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Futurist style, https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/176510-futurist-style-or-thereabouts/&do=getLastCommentor thereabouts.


VectorVonDoom

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8 hours ago, VectorVonDoom said:

I will definitely look again about doing prints of my stuff, need to find somewhere who dropships glicee’s (not interested in cheap junk) internationally and not a silly price. If that works, as in there’s any interest, then I could just do what I enjoy which would be ideal.

I notice that you put your name as Marc.

I think that would go down well. Art by Marc.

How do feel about using your full name on your art, not necessarily in this forum but on your prints?

----

What exactly are you meaning by "cheap junk" please?

For example, how would you feel about getting some A3 size digital laser prints on 350 gsm paper as "Loose" items from this site.

https://viking-virtualprinthouse.co.uk/

I have got some prints, maybe two, maybe five, of some of my own artwork, just for my own art collection.

I realize that there is a vast difference between me getting a print of my own artwork for my own hobbyist-artist level enjoyment and a professinal artist buying a print then selling it at a price that includes money to provide the artist with an income.

----

What I would be intrested to know is your view on the following please.

Given that you could get prints of high quality made from your artwork, how do feel as whether to produce work in limited editions or in unlimited editions?

How do you feel about signing prints, about numbering them, or what?

When a print is a print handmade by an artist using, say, a woodcut that he or she has produced, the very physical process of printing takes a lot of time and the block can wear, so a limited edition can be a result of thoise factors, but where the reproduction is from a digital file by machinery then whether to limit the number of copies available for purchase is on a different basis.

So, for example, if high quality with provenance prints of your art become much sought after, would you prefer the potentially higher value of a limited edition, or would you prefer the lower value yet more widely available unlimited edition, or some combination of the two in some way?

William

 

 

Until December 2022, using a Lenovo laptop running Windows 10 in England. From January 2023, using an HP laptop running Windows 11 in England.

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7 hours ago, SrPx said:

AI is coming strong for all of us (longer time for coders, but it will happen)... Designers will survive longer in their jobs (some of you will handle AI tools) than us illustrators (specially raster illustrators and digital painters, we're dead in the water). But the counter (imo for every creative job...even painters) of it is going the strong personal route (that or doing traditional, hand made art, imo). Some will find their way by streaming what they do (Twitch Art section is growing, and Youtube Live, would be clever to promote those with by tiktok/insta reels/yt shorts! (<-- big and fast organic growth, but pointing to the real content, not by themselves only) And Pinterest). This means, build a personality, a style that is recognizable as 'you', and almost as important build a community or following, people that gets to become familiar with you, your style, your written posts, too. Interact the more you can with them (there are limits; the graphic work is  the priority). Humans want to know about humans, otherwise they lose interest on the (machine made) product itself (I believe this social and psychological component is what these AI companies have not considered too much). So, going  the route of producing large scale, anonymous, unsigned cheapo stuff for stock art sites, or race to the bottom on fiverr or upwork... Besides that was never good (can be fine for now to get some bucks tho), I think that's what has zero future for most people, indeed. Making logos will yet be strong for a while (meaning if being able/skilled/trained to do brand stuff, really), IMO, because, at least doing that job right requires, besides a lot of knowledge and studies, a ton of human perception, soft skills, interaction with people, and stuff that AI cannot yet do, and for some time. I am not talking about small businesses that have their niece or the neighbor's kid doing the logo for the company, of course (those are already downloading the AI apps). You do your own stuff focusing on big traffic, but mostly that such people come to appreciate you and interact with you, too, imo, although at first that generates zero, so will need some more 'boring' (nothing is boring...) solid income.

That's my take after reading/absorbing tons of stuff about the new situation and mostly what is coming... at least, in the very not so nice scenario that comes now, and which imo has no precedent, in centuries. The silver lining is that now will really win the most creative ones, at least the long run (but yeah, in the meantime, one's gotta eat, and for that, anything is good enough, IMO. Also, I love working in whatever, so, that's a plus that a lot of us do have). I don't think it is super dramatic, but a big change is clearly needed (people comparing it with the swap from traditional to digital painting have absolutely no clue. This is another entire ball game, it's huge. And it will also affect most graphic professionals). I might be wrong, though, as the legal aspects and the society's reaction about all this are a big part of the equation, and those are yet to happen. 

Your work has a lot of soul and it is very good. I wouldn't be worried. But we need to build the right thing, IMO.

May well be true but AI has a way to go as it stands. I’ve been looking at one of the subreddits that showcases output. There are a some things on there that are really good, some things it’s absolutely useless at and the majority where it is a bit of both. It’s also the case where quite a few look fine in a tiny thumbnail but you open the full size version and and it’s oh dear!

But it will certainly improve and then why spend hundreds or thousands on a design with a fairly length turn around when you can try/do it yourself for a few £/$ in . However I can see it going to court, think things are already ramping up, as it’s using people’s work to train the system much of which much has copyright. If the courts side with the artists and they can only use public domain images then it may never be a thing or no where near as good.

 

 

Marc

ArtByMarc.me

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1 hour ago, William Overington said:

I notice that you put your name as Marc.

I think that would go down well. Art by Marc.

How do feel about using your full name on your art, not necessarily in this forum but on your prints?

----

What exactly are you meaning by "cheap junk" please?

For example, how would you feel about getting some A3 size digital laser prints on 350 gsm paper as "Loose" items from this site.

https://viking-virtualprinthouse.co.uk/

I have got some prints, maybe two, maybe five, of some of my own artwork, just for my own art collection.

I realize that there is a vast difference between me getting a print of my own artwork for my own hobbyist-artist level enjoyment and a professinal artist buying a print then selling it at a price that includes money to provide the artist with an income.

----

What I would be intrested to know is your view on the following please.

Given that you could get prints of high quality made from your artwork, how do feel as whether to produce work in limited editions or in unlimited editions?

How do you feel about signing prints, about numbering them, or what?

When a print is a print handmade by an artist using, say, a woodcut that he or she has produced, the very physical process of printing takes a lot of time and the block can wear, so a limited edition can be a result of thoise factors, but where the reproduction is from a digital file by machinery then whether to limit the number of copies available for purchase is on a different basis.

So, for example, if high quality with provenance prints of your art become much sought after, would you prefer the potentially higher value of a limited edition, or would you prefer the lower value yet more widely available unlimited edition, or some combination of the two in some way?

William

 

 

I only do that because that’s my name 😆 I thought vectorvondoom but then thought marvel would probably moan so something with my name is easy. Junk, well not posh, cheap paper, cheap inks, don’t want that. I think limited vs unlimited both have pros and cons but I’d imagine newbie would tend to go for unlimited. I think a mix isn’t a bad way though. Becoming much sought after probably isn’t something to consider too seriously as you’ve no idea if that could happen.

 

Marc

ArtByMarc.me

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7 minutes ago, VectorVonDoom said:

I thought vectorvondoom but then thought marvel would probably moan ...

Oh I didn't realize from where the name came, yet not an exact copy, but then there is the cy-près issue ("so close").

Lemon juice anyone? 😀 (This being an oblique reference to what is popularly known as The Jif Lemon Case)

William

 

Until December 2022, using a Lenovo laptop running Windows 10 in England. From January 2023, using an HP laptop running Windows 11 in England.

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6 hours ago, VectorVonDoom said:

May well be true but AI has a way to go as it stands. I’ve been looking at one of the subreddits that showcases output. There are a some things on there that are really good, some things it’s absolutely useless at and the majority where it is a bit of both. It’s also the case where quite a few look fine in a tiny thumbnail but you open the full size version and and it’s oh dear!

But it will certainly improve and then why spend hundreds or thousands on a design with a fairly length turn around when you can try/do it yourself for a few £/$ in . However I can see it going to court, think things are already ramping up, as it’s using people’s work to train the system much of which much has copyright. If the courts side with the artists and they can only use public domain images then it may never be a thing or no where near as good.

 

Those are very solid points. Yes I know these things don't even know what anatomy is (those six legged persons or incorrect hands, etc), faces look realistic to the general public, but it is almost impossible to find or generate fully correct ones. They are mostly mixing gazillions of sources with way less deep interpretation than a trained human intelligence does, but the improvements in 6 months have been much faster than expected. True that it is possible that they might find or have found a "roof", and the exponential growth is not infinite (maybe), but those are all "IFs".  My overall take is that there are too many variables right now, but doing things in a certain way wouldn't hurt, as those were good paths for artists already, anyway. This is very personal though, each one will have a different response to this.

It's like... in the day when they started to have some impact on the media, I did read a ton about NFTs and the tech related to them (my position about them is kind of neutral, now), they were massively attacked for its environmental damage ('cuz GPUs consume electricity), a lot of extremely poor information was spread (even traditional  media believed those bluffs; it made me realize (I always  knew, but not to this extreme) how analytic we must be with fake news, populism, and information sources in  general), and conveniently silenced the existence of POS based NFTs, which have a lower carbon footprint than having your art merch printed and shipped across the country. The same double standard that makes people NOT to go now in hordes (as they did with artists making NFTs, specially on the network for rage, Twitter, whatever it becomes now, and many other pitchforks and torches at the artists' Instagram accounts) against the AI companies and users making AI "art", who use very long times of GPU computation (like NFTs, which computing was/is done in GPUs and ASICs), as to get sth minimally valid they need to do a lot of runs (and yet they get cr4p that they can't detect as such, not  being artists) ironically enough, for the same purpose of making pretty pics!. But now it's some opportunist companies and the average Joe/Jane to blame, not the artists. So, no one calls them out for it, now. A bunch of artists got excited (me, partially, didn't make a single one, tho, kept my doubts about  the environment until eth 2.0 arrived) initially, as realizing it could be a way finally for artists to have solid and stable income... But a year and a half ago or so, even with a ton of info and being aware of the huge change that ETH 2.0 would mean (who could have predicted the war and the crisis/inflation, though...? )... I would have not expected that things would end up like they did . I think NFTs won't vanish, though, but rarely will go back to be a possibility for artists; I believe they'll stay as a form of contract, and increasingly regulated. So, this (AI) matter is now also in its infancy, I guess there are too many factors in play...

AD, AP and APub. V1.10.6 and V2.4 Windows 10 and Windows 11. 
Ryzen 9 3900X, 32 GB RAM,  RTX 3060 12GB, Wacom Intuos XL, Wacom L. Eizo ColorEdge CS 2420 monitor. Windows 10 Pro.
(Laptop) HP Omen 16-b1010ns 12700H, 32GB DDR5, nVidia RTX 3060 6GB + Huion Kamvas 22 pen display, Windows 11 Pro.

 

 

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8 hours ago, William Overington said:

So, for example, if high quality with provenance prints of your art become much sought after, would you prefer the potentially higher value of a limited edition, or would you prefer the lower value yet more widely available unlimited edition, or some combination of the two in some way?

William

I like the hybrid idea.

Like... People will always mentally link luxury to limited editions, and you can just create that artificial scarcity of just have a limited number of sells (it can be a need if you choose a very expensive printing procedure that has extra costs).  This is also done for heavily discounted items, though. 

Indeed, that there will be always collectors, people with a special taste and appreciation for more unique stuff is the big hope for artists (specially traditional artists or those producing a high end printed product, like the case here).

I believe having stuff with no limited runs, the regular passive income sales, can perfectly live together in the same store/merch place with limited editions. They find different target buyers, it's not one or the other, imo. There's always people wanting the exclusive thing, and also the deluxe touch. That's why there have always been buyers for a regular DVD and the DVD game withing a deluxe box, with a beautiful illustrated rol playing map, extra parts, etc. We've seen it also with book trilogies, movies (entire merchandise campaigns around them) etc.

I had this random idea that would be hard to replicate/copy by others, and also kind of effective against all of that AI thing... In your case. Like in those game cards where with a visual diagonal (no line drawn, just different rendering) separates a very realistic drawing/art (like yours), while the other area is the wires, those wires that you do with the pen tool, that I, for the life of me (being a raster painter) would never  be able to replicate. That'd make an interesting metal plaque (poster). For example in displate (dot com). I'm unrelated to them (or any company... I wish... :D ). I just had this flash of an  idea.  :) 

If at any point need to do some of the cheap stuff, tho, I believe printful is one of the best in printing quality (and geographical reach), among the cheap.

AD, AP and APub. V1.10.6 and V2.4 Windows 10 and Windows 11. 
Ryzen 9 3900X, 32 GB RAM,  RTX 3060 12GB, Wacom Intuos XL, Wacom L. Eizo ColorEdge CS 2420 monitor. Windows 10 Pro.
(Laptop) HP Omen 16-b1010ns 12700H, 32GB DDR5, nVidia RTX 3060 6GB + Huion Kamvas 22 pen display, Windows 11 Pro.

 

 

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2 hours ago, SrPx said:

I like the hybrid idea.

Like... People will always mentally link luxury to limited editions, and you can just create that artificial scarcity of just have a limited number of sells (it can be a need if you choose a very expensive printing procedure that has extra costs).  This is also done for heavily discounted items, though. 

Indeed, that there will be always collectors, people with a special taste and appreciation for more unique stuff is the big hope for artists (specially traditional artists or those producing a high end printed product, like the case here).

I believe having stuff with no limited runs, the regular passive income sales, can perfectly live together in the same store/merch place with limited editions. They find different target buyers, it's not one or the other, imo. There's always people wanting the exclusive thing, and also the deluxe touch. That's why there have always been buyers for a regular DVD and the DVD game withing a deluxe box, with a beautiful illustrated rol playing map, extra parts, etc. We've seen it also with book trilogies, movies (entire merchandise campaigns around them) etc.

I had this random idea that would be hard to replicate/copy by others, and also kind of effective against all of that AI thing... In your case. Like in those game cards where with a visual diagonal (no line drawn, just different rendering) separates a very realistic drawing/art (like yours), while the other area is the wires, those wires that you do with the pen tool, that I, for the life of me (being a raster painter) would never  be able to replicate. That'd make an interesting metal plaque (poster). For example in displate (dot com). I'm unrelated to them (or any company... I wish... :D ). I just had this flash of an  idea.  :) 

If at any point need to do some of the cheap stuff, tho, I believe printful is one of the best in printing quality (and geographical reach), among the cheap.

Someone else suggested Printiful, it didn’t seem to be very paper printing orientated but I have bookmarked it. Thanks.

Funnily enough I do quite like some of the outlines on their own and a few others have commented that they did too.

 

 

Marc

ArtByMarc.me

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Sorry, when I think of "need for fast income" (when and if the economy is tight; if that's not a factor or need, I understand going for premium quality only), cheapo stuff, my mind automatically goes to t-shirts, stickers, hoodies, mugs and the like, for "passive" (nothing is passive...) income. Also that I myself am heavily oriented to non premium (as a potential seller, because as a consumer I tend to prefer premium stuff in physical, non digital items)

But yeah, while they (Printful) can print on paper, maybe Redbubble is more that kind of deal, even if they heavily work on t-shirts, too. But print quality wise, all I always hear is that among these, Printful print quality is (far) superior to that and most companies of that kind, while Printify (another one, typically the nemesis of printful) the one providing better deals/prices for the seller, and often more possibilities to get the stuff from local producers (which has several advantages, like the ability to chose a vendor that you know is top quality in its area or country, or so that you can always get the better deal in costs), as it is a different system. But yeah, not specialized in paper stuff. Maybe the equivalent (aka, non premium at all), would be VistaPrint (BTW, I've worked with them, it's fine for the cheapo gigs I made...) or the like.  

AD, AP and APub. V1.10.6 and V2.4 Windows 10 and Windows 11. 
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I have also done quite some cards / board games stuff, that of course got sent for print. Meaning even entire board games, including boards, cards, tokens, box packaging design, doing myself all the graphic design and all the illustrations in several instances. Being often Kickstarter projects (mostly ending up successful, thankfully) and/or just individuals doing a side project, they'd always pick the cheapest Chinese or USA company with amazing deals, as doing even a short run of all that, in full color, is darn expensive. In some cases I had to 3D model miniatures, and sometimes those miniatures were 3D printed by the same company that would print the whole thing! (in other occasions we would use two companies, and sometimes even 3....) And... well... going for the cheapest ones is often a ton of issues, but nothing that can't at least be dealt with a lot of back and forth, lowering your expectations, and heroic patience, specially when its the only option these people really have, most of the times. That got the projects done and shipped, so, hey.  :D 

Some of these companies are purely focused on board games, laser focused, indeed. Some even just do "card" games.  But some others have diverted to print as well books, comics, manuals, etc. Or where already generic online print companies that saw a gold mine during the board games boom (I think is not that big anymore, than last years, but it is still strong). I am not listing any of those because I believe for this specific endeavor (but hey, no one knows about the future...) you are looking for a very different thing.

I was not long ago very interested in certain print companies doing super expensive prints of (oils, thick paint style, but painted digitally) painted canvases that mimic the "3D" texture that oil would produce. Of course, anyone having ever painted in their life would rapidly discover the fake, but even if knowing, I believe it's a great product to sell for a very specific type of consumer, and fun to produce, as I love oil painting art, but also using traditional painting emulation, painting with software. Indeed, if anyone knows which is the "best" company printing these canvases, currently, I am absolutely all ears. I might be interested even fort printing canvases just for myself, for the joy of it (gonna go back to my oils as well).

AD, AP and APub. V1.10.6 and V2.4 Windows 10 and Windows 11. 
Ryzen 9 3900X, 32 GB RAM,  RTX 3060 12GB, Wacom Intuos XL, Wacom L. Eizo ColorEdge CS 2420 monitor. Windows 10 Pro.
(Laptop) HP Omen 16-b1010ns 12700H, 32GB DDR5, nVidia RTX 3060 6GB + Huion Kamvas 22 pen display, Windows 11 Pro.

 

 

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@VectorVonDoom

Can I suggest that if you sell things that you state a price. Or if something is free, then it is free absolutely.

Also, if you can achieve it, try to sell through the Serif store, rather than a direct sale as I, and possibly others, are wary about paying via some otherwise unknown website.

I don't know at what minimum price Serif would allow a product to be sold. Serif should get something for use of the facility, and I don't know how much of what a customer pays goes to the banks and the like such that the customer can pay by credit card or debit card.

So if, say, someone made a clip art collection and it were available from Serif store, would it even be possible to try for an income by pricing something at £1 in the hope that the very low price would make more money than pricing at £5 or £10, on the basis that if a hundred times more people buy at £1 rather than at £10 that might be a bigger income?

A big issue though is what conditions are attached. There are various fonts for which I would have happliy bought a licence, but if I use a font I need to be able to embed a subset of it in a PDF document to go on the web without some payment for each time someone reads it. So with highly restrictive End Use Licence Agreements attached, I just don't buy it.

But what are reasonable licensing conditions for clip art? Please discuss.

Sometimes I see things that say it can be free or what you choose to pay, so I end up not having it, because I think, well, I wouldn't feel right about having it free if the person is hoping to get some money, and if I were to pay, what is reasonable such that I would not be being mean nor paying far more than reasonable. I appreciate that fixed prices does mean that someone's personal financial situation may well be a barrier to some things, whether going on a World Cruise, buying a fancy meal, buying some software, but I am not claiming to have all the answers.

And I avoid getting anything from a site that has a "give a money tip" facility.

I am not expecting to get everything free, I am happy to pay as long as I have certainty that the price I am paying is the price with which the seller is content to do business, and if money is involved it is business.

What I am wondering is this. If someone produces, say, an A3 size PDF document of his or her artwork, what would be the situation if it were offered for, say, £1, from Serif store with it being stated that the person may get up to some low number of hardcopy prints made at the purchaser's expense for use personally by the person and/or as gifts to family and friends? Yet the PDF document has no security protection on it. It might sound unstable on the theoretical basis that a copy could be passed around, but would it work in practice on the basis of people being fair about it?

For example, I have seen artwork in Share you work of which I would like to get a print to frame, but I do not do so as I feel it would be wrong to do so unless there were explicit permission to do so. Yet if the image were available in a PDF document at a standard paper size, plus bleeds if the colour goes to the edge rather than a white border, and I could pay £1 at Serif store and thereby be allowed to upload the file to an online virtual print house and buy some prints, perhaps 2, perhaps 5, maybe 2 now and know I can get another 3 anytime if I choose to do so, then that would be good.

Maybe it would need to be £2. I know it could be more, but if there were various PDF documents available, several at £2 each adds up.

Can we all have a lively discussion about this please? If people like the idea, maybe Serif will implement it.

William

 

Until December 2022, using a Lenovo laptop running Windows 10 in England. From January 2023, using an HP laptop running Windows 11 in England.

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6 hours ago, William Overington said:

@VectorVonDoom

Can I suggest that if you sell things that you state a price. Or if something is free, then it is free absolutely.

Also, if you can achieve it, try to sell through the Serif store, rather than a direct sale as I, and possibly others, are wary about paying via some otherwise unknown website.

I don't know at what minimum price Serif would allow a product to be sold. Serif should get something for use of the facility, and I don't know how much of what a customer pays goes to the banks and the like such that the customer can pay by credit card or debit card.

So if, say, someone made a clip art collection and it were available from Serif store, would it even be possible to try for an income by pricing something at £1 in the hope that the very low price would make more money than pricing at £5 or £10, on the basis that if a hundred times more people buy at £1 rather than at £10 that might be a bigger income?

A big issue though is what conditions are attached. There are various fonts for which I would have happliy bought a licence, but if I use a font I need to be able to embed a subset of it in a PDF document to go on the web without some payment for each time someone reads it. So with highly restrictive End Use Licence Agreements attached, I just don't buy it.

But what are reasonable licensing conditions for clip art? Please discuss.

Sometimes I see things that say it can be free or what you choose to pay, so I end up not having it, because I think, well, I wouldn't feel right about having it free if the person is hoping to get some money, and if I were to pay, what is reasonable such that I would not be being mean nor paying far more than reasonable. I appreciate that fixed prices does mean that someone's personal financial situation may well be a barrier to some things, whether going on a World Cruise, buying a fancy meal, buying some software, but I am not claiming to have all the answers.

And I avoid getting anything from a site that has a "give a money tip" facility.

I am not expecting to get everything free, I am happy to pay as long as I have certainty that the price I am paying is the price with which the seller is content to do business, and if money is involved it is business.

What I am wondering is this. If someone produces, say, an A3 size PDF document of his or her artwork, what would be the situation if it were offered for, say, £1, from Serif store with it being stated that the person may get up to some low number of hardcopy prints made at the purchaser's expense for use personally by the person and/or as gifts to family and friends? Yet the PDF document has no security protection on it. It might sound unstable on the theoretical basis that a copy could be passed around, but would it work in practice on the basis of people being fair about it?

For example, I have seen artwork in Share you work of which I would like to get a print to frame, but I do not do so as I feel it would be wrong to do so unless there were explicit permission to do so. Yet if the image were available in a PDF document at a standard paper size, plus bleeds if the colour goes to the edge rather than a white border, and I could pay £1 at Serif store and thereby be allowed to upload the file to an online virtual print house and buy some prints, perhaps 2, perhaps 5, maybe 2 now and know I can get another 3 anytime if I choose to do so, then that would be good.

Maybe it would need to be £2. I know it could be more, but if there were various PDF documents available, several at £2 each adds up.

Can we all have a lively discussion about this please? If people like the idea, maybe Serif will implement it.

William

 

Saying how much something costs is always a good plan! I don't think Affinity is about to get into that type of thing, print on demand or even selling digital outputs of work but then I don't know anything about their plans, I just can't see it. I don't really look at the store but clipart may be OK, I'm not sure.  I can't imagine many selling their output for £1-2, just not worth the bother after the host takes their cut. Well yes several £2 obviously do add up but not to anything worth talking about, perhaps pays for a pizza or treat of your choice.  I never output to PDF, why not JPG or TIFF?

As for clipart licensing I'd have thought you can do what you please with it other than share it or re-sell it. 

 

Marc

ArtByMarc.me

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1 hour ago, VectorVonDoom said:

I don't think Affinity is about to get into that type of thing, print on demand or even selling digital outputs of work but then I don't know anything about their plans, I just can't see it.

I have not suggested Serif having a print on demand facility as that would involve post and packing and physical delivery.

I am suggesting that it would, if Serif choose to do it, to sell for £1 or £2 or so the download of a PDF document with a licence to print a number of copies, say up to five, for personal use and to give to family and friends. I am wondering if that would be no more difficult to add to the Affinity store than the sale of the download of a clip art collection.

The printing would need to be organized by the purchaser at the purchaser's expense. That could be on the purchaser's own equipment or over the internet, such as at Viking Virtual Print House, or wherever, at whatever quality of print the purchaser chooses.

Whether Serif chooses to implement this idea is a matter for Serif. When I put forward a suggestion I never attempt to guess whether the business(es) assessing it will be enthusiastic.

1 hour ago, VectorVonDoom said:

I can't imagine many selling their output for £1-2, just not worth the bother after the host takes their cut. Well yes several £2 obviously do add up but not to anything worth talking about, perhaps pays for a pizza or treat of your choice.

Well, the artist would not be selling his or her output for £1 to £2. He or she would be providing one PDF document to Serif and an unlimited number of copies could be sold with no further work by the artist. The artist would retain copyright. If a purchaser wanted more than five copies, pay another £1 or £2 for a licence to print another five copies.

Suppose, however, that only a relatively small amount of money is received by an artist, it would be money earned because people appreciated his or her art and wanted a print and were prepared to pay to obtain that print, and the prints being about could possibly lead to something good for the artist. I don't know what that could be, but it does happen. People often miss that and opine downbeat without considering indirect effects.

1 hour ago, VectorVonDoom said:

I never output to PDF, why not JPG or TIFF?

 I have never used TIFF so I won't comment on that.

I have used jpg as that is what is needed for producing what is called a photo card at papier.com though I don't use a photograph as such, I use a jpg of the correct size as output from a Serif product, initially Page Plus X7 for two cards, Affinity Publisher after that.

I really like PDF documents, particularly if the image is vector. Each to his or her own preference, but I export a PDF document if the end use can use a PDF document. In fact, PDF is one of the few formats that Viking Virtual Print House will accept as input.

1 hour ago, VectorVonDoom said:

As for clipart licensing I'd have thought you can do what you please with it other than share it or re-sell it. 

It depends on the licensing.

I have not looked into the licences of clip art that is available yet that I have not purchased.

William

 

Until December 2022, using a Lenovo laptop running Windows 10 in England. From January 2023, using an HP laptop running Windows 11 in England.

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2 minutes ago, William Overington said:

I have not suggested Serif having a print on demand facility as that would involve post and packing and physical delivery.

I am suggesting that it would, if Serif choose to do it, to sell for £1 or £2 or so the download of a PDF document with a licence to print a number of copies, say up to five, for personal use and to give to family and friends. I am wondering if that would be no more difficult to add to the Affinity store than the sale of the download of a clip art collection.

The printing would need to be organized by the purchaser at the purchaser's expense. That could be on the purchaser's own equipment or over the internet, such as at Viking Virtual Print House, or wherever, at whatever quality of print the purchaser chooses.

Whether Serif chooses to implement this idea is a matter for Serif. When I put forward a suggestion I never attempt to guess whether the business(es) assessing it will be enthusiastic.

Well, the artist would not be selling his or her output for £1 to £2. He or she would be providing one PDF document to Serif and an unlimited number of copies could be sold with no further work by the artist. The artist would retain copyright. If a purchaser wanted more than five copies, pay another £1 or £2 for a licence to print another five copies.

Suppose, however, that only a relatively small amount of money is received by an artist, it would be money earned because people appreciated his or her art and wanted a print and were prepared to pay to obtain that print, and the prints being about could possibly lead to something good for the artist. I don't know what that could be, but it does happen. People often miss that and opine downbeat without considering indirect effects.

 I have never used TIFF so I won't comment on that.

I have used jpg as that is what is needed for producing what is called a photo card at papier.com though I don't use a photograph as such, I use a jpg of the correct size as output from a Serif product, initially Page Plus X7 for two cards, Affinity Publisher after that.

I really like PDF documents, particularly if the image is vector. Each to his or her own preference, but I export a PDF document if the end use can use a PDF document. In fact, PDF is one of the few formats that Viking Virtual Print House will accept as input.

It depends on the licensing.

I have not looked into the licences of clip art that is available yet that I have not purchased.

William

 

Of course it's up to the individual however I wouldn't bother at that price. So say 50-50 and you end up with a pound max, what's the point unless you expect to sell tons of them? Some might enjoy a little pocket money though.

 

Marc

ArtByMarc.me

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13 minutes ago, VectorVonDoom said:

So say 50-50 and you end up with a pound max, what's the point unless you expect to sell tons of them? Some might enjoy a little pocket money though.

Even if one sells a few, one's work could become displayed in people's homes and maybe offices.

Who knows who might see the print and admire it.

Maybe the artist might get a commission for some custom work, maybe the artist might be invited to exhibit in an art gallery.

Maybe, maybe not.

There is a saying in the History and Philosophy of Science "Chance favours the prepared observer".

I think in similar terms over putting forward new ideas and new output.

Lots of people miss the opportunity for a second order effect to benefit them by not pursuing an activity at which they could do well yet that has no obvious first order substantial benefit to them. Too many people stop because someone tells them something like "you'll never be a singer" or "you'll never be an artist".

William

 

Until December 2022, using a Lenovo laptop running Windows 10 in England. From January 2023, using an HP laptop running Windows 11 in England.

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4 hours ago, William Overington said:

Even if one sells a few, one's work could become displayed in people's homes and maybe offices.

Who knows who might see the print and admire it.

Maybe the artist might get a commission for some custom work, maybe the artist might be invited to exhibit in an art gallery.

Maybe, maybe not.

There is a saying in the History and Philosophy of Science "Chance favours the prepared observer".

I think in similar terms over putting forward new ideas and new output.

Lots of people miss the opportunity for a second order effect to benefit them by not pursuing an activity at which they could do well yet that has no obvious first order substantial benefit to them. Too many people stop because someone tells them something like "you'll never be a singer" or "you'll never be an artist".

William

 

Perhaps but still a no from me!

 

 

Marc

ArtByMarc.me

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Until December 2022, using a Lenovo laptop running Windows 10 in England. From January 2023, using an HP laptop running Windows 11 in England.

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On 12/14/2022 at 9:16 AM, William Overington said:

Futurism in the 1920s

William, thanks for those, but those are simply too interesting films to be hidden in a humble indirect post. I will take the liberty of pulling them right out to the screen:

 The Future Of The 1920s

 

Frank R. Paul 1920s Cover Art

 

One of the fascinating things about inspiration is how unannounced it can come and how unpredictable the source can be.

 1) You have completely wrecked the layers panel, Serif.

2) I recommend Reddit groups instead of this forum. Not the same few bot-like users replying to everything, a wider representation of users, fewer fanboys, more qualified users. In short, better!

3) I was here to report bugs and submit improvement requests for professional work professionally in a large setup and to bring a lot of knowledge from the world, i.e. professional product development, web- and software development, usability, user experience design and accessibility. I actually know what I am talking about!

BUT! We are phasing out Designer and Affinity in 2022 Q1 - and replacing it with feature complete and algorithmically competent alternatives.
Publisher is unsuitable for serious use, and was never adopted.

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On 12/19/2022 at 7:40 PM, William Overington said:

There is a saying in the History and Philosophy of Science "Chance favours the prepared observer".

I was glad to read that saying - I'd never heard it before, but it's really close to one of my own experience-based life philosophies that has paid off and still does.

 1) You have completely wrecked the layers panel, Serif.

2) I recommend Reddit groups instead of this forum. Not the same few bot-like users replying to everything, a wider representation of users, fewer fanboys, more qualified users. In short, better!

3) I was here to report bugs and submit improvement requests for professional work professionally in a large setup and to bring a lot of knowledge from the world, i.e. professional product development, web- and software development, usability, user experience design and accessibility. I actually know what I am talking about!

BUT! We are phasing out Designer and Affinity in 2022 Q1 - and replacing it with feature complete and algorithmically competent alternatives.
Publisher is unsuitable for serious use, and was never adopted.

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An Ebook on your process maybe for distribution? For a fee of course. Won't replace a full income but could open other doors long-term. Maybe keep enough of a foot in "this world" to allow you to keep investment. Your prior works could easily fill the pages as samples/studies and obviously capture the techniques. I have seen some meh ebooks in terms of process, but the pieces in them keep me going back as there is just enough to study the structure. (Yours would probably be better)

Hard part is done for you, your audience is here.

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The ebook idea is cool. But you could also do physical printing in the same go.

But I'd say... even just the illustrations (as the number of artists (and most of us are poor, heh :D ) is much smaller than the number of average Janes and Joes), as an illustrated book. Maybe making a "theme", like the futuristic thing (robots, scenery, vehicles, etc). Other theme.. "Vector airplanes of the WWII". Or "antique cars". "viking drakkars and huts"... "swords of all times", etc, etc. Specially going for niches that are by themselves connecting with collectors and geeks about  the matter (who would buy anything about it, from 3D prints to photo books). 

That does not exclude the option of making a book teaching the process, and selling it as well on these platforms. Indeed, using  the art of the other books as samples for the "teaching". Learning material, courses, etc, sell well, they say. But imo, depends heavily on the target consumer, and this could be a small group of people...(unlike those "make money online" courses, that easily find gazillions of buyers).

And key thing, doing it through Amazon. That's the real huge market. I think it must be helped a bit by other media, but you have here 'some' starting audience (gotta go quite bigger, imo). You could indeed keep updating the progress (some sneak peaks, not to spoil everything) here, to bring a little attention and traffic. But for getting bigger masses in your Amazon entry, using Pinterest, Instagram and (in a creative way, with royalty free music as a background), Youtube, all them pointing to the Amazon KDP and an amazon ebook page. 

https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/

It's also quite a straight forward procedure what they have going there. I've created and prepared (for the KDP specs, it's pretty simple, they have super easy explanations/specs) some book covers for authors, writers who publish there.

Other big platforms for ebook and physical book printing: IngramSpark and Lulu. It's way lower traffic, but both provide you with interesting tools and possibilities. I would go for Amazon by all means, no matter what, but maybe you could also publish in these. I am not an author, so, I don't know if there are rules for exclusivity or something (probably not). As if not, the more the merrier. It's extra traffic for free.

https://www.ingramspark.com

https://www.lulu.com

And there's the one I believe we mentioned earlier, but in this case for an ebook and/or printing book: Kickstarter, as might provide a bigger amount of $, more solid income. Then do a second (if the first achieved the goal) and a third, but using  the momentum to transfer it to Amazon ebook and Amazon KDP, at some point. Kickstarter needs strong promotion on social media, Facebook groups pages, Pinterest, Youtube, twitter, etc.

AD, AP and APub. V1.10.6 and V2.4 Windows 10 and Windows 11. 
Ryzen 9 3900X, 32 GB RAM,  RTX 3060 12GB, Wacom Intuos XL, Wacom L. Eizo ColorEdge CS 2420 monitor. Windows 10 Pro.
(Laptop) HP Omen 16-b1010ns 12700H, 32GB DDR5, nVidia RTX 3060 6GB + Huion Kamvas 22 pen display, Windows 11 Pro.

 

 

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Can I also suggest to never lose your initial style of working.

A lot of businesses start small, then expand, then have people running them who have come in and not had that initial struggle to get going, then it all gets corporate-ized and the business no longer had the spirit that it once had.

Things take longer, things "can't be done, no no no!", and the structure creaks.

What I mean by that is, for example, suppose an artist typically sells A3 prints. When starting up, if a customer wants an A2 print, the artist may well do the custom job. When it gets corporate-ized it can become "we don't do A2, never have, waah!" or "we'll have to ask the artist" but then they don't bother asking the artist, just regard the potential customer as a troublemaker who wants special treatment!

Also, I suggest to never say you will do a job as "a favour" or "to oblige". It is a business transacation, paid for, complete in itself with no strings, real or pretend.

You might find the following thread of interest.

https://punster.me/serif/viewtopic.php?id=311

William

 

Until December 2022, using a Lenovo laptop running Windows 10 in England. From January 2023, using an HP laptop running Windows 11 in England.

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  • 1 month later...
On 2/20/2023 at 11:56 PM, VectorVonDoom said:

Sorry for not replying, I thought the thread was over so have not visited here for a while.

You can create a custom activity stream to cater for that scenario:

1. Go to ‘Activity > My Activity Streams’.

2. Press the ‘Create New Stream’ button.

3. Type something meaningful into the Stream Title box.

4. Change the Read Status setting to ‘Content I haven’t read’.

5. Change the Following setting to ‘Only content I follow’.

6. Press ‘Save Changes’ (near the bottom of the page).

Your chosen stream title will now appear under Custom Streams in the ‘My Activity Streams’ menu.

Alfred spacer.png
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen)

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1 hour ago, Alfred said:

You can create a custom activity stream to cater for that scenario:

1. Go to ‘Activity > My Activity Streams’.

2. Press the ‘Create New Stream’ button.

3. Type something meaningful into the Stream Title box.

4. Change the Read Status setting to ‘Content I haven’t read’.

5. Change the Following setting to ‘Only content I follow’.

6. Press ‘Save Changes’ (near the bottom of the page).

Your chosen stream title will now appear under Custom Streams in the ‘My Activity Streams’ menu.

Or you can just follow and get notification of new posts but then I’d be tempted to post stuff too.

 

Marc

ArtByMarc.me

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  • 2 weeks later...

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