Day 15, Half through the first month here

I am sitting here designing my little heart out, and working on this and that and came up with another eBay template I can use for my reopening of my other store. I am learning that simple is sometimes better and elegant. What I do wish is that others see this benefit. The designs I been doing today seem not to be part of my best; I don’t know maybe I feel taped inside. The rock music from the 70s blaring from the radio behind me and the thoughts of will I have descent designs for the company today worrying me. I currently have done about 15 shirts so far. I did some Adam West, BATMAN, designs, some old retro show designs. I did a Rocky Horror Picture show one, one about pirates not giving up, another about Mr. Bean and a Harry Potter one. Currently, I am trying to get my head wrapped around what would look good. I uploaded like 8 to Wordans yesterday and still only 2 dollars in profit from there. But my eBay store saw about 300 dollars just for yesterday. I am excited about getting my other one up because it was the power house seller of the two. It holds the record of 24 shirts in one day this year. Now the other account can go back to barely selling shirts.

I have been at odds with a customer from that the Tbros account for awhile. They are so impatient and really unforgiving. I wish they just waited and understood it is on the way. International orders could take some time to get out there. Guns and Roses are playing and I am done writing this post for the day.

Day 13 - The aftermath

No this is not some Dr Dre Album name idea. You might have noticed 2 days without a stupid post. But I have not really been up to it. Now I know I said I would come with a ton of designs this weekend but it was not something I could come up to do. Even today I was sent home because I was not looking good. So it is 9:30 pm I am gritting my teeth ate something and pretended to drink. And I feel ready to tackle this week’s worth of work! On a funny tidbit I came to after coming home from work today with a WHERE IS MY LAPTOP!!!! But as I sat and thought about it, I remembered I left it at work because I just didn’t want to forget it.

You know I was really pleased to get Daryl’s email because it was so polite and kind. I hope the stress of the job is finally subsiding. After all, we all make mistakes and I do not want to point my finger at them, in fact I hate to, when something gets fucked up. I been thinking a lot about vector plotting some more designs. Although they take a little longer to do and although they can be a hardship to do; I have been stewing in my brain about doing more designs like the kayne west one in the Wordans blog. Is there a market for that? It is hard to say, but what I do know is that I have sold several got shirts. Which in turn will lead me to make fancy shirts of those players. So far it is too soon to figure out who is popular or not.

Did anyone else enjoy the new Indy film? Wow it rocked! So did Narnia and Strange Wilderness and the Air I Breathe.

Yeah nothing to eventful to say, but I rather cook and do the designing first than mention it.

Day 10 - It's a Joke!

So yeah this blog is dedicated to idiots. Ha. When I came home from the office I noticed this email in my inbox in reference to this shirt:

Dear italianstallion905,

im sure your not man enough to where that t shirt here!! YOU HAVE ZERO CLASS

- rossman012

Dear rossman012,

It is a joke. But, "I'm sure you're not man enough to wear that t-shirt here!!"

Thanks for the message and the concern, I have a lot of class.

- italianstallion905

Dear italianstallion905,

your right i would not wear that shirt, nor do i have the desire to go to canaDUH

- rossman012

Dear rossman012,

ok :) Blame Canada right? Why would you want to go to Canada, it is so far from the states. Isn't Canada next to Mongolia?

- italianstallion905

Ok I am done; I just wanted to share that with the world. It is kind of amusing he got offended by that. Maybe it is just because I am a Canadian.

Now, I just like to say I haven’t been slacking on my uploading of designs. This weekend I plan to fill my quota, it is just things have been busy at work and I had to get it all together and make sure things got done. Today I made an awesome custom t shirt order for someone and I like it so much that I am going to sell it myself. That is the advantage of getting people coming to the store making custom shirts. Sometimes they look really good and since I am the creator I can steal my own artwork and use it in other avenues.

I bought the Blue Ray for I am Legend. CONTROVERSIAL ENDING! OMG, yeah that was the selling point. But I wish that Blue Ray was a little cheaper. But you do pay for what you get though so I am just glad it isn’t too cheap. I spent the day making cartoon t shirt designs and doing a stag ticket for my bosses best friend. Turned out really good I made it look like the female in the picture had the guys name tattooed on her breast. Not much of an accomplishment, but hey you take them when they come.

I am not sure which avenue I will explore in terms of creativity for these new designs this weekend. I was thinking controversial, but then music. But I know for sure I am going to add a few for humour just because. Still no more sales from that one on Wordans, and it was only a partial sale because they just used my design.

Day 9 – Choosing and Picking is hard to do

Now, this week I have been working hard.

The Week Previous I did got shirts for all the euro 2008 players. With a soccer ball in the o for got.

Last week I did first set for the top 50 boxers, seems I am going to revisit that theme once I am done this week.

This Week I am doing 80s Cartoons, and even though I am toppling over into the 70s and 90s it is turning out well. I have a generic theme to them. Also this week was alot of personal designs I did for myself to put in my Wordans account. I was not hardcore into designing tonight for Wordans. It seems to be a self inflicted time out. But tomorrow I will be up and at it.

To Date: Total: 1807 visitors have visited my Wordans store

And I am up-to-date in approvals which makes me happy. Although the one thing that bugs me is I only have 2 dollars in earnings there. I have better luck on eBay it seems. But from eBay what I have learned is what you think will sell won’t sell. For instance: My Hello Kitty Design and today I sold 13 shirts on ebay. This is about 325 dollars. Yesterday it was 325 dollars too. That is 650 dollars in two days plus my pay check of 240 dollars for both days, which is roughly 890 dollars in 2 days. Sure Taxes, shipping, production costs all come into play but it is not going to take the entire 650 dollars. So the question: How can you guarantee designs that will sell.

What I have learned through trial and error is the shirts that will sell are the shirts that people want. Now I cannot account for why tina turner shirts sold, but maybe she was in the news. New cd? New concert? What is important is keeping up with the news. You could have the best shirt in the world, but no one knows it exists. That is the problem, sure I have sold personal designs but that is only because of the reputation of my other shirts. When they see what else I sell that they are hooked. Another fact is I offer something not many or no one else does. This puts me on the map.

http://search.ebay.ca/search/search.dll?sofocus=bs&sbrftog=1&dfsp=32&catref=C6&from=R40&satitle=bo+knows+t+shirt&sacat=-1%26catref%3DC6&sargn=-1%26saslc%3D3&sadis=200&fpos=L1c5g7&sabfmts=1&saobfmts=insif&ftrt=1&ftrv=1&saprclo=&saprchi=&fsop=32&fsoo=2

I am the only one on eBay that offers this shirt, and as you saw from my top sellers list. It sells.

http://search.ebay.ca/search/search.dll?sofocus=bs&sbrftog=1&dfsp=32&catref=C6&from=R40&satitle=sooty+t+shirt&sacat=-1%26catref%3DC6&sargn=-1%26saslc%3D3&sadis=200&fpos=L1c5g7&sabfmts=1&saobfmts=insif&ftrt=1&ftrv=1&saprclo=&saprchi=&fsop=32&fsoo=2

Where is my competition?

http://search.ebay.ca/search/search.dll?sofocus=bs&sbrftog=1&dfsp=32&catref=C6&from=R40&satitle=wllz+98.7+shirt&sacat=-1%26catref%3DC6&sargn=-1%26saslc%3D3&sadis=200&fpos=L1c5g7&sabfmts=1&saobfmts=insif&ftrt=1&ftrv=1&saprclo=&saprchi=&fsop=32&fsoo=2

Again not much competition. I have 8 auctions, the other guy has one and that will go away in a few days. Mine cycle through once every 30 days and refrehe. It will never end.

So this is not a blog persay about designing it is more of selling your designs. You need to hook them in order to sell them. I am hoping my presence on Wordans picks up and my dvd and books section takes off, because that is some bonus funds that will come in.

Day 8 – The Calm before the storm

You know I am getting sick and tired of fast food places. I hate fast food but I do enjoy KFC popcorn chicken. But, I have noticed how much they rip me off for the past month. I remember popcorn chicken from when I used to work there. You used to get a nice sized portion. Now it barely fills up small cup it used to be in. Literally there is like 14 pieces of small popcorn chicken in it.

So BOOM About a day so far with taking advantage of the 5 cent deal and I am bombarded with several sales. Several designs from south park, hello kitty and Tina Turner. Ha, Tina Turner of all things.

What do I enjoy about my job?

Despite all the crap that involves any job; I enjoy my job. It is a faucet of creativity in my life. Like who else could spend all day in front of a computer literally drawing. It is not a gloating piece but more of a personal glory. At all of the bs jobs and crap I have put up with over the years I finally have a job I can smile and enjoy going to. The main thing I do not like is the lack of communication sometimes which leads to problems and people getting pissed off. Fine, I understand that sometimes not everything can go right, but when you are over top of me accusing me doing something wrong when you told me to do it that way irritates me. Whatever, I will be annoyed for five minutes and then just forget about it. That is who I am.

I am a very simple person, and do not ask for much. But the only things I want in a car and a piano. But I am confident that it will be available to me now. Tomorrow I will talk about designing more. Just got alot on my mind today.

Day 7 – Starting off on a Different Foot

I am going to start this blog off differently than you have seen, but not really different from whom I am. Now I am someone who is easily inspired in his life from different mediums and sources. Whether it is a glint off the side of a window or the deep profound impact of several well placed words in a song. It is also hard to understand where these ideas come to me, but the only explanation I can give is that: They do. I would like to open up with a poem I wrote on the bush on my laptop well travelling to work.

When it went dark,
and all I see,
is light in front of my face,
I stepped through and saw you,
Embraced it gently,
now it has been so long since,
I seen you,
you left me with a sad look,
fell from my life,
you cried and so did I,
because we were apart,
I told you I missed you,
and I knew you heard me in your heart,
but now just hold me,
remind me of those days,
and as we stood there remembering quietly,
You just held me close,
and shared our love,
it is hard to describe the feelings I hate,
even harder to describe the times I share with you,
but in this glow,
glow of our feelings,
we hold each other tightly,
dreaming of this embrace,
you left me but now you are here,
it seemed like an eternity,
I missed you and you missed me,
but this is not our fate,
I close my eyes pray,
because the light is fading,
and you must now embrace deaths gentle grace.

Now despite being crude and lacking more than a personal pronoun I just wanted to share a brief moment in my mind. Although there really isn’t anyone dead in my life recently that I considerably miss on a day to day basis, or there isn’t a deep love I hope secret inside longing for what’s her name back. Ex-girlfriends are never good to date again.

Well it was 5 cent listing day on eBay today and man did I take advantage of it. I think I spent like I dunno 50 bucks listing several hundred shirts, now to make that money back all I got to do is like like 5 within the next month. Which should not be too hard. But to me though I kind of wish it hurried up. As time in my life counts down to the reinstating of my other eBay account. The driving examine and the new car slowly rolls into my life. I wonder wonder what freedom of my own car is like?

Day 6 – Stranger than Fiction

What could be stranger than fiction? Hard to say really because most fiction could be strange or fiction could be stranger than non-fiction but is it ever a vice versa. I know I started off a blog probably already with a movie interest. But, who cares? I am going to do it again. I finally got around to watching Stranger Than Fiction and I have to admit it was a really good movie. It wasn’t over the top at funny like Anchorman or a so so funny like that basketball one he just did. It had a subtle Punch Drunk Love, Adam Sandler, feel to it. Which, for the record; I love. But underneath the political social satire of it lies an undeniable rich story content that makes you want to beg for more and hang on the well vocab’d English narrator. Yes I just made a new pronoun up, and I am damn proud of it. You will notice a lot of my writing, designing and photography though has very strong inspirational strains from movies. If we respect them for that they are they just turn out and give you something more to grab onto.

As much as I would have LOVED to take it easy this weekend, it seems I have over extended myself to my work. I did someone else’s eBay account, I did my own, and I did Wordans and changed how my Wordans Store looks like.

But if you dare say that isn’t much I would like you to try to list 575 shirts on eBay individually and them all different, it was tiresome long work.

Anyone else really tired of looking at the news and seeing, this person killed this and this person charged for killing that person. This other person killed in another country and they are pretending to do what they can. And all I can say on top of that is well at least the top men in the Leafs are gone. Maybe next year they will do someone intelligent and win some games and bring home a cup so we can rub it into Ottawa’s and Montreal’s face! But in the meantime let us ignore this year and every other year prior to our last cup win. It has just been a big blur all these years.... honest. By the Way, I just purchased my first blue ray movie today: Reservoir Dogs! Good Stuff eh?

I am Still waiting for Wordans to approve some more of my stuff. It has only been since... Friday. Tuesday I assume they will get to it.

Day 5 - Wicked!

So I recently just finished reading the book Wicked by Gregory Maguire. Well actually, it is called Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. I have to admit I really did enjoy this book. Now I did not know this book existed until I found out the play was being shown in Toronto and it was critically acclaimed. I was currently at the time working for eye Weekly, which is an entertainment paper in Downtown Toronto, a few years ago. What really caught my attention was the fact it was a different side, a different tale and something different in the world of Oz. Mind you the only thing I know about Oz is the children’s movie that was produced almost a century ago, well maybe not almost. Now a few months ago I decided to buy the book, and well it kind of helps that I just moved to live near a book store. I picked up the book and bam I was hit with two first impressions: One it was not a children’s book, and two it was written beautifully. Now I guess what drawn me into this complex thought perplexing story was the fact I am someone who always routes for the underdog. And from the start to the end this seems to be a book about an underdog; a different look at the witches’ life from birth to death. The book spoke about wow she lived and who she was or could have been if she was not so twisted in the original version of that movie. By the end of the book I felt sad and sympathetic with the wicked witch of the west or Elphaba as she was named at birth. I loved how it was a different approach. I know I said that but this book was so enthralling that everything about it I just have to praise. It is also so hard for me to even talk about it to try not to spoil it for others.

I saw Cloverfield on DVD last night. I love the movie it was just amazing again with the storytelling, but what can you expect from the creator of Lost. The only thing that vexed me about it was the alternate ending. It was not much of an alternate ending. I WANTED HOPE! Yeah I seen the movie before when I downloaded it. But cam quality sucks and this was much clearer. Btw, is a Cloverfield 2 sequel in the works? Yep! After I watched this I was looking online for information on Cloverfield 2 or some picture of the best to make a shirt of and I came across an Asian film called The Host(Gwoemul). Wow the trailer looked awesome for it. So I downloaded that and I will probably watch it today.

I did a few more designs and they are still waiting to be approved. I am afraid I am going to hit my submission limit and will not be able to upload more, which is good I guess because i need some time off. I bought that ps3 Lego star wars game so I can play that. I did a Hal 9000 T Shirt, a Pillsbury Doughboy one, a Jaws one, a Vampire and Frankenstein one, a Michael Jackson one and a few more. So far on Wordans I have 1226 Visitors to my Site and no sales! Woot gotta love that, but then makes you think, what can I do to serve the customers better. Should I lower prices? I dunno 26 bucks for a shirt with postage is pretty much what I charge on eBay. And Pretty fair considering it is a lot better than Silkscreen and Iron On. Hey Check out my store to see these designs and many more.

Day 4 - Serial Killers Make good shirts

So, after watching Mr. Brooks again last night and enduring friend’s comments during the movie (loudly) I come to think and ponder over the situation said in the movie. While I would say it is one of Kevin’s Best or only good films since Robin Hood, field of dreams made me want to puke, I have to look at it more as a movie with content. After all it is not just a movie starring Kevin but a movie with deep concepts and themes. The thing I noticed this second watching was how he conversed and interacted with himself. This was just amazing to me just the level of psychological craziness he possessed. I have never seen a movie where the main character collaborated with him at that level.

Sleep was good afterwards, although I didn’t immediately go to bed. I stayed up for a few hours designing more designs. Now really sure what my theme was but Mr Brooks wasn’t my inspiration. Only nine though, I would go into what they are because well they haven’t been approved yet so I do not want to give people the impression of hope and excitement. But a few of them I really like personally.

Now when making designs for shirts I take in my eBay experience because they really dictate what people want. But coming to Wordans totally off the map and very random. So it is hard to pinpoint their focus. Now I have gone through several peoples designs and the ones I really like are:

seventhfury

paramo

kantedstyle

bendesign

Such amazing talent!

Also, I was going through my sold t-shirt emails and organizing them and here is some of the top selling t shirts. Mind you some that should be on it are not. I lost all my emails prior to November so many shirts are not here. But this is what I got so far.

Floyd Mayweather Ricky Hatton Undefeated boxing – 45

JUSTICE / ed banger sebastian - 18

Hunter S Thompson Bullets Drugs - 17

Bo Jackson Bo knows baseball football - 16

Curb Your Enthusiasm – 16

Assassin's Creed Video game character - 14

JUSTICE vs Simian never be alone - 14

okami japanese lore wolf video game - 11

the dark defender dexter tv serial killer – 10

Hunter s thompson sheriff campaign poster – 10

I wonder who is going to be the top seller come December. You can visit my shop here.

Day 3 - Election Coverage, slap happy UNIBROW POWER

Hendrix “Will it not hurt?”… “Only if Jesus loves you”. So yes I am quoting from robot chicken episodes I saw last night. Seth Green, Seth Green. You are a genius. Anyways, as the hours go by and the countdown is going for the long week I sit here and breathe easy. What did you do today Mr.Darling; well Timmy let me tell you.

I used my creative juices to concoct several different designs. What design’s Mr. Darling. Well I popped out a Jimi Hendrix design at 1 in the morning today. A Funk Ying Yang Design. A strange Tribal Design. A design about DRAMATIC POSE PRAIRIE DOG! youtube. The Canadian Flag in a Superman design… And several more. All at Wordans.

But yes there are always successes and even though in life I never acknowledge my own successes I always look at the failures. The failures are truly where the good things are. Because you learn what can be done differently. Every day I press on in my life as a designer, I have noticed things I never thought possible or worth the time are different. You look at things differently, and even though I always have. You just notice different things about nature or manmade you never noticed before, for instance if you take a look at a leaf and look at its’ “bone” structure. You would be amazed at how it naturally goes in that pattern. Makes you wonder what a vectorized design of it on a shirt would look like. Whoops I am being philosophical.


So, how am I enjoying the Wordans experience? Well it is another outlet for me. Still like it, although I am a bit embarrassed about being a featured designer. Like all you see in my ugly picture is Unibrows and Green eyes. That is enough to make Stewie Griffon shudder in disgust.


So what else is on my mind? The election, well the American election is on my mind. Why? Because, Americans are very passionate about their elected
officials and that means more t-shirt sales! But who will win? The Bro or the Hoe? This has been a widely discussed and hot debated topic. If it goes by youtube song I would say Obama. If it goes by rich old white people than I would say Hilary. But another hotlink is needed to finish this off.


And that concludes Day 3! I never did answer who I wanted to win, so uhmm SHEILA COPPS! Err


wrong country.

Day 2 (an upset stomach a chilly day and 70s rock playing)

So Queen Victoria’s Birthday Weekend approaches! Errr May 2-4. So day 2 in my adventurous world, well not really I lost count of how many days in my life after 10. Only have so many fingers and with socks on I am not willing to use toes.

This week has been a strange week. I tied up some loose ends on my T-Bro’s shirt account on eBay; it makes a return in 2 weeks. I have noticed sales go up on little Italy eBay account, and I have joined the ranks of Wordans’ shops. I am not exactly positive if my stuff is liked or not, but no sales yet. I am patient though.

Last week I had sat down with a giant list of names and made got …. Shirts of all the soccer players in the Euro league. Thank god for Adobe Illustrator. Today is day 2 in my 50 greatest boxers of all times shirt. I liked one so much I kept it and made it even better. But god dam it is hard to track down photos of boxers from 1910 era.

I signed up for some more useless internet things; I should really promote my stuff more I guess. Now I thought I had to babysit a pit bull this weekend. But as it stands I do not, so what am I going to do this weekend. Hopefully design 20 more designs, list about 800 shirts on eBay (I get the job of listing all those damn got shirts) and finding time to do nothing.

Last night I was very motivated by politics when designing t shirts. I am not sure why but I made a few. Although the Stephen Harper one I think is a few years too late.

Day 1 (with that law and order feel to it)

You think that this world can live up to the expectations of society. But in reality it cannot. And a tired expressive viewpoint is something often sees but rarely hears. Success does not come easily, well it does to those with rich parents, but in reality it is something you have to work towards.
Just recently I opened another online store shop, well more avenues to sell products equal more money. Or does it? Dun dun dun dunnn. I just pulled a page out of dramatic gopher and polluted this very first blog piece with it. The only thing I grit my teeth about in this situation is it has a substantial fee behind it. Despite being free to “list”, yes I know OMG EBAY LINGO! I find myself continuously drawn to their website. www.wordans.com. It is fancy, flashy and fat. The phat kind that is.
But, I give them 20 dollars of each sale they do everything else. Hmmmm. I could sell and still maintain my diligence on ebay and not really have to worry about it. Yes, this can work I guess. They will also even advertise? Hmmm. The lords of wordans I salute you! But on the real you should really salute me back, but then I do not think they really know what it is I do for them.
Instead of my crying Marsha, Marsha, Marsha. I cry Frank, Frank, Frank!
If there is one motto I have come to learn is that success does not come through one avenue. It comes from several different smaller streams conjugating together at the end.
I hope that this new leap in this untold direction really does something for me in the coming months.