I’ve had a much needed muse break with the Exalted Art Challenge, but now it’s time to return to my Birthstone Goddesses! First off, a warm welcome to the Patrons who just joined up. You’re in for a treat as we enter this final exciting phase of this project!
Over the past few years, I’ve created the main set of paintings, the Visage collection, and the enamel pins, and now I want to take the final bold steps towards the big ambitions I had for this series. Here’s a rundown of what I’m working on and what’s in store!
My dear Patrons will be getting that behind the scenes look into my design, publishing, and production process along the way, along with exclusive glimpses behind the scenes!
The Wall Calendar
Part of the major conceit of creating the original set of 12 images was that I wanted to make a wall calendar. I’m finally making moves towards this endeavor and will need to create this calendar from scratch, as the nontraditional size of the images means I will need to have them custom cut and printed.
I already have templates and a local printer in mind and I hope to launch this calendar on Kickstarter around August of this year so that it can be created in time for a 2022 calendar! Patreon Patrons will be getting an exclusive peek at how I’m designing the layouts and other creative notes along the way.
(The main set of 12 paintings.)
The Art Book
What better way to wrap up this project then to collect the art created for it into a luxurious book? This is my crown jewel, the ultimate showpiece of this series! One of my biggest endeavors to happen next is to start working on the book’s storyboards. I want to not just show off the art, but part of the narrative and research I’ve developed over time for this series as well as create an elegant collectible volume.
I also want to create never before seen paintings for this book (which you can see a hint at the thumbnails in the featured image of this piece). I’m calling these new paintings the ‘Dark Goddesses’, as I’m taking some of my favorite Goddesses from the series and giving them a new rendition in my own style!
I adore Mucha, but I also want to leave my own mark with this series that shows more of my own style than Mucha’s. These new paintings will be much more of my own dark elegant surreal aesthetic, which I hope you will still enjoy!
There’ll no doubt be many tasks that need doing, from spot illustrations to hiring a proper designer to help me with the book layout, but I expect to get the majority of work done before I Kickstart this book, which I want to happen in 2022. 2021 is going to be about all the prep work!
As ever, I’ll also be sharing sneak peeks of the Dark Goddesses paintings and other book tasks exclusively for Patrons!
Other Birthstone Goddesses Collections
I still have it in mind to release the following things along the way. Some of them have already been created, but still await a proper release!
- Stickers – These designs have already been completed, but aren’t in my shop yet. Currently researching dropship fulfillment options!
- Totes/Messenger Bags – I test ran these at DragonCon a couple of years back. I sold out completely so it’s time to get them ready for a proper release in my shop!
- Scarves – These also did well at the last in-person event I was at! I’ll be taking customer feedback to heart so I can re-release them properly to my shop.
- Greeting Cards – I already have designs for these, but am still working on setting them up with a dropship fulfillment system like Printful and Art of Where.
- Gift Sets – I’ve always felt proper birthday gift sets featuring everyone’s favorite products matched to birthstone-themed jewelry and a pretty dried flowers (or perhaps a sticker?) would be an exciting thing to offer! I’m still coming up with ideas of what to bundle together and how to present them so I can make them available for everyone.
My Would-be Dream Collections
These are wishes for cool things I’m not sure how to make happen, but hope that speaking aloud might happen some day!
Birthstone Goddess Jewelry – I really want to expand the Goddesses into some beautiful wearables so you can channel that feel you get when you look at the art through yourself as well! Gorgeous jewelry is part and parcel of the Art Nouveau movement and I would love to pay homage to that fact by collaborating with a jewelry-maker.
Make-up Palettes – I love, LOVE seeing beautifully illustrated makeup sets with inspiring swatches. Each Birthstone Goddess has her own color scheme based on her flowers and birthstones as well, which seems like a perfect match for makeup. Plus the idea of illustrating a cover with a focus on the glamourous side of my Goddesses sounds so exciting!
Teas, Perfumes, Bath Bombs, and/or Soaps – All of these things bring me comfort and a sense of calm, while also having a luxurious feel and aesthetic to them. I’m especially a sucker for tea mixes and fancifully illustrated tea labels!
Know of anyone I should talk to about these ideas? Feel free to message their contact info to me and I’ll add them to the prospects list for when I am read to expand into these endeavors!
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I’ve got a lot to do as a 1-person biz, but I’m excited to get back into the fray! I’ll be working through Emily Jefford’s Making Art Work marketing course over the next couple of months and am looking forward to gaining new insight on how to handle all of my ambitions for this series.
It’s been an amazing journey thus far in the 6 or so years I’ve been at this! I’m excited to share the last leg of the journey and see what it reveals. My hope is that this series would become the backbone of a self-sustaining business and I’m just starting to see good results from that.
Here’s to a future filled with beautiful art that I hope will bring you as much happiness as I’ve had in the sharing of it with you!
♥ Ang