Candice goes back to work! (sort of.)

"Okay Candice, you're not a new mom anymore - time to get back to work!" said nobody at all to me.

But still. I kind of wanted to explore the possibility of going back to work, without having to give up my role as primary caretaker for the kids. It helped that baby Logan was much more easygoing than baby Arden, and I actually got breaks throughout the day (even just being able to put Logan in front of some toys for a minute was a luxury I didn't get with Arden until she was a bit older).

Anyway. Sometime around last fall, I started brainstorming ways I could transform one of my creative hobbies into something with potential to grow into a side job.

I dabble in a bunch of artistic areas, and therefore my skills are a bit mediocre. I write and record songs (if I had to pick one thing to do for the rest of my life, it would be this). I make videos, vlogs and montages, which I also write and record the music for. I sometimes write copy and articles for magazines and other publications. And I occasionally draw and paint whimsical and weird stuff. Education-wise, I have college degrees in general music and journalism. And absolutely no credentials for visual art.

So naturally, I decided to make visual art my current primary side-gig.

To be honest, visual art was always something that intrigued me, but for some strange reason I never seriously studied it. My last formal art class was in middle school, but from high school on I was steered towards the world of music, and all related extracurriculars (piano lessons, piano competitions, choir, more choir, musicals, orchestra, more orchestra and I really should have joined jazz band but I stupidly didn't why why why). I don't regret my studies of white patriarchal music, but I do regret not making room for other ventures during my adolescent years, especially visual art.

Flash forward to my post-college years in Fort Lauderdale and Seattle, where I dabbled in sketches and whimsical creations. Every time I showed something to a friend or posted a project on social media, people would either say, "what the heck is that?" or "that would look great on a t-shirt."

Flark = "Flying Shark" - pretty sure this was given to Ben as a "2-month dating anniversary" present. which should tell you what kind of mental state I was in.

inspired by moving day at the old Sunset House

In the 2010's I went through a quarterlife crisis in which I bought a huge pile of canvases and acrylic paints and decided to paint something for family members and friends and my boyfriend's family members and my boyfriend's friends (I also had a boyfriend in case I didn't mention that). Among many random things, I painted the Scooby-Doo van and a menorah made of cupcakes and a baseball field and an ugly Christmas sweater and I wasn't good at painting AT ALL, but I loved how acrylic canvases were sturdier than my former medium of sharpies and used dinner napkins.

mirror image running shoes. I have no idea what I used behind the paintings to prop them up but the more I look at it the scarier it seems so don't look at it too much okay

this cultural appropriation holiday tree took a while, but it looks cool

I forget what holiday I painted this for

I wasn't kidding about the ugly Christmas sweater... (I hope you guys still have it.)

...or the cupcake menorah...

...or the Scooby Doo van.

all the places I've lived (before Melbourne, obvi)

For our wedding, I also did a series of drawings I lovingly titled "Wedding-Con" - portraits of Ben and I dressed up as our favourite pop culture characters. I took photos of them and used the classy kodak prints as table number signs at our reception, much to my mother's delight.

Ben and Candice as Gambit and Rogue

Ben and Candice as Spider-Man and Venom, who was almost female in the comics (!!)

When we moved to Australia, I recoiled at the high prices of greeting cards (obviously I hadn't yet discovered the $2 card section at the grocery store) and decided to make my own personalised birthday/holiday cards for family using watercolours and sharpies, to which people would always say upon receiving them, "you should sell these" or "that would look great on a t-shirt."

this is my specialty/default - random stuff inside shapes, usually hearts.

sometimes numbers too.

more cultural appropriation holiday decor!

they don't sell Thanksgiving cards in Australia for some reason

not even Australian-themed ones.

I appreciated the compliments/suggestions of mass produced art, but at the same time... the idea of mass-production always stumped me. How did a drawing on a sheet of paper end up on a t-shirt? Did people scan their drawings and paintings and order them from a print shop? Take photos of them? Send them to a digital artist to render digitally? Nobody could really give me an answer. And also, part of my gimmick was personalization: people liked my stuff because it was usually a surprise present for someone that incorporated part of their personality or interests. I loved taking the time to create things specifically for people, but my designs aren't necessarily for mass appeal.

a more recent project: a birthday present for Ben that now sits in his empty office where nobody has set foot in months.

When I finally decided on making visual art my primary business, I had no idea where to start. Initially, I planned to paint acrylics and watercolours again and post them for sale individually, possibly on Etsy. I started making stencils of things so I could paint them several times: heart shaped designs filled with icons of cities I'd lived in. I began slowly working on them. But then...

It wasn't a viable setup. In our small apartment, I couldn't keep a proper art space - I needed a designated area where I could leave canvases out to dry, my paint supplies set out, and also where my curious kids wouldn't accidentally ruin anything.

my Melbourne heart stencil and a few "mass-produced" acrylic projects, on the stovetop and kitchen counter.

I used the same stencil for this watercolour

I also needed longer chunks of time because it took so long to set things up. Sometimes I would try using Logan's naptimes to work, but by the time I set up my workstation (the kitchen counter) and got ready to dive in, he'd already be awake, or close to it. And paint is a time-sensitive thing - it's not always easy to quickly stop mid-stroke and later pick up where you left off, because sometimes paint dries too quickly, or you need a minute for watercolours to get just the right consistency. Or something (like I said, I've never actually studied art!).

Finally I did some research and discovered the world of digital drawing. I had no idea that drawing tablets existed, and that this was how billions of people were designing t-shirts and such. I first tried downloading and playing around with a program called GIMP (a free alternative to Photoshop), then I shopped online for lower-end drawing tablets... but I caved and bought a new(er) iPad, an Apple Pencil, and an app called Procreate. And suddenly, mass-produced art was finally within reach.

So far, this is a great setup. I can work with interruptions, mistakes can be undone quickly and cleanly, I can work from anywhere (although portability doesn't really matter these days, does it?), and everything I create is easily uploaded onto merchandise sites. Digital art has some really cool advantages, such as using different layers for sketching and mapping out designs (no more eraser marks!), a wide array of virtual brushes, easy ways to make clean and symmetrical lines, and the ability to copy and paste between projects.

being a "working mom." kind of.

Digital art isn't the perfect medium for me. Many artists can make amazing works of art with Procreate and the Apple pencil (just look up #procreate on Instagram and see for yourself), so I know these tools are capable of incredible artwork. But I'm still fairly new at this, and I feel like my digital art lacks the soul of any of my watercolours or acrylics. Also, nothing beats the feel of real, physical mediums - water swirling with watercolour and bleeding imperfectly into itself, mixing acrylics to make the moodiest shade of olive green, painstakingly using the edge of a square brush to try creating a clean edge. Our world is becoming more digital everyday, but there's a magic in the analog and physical realms that can't be replicated in binary.

So far my business strategy has been to use print-on-demand websites (TeePublic and Redbubble). The sale margin is fantastically low (I get maybe a few dollars per purchase - or in the case of smaller items, a few cents!), but these companies cover every detail from printing, shipping, customer service, returns, and exchanges (basically, the stuff I don't have the time or space to deal with right now). Customers can choose from a wide variety of merchandise (mugs, a variety of shirts, baby onesies, bath mats, journals, tote bags, pins, magnets - I think they're making face masks too!). And from what I hear, the exchange policy is really good. A friend ordered a t-shirt one size too small and they received a larger size for free (and got to keep both shirts!), another noticed a printing error, and also received a replacement shirt at no cost. Also these websites have headquarters in both the US and Australia, so all of our families and friends can order within their own country without having to pay astronomical shipping costs.

stickers of my "Seattle Love" design

stickers of my "Melbourne Love" design

Currently, my designs have featured the aforementioned heart-shaped city icons, a few fun holiday designs, some of my old creations in digital form (the Flark and the happy-furniture drawings are both available), and I'm currently working on reviving an old series: a mashup of Chinese zodiac animals and the western astrology signs, which has absolutely no commercial appeal... but I'm determined to make those 144 drawings and nobody can stop me!

a mug featuring my "holiday heart" design

I've sold a few shirts (mostly sympathy orders from family and friends - thanks guys!), a few stickers, and during our most recent USA visit I ordered some of my own merch to give out as holiday presents and host gifts.

a tote bag featuring my "West Michigan love" design

these cards turned out really great!

My new hobby has ticked off a few boxes for me: a pathway to earn a tiny bit of extra money (and also in a more passive way, as I still need to be around 100% for the kids - especially since Arden no longer attends childcare, thankyou Covid), a fun new artistic/creative outlet that doesn't get catastrophically interrupted by the kids, and most importantly: an answer to "that would look great on a t-shirt. Have you thought about making them?"

I have. And you can buy one here or here!

some weirdo modelling my "Melbourne Love" design on a hoodie

CK