quite a few good things come from them.  However, since my original “Collaborations” post was already linked to Society 6, I couldn’t just migrate to RedBubble.  So I released a few t-shirt options (and at the time, they were the only ones that offered children’s sizes), and an exclusive listing of our ABC animals.  I also posted our other animal collaborations there.  They have the option of little die-cut stickers, but my favorite thing from them is their t-shirts.

This is Myla in her “Lizapillar” shirt.  The shirt itself is a regular, well-fitting shirt, but the design is SO bright and true to our colors.  We’ve washed it many times, and it still looks bright and beautiful.

3.  MY NEW ETSY SHOP

If you’re looking for a strange, handmade gift, this is where I’m throwing those down.  I’ve been having SO much fun making little handpainted resin monster necklaces, monster brooches,  and handmade monster puppy dolls.

Also listed is a pretty wide assortment of original artwork.  These are drawings and paintings from my own sketchbooks that desperately need a home, and that want to look at you lovingly from a behind a frame on the walls in your house.

…So there it is.  Self-promotion.  Something I’m not entirely great at, but hopefully you will take it for what it’s worth:  me, just wanting to share something with you that I hope you will enjoy.  Or that maybe you might think someone else will enjoy.  Not in any kind of shady way, but in a “I like this stuff.  If you like this stuff, here’s where to find it” sort of way.

Thank you all so much, and have a happy day!