10 Things You Don't Know About Me

1. Hired a PR firm to market my graphic design business.
Many of you know I have an agent :-) I used to do it all on my own and I really like having such talented help! PR firm: http://www.rljgroup.com  Agent: http://artsdg.com

2. Mashed potatoes and gravy is/are my favorite food!
Since I have a mild chocolate addiction - I best mention chocolate is also my favorite food.

3. Always have a couple of running to-do lists.
Usually just two list. One work, one personal. They help keep me on track AND are a good way to remember things. It empties my spinning head :-) I never get all the way through a list because there is usually something new to add. That is OK, it is job security! I re-write my work to-do list every couple of days or so - it gets messy.

4. Own TWO Volkswagen Beetles...
When my daughter (19 yrs.) turned 16, I gave her my beloved red VW bug and purchased a newer used yellow VW bug - you can click the photo if you need it larger for reading. Yes! we get looks when people see two bugs in the driveway/garage... My daughter and I are like Ketchup and Mustard ;-)

5. Like to use paint out of the tube.
I know you palette mixers are cringing right about now. It is practicle. No mixing or a lot less mixing of color. Easy to pick up later, I don't have to try to save mixed paint. And, I like the bright colors right out of the tube.

6. Exercise every day Monday - Friday.
Why?! I think part of it is just that I have been doing it so long. Also, I can sit/stand alone in my office for long periods of time and it gets me out of the office. I played a lot of sports growing up and like to move.

7. Make jumping frogs and stars when I am scanning in a collection.
The frogs are a half of a post-it note. The stars are cut strips of paper 1/2" x 11". I scan really large and it takes a few minutes to scan an image in. My son (23 yrs). Is a graphic designer for Big Frog Custom T-shirts and More. He took a half gallon mason jar to work full of frogs! They hand them out to kids and adults :-)

8. Spelling is a stuggle for me - I leave out words too. (struggle ;-)
Just always has been a challenge. No clue why - I will see (later) a post of mine on social media with a type-o or an oops. There are worse things in life. When spell check came out - I was THRILLED!

9. My cat Freckles fetches paper wads.
I had another cat that did this too. It just happens over time. I throw a small paper wad an they attack it. Over time, they figure out if they bring it back, I will throw it again.

10. Need to call the copyright office - again.
I have a collection that has been on the copyright site for 13 months. They must be busy.

Whatcha think? Any questions for me? :-) Anything you want to share?
Thank you for stopping by the blog - always fun to see you.

Why I am on Art Licensing Show .com!

 PROUD to be a part of the Blog link up 2:00 PM Eastern on  ArtLicensingShow.com  is a cool new site where Art Directors/Manufacturers can join for free. Artist and Agents can affordably "go" to an art licensing show! (online :-)

I made a short little video on my Mac computer. Used iPhoto, exported it — and it was looking blurry on YouTube... SO exported it again at 720p and Taaa Daaa! Looks so much better. Really for the first time doing this kind of thing - it didn't take too long. I love it when technology is easy :-)

The video above hits what is great about the site! (nope, I didn't get paid to say this stuff)

• It is the ONLY Art Licensing Show online
• Be listed in the ultimate art licensing directory
• No cost or low cost depending on if you are an Artist or Art Director/Manufacturer
• Connect with industry leaders - It is a social network dedicated to Art Licensing

You can find me on ALSC here: http://artlicensingshow.com/members/annietroe/profile/

Last time I checked there are a lot of artist and agents on the site (in the hundreds). AND quite a few Art Directors/Manufacturers rolling in!

Once you are on ALSC, be sure to check out my Group: "2nd Thursdays" We are over 200 members! Everyone is welcome, Newbies, Old timers, Manufacturers, Artists/Agents - it is all good. Bring your favorite beverage and your topic or questions for the group. More details here http://artlicensingshow.com/groups/2nd-thursdays/ Looking forward to seeing you there!

Are you on ArtLicensingShow.com ? Leave a comment! :-)

Not on Art Licensing Show.com? Here is a peek into the site http://annietroe.blogspot.com/2015/02/peek-into-artlicensingshowcom-next.html

Thank you for stopping by,

Happy Holidays! What is coming up on the blog

Merry Christmas Everyone! What is coming up in 2015

No blog post this Friday Dec. 26 or Jan. 2. Taking some time off to cook, have fun with the family and maybe paint a bit :-)

• I have another giveaway! Watch for it in January - This is so much fun for me! YAY! I dig free stuff :-)

• Join me in listening to the Thriving Artists Summit - It is FREE and I caught several speakers last year and really enjoyed it http://thrivingartistsummit.com/iloveart

• Photos showing some steps in a new collection of mine - based on visits, you all seem to like these posts :-)

• More artist spotlights already scheduled since this has been very popular!

• I will be rounding up a couple of patterns to giveaway in 2015 too :-)

If you want to be the first to hear about giveaways, be sure to sign up for my newsletter! (BIG purple square on the top right-hand side of this page with the cute ladybug :-) Do you have something you would like to giveaway? Please contact me and let's have some fun! anntroe@cox.net



THANK YOU! This blog doesn't happen without all of you! I really appreciate all the visits, comments, social shares, followers, suggestions - Let's make this a great 2015!

Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing all of you who celebrate Thanksgiving a happy one!

Posting early again :-) On Friday when I usually post, I will be making a salad and whipping up the cranberry ice (sorbet) in preparation for Thanksgiving - we are celebrating on Saturday so everyone can make it.

I am grateful for the connections I have made through this blog and social media and look forward to make more!

I am grateful for the wonderful advice and comments from all of you who follow this blog.

I am grateful for all of you who click on the affiliate links. This little bit of income helps support me and the time it takes to blog <3

Thank you!, all of you amazing creative people!

Joined Artistic Designs Group!

Celebrating with my art licensing friends!

I am beyond EXCITED, PROUD as punch and oh so tickled pink to be joining Artistic Designs Group. http://www.artsdg.com/gall_at.html. They are amazing!

You can tell that I am flyin' high! I do have a small problem. While my family is wonderful and supportive - they just don't get it :-)

SO, I am hogging a bit of blog and social media time to celebrate with my wonderful art licensing friends! YAY! I promise to resume to normal programming next week :-)

ALSO A BIG thank you to all of you for commenting, sharing - HELPING with ideas. This blog etc. is a success because of all of you. 

Happy Creating Everyone!

How I Pay the Rent

Click image to view larger.

Happy Friday Doodlebugerz!
This topic was sent in through the blog giveaway I had recently—Thank you! Short answer - my husband pays the mortgage! I pay for groceries, car payment, cable bill/utilities , business expenses.... we divided up the bills ages ago.

The majority of my income comes from my graphic design business. Right now on my graphic design plate are t-shirt designs for the orthoditists above, Billboards for Celebrity Homes (above middle brochure pages),  two 28-page magazines (top right is one of them) and a 12 page newsletter for the City of La Vista. I'm pretty sure another new home builder is going to have me do a watercolor of an aerial photo. I am excited about a possible new client with a postcard campaign they want designed. There are a few other clients - but that is a long enough laundry list.

I have been a graphic designer for 26+ years. Owned my own business for 16 of those years. I always new I wanted to have a creative career. WAY BACK then, becoming an illustrator was just too scary for me! I didn't have much interest in galleries back then either. For me, sharing my art is a much more vulnerable thing to do. I know many of you can relate :-D

Until very recently, I had a small part time job at a 'paint your own pottery place'. I liked the "mad money" and the families that came in to paint. I miss the kids! If money got tight, it helped to stabilize my monthly income.

Forever I have been walking around stores, looking at stuff with art on it and saying "I could do that!" My adult children can't remember a time when I didn't say that :-)

I am on the new end of art licensing and THRILLED to be here! It is the absolute perfect combination of art and graphic design for me. I love the challenge! I feel so very blessed to be able to do what I love and get paid too :-)

Thanks so much for stopping by - please comment below and tell me a bit about you. If you don't mind sharing how you pay the rent - please share! It might spur an idea in someone else.

Win a $50 Amazon Gift Card

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Editors note: Aug. 13, 2014 - HIGH FIVE!! Just sent the $50 Amazon Gift Card via email to Kristen. Thank you everyone, this was fun! :-D Check the newsletter and follow me on social media for the next giveaway.

Editors note: you don't have to sign up for the newsletter - probably the easiest way to enter is to like my facebook page through the giveaway box above. I am using Rafflecopter's free service because it make it easy for me to notify the winner. I won't be keeping your email addresses unless you do sign up for the newsletter :-) You can also read the Terms & Conditions above.

I need your help to get my newsletter off the ground and blog post ideas!

 

Thank you all in advance! You can come back tomorrow and enter again by giving me another blog post idea. You can sign up for the newsletter and like my Facebook Fan Page only once. Each task gives you another chance to win.

Giveaway ends 12:00 a.m. Wednesday August 13th. I will email and post the winner same day (on the blog). Only US citizens can win.


I would be really grateful if you are interested in getting my monthly newsletter. Sample of what it looks like is below. Get tips, freebies and artist spotlights that I have on this blog delivered right to your email in-box! It will change as I get feed back from all of you. BIG THANKS-A-LATTE for getting it off the ground :-)

The blog stats give me a good idea of what post are popular - but I want to know your ideas for blog posts. The whole point of this is what works for you guys!

If you have already signed up for my newsletter prior to this giveaway, you are already entered to win! You can enter again by liking my fan page and/or leaving a blog post idea.

Thanks again for your time and input - I hope you win! Make my day and follow this blog :-D

FREE Chevron Seamless Patterns

 

Photoshop CC 300 dpi files - download link below.

Happy Friday! For about 30 seconds the other day I though I was all that AND a bag of chips! I was working in Photoshop and noticed one of the arrow shapes would make a great chevron pattern! You can see the single shape easily in the pattern on the right above.

THEN... I thought - I wonder if anyone else has thought of this. One Google search later and TA DA! Yep. lots of folks have.  :-) Yeah, well, it felt good for a few seconds. I have been using triangles and diamonds to create a chevron pattern - not an arrow shape...

SO just in case I am not the only one this is new to - you can download the Photoshop files here. (click) FREE for commercial and personal use. No strings attached. Have fun :-D

MORE free patterns Here: http://annietroe.blogspot.com/2014/02/free-photoshop-patterns.html

Do you want to know how I made it? This blog already has it spelled out: BrittanyMakes.

Let me know if you like these freebies! Make my week and follow my blog - thanks!

First Selfie - Photo Bombed!

 

See you at Surtex!

Happy Friday Everyone :-) Yes. This is really my fist selfie! I think I have had my iPhone 6 months or so and it never occurred to me to take one. AND when I did—just a the few of my gang decided to photo bomb me.

I will hopefully get good Surtex show photos to look at - getting permission to take them of course! If I can I will post them before next Friday so you can see them ASAP.

Gotta get back to work. When ever I tell my clients I will be out of town, they swamp me with work. That is a good problem to have.

Looking forward to meeting many of you guys!

Peek Into Watercolor and Ink Process

Click images to view larger.

Halloween art debut at Surtex 2014, Booth 221 - Parcai Designs

 

Don't you love seeing how other artists work? :-) Here is a peek into how I create art for licensing using watercolor and ink. With this one, I am using a fine point sharpie marker and some tubes of guache and watercolor.

First, I scratch out some ideas (above). There were several more that I ended up tossing out. They just were not tripping my trigger. I usually scan in my ideas and print them our larger, cuz then they are easier to paint.

Next, I will trace the enlarged print-outs with ink on watercolor paper. When I do this, I am only using 90 lb. paper so I can see through it on my light table. I have been doing the inking first, because then I can scan in high resolution line art with no color. Comes in handy for rubber stamps. You can set up a "computer-colored" version of your work etc.

Once the line art is all scanned in and cleaned up, I finish painting and scan it all in again. I am not saying you SHOULD do it this way - just something I have been doing lately.

I really had fun creating this brand-spanking-new Halloween collection! Came up with some really cute patterns to go with it :-) Below is a peek of just a few of the things I did with this collection.

Artists: Let me know if you ink first or last, and how that helps (or why you like it). Maybe you don't ink at all!

Manufacturers: See the whole collection and a bunch more of my new art at Surtex in NYC, booth 221 or visit http://www.parcaidesigns.com

Thanks a bunch for stopping by and commenting. I love hearing from you :-)

FREEbie Friday! - Computer Wallpaper

Happy Friday Everyone! I Dig FREE Stuff :-D

I like collecting other artists' work. SO... Thought I would try this and see if you guys like it. Above is computer wallpaper for you :-) Click on the image to get the full size image. Then— Windows: Right click to save it to your computer. Mac: press down on the control button and click on the image, choose "save image as" in the list that pops up.

Enjoy! FYI, it is low resolution and copyrighted - so don't bother trying to re-sell it. I already went toe-to-toe with a Chinese website who lifted this image — and won ;-)

Sure! send it to a friend for their birthday to use for their computer wallpaper. Mother's Day is coming up... personal use is A-OKAY.

MAKE MY WEEK and follow my blog! Thanks,

Happiness is a Kitty-Cat

Just a quick post to spread some cheer :-)

Create Easy Photoshop Textures for Fast Rich Design!

Make them once - use them again & again.

It is fun to toss in some texture to give my designs for products some zip :-) It can be as simple as just having a layer of texture (shown in the Yorkie notepad above). Or I might only have texture in part of the image. I added swirls to the top half of the background in the pear paper plate above. (Click image to see it larger).

Not only does it make the image look richer - I use textures that I have made with more than one collection. I like that it speeds up designing/mocking up products!

Here is a good video about making photoshop brushes. It has a couple tips for the magic wand tool too.



There are LOTS of free brushes on the internet - be sure to check that is OK to use for commercial use. Some are only free for personal use.
http://www.creativebloq.com/photoshop/free-photoshop-brushes-11121140

Let me know if you are a photoshop brush fan :-D

Happy Holidays 2013! "Elfed Myself"

Happy Holidays to all of you! I will be back blogging January 10th.  I gotta say, I do have some awesome dancing moves!

 Note: I removed the dancing elf video of myself because it auto plays and I can't figure how to shut off the music! To annoying to have running while you are reading other post :-)

Blogging - What I Have Discovered, (so far)

Confessions of a Right Brainer

I thought about blogging for a long time. I knew it is important to post on a regular basis - at least that is what folks who are experts on blogging say. I worried (still do a bit) about how will I come up with stuff to write about that may be helpful.

Blogging is great for marketing.  - Well, I am focusing mostly on other licensed artist. I would think manufactures etc. would be the ones to purchase my art... Of course I never know who is reading my posts unless they comment.

Reading/writing and spelling were my worst subjects in school - I thank god every day for spell check! :-D

So why did I start blogging? I wanted to have a record. A way to look back at what has happened to me in the last year(s) in the world of art licensing. Yep, I was focused on me :-) I find that when I am feeling like I am getting no where fast, It is great to look back and see what I did accomplish. Sometimes I let the bad things out way the good. Crazy that we do that. (Did you notice I lumped you in with me? :-) I also thought some of my graphic design stuff might be useful to other artists.

What I discovered is that I need art friends! This blog has connected me with so many more creative people in 6 1/2 months, than I have had since my college art days. (I am pert near 50 years old). I love it! The emails, comments and social media connections are fabulous. It is great to get other points of view.

(Sorry all you tough guys out there...) This is a great BIG, fuzzy, gushy THANK YOU for your support and input.

Make my day and follow this blog! - Thanks in advance for commenting :-D

Pottery Painting - VW Bug Bank

I post pottery that my daughter and I have painted for fun :-) We go to our local "paint your own pottery" place where they fired the painted piece.

This is a VW Bug Bank. Banks make great gifts and you could personalize it with the person's name. Fun Fact: It easily holds $50 in change!

Thanks so much for reading my blog. Make my day and follow this blog!

THANK YOU Middleville Michigan

Waving hello and thanking my collector in Middleville MI for purchasing these two greeting cards. I really appreciate all of you for supporting my art. Buy it here:
http://pixels.com/profiles/ann-troe.html?tab=artworkgalleries&artworkgalleryid=85692

Do You "Logo" Up?

Branding 101

Do you put your logo, (for many artist this may be their signature), on business cards, websites, flyers etc. I assume many of you do. BUT do you have your "logo" on shirts, notebook, cinch sack backpack and phone case? I do.

At Surtex, (art licesning show in NYC), I wore a logo shirt and logo cinch sack backpack. So I had a logo on me "coming and going". (You might also like to see my business card in this past post with a sicker of my agent's booth number on the back - click here.)

The notebook and the cell phone case probably won't deliver much for my branding bucks, BUT you never know! It IS just plain fun to have this stuff :-D

I am thinking of getting a magnet sign for the sides of my car - not sure I want a permanent decal. My windows are tinted - so I think a static cling is out.

The point of this post is to get you to think about how you might do just one thing to brand yourself more - Go Get 'Em!

Breaking the Rules - Do you?

 

When mixing color, I break these two rules - sometimes.

1. Don't use black in a painting.
2. Don't mix more than three colors together at a time.

The above two rules were taught in classes I took way back when. I see them pop up in art books & on blogs. I have done this when I paint with guache AND in the above pear palette knife acrylic unfinished painting.

Black was mixed in to get the darkest green you see above. There, I admit it. If you are new to painting, just use very small amounts of black at a time. It is a strong color and you won't need much when your are mixing. In other paintings, I have made a lovely mud out of several colors.

NOW, I think these rules are great. They help keep me from over mixing paint. Not using black can give a painting more interest and help to limit your palette.

Am I the only black-user-mud-maker out there?

Flip book Portfolio

Click here to see my portfolio on my website - also you can click the bold words in the post below to visit more links.

FlipSnack, One of the Many Free Aps from SnackTools

In my post last week on palette knife painitng and art licensing, I included a link to my portfolio. This generated questions about how I made my portfolio into a flip book.

I have used some of SnackTools aps and widgets in the past for some of my graphic design clients. I forgot about FlipSnack for creating flip books, until I heard Leslie Saeta talking about it for her flip book portfolio on her radio show "Artists Helping Artists".

FlipSnack is free up to 15 pages and I believe the free version has a small add/watermark on it. I paid $20 (10 points) to get more pages (up to 500) and no ad. There is also a subscription service if you want to make more than three flip books and or change your flipbook frequently. I plan on changing mine just twice a year, so I went with the flat fee.

It was very easy for me to set up. I already have my portfolio in InDesign and just saved it as a low resolution PDF file. NOTE: If you are using Microsoft Word - you may want to test uploading a single PDF file - I am guessing that you will need to use other software to generate the PDF.

If you can save it as a PDF/x file - It will help it run smoother. I read this in the FAQ after I had already uploaded the file :-(

It seems to run decently on my html5 website and pretty good on the iPad.

Hope this helps answer your questions! 

You might also like this post - New flip book with hyper links: http://annietroe.blogspot.com/2013/09/new-flip-book-with-hyperlinks.html