You’ve screen all your tshirts, written the last period to your novel, beaded all your jewelry and even mastered your hooks over Jay Z’s twenty-something album for your mixtape.
Now what?
Thanks to the beauty of the internet, even the weird guy in the office that wants to photocopy his bum and turn it into a calendar can get his product to the masses. HEY … there is an artist in all of us.
You first step into world domination with your art is manufacturing it. Unless it is a really custom item like plutonimum wired coral tiara with ostrich feathers or porcelain molds of your … uhm toe, I recommend using sites like Lulu.com that publishes your book, Pulley.com that sells your digital files (mixtape anyone?) or cafepress.com which will print your art on almost anything from a coffee mug to a thong.
For all those couture, exclusive, limited edition trash-a-porter tshirt designers, you guys are in luck. With sites like threadless.com you can upload your art on a tshirt or on black-label.com you can customize a button down OR on garmz.com, upload your sketch and if it is voted one of the top designs, it will get mass-produce for you. The rest is up to you kidnapping Paris Hilton and tweeting a pic of her wearing your art, but don’t tell anyone I recommended that.
The ones passionate about the tiaras or the porcelain molds, there are also outlets for you like Etsy.com … a social network (slash) flea market (slash) shopping cart. And if you want to invest even more time away from your art creating your own shopping cart, Bigcartel.com is the way to go.
No matter what your artistry is, we all hope that our talents will be appreciated BEFORE we die. Rather then tattooing the word ARTIST on your forehead the only way people will know you ARE an artist is if you talk about. Today there is a multitude of platforms to talk about your Art. From blogger or tumblr to facebook and youtube, the more you talk about it, the more people will think you are an expert, take for example politicians.
Documenting your art process will truly have people admire your talents and not assume your product is “Made In China”. If documenting your art makes your heart race and palms sweat with the thought of someone stealing your art, then copyrighting is the solution. You could spend over $1K with an attorney or do it yourself directly with the US patent office for half the price. But if being on a budget is your goal, then Poor Man Copyright will protect your paranoid self.
STEP 1 Print what you want to copyright, song lyrics or graphic image
STEP2 Put it in an envelope and mail it to yourself, CERTIFIED by the post office. (This gives an official date of when your art was created.)
STEP 3 When you receive your package, DON’T OPEN IT! Place it on top of your mantel or in your trophy case so in the unlikely event someone TAKES your idea, you’ll have this piece of evidence in court that the judge can ceremonially open and see YOU ARE the true artist of the porcelain mold of your … uhm toe.